9 Patch Madness

I've decided to join Rachael, AmandaJean and Anina in the nine-patch madness.

I made these while watching American Idol...

and these during Dancing with the Stars...

and these during Law and Order-SVU...

and these during Letterman.

I strip pieced these. I didn't have it in me to cut a bunch of 2.5" squares. I'll go through my scraps and do that another day. I'm counting on Anina to do a 9 patch swap. If that doesn't happen, I may do a little swap of my own so that I can have more of a variety. And yes, I watch entirely way too much tv. In my defense, I rarely just "watch" tv. I'm usually sewing, or surfing the net or folding laundry along with my tv watching.

Look and Learn baby quilt

This would be my third Spring to Finish project. When I first saw this baby quilt on Moda Bake Shop, I knew I wanted to make it. I loved this project when I first started it. I used a charm pack of "Look and Learn" from the American Jane line from Moda and some Kona ivory and went to town. I love triangle blocks and I love pinwheels. What I didn't love was ironing 96 2.5" squares into prairie points. I can't tell you how many times I burned myself. I pulled it out to finish because I needed a baby gift and I wanted to have finish 3 WIP projects before the month April was over. If ironing all those little squares wasn't going to do me in, pinning them was certain to do it. I hate pinning! It's a necessary evil in quilting but I still hate it. It was all worth it though because I've decided I really like prairie points in a quilt. I'm actually contemplating making a pink and green whirlygiggles quilt and adding prairie points to the border. I either have a screw loose or I'm a glutton for punishment. I used a piece of a repro vintage feedsack for the back of the quilt. This little quilt measures 36"x44". I should make smaller quilts more often. It's waaaay easier to quilt.

I just realized that there was another time I got frustrated with 2.5" blocks. My tombstone will probably read "Those damn 2.5" squares finally did her in!".

Giddiness times 12

I received blocks from Aimee and Stephanie today so I thought I'd place my blocks on a piece of batting to see how it would all look together.

Take a looksie... I'm going to have the prettiest quilt thanks to all the hard work of my bloggy friends! If I knew how to do cartwheels, I'd so be doing them right now. Alas, I don't know how and I'm sure all those Reeses' peanut butter eggs I ate this Easter may prevent my butt from getting off the ground.

Dandelion Girl Quilt

I finished my second project for Spring to Finish. This is another very simple quilt. I told Stephanie that I would make her MIL a quilt for a swap that we are doing. Stephanie told me that her MIL liked neutral colors and I immediately thought of this. I finished this quilt top back in February and abandoned it for other projects. Craft ADD at it's finest. I have the attention span of a flea. I used 35 charm squares from the Dandelion Girl line by Moda. I added a gold-ish border and a cream sashing and it was done. Simple to put together and I love the end result. I really love charm squares.

The finished quilt measures 50"x64" and will be on its way to Lakeland, FL and hopefully keep Stephanie's MIL warm. Because the average temperature there this week is mid to high 80s. Brrrr!

It's all Stephanie's fault...

I have been so good about finishing up my forgotten projects ever since I committed to Jacquie's Spring to Finish. I haven't started new projects even though I have about 10 in my head that I would like to do. I've been sooo good.

Then on Monday I got a surprise package in the mail from my bloggy friend Stephanie. The very generous Stephanie sent me 2 ABC panels that I had wanted but also included other yummy fat quarters and 40 charm squares of Heather Bailey's Bijoux and Pop garden line. These guys taunted me. They wanted to be made into something. I paid daily visitation to them and drooled and petted them but resisted the urge to start a new project even though it was KILLING ME!


I made 2 quilt backs for some forgotten quilt tops. I started quilting a quilt that I'm making for Stephanie's MIL . I was so happy when I was done because it meant one more project completed. Then I turned the quilt around and saw a big, huge pucker. Arrrgh! I had to step away from the quilt for awhile.

I've been meaning to make a whirly giggle quilt for a while. There's a lot of great tutorials out there for it. I used this one because it's really a detailed tutorial with pictures and she also used charm squares. I had intended to make one or two blocks and then go back to fixing the puckers on my quilt. The thing is, these whirly giggle blocks are really easy to put together and before I knew it, all 20 blocks were made. I added white sashing because I really wanted to whirly giggle blocks to pop but it just seemed really white. It was also a little on the small size at 42"x52.5".

