Hour glass baby quilt

I had a request for a baby girl quilt a few months ago and the only requirement was that it be lavender.

Another favorite color to work with.

I picked the hour glass pattern again. It's so simple and goes together quick.

I decided to use white in the block this time.

Love these clips instead of pins for the binding.

The finished project...

...all ready to wrap up and gift.

Lavender scented hand warmers

I was reading some quilting blogs and ran across this idea for hand warmers. I've made some neck warmers with rice in the past but never thought about making mini ones...especially with a quilt top.

I knew I kept all those tiny scraps for a reason. I put a quarter down for comparison. 

I sewed up some half-square triangles for two of them, and scrappy tops for three more. I put a layer of cotton batting on the back and stitched in the ditch to hold it in place.

I put the front and back right sides together, stitched them together leaving a small opening and turned them right side out. 

I used my lavender essential oil to scent the rice and filled them a little more than halfway. Just the perfect calming scent.

Five finished hand warmers. Definitely not the best picture. Didn't realize it was bad until after I'd given them away and couldn't take another. 

They made the perfect Valentine's Day gifts.

This was a really fun project, and I definitely want to work more with minis. It just might be my next quilting addiction. The patterns are endless. I also saw ideas for pin cushions just like this but the filling is different. Some used crushed walnuts and others polyester fiberfill. I need to do some experimenting.

Birthday Tote Bag

It's been way too long since I posted. Time to get back at it and update you on some of my recent projects.

I had made myself a tote bag a few months ago. When it came time for Lisa's birthday, I decided to make one for her. I admit I picked the fabrics because I loved them, but I knew she would too. 

It was much easier to make the second bag since I now had experience with adding a lining. 

I also made a small makeup bag to match. 

Happy Birthday, Lisa!!

Log Cabin Wallhanging

A few years ago I made this wall hanging for my sewing room. I was going to teach myself to hand quilt. Well, after five years, I knew that I wasn't going to do that. I've started to do machine quilting on small projects, and I like the idea of faster completion. And my eyes just don't like to do hand stitching anymore. Binding quilts is enough for me.

I blogged about it here.

I made the usual quilt sandwich with some basting spray.

Machine quilted it and bound it.

And hung it in my sewing room. 

Coasters

I watch Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting every week. I've even got Mom watching it every so often. I'd seen the epiosde where they made these coasters. And then a few days later Mom asked if I'd seen the show as she'd like a set of them.

Start with four pieces of 5"coordinating fabrics.  Fold them in half diagonally wrong sides together and press. The 5th one is the back.

Lay two triangles on the backing piece.

Put the 3rd piece (the blue one) over half of one piece from the step above and under half the other piece.

Then put the 4th piece (the cream one) under and over opposite from the 3rd piece.

You should end up with half of each triangle showing.

Pin or clip the pieces together and sew around the edges. I didn't get a picture of the next step. