Custom Bunting Quilt on Etsy

Hi Everyone!

I've been busy here the last few days working on a custom bunting quilt commission that I got on Etsy.  I finished it up yesterday and sent it off this morning.

Instead of the green/ blue/ yellow color scheme that I normally make these in I did this one in blues and yellows.  I personalized it for it's lucky new little owner-- a little boy named Thomas Henry who was just born last week.  I hope he loves it and gets lots of snuggles in it.

PT{S}9

The Pillow Talk {Swap} Round 9 is finishing up this week and this time around I was able to take part.

My secret partner says she loves the look of linen and text, with a splash of color.  She also hinted that something in reds would look nice in her house, and that a rectangular pillow for her bed would be appreciated.  I changed the plan for this pillow over and over again in my mind, and this is what I ended up with.

Do you think she'll like it?  This was my first time working with the neutrals/ text/ linen combo and I think it comes off very "clean".  The pillow measures 12"x20" and takes a pillow form of the same size.  I didn't have a pillow form of that size to test it out on so instead I took these pictures after stuffing the pillow with fiberfill.  I used Kona solids that I got in the I <3 Kona charm swap at Pile O' Fabric I participated in a while ago for the applique.  It was nice to have so many color options in small sizes so I didn't have to run out and buy fabric.  It was especially nice to not have to buy Kona since I had to go out and but all the neutrals, the text prints, and the linen specifically for this pillow.

I don't know if you can see it very well but I used tiny buttons for the door knobs on the houses.  Three "door knobs" are red and the fourth one is green.  I thought it added a nice little bit of color in there.

I had had plans to add a beautiful thick Ruby Kona piping around the edge of the pillow but when it came down to it my sewing machine wouldn't cooperate so it didn't work out.  I just couldn't get my presser foot close enough to the piping to get a tight fit, and it looked pretty dreadful loose, so I took it out.  This was also my first time doing "quilt as you go" and I have to say I really liked it. 

BTW, if anyone is looking for a good source for text prints I bought mine from Sew Me a Song on Etsy.  Her prices were very reasonable and she had quite a few FQ bundles all made up already that you can choose from, and she was kind enough to let me swap out some of the prints in the bundle for prints from a different bundle.

October Bee Blocks

I've been pretty absent from the sewing scene recently.  I don't know how October ended up being so busy for me, but I found that I just had no time to sit down and sew almost all month.

As a result, I was a little late getting by bee blocks done, but here they are.

My October Stash Bee blocks:

My October do. Good Stitches blocks:

After uploading my do. Good Stitches blocks to the group I realized that I made a mistake in my construction of the blocks, so now I'm waiting to hear if the bee mama Jenn wants the blocks as is or if I need to pull them apart and re-assemble them correctly.  I guess it's just a lesson for me in the importance of actually looking at the tutorial while making the blocks. 

On a side note these do. Good Stitches blocks will be flying off to Hawaii with some friends.  The October do. Good Stitches mama for my circle is Jenn of Knotted-Thread and she's doing a few charity quilts for Sandy victims and I signed up to make a few blocks for one of her quilts. She's planning on hand delivering the quilts in December when she goes to visit family and friends in New Jersey.  If you're interested in donating a few charity blocks the sign ups are still open.

The Long Weekend

I'm doing it.  I just bought the pattern and I'm going to make one.  My first one will be a scrappy one for my sister for Christmas.  I hope it turns out well, and I hope she likes it.

Mouthy Stitches 2 Tote

A couple of months ago I signed up for the Mouthy Stitches 2 swap and today I mailed off the tote I made for my secret partner.

Her inspiration mosaic had a lot of brightly-colored hexagons laid out in interesting combinations, so I decided it was time for me to do some hexies.  The layout for my hexies was inspired by the colors in the hexagons themselves.  I really enjoyed playing around with the different colors and seeing which ones looked good together.  I'm quite happy with how it came out, and I hope my secret partner loves it.

On the reverse side I played around with the quilting a bit.  Another thing I noticed about my secret partner's inspiration mosaic was that all the things she had pictured had some fun geometric-looking quilting, so I did my take on "geometric quilting" while trying to make sure it didn't get too busy.

In addition to the tote, we were allowed to go crazy and make whatever kind of key fob we wanted for our partners.  I stuck with the hexie theme and made my partner a reversible hexie keyfob with  lobster clasp.  Each side of the fob is made out of 6 half-inch hexies, and each side has a rainbow of colors.

I also added one of my new tags I had made recently to the bag.  Now my partner will never be able to forget who she got the tote from.

Linking up this post with:

Giveaway Winner!

 Winner Winner!!!!!

And the winner of my 100th post giveaway was comment #

Which is:

Congratulations Elizabeth!  I've sent you an email!

Thanks to everyone who entered and who gave me some amazing ideas for my classes.  I look forward to using some of them when I start teaching at The Makery next month!