Tag Archives: baby quilt

FMQ Refresher

With the onset of the pandemic and especially when everything shut down, my shop went nuts. It took me by surprise, never having owned an on-line business during a pandemic before. (Who knew??). Anyway, I was happy to provide fabric to the many, many people making masks as well as quilters who were not able to physically go into their LQS. As a result of this increase though, I was really busy and had almost no time to sew.

Things have changed and many people are venturing into brick and mortar shops (which is good for the shop owners, as long as people are being careful and masking up.) I think the frenetic mask making has slowed down a tiny bit as well. Thus my shop has gone back to a more realistic level of sales for one person to handle. What does this mean? More time to sew!! Hurray.

This week I had the opportunity to learn to use my friend Sophia’s Baby Lock Tiara sit down quilter. It is a dream. The wide throat is incredible and it sews with a nice even stitch. So much easier than using my Janome (which while it has a bigger throat, is getting old and tired) for FMQ.

When I wanted to first try it, I decided to just bring a piece of cloth over – I wasn’t sure how successful I would be and didn’t want to bring anything I had pieced. I have had a yard of this cute fabric sitting on the shelf for a good 4 or 5 years. I am sure it was a border print made for a panel but I think it is adorable. I used to sing this song to my kids when putting them to bed and now I love hearing my son sing it to his girls.

I decided to use it as a whole cloth baby quilt for donation. To practice with Sophia’s machine, I just stippled this. It was so fun and so incredibly quick. It took (almost) as long to pin baste it as to quilt it.

The bold blue polka dots on the back are really cute. You can see the stippling a bit better on the back side. I used an off-white thread which doesn’t really show on the front.

Now there is a cute baby quilt ready for donation and I have a little practice under my belt with the Tiara machine. It is rather tiny in size (30 x 36″) so I will need to see which organizations can utilize a quilt of this size.

So that is a (small finish for me! Used a little bit of fabric off the shelf, learned to use a cool machine and have a donation ready for someone! My next project with the machine will be the jelly roll quilt I recently pieced. I am looking forward to getting some tops finished up! 🙂

Updating to add:

Linking at the following –

TGIFF

Brag About Your Beauties

Whoop Whoop

Super Cute, Super Simple Finish

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You know how you set something aside for so long and then somehow your mind decides it is going to take forever to finish it and you don’t want to so you just leave it there? Yeah, me too. Last fall I pieced a cute strip quilt using a focus print from Pandalicious. I had yardage in the shop and thought it would be fun to make one and then make up some kits for others to make it.

So I made up the quilt top and got it basted. I started to free motion quilt each of the strips and all was going well. When I got to the large section of pandas in the middle, my tension got screwed up. Of course I didn’t know this and just kept going because the top side looked fine. Ugh. When I saw the back, I knew it all had to be unpicked.

Onward I went and got all the messy stitching ripped out. By then I developed some serious dislike of the project and set it aside? Why do this? It wasn’t the quilt’s fault. But I did anyway. Folded it up and put it on top of a pile of fabric.

This week I thought it was time to finish it. Of course, by now, the fabric is gone and I can’t make any kits. Sigh. Quilting the remaining sections (the pandas in the middle and both of the black and white sections on top and bottom) took no time at all. Like an afternoon of playing at the machine and it was done. So after sitting there for 9 months or so, it is done!

I attached the binding with machine stitching on front and back. It is adorable! I quilted the top and bottom sections with a meandering motif of interlocking squares. I am not sure what was going on, but there are some little tension issues on the back side. Not enough that I am going to fix it though. I suspect after being washed, it will all work out.

I did a very loose meander over the middle section going around the pandas. They are such happy little guys!

I took the photos in the early evening so the sun was creating lots of shadows. But no matter, just look at how happy this little quilt is. What should I do with this one? I will likely donate it. It will be fun for some child to snuggle under.

Why does the color look so strange in this one?

Happy to cross this off the UFO list and wish I had done it long ago. Makes me happy to get it finished up.

Anyone have anything fun planned for the weekend? Hahaha…. sorry to be so ridiculous! I feel like each day (weekend or not) is so much the same due to the quarantine. Our town is loosening up just a bit but we are still very careful. So it will be the usual. Taking walks, a little bit of gardening, shipping orders and sewing, sewing, sewing!

