HOME State Pillow Covers

Well, Hello quilty friends!  It's been a busy couple of days lately with school starting back up.  I now have a 1st grader and a 9th grade HIGH SCHOOLER!  Crazy nuts yes!

Gratuitous kid photos.....

HEHE - My how she has grown up - this was her first day of Kindergarten.  Hard to believe she's in 9th now!  She hasn't changed too much!

Somehow I have been able to find time to sneak away to the machine every now and again.  And here is what I've been able to create.  

May I introduce my HOME State Pillow Covers!

These three are actually listed individually in my etsy shop for sale as is, but I also have a custom listing for any state you wish.  More detail pics are on each listing.

I am totally in LOVE with them!!  What do you all think?  I've made a few more Texas ones for an upcoming Craft Fair in November at my daughter's school.  I'm hoping they are well received.

I've also been working on some Holiday Pillow Covers as well.  I hope to have those completed and ready to share with you next week.  Though you will already see my Halloween and St. Patrick's version listed in my shop.  Christmas and Valentine's Day are soon to follow.  Pretty soon my house is going to be overrun by pillows!  I can't help it!  I love them so!

Well tonight is Project Runway so that means definite time at the sewing machine - and with the boy too.  He's taken quite the interest in sewing and crafting lately.

So until I sew again!

Later peeps!

Jenn

A Quilt for Amelia - A Commissioned Quilt

So a friend of a friend recommended me to make a sort of memory quilt for their little baby girl who was turning 1 this month out of some of her outgrown baby clothes.  Though I've never made a t-shirt type quilt, I thought, how hard could it be?  Especially since I would be using baby clothes and not full size adult t-shirts.  Easy peasy.  Slap some interfacing on the backs and fussy cut away to cuteness!

So I met with the momma and received all the tiny cute baby clothes that she wanted me to include in the quilt and then the wheels of creativity started to go to work!  Once she told me she wanted the quilt to be coral and gray, I thought cool - this is going to be gorgeous!  Except the clothes that she gave me to use really didn't have a whole lot of coral and gray action going on!  So....with her permission, I took the lead and decided to pair the coral and gray with some of the other colors from the clothing.  Well, 22+ fabrics later, may I present, Amelia's 1st birthday memory quilt.

 This is my favorite block on the whole quilt.  See that sweet little coral pleated center with ribbon bow?  That was her "coming home from the hospital" dress.  It darn near tore me up to cut it but I knew it had to be done.

 Some of the onesies had cute sayings but were printed so close to the collar that it wouldn't have been a very "even" block when I was fussy cutting them, so I flipped the bottom of the onesie back up and made it a virtual backing so that I could then include the sweet little collar and make some of the blocks look like little shirts for the star centers.

 I also love that she so graciously gave me some clothes & accessories that had her name or initials on it to be included.

These two outfits had graphics that were too big for the front star centers, so it was only fitting to include them on the back and not leave them out. 

Because seriously, Amelia was Made With Love.

 

The finished size was about 54" x 68".  Squares were cut 5".

Making this quilt made me really think about how much I love quilting and putting all the pretty fabrics together, but also the forever gift that I am giving to the recipient.  

I recently purchased a quilt from IG and it had embroidered signatures and dates from 1931-1932.  I can only surmise that it was a sort of wedding quilt made by family members and friends for a young newlywed couple starting their lives together.  I hope one day that Amelia's quilt is passed down through generations leaving others to wonder about the sweet girl that it was originally made for and maybe the lady who made it all happen.

I'm pretty excited to put a listing on etsy for a similar custom memory quilt like Amelia's.

Stay tuned!

Back to the machine - Jenn

Another Plus Quilt Finish

I'm so totally in love with making this pattern for baby quilts!  The fabric colors all work so nicely together and then hand quilting it just makes my heart happy knowing that the recipient will have it for many years to come.  This sweet little quilt if for a co-worker who's due in October.  Really trying to keep it a secret, but I think she may have found out on IG!  It's totally ok.  I really thought I would have blabbed by now myself!  

I'm so proud of myself not letting it slip by and banging it out in a week.  Yes you heard me right - ONE WEEK!  Hand quilting and all!!

