Baby Wyatt

Another baby on the way in our family.. a great-nephew.. Wyatt.  I did a bit of research via his Mom's Pinterest account and found great inspiration for his quilt. Lots of blue and orange... some jungle things... and I knew I had to toss in a bit of U of TX fabric for these Longhorns!

This went together very quickly and I think turned out great!  It will be quilted after Wyatt is born and I add the label with his name and birthdate.  I like to add labels before quilting, so they stay nice and secure!

"Belle"

A Colorful Summer!

My husband loves batiks and has wanted to make a quilt using them for some time. He has bought up several scrap bags of batik scraps at our LQS and been saving them for just the right project. Well, he came up with 2.. so far!  Both of these tops have been shown on here, but he quilted them in the last few weeks and I wanted to show off the finished product!

Here is the first one.. Summer Breeze.  Very modern looking quilt.

And here is the 2nd one that we were calling Summer Breeze 2, but its final name is Island Breeze. Not quite as modern looking as the first one, but still not super traditional. This one is my favorite of the 2. I love the purple border and the focal fabric.

So when I am cold next winter, I will pull out a bit of summer sunshine to warm me up!

"Belle"

Starflowers

Earlier this year I saw a lovely Starflower quilt on a quilt blog. I have always loved this pattern, but have never made a quilt using it.  I shared it with a group of online quilt friends and we all commented how lovely it was and started sharing pictures of other Starflower quilts. And then... we decided a swap was in order. 4 of us participated.. small group, but still fun!  We made 5 blocks for each person participating.. the thought being you would receive a total of 15 blocks and then could make how ever many more you wanted to complete your top. Because we were small, we were able to choose individually what we wanted.  One friend wanted all primary colors and she wanted each quarter of the block (so 2 points) to be the same color family.  And she wanted white backgrounds.  The other 2 ladies wanted each point a different color using fabrics that had an old timey look.... small prints.. darker shades.. not 1930s repros.  One wanted cream and light tan back grounds.. the other wanted tans and creams and really preferred tans.

My original request was cream or white backgrounds with any colors other than pastels or neons... and I wanted each point to be different.  I later changed to say cream or tan backgrounds. I never thought of tan as a background.. felt it would be too dark, but once I worked with it and saw these blocks I fell in love!

I have received 1 set and they are great.  Will post pictures of them and the other 2 sets once they arrive.

BUT here are the ones I sent out...

The primary colors with white backgrounds...

And the "old timey" ones with the cream / tan backgrounds...

I can't wait to see all the ones I receive together. I have 2 made to go with them so far. Will probably make 3 more to end up with 20 blocks. I like square quilts. :-)

"Belle"

A bit of fun...

One of my favorite things to do is take figure out how a quilt or block is made.  I will see a quilt I like or a block and be intrigued by it which starts my mind to whirring.  This happened recently as I was looking through some of the quilt blogs I enjoy.  I saw a block and it intrigued me. So I played around on paper and came up with what I thought was a close proximity to the block.  It was a fun process.

Here is the block I saw:

I found this and others at Pleasant Home.. one of my favorite blogs!

Here is my version:

Baby Quilt Fun...

I love making baby quilts.. they are without a doubt my favorite quilts to make.  2 years ago I made 2 baby quilts that I loved.. one was for a sweet little girl and is, to me, the prettiest baby quilt I have made ever.  The other was a fun cowboy quilt for a little fella.  Well this year I have made 2 more quilts.. same mommies... different genders. The little girl is now a big sister and the cowboy has a big brother.  I had as much fun making quilts for their younger siblings as I did for them.

 

When I found out the little fella was on the way, I immediately new I had to do a quilt based on his dad's alma mater.. Mississippi State University. This quilt shows how much I love this family... because I am a dyed in the wool Ole Miss fan who bleeds red and blue!  LOL!  Still I watched this little ones daddy grow up into one of the finest young men I know, so I wanted to do something he would love.  So Bulldog fabric was purchased along with some fun coordinating fabrics and this quilt was created..

Very simple strip quilt with simple straight line quilting.  I love how it turned out. I wish you could really see the fabrics up close.. that maroon and white gingham is great!

I learned that little girl's room was going to be done in gray and white and shades of pink / rose... not bright, but light and dusty.  Chevron or Zig-Zag quilts seem to be all the rage right now, so when I saw a gray and white Chevron I knew it was the quilt for this wee one. But how to add some pink into the mix?  Easy!  What little girl doesn't need a few flowers in her room. 

 I was so excited to find the polka dot fabric in my stash and there was literally enough for the flower and the border. I think it adds a great touch!

I think my favorite part is the quilting on the back!  I had a blast quilting this!  

Thought I might be done with baby quilts for 2013 but I am not. Yeah!  My niece in TX has baby #2 on the way.  Her little daughter was born 2 years ago too and yep, she is having a boy this time around! Not 100% sure what I will be doing for them. Mommy and Daddy met at University of Texas and are huge Longhorn fans.. so I thought about another team themed quilt.. but I also love the idea of a little boy quilt and his name is Wyatt.. doesn't that just scream cowboy hats and boots!?  Gonna be fun coming up with something special for this little buckaroo!

"Belle"

Summer Breeze Take 2...

Earlier this year my husband made a quilt top with batiks and very summery tropical beachy fabrics.. I dubbed it Summer Breeze.  He decided to make another top with those type fabrics.. and here it is..

We've been calling it Summer Breeze 2.. but I think it needs a name of its own. Maybe Tropical Breeze  or Island Breeze? Who knows!

He plans to sandwich these 2 (a 2 person job for sure!) soon and start quilting on them, so I need to figure out a name for the label soon!

No matter... it turned out lovely.... as always.

"Belle"

Kiddie Quilts...

I whipped together another Quilts for Kids quilt. This one was super quick and easy. I was going through a box of novelty fabrics and found a stash of nine-patch blocks.  I do not remember what I made them for or why!  I pulled out 10 that seemed to go well together.. all are bright fun fabrics that lend themselves to a girl.  I then pulled 10 coordinating fabrics. Tossed it all together and here is the result:

I am thinking I will call it ColorFilled Hope.  It is definitely bright and cheery and I love this smiling face..

Hubs has been busy working on kiddie quilts too.  A friend asked him to make a quilt for a "new" baby girl.  He came up with this...

And if you are thinking that is a big baby quilt, you are right! Hubs never does small.

He decided the wee ones big brother (age 3) needed a quilt of his own, so an I Spy quilt was born.

No doubt all of these will be loved. "Belle"