Want to leave you with a smile. Isn’t this just a classic fun-in-the-bathtub picture?? This girl makes me laugh all the time. She is such a joyous kiddo. Enjoy the day everyone!!

Linking to Brag About Your Beauties and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop! Go check them out to see lots of fun projects.

New Baby Quilt with a Cute Sisu Print

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I have had this adorable fabric in the shop for a while now and it has called to me on numerous occasions. It features the sweetest little girl hang gliding, floating with balloons, and parachuting. The use of primary colors makes it so cheerful and bright – I just love it. It is called Hei Sky Cloudine from the Sisu line by Art Gallery Fabric.

AGF, as always, has described the line beautifully: “Sisu!” is an untranslatable Finnish word; it is the mindset that allows us to keep going just when we think we are about to give up. In Sisu, children playing with primary shapes and colours inspire our natural tendency to persevere into our fullest potential.

Last week I was browsing quilt blogs and came across a post on Material Girl Quilts and saw a very simple quilt made of stripes of fabric in varying sizes. It really appealed to me because it would show off this sweet fabric perfectly. I made two small modifications to the tutorial. I added a very narrow stripe of color just above and below the focal fabric. Then I cut my strips a tiny bit wider just to make use of the fabric as much as possible.

Obviously, this is a very simple quilt to make and took little time to put together. I used primary colors which make for a bold, happy quilt. Because the assembly took no time at all, I took the quilting slow. A quilt this size is perfect for practicing free motion quilting. Also, quilting in a row like this lent itself to some fun motifs. I enjoyed making the rows of rising suns on the dark yellow stripes. On the blue dots, I quilting large stars but I cannot quite make them show up in the picture. It seemed like I was making a night sky stripe with stars on the dark blue dotted fabric.

Clouds were the obvious choice for the focus fabric. This adventurous girl is floating around amidst all sorts of clouds. Small curved lines with lots of echoing was a fun motif to quilt. For the red polka dot stripe, I just did a wavy line, almost like a ribbon candy motif. By the way, the stars and sun motifs are from Lori Kennedy Quilts – you can find just about any motif on her site. It is a wealth of information!

The backing fabric is a red and white large check with a hint of blue outlining the white squares. Perfect colors, right?

Making this quilt was so satisfying. Easily pieced, fun fabrics, and fun quilting motifs – Hurray!All of these fabrics are available in the shop so feel free to browse these links:

I am surely going to make more of these when I want to use fabrics with large scale prints. This quilt will probably hang as a sample for a while and then be gifted or maybe donated to Project Linus. We are enjoying oddly cool weather today and tomorrow so I am enjoying it. Sewing is going to have to wait until it heats back up on Monday!! Enjoy the weekend all!

Linking to my favorites – check them out at the top of the page, under link ups. This week since this has some FMQ going on, I am also linking up with Muv for Free Motion Mavericks.

A Quilt for Rubi

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My niece is waiting patiently for the arrival of her fourth little girl. Well, actually, this little one isn’t so tiny! At the ultrasound last week, the baby measured at almost ten pounds. My niece is really wanting this child to make her appearance. We are all hoping to hear from my sister soon that labor has begun. Just about every other text string, one of us asks “any baby updates?” C’mon Rubi!!

As you would imagine, I made a quilt for this great-niece of mine. I wanted to use pink but not only pink, you know? I decided to use the Floriography precuts and yardage I have had for quite a while. At first I thought about making a stacked coin quilt and started looking at my Pinterest boards to find the right one. While skimming and scrolling, I came upon a pin I had from Cluck Cluck Sew. She has a great tutorial for a Jelly Strip stash buster quilt. This seemed like a fun one to try.

I am very pleased with the results! The colors are sweet and girlish but also quite bold. Using the coral color added a big pop as did the dark blue. The dark blue was one of my favorite prints and I was able to make a flange with it to use when I attached the binding. (I really like the look of a flanged binding. See more here, here and here.) Doesn’t the dark blue floral stand out beautifully between the white border and the bubble gum pink binding?

