Long time, no see!

Ooh boy, it's been a while since I've written anything on here! There's a good reason for that, though. In the past year and a half-ish, I've switched jobs, bought a house, and adopted the world's sweetest dog! I've been sewing fairly regularly despite all of the huge life changes but just haven't gotten around to writing about it or posting pictures.

Tessie, my new sewing assistant and fabric coziness tester.

One of the best features of my house is that I have a dedicated sewing room! My basement is partially finished and it's the perfect size for all of the fabric and notions I've accumulated over the years. It's also nice to have my sewing machine permanently out and ready for use without hogging the dining room table. In the middle of a creative streak? Close the door and no one has to see my mess!

With having a new home, I've also been branching out into other crafty endeavors -- furniture refinishing, curtain making, table mosaic-ing, and so on. It's been a lot of fun to put my own stamp on the house, and I'll definitely write about that another time.

For now, here's a quick catch-up on two wedding quilts I made!

The first one I made was for my friend Ben, wayyyyy back in 2016. We've been good pals since high school and he married his sweet gal Sandi that summer. I didn't have the quilt finished in time for the wedding, but I sent it off well before the one-year mark that etiquette allows, so I think I'm OK. :)

The hardest part of this quilt was knowing which colors and fabrics to pick. Ben doesn't care about design unless it relates to cars or engineering, and I wasn't sure about Sandi's home decor preferences. So, I figured a black, gray, and white quilt with some traditional framed blocks and classic-looking prints would be appropriate for any decor. I think I bought most of the fabric from Craftsy's and Connecting Threads' in-house lines, but I also used some from my stash.

It's pretty big -- bigger than a lap quilt, but not quite a twin. I was happy to hear that they loved it, and it's currently in their guest room!

Next up, a quilt for one of my best friends, Lorianne, and her now-husband Dave. Lorianne and I met when we studied abroad in London during the summer of 2004. We hit it off right away, but it wasn't until a few years later when we figured out we worked just a few blocks away from each other in New York City that we became really close. We started meeting up regularly for lunch, seeing plays and concerts, and going to Red Sox games at Yankee Stadium. Eventually her friends became my friends, and vice versa!

I didn't keep my quilt-giving a secret this time around and got her to spill her wedding colors well in advance of the big day: navy, gray, and a hint of fuchsia. Lucky for me, the two most recent quilts I made were navy and gray, so I already had some awesome fabric on hand. (I always buy too much -- this time it turned out to be a good thing!) I rounded out the fabric selection with some blenders from V & Co. Also, knowing Dave might not be big on hot pink, I made sure to slip in the anchors just for him--he's a boat guy. 

Lorianne is a stylish, modern sort of lady so I decided on a more contemporary pattern of half-square triangles to form diagonal lines. I really like the effect and would definitely make a quilt like this again! I tried to let the colors do the talking instead of the prints, and I think that approach works well for this pattern. The quilting shadows the diagonal lines.

In a small miracle--especially since I was in the process of closing on my house--I managed to finish this one in time for the wedding!

Quilts get wrinkly after they are washed for the first time!

I still have a ways to go before I'm caught up on my recaps, but hey... progress! I'm off to wash one just-finished quilt before sending it to a brand new baby. Then, I plan to cut the fabric for the next one on the list -- a kid's quilt to be raffled at a charity dinner next month. (No pressure or anything!) A wild weekend!

Embroidery Catch-up

The second half of 2016 wasn't super productive for me, craft-wise. Work was very busy, and I found myself using my weekends to squeeze in social time and sleep. I was also making a quilt for a friend's wedding gift (the wedding was in June... eek!), which took up what little time I allotted to creative efforts. The quilt is (finally) finished, but I just shipped it off to the recipients, so I'm waiting for them to see it before I post anything about it!

However, I did make a few embroideries! My good friends Randy and Marie welcomed twins (!) in June. I made a quilt for their big brother Anthony when he was born, but I knew I wouldn't have the time to make two quilts before the babies arrived. Instead, I made Lidia and Vincent their own embroideries!

Vincent's lion comes from a pattern by Kimberly Ouimet, and Lidia's bird comes from one of Jenny Hart's books. The twins couldn't be more different! Vincent is a little ham and a total people-person, while Lidia is more serious and knows what she wants. Both babies are adorable and ooze personality, just like their big brother!

One of my school friends, Kim, recently got married to an excellent guy. Sadly, I could not attend their Florida wedding, but I wanted to send them some crafty goodness, so I came up with this:

They are both Disney-obsessed, and while I thought about going full-on Cinderella's castle with the embroidery, I opted for a simpler Disneyesque message. I also did some reconnaissance to find out what their wedding colors would be so I could incorporate them!

