Superhero Quilts

Remember when I went to Sea World?

I didn't think so...

The point is that I do remember, and I had fun. I went with my sister-in-law, Cassie, her husband, Robert, and their three kids- Brycen, Cooper, and Chloe. Chloe got a quilt when she was born, but Brycen and Cooper didn't because I was still living in Tennessee (oblivious to their existence, sadly). Now that I know them and they are my nephews, I like them and wanted to make them each a quilt for showing me such a good time.

When I am with these two boys, they constantly talk about school or superheros, SO I decided that superhero quilts would be the best bet. I picked two fabrics with Marvel superheros all over them and then a bunch of coordinating prints. I made them simple and then added borders and blocks in the corners. After I did that I was like, "Hey! I should embroider the name of each superhero (six total names) on each quilt in the border!" This led to the quilts taking WAY longer than planned, but whatever, they are done! I quilted them on my machine, just an X through each square and lines in the border. I'm happy with how they turned out, I just hope that the boys are too :)

~Rachel

 

 

 

Alena's Quilt

This was the last handmade gift that I included in the gift for Elise. The quilt! I knew she wanted brown and pink and she mentioned cherry blossoms, so I decided on something simple for this quilt. I'd never done a nine patch so I decided to try it out with some sashing and embroidery. This was my result. I think I'll try again sometime with more colors and some different techniques. Here are the pictures, Haley quilted it for me free motion! Isn't she the bomb?! Yes, yes she it :)
Enjoy!
~Rachel

 

I embroidered the baby's name!

 

Haley quilted flowers :)

 

 

 

 

A Few of my Favorite Quilty Things

So, a few people have asked me about where I find ideas, patterns, inspiration, etc. There are so many ways! Sometimes it happens when I'm watching a movie and I see a design or prop, sometimes I just see someone else's quilt that I want to reproduce because I love it so much, or a lot of the time, I just piece a few ideas together. Today I will be sharing my secret list of blogs that I stalk follow! Just so I can share the wealth of eye candy for those of you who want to quilt. I'll be linking to particular posts, but please browse through these blogs, as they all have so many good things to share!

1.) All time favorite is Red Pepper Quilts. Rita has an amazing eye for color combinations and perfect fabric! She always has precisely pieced quilts and sharp, crisp lines. I can't even tell you how many times I've nearly drooled into my keyboard while looking at the new things she creates. Just look at the heading of her blog and you'll see what I mean.

Finished Checkerboard Quilt

 

2.) Next on my list is the talented Anna Maria Horner. She is a fabric designer and lives in my lovely homeland (Tennessee) with seven children and her husband. Her daughter, Juilana, now has her own line of fabric too (it can be purchased at Joann fabrics). Anyway, Anna Maria does it all, quilting, sewing, embroidery, knitting, designing... All of it amazing!

Patching

Feathers

 

3.) Next, we have Jeni Baker. She has recently designed two lines of fabric, Color Me Retro and Nordika. They are both very nice and I think there will be lots more lovely things from her!

Warm Cool Quilt Along

 

Giant Vintage Star Quilt Tutorial

 

4.) Fourth is Faith at Fresh Lemons Quilts. This is where I learned how to paper piece! I never even knew anything like it existed, but I saw a finished product and knew I needed to learn. Fresh is exactly how I would describe everything here! Lovely and fresh :)

Summer Sampler Series

 

Prism

 

5.) I really like the blog Mommy by Day Crafter By Night. Ashley is super-cute and has projects that I love and uses fabric that I love too! I have these fabrics and will be using this quilt as inspiration for my own! What is it about mermaids and ships that I love?! 

Out to Sea Quilt

 

Scrappy Weekender Bag

 

6.) Last but not least is Camille Roskelley at Simplify. This picture will be enough to clarify why I like this blog. Color, fabric, and precision!

Farmer's Wife

 

Now, some ways that I like to find patterns is by using Google Images to do searches, by browsing pinterest, using free patterns like McCall's, and of course the blogs. Another thing that helps me is just to go fabric shopping! Sometimes an idea doesn't emerge until you know what fabrics you'll be working with. For me that holds true anyway. Many of the fabric designers that I love are only available to me online, so for them I shop online at Hawthorne Threads, Fat Quarter Shop, Pink Chalk Fabrics, and Pink Castle Fabrics. Most designers have their own blogs, and a couple that I love that I didn't mention earlier are Aneela Hoey and Heather Ross. They are two of my favorite fabric designers. I know that I'm forgetting something...