When I quilted this piece, I did a loose flower motif that I saw over at the Inbox Jaunt, one of my favorite places to look for fun quilting ideas. Lori calls this her Easy Breezy Flowers which is the perfect name. Hers were quilted tightly together but I spaced mine out. I didn’t want to densely quilt this – I wanted to leave it soft. However, the flowers are easy and quite forgiving. I even put Rubi’s name on one of the squares along the edge.

Because I rarely take the time and label my quilts, I at least quilted my initials in another corner. So someday when this heirloom is found by a quilt museum curator, they can wonder just exactly who BK really was.

Isn’t the backing beautiful? This soft sheet has been sitting in my stack of thrifted sheets for quite a while. I really love it – I think it looks like Monet painted it. I still have some left which makes me happy. It is a pretty piece of fabric.

The quilt finished at about 38″ square. I hope Rubi and her big sisters use it all the time. Being the fourth little girl, she is going to have so much attention from the big girls. I can’t wait to see pictures when she (finally) arrives!!

Leaving you with this funny photo of Leo. Yesterday Julia was gone all day working at her internship. So I went out with Leo to let him run around in the pasture. He found a soppy mud pit to play in and was soooo happy! He dug, snorted and snuffed for quite some time. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Hope all of you had a lovely weekend. This week I will be getting ready for the local guild’s quilt show. It is the only one I signed up for this year and I am looking forward to it. But I need to get organized! I also have a cute jersey knit dress I started this weekend and I think I should be able to finish it up. What are your plans for this week?

Scattered Squares – Pattern Testing

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I have a finish to share with you! It was actually my last finish of 2017 and I just barely made it. I stitched the binding down on December 31st! This fun quilt was made as a test for a new pattern designed by Sarah Goer, of Sarah Goer Quilts. This is the second pattern I have tested for her. (The first was Knock Knock and you can check that out here.)

Scattered Squares is a modern pattern designed with the idea of floating the smaller squares on a solid background. It could be done any number of ways though. It might be a challenge to use a directional pattern in the background though as one might lose the intended solid, floating appearance.

Sarah did a wonderful job with this pattern (as with her Knock Knock pattern). I am absolutely sure this is due to her background as a middle school math teacher. She knows how to provide clear and concise instructions. This pattern will be released soon. I suggest signing up for her newsletter so you hear when it is published! Click here and the newsletter sign up form is at the top of the page in a purple rectangle.

This pattern is a great one for a beginner quilter. The piecing is basic and there are no points to deal with. It is also a fun one to quilt up. The baby quilt finished at 30″ x 40″ which is a very reasonable size to quilt. I decided to stitch concentric circles and I am really pleased with the look. This is only the second time I have quilted spirals like this and I couldn’t really remember how to get started. I took a look at the tutorial written by Jayne, of Twiggy & Opal, for a refresher. Really after the first two circles or so, it is a breeze to do. I used the walking foot and the distance was set by the width of the foot, probably a 1/2″ or so.

The spirals create crazy movement on the back of the quilt! I had this brightly colored print in my stash and was happy to use it up. I do think the baby using this quilt may get dizzy looking at this side though! 😉

When I started to quilt the circles, I used my Hera Marker to trace the top of a canning jar for the first circle. It was nice to have a reasonably large circle to start with. But that left a blank space in the center that seemed to need something when I was finished with the circles. To complete the quilting, I free motioned a little sun in the center to fill it.

Binding was done by machine with the same yellow as the squares in the quilt. Machine binding is something I continue to work on. I feel like this one looks ok, but not great. I like it for kid’s quilts though. It seems like it will stand up to lots of laundering. Plus, it is much quicker than hand stitching the back.

This was a fun project and would be great for a baby gift as the quilt comes together easily. I think I will donate this one to Project Linus. I have a small stack of baby quilts and would love to have them be used rather than sitting on the closet shelf!

Linking to Finish It Up Friday as well as Finished or Not Friday this week. For more link ups, take a look at the Link Up tab at the top of the page.

