Help me with ideas...

I would like to make a small quilted item for a graduating dentist...perhaps a wall hanging? This gal has done a lot of dental work for me this year at the dental school, and she will be graduating and moving on to join a practice. Anyone have any ideas for something to make for her? Thanks!

wips

wishing i was working on this...

but, i'm stuck working on this.

well loved quilts.

here are two of my FAVORITE baby quilts.

they were gifts from two of my FAVORITE friends.

the top quilt is all HAND QUILTED...

there are little daisies and a ribbon around the border.

The second quilt is all minky-backed (with NO batting)...

it's so soft and big and we LOVE it.

some easy baby quilts.

here are some easy ideas for baby blankets.

these are all quilts that we made last year.

i'm still dealing with sick kids.

but, i'm dreaming of quilting...

Very Hungry Caterpillar Storybook Quilt

Storybook quilt I made for my boys based on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar
a tiny and very hungry caterpillar started to look for some food Monday 1 apple
Tuesday 2 pears
Wednesday 3 plums
Thursday 4 strawberries
Friday 5 oranges

Saturday: chocolate cake, ice-cream cone, pickle, swiss cheese, salami, lolliipop, cherry pie, sausage, cupcake, watermelon ~ he had a stomachachenow he wasn't hungry - or little any more - he was a big, fat caterpillarhe built a small house - he stayed inside for two weeks, he nibble a hole, pushed his way out and...
he was a beautiful butterfly
Pieced together back......

I LOVE this quilt!

i went scrappy. (and i'm happy).

Thanks for all of your advice.
In the end, I opted for FREE (and to stay in my pjs all day).
It feels good to know I finished the girls' beds without spending any money.
(Now I can spend money on the rest of the room.) :)

This is the end result.

My girls LOVE to show everyone the pillows that they designed.

I LOVE the sense of self confidence they get whenever they look at their bed.

I just made a basic Log Cabin. I cut all of my bright scraps/stash fabrics into 2.5 inch strips (or you could use a jelly roll). I started with a square 2.5 x 2.5 and added to it, sewing, cutting, ironing, sewing, cutting, ironing. I put a square of white as my last log cabin layer. I made 63 of these blocks and sewed them together in rows of 7 by 9. That's it.

Here's my tip. I didn't realize that you could sew a log cabin wrong. But you can. See my picture above. Be careful when you sew the 4th fabric on. It should be touching the 1st and 3rd fabrics, not the 1st and 2nd.

One thing I liked about this process was that I had a lot of 2.5 inch strips. I pieced them together for the binding. Overall it turned out to be a great way to use up fabric that I've had forever.

i need help (with the back end).

I made these two quilt tops for the new girl's room.

(Remember the pillows I showed you?)

The best thing about these quilts is that so far I haven't bought ANY fabric... it's all scraps/stash.

once again i opted for fast, cheap and easy.

(yes. I have been called a QUILT SLUT before.)

But.

Now I'm stuck.

I found PERFECT back and binding fabric at Hobby Lobby, but it wasn't even on sale.

I had planned on piecing the back with scrap pieces... but I don't know.

What do you think?

Can I back them without spending money?

or

Should I just go buy the fabric that I already found and love?

And, help #2... I'm NEVER real good at naming quilts. Any suggestions?

plus. I'm sick so I'm kinda all around poopy today.

two little monkeys.

i have two friends that are sisters, they live together, and they both had baby boys pretty close together. these are the quilts that i came up with for their two little guys.

i'm trying to get rid of the fabric that i have so i can buy new fabric that i love.

this was a great quilt to use up any of my blues... i used a green sheet from ikea for the back and pulled that around as the binding. i stippled one quilt and used swirls and stars on the other.

the monkey, i saw on a beanbag that was for sale (at THIS shop- Cocoon Couture)... my husband and i copied the basic shape and our little monkey's were born...
easy. fun. finished!!

I heart Buggy Barn.

Since love is in the air, I thought you might like to see my LOVE child.
This was a fun buggy barn that I made last year with stacks of black, white and red.
My favorite thing about this quilt was that I saw someone's quilt online, and I copied it WITHOUT the buggy barn pattern. When I was done cutting it out, one of my sisters showed up with the pattern she found at her mother-in-law's house. Oh well. Love it.

and i want to finish this.

