An Elephant's Faithful One-Hundred Percent!

It's time for the final baby quilt of the summer 2015 binge.  When all is said and done I spent 8 days making 4 quilts.  Not bad considering I did some jewelry crafting in there at the same time.

This quilt features Michael Miller's Elephant Romp, Color Me Retro Kitchenette in Blueberry, and Floralism in Fresh Grass from Hawthorn Threads, paired with Kona solids in orange and violet.  The binding is a deep eggplant purple, and it's backed in the Floralism print.  The whole thing was quilted in a bright magenta thread to tie the elephants in better with the solids.  I love how it looks up agains the green, violet and orange fabrics!

And now this one is on its way to a new home with baby Caroline, who was born at the end of June.  Hopefully it will be just as faithful a companion as dear Horton was to his egg.

Every Girl's Crazy Bout a Sharp Dressed Man

I have a secret.  When I was working as a costume designer, I certainly enjoyed designing pretty dresses for the ingenue.  But what I really loved, was getting to work with menswear.  Suits, ties, wing tips, cuff links, and gloves.  Overcoats and hats in every flavor from pork pie to fedora.  I loved putting young men into suits and seeing them instantly take on a certain swagger as they imagined themselves as James Bond, saving the day and getting the girl.  Ordering a martini and feeling all the ladies turn to look at them.  While women might have a love/hate relationship with shopping for the perfect outfit for a special event, every man in the world can look great with a well chosen suit and the services of a good tailor.

When I first saw the Fox & the Houndstooth fabric from Andie Hannah at Robert Kauffman Fabrics, I knew that I had to design my only baby boy quilt of the summer around it.  No blue planes or red trucks.  No dinosaurs or baseballs.  No construction equipment or superheroes.  No, what the sharp dressed young man will need, is a sharp baby quilt to make all the girls at his play dates swoon.

I mentioned previously that I ordered bundles of fabric from Niche Fabric Studio on Etsy.  I loved her pre-selected bundles so much that when I asked her to create one around the Foxes print, I let her have creative license.  It was the only bundle that I didn't see before buying and the only one I didn't like.  I received an awful safety orange solid, which was not a match for the orange of the foxes by any stretch of the imagination, along with a tan & black print of mustaches and lots of the red & white chevron.  I don't know about you guys, but I'm really over the mustache craze and the chevron fad.  I ended up moving the orange over to the final quilt I made (which you'll see soon), ditching the mustaches entirely, and buying the Bowties in black and Eyeglasses in tan coordinates to the Foxes.  I was going to ditch the chevrons too, but I found I didn't mind them as much once I had the bow ties and glasses in the mix.  Especially since the glasses print has a nice houndstooth in the background.

I quilted it with a soft grey to match the background of the foxes print.  They were just so handsome that I couldn't bear to mar the design with another color cutting through them, and really it went well with all the rest of the prints.  And while this may have been my least favorite bundle, considering I ripped it apart and put it back together, it just might be my favorite quilt of the group.  What can I say?  I'm always gonna be crazy bout a sharp dressed man.

I can't wait to give it to our friends Jena & Stephan for their young man who is due early this fall!  And now, because you know you want me to, I'll leave with ZZ Top.

Isabelle's Garden Baby Quilt

I met my Friend David and his wife Amanda, when we were both teaching theatre in Kentucky. We soon became Work Besties, and when they had their first child, the Costume Shop staff had a great time making adorable onesies and blankets for her.  Sometimes when David had Madison at work with him for the day, he would bring her up to the shop for a bit to visit while he went to a meeting, and we'd have even more fun ignoring our work and playing with her.  When David & I both left our jobs in KY just over a year ago, I was heartbroken to loose such good friends, but thrilled that they were returning to their beloved home state of Michigan.

It is currently even more bittersweet, since they welcomed baby Isabelle to the family in June, and I have yet to meet the little lady.  Hopefully I'll get to rectify that in the not too distant future.  Until then, Isabelle will have to be content with a quilt from Aunt Jennie.  The fabrics include Poetica in Daylight, Stitchery in Aqua, Heartbeats in Cool and some Kona solids.  The back is Kona violet, with a stripe of Heartbeats.

It was shipped off to its new home with Isabelle, and should be arriving today.  I hope it gets as much use as the quilt I made for her big sister got, since that one is still being used every day!

As Sweet As Tupelo Honey

The first of my 4 baby quilts of the summer is done.  I have to admit, that I'd forgotten just how messy my studio can get when I'm quilting.  When I'm making jewelry, everything seems to be neater.  No scraps of fabric littering every available flat surface.  No thread bits drifting around me like flakes of snow in my hair.  Let's just say I'm not happy about how much cleaning up I'm going to have to do to go back to jewelry making later this week.

I am happy with how this quilt came out though.  Because I had so many baby quilts to make in a short span of time this summer (what with a few family reunions coming up, and friends visiting soon), I decided to keep it really simple on the pattern.  Each of the four being made are strip quilts.  This one is slightly different than the others.  The strips are 3" and 6" wide.  All the others are 3.5" and 5.5" wide.  I would have done this one the same as the others, but sadly that choice was made for me.  I ordered bundles from Niche Fabric Studio on Etsy.  She normally sells precut fabric for rag quilts, but I liked her kits so much, that she agreed to make up similar bundles for me to do traditional quilting with.  I explained my plan to do strip quilts and I requested 1/4 yard cuts of each of the fabrics.  I think she was trying to use up some remnants, because two of the fabrics came already sliced.  I received 3" & 6" of the yellow chevron and the medium grey, but half yards of the others.  I wasn't really very happy about that, since I had requested 1/4 yards of everything.  Oh well, c'est la vie.

It really did come out well in the end.  The bee print is Sweet Bee in Morning, and the hive print is Honey House in Sunflower, both by Hawthorne Threads.  It was quilted in bright coral, to compliment the bees, and was backed in the Honey House print.

I can't wait to give it to the parents to be.  Chris is a former student of mine, when I was teaching in Kentucky, and he and his beautiful wife Sarah are expecting their first daughter in September.

And now, because it's in my head from writing this post, and I can't resist the crazy cat in this video, I'll leave you with some Van Morrison....

1001 Peeps Baby Quilt

After a few days trying to get some projects off my desk, I am hoping to cut the strips for my next batch of baby quilts this week.  In the mean time I thought I'd share this one, made for my cousin's beautiful baby girl, Madeline.  

The fabric is 1001 Peeps by Lizzie House, made up in a simple diagonal pattern, and quilted with free motion quilting.  Now, off to finish up a new bracelet design, and clear my desk for cutting!