Such a Sweet Finish

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I have a finish to share with you this morning! I began this little quilt a couple of months ago when I had the Sweet Tweets fabric (by Kim Schaefer for Andover) in stock. There was a panel fabric with these fun critters and I made both a quilt top and three stuffed blocks out of it (with a few pieces to spare!) I wanted to wait a bit before finishing the quilt though. I sold out of the rainbow stripe that I wanted to use as a border. I knew Kim Schaefer was coming out with a new line that had a similar rainbow stripe and I had it on order for my shop. (Note: I am sold out of the Sweet Tweets panel now and Andover has told me they will not be reprinting any of this line. It is kind of unfortunate because it is such a cute one.)

The new rainbow fabric is from an Andover line called And Z (from the alphabet song… W, X, Y And Z!) It also has a sweet alphabet panel and lots of fun coordinating fabrics, including a new rainbow stripe, which I used as the border on this project. I greatly appreciate when a designer works to make sure successive lines work with the one prior. It makes it much easier to use your stash. Anyway, this rainbow stripe was perfect for the Sweet Tweets quilt border.

Once I had the borders on, it was time to quilt it. There is a whole lot going on with this quilt, cute focal fabric, stripes and dots, and all sorts of color. I thought it best to keep things simple. I outlined the critters with my walking foot which anchored everything down.

Next I free motion quilted large and small loops between the critters. I was using Glide thread in basic white and it was wonderful. I am really impressed with this thread and I need to get a few more colors to have on hand.

For the small row of sashing between the critters and the rainbow stripe border, I quilted a little wavy pattern. Finally when I got to the border, it was time to switch from curves to a boxy motif. (Side note – look how dry the pasture next door to us is…. We have had such a heat wave and the grasses are really dry now. )

For the backing, I used a red stripe given to me by my sister last fall when she was purging her closets. It is perfectly bright and cheerful. The binding was a bit of a decision for me. I posted a photo on Instagram, asking people for input or suggestions. When someone said solid black to frame it off, I agreed. I think this quilt needed a simple binding for the finish.

The back side actually displays the quilting better than the front (as is often the case.

Look at the combination of the blocks and the quilt. This was such a fun way to use this panel fabric.

This quilt finished at 30″ by 38″ which is a nice size for baby. The quilt makes me happy and I am sure it will look cute in a nursery with a baby playing on it. There are so many colors, patterns, and critters to look at!

Linking to my favorite places. Find them at the top of the page under Link Ups.

Also, remember to sign up for the Needle & Foot newsletter to hear the latest on new fabric arrivals and fun promotions offered to my subscribers. Sign up form is on the right side of this page.

Finally here is a heads up on a great promotion over at Craftsy during this long holiday weekend. Might be the perfect time to select a new class for less than $20.00! So many excellent classes are available and once your purchase it you have it forever. What a great way to build your library. (Affiliate post)

Sweet Tweets Blocks and a Quilt Top

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of introducing you to Kim Schaefer in my third Meet the Designer post. I hope you enjoyed getting to know her. I have been playing with the fabrics in her Sweet Tweets line and have a few things to share with you.

First off, I have been making these cute stuffed blocks. I have shared a couple of photos on Instagram so you probably have seen these in process. I used a simple tutorial provided by Abby Glassenberg at While She Naps.

Cutting the panel into blocks, I used four critters and two black and white squares from the Cheerios fabric for each block. I experimented a bit with the blocks. I made two of them bigger, utilizing the full size of the critter block and for the third one, I cut it down a bit so the block would be smaller. Two of the blocks are lined with fusible interfacing. It was only because I forgot that I didn’t line the third one. As a result, it is a bit on the mushy side – I like the result much better when the fabric was fused to the interfacing to give it some body.

Also, I only put one noisemaker rattle in each block and now I wish I had put two. (Actually, as I type this, I realize it would be so simple to open up the block again and add another rattle. I will do this because I think they don’t make enough noise with just the one rattle.)

On one of the blocks, I lined one side with a clean piece of a potato chip bag. Abby had a list of suggestions for variations to try and I thought this sounded fun. It gives that block a crackly sound when it is manipulated. It was very simple to just wipe down the bag, cut a square and baste it to one of the sides. I did put the print side facing inward to the center of the block, just in case in might have shown through the fabric.

