Icy Mosiac

Rachel at Stitched in Color is having another mosiac contest.  I always love seeing all the different interpretations of the given theme. I chose fabrics and colors that felt quiet and overcast like snowy days.  Not pictured are the kid boots, hats, and gloves, shorn by the back door when they come in for hot chocolate; that's not nearly as quiet as the snow.

Swaps

I fell off the Earth for awhile, I know.  I blame Instagram.  My family still looks here rather than there so I ought to get back with the blogging.
I've been swapping!  It's so fun.  I am assigned a partner to secretly make for and someone is secretly assigned me.
In my first swap, I got a cute cross stitch heart mini made by Jennifer in Australia.  She sent treats, too, which the kiddos still talk about.  The quilt went on my wall right away and looks great there.  The quilting community really is just awesome.

I just sent off the mini I made for my second swap.  It's headed to England and should arrive any day now.  I am so anxious for my partner to see it!  I had so much fun brainstorming and making it for her.

I call it a quarter medallion since it's just a quarter of a medallion style quilt.  The quilters she said she liked all had a medallion quilt and our tastes were similar enough that I thought I could come up with one she would like.
In the next couple weeks, or days, I'll receive the mini quilt made for me.  The kiddos and I have been following the group on instagram and guessing which is for me.  The kiddos are hoping for more Aussie candy, truth be told.

Mosiac

Stitched in Color is hosting another mosaic contest.  I love seeing the different takes on a theme.  this time the theme is fall.  I didn't really have much of a "fall" growing up.  We went from hot to wet. To me fall is wet dirt and overcast skies. 

One thing I really love about living where I do now, is that my kids get a "real" fall.  The leaves change color and everything!  They even get snow in the winter.  I like having four seasons.  Go Fall!

Cathedral Windows

I've always loved cathedral windows.  They just look gorgeous...and really complicated.  I thought a quilt would be getting in over my head and decided to try it out on a mini for me.

The prep was a few steps, but it wasn't too difficult.  I used Love Patchwork and Quilting issue 6 for my instructions.  I actually bought this issue specifically for the instructions.

(next to the doll quilt my great-grandmother made)

I have to say, I absolutely love my little mini.  The binding took a moment to think over the how-to, but it turned out alright in the end.  The main work was the prep, filling the windows really went pretty quickly.

(it's in a weird spot, I couldn't reach any higher and I just wanted to see it up there)

I think I could totally do a whole quilt of cathedral windows.  Once I get over just how much fabric it would take, that is.

Katie's Quilt

My bestie is about to have a baby boy and of course I made him a quilt!  I made this quilt and the undies quilt at the same time.  They couldn't be more different.  I love making quilts for people I know because I get a chance to really personalize the fabrics and style to their tastes and personalities.  Some of me always shows through, but it's clearly for the recipient.  And I love when they love it.

 I went fabric hunting looking for something cute but not too babyish and it ought to have green.  I fell in love with the alligators and went from there.  I found so many great fabrics that played so nicely together.  I think the final tally was two blues, two greens (I even used a solid!) two blacks, a gray and blue/white lattice.

 I set them out in a plus quilt pattern.  I was even on top of things enough to remember to orient the plaid blocks the same direction throughout the quilt.

I bound it in a satin blanket binding.  I've done this on a few quilts and I just like it.  My daughter's quilt is bound this way and she loves it.  She is always recommending I bind every quilt this way.

The quilt has safely made its way to Mom and Dad and big brothers and will soon get to meet the new guy.  

The Undies Quilt

 That's right, undies.  I had so much fun with this quilt.  One thing I love about making quilts for people I know is that I can make them very specific to the recipient.  Of course, I always have a moment of almost panic that I will be wrong and they will hate the quilt, but so far that hasn't happened.  Or my family is just really good at sparing my feelings.  This quilt is for the same parents that received the Jungle Quilt.  It is so them.

My mother was so concerned that I was using old undies from my boys that she had to call and verify I was not.  I didn't.  I paper pieced these bad boys.  I got the pattern from the fandom in stitches site over at sewhooked.  It was my first paper piecing and it was so much fun.  There is no way I could have gotten the same accuracy along those leg holes without paper piecing.  

 I made five pair of undies.  Two different star wars, one marvel comic, a batman, and a superman.  I like the look of the high contrast undies binding(?), but the blue star wars pair is my favorite.  I think the Millennium Falcon is what does it.

 I did simple straight line quilting in blue, black, and red.  I left a lot of negative space in this quilt.  I didn't want to overwhelm the quilt with undies.  For whatever reason, I felt more undies would become gimmicky.

 I bound it in a scrappy binding of superhero prints.  I love the binding, it just completes it perfectly.

My Quilt

I suppose it's our quilt, but it's kinda girly.  My husband has always insisted that things can be girly as obviously a girl lives here, but I still try not to abuse that privilege.
A year ago maybe, I won a FQ bundle of madhuri by the quilted fish.  I really liked the coloring on this collection so it was great to win, seeing as I had contemplated buying it anyway.  The fabric was just asking to be diamonds and so it became a lonestar.

I EPPed this one and it was quite the process.  I started in October and have just now bound and washed it.  The diamonds took time but it was really satisfying.  I just really like hand sewing.
I did machine quilt this one though.  Just straight lines.  I only just started out with my walking foot and straight lines is all I'm comfortable with.  I can't go from hand quilting to FMQ in one step.  Maybe I'll get there someday.

It's a generous queen size, finished.  I had originally thought to make another quilt for our couch, but the star ending up being the exact width of our bed.  It was fate.  Now all our beds have a quilt I made, I feel accomplished.

bound in black and backed in the same gray as the front