Recent projects

Here is a look at some projects I've sewn up lately. 
To start, a baby quilt for my new nephew.  I used a few solids from a Bella Solids 'Neutrals' bundle mixed with some high and low volume prints.  The pattern is a simple disappearing nine patch.  It finished at a nice crib size so it can be used for a toddler.

 I used minky for the backing.  It was pretty easy to quilt with.  Not as difficult as I expected it to be from what I read online.   I kept with simple straight line quilting.  I don't know if I would try fancy free motion with minky.

 Next, is another custom maternity gown.  I wasn't too sure of the fabric at first, but once the pink bow went on I loved the whole thing.  I used Spotted in the Crowd in Grace from Anna Maria Horner's Field Study line.

 I made this little pillow for my friend's daughter who turned two.  It was made from scraps I had left over from making her baby quilt before she was born.  I'm told she likes her pillow very much, which makes me smile.  I used Elizabeth Hartman's dogwood quilting tutorial. 

Again I used Svetlana's method for the back.  Just a few adjustments and I got the face to match up perfectly.  I love it!  This Tula Pink Parisville print kills me with how gorgeous it is.

 And that's about it for now.  It's been nice to have time behind the machine even though it means staying up until 2 sometimes 3 in the a.m.  I love the quiet time of the night.  Its great to relax even if I do pay for it in the morning.  Anyone else a night owl sewer? 
I leave you with a sneak peek of what I'm working on now.  It's so sweet and dreamy.

Thanks for reading!
Melissa

Modern Mini Quilt Challenge

Jennifer of Ellison Lane is hosting the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge.  Today is the day to link up and submit only one entry.  In the past 6 months I've made nothing but minis and I love all of them.  It was so hard to decide which one to submit (like choosing a favorite child).  After a little help from my Instagram friends I've decided to go with the Circle Celebration pillow I made for the X-Factor Pillow swap.  This little pillow had a rough start (you can read about the process here) but in the end I'm pleased with the result.  Its funny that every single one of my favorite works live somewhere else now.  All of them were made for swaps.  This one traveled across the ocean and now lives with Tiina in the U.K. 

This foundation pieced pillow finishes at 15 inches square and is straight line quilted.  The free block pattern can be found at Quilting On the Square along with lots more blocks.  There are already lots of gorgeous minis linked up at Ellison Lane.  I highly recommend visiting and checking out all the lovely eye candy.

 

 

As always, thank you so very much for reading!

 

Melissa

 





PTS 10

 

I have been wanting to participate in the Pillow Talk Swap on Flickr for a while now.  I've seen so many beautiful pillows made for each round, I had to get in on the action.  My chance finally arrived when I saw that sign ups were open for round 10.  Imagine my excitement when I saw that my partner was one of my favorite bloggers.  I already knew that she was a huge Anna Maria Horner fan, and in her mosaic I saw triangles, so that's the direction I decided to go in.  There is something about sewing triangles that I just love. 

I only had a few AMH prints in my stash so I ordered a charm pack of Field Study and Lou Lou Thi to work with.  I love the fact that AMH's charms are 6 inches instead of the usual 5.  I cut 60 triangles but ended up using only 25 of them.  Then I began playing with the layout.

 

 

This was ok, but ok wasn't gonna cut it.  It needed something more.

Enter some texty lovliness.  It was so fun showing teasers to the group throughout the process and getting such positive feedback.

 

Once the piecing was done I had to figure out how to quilt it.  I love free motion quilting but I wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone so I decided I would attempt hand quilting for the first time.  I used six different colors of Perle cotton 8wt.  I also did not use any kind of quilting hoop or frame.

I must admit, I did pick out my stitches more than once due to uneven stitches.  Once I got in the groove though it went nice and smooth.  I did a simple petal motif in the center.

For the low volume background it took me forever to decide what to do with that area.  Finally I settled on simple straight line quilting that echoed the hexagon.  I did the colors by hand and then machine stitched the white with the perle thread.  I never knew you could do that but thanks to Little Miss Shabby, I discovered a new technique I will definitely be using again.

I really enjoyed making this pillow especially knowing who I was making it for.  I think it was pretty obvious that it was for her.  I wanted it to be special and I hope I achieved that.  Judging from her comments on Flickr I think she's going to be a happy lady.  I also made her a linen feather pouch and a wall hoop pocket but I forgot to take a pic of the hoop. :(

I cannot wait to see which pillow I receive!  There are so many beauties in the group I know I will love any one I get.

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

 

 

FLiQ Mini

This mini was made for the Flickr Fab Little Quilt Swap.  My partner said she liked bright colors, especially red and turquoise together.  This design was totally inspired by The Elven Garden's Tesseract Mini.  It was so lovely I had to try the design for myself.  I referenced Don't Call Me Betsy's Kaleidoscope Quilt along for cutting and piecing directions. The triangles I used were smaller than her templates so I ended buying a kaleidoscope ruler from my LQS to help with precise cutting.