 Finished size is about 40" x 54". 

Added his initials to the lower corner too.

 This lovely vintage sheet I purchased on IG was the perfect backing.  The colors match exactly and it's so super soft.  Ideal for a sweet baby's skin to lay up against.

Love experimenting with my new camera to get fun close up shots too.

Just picked up a commissioned quilt from my quilter over the weekend and now sewing the binding down.  Hope to blog about it next week after it's delivered to the owner.

Chow for now!  Back to sewing!

Jenn

Another Quilt Finish

In between all the Summer activities, I was able to recently finish this quilt for my cousin's new baby boy that was born back in February. Can't wait to take it to him at the end of the month and get some cute pictures of him actually laying on it.  I just love this pattern and the fact that it's all hand quilted. It was my go-to project when sitting at the machine for hours on end was too much.  I could sit and hand quilt while watching movies all day long.  I actually picked the fabrics out before he was born.  And even though they are old fashion and wanted to be surprised to see if it was a boy or girl at the birth, something just "told" me it was a boy and luckily it was as this woodland creature fabric is just perfect for a sweet boy living in the country!

It measures about 54" x 58" which is ALOT bigger than I first planned.  So that was another reason I took my time quilting on it because it would have totally swallowed him as a newborn.  Now they can use it more of a playmat on the floor as I'm sure at almost 5 months, he might be starting to get mobile.

All fabrics came from Joann's.  I like to start with one main fabric that has alot of color and then pull in accents usually via fat quarters to compliment it.  The turq is Kona and sews up so nicely.  I love how it really pops as the binding.  That was machine sewn to the front the wrapped to the back and hand stitched down with regular quilting thread.

 

The top was hand quilted with DMC floss in gray and turq.

Since my measurements were a wee bit off, I added a scappy border down the back.  I'm REALLY trying not to over-buy fabrics so I don't feed into my already troublesome fabric hoarding! LOL

This boy!  He cracks me up.  He was my photo helper before swim lessons that day.  But after so many photos, he demanded a break.  

Guess he's in the Quilt Union!

Well, back to the machine!

Chow for now - Jenn

Quilt for Mother Emanuel

My guild from Texas posted this and I wanted to share to see how many sweet quilters would be willing to send some love to the Emanuel AME Church.

Click on this link and it will take you to the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild and you can read all about it.  I'm mailing off my brick today!!

As a great quilting community - let's embrace this church and show them how much we care and wrap them in Love!

Post a pic of your brick and tag them on Instagram:  charlestonmodernquiltguild

Thanks friends!

Jenn

Summertime

Holy shmoly!  Where did June go?!?!  School is out, summer camp has started and we just finished our stay-cation.  Yeah that's where June went!  Well, in the mean time, I have still been busy at the sewing machine.  Some personal, some for commission.  I'm loving it all.  Also gearing up for a Craft Fair in November at my daughter's new high school. YES!  I said High School!!  In the Fall, I will have a 1st grader and a 9th grader!  Lord - help me!

But on to further quilty news......This first one was a present for one of my oldest friend's daughter who just graduated high school and will be attending our alma mater in the Fall Tarleton State University!  We are so proud of her!

 After a quick trip to visit those fine folks, the kids and I set out for our stay-cation.  Just some local stops around town, but fun still never the less.

I also recently got this lovely quilt back from my quilter.  It's one I actually get to keep!!  At the time I made up the top, it represented a pc of each vintage sheet that I owned.  Yeah - that's 90!!  I MIGHT have a bit of a problem......lol.  Well 91 if you count the backing fab too.

Also during our stay-cation, the kids and I celebrated my girl's 14th birthday with a trip to the Dallas World Aquarium.  What a fun time!

This little dude was so cute!!

I'd swear when I told the boy to say CHEESE, the fish did too!!

Cool giant crabs!

These little guys were my favorite!

After the aquarium, we finished it out with a photo op in BIG D.

That face!  Lost 3 teeth in as many weeks!  Hasn't stopped him from eating everything in the house though!

Well, Summer is still rocking and rolling at our house.  

More quilty-ness to show soon.

Jenn