I Spy Quilt

 I have babysat in my home for the last 2 1/2 years. I can't believe it but it is time to move on, and in a couple of short months we will be moving far away. The children that I watch have really been like my own children. I will miss them... So, I couldn't stand the thought of them forgetting all about "Miss. Kristen", so I made them each a quilt. They are all "I spy quilts" I used a lot of random fabric and then embroidered a patch with things to look for on the quilt. For the quilt's backing fabric I used minky fabric so it will be nice to snuggle with.

Felt Advent Calendar

 This year I made two of these advent calendars. One for my Sister and Brother -in- law and one for a close friend. I started in July and finished them before December 1st. I am a little O.C.D. with my crafts so I am sure many of you could do it faster. I looked on pinterest for ideas and found this one. There wasn't a pattern, so I freehanded it onto freezer paper and then ironed it onto the felt to cut out the felt. I did this with all of my ornaments as well. I would sketch on paper, trace onto freezer paper, iron freezer paper onto felt, cut out felt, pull off freezer paper. I am happy with the end result. I tried to make it a little more personalized to their family and added ornaments that remind me of them. In the advent calendar above it has the book my sister-in-law published this year, a kiwi bird (because they lived in New Zealand for 3 years) and a movie camera because my brother-in-law majored in film.

 This advent calendar has a tooth (because my friend's husband is an endodontist), Kermit (because my friend is obsessed with the Muppets), and a cupcake for fun.

Chevron Quilt

I am lucky enough to be able to babysit for some amazing families full time from home. One of my little cuties that I watch is about to have a new baby brother. So I thought he needed a quilt :) The colors 

match the beautiful nursery that it will go in. 

Okay, so I am not pleased with this photo. Our computer is getting up there in years and isn't letting me edit my photos. So I couldn't crop or lighten this photo.

I love how you can see the quilting I did on the back. It is backed with fuzzy fabric.

Here it is in it's new home. I am honored that they decided to hang it up.

Happy Halloween

I love this time of year! Halloween kicks off the holiday season with a bang! I get so excited to decorate the house, I might have put up my decorations a week or two ago. Maybe :)

Here are some of my past posts for Halloween:

Baby Luke's Quilt

For Mother's day Ryan bought me my first charm pack of fabric. I've always eyed them at the quilt store but never took the plunge and bought one. I made up my own pattern for this one. By making quarter square triangles and setting them on point. I love how it turned out.

Doll Sleeping Bag

My daughter was invited to her best friend's 7th birthday party. The party had a Lalaloopsy theme, so for her gift I made a sleeping bag for her doll. I used the tutorial here to make it. It was fun to pick out the fabrics and see it come together.

Blue and Green Star Quilt

This is the quilt for the baby boy twin. You can't see well in the pictures but the quilting has dragonflies in the middle section and points on the striped border. 

Pink Flying Geese Baby Quilt

These pictures look a little orange, but in real life the fabrics are more of a shade of gum-ball pink. My daughter's teacher had twins this year, a girl and a boy. She doesn't have anyone in her family who quilts, and I thought it would be a criminal act to let a baby go without a homemade quilt. So... I made one for the two little ones. Stay tuned to see a picture of the baby boy's quilt. 

Triple Irish Chain Quilt

(You can tell it was a little windy when I took the picture. My poor husband's arms were about to fall off after awhile so, here is the windblown look.)

From the back you can see all the machine quilting that I did. This is the biggest quilt I have machine quilted on my own, I'm not sure if I'd do it again but at least I have proof that I did it this time :)

Grandmother's Flower Garden Block 2

Grandmother's Flower Garden

I completed my first Grandmother's Flower Garden block. My 11 year old is making some too, I will post both of ours as they are completed. I have always wanted to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt and have found that I really do love piecing these. They are a perfect project to work on for a movie night or while watching one of our favorite shows.

Block 3

Sorry this took awhile to get on the blog. We were loaning our camera out. It was worth the wait, huh?! I really like this block! I have to admit it makes me a little nervous for when we set them all together for the finished quilt. The sashing that I pick will have to compliment both sides. Anyways... here are the instructions to make this lovely block. I made two. I am going back and making another block of the previous months so that my finished quilt will be larger.

If you haven't started this block of the month club it's not too late and it's free! Here is the link.

Month 1 of Block of the Month

The pattern for the first block is out now! Here is my color combination. I used a similar color scheme as the original, but I just used scraps I had laying around.

You can find the link HERE for directions to make this block.

Happy Sewing!

Halloween Pillow

I just finished finished this Halloween Pillow during the weekend. I love how it turned out. It is super huge and festive. The pattern is by Crabapple Hill and the pattern can be found here. I changed how to finish it though. I stuffed the pillow, instead of making it a pillow case for a separate pillow inside like the pattern suggests. This fun and simple pattern is a fun quick project!

Happy Halloween!

Color Wheel Quilt

I had so much fun putting together this quilt. Someone in my quilt guild had made a quilt like this and used a white background. I thought it would look lovely with a black background and couldn't wait to make my own quilt! The pattern is from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. I was able to check the book out from my library, which was an added bonus! The best part of making this quilt is picking out your fabrics. I was able to use fabric from my stash/scrap fabric pieces for this quilt. I just had to buy the background fabric! I love how it turned out!!

Trapezoid Quilt

I have stacks of  receiving baby blankets leftover at my house from having my four kids. Instead of throwing them out or donating them, I decided to make each of my kids a quilt using the fabric from their receiving blankets they used. 

This is the first one I have completed. I used the pattern/instructions from Moda Bake Shop. I used their template for the blocks but made up my own arrangement to make the quilt the size I was looking for. This was my first attempt with making a non-straight edge on a quilt. I love how it turned out!

For the backing I used Chenille fabric, which makes it a heavier blanket and so much more snugly!

Pillow

I saw the tutorial on one of my favorite blogs,  Cluck Cluck Sew , and wanted to try making one of these beauties. I have a ton of scraps so for the wedges I used strips from my scrap box. I love how it turned out! My kids now all are asking for me to make one for each of them!

Cherry Quilt and Easter Decorations

Spring is here! Yippe! I realized that I've never posted my cherry quilt which I made quite awhile ago. I thought about it when I was decorating for Easter. So, here is a sneak peak of the quilt and the decorations for Easter. 

        

Five Little Pumpkins

This week I finished up my five little pumpkins quilt. The quilt top has been in a pile for quiet awhile awaiting to be sent to be machine quilted. Well, I finally got up the guts to just quilt it on my own.

I am happy with how it turned out. My wonderful sister-in-law gave me the idea to put spiderwebs in between the pumpkins and I LOVE how that part turned out. I am still working on my free motion quilting, so I am kinda glad you can't see it in the border :) One thing that did help me a lot in quilting this quilt was sketching out my design before sewing it. I wish I had saved my sketches for the border. But at least here are the spider webs.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Cupcake

I paper pieced this cupcake,added beads for sprinkles and a red button for a cherry on top. Then sewed it into a pillow/door hanger or it could be hung on the birthday person's chair.