Lovely Lena

Despite my recent moaning and dripping about making quilt backings, there is another one that I finished recently.

It was for Hugs 'n Kisses, the baby quilt for my darling new great niece, Lena.

I had lots of yardage of this sweet, sweet cherry print, so it was a breeze to put this one together. No wailing or gnashing of teeth this time around.

And Roberta at Cocoa and Quilts brought it to life with the beautiful feathered swirl panto that I have a definite obsession with. 

All that was left to do was bind and wrap it.

Apparently Lena loves it. I know that I am just a tad biased, but I have to say, she is just as cute as a button and suits it perfectly.

It's plenty large so she will be able to enjoy it for a good long while, rather than when she is just teenie tiny.

Given that she was born in September, we've been having to social distance for everyone's safety, but that doesn't mean we haven't been able to love every little bit of her from afar. Hopefully it won't be long before we can cuddle in person....M

Baby Steps

For a variety of reasons, it's been a tough summer to get any traction with my quilts, but on the weekend I decided that it was time to stop staring at a couple of flimsies and prep the backings. There was an extra incentive for the first one because it is for my niece who is expecting her first child towards the end of September. Time to get the lead out!

Appropriately enough, this one is called Hugs 'n Kisses. I think that I bought a small bundle of fabrics called Posh on eBay (when I did that kind of thing) and just made it up because I liked the fabric. When it was finished it was large enough for a good sized baby quilt - 45" x 55" - so I tucked it away until I needed it.

It will be backed with these sweet little pink cherries and I think that I might look to see if there is any pink gingham to be had for a bias gingham binding. It was pressed and the backing assembled in good time so I looked to make a second backing and get two quilts off to Roberta to quilt. 

Snippets has also been languishing for a while, but not nearly as long as Hugs 'n Kisses. I had been saving a backing piece just for it but when the tape measure came out I realized that I was going to be short. Ugh.

For whatever reason, I'm having a tough time figuring out what I want for a backing; I think it's because of the yellow border. It's an Art Gallery fabric and I just love it, but somehow that mint green in the centre of the flowers is just outside my colour range. 

This blue would have been terrific.

I don't want a pieced back and I also didn't want to hold up Hugs 'n Kisses anymore, so off it went to be quilted and I am back to pondering my Snippets options. I could make the borders narrower as I I'm short only about a half meter, but I love that border and don't want to lose any of it. A quick online browse didn't turn up anything earth shattering either so maybe it's time for a trip to Stedmans - I usually have great luck there. Oh well, at least one got to the quilter. Little victories....M

Taking a Break from Strips

I'm making good progress on the Sea Glass blocks but needed to play with something other than blue and grey strips for a bit, so I picked up a few of the larger remnant HSTs from Hugs 'n Kisses and made this star.

I'm not sure what the pattern name is but I've seen it a few times lately and thought I'd give it a try. Don't look too closely as the joins are not the best - I should have trimmed all the blocks to the same size before sewing but was too impatient to see it come together. Next one...

It will be 11.5" finished, so considerably larger than the other little blocks that I've been playing with, but works well with the little Churn Dash blocks....M

More Happy Little Blocks

I've got Hugs and Kisses all together but it needs a good pressing, so I'll share it with you in a little bit, but there are a few more new blocks made from the HST cuttings to show you.

Three tiny little Churn Dash blocks were my next experiment and they are as sweet as the Dresden Plate; they will finish off at 3 3/4".

There's also four little Pinwheel blocks that will finish at 2 1/2" - I like them in a row or all together in a larger block so there will be more of these to come.

It's going to be fun playing with different layouts as the block collection grows, but with such tiny blocks I don't think it's going to be very big.

The Dresden Plate with the basket block still appeals to me and I've realized that there might be a chance to put the two of them on one block if I make baskets out of the larger HST blocks that I've got, so I'll be interested to see if that works.

Lots more options to try with these little HSTs....M

p.s. Happy Victoria Day weekend to all my Canadian friends! Finally, some lovely sunshine today.

Almost All Together

Hugs & Kisses blocks are all pressed and coming together.

I used the chain stitching method that I mentioned a while back, sewing columns of blocks together, which creates a loose version of the quilt in rows - it's almost like a duck blind when you hold it up (a very pretty duck blind, mind you). The next step is just sewing the rows together. It's a great way to avoid confusion when putting a top together.

I had visions of lots and lots of pinning because of having to align both the seams and the white strips, but it wasn't that bad, probably because it isn't that large....M

The Home Stretch

I'm not spending all of my time playing with little scraps - this is what the home stretch looks like for Hugs & Kisses. I had about 30 blocks to assemble but wasn't sure that I'd have enough variety in the corner blocks (or enough of them, for that matter) so I paired them all up just to make sure.

They are all together now and just need to be pressed and trimmed and then I can start laying it out.

After fretting that I wouldn't have enough fabric to make a decent sized quilt I ended up with 120 blocks, which will give me a top that's roughly 4.5' x 5.5'. There is a bit of pink left over so it will either be binding or a border - we'll see what it looks like when it's all together.

Just love this fabric but I think that it is long out of stock; it's by Moda. Isn't Posh a great name?....M

In The Pink

I'd forgotten that there was a pink fabric included in this collection - I had set it aside thinking that it might be the backing - but since it would only be large enough for a baby quilt I've decided to incorporate it into the front instead and I'm really glad that I did - it's a nice addition.

My handy dandy green painter's tape is being used to give me a sewing guide to help me stay true to those diagonal sewing lines that I score with the Hera marker.

Cutting off and throwing away all of those corner triangles that result from the trimming just isn't in my DNA so I've added a few steps to the tutorial. It's a little hard to see, but I sew second line of stitching a scant half inch inside the first two rows of stitching and then I cut down the middle of the rows. When a block is finished I end up with 4 lovely HSTs, 2 that are about 1 3/4" and 2 more slightly smaller, so there is absolutely no waste, which I love.

HSTs hold so much potential but I'm thinking that these could be the beginning of some lovely little baskets.

Maybe  lots of different basket designs all in the same quilt. At any rate I've got the makings of at least two quilts when I thought  was only making one....M

Hugs 'n Kisses

Getting the guest bedroom ready for next weekend's Easter company gets all the credit for my latest project. I was cleaning off the bed and had to put away a collection of fat quarters that I had washed and ironed when I started the blue baby quilt, and this is where they had landed.

A couple of years ago I ordered a collection, which is unusual for me because I don't like things that matchy-matchy, but I really liked the graphic look of them. Every now and then I'd give them a sideways glance, but I was really trying to get a few projects put to bed, so to speak, before I dug into these.

The pattern is called Hugs 'n Kisses and I found it, and a tutorial on Pinterest. Looks like I might be a little behind the times because the tutorial was posted about 3 years ago. So me. Anyway, once I had the fabrics in my hand I thought, 'Where's the trouble in just trying a block or two?'




That led to this...

And then this...

And then this.

You get the idea.

The blocks are 5" square and the tutorial is very and easy to follow - the only thing I'm doing differently is scoring the sewing lines with my Hera marker rather than a pen or pencil to avoid any marks working their way through to the right side of the fabrics over time.

I'm not going to use the striped fabric that came with the collection and I've switched up the yellow for a yellow gingham and then added a few more of my own. So many of my fabrics are a completely different genre so I'm just going to sew and let the fabric decide for me how the quilt will be. So much for resolve....M