Superhero Quilt

The entire twin-sized quilt.

It dawned on me when visiting my sister's house at Christmas that my soon-to-be 5 year-old nephew really only had his original baby quilt from me, as well as a simple Sesame Street-inspired fleece that I sewed for his first or second birthday (I can't seem to locate a photo on my blog), whereas his younger brother received a more big-boyish quilt for his second birthday.  It was time to do something to rectify the situation!

Superheroes are very much on Alex's mind of late and it seemed an appropriate theme for a quilt for him.  However, there are only a limited number of superhero characters available in fabric right now, namely Batman and Superman. And the fabrics are rather graphic and busy.  How exactly does one use them most effectively?

Detail view.

I toyed with the idea of designing a few logos or the logo of his current favorite, Ben 10, and appliqueing them into the center of a design, but I don't really care for applique all that much, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to find matching character fabric for it. After much consideration, I decided the best route would be to find a pattern that would use large-ish squares that would let the novelty fabric shine. At this point, I recalled that Atkinson Designs' Slide Show pattern was a pretty easy sew and would allow the novelty fabrics to show (I made this small one up as a charity quilt last spring).  I purchased fat quarters online and decided to use a navy lattice to bring things together for the twin sized quilt. I love the scattered solid squares of yellow and red that pick up the colors in the novelty fabrics.

Another detail view.

Trudie Hughes quilted this one for me with navy thread in a very linear pattern I selected and turned it around in 24 hours, which meant I was able to ship it to Ohio in time for Alex's birthday yesterday. I hear that he was pleased with it (and was impressed that it included BOTH Batman and Superman). Score!!! I have a ton of extra fabric left over from the backing (I discovered I could cut the fabric in the opposite way and it used significantly less yardage), so when I get to it, I think I'll whip up a couple of matching pillowcases.

Row By Row

I'm not sure how many quilts Jonah will have by the time he is grown, but I imagine it will be several.  I often see patterns and think that they would be perfect for him, but I know that time and need are both limiting factors.  Nonetheless, I began a second quilt for him during a retreat in Door County last March. At that point, it was my first time away from him outside the work day and one brief date night, and I think it helped to be working on a project specifically for him.  I'd seen the Lollipop fabric line by Sandy Gervais that featured a cute panel with a monkey on a bicycle and I thought Jonah would enjoy it:

The panel that started it all.

Knowing that the panel would finish up smaller than what I wanted for the space above his changing station, I opted to buy the panel and coordinating fabric for a larger quilt.  Well, here we are a year later, and the panel still hasn't been made into anything (I do have a cute pattern design for using it now!), and I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of the quilt I started a year ago and completed last summer.  Better late than never!

The February 2011 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting had a pattern called "Row by Row" by Sandy Klop that I liked and thought would be fun.  It's a pretty traditional pattern, but one that I thought could grow with Jonah over time and would be made more modern by the colors and fabric design. Here it is, all done up:

The finished quilt.

I had Patched Works quilt this one so I could get a fun monkey and banana pattern in the quilting that I didn't feel ready yet to attempt on my own.  I think you should be able to see one of the monkeys in this close-up view:

Detail view showing monkey and banana in the quilting.

The quilt has been hanging over Jonah's diaper changing station for some time now, and he will often point out the dots and letters and different colors on the quilt. It is so darn cute to hear him say "qwee-ilt!" I took it down recently to measure it for the quilt show this weekend and to put on a temporary sleeve. You can tell he notices that he is missing, which really means a lot to me. I love making his room brighter and creating projects that will be keepsakes in years to come!

Dora

The finished top!

This baby quilt has been a while in the making as well, though not quite as long as my previous post.  I began it at quilt retreat in November, but was unable to finish it at the time as I needed to order backing, border, and binding fabric.  Have I mentioned that I really like to use white in baby quilts of late?  I do recognize that it is not necessarily the most practical color to use for babies, but at the same time, I do associate white with babies. Perhaps it is the idea of newness and a clean slate, etc.