I raided my own stash of Pop Garden. I had the Pineapple Brocade line in both yellow and green so I cut 5" squares and made a border. I love the result!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend some quality time with my seam ripper.

Edited to add: Okay so it may not be ALL Stephanie's fault. I'm sure my lack of willpower may have something to do with it.

Online quilt festival

Amy at Park City Girl has organized an online quilting festival for bloggers to showcase their favorite quilts. My favorite quilt changes after each new project but I didn't have to think twice about what quilt I wanted to showcase.

I made this quilt over a year ago. I was new to sewing, new to quilting and new to blogs. I'm not sure how or when I first stumbled on her blog but I found Amanda Jean of crazymomquilts and she was hosting her first quilt along. The idea of making a sampler quilt seemed daunting so at first , I just lurked and followed along visually. Then I realized her instructions were clear and detailed and holy crap, she even included step by step pictures! I decided to try a block or two and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. I would eagerly wait for a new week to start so I could try a new block. The time came to assemble the quilt top and add borders. I was so excited! I had been staring and petting my blocks for weeks and now I was going to finally have a quilt top. Then I read she wanted us to cut 430- 2.5" squares for the border. Huh? 430? It's gotta be a typo! Nope, no typo. She almost lost me there but I sucked it up and cut 430- 2.5" squares. You know what sucks more than cutting 430- 2.5" squares? Piecing 430- 2.5" squares! Aaah but the end result was so worth it!


Not only was this pink and green quilt my favorite color combo, I was able to use pieces of sheets from my childhood (my parents save EVERYTHING!).

And it was also my first pieced backing.

This quilt isn't perfect. I'm sure if you look close enough, you'll find plenty of mistakes but I love this quilt. I made this quilt over a year ago but I didn't have to look up how many 2.5" squares I had to cut because it's still imprinted in my brain. I initially named this quilt the pink and green sampler quilt. I was showing this quilt to a friend recently and still griping the fact that I had to cut ALL. THOSE. SQUARES! He said that I should called this quilt 430- 2.5" squares . Heh! I think I just may.

Terri's quilt

My friend Jen has a sister that has been battling ovarian cancer for over three years. She has been in and out of remission and just recently found out that the cancer is back. When Jen told me this news, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Jen is one of my closest friends and recently moved back to Minnesota to be closer to her family. I miss her and think of her often. This new setback has obviously upset her and her family and my heart aches for them.

I wanted to make Terri a quilt that she could take to chemo with her. I love pictures and often find comfort in looking at pictures when I'm down. I wanted to add pictures to this quilt but I didn't want to showcase the pictures by framing them. I wanted to somehow incorporate pictures within the quilt. I wanted the quilt to be colorful, bright and happy.

The fabrics I chose were batiks with a bit of gold imprinted on it. I didn't have a pattern but had seen a quilt that I'd like that incorporated pictures in it and I tried to emulate that. I made 9 patches and triangle squares and played around with the placement. I scattered the pictures randomly throughout the quilt in no particular order. I wanted to remind Terri that she always had the love and support of her family...

and that her siblings admired her for her strength and courage...

I wanted her to laugh at the antics of her brother in law (he's wearing his daughter's Little Mermaid wig)...

and see how much her nieces and nephew look up to her...

and if she's having a particularly hard day, I hope she'll look at this sweet face and smile.

I hope Terri likes her quilt. It was truly a labor of love and I enjoyed every minute of making it.




The back of her quilt was just pretty batiks that I pieced together. The finished quilt measures 54"x54".

Easter hedgehog?

I made my friend Maribeth an Easter pillow. I found this cute print here. It's an embroidery pattern but I'm entirely way too lazy to embroider it. Instead, I printed it on fabric and made a cute, little pillow. Here's a picture of my boys looking for the Easter Doxie.

Happy Easter peeps! I hope the Easter Doxie brings you all something sweet!

It's her birthday, she can cry if she wants to...

actually it won't be her birthday for a couple more weeks. Is it wrong to love crying baby pictures? My friend Mali and I had a little photo op with her daughter Isabella today. We were trying to get a good picture for her birthday invites. I did eventually get a smile.

