Purple and Orange Table Runner

I was determined to make these fabrics work together.

I considered it a mission.

I was not going to take 'no'

for an answer.

And, yes I believe I succeeded.

Like it?

Love it?

Buy it today at my ETSY store!

After all, Purple goes with everything :)

Apples

the initial design

So my dear friend Sean has been blogging about various Apples and her objective reviews of them.  I have truly enjoyed reading about her musings and adventures.  I wanted to commemorate this venture (and her birthed day) with a quilt of course.

I found some charming fabric that said the names of all different apples and the perfect stripe fabric.  Thus insuring the completion of my vision.

Things I like about Sean.  She always can make me laugh.  She shares an offbeat sense of humor and never seems to get embarrassed by my antics.  Her Hair.  The way I can go a tremendous amount of time without seeing her only to fall right into our old ways within minutes of a reunion.  Oh, and how she is one of the best friends a girl can have.  Patrick likes that she picked him out for me :)

Anyway, enough with the mush.  Here are more pictures of her quilt.

These are pictures of me playing with the fabric and layout of the different elements.

I also had some leftover fabric and was trying to decide if I should hoard it or make something else for Sean with it....



Easy choice, I made something else for Sean.


It started out as a pillow case but then since pillow cases are such personal things (i'm very particular about mine and I think Sean is as well)  I changed it into a little carrying bag. Figured she can use it to store the quilt or as a pillow case or as an overnight bag on her adventures about Boston.

This is Patrick modeling the bag.

And last but not least.  A picture of the quilt finished, I only lightly quilted the top rather then an allover meandering or something along those lines as I actually wanted it to have a wrinkled well loved look.  Not sure if i chose right in the end... but...there we have it.

...and the pictures Sean sent me of the quilt in her room.  I think it was the psychic connection between her and I that lead me to pick colors that perfectly matched her coverlet and artwork. 

 

Uncanny isn't it

 :-)

OhhhhMmmmmGeee

I've been so busy getting new items finished, photographed and written up for Etsy today.  I made, what I think are lovely placemats that i'm selling groups of two.  I used some really nice designer fabric and no two are looking alike.  Now for small-ish items you would think i just banged out these four placemats.

But you would be wrong. I worked on them all day (except for a lovely lunch I had with E, C and O).  Perhaps I was being too fussy.  But I had a vision!  Each one had to be different from the other and they all had to feature some of the same fabric.

Then I decided they all needed to have appliquéd hearts.  In separate corners.

Then I decided they all needed to have different decorative stitching.

Obviously I am insane.

Cause then I decided they had to be photographed.. JUST RIGHT.

Which meant props.

Which meant polishing my dining room table (and clearing if off).

Which meant my husband got to play with his optics stuff from the class he's teaching.. Because its nighttime and there is no natural light.

Because I am insane.  But the end result is pretty.  And I got to have a cup of tea in my fancy tea cups since I went to the trouble of taking it out of the china cabinet :)

So yep.  Go to my ETSY and buy them please so I don't further obsess.  Or at the very least swoon over them and gush over how talented I am (wink).

a forest quilt and an update

I've been hording the designer fabric in this quilt for over a year waiting for inspiration to strike. And boy did it! The main fabrics are a purple forest scene and what I like to think of as a meadow or a garden floral print. I pieced the quilt trying to capture the idea of a meadow seen through the trees and then appliquéd green tree branches and little navy blue birds on top.



The quilt is a perfect lap size or large wall hanging at 51.5" x 44.5". I used all natural cotton batting and strip pieced the back in a soothing modern design that is almost as pretty as the front.  The quit is for sale on Etsy for 230$

On another note. I just got back from my friend Marcy's 'selling' party. Marcy sells Premier Jewelery and was kind enough to let me set up my wares as well.  

I brought over all the bags and towels and stockings I have ready or sell and at the last minute I also brought over some of my unfinished quilts to show my current projects. I think it went well.  At the very least it was exposure :) and I had allot of fun.


The towels are sold in sets of two with the idea of a person using one at a time.  You can switch out the ribbons and dowel from each towel in a set as they coordinate. 





