Sweet Cream Dream

This quilt is going to a girlfriend whose favorite color is cream. She is due just weeks after me, and the gender is a surprise.

I hope she likes the colors I chose. Even if they decide to go with blues or pinks for the nursery in the end, I know this quilt will look great in her living room.

Here are some photos of the quilt in various stages...

Fabric selection...

Half-square triangles all made...

First block pieced...

Quilt top pieced...

All quilted and bound :)

My quilting, an attempt at straight lines, but I'm still figuring out my walking foot...

Yes, satin blanket binding.
Un-traditional, but then so is the super soft chenille back.
I thought it was baby appropriate. :)

All done!

Amazingly I am not finishing this one the night before the baby shower (its in December!) In this specific instance it would have been disastrous, considering her shower is just days after my due date :) I think I'm going to try my hand at embroidering the label for this quilt.

Hope you like it! I really loved the muted colors, but working with all of these soft, earthy tones has me wanting to do something really bright next, like this ... Bring on the solids!

Happy sewing,

Janice

Busy. busy. busy

This month has gone by so quickly! While I can look back and see quite a pile of things I've accomplished, none of which have made it on my blog :( For that I also lay part of the blame on a sick baby :(

I'm hoping April is a more successful posting month. In the mean time here are some photos of a blanket I made for a baby shower last weekend...

I used spray basting for the first time, and I LOVED it! Here is the quilt basted...

And here it is all quilted and bound...

Here is some of the stitching up close...

She loved it, and it matches her nursery theme perfectly! (Thanks to grandpa to be ;)

I am ALMOST done with Sentimental Me, the quilting is about 75% finished, and then I have the binding to do. Needless to say, this quilt has been a monumental effort. I didn't realize that quilts get exponentially more difficult as they increase in size!

Happy sewing,

Janice

Next blog series

After having blogged, and learned so much about thread in doing Thursday's thread, I think I'm going to continue with that same idea in my next blogging series. This time I'm going to tackle the entire quilting process, start to finish.

My goal is to post on the following steps to creating a quilt:

• Measuring and cutting
• Piecing and ironing (both quilt top and backing)
  
• Basting
• Quilting (going over how to free motion, how to use a walking foot, and how to quilt if you don't want to do either of these methods)
• Binding

I will share any short cuts or tips I have learned, and try out some new ones I have read about but not tried myself. Also I will go over common mistakes (ones that I made the first time around ;) as well as how to fix them (if possible).

Hopefully I will not only learn about the process on a more in-depth level myself, but can help give a beginner quilter the confidence to start a blanket or quilt on their own :) I will be starting next Friday, so hopefully between now and then I can finish Sentimental Me... I'm hoping the deadline will force me to sit down and finish it.

Happy sewing!

Janice