Quilt Market - Cowboy Quilt

A couple months ago I was sent some fabrics by Windham Fabrics -- with the goal in mind to make a mini quilt for their booth at quilt market. Well, when I signed up I wasn't quite expecting the fabrics I recieved. Cowboy fabric is not exactly my favorite thing. But I'd agreed to do the project (and on a tight pre-market timeline I couldn't leave them hanging)... so I made a mini. 

My quilt uses the Weather-vane quilt block (inspiration here). When I sat down to make the quilt, without feeling initially inspired by the cowboy themed fabric, I went to my "Quilt blocks to try" pinterest board. I always find that helpful. At least I tried a new block. 

I quilted it with a stretched meander and sent it on it's way. This quilt was hung with the other mini's in the Windham Fabrics booth at Quilt Market. I know I've seen pictures of it there, but I can't seem to find any of them online. So rather than make you see the blurry "screenshot from instagram" pics, these are all my own pics. 

Finished size: 18" x 18"

Jaybird Quilts Sew Along!

I almost forgot! Head on over to Sara's blog to see my stop on the Jaybird Quilts Sew Along! I made the Mini Disco quilt! This little guy measures in at just 12.5" x 15.5" and it was a lot of fun to make!

Hello old friend...

Today I had a day off. 

(I've been so behind on blogging recently that you all don't even know that I'm working full time again now. No more 2.5 days a week. :( but on the plus side that means we have an easier time making our bills!) 

Part of my new sewing area! Bigger table, tiny stash shelf, drawers of notions. I also kept my old wardrobe for big storage.

I shouldn't blame the lack of sewing / blogging on the increase in work hours... but I guess that contributed. 

Sewing table! My new table is so much bigger -- that's an 18" x 26" mat. Whew!

Also - we moved! Whew - I'll be glad if I don't have to do that again anytime soon!

Today while Allie was at school (a new, fabulous, awesome school -- the major reason we moved)... I finally sorted out my sewing space. It's a shared space with our bedroom - which luckily is a nice big room with lots of sunlight!

Jelly Belly's help with FMQing!

So. I sewed today. 

I grabbed a "project bag" of scraps that I'd sorted by color palate way back before the move, and I set off to make a doll quilt. No sense in trying to tackle any huge project right off -- it had been more than two weeks since I'd sewn, and never before in this house -- so simple and non-thinking seemed about right.

I really wished I had had more of the Moda Bella Strawberry, but those little bits were literally the last bits I had on hand! Other than that I love how this turned out. I used only what was in the project bag, and those were tiny scraps! 

I managed to finish the quilt with enough time to take pictures before Allie got home from school! This little one finished at about 11" x 15" 

Hopefully this is the start back to quilting several times a week, and blogging just as often! :) Thanks for bearing with me while I got my stuff together!

Free Piecing

I really want to teach a modern miniatures class on free piecing.

Tula Pink Topiary in Sprout

You might not be able to tell, but this bit of free piecing was inspried by the color palate of this "bossy" fabric! I really love the colors and didn't think I had anything to match it. I was wrong! Now I wish I had enough of this fabric to back the mini -- but I only have little scraps left!

FMQ heals us. Peter Joseph's quilt.

Peter always our precious and loved child.

A quilt for baby Peter.

Is it a good thing to say that I had a good cry before starting to free motion quilt today (a couple weeks ago, admitedly it took me a while to finish it)?

I knew it would happen. I knew I'd cry at some part of this process. I'm sewing a bereavement quilt. It's a teeny baby quilt for a teeny baby.

Peter Joseph passed away only a few days after birth, but the grief of losing him is strong for my friend Nick and his wife Lauren.

Admittedly I haven't been very good at keeping in touch with Nick. Years back we worked together leading bible camps for kids - we traveled in a group of just four of us throughout the diocese of Fargo. We all grew a lot that summer, and those friendships won't fade even in the years we may go without connecting. When I heard the news that Peter had been born via emergency c-section at just 24 weeks my heart just broke for them. They've had the greatest joy and the hardest grief all in one week.

There's not a lot that I can do but pray. And sew, yes I can sew. I got set right away, on some teeny tiny nine patches (nine patches finishing at just 3" each), and a fairly modern color scheme with a traditional and tiny pattern. Even little Peter is loved enough to need a quilt.

Maybe this quilt will help Nick and Lauren grieve, maybe it'll end up in a box somewhere. It doesn't matter too much, it's only a quilt. What matters is that they'll know that I sat and prayed while I sewed this for their most precious little boy.

For the souls of the faithfully departed, by the mercy of God, may they rest in peace.

Rest in peace Peter. You're loved.

Sweet tiny mini quilts!

I've been spending the past week or two working little by little one some tiny quilts. I finished two of them up last night. 

First up I have a tiny string quilt - the blocks measure just 2.5" square. These blocks were the practice blocks for my Doll Quilt Swap 11 quilt which I had sent to Maria. I had set these blocks aside in an envelope marked "make a doll quilt for myself like Maria's DQS." I finally did it. Of course I didn't have the same amount of blocks, or the fancy teeny NY Beauty for the back like the one I made for Maria did, but it's still pretty fun. 

The blocks are floating in a border of natural linen, backed with orange solid and bound with a fabulously bossy Anna Maria Horner print. I'm really pretty happy with this little guy. The quilting could have gone a bit smoother. I used a thicker batting than normal (some sample that I had, I'm not sure what it was), that and the linen paired with the fact that I don't have a working walking foot meant I had a little bit of stretching happen. Nothing too bad, and it has relaxed a bit today and is less noticeable, but it's annoying. 

The second mini has been pieced and quilted for a couple weeks now. I've been trying to get a minute to bind it, and that finally happened last night! This one is a tiny baby quilt - for my college friend. I'll do the full reveal later this week since it has a deeper story.