First Quilts of 2014

Well, I had to put the bathroom remodel on hold.  I wished my ordering timing for all the hardware for the bathroom was a little better so that I could've used my time more wisely this holiday for finishing the bathroom.  But, I took advantage of this gift of time and I not only tore apart my bathroom and painted it, but I reorganized the craft room with some new Ikea furniture and accessories and managed to label everything.  When I reassembled the room, it all fit, and I found myself with some additional space!  It is amazing what happens when you have the right tools for the job.  I love working at the desk I chose, as it doesn't rock when the sewing machine is running.  Now, the goal: to keep it looking like this!

My new desk and shelves from Ikea

Check out all the labels on the boxes...how very "Sheldon" of me

This desk will certainly help enhance the creativity and has the potential of keeping me organized.  Here's to hoping.

Well, as I mentioned, I used my time wisely.  I made a project "to do" list of all the pending projects I need to complete in the next few months and started working towards crossing stuff off.  Most involved baby quilts for folks that I asked to make them for.  I got some interesting requests.  But my main goal is to reduce the fabric stash that I have (that keeps getting larger and larger all the time), and to resist buying new fabric.  One of my new years' goals is to empty some of the fabric bins that I have in the guest room.  That way I can go buy some new fabric to fill them!  HAHAHAHA!!!!

So, this first quilt is for a college friend that is having her first baby.  I was told shades of blue and that they are into sci-fi, but as I don't have any sci-fi fabric, I thought this modern design would suit her well.  I worked in some aqua, turquoise, and navy blue so the quilt will blend into any shade of blue bedroom.  Acutally, I have used this design before that I obtained from Elizabeth Hartman's sight, "Oh Fransson!"  and was pleased with the outcome, so I decided to try it again.

Wavy Blues

This next quilt is a design I was trying out of the book Modern Basics II by Amy Ellis.  The "stepping stones" design caught my eye, but I didn't do myself do diligence and read the directions properly.

Stepping Stones

I just plowed ahead and started making blocks instead of reading the entire instructions to ensure I had enough fabric to complete the quilt.  So I was running out of fabric as I was making the blocks, so I just substituted other fabrics to supplement the blocks.  The end product doesn't look as balanced as the one from the book, but I am happy with the outcome nonetheless.  This was a great use of a lot of green fabric I had lying around for another quilt project that I wasn't happy with, and I was able to use some of my favorite greens in my stash.  I am taking it as a learning experience to READ THE DIRECTIONS FIRST!  I ended up with enough blocks for at least three quilts, which is good because I have a lot of little boys that need quilts!

See how the mix of fabrics in each blocks works even though it doesn't "pop" like the one in the book?

Aren't those Robert Kaufman turtles adorable?  I have been waiting to use them in a quilt!

Back of the quilt

Last of all, I needed a couple of little girl quilts.  I do so much better when I can use bright colors than muted pastels, so I hope these mommies aren't too turned off by the bright colors.  I also am not always apt to use just pink and purple for girls, as I am not always apt to use blue for boys.  So I had to throw in some yellow and green just for funzies!  I made two of these: one for a family member and one for a friend from culinary school.

No pattern here...Just a dresden ruler and a whole bunch of fabric!

The quilting is improving!

A glimpse of the back

Not too bad for a quilting blitz this weekend, eh??  And, I managed to piece a couple more during this 2 week holiday, so I am well on my way to crossing items off the "to do" list.  One of my other craft goals is to work on scrappy quilts, as my scrap pile is getting a little out of control.  Maybe some of the "to do" quilts can be scrap built.  I will work on it.

Back to work tomorrow.  The crafting will slow a little, but I hope to work on my projects at least a couple days per week.  Let me know if you want to come over and sew with me!

Happy crafting!

Carrie