The main flowers came from a Polka & Bloom pattern, but I ended up adapting them a bit. I used a raised satin stitch for those, and a daisy stitch for the little flowers on the side (which also remind me a bit of snowflakes).

In case you're wondering (and I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat!), all of the text just comes from Word fonts. I've downloaded a few fancier fonts, but after one font ended up crashing my computer, I've since given up on that! In general, I think the simpler the font, the better. I also like freehanding the text when I can. I have pretty nice penmanship, if I do say so myself!

Finally, I finished my Book Girl embroidery at long last! It's from September House and I knew I had to have it the first time I stumbled across it. (It sort of looks like a skinnier version of me, and I, too, am book-obsessed!) I must have purchased it 2 or 3 years ago, started it about a year and a half ago, and finally finished it in the fall. It wasn't that it was difficult; I just sort of lost momentum. I also decided to fill in all of the outlines, which took a while, so I only chipped away at it here and there. 

In the end, I'm so, so happy with it. I used jewel tones (my favorite color palette at the moment) and unintentionally gave the girl an outfit I actually own.

I have another embroidery in progress, but I haven't picked it up in quite a while. Maybe this post will give me some motivation!

Baby Quilt Two-fer

The babies in my life tend to be born in waves, and there were two awesome little ones due last spring. For the first time ever, I decided to make TWO quilts at the same time! This meant twice the fabric cutting, twice the piecing, twice the basting, twice the quilting, and twice the binding, but it actually went pretty quickly once I got into a rhythm. It was like having my own little assembly line.

I actually found all of the fabric I needed in my stash, which was also a first for me! I've used Anne Kelle's Urban Zoologie prints in quite a few projects now, and I had a fair amount left over from Baby Michael's quilt last year. Since one of these new quilts was marked for Michael's little brother or sister, it seemed appropriate that they would coordinate. Love those tiny animals.

TURTLES!

To show off the adorable animal prints, I made large blocks with three even-width strips of fabric. I didn't use a pattern; I just figured out roughly how big I wanted the blocks to be and went from there.

You'll notice some differences in the blocks across the two quilts, which was mainly due to fabric availability. I had to improvise when I didn't have enough of a fabric to make another block! But this also ended up making the quilts unique, despite the fact they were made at the same time with the same general layout.

For blenders, I used Lizzy House's mini-pearl bracelets in primary and secondary colors. I bought a fat quarter bundle of them on Massdrop about a year ago and had been waiting for just the right project to use them on! The other fabrics are a mixture of solids and prints I had on hand. (My fabric collection is seriously getting out of control...)

The backs are both from yardage of a bright blue fabric I bought for another project, but whose color just didn't work out in the end. I like how it brightens up the back of these quilts without being too busy. The fronts are busy enough! I quilted diagonally across the large blocks, and I like the diamond effect on the backs.

These quilts are now with their adorable little owners: my cousin's daughter, Caitlin, and my college friend Emily's son, Kylian. (Perhaps Auntie Kym can do some matchmaking when they get older? They both come from good Irish stock!)

I'm currently working on a wedding quilt for friends who were married in June. (Eek! But you have a year to give a gift, right?) It's large and it has taken ages. Summer travel meant I didn't have much time at all to devote to it, and work got incredibly busy during the fall, so it sat neglected on my ironing board. But I've made a lot of progress on it in the past week, and I hope to finish it this holiday weekend. Then, I will be caught up on my sewing obligations and might actually sew something for myself!

A Well-Traveled Quilt and Pillow

It's been a busy summer and I haven't spent too much time with my sewing machine. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I sewed up a storm in the spring and needed a break! I took a 10-day trip to England in April to visit family, friends, and -- most importantly -- Liberty of London for some fabric shopping. It had been three years since my previous UK visit and I was missing England, and the people I love who live there, quite a bit. It was a great trip, but I did have some extra baggage with me...

Yes, I decided to make a quilt and lug it across the pond! My dear friends Alex and Annie May bought a flat in London last year -- no small feat. I thought that was deserving of a handmade (er, machine-made) gift. Alex is an Englishman who studied abroad at Lehigh with me for a year, then I studied in his mother country the summer after. He's become one of my closest friends and we've managed to stay in touch despite the miles. (Actually, I see him more often than I see many of my pals who live in the U.S.!) When he started dating a lovely English-born, New Zealand-bred gal a few years ago, there wasn't any doubt we would become amazing friends, too. So, I had it in my mind to make them a quilt after the holidays, hopefully in time for my April trip.

I started on the quilt some time in the late winter -- details are getting fuzzy because it was so long ago! Annie has an eye for art and impeccable fashion sense, so I didn't want any fabrics that were too stodgy, cutesy, or traditional. I decided that some big, bold florals and geometrics would be the thing. Alex has no strong opinions about design or fabric that I know of, but he does have strong opinions about football, so I designed the colo(u)r scheme around his beloved Tottenham Hotspur team. 

