Reel Time

I've been playing with new fabric this week, Reel Time by Zen Chic for Moda.  This is a fun line, and  compliments her earlier, wildly-popular fabric line, Comma, perfectly.

The line is inspired by elements and colors from the film industry.  I received a layer cake, and didn't even get a picture of all the prints before I started cutting into it.  (You can see them all here).  The blacks and whites (and greys) really stood out to me, so I sewed up flying geese and half square triangles.  

I haven't settled on a layout yet, I feel like it needs more, perhaps some color?  Somewhere to rest the eyes?  I'm not sure...

But I'm loving it so far.  These prints might add just the right amount of color.  

 Other colors from the line (I LOVE those circle x's).

follow along the blog tour this week: 
April 13:  www.kitchentablequilting.com
April 14:  www.freshlypieced.com
April 15:  www.diaryofaquilter.com
April 16:  www.modernhandcraft.com
April 17:  www.luckylucille.com
April 18:  www.craftytwinmommy.blogspot.com
April 19:  www.aspoonfulofsugardesigns.com

Twilight and Out to Sea Quilts

I feel like I can make this zigzag quilt in my sleep.  I have made a lot of them!  (pattern here) But I still like it.  It's a really easy, straight forward pattern that lets me sew and watch a movie without thinking.  Also a great way to showcase a particular fabric collection.

Both of these quilts were custom orders for my customers two little girls.  

They both turned out really cute, but I particularly love this wee wander one with the dark blue and mint and aqua.  We used the prints from the twilight color way.

 I love these stripes from Sarah Jane's Out to Sea line for binding.   They just perfect, and the colors have worked for so many quilts

cotton & steel quilt top

I finished my cotton and steel quilt top.  I made 16 patches, then sewed them together.  I used this method and it works like a charm.  Easier than sewing (and cutting) every individual square together, but still looks random.  It's twin size, so now I have to decide quilting.  Something easy...

**I've had several questions about the size of the squares.  They finish at 2 inches, so I cut them at 2.5inches.

cotton and steel

I decided to go with simple 2.5 inch squares.  I'm feeling a little mediocre about this quilt looking at this picture, but I am already too far invested to change it.  So I'm hopeful it will come together and look good. 

It's hard to go wrong with such simple patchwork...

geranium dress(es)

As promised, I got some pictures of my girls in their Geranium dresses.  

This is my youngest daughter.  I swear she was born yesterday, and I almost cannot believe she is as big as she is.  We still baby her though, and probably always will, but just yesterday she told me she wasn't a baby anymore...

This is the first dress I made.  I decided to start small, so if it looked terrible, I wouldn't waste too much fabric, but I actually liked it and thought I'd even let her wear it to church.

I made this one with the round neckline, gathered skirt, and ruffle sleeves (those are my favorite).

Her favorite color is orange, and I love the color of this print by Sarah Jane, Wee Wander.  It's just perfect for a dress.

As it goes with children, you can't give something to one without the others wanting it too.  My middle daughter asked for a dress too.  This is actually my favorite of the three, but she likes her sister's dresses better.  I think this print is perfect for a dress too, and I love the freshness of the white (also a print by Sarah Jane, Wee Wander)

She was also my least willing model.

I made this dress exactly like the orange one.  Rounded neck, gathered skirt and flutter sleeves.  I also added lining to the skirt (the bodice is lined in the pattern, but I was afraid the white would be see through).  I just used muslin and pretty much made the pattern exactly as written, but with two layers.  I'm sure there was a better way, but this seemed to work well, without any problems, and I am new to sewing clothes, so I just did what I thought would work.

Pink for my oldest.  (Yep, Sarah Jane, Wee Wander, again...clearly I'm a bit obsessed).

After she saw her sister's dresses she really wanted one for herself.  I was a bit reluctant at first because I was afraid it was a little young for her (she's 9)...I mulled it over for a bit and finally decided that if she wants me to make her a dress, I will, and if she is willing to still look young, then I should be cheering.  Kids grow up too fast nowadays anyway.  There is nothing wrong with keeping them young.

I made this one with pleats instead of gathered and cap sleeves instead of ruffles.  I also added the cutout in the neck.  Just these little changes make it look so much more mature. 

I considered lengthening the bodice, so it would hit at her natural waistline, and then shortening the skirt...but didn't have the time or experience to make those kind of adjustments.  I would like to try it sometime though, I think it would be perfect for this age.

ziggity-zag

I've made several more zigzag quilts, I'm kind of a broken record with these, but they are the perfect baby size, fun, and come together really quickly.  Plus, I have had many, many requests for a boy version to list in my shop.  So this is my answer, blues and greens for boy--pinks and orange for girl.