I FMQ'd the background areas and then used a template to trace the curves in the colored parts.  I quilted those areas with my regular sewing foot.

 

I like the flower shape in the middle and the corners.

  I worry it may be a little too bold because my partner kinda went silent on me.  Maybe she didn't like the direction I went, not her style?  I enjoyed making it.  It's a really fun block to put together.  I enjoy working with triangles.  That Architextures print makes for such a great background too. 

This mini finishes at 24" square.  I bound it in a some shade of Kona red.  I hope it makes her happy.  On to the next project :)

 

Melissa

 

 

 

Circle Celebration Pillow

This little pillow was made for my second time participating in the X-Factor Pillow swap.  The theme was circles.  I wanted to do something different but wasn't sure in what direction I wanted to go until I saw this photo full of amazing paper pieced blocks made by Wombat Quilts.  Those blocks are seriously stunning!  Something about the Celebration block stood out to me and so I decided to go with that one.  I've foundation pieced before and I enjoy the process but man oh man did this block kick my butt!  I screwed it up so many times.  This was almost the pillow that didn't happen.
Here is the 1st block I made.

I was so excited because I used a color wheel to choose my colors.  I wanted to get away from my rainbow comfort zone.  When I was done I just didn't love it so I decided to go back to a rainbow design. 

A word of advice, although it may be relaxing, don't drink and paper piece.  I had to unpick seams more than a few times.  Even when I hadn't been drinking I still messed up despite being super careful.  Can you spot the mistake?

 

Frustrating for sure.  I almost gave up at the thought of having to cut more fabric to redo the segments, and although my instagram friends said it wasn't that noticeable I couldn't send it out in the world knowing it was off.  So I cut the pieces again.  For the quilting I decided to go with straight lines to highlight the design of the block.

And then came the binding issue.  I love piping on a pillow and so I tried it on this one, with this result.

Terrible, hated it, bring on the seam ripper once again!  In the end it was better without anything.

For the back I used Roses in Celebration from the Valentina collection.  I also used Svetlana's awesome tutorial for a hidden zipper closure.

For all it's trouble, in the end I'm glad I stuck it out and finished this little pillow. 
It finishes at 15 inches square.  I used Kona Ash for the background.  The free block pattern can be found at Quilting On the Square along with lots more blocks.

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

Just a few things I've sewn up recently.
An apron for my mom for her birthday.  I used this great tutorial from the Dating Divas.  I really need to make one for myself.

 

This little pillow was made to match the Pezzy baby quilt I made here.

On the back I used a zipper closure but its hidden by a flap.  I used this tutorial by Svetlana of s.o.t.a.k handmade.  This tutorial is seriously life changing!  Never again will I do a lazy envelope back closure.  I love having such a clean finish.

 

And lastly, a few pouches for my etsy shop.



The prints are Vivie Sprinkle in Aqua, Vivie Bloom in Citrus and Vivie Bloom in Blush, from the Larkspur Collection by Alexander Henry Fabrics purchased from Fresh Modern Fabric.  The bottom fabric is Essex Yarn Dyed in Flax from Robert Kaufman purchased from Stash Modern Fabric.  I love using that linen blend.  Thank you for stopping by!

Happy sewing,
Melissa

 

Swappy Awesomeness

Hi everyone!  First off, thanks to those of you who followed me over on Bloglovin', and welcome to my new readers.  I have been busy sewing, hence the lack of blogging.  I will try to aim for at least one post a month.

I want to share with you the awesome stuff I've received from my recent swaps.  My first ever swap was with Jessie of Inside The Paper Box.  There is so much I love about this mini, the tiny little squares, the different shades of color and how they flow into each other, but most of all the quilting.  My picture doesn't do it justice.  Over to the right hand side are the loveliest flowers.  It's so perfect and I'm honored to have it hanging in my sewing room.  Thanks again Jessie for being such a great swap buddy!  You can see what I made for her here.

After getting my feet wet with the private swap, I was lucky enough to join the X-Factor Pillow swap on Flickr.  This beauty was voted number one and I got it!  There are no words to express how happy I was to get this one.  It came all the way from Germany and was made by Johanna.  Her work on flickr is amazing!  Even though its a pillow, I have it hanging in my sewing room so my 2 boys can't destroy it.  This one truly brings me joy every time I see it.

The back is pretty too!

I'm in 2 more swaps going on right now and then I think I will take a break for a bit.  I'm participating in round 5 of the X Factor swap and also the Fab Little Quilt Swap on Flickr.  I can't reveal the pillow I made for XFactor yet but here is a mockup of my plan for the FliQS.



I need to get cutting for this one.  I think it's gonna be pretty cool.  Thank you for reading!

Happy sewing,
Melissa