under the sea

When Daddy is a scuba diver and Mama's favorite neutral is teal it takes this quilt maker about a minute to decide to use Elizabeth Hartman's Awesome Ocean pattern and make some creatures who live Under the Sea.  It takes a lot longer to get the song out of my head.  Not to worry, The Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney movie.  

Just look at the world around you

Right here on the ocean floor

Such wonderful things surround you

What more is you lookin' for?

I made one of each of Elizabeth's creatures and rearranged them into a horizontal quilt.  I like how there's a little space between them so they have more room to swim around.
I started with a fat 8th bundle of Heather Ross's Mendocino fabric then added a few solids and scraps of other prints. 

Down here all the fish is happy

As off through the waves they roll

Let me introduce you:

Tony the turtle, Mr. Manatee, and Puffy...

Angelica...

Salty the seahorse... (my favorite!)

Preppy the whale, Octavian, and a couple Chuckles!

We got no troubles

Life is the bubbles

Under the sea

My little bundle of Mendocino had just one piece big enough to fussy cut this pair of mermaids.

And I had enough yardage of the blue fish print to piece a backing. 

Darling it's better

Down where it's wetter

Take it from me

I quilted this with my walking foot and a stretched out serpentine stitch.  I used my Hera marker to make lines then stitched on each side of them to get the wavy under-water look.  
I was hoping to photograph this quilt with a beautiful lake in the background so I took it up north, twice, but the weather just would not cooperate.  Oh well - I should have known!

The seaweed is always greener

In somebody else's lake 

So, I'm settling for an aquarium in the snow! 

Now I'm wondering if you have a favorite Disney movie?  
Or a favorite Elizabeth Hartman animal pattern?

Under the Sea lyrics by Samuel E. Wright

I'll be linking up with: 

Vera @ Negligent Style for TGIFF

Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday

Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social

wrapping it up

Almost 2 weeks into the new year and I'm finally wrapping it up and sharing my December makes.  First up, a 30 Wood Forest to celebrate one of my favorite people in the whole wide world turning 30!  She loves the northern woods - in any season!

I used this tutorial by Amy Smart.  I originally intended to make this into a table runner but I couldn't work that out so I off-set the trees and made a wall hanging.  I added the borders "Log Cabin" style.  Who doesn't love a cabin in the woods?

The back is a map because everyone needs a map to navigate their way through a forest.

Especially when there are bobcats hiding in the trees! 😜

Next, rope bowls.  This year it was rope bowls for everyone.  Have you caught this bug?  Modern Handcraft has a video tutorial to get you started but be careful - they're addicting!

Finally, my top 9 Instagram photos.  This year I updated the collage to include my top 10 because...So. Many. Babies!!!  What a year!  Two new grandsons for us and many new friends for them!  The bottom row includes my favorite photos of major personal sewing accomplishments:  finishing this year's Summer Sampler, completing 100 blocks in 100 days (watch for that quilt to hopefully be finished this spring), and meeting Crazy Mom Quilts!  

17 has always been my favorite number and 2017 did not disappoint!  Thank you so much for sharing this fun journey with me. Your encouraging comments are so appreciated.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!  

Keep warm!


I'll be linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Sew Fresh Quilts

another plus quilt

Plus quilts are always a win!

I made this one using this free pattern by Jeli Quilts as a guide.  I had an odd sized bundle of Rae Hoeskta's Lotus Pond that I cut up into 4" squares.  I added a few more rows and columns than the pattern directs.  For the background I used  Painter's Pallette from Paintbrush Studios in Aluminum.  Super soft and in my stash - win, win!  Have you tried these solids?  They're wonderful.  

For the back I found a cut of the green print from the collection on sale at Stash Fabrics.  I needed a little more than a width of fabric (of course) so used some of the odd sized scraps that were leftover to make a colorful strip and pieced it in.  This green will go well with grass stains for summer concert-in-the-park goers - win!

I marked a grid following the lines of the pluses.  Then I free motion quilted this all-over pattern.  I washed the  quilt before photographing to erase all the blue lines.  Quilter's Dream cotton select loft batting.  Look how crinkly and cozy it looks - win!

Two labels for this quilt. My usual (with the year on the back), and because all the prints are from the same collection I used a bit of the backing selvage and included a second label.  (Rae's name is on the backside.)

Rolled and tied just in time for gifting.  Win!  

Happy holidays to everyone!

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts and Crazy Mom Quilts.

summer sampler 2017

My Summer Sampler 2017 quilt is finally finished!

I enjoyed last year's quilt along along so much I signed up again this year.  First up was choosing our fabrics.  

I won this purple bundle in the Dog Gone Cute QAL.  It matched perfectly with the 4+ yard cut of Anna Maria Horner I grabbed on sale awhile ago.  All I needed was a background.  Originally I choose a light gray.  I looked at it for about a week and it just wasn't singing to me.  At the time I was working on a baby quilt and a piece of twinkling star fabric happened to fall on the purple bundle.  BINGO!  

