Quilts for the Grand Daughters

Time is getting short!  My daughter is expecting her second baby this month and we had a wonderful visit with them after Thanksgiving.  I made a wall quilt for the nursery and now that it's been delivered, I can finally share it with you here.  They hadn't finished painting the walls yet when we were there, so we weren't able to hang the quilt, but at least it's in their hands, ready to go.

I started with a pattern called Chubby Chicks by Black Mountain Needleworks because I just fell in love with these adorable chicks.  I opted to do the borders differently though, and changed the number of blocks to make it the size I wanted. 

The nursery color scheme is coral and aqua, and the wall color is light aqua, so this should coordinate nicely.  I used white Bella Solid for the background, and assorted aqua and coral prints for the pinwheels and chicks.  The chicks are machine blanket-stitched after fusing them in place using a method of applique I learned from Krista at Poppyprint, (click here for a link).

I got a little more daring with my quilting on this one, and love how it finally turned out.  The chick's tail feathers didn't stand out quite enough, so I added a little colored shading with my water-color pencils.

For the back, I had the perfect fabric already in my stash, just waiting for the right project to come along.  Perfect little aqua birds.  Just had to use this one!

Can't wait to see it on the wall when the nursery is finished.  And it will be soon, because this baby could come any time now.

And her big sister got some new things for her room too!  I shared her quilt with you a while ago, and then proceeded to make a pair of Roman Shades to match, using Joel Dewberry's Aviary, Sparrow in Plum.

They look great in her newly painted purple bedroom, and you can see the corner of her new quilt on the bed as well.  She loves her new purple room.

An Aviary Quilt

My three-year-old granddaughter has a new bedroom in a new house and needs a quilt for her new "big girl bed".

 She decided (with her mother's help) on Joel Dewberry's Aviary 2 in Lilac collection.  I took the liberty of adding some fabrics from my stash to the mix.  It's a simple quilt, made up of 6" squares, and I used a light pink from Lotta Jansdotter's Glimma collection for the binding.

I found the backing fabric at Needles Quilt Shop and the colors are a perfect match.

I quilted this one on my Juki sewing machine and used an all-over grid-based design.  Kind of a whirly-gig kind of thing.  I was apprehensive about quilting a full-size quilt on a sit-down machine, but by starting in the center and breaking the quilt into quarters, it was really quite manageable!  I stitched continuously in a manner I learned in a class at MQX, so only had to stop when I ran out of bobbin thread.

I used cotton batting, and I washed and dried it when I was finished, so it's a little more puckered now from the slight shrinkage - but this quilt will get lots of use, so I wanted to put it through it's first wash before I deliver it.

Now I'm making a pair of Roman Shades to match the quilt, using the purple fabric with aqua sparrows.  A little "out-of-my-normal-comfort-zone" type of project, but with the help of this tutorial, I think it will work out just fine.

Cheers!

Another New Project

I've had this Zip Pocket Pouch pattern for quite a while now, but had yet to try it.  It's another one of KeykaLou's Patterns (Michelle's Patterns).  The pattern includes 3 sizes and this is the medium.  It's about 4" x 6" and includes a zippered pocket for cash, credit cards, or anything else you want to store securely, plus a slip pocket that's the perfect size for a cell phone.  (I don't have an iPhone, but made a cardboard mockup that's the same size as an actual iPhone so you can see how it fits).  There's plenty of room, so I'm pretty sure this would also work for some of the larger phones.  The top folds down and the whole thing stays securely closed with a velcro flap, so there's no chance of loosing anything.  I really like this pattern and will probably make some to go along with the laptop sleeves I showed you earlier this week.  I'll post the details here when I have some ready to list in my Etsy shop.

Fabrics are from Joel Dewberry's Aviary2 collection - Lodge Lattice & Damask.

New Laptop Sleeve

My daughter asked me to make a sleeve for her new laptop computer.  It seemed like a simple enough project that I could probably design something myself, but then I saw this pattern and thought "Why reinvent the wheel?".  Michelle (also known as KeykaLou) had already designed a very nice looking sleeve and for just a few dollars I could have  her pattern downloaded in a matter of minutes and save myself tons of time.  I'm so glad I did, because I really like the looks of this sleeve.  As usual, Michelle's pattern is easy to follow, and very stylish.  I've used several of her patterns, and haven't been disappointed yet.

The pattern is designed for a 13" MacBook Pro, but will fit a variety of brands as long as the dimensions are close in size.  I love the dart detail in the corners - makes it lay nice and flat so it's easy to insert the computer into the sleeve.  I used fabrics from Joel Dewberry's Aviary 2 collection - Damask for the outside, and Lodge Lattice for the lining.  Now I just have to drop this in the mail, and hope my daughter likes it!

I'm thinking about making some of these to list in my Etsy Shop - do you think they'd sell???