Finished Baby Quilt!

This quilt was the perfect remedy for the creative funk I've been in.  It was a fast, simple project, and I LOVE how it turned out.

The pattern was inspired by this book, which is no longer in print.  As an aside, this was my first quilting book ever purchased.  I made a quilt for my niece when she was first born --- she just turned 16 last November!

The block is called a rail fence block and is super easy.  I'm thinking about putting together a short tutorial, because this would make a great beginner's project.  The size is manageable -- it finished at 40" x 52, so  a generous sized baby/toddler quilt.

The fabric is from the Meadowlark collection, designed by Denyse Schmidt for JoAnn's.  I love the combination of these particular shades of blue and orange.  The backing is also from the same collection, but is just different enough to add an interesting element.



And finally, here is a detail shot of the quilting.  It's a little bit difficult to see, but I did a simple little squiggle time continuous line on all the pattern pieces, and just a plain outline on the white solid.

 
 
ADDENDUM (6/16): I just found out about the Summer Sewing Contest at Ellison Lane Quilts.  There are four categories: quilts, bags, clothing, and home decor.  Sounds like fun!

Meadowlark Rail Fence Baby Quilt - WIP Wednesday

It's getting past my bed time, but I wanted to get this post up in time for WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  Since I'm so tired, just some eye candy for now with the deets to follow at a later date...

Bloggers' Quilt Festival!

If you're looking for some quilt eye-candy, go over to the Bloggers' Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side.  There is some absolutely AMAZING quilting going on over there.  It might become quite a time suck going through the huge number of links, but it's well worth the time for some great inspiration.

Now, to my entry... After kicking around some ideas, I decided to submit my Punctuation quilt:

This is my absolute favorite quilt I've made to date, because of all the crisp, bright colors.  It was also the first quilt where I felt my piecing technique had improved immensely.  The quilting process was also very gratifying, as I was able to use both straight-line and free-motion quilting in different sections of the quilt.  Finally, it just happened to be my 100th post!   For full details about the quilt, you can go here.

The lovely thing is that my youngest son, now 5 1/2, uses it every night!  What better reward than that?

And Just Like That...

...two months are gone.  As my 5-year-old likes to say when he loses something, "Poof, it just disappeared."

I'm trying to recall what happened to those two months since my last post.  I think we just got really busy, as a family and also individually with work.  I didn't have much time for sewing, and I wasn't wholly enthusiastic about the project I was working on.  Also, like anything else, blogging works best if it's part of a routine and habit.  Our routine (or lack thereof) was so hectic, I fell out of the habit.

On to sewing, I completed this quilt top for my second-grader and will hopefully have it quilted before the summer is out.

I have to be honest and say I didn't love making the blocks for this quilt.  I had a really difficult time getting the blocks to be the same size.  To top it all off, my finished blocks were about 1/4 of an inch smaller than indicated on the directions.  It wasn't a big deal, because the blocks were all consistently smaller.  BUT, it makes me question my 1/4" seam measurement.  I kept measuring and re-measuring, and doing test blocks, but to no avail.

Despite my measuring difficulties, I like the final result.  The fabric is Sweetwater's Hometown.  The quilt is actually from a kit purchased through the Fat Quarter Shop.  What can I say?  Kits appeal to me.  I want to find a yellow print for the backing, the same yellow as the polka-dot arrows.

It was a little breezy, so I couldn't get the quilt to hold still!  You get the idea, though.

As I'm now done with the quilt top, I'd like to pass the pattern on to someone else.  So, if anyone would like this pattern, shoot me a quick e-mail at elvycrafts(at)gmail.com, and I'd be happy to send it you.  Don't forget to include your mailing address.

Almost forgot, I'm linking up to Sew Happy Geek's Monday Linky Party!