The clutch bags, I can't say enough about these bags. I just love them. They simmer and sparkle and are the perfect size for a dinner or club or dance or wedding or luncheon or well just about anything. I love them!!!!

The stockings are based off of the Xmas stockings I made for Patrick and I a couple of years ago. I have so much fun making them and just love having something completely unique at that time of year when so many of the winter decorations begin to look alike.


As a last note... Blogger is being a real pain with the formating. Patrick and I have given up after playing with this post for over an hour!!!!!

Aliens, Dinosaurs, and Robot's - Oh' My!!!!

A quilt challenge was born when 2 crazy friends decided to decorate their nursery with dinosaurs, robots and aliens.   And lets face it, I'm always up for a challenge!

My dear friend Emily found a super cute fleece  for us to use for the backing and as a jumping off point.  Then I invited her over to help design and cut!  Truthfully I'm not sure she realized what she was getting herself into!  But we had a lot of fun coming up with the quilt design above.  Her scrapbooking skills came strongly into play with picking out colors and coordinating such very different design elements.



Once I appliquéd and pieced all the pieces together I decided that while I really wanted to use the variegated blue thread for the back and on the gray, I was not thrilled with that color for the starry-bye background.  So I switched to having that area quilted separably in a very pretty yellow.  More work for me, but well worth it for the final result.







Then I used the same quilting along the outside border but in straight line quilting rather then the meander I did elsewhere.  One thing this did was to truly emphasize that area and a second key was to add an extra graphic in the corners that I hoped would help the eye travel over the quilt in its entirety.



I was so pleased with how this quilt came out that I wanted to try my hand on another quilt for the expectant parents.  I opted to do something slightly simpler in composition and really focus on texture.   So I chose two soft flannels, felt, and more of the very fun robot fleece and got to the drawing board.  And boy did I have fun.

Dingus was perhaps less impressed!

.... lets just hope that a certain special little boy will like his quilts when he enters the world with a Rowr!!!

Owl always love you

do you like my cow magnets :)

I have a confession.  I love gingham.  It is true.

So I purchased some lovely gingham fabric from an online store (I forget which to be honest) and was ever so excited when the fabric came in the mail.  The colors were perfect. I immediately started to cut into it to make a table runner for myself.

Alas, the fabric was very thin and made itself virtually impossible to use for standard quilting.  I thought I could easily back it with a light stabilizer, but momentarily dejected I didn't move forward.  Thus I now have just this block done.

Now you are thinking to yourself.. but hey Christine that is all very interesting I suppose, but what about these Owls you promised me?

Okay so I had a small horde of leftover fabric from the Owl quilt I made my good friends Alex and Jacob when Donovan was born. This Quilt for some reason I seem only to have one photo of (gasp).

This was a pretty cute quilt I admit.  And I remember really liking the orange and blue combination.  And I did the sashing between the fore sections in a super soft white flannel.
Okay now, back to the gingham. and scraps of leftover Owl fabric.

Ta-Da!

I used my lovely gingham for the center panel.  Then I outlined the panel with a deep purple that I sewed down in such a way that it flaps over the gingham panel which I think is allot of fun.  Wish I was a better photographer so you could see.

Then I created an outside border with that adorable Owl fabric. 

It needed one more Owl element.  So I added two felt Owl appliqués to the center/gingham panel.

I backed the quilt with flannel and fleece creating a super soft cuddle blanket for some special little one.


This Sleepy Owl Quilt will find it's way into my ETSY store shortly :) So tell anyone you know who wants a special way to tell someone they love them.

Sweet Dreams

Cranberry Gold

I have developed a new love for making pillows.  I am offering in my ETSY store a pillow set done in an elegant cranberry and rich gold.




For the smaller neck pillow I decided to use some dancing pinwheels and then because I was feeling the joys of spring and summer in the air I appliqued a dragon fly on one of the panels.

For the larger of the two pillows I chose to piece the pillow in a random geometric pattern.  Then to add a touch of the geeky whimsy I do adore. I appliqued on the front the phrase 'Dream Big Dreams" in Morse Code of course :)

Both pillows are pocket style so they can have their inserts taken out while the case is washed.  And since the smaller pillow is an off-standard size I will include a custom insert with the pillow if purchased.

the back of the pillows

So check out my ETSY store to get yourself a little something to welcome in the warm weather!