After making the blocks, I was on a tear and decided to make a baby quilt with some of the critter blocks from the panel. I started this on Tuesday afternoon this week and it came together quickly. I didn’t have a pattern in mind and decided to just put borders around each critter and sash them in one of the brighter prints from the Sweet Tweets line. I think it is just adorable! Panels can sometimes be difficult to utilize but this one lends itself to a number of projects.

Each critter block was cut to a 6″ square and I bordered it with the black and white Cheerio print. That brought the blocks up to 8″. Next I sashed them with the Hip to be Square print in Rainbow. Like I said in my previous post, I love the bright colors with the black and white print. With just the rainbow sashing, the quilt top is a bit too small for a baby quilt. It currently measures 24″ x 36″. Adding the rainbow sashing print around the outer edge of the quilt will help grow it just a bit.

I have a bolt of this adorable border print coming in. I didn’t buy it with the first shipment of the line and think it is a great addition to this collection. I am not sure how I will cut it up but it will make a cute border and then hopefully the quilt top will be big enough.

I think this line is great for kids. However the black and white prints and the rainbow prints are versatile in their own right. Great stash builders, for sure. Reminder that they are on sale in my shop through this Sunday, April 23rd.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Julia is finally getting her piglets this weekend. She is so excited. That is what we have planned, how about you??

Linking to my usual favorites, including Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

A Cheerful Finish

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This is quite possibly the most cheerful quilt I have made yet. The colors are so bright, just to look at it makes me smile. I hope my niece and her husband will enjoy it when they receive it. My timing couldn’t have been better as my niece went into labor early this morning and is at the hospital right now. We should hear about baby’s arrival sometime today. How exciting!

The pattern, When You Wish, by Kristy of Bonjour Quilts is adorable. Simple HST’s and five inch squares make it a breeze to assemble. I think it would be really cute with other color patterns but for this project, I shamelessly copied Kristy’s quilt because I wanted a rainbow themed quilt.

It is a tiny quilt at 36″ x 36″ but perfect for baby’s tummy time, going outside, or covering baby in the car seat. My niece lives in Southern CA and the baby has two older siblings. I think this baby quilt will get lots of use at the park or in the back yard.

Quilting is simply straight lines about 1 1/2 inches apart. I drew a few lines with a ruler and chalk-o-liner and also used the seams to keep me on track.

This quilt was made entirely of fabrics I had in my stash. For the backing, I chose the, now out of print, Numerals fabric by Ikea. I have been holding on to this piece for several years and it looks great with this quilt. I would surely love to find another piece of this? Anyone holding on to some that you are willing to part with?? (A girl can always dream….)

Love the black and white binding? It is the Cheerios piece from the Sweet Tweets line which I have in my shop. I think this print would be perfect as a binding for almost any quilt. I love the boldness of the design and it frames the star beautifully. I machine stitched the binding — I often do with a baby quilt because of the number of times the quilt will likely be laundered.

Now that this is washed, crinkled, and ready to go, I will pack it up and send it to Southern California. Three new babies have arrived and three baby quilts are finished. What a nice start to the year. 🙂

Linking up all over the place. Find my list of linkys at the top of the page, under Link Ups. I am also linking up at She Can Quilt for the end of Q1 FAL link up. This baby quilt was one of my Q1 goals! Yahoo. UPDATE: Linking today to Sarah Goer Quilts for Show Me Something Rainbow.

Wednesday WIP Report

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A little of this and a little of that – this has been the routine in my sewing room this week. For the most part, I have been quilting the baby quilt for my almost-here grandbaby. She is due March 3rd and I know my daughter-in-law has reached the point where she is done being pregnant. Those last few weeks are just miserable. I hope this little girl makes an appearance soon! The quilt top is finished and the quilting is nearly finished.

The quilting is coming along fine though. It is hard for me to sit and quilt for long periods of time. My neck becomes very grumpy if I sit for longer than 1/2 hour or so. It is better this way. I break it up and get other things done in between. I have been quilting a flower on each HST and a little heart on the sashing between the squares. So cute.

