Don't let the Pigeon Make a Quilt!

Hubby and I don't exchange gifts these days - we would rather spend our money on the kids, and we receive plenty of gifts from our very generous parents. However, I had this idea that just wouldn't go away!



I used the Patchwork Pattern Maker from the V&A Museum. It was super simple, and very fast. I tried taking the Pictures to Pixel Quilts Class from Craftsy, but it was long, and I felt intimidated by the math involved.

I cut each square at 2.5", to get a throw size quilt (It finished about 48"x60"). I used a variety of aqua prints and solids for his body, and light and dark grey prints for the small details. The background is Painter's Canvas in the white print (I don't recall the exact name!)

I had to lay each row out on the design wall, in secret so the kids wouldn't see! I was slowed by the ice storm that should have given me two kid/husband free mornings to work on it, but I still managed to get it done in time! And he was totally surprised!

Finished BOM Quilt

Last year, our quilt guild decided to do a Block of the Month Quilt. We started with board members choosing blocks for each month. We arranged the blocks to have 12 finish by November, so then we could assemble and quilt our top.



I used a few blocks that I didn't love on the back.



I quilted each block differently - it was fun to do something completely different from my norm. I didn't get a good shot of the quilting though. I had just enough binding left over from the binding of Ellie's big girl quilt to use on this one.

I decided to gift this quilt to Samantha - she hasn't gotten a new quilt in a few years, and Ben and Ellie both have. She loves it, and was so excited to have a new quilt for her bed. Success!

WIP Wednesday

I have been a busy bee since the holidays! One of my goals this year is to finish things, so I have been on a mission to get things done! I have pulled several things from hibernation, and set to work finishing others. Some I can't show yet, but I am excited to have some things ready to quilt! I'm going to have to stop finishing quilt tops at some point though, and start quilting!

Finished Sweaters

I finished Ben and Samantha's sweaters recently, and they were both big hits!

For Samantha's sweater I used the pattern Kindling Season. It was very well written and I enjoyed knitting it. It obviously didn't come out to be a size 6 (damn gauge!), but I was planning to knit her another one for school next year, so it's OK if it only fits for this year. 

The back has a chevron pattern on it - subtle but something more than stockinette! And I love the tall collar. I left off the pockets because I was ready to be DONE knitting it. 

For Ben's Sweater I used Grow Old With Me, and I think it is adorable. It is supposed to have positive ease, and I knit a size 2 - guess he is a big boy! This is one I would definitely knit again when he is older. It was a bit confusing at the beginning with shaping for the raglan, and the collar and then the extra stitches for the button band, but I figured it out. He loves it, and he loves the bike buttons I chose for it. 

He wore it all day the day I finished it, so I consider that a success! Now to finish Ellie's and Henry's! 

Modern Half-Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long Block 70

Welcome! If you are just joining us, information about materials can be found here, and here are the previous blocks: Block 1, Block 2, Block 3, Block 4, Block 5, Block 6, Block 7, Block 8, Block 9, Block 10, Block 11, Block 12, Block 13, Block 14, Block 15, Block 16, Block 17, Block 18, Block 19, Block 20, Block 21, Block 22, Block 23, Block 24, Block 25, Block 26, Block 27, Block 28, Block 29, Block 30, Block 31, Block 32, Block 33, Block 34, Block 35, Block 36, Block 37, Block 38, Block 39, Block 40, Block 41, Block 42, Block 43, Block 44, Block 45, Block 46, Block 47, Block 48, Block 49, Block 50, Block 51, Block 52, Block 53, Block 54, Block 55, Block 56, Block 57, Block 58, Block 59, Block 60, block 61, Block 62, Block 63, Block 64, Block 65, Block 66, Block 67, Block 68, Block 69.

Materials:
8 3.5" squares of Color A
8 3.5" squares of Color B

*note* these are the essential materials for each block, so you can cut several blocks worth of fabric at once to save time!

Create your blocks, following the same procedure as last week. If you need help making your blocks, please see this post. You should end up with 16 2.5" squares. Ready to lay out your block? Here we go!

