WIP Wednesday and Some Finishes

First things first, I have two finishes this week!  Here's my first finish:



This was a birthday quilt for #1's eighth birthday, which was last week. I couldn't quite get it done for the big day, but that's OK, there was plenty going on celebration-wise.

I used a star-and-loop all over pattern.  I wanted to keep it simple and boy-centric but also something that he would not grow out of.  Mr. Elvy helped me with the quilting again -- I quilted the first half, and he finished the rest.



This quilt turned out to be perfect for a twin-sized bed.  The fabric is Hometown by Sweetwater for Moda, except for the backing, which is from Sweetwater's Reunion collection.

And, here's my second finish:



I won't say too much about this one, as I already talked about it in my last post. However, I was able to get it bound relatively quickly so I'm happy about that.

 Last, but not least, I started putting together a new bag for our upcoming trip this summer. It's a mash-up of previous bags, using elements that I particularly liked from those patterns. I'll post the deets when I get it finished, hopefully by week's end!



I'm linking again this week to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced -- go check out this linky party for some inspiration!

A Hunky Dory Snowball Quilt

Another quilt, almost done!  This quilt was actually one of the first quilts I had ever pieced, but it's taken me this long to get it quilted.

Actually, I have a confession.  I cannot take credit for the quilting.  Mr. Elvy actually did the quilting for me, using this beast of a machine.  Pretty awesome, huh?

He used an all-over pantograph curlicue type pattern.  It only took about 1 1/2 hours to quilt, which is probably about a fraction of the time it would have taken me to do on my home sewing machine. 

The fabric is an old collection called Hunky Dory, designed by Chez Moi for Moda Fabrics.  Actually, I bought this as part of a beginner's type quilting kit.

Here's the quilt all folded up, minus the binding that I still need to complete.

I love the floral pattern for the backing. The quilting doesn't show up real well, as the thread Mr. Elvy used was pretty close in color to the background.

And, just one last gratuitous detail shot.

I'm linking up today with Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet at Lily's Quilts!

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!

Hometown Squares

I can't believe it's already Wednesday! It's been so crazy busy around here, I feel scattered in so many directions. I have also been between projects -- with my long list of things I want to make, I've had a difficult time choosing which one to tackle next. I have a lot of Sweetwater's Hometown in my stash, so I thought this would be a good place to start:

So far, I only have four of these arrow blocks made. Only another 44 to go! I do like the gray on cream much better than I thought I would. This one will be for my eldest, hopefully for his birthday in June when he turns 8 (yikes). Of course, he'd rather have a Nintendo DS, but it's not a birthday, in my opinion, unless it involves something handmade!

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced!