Tuesday 28 October 2014

Tools, Baby Quilt Finished

It always feels great to sew the last few inches of binding down on a quilt and normally I am super eager to blog about it right away, but this quilt seems have needed more time for everything. It has been my keeping sane project through 2 months of renos, packing, moving, unpacking and settling into a new routine in our new house.

So without further ado. Here it is, the Tools Baby Quilt for my new nephew.


Oops pine cones were falling lots while I took photos.

The straight(ish) quilting on the drill is my favourite.

Instead of making a label I signed my name while I quilted and there is secret message just for my nephew along the bottom.

The big open space in the middle of the quilt was perfect for his name and birthdate

Quilts Stats:
Pattern: Tools, Baby! By Kelli Fannin of http://thatlookslikeitneedsstitches.blogspot.ca/
Size: 48"x 48" (or so)
Fabric: Background is Kona White, most of the colours are from the Kaufman blender line Dazzle. Backing is Shannon Cuddle Light blue dimples.
Piecing: Pieced on my grandma's Husqvarna Viking with 60wt Presencia Thread
Quilting: Freemotion quilted by me on an APQS Millie Longarm with white Glide Tec thread
Binding: Green Dazzle fabric is machine stitched.


Notes:  I really enjoyed putting this quilt together because it came together so easily. I chose to omit the borders because the quilt was big enough to be a good sized baby blanket and I really didn't want to have to piece the minkee/cuddle for the backing. It was fun to free motion quilt this on the longarm and I am eager to try it again to improve my skills. Plus minkee is so wonderfully cuddly for baby quilts and it was so easy to manage it on the longarm.


Thanks for having a look.
GeoMama

Blogger Quilt Festival: Snapshot of Skiers Pillows

This entry is for the small quilt category of the Blogger's Quilt Festival being hosted by Amy at http://amyscreativeside.com/ . Although individually each pillow would fit in the mini category they were made as a pair as a wedding gift and I felt that the small category would be a better fit. These pillows finished up just over 20" square each.

The skier block was designed by Amy Friend of www.duringquiettime.com. It is a paper pieced block with a huge amount of teeny tiny pieces. I wasn't sure I had the skills necessary to make it, but after a couple weeks of very careful sewing they came out great.


The quilting on front was mostly stitch in the ditch and echo quilting the mountain lines. The ski poles were quilted using 30wt purple thread as were the pillow backs.


The original plan was to have plain purple borders, but as I was sewing late at night I realized I had used more of the purple fabrics that I had calculated for. I choose to extend the mountain range beyond the green frame and I think provided a great finishing touch. 


The backs were done with a simple patchwork which overlapped across the envelope style closure. 


The pillows were gifted to the newlyweds at a beautiful mountain ceremony at one of their favourite ski hills. 


And now they have a new home on a loveseat where they are greatly loved by a pair of avid skiers.

Quilt Stats:
Name: Snapshot of Skiers Pillows
Size: 20" x 20" (each)
Pattern credits: Amy Friend from During Quiet Time for her Vintage Skier Paper Pieced Block, the rest of the design is my own.
Piecing: Skiers, paper pieced using 60wt Presencia Thread, Patchwork and borders, pieced using 60wt Presencia thread
Batting: Quilter's Dream Select (pieced together scraps using batting tape)
Quilting: Quilted on my Grandma's Husqvarna Viking Sewing machine. Thread used white 60wt Presencia, light green 50wt presencia and 30wt Wonderfil Mirage variegated purple thread. 
Binding: Machine stitched. (The machine wasn't super happy about going through 8 layers of fabric and 3 layers of batting on the overlap of the envelope, but it survived)


Thanks for having a look and enjoy the rest of the entries to the Blogger's Quilt Festival. 

Leatina aka GeoMama

Friday 24 October 2014

House, Life and Everything Else

As some of my regular readers may have noticed I sort of disappeared for most of the last 2 months. To put things lightly, it has been crazy busy. Through September we did renos at our new house, packed the old one, ran into problems with the new basement and eventually moved.

Since then we have been getting settled into new routines and trying to get things unpacked and organized (which is WAY harder with toddlers around).  

Up until now I had been working part time at the local quilt store learning to be a sewing machine technician and I only worked every other day. As we had to change childcare around after moving we decided it was probably time to put the kids in daycare full time.  This has proved to be way harder than I expected.

Monkey is in a toddler room where most kids nap every day, and now she is napping some days and not other days. The days she naps she stays up an hour later than her normal bedtime. She had been quite liking the alternate home/daycare days before and is not enjoying going to daycare 2 or more days in a row.

LB on the other hand seems to be adjusting just fine. He wasn't going to bed well at the other house and he still isn't. But he is ending up in our bed more often and longer in the night. The daycare ladies have told me that he is doing great while he is there.

Just to make life a little more fun the kids have had 2 colds in the last 3 weeks. GeoDad and I have had to take turns staying home with them (since you definitely can't go to daycare with a fever).

Due to the location of the new house I would need to take a bus and the train to get to work and it would probably take longer than I think it should. So since moving I have been biking the ~5km to work. It is only taking 20-25 minutes depending on the day and it is very refreshing to get some exercise a couple times a day. All in all I am enjoying being at work full time but I am exhausted by the end of day.

Can't complain about biking past this twice a day.


There is lots of sewing I would like to be doing but most nights by the time the kids are sleeping I am too worn out to even think about it. And some of my free time in the evenings has been spent on wedding planning as our wedding is less than 5 months away (ack... so much to do and figure out still).
Closer to workable.. Need to unpack and make a spot for the ironing board.

Anyway, I think the blogging/sewing slump is coming to an end. Last weekend my brother laid some beautiful laminate flooring in the sewing area and I finally have a spot to sit down and sew. Tonight I finished putting the binding on the Tools Baby Quilt that I longarm quilted a couple weekends ago (so here's hoping I get a finished quilt post written this weekend). 

GeoMama