ROW 1

ROW 2

ROW 3

ROW 4

After you have sewn your squares into rows, press your seams. I like to press odd numbered rows to the left, and even to the right. It helps to use a small piece of paper to number your rows. I like the tiny post-it notes. 

After pressing, you are ready to sew your rows together! Pin, if necessary, but I find that these short rows don't require pinning.

Press one final time, and voila! Another finished block! Only 2 to go! Remember to add your blocks to our flickr group!

Please, if you have questions, email me at knitnlit AT gmail DOT com, or make sure you leave your email address in your comment. I've had several folks ask questions in the comments, but if you are a no-reply commenter, I can't email you back.

K is for Kitty

I had a hard time thinking about what to make for K, and then one day Samantha was wearing this shirt and it dawned on me - Hello Kitty! She loves Hello Kitty, and I had used this fabric before, so I knew it existed.

I just made a simple skirt, since we didn't need a Hello Kitty dress (especially as sheer as this fabric is!). It was a big hit!



I've got L done, and now it's time to plan the rest of the alphabet!

Reusable Gift Bags

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you might have heard about my remnant problem. I love to stop at the remnant bin at JoAnn's and pick out something I don't need. :) It has become a real problem with Christmas fabric. I always grab it and think "Oh, I can do something with this!", only to get it home and it is too thin, too short, too sparkly, too something for clothes/quilts/napkins/etc.



I had a brainstorm last winter, and didn't get it done in time, but this year I did - and I'm so glad! It really didn't take but an hour or two to make these, they look cute and my kids really liked them. I simply pulled all those funny pieces out, and some leftovers from other Christmas projects, cut them into various sized rectangles and squares (based on how much fabric I had and how I could best use it), and sewed them into bags! I also used a bunch of holiday ribbon I had purchased for 'something' at some point for the ties.



I made gift tags for the kids with cardstock, washi tape and letter stamps (still need to get one for Henry!). I figure if the bags get ruined, I can make new ones, if the ribbon comes out, I can replace it. Feels so nice to get that out of the stash!

Polaroid Pillows

I had seen the polaroid quilt blocks popping up on blogs, flickr and pinterest over the past several months, and I thought they were such a cute idea! I knew I wanted to do something with them, and when I started thinking about Christmas gifts, I thought of how much my kids LOVE pillows. I thought these would make great gifts for both my kids and my niece and nephew.



I started going through my scraps and choosing prints for each kiddo - things I thought they would like.



Then I cut all the white pieces for the frames and sewed those to the fussy cut centers.



I decided how big I wanted the pillows to finish, and then added grey sashing around the frames.



I tilted my ruler as I cut them down to size, so the pictures would appear tilted. Then I sewed them together in rows and made the pillow top. I didn't want to quilt them, so they would still be soft, but I wanted to prevent some fraying, so I sewed a muslin back onto the pillow front before I sewed the envelope closure on the back.



I used a bunch of stash pieces for the backing and just did simple envelope closures. I think they came out pretty cute!

Modern Half-Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long Block 69

Welcome! If you are just joining us, information about materials can be found here, and here are the previous blocks: Block 1, Block 2, Block 3, Block 4, Block 5, Block 6, Block 7, Block 8, Block 9, Block 10, Block 11, Block 12, Block 13, Block 14, Block 15, Block 16, Block 17, Block 18, Block 19, Block 20, Block 21, Block 22, Block 23, Block 24, Block 25, Block 26, Block 27, Block 28, Block 29, Block 30, Block 31, Block 32, Block 33, Block 34, Block 35, Block 36, Block 37, Block 38, Block 39, Block 40, Block 41, Block 42, Block 43, Block 44, Block 45, Block 46, Block 47, Block 48, Block 49, Block 50, Block 51, Block 52, Block 53, Block 54, Block 55, Block 56, Block 57, Block 58, Block 59, Block 60, block 61, Block 62, Block 63, Block 64, Block 65, Block 66, Block 67, Block 68.

Materials:
8 3.5" squares of Color A
8 3.5" squares of Color B

*note* these are the essential materials for each block, so you can cut several blocks worth of fabric at once to save time!

Create your blocks, following the same procedure as last week. If you need help making your blocks, please see this post. You should end up with 16 2.5" squares. Ready to lay out your block? Here we go!