Oh. Graph paper. Simple and handy. That's where I make a lot of my quilts first and check if the math works and to get my fabric requirements. I also like to color and see what works best where. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer it that way to most online tools. Hope you all enjoy!

~Rachel

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally- Pinwheel Finished!

This quilt has been and ongoing project for a while! I posted about it way back at the beginning of this year here. It is finally finished because I got around to quilting and binding it. I tend to put that off as long as possible. The actual quilting, that is. I'd much rather piece a new top and let someone else quilt it. That's kind of the point though, isn't it? I like to hand quilt, it's just that I feel like I'm not getting anything accomplished when I sit for long periods of time and when there are so many things that I want to make! I like to start and finish a project in a short period of time, so when things start to drag out, I hate them!
So, since you can read that other post about the quilt, here it is, freshly quilted and bound! I've been stockpiling quilt projects, and now they are all getting finished at the same time! If you'd like to see the Etsy listing, it's HERE!

~Rachel

 

 

 

A Chest of Quilts

During my trip to Tennessee, I happened to think that I'd like to look at all the old quilts that my mom has in the cedar chest in her room. I hadn't seen what was in that thing for EONS!
So, I took the quilts all out and dumped them on the front lawn. Seems legit, right?!
Right. So I just wanted to share the pictures with you and a few comments when appropriate. Or not appropriate, whatever!

My Granny made this on for one of my brothers when they were little, I can't remember which on, but I'm thinking Samuel or Ethan. Her stuff is mostly hand quilted and some of them (like this one) have some hand piecing too!

 This quilt was also made by my Granny, it was the one she gave my parents for their wedding I think. Anyway, I remember it in our first home on my parents bed.

 

 I love the pattern of this one! I know it's only squares, but I think that the layout is just great :) I'm a simple kind of girl.

 

 This one was made by my great or great, great grandmother, I don't know which. I like this one because of the color scheme and that I'm sure it was all just scraps. There is also a tiny imperfection where she accidentally flipped a row of points and left it there. It makes it all the more special to me!

 

 This was my great grandfather's dress. For real! It was his christening gown. All the boys wore them then.

 I love the details, especially the pin tucks!

Here is another made by a great or great-great grandmother. This on is so heavy, the muslin used to be much heavier duty than it is now.

 

It has never been washed, so the pencil markings where she drew the hand quilting lines are still there.

 

 Pink was always my favorite color so my Granny made this quilt for me. It was so long ago that I don't even remember when she gave it to me. There are spots where the top fabric is completely worn away because I used it for years and years. I can only now appreciate the work that went into this applique quilt.

 

 Notice the hand quilted hearts! She was an amazing quilter. I say was because she has macular degeneration and can no longer quilt. She has little central vision left, which is useful when trying to see anything that is not in the peripheral area.

 

I'm so happy that these have been saved and that I got to snap some pictures of them to show you all!

~Rachel

 

 

Nautical Quilts, Finally!

I've been wanting to share these FOREVER! However, I always want to let the people they are for see them first. So, now that the quilts are delivered, I can safely show you all!
These were commissioned by a relative who has two boys, one of them just arrived! She wanted to do a nautical theme for them and chose some fabrics for me to work with, and I LOVED them! These have probably been my favorites so far. I felt like I wanted to add a little something special to these, so I found some paper piecing patterns online. I used anchors, a pirate, and a ship! These took a while to do, but I like how they turned out. The pirate/skull doesn't show up too good in the pictures, but I really liked him! I bought all of my fabric from Hawthorne Threads. I really like ordering from them, and will continue to in the future.
I pieced these, and the quilted them on my Janome before hand binding them and adding an Ellita label. Navy, gray, and white with a touch of red is just a good combination! I even found some good pirate sticker to put on the box before I mailed them.
I. AM. A. NERD.
Anyway, without further yammering, here are the quilts!
~Rachel