Lobster Pot (January 2016)

I wanted something beachy, yet still preppy and modern for Thomas to reflect his birth in Bermuda.  I had previously seen fabrics from  Moda's "Beach House" line and knew they would be perfect for this little boy.  When I came upon this Tipsy Tumbler tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Co it all came together.  I used a layer cake for this one.

With all the white, I wanted to keep the quilting simple and linear.  I three nested squares in each of the four quadrants of the quilt.

This is also my first project where I made my own label for the back of the quilt.

Superheroes! (December 2015)

I wanted to make a little something for my husband and daughter for Christmas.  My husband is a huge Green Lantern fan, so when I found this fabric, I new I needed to use it for him.  Since he's not exactly the handmade-item type, I made him a pair of pajama pants.

I used a coordinating fabric to make my daughter a cape for dress-up.  Double the girl power!

  

Please Don't Stop the Music (November 2015)

I had Juliet's musically-inclined parents in mind when I created this quilt for her.  This one is another first as I had never tried my hand at making a design on a quilt back before.  The front is I used Groovy Guitar in pink and Everyday Houndstooth from Michael Miller's "It's a Girl Thing" collection to create the front herringbone pattern.

To create the notes on the back, I did a lot of drawing (and math...yuck!) and used Groovy Guitar again, and I did stitch in the ditch for the quilting.

Pinwheels on the Wind (November 2015)

My intention with this quilt were to do very little quilting so it would be fluffier than a normal quilt when washed.  I used high loft batting and wide stitches for the quilting.  The diagonal pattern is a bit out of line in places because this quilt was larger than most of the baby quilts I deal with, and I wasn't familiar with how to maneuver something of that size through the machine.

I didn't know that Olivia was going to be a girl, so when I got a head start on the quilt I tried to pick colors and patterns that were gender neutral.  I went with some fun Riley Blake fabrics (Wildflower Meadow, Hummingbird).

And for the back, I used a combination of cotton and flannel in Hedgehogs.

Under the Big Top (November 2015)

So many babies, so little time!  You'll notice how the dates on these quilts have months long gaps.  Well, it's not that I sat down to do them all in that month.  I work on them over time, and the date is the date when I finish.  SO many of my friends have had little ones (and second little ones!) in the past two years, so I have been a very busy girl.  It looks like things are finally slowing down for me...unless a whole other slew of people decide to have second kids!  This last group of quilts from November through January were for second (and third!) arrivals. A few of these people never got a first quilt, so I was determined to get them one this second time around.  Hey, now none of these kids can say no one ever thought of them or got them anything when they were born.

This "Silhouette" quilt for Caleb was based loosely on a pattern.  I changed things up a little and made it a bit more my own, changing the size of the tumblers, bordering, etc. I used leftover Michael Miller Pierres Famous Traveling Circus fabric and panels from my very first quilt.  I feel like I've come such a long way that I decided to add a new element - an appliqué animal.

The free motion is stipple.

Dressing for Fall in the Country (November 2015)

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my husband's family in the mountains of North Carolina.  There are three little second cousins, all born about a year apart - a one year old, a two year old and a three year old. I thought it would be cute for them to have matching outfits.  It wasn't hard to find the perfect fabric from the Makower "Sherwood" collection.  It was a featured fabric on one of my favorite sites, Hawthorne Threads.  I liked this fabric because it was good for fall, but not overtly Thanksgivingy, so I thought the kids might be able to rehear the outfits.  I also liked it for this project because there are two girls and a boy, and the fabric isn't too feminine.

I decided to do a peasant dress for the girls and a vest for the little boy.  Both were very easy. I loved doing the two fabrics on both.  I thought the inside stag pattern gave the vest a little cheeky flair.

And a vest:

And my models:

Hey, Remember Me? (September 2015)

So remember when I wrote that I began quilting because I was having a baby and wanted to make a quilt for her?  Probably not, since we haven't seen one yet.  At this point she was old enough to no longer need a play mat, and we were moving, and I hadn't sorted the design of her room yet so I didn't want to make her a blanket for sleeping.  She started nursery school in September, and I was told she would need a blanket for nap time.  Even though I knew she  wouldn't actually need the blanket because she only goes for half days a few mornings a week, I decided to make one anyway.

We had been on vacation over the summer, and I saw these beautiful quilted blankets in a store in Saugerties, New York called Boudoir Baby.  They were so simple, a single fabric front and back with simple quilting.  But they were so soft and cozy that I knew I wanted to make Judith something like this.

I picked two complementary prints for the front and back: Riley Blake "Vintage Market" in Bike Flower Girl in white and Strawberries in pink.  The binding was also from that collection.  I used a high loft batting and quilted it with wide stitches on the diagonal.

Even though she doesn't need it for school, she LOVES this quilt.  She uses it in her play castle and puts all her babies to sleep in it.  Sometimes she rolls on the floor wrapping herself in it.  I'd say she's a pretty happy camper, and I finally did what I set out to do.