Making Cats

A snowy day like this is just perfect for . . . . 

making cats!

This cat quilt along at Oh, Fransson is so much fun.
A new cat (with it's own name!) is released every day, from Dec 1st-25th.  I can't wait to pull up the website each morning and see what we get to make!  My girls are taking turns picking fabric for the cats, but I'm making one of each pattern myself, too.  I couldn't resist.

Meet Mia, Bernadette, Ferdinand, and Sunny.

I had to make a plain one, too -- this HR fabric was just perfect.

I'm tempted to make a whole quilt like this from my HR fabric stash!

Now I should really go cuddle with this cat!

(Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced)

Christmas Penny Patch Quilt

I'm so thrilled to be able to share my finished Penny Patch Quilt today!  A bundle of Hip Holiday Fabrics arrived in my mailbox two weeks ago, courtesy of Rachel and Sew Love Fabrics, as part of the Holiday Challenge at Stitched in Color. 

I took the quilt with me to Chicago for Thanksgiving, to finish up the binding.   And it was fun to find new spots for quilt photos at my in-laws' home.   The kids had fun trying to hold the quilt up in their favorite climbing tree, but it made me nervous!

Quilt Stats
Pattern: Penny Patch Quilt
Size: Throw, measuring 60"x72"
Fabrics: Hip Holiday plus a few different fabrics from my stash
Quilting: diagonal lines
Recipient: A very special family member!  (shhh)
  

(Quilt Back)

I also made a tiny sized Penny Patch quilt -- doll sized, really.  The smallest squares finish at one inch, the larger squares at 4 inches.

It's so cute!  Here's a close up photo:

 Happy December, everyone!

Works in Progress

 
Penny Patch progress:
I'm so much happier with this quilt after I took out the bold solids and dark brown prints.  It needed to be lighter -- like snow!  I spent an hour with my seam ripper (while watching The Good Wife, so it wasn't so terrible), and now I'm thrilled with how this quilt is coming together.  I have 4 more rows to sew, and then it's on to quilting!

November blocks for do. Good Stitches, finished:

I'm starting to think about Christmas gifts for teachers, and started a couple of Read Library Totes (pattern here).

Linking up to WIP Wed at Freshly Pieced!

Penny Patch Progress

This lovely bundle of Hip Holiday fabric (from Sew Love Fabrics) arrived in my mailbox this week--my prize as being chosen as one of the Holiday Challengers at Stitched in Color.

(Thanks so much, Rachel!)

I'm making a throw sized Penny Patch Quilt, as a Christmas gift for some very special people in my family.  This is such a fun and easy quilt to put together!

Here is my progress so far: 

After seeing this photo, I have decided:

1. the solids have to go -- I need more low volume prints!

2. the lighting in my sewing room is terrible!

3. I need a much bigger design wall!

I'm going to need to put this quilt together in quadrants -- I'm thinking 4 quadrants, of 5 x 6 blocks each -- then I'll piece the 4 quadrants together.  It never works for me to lay out quilt squares on the floor -- this little one has too much fun with my layout!

This car/tree print is my absolute favorite -- isn't it the best?!

Ok, back to sewing!

Scrappy Squares Quilt

What started out as this:

(a huge jar of 2 inch scraps!)

Has become this:

A twin sized quilt!

Here's more of the process:

My 7 yr old twins were the designers of this quilt.  I figured that it would be easy for them to put together granny square blocks using my jar of two inch scraps -- and it was!  They filled up my little design board with blocks (& sometimes the floor, too!) over and over again, taking time to find the perfect fabric each time.  I didn't rearrange anything that they had put together.  I offered advice now and then, but I really wanted them to "own" this quilt, and be able to put together whichever fabrics they loved!

I really had to think about how to put these blocks together!  Ultimately I decided to use the same layout I used on my Farmer's Wife Quilt -- alternating the blocks set squarely and on point.  It takes quite awhile to sew and then trim all of these blocks when setting them this way, but then the quilt top comes together really easily.

Quilted  with Aurifil 50wt thread, in diagonal lines.

I think I like the back almost as much as the front -- a huge granny square, in some of my favorite Amy Butler fabrics.  The binding is also Amy Butler, blue/gray dots.

Do you see the red ribbon near the top?  We entered our quilt into the Minnesota State Fair this year, in the "Quilts with more than 40 fabrics" category -- and it won 2nd place!  Can you imagine our excitement?!  This quilt definitely makes the summer of 2013 one to remember.

Linking up to the Blogger's Quilt Festival,

Scrap Quilt Category.

Be sure to visit all of the amazing quilts in this year's Festival

at Amy's Creative Side!

City Sampler Blocks

I've finished quite a few blocks for the

City Sampler Quilt Along recently . . . 

although it looks like I forgot to do block #55!  Bummer!

Linking up to the City Sampler Quilt Along

at Sew Sweetness!

An Improv Pillow Top

Inspiration:

(favorite artwork in my living room)

Pillow top:

Now, how to quilt it?!?!?

And do I need to make another one,

to have a matched set of pillows?  Hmmmm . . . . 

Let me know what you think!

Linking up to WIP Wed at Freshly Pieced!

Prettified Pincushion

Pattern: Prettified Pincushion 

(from Patchwork Please!)

Linking up to Zakka Along 2.0: Patchwork Please!

Before & After

Before:

After!

Yes, I used to carry around my embroidery projects in a yellow file folder.

Silly!

Isn't this pouch much more fun?!

The pattern is from the book Patchwork Please, although I changed the front a bit.  Rather than making the star patchwork in the pattern, I used up an orphan block that I had on my design wall.  This made the project much quicker!  My front block was 10 inches square, so I did have to change the size, just a bit. 
 
 On the back I quilted a few straight lines,
and added one of my labels.













Linking up to Zakka Along 2.0: Patchwork Please

City Sampler Catch-Up

I am way behind in sharing my blocks for the City Sampler Quilt Along!  Mostly I've been keeping up, with a few blocks skipped here and there -- but I hadn't taken photos of my blocks in months! So here are some catch-up photos (& more to come, soon!):

My kitty cannot resist a photo shoot!

My favorite block in awhile!

I'm still trying to sash each block as I go, so that the quilt will come together more quickly when the blocks are finished.  I'm doing the same kind of sashing I used on my Farmer's Wife Quilt.

I'm using Sugar Pop by Liz Scott for Moda, and Kona Snow for the sashing -- all leftovers from my Farmer's Wife Quilt!

Linking up to SewSweetness.