done!

second finish for the year. one of the Christmas quilts is done!

i'm so ecstatic, this one gave me tons of fits in every way possible but i learned a lot from it. it's in the washer right now so I can't wait to see how it comes out! i think i'm going to lay this on her bed for when she gets home today, i can't wait for Valentine's day! i have an ER clinical tonite and won't be home when she gets home from school so i think that she will love coming home to this surprise on her bed. don't have measurements yet, will post them when its out of the wash.

quilty goodness!

ok, so i've been a busy little bee working on quilts and such. i was playing with a little of this


and FINALLY got one of the 2 christmas quilts quilted and the binding stitched to the front


i did a really crappy job on this one, it only puckered in one place but i didn't sew all the strips as straight as i thought and there was some fullness in the top. i did some really wonky lines as quilting, hopefully when it's washed it'll be decent looking. i'm hoping to get the binding hand stitched to the back today. it's going to be a Valentine's Day gift for my Lexi girl.

purchased!

I finally got my butt in gear and bought the fabric to finish the elusive quilts I had planned on getting done for Christmas gifts. Arcadia is becoming VERY hard to find and by the time I got around to buying the backing fabric I couldn't find exactly what I wanted so this is what I ended up with:

The backing:


And the binding:


I did try to look for solids that would match but Arcadia is VERY hard to match :/

For my daughter's quilt I plan on heading to Joann's to try and find a solid that will match, I pieced a strip of charms to go on the back so I don't want anything busy for the back, a solid bright pink is sounding pretty good to me!

And as always, both will be batted with Warm and Natural/White, haven't decided if I wanted to do natural on my daughters quilt yet, I think White might be best.

So I have 2.5 yards of the backing coming, 1 yard of binding, and already have the yard of binding needed for my daughters quilt but anticipate getting another 2 yards to back hers.

WAHOO!!! QUILTING HERE I COME!!! Oh, and I bought myself a new rotary cutter, the blade would pop back up on my old one with very little pressure. I got a different style this time, let's hope it works for me!

are you ready for this post?!?!?!

You really sure, I really don't want you passing out at the fact I've completed TWO(!) yes, TWO quilt tops in a matter of just a few weeks. I'm the queen of procrastination, that's just how I roll, so doing BOTH of these while I still have a quilt sandwich sitting as a UFO in my shed, is not something to balk about.

This is my son's quilt, it's made using a variation of the disappearing 9 patch. I used 4 Arcadia charm packs, I actually still have most of the 4th left and an unused fifth one, and about 2 1/2 yards of 36" wide natural muslin. I'm going to batt it using warm 'n natural so this way it doesn't show through the muslin. *please ignore my husbands shoes, in 7 years I've yet to sway the man from black gym shoes*


Now this is the girls quilt. It's made using a rail fence style but as you can see NOTHING matches up to be a rail fence :p And I'm ok with that! I had some seaming issues at the bottom so there are little button adornments to try and hide it, this is the misadventures of a beginner quilter after all! As you saw in the previous post I used rick rack and cotton lace to embellish it. My daughter did see it and loves it but she doesn't yet know it's for her. Made using 2 Soiree honey buns.


Very few left over pieces, maybe 5 or 6 squares, it wasn't enough for a full row. I did score a Soiree charm pack for $5.21(!) on ebay so I'm going to piece the back with those and possibly some white muslin. Maybe large pinwheels??

So is it everything y'all hoped for and more?!

i've got pictures!!!

Calm down!! I realize it's been a bit since I've had photos but don't panic, I've got some now. I've started putting the girls quilt together:



See those cute little butterfly pins? Joann's was having a 50% off quilting notions sale for the 4th so I bought them. They're longer and a little finer than my regular pins and they make a HUGE difference. Only problem, they're expensive, $3.99 for 40 of the butterflies. The flowers were $4.49 for 40.

And look at the little surprises! A little rick rack peeking through:


Some dainty pink cotton lace (on clearance so even more awesome!):


So far I've only had a couple seams not match up. Thinking of raiding my button stash for even more embellishment! It is for a little girl after all. I realize I didn't show you the second honey bun all stitched up, but I went for the quick route, I stitched together fabrics all in the same colorway. Boring yes, but so far it's looking like it was an awesome decision, really makes the quilt.

And the backing you ask?? I'm definitely going to piece it, going to see if I can score a layer cake for relatively cheap, if not I'll settle on a couple charm packs, border out the top and use the rest to piece the back. So, the majority of the back I'm thinking this:


And the binding I'm thinking this:


Oh and the boys' quilt top is finished :p No, you're not going to see it until I reveal the girls top! One BIG reveal post!! Haha! If I did that I'd be spoiling you all, I can't do that this early in the game, I need to keep you coming back somehow!

in my absence

I have been working on the girl's quilt! I got that second honey bun in and went to town. I got them all cut up into squares yesterday and have about 1/2 the rows assembled! I even threw in a little surprise on this quilt that wasn't planned. I'm hoping to get the rest of the rows assembled today and maybe, just maybe I'll sew all the rows together. Pics to come!

one honey bun down

I've stitched up one honey bun! I sewed them together into groups of 6 just randomly picking out fabric as I went along and I'm really pleased with the results. I have 4 strips left over so now I just have to wait for my other honey bun to finish it. I'm cutting these strips into 6 1/2 inch blocks and when the quilt is done the blocks will be 6 inches each.

Look at those gorgeous colors!


I just can't get enough!


Just dripping with scrappy goodness, seriously, how can you resist this?!

THE BIG REVEAL!!!!

Alrighty, here's the fabric! Now, there is one honey bun missing but I couldn't wait any longer to reveal the good stuff! There was a mix up with my order and I got some Joel Dewberry swatches that are very pretty and I just may have to buy for another quilt. I've already sewn 3 lengths of 6 strips from the honey bun and might not need that 2nd one but we'll see, I might just make some shams with them.

For the girls quilt I'm using Soire'e honey buns by Lila Tueller for Moda. This has got to be the sweetest fabric for any little girl! I'm doing a rail fence type quilt for this one as the strips are perfectly cut for it.





And for the boys quilt I'm using Arcadia by Sanae for Moda. I've chosen charm packs for this quilt and am doing a disappearing 9 patch. The solid squares are just unbleached muslin.





I'm SO excited to get these quilts underway and finished! My 1/4" foot came in today as well and I'm in love! I think my next purchase will be a darning/free motion foot, I'm getting an itch to stipple them myself.