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 :)

 

 

 

 

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

A Pirate Mini Quilt

Sharing another quilt today, just a little bitty, mini-baby one! I've had this pieced for a little while now, but have had other projects that took priority. Now that I'm prepping for my little Tennessee vacation and my orders are finally finished, I've had time to finish up a couple of those naggy little "stack projects."
So, I couldn't bring myself to cut up the little pirate dudes on this fabric, so I used it as backing! This is a really small quilt, like a little mini or baby quilt. I picture this size being used to lay a baby on when you are sticking him/her on ground for a little bit of tummy time or whatever! I'll be putting this up on Etsy in a bit!
~Rachel

A Surprise for Me + Baby Quilt Sneak Peaks

This week I am determined to do these two little baby quilts and get them up and online. These are a couple of shots of the works in progress that are hanging around my sewing area. I love to use half square triangles and then watch a movie while I iron them! I finally had to break down and get a new ironing board cover, mine was so old and toasted that it was nearly useless. So this new silver one is lovely and fluffy in comparison and my iron and I can be friends again. I thought I had killed my 3rd iron last week, but it only turned out that I was plugging in some paper lanterns and NOT the iron. Don't judge me, they both had white cords :) Linwood and I spent the weekend in Tucson and I got to see my lovely neices and nephews as well as in-laws and Haley! She gave me the most amazing birthday present! When we bought the Quilting: From the Little Things by Sarah Feilke, we both loved the cover quilt. I started making a quilt for Haley (still not finished) and she made a quilt for me! I didn't have any idea whatsoever that this gorgeous quilt would one day be mine, and it means that much more because she made it! I was even with her when she picked out the fabric and we dubbed it the "nightmare quilt" because the instructions weren't perfect and there were so many tiny pieces that it has taken a long time to do. I'll share better pictures later, but this is just a little snapshot of it (held up by my helpful husband). Isn't it GORGEOUS?! Yes, yes it is! She is coming to visit this week with Scarlett, her cutie baby. Stoked am I? Definitely.
On another note, I dropped my iPhone and busted the screen! Curses! I use my phone for EVERYTHING. I probably depend too much on it, but it is my calander, my reminders and notes, I blog from it some, I use Etsy and Pinterest and Facebook with it too. Not to mention using it as a phone and a text machine! Anyway, to say that I feel crummy about it is an understatement as I still have a whole year left on my contract. I'm going to have to go to Verizon and check out what the dealio is with getting a screen fixed. With that, here are some pictures and some hope of a productive week!
~Rachel

Tuscon botanical garden, the butterfly exhibit was the bomb!

Aneela Hoey fabric and HST units

Pirate fabric and the makings of the front on my new ironing board cover!

Disaster strikes!

A Sweet and Simple Baby Quilt

I finished up this baby quilt last week but was waiting until after the baby shower to share it with you all! I am really happy to say that I finished it! Why??? because my machine pretty much died with only a 12x12 section left to quilt. It was as if the "power steering" went out on my machine. It wouldn't stitch and just went on the fritz! luckily I was able to make it work just long enough to finish! and today I am taking my machine to the shop to get it fixed! this is one of the very first quilts I have ever free motion quilted. I attempted free motion quilting last year and I HATED IT! I was terrible! my stitches were all funky and I couldn't sew anything remotely presentable to save my life! I decided a couple months ago to try again and made it one of my yearly resolutions to conquer free motion quilting! I learned that I was doing a couple key things wrong. The biggest mistake I was making was the foot I was using on my sewing machine. I got the correct foot, a darning foot for about $9.00 on Amazon and let me tell you, that was the best $9.00 I have ever spent! I am now absolutely in love with free motion quilting! I am so mad my machine is busted because I have a whole quilt top  ready to go and no machine to work with!!

This quilt was a great project to practice my free motion quilting skills on. I am a fan of stippling and have tried a couple other patterns with less success so for now I'm going to stick with what works! I made this quilt the exact size of a crib so that it doesn't have to be folded or tucked it can just lay right in any standard crib with out any fuss! I did a single crochet around the quilt to keep it simple and to add that special quality.  I sure hope the parents to be, liked their quilt and that when their sweet little baby arrives she can snuggle and enjoy it as well! I hope every one had an awesome weekend and if you haven't already entered our giveaway go do it!

-Haley

A Baby Quilt

This is a quilt I made for a friends first baby boy! He has since arrived and is absolutely adorable! This blanket is a pattern from one of the quilting books I own. It was a fun and easy quilt and I finished it off by adding a blanket stitch and a single crochet around the edges. I contemplated doing a fancier crochet edge but decided against it. In this case I think less is more.

Fabric, I have a confession the majority of my fabric I buy at good ole' Walmart. Quilting can get rather pricey so I try to pick a print I love one that may be a little higher in price and then pair it with cheaper priced fabric. This is not every quilters choice but it works for me. Not to mention the convenience of Walmart usually outweighs my desire to drive way into town ( I live in the boonies) to fabric shop. Although I do make exceptions!


-Haley