The squares are large -- 10 x 10 -- I think, but that's because I really wanted to show off the large prints. I set the rows en pointe (diagonally) to add some visual interest. I didn't make this from a pattern, but I did pull out Amy Butler's Lattice Quilt pattern for reference when it came to the triangles along the edges. (That's the one I used for Drea's quilt way back when!) I quilted in a grid, shadowing the squares as I normally do.

There's really a hodgepodge of fabric in there. I ordered a fat quarter bundle of Camelot Cottons' Mint to Be line in navy, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to figure out which ones came from that line. There's also some Secret Garden fabric by Sandi Henderson that I've had in my stash since I started sewing, a few blenders from V and Co. (another go-to designer for me), and my favorite Joel Dewberry herringbone pattern that ends up in many of my projects. The back is a large polka dot pattern (Michael Miller, I think), and the binding is from Cotton + Steel. I thought the little Xs were appropriate, since that's how Alex and Annie always sign-off on their emails and texts. (It's a British thing!)

My friends seemed really surprised and pleased with the quilt, which currently sits in their lounge, so it was more than worth the hassle of trying to squeeze it into my suitcase for a transatlantic flight. Even better, they had just gotten engaged a few weeks prior, so the gift had a little extra meaning!

But that wasn't the only gift I made. My friends Lisa and Andrew had a daughter, Hattie, in between my visits to England. I made a pillow for Hattie's big sister Abigail when she was born, so Hattie needed one as well. 

I'd been dying to use the unicorn fabric from Heather Ross since I purchased it about a year prior, and I used some other purples and magentas from my stash. I hand-embroidered Hattie's name like I did for her sister, but this time around, I used quilt-as-you-go method for the pillow front. I'm a new convert! Some of my favorite sewing bloggers swear by it, and it is definitely both easy and effective for a project of this size.

It was a delight to meet Hattie, who is now 2, and see how much Abigail has grown up. They are sweet and silly little ladies, and I hope they enjoy their presents from their American auntie.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't confess to spending way more time and money at Liberty than was strictly necessary. Annie took this shot of the awesome monkey quilt on display and inadvertently captured my super-serious fabric-buying face!

I don't know what it is about Liberty. My tastes in fabric don't usually lean toward dainty flowers, but there's so much history there and the fabric is so incredibly silky-soft, it's hard not to be enamored with it. They are an English national treasure! I ended up with 2 1/2 yards of fabric, a pack of mini-charm squares, and a large dent in my bank account balance. But when in London, right?

Next up: More baby gifts! (Shocker!)

A Quilt for Veronica Jane

I've written about Drea on here a few times, as she's one of my best friends and has always been a supporter of my quilting endeavors--and my life in general! I am happy to announce that she and her husband, Mike, welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Veronica Jane, on April 30th. I finally met her last weekend, and she is a little doll. Beautiful and warm like her mama, and curious and observant like her dad.

Drea knew she would be having a daughter and she kept me posted on decor for the nursery, so I was able to pick out fabric that was 1) a little bit girly, and 2) tied into the nursery's forest theme. Most of the fabric I picked came from the Owl & Co line by Riley Blake, featuring all sorts of cute owls, hedgehogs, squirrels, and birdies in pastel colors. I didn't want the quilt to be too pink, so I used green as a focus color for the blenders, binding, and back.

The pattern is based on this one, but I adjusted some of measurements. It has two large strips of the main animal fabric with rows of charm squares. As usual, I stressed out over the arrangement of the blocks so that similar colors and patterns weren't touching, but the variety of fabrics I used helped out quite a bit! I believe the final size of the quilt was around 40 x 55", so it's fairly large for a baby quilt. The quilting lines echo the charm squares, which gives the large strips of fabric a nice texture!

I am a sucker for cute animals!

Some of the blenders, like the Joel Dewberry pink hexagons and Lizzy House pearl bracelets below, came from my stash. The binding is from Connecting Threads' Good Neighbors line. (I ordered several different fabrics in various shades of green before deciding on that one!)

The backing is from Riley Blake's Halle Rose collection, and I was able to snag it on sale. I really love that shade of green! It's screamed "spring" to me. I used some extra Owl & Co. fabrics to piece together a strip on the back and added an embroidered note.

This quilt came together pretty quickly with no major snafus. I surprised myself by having it ready to go for Drea's baby shower in March. The big reveal:

And here's Veronica and I, hanging out for the very first time, with her quilt in the background:

I hope little V will enjoy it for years to come!

