Kiley's Princesses and Mermaids quilt

I finished this little custom quilt last week.

This was my starting stack of fabric.

Kiley's mom told me a few colors and that Kiley wanted "princesses, butterflies, and mermaids." I thought it would be a perfect excuse to use this Alexander Henry "Once Upon a Time" print.

For the design - I stole from an idea I used a long time ago, when I made this little Plume quilt. It lets you feature a big focal print with the frame as well as the wide directional border.

The half-square triangles make a nice contrast.

For the quilting, I used a basic, loopy free motion all over. It gives good texture, looks cute, and complements all the triangle points well.

I have made quilts for Kiley's brother, and baby sister, and I didn't want her to feel left out by not having her name on this quilt.  So I decided to put it on the back, so that when it was folded down, it shows up the right way.

Cute, huh?

I screwed up the piecing on this a couple times, but ripped a few seams, and eventually got it right. :)

Kiley picked the mermaid backing herself (from Out to Sea by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller).

Binding was a pink and purple from Tula Pink's Parisville from my stash.

I don't do very many custom quilts, but this one was fun to work on! Thanks Kiley! ♥ I can't wait to see it in your room!

I got a picture of Kiley with her quilt too! So sweet!

Simply Modern Christmas - book review and giveaway

*giveaway closed - Mindy was the winner! Congratulations Mindy!*

My favorite thing about blogging, by far, is the window to meeting wonderful new people it has given. One of those ladies, to be added to my ever growing "would love to meet in real life" list is Cindy from Hiyacinth Quilt Designs. I tease her that I want to be her when I "grow up" (which really just means that I love her style and fabric combos, and I'm pretty sure we could happily share stashes). When she asked if I would like to review her new book, Simply Modern Christmas, I was very happy to do so.



Pros of the book -

• The styling is Christmas, but most of the patterns are universal and lend themselves easily to multiple fabric combinations. Cindy uses really fresh and pretty color groupings throughout, and it was easy for me to envision the designs with various combinations. Cindy blogged about all or most of her patterns, if you want to see some other examples!
• The patterns are thoroughly explained with words AND diagrams (which is nice for multiple learners!)
• In my opinion, the projects in this book are perfect for gifts -- there are some great, beginning to intermediate designs that are easily customized to your gift-giving needs.
• Designs lend themselves to using scraps.
• Some really cute seasonal patterns (stockings, and tree skirt for example).

Con of the book - 

• This is kind of a forced con, but there are not really any advanced patterns in here... so if you're looking for "advanced" designs, then this isn't really for you.

A few of the patterns that caught my eye in particular:

I am really drawn to this "Peppermint Float" star-in-star-in-frame motif. 

Love this tree skirt, "Skirted" (love it).

And this "Hanging Around" pattern I loved so much, I wanted to stitch one up for myself (and did so last weekend on a retreat).

This is my rainbow version of "Hanging Around."

This is going to my lovely friend Kelly, because well... she's lovely. Funny too. And she likes rainbows. And she made me a bag (I don't like making bags).

I used black and white background fabrics and the new Joel Dewberry and Anna Maria Horner True Colors fabrics. See what I mean about how the designs look great with non-Christmas combos?

Giveaway!

Leave a comment here letting me know what kind of quilt is next on your to-make list, or a project you need a pattern for and I'll pick a winner Sept. 29 to win an e-book of Simply Modern Christmas. 

Or, you can save yourself the wait and get the book on amazon, Simply Modern Christmas: Fresh Quilting Patterns for the Holidays, or Martingale.

Good luck!

Linking to Lee's!

crazy fabric love Friday

Oh my goodness.

I didn't know this was going to show up at my house yesterday. But I was pretty happy (happy being a total understatement and trying to figure out how I could send my kids to their grandma's two weekends in a row)... ;)


These are the True Colors fabrics from Free Spirit fabrics' new line of blenders (they'll have them at Market and I believe they're being released in November). These are the lines from Anna Maria Horner and Joel Dewberry, and they are the most magical fabric thing I've seen in a long time. Seriously. I've got an upcoming design that will be featured in American Quilter, and these were the fabric line my heart was set on to make the quilt, and they are here!

Here they are by print:

and in color order:

And the ones from AMH (who I like to think I have a bond with because she's held my daughter)...

See? Magical. ♥

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Something I DID know was coming yesterday was a really fabulous order from Julie at The Intrepid Thread.  I probably would have resisted had I known the True Colors fabrics would arrive so swiftly, but I'm glad I didn't. Next weekend, I'll be heading to the SewOn Retreat, and I needed something to work with (such a lie - I have plenty, but Heather Bailey is my other favorite, and she hasn't released a new line for so long, so I *had* to get these).

There's a FQ bundle of Lottie Da, some of Leah Duncan's Tule, a few blenders from Acacia and Bungalow, and some Koi. All so pretty.

Disclosure: I'm not getting paid to blog any of this by Free Spirit, American Quilter, or The Intrepid Thread. Free Spirit graciously supplied the fabric for my upcoming design (thank you!!!). I have a side pattern editing gig with American Quilter magazine, and if you have any questions about submitting your own designs with them, and partnering with fabric companies to make the quilt, feel free to email me! I'd be happy to answer questions or get you in contact with my wonderfully upbeat, gracious, and fun editor Michele.

Happy weekend! It's harvest time around here... so that part about wanting to drop off my kids with Grandma... that was all true. 

Though I bet I'd miss them as soon as I dropped them off. The little loves. ♥ ♥

(My kids don't pay me either...but they are lovely little creatures)

a look in to Scarlet's room

Bless my husband.
He really hates painting, but the last couple weekends, he finished up painting Scarlet's room (it wasn't working with what it was before).

The color is "Blanket" from Lowe's. It's somewhere between a mint and aqua. One of the "Kid-friendly" color areas (you know, where they have all the individual swatches instead of the ones that are on the card in a set). White for the trim.

It used to be painted a beige, with a chocolate brown trim from when Steiger had this room. I re-painted just the bottom section a honeysuckle pink, but wasn't terribly happy with it. But Jay hates painting, so it remained that way for over a year.

It makes me so much happier now!

There's still nothing on the walls (except in one spot, and it's only there because it fit the existing screws in the wall.)

I plan to paint this frame white.  And put a few more things on the walls. And no, the changing table no longer gets used as a changing table.

Her room has a bit of an eclectic mix of pieces. Next to her crib is the dresser I used growing up. It's so pretty.  And the first quilt I made her is in there ( the one I made before I knew for sure she was a she).

(You can see her crib sheet here. And a tutorial for the mobile here.)

Her other quilt sits on our rocking chair. I rocked and nursed both my babes to sleep in that chair. ♥

So her room isn't finished, but is still sweet with little touches from her mama. And her daddy who loves her mama enough to re-paint. And clean out her closet too.

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Now back to finishing this quilt so another little girl can re-do her room!