This pattern, Dora (which I assume has nothing to do with the television show), is from the Leisure Arts book 3 Times the Charm! by Barbara Groves and Mary Jacobson of Me & My Sister Designs. This $10 book has a lot of great ideas and I have a feeling I will use it a fair amount for smallish baby quilts in the coming years.  I chose the Kate Spain line Terrain as I loved the bright colors and designs and hoped that they would be fun for both mom and baby, providing some visual interest to look at.

The pattern in the book used a setting of 5x5 blocks, but I chose to make the quilt a bit larger, with a 7x6 setting and a slightly wider border (6" versus 3 1/2") to show off the large-scale print. I hadn't realized how much of a line the border fabric had to it until I had cut the print and applied it!  My finished version of the quilt is approximately 42"x38" (book quilt finished at 30 1/2" square).

I quilted the center part of the quilt with white thread and chose a pink thread to meander with in the border.  This was the first time that I used two different threads and rolled the quilt through the frame more than once.  Needless to say, the pink thread required some tension adjustments and I had to rip out a good portion of a row of quilting after I discovered the tension issue. Note to self: check on the tension more frequently to avoid this in the future! Ripping quilting out while it is loaded on the frame is painful work (in more ways than one). In the end, I think I could have meandered the entire piece in white and it would have been fine, but I now have more confidence in my ability to do some thread changes on my frame.

This quilt is in the mail and I hope the recipients love it!  It sure feels good to be finishing up some of these projects that have been lingering on my sewing table.

Call Me Crazy!

Finished quilt with sashing between all blocks.

This quilt has been a little while in the making.  I began it in a workshop with Weeks Ringle offered through my quilt guild in May 2011.  I enjoyed being able to use some wonderful blues from my stash to crazy piece (improvisational sewing) fabric for the blocks, and working from my scraps allowed me to reflect upon and remember previous projects that used some of the same fabrics.

In the end, I didn't end up following instructions terribly closely, however.  Blocks were supposed to be trimmed to 6 1/2" square, but I made a error with my ruler, so they were all trimmed at 5 1/2" square. No big deal, right?  I further departed from the instructions provided in the workshop as the blocks were to be set side-by-side in rows and I decided I preferred to sash them all white.  Finally, I opted not to use the super-wide 7 1/2" border around the entire quilt, choosing instead a 3 1/2" border, which was closer in size to the 2 1/2" sashing strips I employed.

Quilt as pattern directed.

I quilted it on my frame in the basement, meandering over the entire piece with white thread.  Aside from running out of thread in the bobbin a couple of times, I didn't have any problems, thankfully.  I washed the quilt in Dreft after binding it and love how the cotton batting puffs up after a wash.

In the end, my quilt finished at approximately 47" x 57", a bit smaller than the napping size the pattern finished at 50" x 73"!  In my mind, it's just the right size for a baby boy and it's off on its way as of this morning.  I hope he enjoys it a lot (even if it is months late), and that his mama will let him love and play with it (yes, I do know it is white!).

Closer view of the quilting.

Shimmer

Amy and Tim open the quilt!

I've been wanting to make this quilt called "Shimmer" from the February 2004 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting for a long time (since the magazine debuted). Ben and I decided that it would be a good pattern to make as a wedding gift for Tim and Amy, and with a bit of a last-minute push, I was able to finish it in time.  Their wedding yesterday was beautiful (at least what I saw of it, when I wasn't rushing out with a screaming Jonah), and we gave them the quilt this morning. I hope they enjoy it for many, many years to come!

The full quilt (queen).

Close-up view of the quilt.

While I personally liked the pattern, I didn't much care for the color palette used in the magazine and decided to make it entirely out of batiks for a more contemporary look and feel.  I was able to make the entire quilt (except backing) from my stash, which was an added bonus and probably attests to my need to continue my fabric "diet."  The pattern itself was well written as it appeared in the magazine, though had I actually purchased fabrics following their materials list, I think I would have been a bit put off by the excess they wrote into the pattern (I was able to get nearly twice as many stars from the yardage they suggested).

I did my best to work within a color palette of blues, purples, blue-greens, and burgundies, and I'm guessing there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or more different fabrics in the quilt, as most of the fabrics I used were fat quarter cuts.  I realized later on that I could have used some left over jelly roll strips, as some of the units were based on a 2.5" grid.

The label, using a bit of leftover fabric to tie to the design of the front.