A Quilt for My Goddaughter

I am lucky to have several best friends--as Mindy says on The Mindy Project, "Best friend isn't a person... it's a tier!"--but one of the very best is my girl Wendy, who I've known since middle school. I was honored when she asked me to be the Godmother of her little girl. Reese Autumn was born on November 15th and she's Wendy's mini-me!

Reese's parents and big brother love penguins, and when I saw Maude Asbury's "Snow Day" line of fabric at The Whale's Tail Quilt Shop in Ketchikan, Alaska while on vacation, I knew it would be perfect. I don't often see peach and aqua together and it was a stunning combination without being overly girly. I picked out some blender fabrics from Lizzie House (one of my favorites!), Bonnie Christine, and Jeni Baker. I also surprised myself by using more solids than I had intended, some of which I had in my stash.

Laying out the blocks!

I decided to go with a simple framed block pattern to highlight the uber-cute penguins, polar bears, and walruses. The blocks were about 10 inches square. The block frames took a while to piece together -- longer than they should have -- but I like the effect of the corner squares. To save some time, I used pre-cut strips for the sashing. (Seriously, Kona's jelly rolls have probably added hours to my life!) The quilt is large for a baby quilt and would actually make a decent-sized lap quilt.

The finished product, already washed and dried (so a little crinkly).

The quilting is a straight line grid, echoing the blocks. I thought about getting fancier, but I didn't want to overshadow the patterns on the fabric.

Polar Bear and Cub

Guys, these penguins are wearing bow-ties. So cute!

I had lots of leftover prints for the back, so I pieced together a few rows of bricks and used this excellent geometric print for the large pieces. (I forget where it was from, but I know the color is called "glacier," so it seemed like a good fit!)

The back!

I like the back almost as much as the front.

My embroidered John Hancock

Little Reese is growing by the minute and I'm excited for her to spot all of the adorable animals in her new quilt!

Liberty Hexie Pillow

I've mentioned my love for Liberty on here quite a few times. (Psssst... If anyone at Liberty wants to give me fabric for my free advertising, I wouldn't complain!) On one of my visits to the Liberty store in London in 2013, I bought a variety pack of hexies for use in some future project. They were probably the cheapest thing in the store, and it was the best way to get a bunch of Liberty prints without spending my life's savings on yardage.

When it came down to using them, though, I had no clue what to do! They came with little hexagonal pieces of paper. I did some research and found out that these hexies were meant for English paper piecing. In EPP, you are supposed to fold the fabric around the paper pieces, hand-stitching them into shape using large, loose stitches. Then, you attach the shapes to one another at the edges using tinier whipstitches, being careful not to sew through the paper. Once your hexies form a pleasing shape, you pull out the big stitches you started with and remove the paper pieces. Lots of pressing later and voila! You have a nice, hand-pieced grouping of fabric that's ready to be appliqued!

I started my paper piecing journey in 2013, but I wasn't that into it. It seemed like a lot of work, and my hand-sewing was pretty sloppy. I made a hexie flower out of the blue Liberty hexies I had on hand, then machine appliqued it with navy thread onto an off-white background. This was on my old sewing machine, though, and the applique came out really heavy. (It kind of needed to be, in order to cover all of my inconsistent stitches!) I'm still debating what to do with this, and it has sat among my sewing projects for a while now.

However, during a recent binge of The Walking Dead, I found myself needing some craftiness to keep my hands busy during all of the zombie attacks. I decided to paper-piece all of the remaining hexies (there were fifty total!).

The front of a paper-pieced hexie, ready to be joined to other hexies.

The back of a hexie, with the paper still in it.

These hexies helped calm my nerves during season 4 of The Walking Dead. I only stabbed myself with a needle once or twice during suspenseful scenes.

I made another hexie flower to match the blue one, this time out of purples and dark pinks. I tried to be more careful with my hand-sewing, and my new machine is much better at applique, so the final product came out better than I anticipated! I originally thought I might frame this or make a mini-quilt out of it to hang on the wall, but I had a small cushion on hand from IKEA, so I turned it into a pillowcase.

Close-up of applique stitching. I used plum thread, with two layers of zig-zag stitching around the middle of the flower, and one layer around each of the petals.

The backing fabric is from one of V & Co's fantastic lines of monochrome blenders, and I think the leaves complement Liberty's florals nicely.

Though I really, really didn't need another throw pillow for my bed, I love how it looks with my bedding set and Aviary quilt.

Apologies for the poor lighting. My room is always dark, and I took this one on my phone, which didn't help!

With this success, I think I will try more English paper-piecing. I'm still not sure what to do with the remaining 30-some hexies. Maybe make a memory board? It's hard to commit to anything knowing how precious (and expensive) Liberty fabrics are -- no room for mistakes! But I do have another trip to London planned for April, so I suppose my arm could be twisted to buy more...