Sunday, June 14, 2015

Dog Days of Summer: Another Special Graduation Quilt


My youngest brother graduated from high school last month and I made him a quilt to take to college at Northern Illinois University. To keep the quilt feeling more masculine I kept a simple design with a large focal point. I also made it a twin x-long to fit a dorm bed, which meant I had to clear our living room of all furniture to baste it (please excuse the mess . . . my kids have been busy making memories).


My brother loves their husky logo so I made a 36 inch by 36 inch appliqued block for the center. I also added 2 squares on opposite corners of the block with some paw print appliques just to add some more visual interest.


I did echo quilting around the husky to really make him stand out in the center.


The gray border has simple straight line quilting with just a hint of free motion thrown in on the paw print applique blocks. 



I did some diagonal lines on the red border and some more straight lines on the white and black lines at the top and bottom of the quilt. The finishing touch was some free motion quilting on the licensed Northern Illinois fabric.


The back of the quilt was done using a pieced backing of gray and black. I also added some applique squares that were cut from my son's custom t-shirts that he would wear to my brother's high school football games over the last 3 years. 




I also added a little note to the quilt back.


I am so happy with the way this quilt turned out! It is the first quilt I have worked on in a long time where I actually thoroughly enjoyed every step of the process. Every thing turned out better than I had even pictured in my mind. Hopefully this will get me back into the swing of quilting more regularly.


I hope this quilt will give my brother warm memories of home while he is away at school! Until next time . . . happy sewing!

Friday, June 12, 2015

Missing in May: My Trip to Onederland

Wow! The month of May came and went and I felt like I was off in my own little world for most of it. Mostly because I was off creating my own little world. May was spent sewing and crafting for my daughter's first birthday which was hosted in "Onederland". Every bit of her birthday was made by hand from the invitations to the thank you cards and everything in between. 

But the most important bits were what took the longest. My baby's dress and her gifts. 


The dress was made using the Cottage Mama's Georgia Vintage Dress pattern. And let me just say, this dress was a breeze to sew. I was daunted by how complex it looked but was pleasantly surprised. Lindsay writes up beautiful, easy to follow instructions that make assembly a breeze. One could never regret purchasing one of her patterns! 


My daughter's gifts were the lengthiest projects last month, not much else got done. I decided to make her two memory dolls for the occasion, Alice and the White Rabbit. Alice was made to match my daughter's outfit, using the scraps from her outfit to complete the dolls dress. 


For the Alice doll I used the Miss Tippy Toes pattern from Dolls and Daydreams. Again, a wonderful pattern designer with beautifully written and photographed instructions that leaves so much possibility in each pattern as well. 


And the White Rabbit was created using another Dolls and Daydreams pattern, appropriately named the White Rabbit. I used an extremely furry and messy faux fur but absolutely loved the results. My daughter seems to love them too! 


We are now getting into the swing of summer and I will have a few more projects to share very soon! Until next time . . . happy sewing!