Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Pillows

The back, quilted with wavy lines

Close up view of the hearts

This was a really fun pillow to make!

  Holly helped me to arrange all of the hearts in a heart shape.  It didn't work to fuse them onto the fabric as I had planned, so I pinned each one carefully, and then machine appliqued around each edge in matching thread.

We spend lots of time at our dining room table, drawing and coloring.

Sometimes my little artists will ask to color a picture "from the computer."

So we'll google " ______ coloring pages."

They fill in the blank with castles, kittens, turtles, or this month, HEARTS!

Pillow Inspiration!

This pillow was also done with machine appliqued felt hearts,

but then I added a bunch of hand embroidered hearts too.

Holly and Lexi are thrilled that they each have a Valentine's Day Pillow!

Linking up to: 

Quilt Story Block Party

I decided to make a couple of blocks for the block party!

The first block is called 'monkey wrench."  I used a pattern from an old Block of the Month club I participated in at my local quilt shop a few years ago.  I'm not sure where these blocks are headed yet -- maybe into a quilt with lots of polka dot scraps?!

For the contest, I think I will enter it into the "traditional" block category, even though I used modern fabrics.

The next block goes into the "creative" category.  I just love pennant quilts, and wanted to try free piecing to see if it would "work" -- rather than using machine applique like I usually do.  It's a little crazy and wonky, but it was fun to just pull scraps, sew things together, and see how it looked!  Here it is:

Scrappy Pennant Block

I couldn't resist, I just love Rick Rack!

I could put together a tutorial for either of these blocks, if anyone is interested!

Happy Turtle

Wouldn't this drawing make a cute quilt?

I found a wonderful surprise in the mail on Friday

-- a copy of Scandinavian Stitches.

Susanne from Susanne Loves had a giveaway a few weeks ago, and I won.

The book is wonderful, and now I can't stop creating cute little appliqued quilts in my head.  Thanks Susanne!

I think a turtle in a garden might be my first project.

Holly's Quilt

I started this quilt sometime in 2005, when I was pregnant with Holly & Lexi.

  I loved the Amy Butler Ginger Bliss line of fabric, so I bought lots of different coordinating prints--in both blue and pink--as we had decided not to find out the sex(es) of our babies.  When I was nearly 24wks pregnant, I left the house in a hurry for a routine appointment, with fabric for this quilt (and many other projects) laid out all over our basement.  I had been feeling great, and was shocked to find out that I was in pre-term labor.  I was immediately admitted to the hospital and started on multiple drugs to slow down my contractions.  It was a very scary and frustrating time.  I spent the next 2+ months in the hospital, and (finally) delivered two healthy baby girls at 34 weeks.  

We were in the process of moving at the time, so my aunt and sister-in-law lovingly packed up everything in our basement (my beautiful quilt squares!) and moved it to our new house.

 Sadly, I never did get to make baby quilts for my little girls.

But it was all worth it.   I love them more than anything!

When the girls were a little older, I started quilting again.

Mostly at naptime, sometimes after their bedtime.

And even on a couple of occasions with one of them in a Baby Bjorn, asleep!  

After we moved again, (back to St. Paul), I found all of these beautiful Amy Butler fabrics and quilt blocks, and decided to put them together into a full sized quilt for Holly's "big girl" bed.  Lexi likes red, not the pastels in these fabrics, so she has a different quilt for her bed (see this post).  

So several years later, the quilt is finally finished!

I used a pattern written by the ladies at Quilter's Courtyard (local quilt shop, it has since closed).  For the quilting I did a loopy, swirly design, my second try at free motion quilting. 

Holly loves it.

Sliced Coins Quilt Along Progress

This ended up being kind of a "scrap" quilt -- I used up lots of pieces of Amy Butler's Ginger Bliss fabric that I've had forever -- leftovers from when I made Holly's quilt.  This quilt is planned for her room, a "cuddling up in a cozy chair while reading a book" kind of quilt.

Work in Progress

I finished the Easy Double Hourglass Quilt top, and I love it!

 It looks different from the photos last week -- I decided to add the large polka dot fabric to make it brighter and more fun.

But now I can't decide how to quilt it!

Straight lines running diagonally?
Wavy lines? (I love how Lee did wavy line quilting here!)

Free motion quilting?

Spiraling circles in the middle of each square?