crosswalk quilt

 

We are enjoying a long fallish summer here in Denver, and the leaves are resisting the urge to drop, but I fear our beautiful weather is going to end soon.  We've been trying to enjoy it while we can, so I haven't been sewing as much as I should (I have a few gifts I must finish up in the next week). 

  I was able to bind this custom baby quilt last night, and it's a new favorite (isn't it that way with every quilt?).  Inspiration for this quilt is here.

I went bold on the backing...really bright orange. 

and bound in an aqua dot.

oh, and besides the weather, I've been on a puzzle kick lately...my husband thinks it's a really boring time waster, but I love it.

winner!

And now the winner of the GO! Fabric Cutter is #259--  

Michie who said, "I have been itching to make a hexagon quilt but all of the cutting is pretty daunting. I would love to be able to use the Go!"

please contact me Michie (nettiepete at gmail dot com) to claim your prize!

(thanks everyone for entering, I wish I could offer one to each of you.)

And a sneak peak at a baby quilt I started as a custom order.  We've since decided to go with a different design, but I still really like this one, so I'll probably finish it up and save it for the next baby gift I need.  (wouldn't it be nice to have one ready when a baby shower comes up!)

GO! Fabric Cutter giveaway--contest closed.

I was able to sew up my tumbler quilt top this past weekend, and I am really loving it.  it went together like a dream. All my corners matched up with no forcing of seams.  it was wonderful.

now, the giveaway...the good folks over at accuquilt have offered up a Go! Fabric Cutter plus 3 dies of your choice for one lucky winner! 

contest closed!!!
to enter, leave a comment and I'll pick a winner next Monday, October 11th.  

Good luck, one comment per person please.

and in case you haven't heard, there is a new Go! baby cutter.  i haven't used it, but i think it's adorable.  you can see more here.

little bag

 big things are happening around here, my daughter lost her first tooth!  very exciting.  we decided to make a little bag to put the tooth in for the tooth fairy. 

what is it about a little bag that is so fun to put treasures in??

this bag measures about 4 inches square

i might be catching a "bag making bug".  this is really fun, and i can think of so many other uses, plus I love to see my kids toting them around.

ruffle bonnet

last thursday was nursery rhyme day at my daughter's school.  she was little bo peep. 

 i made this bonnet, and thought it turned out really cute, and it was soooo easy. i'm not really much of a maker of things other than quilts, but this was really easy.

 i used the tutorial found here, and adjusted it a bit to make it bigger.

go! fabric cutter

Have you seen the Go! Fabric Cutter?  It's making quite a showing around blogland, so I was thrilled to get my hands on it and give it a go.  

The way it works is you run dies through the machine, they come in all shapes...almost anything you could hope for, and almost like magic it cuts your fabric for you.

I decided to really give the tumbler die a try.  I love tumbler quilts, but am lazy about cutting them out (you can see a great tumbler quilt on the box).

I find that it easily cuts 4 pieces of fabric at once.  You stack the fabric over the die (for this particular die, I use pieces of fabric that are about 8 inches square).

Then you place a cutting mat over the fabric (you will have a fabric sandwich).

Roll the "sandwich" (die, fabric, mat) through the machine (my kids LOVE to help with this part).

and just like that, you have the perfect tumbler block, 4 of them actually.

I have heard concern about the fabric wastage, I don't like to waste fabric either, so my solution is to cut the pieces as shown above.  All I will throw away is the top tiny piece, the rest will go to my scrap bin.  I quilt most often using scraps, so this works perfect for me.

this is what I am working on.  A rabbits and race-cars quilt.  I'm excited, I am debating on how large to make it.  I think it will be a smaller lap size for my 3 year old, maybe for Christmas.  I'm sure he won't be thrilled about it, but I don't think I want to give this one away.

I also tried out the hexagon cutter and tried piecing them with a machine, which can be tricky with those 3 seams coming together...but I found it to be much easier than I thought.  

There are lots of strings, but those can easily be snipped.

I have really had fun with this machine, look for a giveaway coming soon.  You can have one too! 

tuttle quilt

i almost feel like this post is unnecessary, since this quilt looks almost exactly like another quilt i made several years ago--i rarely make such similar quilts, but i had left over blocks from the first quilt, and i really liked that quilt and wanted to use those blocks, so i made another...i like this one just as much.

this quilt is for a friend's (who i don't see as often as i'd like) brand new baby here in denver.  i hope he likes it.  

i used a blue pindot on the back.  i love blue.  i also love zigzag quilts, and i have never made one to keep.  i'm thinking maybe one for a bed.  zigzags would look great on a bed...