Strawberry Shortcake Half Square Triangle Quilt

Oh Natalie Dee... I heart you. I tell my husband that I want to wear him like a jacket all the time. HE knows that it means I like him bunches :) He's cool with it.

I have been wanting to make a half square triangle quilt for quite some time. I think they are simple enough, look really pretty, and I have never sewn one, so I sat down this weekend and followed the P.S. I Quilt tutorial:

I used 15 prints from my pink stash just because I have way too much pink AND a girlfriend of mine had a little Valentine's Day baby girl the other day. :)  I also simultaneously completely used up 7 or 8 fabrics! I WIN!! And then I used an off white, creamy Kona solid (the particular color is eluding me at this time)...

I started with 5.5 x 5.5 inch squares in both white and a pink from the stash (See piles below). I drew one diagonal line on the lighter solid for following the 1/4 inch seams on.

I sandwiched one pink and one solid (right sides together) and sewed twice (1/4 inch on either side of one diagonal), then used my rotary cutter to cut on the diagonal line that I had drawn. This will yield two half-square triangles with each solid-color sandwich.

 

Pretty little pile of half-square triangles ready to go!

Half-square triangle quilt top!! Of course I have multiple projects on my plate, so I added a few little pieced curved circles in to keep things interesting. They are much easier than I had anticipated! 

 I have been interested in the whole porthole technique since I saw this on flickr:

Check out her website here: Lu Summers

I couldn't ever actually find any sort of tutorial on her blog, so I continued to scour all of blogland. Here are all of the blogs that I found to be helpful with the construction of a porthole block. All you need is freezer paper (yes, it is different than wax paper! (I had no idea). Wax paper = waxed on both sides (bad for your iron), Freezer paper = waxed on one side only (good for your iron!)), scissors, a glue stick, a pencil, A shape to trace, an iron, pretty fabric, your trusty machine, and a little bit of time on your hands!

We Shall Sew

Ric rac

Dioramarama

P.S. Here is the updated picture from my long-arm quilter of my Postage Stamp Quilt!!

Circles!

Always looking head.......

I am currently working my second New Wave Quilt

and the

Lawn Chair Quilt,

BUT I am looking ahead to my next few projects. (I know, I know, I know).

One of my girlfriends is having a little boy in just about 15 weeks so I need to get my bootie in gear. So far, I have determined a fun color palate BUT that is it... I need some more good inspiration to strike...

I am interested in one of the new Moda Bake Shop Recipes: Hexagon Park I think it could work and look really, really cute in these fabrics.... I am considering adding another solid though.

Thoughts???

Fabric Nametag?? GENIUS!

Yes, yes they are Natalie Dee.

It's been a super stressful week at work (ugh, it's only Tuesday) so I haven't been sewing as much as I usually do. I am looking at some pretty and inspiring things though.

I am totally loving the idea of a quilted nametag.

Krista of Poppy Print - I am in love with the cute little skulls

Chalet Girl  - You just can't go wrong with turquoise and red

Thornberry - Like I said, can't go wrong with turquoise and red!

Cindy of Skip To My Lou - This is really cute, too. Bet I could figure something out like this for my work ID....

Cara of Me A Mom? - ADORABLE!

Artsy Fartsy Designs

Fun!! I want to make a nametag now! :0)

Above All Else - Guard Your Heart

http://www.flickr.com/photos/parkerfitzgerald/

Side project: Pillow Shams

Still sewing away on a few quilt too projects (because one project is never enough and to be honest, I get bored or frustrated and need to step away from certain projects to think things through in regards to how I need to be doing things differently in order to be successful).

I did join the Single Girl Support Group, but am continuing to wait for the book with the pattern and template to arrive. I am loving reading the Q&A posts as well as the FYI posts so that I can be prepared when it is my turn to start building the blocks. The question came up: Who is going to be making pillow shams? One of the gals came up with some super links and I wanted to share as well as document some of my own faves (for my own future use!).

Prudent Baby (Love the fabric on the edges of the shams, not too feminine)

 Film In The Fridge (These are pretty pillowcases)

The Cottage Home (Frilly and beautifully feminine)

Retro Mama (More pretty pillowcases)
My mom is notorious for historically making my brother and I pillowcases. Really. I have a Snoopy Christmas pillowcase, a Snoopy St. Patrick's Day pillowcase, three flannel (one white with blue flowers, a second white with rainbow horizontal stripes, and a third white with red words), and a Robert Hoffman easter egg pillowcase. Then this year for Christmas she made all the couples in our family matching pillow cases, so the hubs and I now have a CHRISTMAS SET!!! Thanks Mom! xoxox

I love my headboard :) Tufting is WAY TOO much work to ever do again...

Lawn Chair Quilt Progress

Been raining all day in Phoenix!!! Smells good :)

So I guess I should come clean. My name is Michonne and I really like Moda Bake Shop. I love that normal people make their patterns. I love that they have the directions right on their website, they make complete sense(!), and I LOVE that everything is F-R-E-E. Yes, friends. Free.