While I normally choose a cotton batting, I opted to use wool this time and may be a convert, as the loft and feel is nice.  In this case, there wasn't a huge difference in price due to the size of the quilt and the widths in which the battings are sold.

I have four extra blocks left over (they are large, at 19" square) that I plan to sew up into a separate project, perhaps for one of the handmade gifts I promised in a Facebook challenge earlier this year. We'll see whether I can bear to part with them.



Wishing Tim and Amy many, many years of happiness!

Convoy

The full quilt.  Isn't Ben doing a great job holding it up?

My nephew Grant turned two late last month and I made him Convoy as a new "big boy" quilt (I made one at the time he was born too).  The pattern is from The Buggy Barn book "Those Crazy Kids" and when I saw Lisa Garms' completed quilt, I'd known it would make a great quilt for one of my nephews. I picked up the supplies and pattern not long after Grant was born, using gift certificates that Mom and I received from a quilt shop hop to help offset the costs of the supplies.
 
Given that I have much less time to quilt these days, I began work on the top during the Door County quilt retreat I attended in March. I liked the pattern a lot in that it involved a fair amount of piecing, and the Buggy Barn instructions were excellent, as usual.  It was a bit down to the wire, but I dropped off the top to have it quilted at the end of June (I had made a reservation for the quilting; I'd wanted to have a fun pantograph used on it and I'm only up to meandering on my own frame). I sewed the binding down while on the drive to Ohio for Grant's birthday party and the label was applied at Mom and Dad's house after we arrived there.

Detail view #1.

Detail view #2

The label Ben designed.

Those who know me well might have been surprised that I chose to make this pattern, as applique of any sort really isn't my thing. That being said, there are an awful lot of really cute patterns for kids that feature applique, so I figure I'm going to continue to work on my skills in that area and push myself to the limits of my comfort zone. I don't intend to become an expert needle-turn appliquer, but hope to at least be somewhat competent at machine applique.

Happy birthday, Grant! I hope you love your quilt!  (And I'd best think about getting your big brother a "big boy" quilt lest he become too jealous!)

The birthday boy with his quilt.

Slide Show

Slide Show quilt, completed for West Suburban
Quilters' Guild charity challenge.

I was undecided about completing a charity quilt for this month's quilt guild meeting.  We've been given a fat quarter of fabric at the September meeting and were told to incorporate it in our finished product. I wasn't particularly fond of mine and also was afraid to commit myself to completing a project because it's more difficult to calculate how much free time I might have these days. 

Around about the 2nd, I decided to fiddle around in my stash and patterns to see what I could come up with. I figured if I chose something simple and worked with what I had, I might be able to get it done in time.  I told myself I wouldn't stress myself out about getting it done, but would do my best (more on that later).


I opted to use Atkinson Designs' pattern, Slide Show because it was simple and I was able to pull everything but the backing and border from my stash. The top went together really quickly and I ran into the quilt shop on a weeknight after work to pick out the border and backing fabric. I wasn't totally in love with it, but it was the best I could do in the time I'd allotted and with a husband and infant in tow! I loaded it on my frame last Saturday night and thought I was pretty good to go, but suffered a bit of a setback when I discovered I had to rip out the majority of a row of quilting due to tension problems.

At that point, I didn't think there would be any way that I could finish a charity quilt in time for last night's guild meeting.  I had a number of other commitments and didn't want to stress myself out too badly.  However, I was so close to being able to finish that I couldn't stand it.  I stayed up just a bit later, had Ben watch Jonah himself a bit longer, washed the quilt to try to hide some of the needle holes from the stitching I had to rip out, etc. and was able to drop the quilt off with Kelli on Tuesday night because I wasn't able to go to the guild meeting last night myself.  I'm sad I wasn't able to see what others did with the challenge fabrics (mine was the multicolored print in the lower left hand of the photo below), but am hopeful that images will be posted to the guild site.

My challenge fabric was the multicolored print in the lower left.

As usual, the Atkinson Designs pattern was well-written, easy to follow, and a pleasure to sew.  It was a great way to do a bit of stash busting too! Hopefully the recipient loves this quilt and feels its warmth in more ways than one.