ROW 1

ROW 2

ROW 3

ROW 4

After you have sewn your squares into rows, press your seams. I like to press odd numbered rows to the left, and even to the right. It helps to use a small piece of paper to number your rows. I like the tiny post-it notes. 

After pressing, you are ready to sew your rows together! Pin, if necessary, but I find that these short rows don't require pinning.

Press one final time, and voila! Another finished block! Only 3 to go! Remember to add your blocks to our flickr group!

Please, if you have questions, email me at knitnlit AT gmail DOT com, or make sure you leave your email address in your comment. I've had several folks ask questions in the comments, but if you are a no-reply commenter, I can't email you back.

Christmas Making

Way back when we were iced in, we made this felt tree when we couldn't get out to get our real tree. Thank goodness for a stash - I had a large enough piece of green felt. Daddy made the star for the top of the tree and Samantha spent hours coloring and creating other ornaments (there is a huge family of gingerbread men), stockings and presents. It was a great activity for a day we were stuck inside!



We also used the same idea to make a small snowman the kids could 'build' out of felt pieces, but I failed to get a picture of it.

For classmate gifts this year I made peppermint playdoh for the little's class, and Samantha and I made these snowmen ornaments for her class.



I had seen the idea on Pinterest, and I didn't end up with enough time to embroider details, but I think they are still cute. Samantha chose all the buttons from my button stash, and I sewed them onto a piece of red felt (again from the stash!), and then blanket stitched another piece to the back to cover the sewing.



I also made Henry a stocking for the mantle. I used this cute vintage print that I picked up at MadTosh. I winged it, by tracing one of the other stockings, making two quilted panels, sewing them together, and finishing the top with bias tape. Voila!



Finally, the week before Christmas I saw someone post on Instagram a picture of the cutest flannel they had picked up at JoAnn. I had to stop by there anyway, so I looked for the flannel. They only had two cute prints left (and barely enough) - the snowglobes and the penguins. I debated what to do for the third pillowcase when I remembered this nutcracker flannel my mom had given me a few years ago. The kids LOVED them, and rushed to put them on their pillows right away. A good reminder that sometimes the simple gift is best!

There was much more making - I will have to split it into multiple posts!

Modern Half-Square Triangle Quilt-a-Long Block 68

Welcome! If you are just joining us, information about materials can be found here, and here are the previous blocks: Block 1, Block 2, Block 3, Block 4, Block 5, Block 6, Block 7, Block 8, Block 9, Block 10, Block 11, Block 12, Block 13, Block 14, Block 15, Block 16, Block 17, Block 18, Block 19, Block 20, Block 21, Block 22, Block 23, Block 24, Block 25, Block 26, Block 27, Block 28, Block 29, Block 30, Block 31, Block 32, Block 33, Block 34, Block 35, Block 36, Block 37, Block 38, Block 39, Block 40, Block 41, Block 42, Block 43, Block 44, Block 45, Block 46, Block 47, Block 48, Block 49, Block 50, Block 51, Block 52, Block 53, Block 54, Block 55, Block 56, Block 57, Block 58, Block 59, Block 60, block 61, Block 62, Block 63, Block 64, Block 65, Block 66, Block 67.

Materials:
8 3.5" squares of Color A
8 3.5" squares of Color B

*note* these are the essential materials for each block, so you can cut several blocks worth of fabric at once to save time!

Create your blocks, following the same procedure as last week. If you need help making your blocks, please see this post. You should end up with 16 2.5" squares. Ready to lay out your block? Here we go!

ROW 1

ROW 2

ROW 3

ROW 4

After you have sewn your squares into rows, press your seams. I like to press odd numbered rows to the left, and even to the right. It helps to use a small piece of paper to number your rows. I like the tiny post-it notes. 

After pressing, you are ready to sew your rows together! Pin, if necessary, but I find that these short rows don't require pinning.



Press one final time, and voila! Another finished block! Only 4 to go! Remember to add your blocks to our flickr group!

Please, if you have questions, email me at knitnlit AT gmail DOT com, or make sure you leave your email address in your comment. I've had several folks ask questions in the comments, but if you are a no-reply commenter, I can't email you back.