WIP Wednesday and a Goal for March

Things have been pretty quiet here. After I finished my Modern Crosses quilt, I didn't feel like jumping into another project until my sewing room was back to its organized self. So I spent a bit of time cleaning up - the room and my sewing machine, put my scraps away and then I stayed away from the sewing machine for the weekend.

And then Monday night, my sweet daughter reminded me that I had promised a baby quilt for her favourite teacher. I wasn't provided with lots of direction other than it's a boy and the mother does NOT want a blue quilt.

So I went to the Moda Bakeshop and grabbed the PDF for a quilt pattern by the wonderfully talented Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs.

I decided to use fabric scraps and leftover pieces from other baby quilts I worked on recently.

Within an hour or so, I had all my pieces cut and ready to sew...

I started piecing this evening and I am making really good progress! If you have a baby quilt in your future, I highly recommend this tutorial. Lots of fun and it comes together super easily.

I will be linking up at Lee's for WIP Wednesday and since this little project is A Must Finish before the end of the month, I am also linking up for A Lovely Year of Finishes and making this my goal for March.

I should be back soon with a finished top!

Izzy

 

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A Modern Crosses Finish

Well, I did it! At the beginning of February, for A Lovely Year of Finishes, I said I wanted to finish Modern Crosses this month and I had to stay up a little late this week, but it's done.

And I LOVE it! :-)

There are numerous different fabrics in there, as well as some Kona Snow. The blocks finish in three different sizes: 3", 6" and 12". The quilt was designed by Elizabeth Hartman who blogs at Oh, Fransson! Elizabeth also teaches this particular quilt pattern in her Craftsy class (which I really, really like!).

The backing is a more traditional print which I have had in my stash forever. I also used a few of the leftover blocks to piece the label right into the backing.

The binding is a really cool chevron print.

I quilted spirals in different sizes. I like the curves of the spirals against the sharp lines and angles of the piecing. And the quilting was really quick and easy with my FMQ foot. They are not perfect, but they are good enough and they give the quilt a really nice texture.

Modern Crosses measures 60" square and will most likely live on the living room couch, just waiting for someone to snuggle with while watching TV.

Linking up at Crazy Mom Quilts, My Quilt Infatuation, Mila and Cuatro for TGIFF and at ALYOF.

Have a great weekend!

Izzy

 

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Alexia's Quilt is done!

The first of the twin baby quilts is all finished! I tried to have both done for today, but my sweetie offered to take me out for sushi tonight so I only had time for one quilt. :-)

I plan on getting the second one done when I get back from the cottage Sunday night.

So here is Alexia's quilt...

I'm really sorry about the crap photo, but I won't be able to get a good picture until the weekend and I really wanted to tell you about this finish.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I used a MBS tutorial for this baby quilt and it was super quick and easy to put together. I went with a Deb Strain charm pack (Always and Forever) and a very small print for the background (can't remember the collection unfortunately). The binding is Kona Bubblegum.

The back is a super soft flannel by Cloud 9. It is absolutely divine! It measures 40" square before washing.

My sweetie and I spoke to the twins' mother tonight to see when we could visit and we found out baby Olivia came home today, but Alexia is still struggling... So if you are the praying type, please say a little prayer tonight for baby Alexia. I know their mother is really anxious to have them both home.

I'll be back on Sunday with Olivia's finished quilt!

Linking up at these wonderful blogs this week:

• My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
• Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday
• Amy's Crafty Shenanigans for TGIFF

And then I'll spend a few hours getting inspired by all the wonderful projects in the linky parties! You should too! :-)

Have a great weekend!

Izzy

 

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WIP Wednesday - A Parade of Quilt Tops

It's been slow going over here. It feels like I haven't finished anything in ages. And I haven't been feeling really good lately either. I'm sick and tired of winter, I miss the warm sunshine and I've had it with the snow already (we just got another few centimeters today!)...

Anyhow, enough of that.

For WIP Wednesday this week, I have 3 finished tops to share.