 The boy version features Tasha Noel's newest line, Country Girls, for Riley Blake.  Ducks and blueberries, mice and masks...and I LOVE this color combo.  It's a new favorite.

I backed it in green masks, but this quilt could absolutely be girled up with something more feminine on the back.

The girl version features fabrics from Sarah Jane's new line, Wee Wander for Michael Miller.  This is such a fun line, Sarah Jane is a master at story telling with her fabrics.  This quilt features bird, flowers, horses!, trees, fireflies...reminds me of summer.

 I backed it in this pretty forest scene.  This is a beautiful piece of fabric.  I already made a skirt for my daughter out of it, and I feel like it needs to be used somewhere else.  I don't think I will ever tire of it.

 the boy version is already spoken for, but the girl version is listed in my shop, and I have kits for both listed as well, instructions can be found here.

apple core!

While I'm talking about curves and my GO! cutter, I have a finished quilt to share, that turned out really great.  I worked hard on this quilt for a while and then we moved (the move before this last move) and I lost my motivation to sew rounded seams, and it was put away for a long time.  When I finally decided to just finish it, it actually went together really fast and turned out really great.

I used fabric from Denyse Schmidt's line, Hope Valley, this line has really grown on me.  I vacillated between loving it and not loving it, but in the end, I really like it.  The colors are unique and work so well with each other and with so many other fabrics.

I started out pinning my apple cores, and then stopped...I've said it before, I don't like pinning.  Perfection is not worth the effort.  It all ended up coming together just fine, and I'm sure I owe that to the GO! cutter.

I backed it in the ubiquitous numbers print from IKEA, which I love,

 and bound it in a black and white stripe.  (for my birthday last year, my sister in law sent me a LONG roll of black and white bias binding, all sewn up and ready to use.  Isn't that the best gift?  I need to remember it).

princess quilt

It's the end of the year, and I have about 4 quilts that I finished this year and have still not shown on this blog.  Two of them were Christmas gifts, so that's my excuse there, but mostly I just haven't made the time to blog them or even take pictures.  This quilt was finished this SUMMER!  It went straight to my daughters bed before I even had a chance to admire it.

My daughter needed/wanted a new quilt for her bed, and I had collected princess fabric that she loved, so we used them.

It took me a while to decide on a pattern.  I think I cut into the fabric 2 or 3 times before finally deciding on this pattern.  I believe I first spotted it on pinterest.

It's a generous twin size and my daughter loves it.  I like it too.  The one thing I wish I had done differently would have been to use a background fabric(black dot on cream) that was whiter rather than creamy.  But I had that fabric on hand and I really wanted dots.  I guess it gives it an antique-y feel.  

I used this older blue Heather Bailey print that I have had for a while (found it on sale for $6/yard).  This print is one of my favorites for backing.  I've used it several times, but this is the only one I can specifically remember.

bound in pink scallops.  (I love this print so much)

quilted in an egg shell pattern, this was the perfect quilt to use this pattern.  I didn't have to mark at all, and it almost turned out perfect.  The two inch squares were the perfect guide.

Here's a fun little tid-bit.  These cute fabrics are by Ann Kelle, called Girl Friends, and they make an appearance often in different fabric.  My daughters think they are so cute.  

This one particular friend looks EXACTLY like one of my daughters friends (from Colorado).  I mean, exactly.  The glasses, the dark hair, bobbed, the short bangs.  Exactly. When I first saw it I asked my daughter who this princess looks like and she knew immediately.  KATIE.  So we like to try to find Katie in the princess quilt.

Briar Rose Quilt

I have a finished quilt to show!  I actually finished this a while ago and forgot to share!  I gave it away and I guess it slipped my mind.  

I love Heather Ross, so when she released her Briar Rose line (first in a LONG time), I couldn't wait to put it to use.  

Pattern found in this book.  (as a sidenote, I can't buy EVERY quilt book out there.  There are so many now, and most are good.  I usually check them out from my local library first and if I love it, then I consider buying it.)

The pattern is a modern take on the log cabin.  If you look closely, you can see each block is made up of small log cabin blocks.

I quilted it in circles, first seen here, except I tried to do it free-motion, and it's kind of sloppy.  I feel a little bad about that, but not bad enough to not give it away.

 Bound in a pretty orange, (looks like mac and cheese), which worked perfectly with the other prints. 

 The strawberries from this line are my favorite, so I used the pink ones on the back.