I realized early that photographing the blocks each week would be a challenge.  I tried to capture each block with a bloom or something that would show the season progressing.  Capturing the purples to show as they do in real life while showing the twinkling star background was beyond my photographing ability. 

Still, some pretty pictures!  

We finished all the stars in September then got the final instructions for the filler blocks and putting it all together.

I think I spent at least three weeks on these fillers.  I considered counting up how many total pieces were in this quilt.  Then I decided probably better if I didn't know!

Finally it was time to put this puzzle together.  This was definitely the most involved quilt I've ever made.  It's also the most photographed.  I've taken it out 3 times trying to capture it and I just can't.  

Here's a close up of the twinkle star background.  So much prettier in real life.

It was not too hard to line up the print when sewing this backing together.

I used Warm and White batting and quilted this with a simple stipple.  

I used Aurifil 2021 for both the piecing (50wt) and quilting (40wt).

A frosty morning finish!

The IG hashtag is pretty huge but you can see some of the other finishes here.

You can buy the pattern here.

I will be linking up with:

Crazy Mom Quits for Finish it up Friday  

Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

a pillow

A big, scrappy pillow!

THE Amanda Jean Nyberg came to town to teach and share her quilts from No Scrap Left Behind.  I was able to attend the trunk show on Friday evening and an all-day class on Saturday with other members of our guild.  For the class, everyone was able to choose any quilt in the book and Amanda wandered the room helping, suggesting, and cheering us on.  She is an absolute delight and if you get the chance to meet her you should.

I spent the week before the class devouring the book and deciding which quilt I would work on.  I was all set until the trunk show when she unfolded her Mini Nines quilt.  I quickly changed my plan and re-sorted my scrap box in preparation for the next day.

I made all my mini 9-patches with bright solids and bordered half with colorful prints and half with a white on white solid. 
I had a 24" feather pillow form packed away so I made 49 mini 9's and am pleased to have a finished project in one week!  

For the back I chose this canvas Cotton and Steel print that was in my stash.  I love the dark contrast with the brights on the front.

My only purchase for this project was an invisible zipper.  I really resisted heading to JoAnn's on a Saturday afternoon but it had to be done.  I really wanted the zipper in the seam so when people use this I can tell them to "use the dark side" and there won't be a zipper in their way.
I must admit I haven't installed an invisible zipper since making my wedding dress.  While not really invisible, this navy one does just kinda disappear.  Really easy to do, too.

Super fun project and super fun memories of a super fun day!

Of course I'll be linking up this finish with CRAZY MOM QUILTS!
I'll also be linking this sewcial fun project with Let's Bee Social.

Go buy the book and start sewing your scraps!

zebra stripes

I had so much success with my giraffe quilt that I decided to make one with a zebra theme.  I started by making a few Zany Zebra blocks.  Unfortunately, mine weren't nearly as cute as Lorna's so I went another route.

Simple and modern!

I paired a wavy black and white stripe from the Follie collection by Lotta Jansdotter and a bold solid to make a row of 9 blocks. Then I added a top and bottom and started quilting.  

I used Quilter's Dream wool for the poof factor and this organic grid to create some fun texture.

For the binding I wanted the stripes to wrap around the quilt so I had to cut my strips with the length of grain.  No stretch or give in the fabric created some new challenges for me. These edges don't lie completely flat.  Hopefully the baby won't mind! 😜
Soft cozy flannel zebras for the backing!

Here's to fun tummy time!

Linking up with Finish it up Friday and Let's Bee Social

giraffes

My dear friend is all about giraffes.  I'm not sure why but she is.  She is expecting her first grandson soon so when I saw Lorna introduce her Giraffes In A Row pattern I knew immediately what I would make the baby.

I choose solids from my stash for the giraffes and Andover chambray in black for the background. 
Reminder:  when you use a fabric where the warp and weft threads are different you need to pay attention to which way you place the fabric.  I may have had to re-do a few of those ears to keep everything going the same direction...worth it!

I adjusted the heights of my giraffes to make a long narrow crib sized quilt.  This one finishes at 39" wide by 50" tall.  Super easy to adjust this darling pattern.

I used a thin Hobbs cotton batting that I found at a sweet quilt shop when we made a quick stop while traveling through Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  Their Row by Row license plate reads I Pine to Quilt.  If you've ever traveled through the UP you'd totally get it and would probably have bought one too!
Back to the batting - it quilted beautifully and I will definitely be using it again.

I quilted this with what I'm now calling jagged little lines.  It's time consuming but not hard and I really love the texture and look it produces.  

For the backing I used this alphabet print from the Baby Jungle collection also by Andover.  
I didn't have enough of any of the solids I used in the giraffes for the binding and couldn't find anything in my stash I liked for both sides so returned to this tutorial for a two sided binding.  Again, the extra effort was worth it.

One of my favorite finishes ever!

Linking up with:

Lorna's Let's Bee Social

Pam's WIP's With Friends

Amanda's Finish it up Friday