Let's Play Catch Up!

Have you ever been away from home for a long time....maybe college or an extended vacation?  And then you come home and, oh, it feels so good!  That's where I am right now.  I've been absent on here for the past eighteen months, writing a blog for and working at a local quilt store.  While I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my time there, I had to make the tough choice to end my employment so I could be home with my family.  {Little did I know that the kids need you home when they are early teens just as much as when they are in the single digits!}

But now I feel like I'm coming home.  Back to my own little space in Blogland.  So, let's not waste another minute...it's time to get caught up!  Here's a few of the things I've made since last checking in...in no particular order.  

I love to make things for other people.  However, just before Christmas 2013, I realized that I'd neglected my husband!  I found some blue and green wrench fabric and combined it with a light solid grey Kona cotton.  I cut 4" width of fabric (WOF) strips from all three fabrics, sewed each of the printed strips with a solid grey and then cut the strips into 7.5" squares.  Lay them out on a design wall in the above layout, and it's a super easy chevron!

This is the same technique used in my last post. I simply cut my strips and then the squares wider to make it a larger chevron.

My favorite baby shower gift...a baby strip quilt with ribbon loops.  Perfect for either tummy time or for long walks in the stroller.

The "Bee My Honey" collection by Moda has to be one of my favorite collections of fabric to date.  It's so bright and cheery.  The photo above is a portion of a wall hanging/table topper I designed.  I had so much fun with the quilting!  It's amazing what you can do with straight lines and a walking foot.

Another project with the "Bee My Honey" collection.  This was made with the scraps from the above project and just a small piece of grey dot fabric.  Have you ever tried paper piecing hexies?  This is a fast, easy project to get you into the groove...and another opportunity for some fun quilting on your home machine.

 Another favorite baby shower gift...especially if you happen to wait for the last minute.  This is a diaper change pouch...perfect for when you just need to help the little one freshen up without taking the entire diaper bag.  It holds 1-2 diapers, a flannel changing pad and small container of wipes.  If you want to make Dad happy, make one in "manly" fabric.

Here's another example of the baby strip quilt (same pattern as the blue and grey quilt shown above).  These are not traditional baby colors, but they matched my niece's orange/turquoise/grey nursery perfectly.  I used some left over scraps to make a matching small ribbon loop toy.

Can you tell that we've had a lot of babies born in the past 18 months?  Soft and absorbent burp clothes made with flannel on the front and back and fusible fleece inside.  The little ribbon loop toy was made with scraps...it's a favorite tactile toys for the youngest babies.  Last, a fabric pacifier clip.

I'm a big fan of making my own bag for two reasons:  1.  My personal theory is that my bag should never cost more than the cash I carry in in.  (Do you know how many bags I can make for the cost of a $300 purse?!)  2.  No one ever has the same one...unless I make them one.  This pattern is fast and incredibly simple.  It has six exterior pockets ~ perfect for keeping a cell phone, chapstick, sunglasses, etc.  I add two interior pockets as well.  The pattern is available free here.  

This was a fun one...again for another baby.  I borrowed my mom's Accuquilt machine and used her tumbler block diecut.  It went together quickly and was very simple.  One note of caution with the Accuquilt ~ there is a lot of fabric waste.

The "Waffletime" table runner pattern by Atkinson Designs is perfect for highlighting a favorite fabric.

My daughter had two requests for her new quilt ~ it needed to include pink and it had to be bright!  I used Quilt Expressions' Super Six pattern.  It calls for six yards of fabric, uses just three different blocks and goes together very quickly!  There's so little waste that my scraps fit in a canning jelly jar!  Note:  The pattern includes one more border of squares, not shown in the photo above.  My daughter's bed is a daybed with just one mattress.  I left off the last border to make it slightly smaller.

Check out the little "bff" pillow.  She and I made that together.  Fun project!

Do you recognize the pattern yet?  Another baby quilt, this time with dinosaur fabric.

A fun banner/bunting made with Dr. Seuss fabric.  Super simple:  sew triangles together, with right sides together, leaving the top of the triangle open.  Turn and edge stitch.  Make a long strip of double fold bias tape.  Insert the raw edge of the triangles into the bias strip...either right next to each other or overlapped...pin well and then stitch along the bottom of the bias tape.  

If you have a piece of fabric in your stash that you can't bear to cut up, I highly recommend Quilt Expressions' Building Blocks  pattern.  With just 1-3/4 yards of focus fabric and some fat eights (or scraps), you'll have a toddler or lap-sized quilt in no time.  This is honestly the fastest quilt I've ever put together!  

My sister-in-law lives in rainy Portland, Oregon but wishes she lived in Hawaii.  I found the perfect fabric for her...flamingos dressed in Santa clothing, surrounded by palm trees and bubbly drinks.  This is the same pattern as the last photo....the column of blocks made with the fat eights runs down the quilt, leaving the focus fabric free to shine!

Her cat is obviously a fan!

Another bag using the same free pattern from above...this time in the gorgeous "Miss Kate" collection from Moda.

I've had the intention (and the fabric) of making new stockings for our family for years.  Finally...for Christmas 2014...it happened!  

My little niece loves pillows and loves playing peek-a-boo.  One of her Christmas gifts this year was a peek-a-boo pillow.  The ears and nose are made with soft cuddle fabric.  Pattern is my own.

Way before I started sewing and quilting, my main creative outlet was papercrafting.  I squeezed in a fast paper/wood project as a holiday gift this year.  So fun!  All supplies came from Kindling.

Ahhh...my labor of love.  So, short version of the story behind this quilt...I have a dear friend who loves these bright colors.  Her husband makes gorgeous accessories using feathers.  His Etsy name is Featherkeeper.  I've always wanted to make a feather quilt and finally found a pattern in issue 9 of Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine from the UK.  This was the hardest quilt I'd made to date.  I picked out each piece of fabric specifically for my friends, pieced it, quilted it and then almost couldn't give it away.  I let it stay in my house for about a month...hanging on the banister...in view each time I entered the living room.  Then, finally, it was time to gift it.    Here it is in their family room:

Another gift for a dear friend.  My mom gave me a "Sunnyside" layer cake from Kate Spain.  My friend, an awesome mother of four boys, recently painted her entry room and bought new furniture that happened to match the fabric perfectly.   I figured that meant she needed a quilt made with the "Sunnyside" fabric. The fabric is bright and cheery, just like my friend.  I used the pattern on the front cover of the Late Summer 2014 issue of Block, from Missouri Star, Vol 1., Issue 4.  Note:  Double check the yardage for the backing.  I had to adjust up by several yards.

The quilt in her entry room:

My most recent project was a fast one!  I have several large projects on my design wall right now, but I wanted to make something in one sitting.  Sometimes, it just feels good to make something quickly!  A friend of mine recently showed the contents of her purse on her blog, and I noticed that her tea bags were a bit beaten up.  The same thing happens to mine, so I designed a little fabric holder for them.  It holds 2-4 tea bags, closes with fold over elastic, and is so handy!  Look for a tutorial here in the near future...as soon as I clean off my design wall!

~Katie