I just need to put the BINDING on this one.

I'm even finished quilting it.

I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

[FINISHED-- January 5, 2009]

polka dot wonder.

I LOVE this quilt.

I had so much fun collecting polka dot lights and darks for it. One baby quilt I made used only black and white for the background and bright polka dot fabrics for the circles. hmmm. Black and White Challenge?

Yeah, if you make it, use this how to that Bliss wrote up.

AND, don't sew each individual piece for the sashing and border... sew long strips together and then cut them. My sweet sisters told me this trick AFTER I sewed 5 of these quilts...

blossoms.

So, this is the quilt that I usually have hanging by my front door. It's pretty much my favorite quilt. And, it's my mom's favorite quilt too. So, I'm giving it to her. Today. I do have a little tear in my eye as we say goodbye. I know that I can make another one. I mean, I know that I WILL make another one. And, I'll love it just as much. I hope.

[Note: The pattern for this quilt and pillows comes from a book called, My Garden Best by Cheri Saffiote... The original quilt pattern is for a small quilt- I just made it bigger...]

remembering grams.

Sorry this is blurry-- It is a picture of my grandma wearing one of the dresses that I cut up for these quilts. It says, In loving memory of Mildred Elisabeth Lefferts "Grams".

My Grandma died at Christmas time two years ago.

Last year for Christmas my aunt sent me all my grandmother's summer dresses and I cut them up and sewed these memory quilts for each of my grandmothers 4 daughters and 1 son. In an odd twist of fate, the quilts arrived at their homes on the exact one year anniversary of my grandma's death.

This year, I sent a gram's quilt to my little sister.

She cried.

She said it is her favorite gift ever.

I love quilts.

I love my Grams.

I love the thought of family still wrapped up in her love.

(I love remembering the HUGE clearance sale where I found the backings for the quilts. I KNOW my ever bargain-shopper grandmother was on my shoulder for that find.)

May you have a day of warm remembering!

jean rag star quilt.

This was a fun, easy picnic blanket for my husband. And, you should be done with Christmas prep, and poor, so you need a new old jeans quilt idea. Right?!

Caitlin's Quilt

I made this for my daughter for her high school graduation this year because she is really into fashion. I started with a pattern called "Pretty in Pink," but expanded and modified it quite a bit. I also took some ideas from a pattern I picked up in Utah called "Girl Talk," designs by Lori Holt. It is an all hand applique pattern, and y'all know I would never do any of that tedious stuff. My quilt is all machine appliqued (I use satin stitch applique). I have since added some more embellishments, but the quilt is at college now, so I can't get anymore pictures. :(



Here is one of the blocks I designed on my own.

Twister Circle tutorial

Call me crazy, but I'm going to attempt to explain how to make the circles for the twister quilt.

1. Draw a 7" circle on cardstock (I used a kitchen bowl - use same bowl for final trim down)

2. Cut into fourths and make another template using one of the pieces and adding 1/4 inch to the straight edges and about 1/2 inch to the round edge

3. This is your template

4. I'm on a spending freeze, so I pulled these from my stash. Yellow is for the foundation piecing. Cut (96) from #3 template above. The white will be background pieces cut (24) 11 x 9.5. (original quilt was done with muslin for both the foundation piecing and block backgrounds)

5. I love using my scraps for this quilt, but am low on green and yellow so I'll have to dig into my stash for those.

6. I try to find pieces about 4" x 5" but since I'm using my stash, I also use skinnier pieces. You may need 3 fabrics for each quarter piece if you do this.

7. Place first piece right side up on foundation. Place second piece right side down and centered on foundation. Sew 1/4 seam on second piece.

8. Iron second piece over so entire foundation is covered.

9. This is what it looks like face up.

10. Trim to match foundation piece. (yes, there is a lot of waste this way, but I'm mostly using my scraps so I don't mind.)

11. Finished quarter piece.

12. Sew 2 quarters together to make 2 halves.

13. Sew 2 halves together. Use bowl to draw 7" circle

14. Trim to 7" circle

15. Center on background fabric and machine applique.

Here's another quilt that uses the same technique:

Close up of one block