First up, I appliqued the name on the Vintage Modern baby quilt for twin baby Olivia. I absolutely love this little quilt and can't wait to have it all finished.

Then, I got started with the quilt for baby number 2: little Alexia. For this one, I used Always and Forever by Deb Strain. In my last post, someone suggested I use the same pattern for the second quilt and I think it was a brilliant idea. :-)

I ordered a super soft flannel for the backing for both quilts and will be using Kona Bubblegum for the binding. I can't wait to see them all quilted and done.

And finally, I finished piecing my Modern Crosses top. This quilt top is one of my all-time favourites. I love the colours and the pattern is so much fun.

When I got home from work today, I pieced the back and I hope to sandwich and start quilting it tomorrow night after work. With any luck, my sweetie will be able to have his Saturday afternoon nap snuggled under this quilt this weekend.

What about you? Do you have lots of WIPs? Head over to Lee's and link up!

Happy Wednesday!

Izzy

 

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WIP Wednesday - A Vintage Modern Baby Quilt

My sweetie's ex-wife gave birth to twin girls about a week ago. I cannot imagine giving birth to twins at 40, but I am also super happy for her and her new husband. The twins were born at 33 weeks and they are tiny and will likely stay in the hospital for a few more weeks.

When I saw the pictures of these beautiful little girls wrapped in those ugly hospital blankets, I knew I had to make them little quilts for when they are taken out of the incubators.

So I searched for quick charm square friendly baby quilt patterns and immediately found one I loved on the Moda Bakeshop.

For this first quilt, I used a charm pack of Bonnie and Camille's Vintage Modern. I love the colours... So sweet and happy and girly!

I plan on adding the name at the top and will quilt it with a soft all-over meander. I love the texture and it's super fast.

Then I need to find another quick pattern for the other twin's quilt!

And what are you working on this week?

Will be linking up at Lee's for WIP Wednesday.

Thank you so much for visiting!

Izzy

 

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Paper-Piecing Adventures

You might remember that I signed up for Don't Call Me Betsy's Lucky Stars BOM a little while ago. Paper-piecing is a technique I really want to get better at because you can achieve such amazing results with it.

When I packed for the weekend at the cottage this week, I decided to pack the materials I would need to make a couple of paper-pieced stars... The January and February 2014 blocks to be exact.

For the 2014 stars, I decided to use the Little Apples fat quarter bundle I purchased a long time ago. I wasn't sure the bigger prints would work with paper-piecing, but I went ahead anyways.

Here is my January star: The Sparkling Star...

I had a few problems getting the seams to lie flat because there is A LOT of bulk where those seams meet, especially in the middle. So the results aren't as nice as I had hoped. In addition to the bulky seams, all those bias edges really stretched on me so there is a lot of wavy stuff going on here. Lesson learned with this block: buy startch!

And this is the February star: The Shazam Star...

I am a lot happier with this one. However, the seams don't all match. This could be the bias edges again so this might be resolved in the future by using starch when I press the finished units.

For the 2013 stars, I am using a Fig Tree & Co. Fabric collection. This is the January star:

The February Star:

And the March star:

I haven't decided yet if these stars will ever get sewn together into a quilt, but they are amazing practice.

Do you paper-piece? If yes, do you have any tips for me? I would love to read them so leave them in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by!

Izzy

 

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WIP Wednesday - The February Goal-Setting Edition

I haven't done much quilting since I finished Heather's baby quilt last week. I spent most of the weekend relaxing, watching TV and spending time with family.

But last night, I got back to my Modern Crosses quilt. You might remember I started piecing these really fun blocks a couple of months ago, but then had to put them aside as I was sewing for Christmas and making baby quilts.

I have all the blocks pieced now and even have some laid out on my design "floor". :-)

If you took Elizabeth Hartman's Craftsy class, you might remember this quilt, except I decided to make the lap size version.

Will be linking up at Lee's for WIP Wednesday... You should too! :-)

And because these blocks have been hanging around my sewing room for long enough now, I am making this quilt my goal for February over at ALYOF.

What are you working on these days?

Izzy

 

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