finish it up friday: a comforting quilt

This is the first time I've made a quilt specifically to comfort someone sick. Without getting into lots of family details, I'll say that my little brother's dad (who is not my dad) is in the hospital, and is supposed to be there for upwards of a month.

The difficult thing is that they both live in Florida while I live in Colorado. That much distance left me feeling helpless to comfort my brother or visit his dad. I spent a few days mulling it over and finally realized I could do something, and I felt silly for not thinking of it sooner.

When I decided to make this quilt it came together pretty quickly. I wanted to keep the piecing simple, so I cut 9" squares from a mix of prints and solids from my stash. (I picked 9" to efficiently cut on the 18" side of the many fat quarter and half yard cuts I used, which is primarily what I buy for my stash.) I wanted the layout to be random, so of course I laid it all out on the guest bed to plan where each square would go. :)

I loosely quilted on each side of every seam, specifically to keep the quilt soft and cozy. It's a nice lap size and I hope it gives my brother's dad comfort.

Quilty Stats
Name: Squares
Pattern: 9" square patchwork
Fabrics: A scrappy mix of prints and Kona solids
Binding: Dulcette Bluestar from Color Me Retro by Jeni Baker
Backing: DS Circle Dot on Grey and JH Posy on Navy
Quilted: on a friend's Juki by me
Dimensions: Approx. 51 x 69

Linking up with Amanda at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

finish it up friday: oh my stars!

Oh my stars, it's done (as of about 15 minutes ago)! I'm so pleased with this finish!

 

This quilt is going to show at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival in August, as part of a display of quilts made by members of our quilt guild. It was well received at last night's guild meeting, even with the binding only half done! I still need to make a hanging sleeve and add a label.

I bought this adorable fabric to embroider my label. It's from the new Cosmo Cricket line "Baby Jane". So cute!

I even did a little texty quilting... if you look close here you can see "fcmqg bee".

Quilty Stats:
Name: Oh My Stars
Measurements: 48"x73"
Pattern: Block pattern from Ellison Lane, pieced by various members of the Fort Collins Modern Quilt Guild in 2012 and 2013. Quilt top designed by SewDemented and myself. Top assembled and quilted with a crazy loopy stipple by me!
Fabrics: Too many to list! But the background is Kona White. Binding is a gray tone on tone chevron from JoAnn. The back is lots of fat quarters from my stash.

Linking up with Amanda from Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Up Friday, and Quilt Matters for TGIFF!

finish it up friday... the scrap attack edition

I really thought this ticker tape quilt would be a quick finish. After all, there's no measuring, no matching up seams, no repeated ironing. Just cut the pieces from my scraps and put them together like a puzzle, right?

Wrong. Wrong, wrong wrong.

It took forever. I was way too picky about where prints went... not wanting too much of any one color in a spot, or two pieces of the same print too close together.

But finally, finally, it's done! I'm pretty pleased with the end result, too. I backed it in a DS print from JoAnn and bound it in a print I found at JoAnn that incorporates most of the colors.

Now all I need to do is wash and dry it, to get that wrinkly softness that I love... then it's off to a special baby!

 I'm linking up with Amanda Jean at crazy mom quilts for Finish it up Friday, and with Rachel at Stitched in Color for the Scrap Attack Quilt Along (link to be added to the SAQA when the linky party happens!).

ETA 3/26/12: The Festival of Scrappiness is happening over at Stitched in Color right now!

finish it up friday

I love finishing projects. For me, it's not about the process... sometimes I find that tedious and stressful. But when I finish something and can look at it and pet it and admire it, I feel pretty good. Is that weird? I know a lot of crafters are all about the process.

Anyway, I finished a couple of things this week, one of which I reaaaaaally love. But more about that later.

I had embellished several cloth diapers to use as burp cloths over the summer, and I really like using them (as much as a person can like wiping up baby puke. But that's a whole 'nother story.). It's helpful too, because it's easier to distinguish dirty from clean. So I did a set of eight more burp cloths.

And now for my favorite. A few days ago, I finished this little pretty up for myself.

It's a travel sewing kit. I used the tutorial from lots of pink here. I absolutely adore the nesting doll fabric. That came from Laura as part of a swap and I love it! I've always had a thing for matryoshka dolls.

I made a similar kit for Penny for our MQG's Secret Santa in December, and I loved it so much I had to make one for myself! Here's Penny's: (Thanks Michelle for taking the pic! :) )

Finishing projects feels so good! I'm linking up with Finish it Up Friday over at crazy mom quilts.