KCWC, sort of

So this week is the spring Kid's Clothing Week Challenge (where you spend at least one hour a day sewing clothes for your kiddos). I am not participating this week, because I am prepping for my wee ones first birthday party on Saturday. But I have been sewing some spring clothes, so I'll share those as I can this week.



I recently made this sweet little pillowcase dress for one of my sister's friend's little girls. They are big into giraffes, and I had this adorable giraffe print. I went with a pillowcase dress as it is easy to 'fit' when you can't try it on the kiddo in question and because it should fit for a long time (as a tunic or top when she's older). I used a cute blue ribbon with white polka dots (which is not trimmed in these pictures as I was trying it on Ellie to see how long to make it).



I hope she loves it!

Hey, that's me!

The two quilt tops I took to my new quilt guild were featured on their blog today! Check it out!

I have only been to two meetings, but it is nice to get to hang out with other like-minded folks for a few hours each month! I enjoy getting inspiration from real-life people, as it seems much of my quilting and sewing inspiration and communication comes from my internet friends (and those I blog-stalk! :)

Festival of Half Square Triangles, Part 2

The other half square triangle quilt I've made recently that I really like is another holiday quilt. I purchased quarter yards of all (?) of one of Riley Blake's holiday lines way back in 2008. (I also don't know the name of this line.) I loved how cute the prints were and thought they would make a great Winter quilt for one of my kids. (Well, I only had one kid at the time!) *UPDATE* Thanks to Threadbias, I know these prints are from the Be Merry line! Yay for the internet!

This was the first quilt that I actually calculated how big of a quilt I could make with the amount of fabric I had. I knew I wanted to do zig zags, and I wanted some sort of color pattern. I actually drew out the pattern and did the math for all this on the plane on the way home from visiting my sister and her new baby in the summer of 2010. I cut all the fabric that summer, and marked my sewing lines, and then it sat while I worked on gift quilts that fall and winter, and then massive amounts of baby knits and quilts the following spring. And this summer when I wanted to sew, but didn't want to think too hard, I pulled out the squares and got to sewing. But it wasn't a priority when I had other gifts to work on, so when everything else was done for Christmas, I pulled out those squares and joined them into rows and was able to get it finished in time for Christmas gifting.



The only thing I wish I had done differently was make all those stripes go the same direction! :) But it fits great on Samantha's bed and I really like how it turned out. I quilted on either side of each zig zag line, which was a bit of a pain in the butt, but again, I like the way it looks. I also used light grey thread, which was a bit unusual for me (usually I use white, but every once in a while I'll grab a non-white color for quilting). I did a scrappy binding, as I was trying to avoid another trip to the store the week before Christmas. :)

Festival of Half Square Triangles, Part 1

I have made many quilts from half square triangles over the past few years I have been quilting. When I saw Megan's festival of Half Square Triangles, I knew this was up my alley! However, since I have been working like a madwoman to get ready for the babies' birthday party and to finish their birthday quilts (neither of which have half square triangles), I jumped in the not-so-wayback-machine to bring you two of my most recent favorites. (one today, one tomorrow)

A while back I made a Mary Englebreit quilt for my mom, who loves all things ME (I'll have to share that quilt sometime soon). While I was working on it I had a few squares leftover here and there. I pulled some of those aside, picking out green and red ones. I had also added in some squares from two of her Christmas lines, and I left out the ones that were uber holiday-ish. I had seen Rita make a quilt where she used prints for one side of the square, and a solid linen for the other. I love the way this looked! I used a solid off-white Kona (sorry, I don't know the color name) for mine.



It is a good lap size, and holiday-ish without screaming CHRISTMAS!!! I really enjoy the print/solid combination and look forward to more iterations of that!



I quilted straight lines on either side of the diagonal lines. I really like quilting like this - I feel like it gives more attention to the fabrics than the quilting.

I hope it is a welcome addition to my mom's holiday decorations! :)

WIP Wednesday

I'm linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday for the first time today. I've got several quilts in progress, which is unlike me!

My big quilt for our bed is waiting for me to decide if it needs a border. What do you all think?

And this big one is Sarah Feike's Made in Cherry quilt. It was just finished today-now to decide on a backing!

I whipped up this quick little hourglass quilt for something springy. I just love the colors in this one! Now to decide on a backing for it too!

I have all the blocks made for Ellie's quilt, they just need to be ironed and trimmed. And I've started joining the tiny squares for Ben's quilt as well. More on them later!