I don't think she knew what to make of the cake...

Goofy big brother Mason wanted to show off his cape I made him. Don't you love his boots?

(Mali says he like to wear his cape to the park. When people ask him what his name is, he says Superman. Duh!)

Oh lookee here, I done found myself a little bunny.

On the crafting front, the string x quilt is quilted and bound. The finished quilt measures 46"x62".

The backing is just two bright floral pieces from my stash. This may be my all time favorite quilt.

Pink and orange improv quilt...DONE!

I don't think there's anything better than a nice, hot crinkly quilt right out of the dryer! Jacquie sent out a challenge last week to turn "works in progress " to finished products during the month of April. I needed that kick in the butt to finish up all my quilt tops. I have at least 5 quilt tops that need to be finished. I know. Ridiculous!

I started with my Project Improv quilt top. I love how colorful this puppy is.

For the backing, I made 4 more improvised blocks and added it to the middle of a very bright pink and orange fabric I found in my stash. You can't really see the pink in the picture but it's there.

The finished quilt measures 44"x56". In the spirit of Project Improv, this quilt will be donated.

Carrot table runner

I went to visit my friend Maribeth today and she was making carrot table runners for her daughters and her sister. I consider myself Maribeth's adopted daughter so I hinted around for her to make me one. Uhm, she pointed to the cutting table and told me to make my own. Sheesh, I think the days of Maribeth making me anything are over. She taught me to sew so she knows my capabilities. Actually, it came together pretty easily. The whole project took about 2.5 hours but Maribeth already had all the strips cut for me . It's a quilt as you go project so when you're done with the top, you're also done with the quilting. I found the tutorial online for Maribeth but had zero interest in making one until I saw Maribeth's. It's so cute! She changed the carrot top a little and I like hers better than the way the tutorial has you doing it. I still have to hand sew the binding but that shouldn't take long. The tutorial for the runner is here.

*** See the basket of Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs in the right hand corner? I have filled that basket no less than 3 times and that's just this week! And I'm the only one eating them.

Blocks, blocks and more blocks

This is Stephanie's block for PTQB. She wanted a scrappy log cabin. I loved her choices of fabrics. Erin wanted blocks in squares and rectangles and she sent a lot of fabric so I was able to do three blocks (and she's getting more fabric back!). The first one is 9.75" square.

This one is 8" square.

Since the theme was squares and rectangles, I thought she should have a rectangular block.This one is 8.5"x10.5".

These are my blocks for Jane's Rainbow block swap. This block is called friendship star variation.

This block is called paper pinwheels.

I had to do 9 each of those blocks and I'm glad I'm done. All my April quilting bee blocks are done! Yay!

Speaking of blocks, have ya'll seen my blocks for AQB2 that Kat did for me. Fantabulous!

Obsessed...

It all started Saturday afternoon when I was cleaning off my cutting table so I could start a new project. I had some scraps laying around and decided to make a string x block.
I couldn't visualize it so I had to make four of them.

The next thing I know, it's 3:15 a.m. and I had 33 blocks. I would have made more but I ran out of paper.

A quick trip to Target on Sunday and I was back in business. I made another 15 blocks for a total of 48 blocks. However, removing the paper off 48 blocks sucked! It took FOREVER!!! The result was worth it.

The finished quilt top measures 48"x64". The best part about this quilt top is that it is made COMPLETELY from scraps! Which is great since I signed up for this. I don't think I can make the backing completely from scraps. Actually, I probably could but I'd like to keep my sanity.

I'm thinking of making a queen sized string x quilt from the Amy Butler Midwest Modern collection. I've been hoarding a bunch of it and I haven't touched it because I haven't found a pattern that I love. I'd make a bigger block though, probably 12.5" and add a border. I can't imagine how many 8" blocks is needed to make a queen size one.

The tutorial for the string x blocks can be found here. Obviously, I used paper instead of a muslin foundation base because I didn't want to cut 48- 8.5" muslin blocks. It is waaaaay easier to cut paper.

I'm not one for hanging quilts...

but I made an exception for this... and because it looks good next to my favorite print.

* The mini doll quilt was made with appliques from on this tutorial. Go check out her blog. She's got a great giveaway for her new patterns.