Crinkle love: Feed Company BOM

My Feed Company BOM quilt is done! It already been washed and snuggled with. I'm in love with it!

I have more photos posted on my Flickr account but I just wanted to share a few of my favorite here. Marion did the custom quilting and I have nothing but high praises for her work. She is truly awesome! I loved the quilting done on the original quilt so she mimicked it on mine. I'm so very very happy with it. If you have a quilt needed custom work please look her up. You won't be sorry!

Quilt Stats:
Feed Company Block of the Month by Sweetwater Fabrics
Started: December 2014
Completed: March 2016
Quilted by Marion McClellan

For those curious, the iron on designs do soften up quite a bit and get a bit more distressed in the wash. Just remember to wash them gently with cold water and let them air dry. After mine fully air dried I did toss it in the dryer for 10 minutes on low heat to soften it up a bit, but I wouldn't do more than that.

This quilt was part of my edited first quarter goals for the 2016 Finish Along. Well, 1 out of 3 ain't bad in my book. :)

2015 Finish: Feed Company BOM

My first finish of 2015!

I had cut the fabric a week or so ago but Sunday I got the urge to sew the quilt top together. I sewed the quilt top minus the borders that day and yesterday I put the borders on. I'm so pleased with how it came out!

I have no idea when this will be quilted. I plan on mimicking the quilting used on the original, so I need to save my pennies for a custom job. My hope is to have it quilted by the end of this year, but who knows if that will happen. But I'm so glad this is one quilt top I can cross off my list.

Jenny's Happy Quilt

One of my dear friends from high school is sick. And not getting over the flu kind of sick either. She's currently on kidney dialysis waiting to get a transplant but you wouldn't know it by looking at her. Her attitude is so positive and she is just so amazingly upbeat about the whole thing.

Whenever she gets the call that a kidney is available, she will travel to another state for the transplant and recovery. She will be there a few months until her doctors give her the ok to travel back. I wanted to make her a happy quilt to use during her future hospital visit but also during her dialysis appointments and basically, any time she wants to snuggle with something.

I went with a layer cake of High Street by Lily Ashbury. When I saw it, it screamed her name so I bought it. The binding is the small pink flowers in the same line.

The quilt is really simple. I laid out the layer cake pieces in a 6x6 square then sewed it all together. The remaining 6 layer cake pieces I sewed in a row for the back. I'm so sorry, I forgot to take a picture but I'll try to explain the back. I bought some soft tone on tone grey flannel from Joann's, enough for a 60x60 quilt. I sewed it so there was no middle seam but two seams along the sides, the remaining layer cake square are about 20" up from the bottom. I hope that makes sense. I may have to snag the quilt from Jenny for a few more photos to show you.

I quilted a simple X in each square using a pastel rainbow thread. It shows up beautifully on the back with the grey flannel. I used the same thread to attach the binding, except that I used a specialty stitch instead of the typical straight stitch. It adds the perfect touch and I'm just kicking myself for not taking more photos.

Next time we meet up for coffee I will have to hijack the quilt for more photos. Promise.

A Quilt for Lauren

I recently finished up a quilt for my niece. Actually, it's been finished since the baby shower back in April but I've been working on embroidering the quilt tag since she was born in July. It was touch and go at times, I would get tired or frustrated and have to put it away for a bit, but it turned out so well. I'm so happy, even if it did mean using my seam ripper a few times. :) I finished it up last week and gave it to her on my birthday. Who says you can't give gifts on your birthday? :)

The fabrics are a huge mix of designers and prints. They came from both my sister-in-law and myself, and the colors coordinate with the nursery perfectly. Her nursery colors are aqua, coral, and grey with a little yellow, green and pink thrown in.

My inspiration | source

It took while to find the right quilt pattern. I was considering doing a chevron pattern because the nursery has chevrons in it but I wanted something simple. Wasn't too keen on dealing with triangles and all that. ;) So when I saw this baby quilt from Red Pepper Quilts (above) I had my eureka moment. I particularly loved the quilting she did, it just made the whole thing.

