Once a month blogger

Well incase you can't tell... I'm totally in love with Instagram.  It's just so... insta.  So if you like seeing pictures of quilts and cute kids head on over to my page there.  Of course I'm thepincushion. 

 

So it's been a super wackadoodle fun beginning to the year.  I think I've done 15 quilts so far?  Yep that 's wackadoodle.  But thank goodness they've been really fun quilts to make! 

Here are some memory quilts for two little guys from their baby clothes + mom and dad's pajamas.  I chose the granny square quilt pattern for one and a rainbow for the other.  Seriously.  I love how they turned out. 

 

 

 

Thanks for the pic, Kate! 

After that my very best good friend asked me to make the bedding for her two girls.  A perfect change of direction of working with two little boys' quilts.  Yin and Yang!

We worked together to get ruffles, stripes, and that light flowy airy feel without being too juvenile.  I think they turned out well... let's hope the girlies do too.  Never made a ruffle quilt before.  I'm not gonna lie.  I loved it.  Ever since since having my own little girls to cohabit with I am like a 7 year old all over again.  Pink! Ruffles! Flowers! It looks like my daughter is my interior designer but nope, I pick out and hang every one of my "whimsical" art pieces.

I digress.

Sometimes this sewing thing (hobby? job? fun little time filler?) can feel like work.  Wait, let me rephrase that.  Almost never does this sewing thing feel like work.  Well maybe when I have to baste a quilt or something, but that's about it.  As long as no one asks for batik in their quilt, I'm good.  

But then there are times when the sewing thing is off the charts ridiculously fun.  Like making bedding for my friends' babes.  Or a client orders a wedding quilt and then comes back (after an appropriate amount of time!) for a baby quilt.  I am often pinching myself and thanking God I get to use needle and thread to grow relationships with people.  It's really the coolest thing out there.

Little Charlie was born a couple weeks ago and she is also getting a quilt chalk full of pink and girlie.  I really like working with bright, saturated colors.  Hopefully baby Charlie does too!  I often stumble into my sewing lair early in the morning with my cuppa Chai and need crazy bright fabric to help pry open the peepers. 

A series of quilts you will see a bunch of in the next few months are my stars quilts.  A very good friend adopted two precious girls and my gift to them were new quilts.  She already had two biological kids so quilts all around!  Honestly I hope to get them done before they go to college. 

Here is quilt one for the youngest.  I used all Sherbet Pips.  While assembling the quilt top I starting to question myself how in the world I came up with such a brilliant idea to give a 3 year old a mostly white quilt.  Yeah....

When I became a mother I made a bunch of weird rules in my head... no binkies, no TV, and NO commercially licsenced crap on or near my children. 
Ahem.

But if it's in the form of a quilt, it doesn't count, right?  Gramma got the jammies so that also doesn't count. 
And TV is ok if everyone in the house is sick and whiny. 
Binkies... I think I actually TRIED to force it in my middle daughters mouth to get her to stop crying.  She hated it and opted for 4+ years of finger sucking anyway.  Me and my orthodontist are going to be BFFs I'm guessing. 

So yeah, my son has a Spot book that he lovingly refers to as "Pots" and even (melt my heart right out of here!) "Potsies".  POTSIES!!  So when I saw little Potsies in fabric I got it and made it into a quilt in about 38 minutes.  I bought two book panels and put some batting in the middle.  No books, just quilts.  That's how I roll!

Hotness

Wowee it's hot in here!  I love it, though.  I am a huge fan of all four God-given seasons in this part of the world.  I really do enjoy each and every day, no matter the weather here. 

This is the first year I've planted seeds in the garden.  We usually just put my FIL's leftover tomatoes and peppers in the ground.  But this year I'm very motivated for some reason...

It's been a few weeks now and I'm happy (and surprised!) that some seeds have actually sprouted and are really and truly growing! 

These hands have also been busy in the sewing room too.  My very creative client envisioned these eclectic colors and fabrics together.  It's so super amazing to me.  Orange, fuschia, aqua... so unique and so modern.

Because I'm expecting less than 10% of my seeds to grow into food this summer (I've learned low expectations are good), we've been hitting the pick-your-own farms like crazy.  We always love those activities anyway, but this year I've ventured into the canning and preserving world.

 Strawberry jam!  Yes, it's "only" freezer jam but dagummit I made it and stacked those lovely little jars in my freezer in less than an hour.  All during baby's morning nap.   Baby steps for me.  I've never really canned before, so this was a realistic first step.  Next year I'm jumping in completely.  Probably.

My goal this year was to get outside as much as possible.  Like all the time.  We live within walking distance to a Starbucks which has been a great motivater for the girls to learn about money.  The values of each coin, paper, and when it's gone... it's gone.  My oldest got about $8 from her Easter egg hunt and has been saving it all spring.  We taught her to tithe, save, and spend. 

Her younger sister, however, has decided her currency would be a little easier to accumulate.  PomPoms seem a lot easier to come by than shiny coins, so she tries to pay for her Starbucks cake pops with fluffy round balls.  It's great.  Anyway, she asked for a change purse and I happily obliged. 

I bought the purse frame at JoAnn for about $2.  The rest of the fabric and interfacing I had on hand (scraps).  I followed a tutorial (can't remember which one now) and had it done in a couple of hours.  

It's been a few weeks and she still hasn't lost it!  It's been filled with locust skin, acorns, pebbles, and some feathers, so I take that as a good sign she likes it.

Spring and Summer mean graduation which is good for tshirt quilts!  This one was so fun to make.  I love the colors and pattern.  It was such a unique creation and made for one of the nicest girls out there.  I used a high loft batting for the first time and was amazed at the super softness of the finished quilt.  It was hard to stop touching it.  I really loved the outcome. 

Tshirt quilt #2... another twin size quilt.  My friend here had a million gajillion shirts.  So many, infact, that I had to put some on the back.  It made for a very difficult FMQing but I was able to maneuver it and coax it into submission.  I used a gray Flea Market Fancy for the back, one of my all-time favorite prints.  I think it tied in the school colors well and added a little "girliness" to all the sporty shirts.

Currently I'm working in a wonderful memory quilt for an extraordinary client.  She's more like a dear friend that I've never met in person, but just one of those that I really connect with.  Five generations of garments are going to be included.  The quilt top is done and I'm so very excited to see it come together.

The patchwork squares are 5" each.  Then I came across this 8" old patchwork square in her stack.  Hmmm... I could not take the thought of hacking into this beautifully hand-sewn treasure from the baby's great-grandmother.   So I gently unpicked the stitches and made it into 4 mini blocks with some ivory sashing to bring it to 5".  Perfect.

More on this quilt as it comes together.  I'm so pleased with the progress and know that it will be well-loved by many people.  It is such an honor to make these special heirloom quilts.  Meeting people from all over the world and getting to know their stories is always such a blessing to me. 

From college graduates to new babies and expectant mothers (and grandmothers!), it is always a joy to connect with someone who loves quilts as much as I do and feels their power to link the past to the future. 

Enjoy these summer days.  My love and I have had some great times with the kiddies and especially alone with a little wine.  We could use a little rain but we sure do enjoy the sun.

Stay cool, my friends.