The hearts are a bit on the wonky side but such is life. I have a feeling the baby won’t be too critical of her Grammy’s stitching.

I have jumped in on a quilt along. It is hosted by Maureen Cracknell and Sharon Holland, both are designers for Art Gallery Fabric. They are calling it the Sewcial Bee Sampler. A block design is released each Wednesday and today is week three. If you are interested, there is plenty of time to catch up.

With each week, there are giveaways for those who participate. Needle & Foot will be sponsoring two of the giveaway Fridays; one in June and one in July!! Here is the pull I selected for the Quiltalong.

I am using the rest of my fat eighth collection of Fleet and Flourish (designed by Maureen Cracknell). I added a fat quarter bundle of solids from the Pink Castle subscription I received for my birthday. I am being very judicious with the Fleet & Flourish and hoping I have enough. We shall see!

The first three blocks look great!

Each block is framed but when I got to the third block, I decided to wait before framing it. I am wondering about my choice of gray and navy blue as frames. So, I need to ponder that one for a bit.

Ok – that is the update for now. Projects are moving right along. 🙂 Hope the same is true for you! Linking to Let’s Bee Social and Needle & Thread Thursday. Links are available at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

Knock Knock, Who’s There?

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I had a finish this week! Remember I did some pattern testing for Sarah of Sarah Goer Quilts? I was able to quilt and bind it over the last week or so. The quilt is just adorable. If you would like a copy of this pattern, click over to Sarah’s blog and sign up for her newsletter. I just read the second newsletter and I am enjoying them.

This quilt has been a multi-faceted project for me. It began with pattern testing the new pattern for Sarah. I made the quilt with fabrics from the Fiesta Fun line (which I just happen to carry in my shop!) I chose the Fiesta Fun fabric so I would have something to display the brightly colored fabric. When I looked at the quilt top, I knew it would be a fun one to quilt. The quilt is filled with big open spaces to play with. At about the same time Fil-Tec provided me with a lovely spool of white Glide thread to play with.

I decided to quilt the floral block and the striped blocks with the white spool of Glide. Wow. I loved it! Glide is a polyester thread with a very pretty sheen to it. It was a dream to quilt with – honestly, just amazing. It is very clear where the thread earned its name – I felt very little pull when I was quilting. I will absolutely stock up on a few more colors. Ok – back to the quilting. For the floral block, I basically outlined some of the flowers and leaves. Very simple and quite fun. For the striped blocks (made with the adorable Happy Streamers fabric from Art Gallery) I followed the pattern of the stripes, stitching on the white space between the streamers. When the fabric is as busy as this Happy Streamers is, I think it works well to keep the quilting simple.

Then I worked on the green background. I used a spool of Mettler thread to quilt this because I had a spool that worked well. Honestly though, I am not a huge fan of quilting with Mettler. It gives off quite a bit of lint and I fight the tension more when I use Mettler. But I had a good time quilting this. For the inner border I used large, free form flowers.

On the outer border, I did a an organic wavy vine with small flowers, bumblebees and butterflies.

For the bees and butterflies, I found inspiration at The Inbox Jaunt. Lori Kennedy has a vast library of tutorials for different quilting motifs. I think the bees and butterflies are so cute. Some of the butterflies are a bit lopsided, which adds a lovely touch of whimsy to the quilt (right?). Finally, on the block between each section of directional fabric, I quilted a cross hatch pattern.

The backing was cut from a sheet that I thrifted a long while back. I think the bright, primary colors work well with the top.

The binding is a cheerful print from Art Gallery, Squared Elements in Mandarin. Guess what? I have it in my shop! 🙂

I am happy to call this one done. Bright and colorful, perfect for these gray, rainy days we have been having. (But I am not complaining. I welcome the rain!!)

I would like to thank everyone for your support of my shop. I really appreciate it. The discount code for Needle and Foot readers is good for just a few more days. Enter NANDFREADERS15 follow meand receive a 15% discount on orders of $5.00 or more. This code is valid through February 12th. Next week there will be a giveaway on Instagram. If you , keep an eye out for that. If you don’t, now might be a good time to start! 😉

Linking to my favorites. Check the list at the top of the page, under Link Ups.