Morse Code Quilt for my nerdtastic guy

For the small percentage of you who didn't know my husband was nerdtastic, and by extension thus so am I, here is proof.  My valentines day present for him.  I crazy quilted the center panel in his favorite colors. and then appliquéd all the 'dots' and 'dashes' needed to give him a little message regarding my feelings for him.  And yes, I used hearts to mark the difference between words, cause well it  was for Valentines day and I was feeling all fuzzy inside.

I used variegated blue thread to appliquéd around the white,
this adds to the homey look I was going for.

 

The pictures don't really do it justice in my oh so humble opinion.  As in person the hanging has almost a vintage or well worn and loved feeling to it.  You know like him and I :)


Here it is displayed in his home office surrounded by the books he loves.

A flower Garden Quilt

This was another epic quilting journey.  My dear friend Amanda had her daughter Ivy this past October.  That is right, OCTOBER.  I was pretty sick right before her baby shower and so wasn't able to quilt the baby blanket I made her in time.  So I brought ti along and showed it to her , then promptly took it back to finish.  Then my beloved machine broke on me and it was months - months! until I got a chance to bring it in to get fixed.

I had tried finishing it on my older machine.  And while it did an 'ok' job on the small applique part i gave it... it wasn't stellar.  I decided to wait.

You can't see a close up of the 'ok' applique part because... well because.  maybe Amanda wont' notice. Or maybe she will and just think it ads to the charm....

However, I will show you a close up of the boarder fabric. Which I just had in my stash and I have no idea where it came from and this saddens me because I LOVE it.  And yes I want more. (did you read that all in a breathless panicky voice?, Good) If you recognize this fabric please let me know the designer or better yet just mail me a bolt of it. Okay? Thank you. Moving on.

The finished Quilt measure 31 X 31 inches and I have to say it is charming.  I could now go into detail about the Sunday I spent finishing it with Elizabeth and about all the things that went wrong with doing the binding and the dangers of leaving a quilt untouched for months on end without finishing it. But I won't bore you with that.  You can thank me at any time.  I'll instead show you a picture of the finished product shall I?!

Ta-Da!!!

Now the quilt is sitting on my desk at work waiting to finally present it to Amanda.  

A simple Quilt with a taste of Tree a 9 patch block composition

I happen to love the 9 patch block. I adore that I can showcase fabrics, use up scraps and put them together in a myriad of ways to create a fascinating variety of pieces. It's simplicity can be used to accent a more complex block or it can be used in conjunction with a solid color or accent fabric block to give a piece more interest. I could go on and on about this block process, and no doubt I will in another post when I create again :) But for now I'd like to introduce to you a quilt I made for my mother as a housewarming gift last Thanksgiving 2009.

I chose fabrics in various fall colors and stripes and used this amazingly soft green fabric that I had in my stash and have no idea from whence it came unfortunately as I would otherwise rush out for more.

Here is a picture of the quilt laid out on my bed as I was basting the layers together.

... I should note here that this was at my last house and I'm not proud at how messy my bedside tables are or that I never found the 'right' picture to hang over the bed there.  So ignore all that and focus on the pretty please :)







One detail you can't tell from the full size pictures very well is that I had fussy-cut and appliquéd  tiny leaves to the tree branch.  I had played with the idea of having some drift down like they were falling but opted not to (this time) because I wanted this quilt to be able to be viewed horizontally or vertically depending on whichever way my mother decided suited her.

This turned out to be a wise choice as she ended up hanging it on the wall horizontally and if I had appliquéd the leaves as falling I would have done so from the vertical position thus defying the laws of gravity and thus endangering my marriage as Patrick feels very strongly about such things (wink)!

The end result, after I quilted and bound it was amazing. And I am happy to say my mother and Linda LOVED it.  I asked them to pretty pretty please let me have a picture of them holding it.  And then I amended that request to ask them to be silly in said picture.  This is the result, I love that my mom went all out for that photo and Linda obviously had no clue she was doing so!