Love. Moda Bake Shop 'Recipes'

I found the Lawn Chair Quilt a while back and have had it all bookmarked and ready for making a baby quilt, but really haven't done much more than the bookmark. One of my girlfriends from high school just had a baby. A Valentine's Day baby girl!!! This baby is destined to be a tom-boy with a mom that is a Sand Dune Champion Racer, so I didn't want it to be too girly. I figured a bright blues and pinks combo could be super fun AND I used more of my stash!!!

Here's the idea of the pattern:

and here is what I came up with (a much smaller version as I was only going crib-size vs anything any bigger):

Look, it's a Michonne-tree.. Those are my knees :) I ended up using a white with tan Peter Cotton Tail-type fabric as the background (starting to run out of white in the old stash...). I think it turned out pretty cute. Not to girly and not to masculine. Now I just need to figure out what kind of cute border I can get on this one STAT! I am kind of thinking a wide, plain border (with blues and pinks somehow).

How Do I Construct This Quilt?

Every time that I am making a quilt for someone or just sitting down for some therapy, my hubby asks if the quilt will be for him. It is pretty much a running joke at this point. I would love to make him a quilt, but he can't seem to figure out what is 'manly' enough to suit his disposition until now. My handsome husband has decided that he likes abstract-like quilts and he has committed to a pattern. Yeah. Whoa. I had to pick my jaw up off of the floor because nothing ever seems manly enough for this Model A driving, Y block building, ball bearing packing, engineering hubby of mine. SO I am thinking, 'Gee, this is awesome. I had better be able to make this quilt for him...' And then he shows me this picture:

It's the album cover to a Deathcab for cutie album. A boy after my own heart.... except that I cannot wrap my head around how to actually put this thing together. Ugh.

I need help figuring out how I would construct this... it looks complicated and hard? Does anyone know of any examples where seams don't exactly match up and look completely random/artistic like this? I need help :( Below is a ticker-tape-style version.... Getting closer, but totally need some help here.

http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com/2010/07/working-hard-to-get-ready-for-upcoming.html

I would really like to do this without having to go all Ticker-Tape-Parade on it. I like the idea of having all my raw edges on the backside with no fraying to maintain the crispness of the quilt (for this particular project). Just don't know where to begin with this process..

Recommendations? ? Guidance?? Help??? :(

Coffee Cup Sleeve

I have been thinking about making a few of these for a while now. I completely love the idea of making something that people will actually use.

Here is my first attempt at a coffee cup sleeve. Not perfect, but super duper fun aaaaand utilitarian. This really bright blue/peach dot is a Kaffe Fassett print that I have been unable to put into any quilts (so far) just because it is so incredibly bright. I also haven't really made anything that has been a bunch of turquoises lately. My favorite thing is the glass faceted button. It is vintage, was a part of my grandmother's button collection, and my mom lovingly gave the collection to me! Score!!!

Hello pretty little vintage button xoxo

Socken Quilt-A-Long Progress

http://www.flickr.com/photos/notebookdoodles/

The Cherry House Quilts Socken Quilt Quilt-A-Long is hopping right along. This week, we were to sew together all of our baby 1.5 x 1.5 inch squares into color-coordinated strips. This went together so quickly for me that I ultimately decided that I could move on to the next step.

Once I had ironed out my 5 pieced strips, I decided that I wanted my quilt to be a little bit bigger. I know, I know, I know.... I said I wouldn't fuss with someone else's pattern before I had tried it out, but my need to stash-bust got the better of me and so I cut 5 extra color squares for each pieced strip. So I essentially added 10 more squares :) to increase the length.

I then ironed my wide strips and prepared to sew to the pieced strips and I realized ---- gee, this is the reason that we only cut 18 1.5 x 1.5 inch squares to begin with: this is the width of the fabric. Duh. So I pieced in an extra 10 or so inches to end of each of my wide strips. I was very happy that I had a plain background with minimal large flowers randomly placed as the design. I think it turned out really good and it is going to be hard to tell from a distance where I pieced in the extra 10 inches on these strips.

Finished Quilt top

A little bit of a close up

Close up of the red and the orange pieced strips

Close up of the yellow and green pieced strips

I am incredibly happy with how this quilt top went together (very speedy and perfect for an adorable baby quilt!!!) and how lovely the final product is. I can't wait to post this to flickr, but am going to wait until the rest of the group is at the final step. I don't want to be the person who goes ahead before they are supposed to..... ya know?

I guess the next step now is to figure out how I am going to quilt this pretty little baby. I am leaning towards trying my hand at hand quilting. Here are a few pictures of what I am currently inspired by:

Not too much, just enough: Perfect!

Pretty curves and nice stitches

Love the idea of tracing the flowers

Do you have any good recommendations? Ideas? Experiences?

Thanks for stopping by :)