I decided to copy that design but omit the solids simply because I love a patchwork quilt. You'll notice that I fussy cut a few rectangles featuring little girls. I got a fat quarter each of Posy by Aneela Hoey and Children at Play by Sarah Jane. I just loved the little girls and I wanted to include a few of the scenes.

I backed it with a soft green flannel that I got from Joann's. I definitely wanted a solid back to highlight the quilting and I thought flannel was a nice soft material for little toes and fingers. I used one layer of cotton batting because we live in the desert and I didn't want it to be too warm. The binding fabric also came from Joann's, can't remember the designer but it's in their premium quilting cotton section. I just love all the colors in this plaid, brings it all together nicely.

I have a secret to share with you, I didn't quilt it in one continuous line. I know I know, but let me explain. I must have started and ripped out 3-4 tries before I had to give up and walk away for a bit. Try as I might (even with guides and marks on the fabric) I could not get the corners to line up nicely in the quilting. So I cheated. I sewed all the vertical lines first, tied them off and buried the tails. Then I sewed all the horizontal lines, tied them off and buried the tails. The result? Near perfect corners every time.  I actually planned on mimicking the quilting from Red Pepper but I was so fed up with it by the time I finished that I left it as is. I think the simpler quilting worked out well.

When it came time to machine sew on the binding I had trouble again. I could not get a nice looking straight stitch to save me. So I switched to a decorative stitch and used my walking foot. Turned out great!

I was able to get at least one good photo of this sweet girl on the quilt. She's quite the wiggler! You can see the quilting a bit better too. Hard to believe she's already over 3 months old, time sure flies! :)

This quilt has been entered into the baby quilt category at Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Crib Bedding Set

In addition to patching up my husband's jeans and making my son big boy undies, I have been working on a labor of love.

One of the Bible teachers at our church is due in September with a little girl. I originally was going to make her a quilt, but when I found out she didn't have bedding I decided to add a sheet and dust ruffle to the mix.

Finished quilt size is about 36.5 inches by 38.5 inches

Backed the quilt in pink minky and added an embroidered tag.

I love these fabrics together. So sweet for a little girl

The blue fabric is my favorite

I did pleats on the two longest side and left the short sides plain

I ended up doing a double pleat because I miscalculated and had too much fabric

The sheet is made with the same green fabric in the quilt

I found a pink minky that closely matched the bumper, it's only a shade darker

The one and only time you'll see pink in my son's room

All bundled up for her baby shower

 The only thing I did not make was the bumper, I actually found that at a thrift store. I originally went in looking for one to recover but the Lord provided and gave me this pink one. I was/am so thankful for Him! :)

I hope she likes it. Her surprise baby shower is this upcoming Sunday. :)

Here's the list of tutorials I used to create this set:
Quilt: Momfetti
Crib Sheet: Dana from 'Made' guest post on luvinthemommyhood
Dust Ruffle/Crib Skirt: Hibler House (she has directions for 3 different variations)

Linking up here:

Alexander's Quilt

My son turned one in February and I wanted to give him something special for his very first birthday. I decided to make him a quilt when I found this adorable sailor puppy fabric and a matching anchor fabric at Joann's Fabrics. My husband was in the Navy and I was able to talk him into letting me use a few of his patches and cut up one of his old uniform shirts. This particular shirt was very sentimental to him, as it's been with him since boot camp and to him it represents his time in the military. The other fabrics I used were either fat quarters I found that fit the theme and some adorable sailboats I found on eBay along with a NWU top I bought at a thrift store. All in all, it turned out great for my first quilt but the best part is that my son loves to snuggle in it. Can't ask for anything more.

The fabric I used on the back is called "Rain Spots" and I believe it's from Alexander Henry. I got really lucky the day I found it, it has all the colors of the quilt in it and I haven't seen it in store since.

Update // You can see the quilt label I added here