Saturday, October 19, 2013

Modern Baby Boy Quilt - Finish!

My friends are having babies left and right and I get to make a lot of baby quilts which is so much fun! I choose fabrics all from stash for the first time and I couldn't be more excited with the result! I drew the applique myself, I really wanted the first letter of the babys name there but incorporated with a cute dinosaur. This to lighten up the otherwise quite strict and modern feeling quilt. Make it feel more "baby" without drawing away too much attention from the design. The choice of the yellow for the applique came down to the original photo of the eggs that inspired the fabric selection.



I quilted it with a normal meander as I didn't want the quilt to feel stiff from too much quilting. I wanted it snuggly and soft.




The applique is done with the trapunto technique I used in my Summer Squares Quilt. But for this I used a high loft polyester batting for it to make it really pop out, will absolutely use this again for applique, makes it really stand out! =)


Friday, October 11, 2013

Summer Squares Baby Quilt - Vegas Quilt

One of my very best friends had an adorable, ever so cool and easy going baby girl, Vega few months back and I couldn't be more excited, she's just so sweet! They just got back from Sweden and I'm so excited to be giving her her little quilt!

When my friend just had found out she was pregnant with a baby girl, we had dinner at a restaurant talking about this and that and we came to talk about me wanting to make a quilt of course, so I had to ask if she had any wishes for it. She told me she wanted a ship, a star and a polar bear! Why exactly I don't feel at liberty to share but there were very good reasons for this anyway, and the wheels in my head instantly started turning: How the heck was I going to tie these requests together??


Luckily I had a number of months to sketch and throw away sketches, start over and think again before I had to decide on a design I felt could work. Ships and polar bears aren't exactly girly girly so I really wanted to find fabrics that could work with this while still not being too boyish. Luckily Sweetwaters adorable Noteworthy line was available, soft, sweet colors (including the essential blue and white!), lovely messages in the fabrics and not too girly nor too babyish as I don't think my friend would have liked that too much.
This was the result, a baby version of my Sunkissed Summer Squares Quilt! The Sunkissed Summer Squares quilt pattern is now available for FREE in my Facebook group.  I love the simplicity of the squares combined with the applique, I think they made a perfect combination!


I'm really super happy with the outcome! The applique is shadow trapunto just like in the original but sewn with a bit of a sketch like feeling thanks to the gray thread to give details. This one is also made with a Layer Cake instead of Jelly Roll and a Charm Pack. Soo much smarter and much less fabric waste! How come I didn't think of this earlier?

The adorable little polar bear is afloat on a piece of ice, looking up at the star above him as if for guidance.

The magnificent sail ship! I'm super proud of this, it's really tiny, only 4 inches high! And I'm really glad I managed to get the water to look like water with a bit of movement in it with the quilting, was so nervous about this!

To make the quilt truly baby Vegas, I of course had to include her name somewhere! I didn't want the standard babyish applique letters here as I felt it wouldn't fit with the rest of the quilt so I decided to make it from shadow trapunto in the water. Really happy with the result!

To make your own, just follow the instructions for my Sunkissed Summer Squares quilt and modify applique and size to suit your needs =) 

The Sunkissed Summer Squares quilt pattern is now available for FREE in my Facebook group

Sunday, October 6, 2013

I'm alive!! A Stash Stack Club Update =)

I'm alive and while somewhat overworked - I'm very well! I've however, not had anytime for anything but work this summer, which is really quite sad. We've been diving I think maybe a total of 6 dives this summer, which is just plain depressing numbers when you live in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Anyhow, I've luckily still received beautiful bundles from Pink Castle Fabrics which has managed to keep my spirits up so I've at least been patting some fabrics from time to time as I've folded them into my stash. I've actually managed to make a couple of baby quilts this spring which I still can't share yet as they've not yet been gifted =)

The gorgeous grays of June

The pretty pinks of July:

The lovely low volumes of August:

The tantalizing teals of September


Now I just wish I had some time to make something out of them...