testing

I might be a little addicted to making these.  After making a Charley Harper version , I ordered a couple of Leah Duncan's Gramercy prints.  Unfortunately my older helper was busy with homework so the photos are a little more . . . interesting. I have (and love) both of these prints in quilting cotton and thought they would make fun baby quilts.  In reality I am not a huge fan of the black print for this, mostly because it came out of the wash pretty faded.  But I do love the tan print .   I am sure that we will use both of them lots though since they are wonderfully soft, lightweight (perfect for San Diego), and stretchy. The knit fabrics are 58" wide and since I had ordered 1 yard of each of them, I trimmed them down to about 45" to make 36" x 45" blankets.  That left me enough leftover to use for binding, but I decided to use Robert Kaufman black jersey for the tan blanket since the black Grammercy print had faded so much.   Now that I have made th...

A few versions of this quilt may be popping up into your feed this morning, but I would like to introduce you to my version of the Birchen Quilt .  This is a joint project by the Fat Quarter Shop and Art Gallery Fabrics and they are working together to bring you this wonderful (FREE!)  pattern .   Now don't be scared by all of the half square triangles.  Yes, there are a lot.  But the pattern has you use Triangles on a Roll  to make the HSTs and they make the process much faster.  And guess what: that means no trimming HSTs.   In addition to the pattern, the FQS has also put together a video on how to make the quilt.  So even if you are a fairly new quilter this project is very doable because the video shows you how to complete each step. And if you would like to make a quilt exactly like the one in the video, the Fat Quarter Shop has created a kit.   I chose to make my quilt using Katarina Roccella's new collection Recollection . ...

This basket has been on my to-make list for a long time and when I saw Svetlana's version the other day, I bumped it up to the top. Pretty much the reason that I had put off making this project is because I hate interfacing (this project calls for SF101 and fusible fleece), but in the end the interfacing was minimally obnoxious and definitely makes a big difference in the finished project.   The entire process of making this was so fast!  When I got to the last step I thought to myself, "Wait, that's it?".  My topstitching is a little sloppy around the top because I got a little lazy about the ironing, but it's nothing I can't live with.   This will definitely be my go to baby shower gift in the future.  I already put  this blanket  and some newborn diapers in my basket to test it out.  These diapers are leftover from when my son was a baby (almost 5 years ago!) and he outgrew the newborn size in about 2 days. Diapers don't expire, do they? The ...

I think I am a little behind the times on trying out economy blocks (find Rita's excellent tutorial here ), but it seemed like a good choice for a playmat for the baby.  I have tentatively decided not to make the baby a new quilt and to use this one instead .  I am sure that I will want to make him one once I meet him, but I am feeling a little directionless right now. So instead I started cutting out novelty prints for a small playmat (still technically a quilt but I'm calling it a playmat since it is so small).  I want to have something for the baby to play/sit/lay on while we are waiting for the older kids at all of their activities that has lots of colors and contrast for the baby to look at.  This quilt was heavily inspired by this gorgeous quilt .   I was a little concerned that I wouldn't have enough novelty prints in my stash, but it turns out I have a ton of fabric.  Oops. The backing is essex linen in black since I wanted something a little more r...

I haven't been able to sew as much as I like lately.  I did get caught up on December and January do. Good Stitches blocks. And I have started cutting a few things for a project for the baby.  But over the past couple weeks I have been excessively tired and have been having headaches and more nausea.  It feels like the first trimester all over again.  Then a couple of days ago it occurred to me that I might have gestational diabetes. So I went in yesterday for my 1 hour glucose test and sure enough I failed.  I get to spend 4 hours at the doctor's office on Thursday for the extended test, but I have pretty much already resolved that I have it.  I can't think of another reason why chocolate would make me feel sick instead of happy.  Do any of you have a not-too-difficult low carb, high protein recipe that you love? I would really appreciate any tips or suggestions if you have them!  Hopefully regulating my blood sugar will help me feel a little bet...

I still have a while to go until this baby shows up, but I am excited to start doing a little sewing.  As much as I love quilts, I don't really want to carry one around in my bag all of the time so I knew I wanted to make some receiving blankets. Since I don't have a lot of experience sewing with knits I thought I would start out with one blanket and I ordered this really cute Charley Harper knit .  It is an interlock knit which is a little sturdier feeling than a jersey knit.  I was a little lost about what to do for a binding since I hadn't thought to order a coordinating print, so I picked up some Robert Kaufman Laguna Jersey in aqua.  It's not an exact match but it's close enough for me. Also it's pretty much the softest thing in the world. I ordered a 1 yard cut of the print so I just squared up the sides and cut rounded corners using a plate (after prewashing everything of course) and then cut (3) 2" strips from the binding fabric (this was just barel...

I spent the last few days finishing up this quilt for my sister Carly.  This was the last in a series of scrap quilts for my sisters (and Mom).  You can find the other scrap quilts: Scrap quilt for my Mom Scrap quilt for Kelly Scrap quilt for Kara My sister lives in Utah in a basement apartment and it gets cold, so I wanted to make sure this quilt was extra warm.  The backing fabric is a pretty, tiny black and white herringbone  Robert Kaufman Shetland flannel .  It is thick and warm and gives the quilt a nice weight. I used Quilter's Dream wool batting and it was wonderful to work with.  I have only used wool batting one other time and I can't remember which brand it was, but the Quilter's Dream was much easier to use.  If you have never used wool batting, Debbie recently made a very informative post that is definitely worth checking out. As you can see in the photo above, the seam on the back is kind of noticeable.  The flannel didn't appear t...