Baby quilts for Amy DK and Amy V.

I finished a couple of baby quilts this month...one was late and the other just on time :-).  Nice to have them both finished.  I was fortunate to be able to borrow a Sweet Sixteen Quilting machine from a friend to try out.  I had debated getting one of these and it was so nice to actually be able to quilt a few quilts on it to see if it was something I'd like to purchase.  Not going there yet at this time...more research on other options :-).

Sweet Sixteen sit down quilt machine

The finished baby quilt - an I spy quilt using the Disappearing 9 patch pattern.

The baby's Dad works at a dairy farm, so I chose cows and other farm animals to be included.

It was fun trying out some ruler work on the Sweet Sixteen using this curved ruler...that worked great

 Amy V's quilt was next.  I had done another quilt just like it for Denise using the Ring Toss pattern from Swirly Girls.  However, the pattern called for 5 fat quarters, but I wanted to add more variation and used 10 which resulted in enough circles and border squares to make two quilts.  Since Amy loved Denise's quilt and her nursery was in the same colours, she got the second one.  I quilted this one with straight lines, using a ruler on the Sweet Sixteen and did large swirls in the border blocks.

Finished quilt

I had the perfect backing fabric for this quilt - funky giraffes

I tried some free hand echo quilting inside the circles...not perfect, but good practise and the baby won't care :-)

Circle crazy!

My quilt students bring me the most wonderful gifts!  Check out the Royale tissue box that Roxene's husband found in a package he bought at the grocery store.   

Aren't these circles just too cool?

 Roxene made a baby quilt using the Tossed circles pattern from Swirly Girls with lovely bright coloured batiks.  She was about to throw these leftovers in the garbage can when I stopped her.  I played around with them until this design 'popped out' and fused them in place and finished the satin stitching with various King Tut variegated threads.  I am just quilting straight lines across the whole piece with clear Mono.poly thread from Superior.  I'm liking the way it's turning out.  We're going circle crazy here LOL.  Someone needs to stop me!!

Quilting the leftovers from the circles Roxene used for her baby quilt

Denise's Baby quilt

We had a baby shower for Denise's new baby, Landon and she had chosen grey and yellow for her quilt.  I had so much fun with the tossed circles quilt that I decided to do another one.  This one was also a lot of fun.  I used 10 or 12 FQ's for the circles and borders rather than the 5 that the pattern called for.  This produces enough circles to make two quilts.  I've already cut out the background for the second quilt and fused the circles.  Anytime I'm in the mood to satin stitch, I can go ahead and indulge :-). 

The back was fun, but made me dizzy!

Border quilting

loop quilting in the background

The finished quilt

Never Throw Anything Away

This summer I made a baby quilt for my niece which I blogged about here.  I finished quilting the second quilt top for my friend Danielle's new baby as she fell in love with the giraffes too :-).  Here is the finished top (I forgot to take a picture of the finished quilt so I will add that later when I get one):

Finished quilt top

The circles were cut using my Creative Grids Circle Savvy ruler and the pattern was Ring Toss from Swirly Girls.  The circles are cut from squares with a square of steam a seam fused to the back.  After cutting the circles, there is a 'frame' left and it seemed a shame to throw them out.  While at Hyggeligt Quilt shop in London, ON awhile ago, I saw a quilt with small squares with circles cut out of them which someone had layered onto a wallhanging.  I tried a solid black and a white background, but liked them on the white better and spent some time playing with the layout until I came up with a final design.  I have been very inspired by more modern quilting from Tall Prairie Grass Studio's blog and Jacquie Gering's book Quilting Modern.   I spent quite a bit of time quilting it with straight lines and circles and a crosshatch.  It was a lot of work to quilt the wallhanging, but it looks awesome and is hanging on the wall in my sewing room reminding me to never throw anything out :-).

playing with the layout of the circles and frames

Applique done and auditioning borders.  The Kaffe Fasset print leftover from my Bordered Diamonds quilt back won out over other prints. 

crosshatch quilting in the orange circle

straight line quilting

I used the orange Frixion marking pen to mark the quilting lines.  Kind of scary using it, but it ironed out nicely.  I have used the markers on a green print and it bleached the colour out of the print leaving a fine white line.   Any bleaching would not be noticeable with the pure white background.

I quilted it on my vintage Bernina 830 machine

The finished quilt is hanging on my sewing room wall.

Giraffes for Jasmine

My niece, Jasmine is expecting a baby and a shower was held for her on Saturday.  I was told she was going to do her baby room in giraffes.  The next day I was at Cherished Pieces and saw a bolt of this awesome fabric sitting on the floor!  Wow, that had to come home with me :-).  I purchased enough for at least three baby quilts.

I had picked up a pattern called Ring Toss by Swirly Girls awhile ago and figured this was the perfect quilt to make.  I found batiks to match the colours and a background which looks like giraffe spots and used the giraffe fabric on the back so I wouldn't have to cut them apart.   The pattern calls for 5 FQ's, but I had 10 colours.  I used the Creative Grids Circle Savvy Ruler which works very quickly. 

Since I was on a deadline, I quilted organic lines in the border and I really like the way that turned out.  I was thinking circles, but couldn't up the courage quite yet :-).

I quilted the center of each circle with a King Tut variegated thread and the rest with a lovely light orange Magnifico from Superior Threads purchased from Anita Zobens of Cotton Mill Thread works.

 I found the binding at Seven Sisters quilt shop and when I got home, realized it was from the Dr. Suess line!  No wonder I liked it :-).

  
Since I had cut out double the circles, I made two tops at a time using a solid Kona Cotton for the center.  I hope to do some modernish quilting in this one.

 

I was at Hyggeligt Quilt shop a few months ago and saw a little quilt done with the cut outs of circles on solids.  I'm thinking of experimenting with a layout on either black or white background.  I'm leaning toward the black at the moment but the white looks very fresh.  That would make a really fun modernish quilt.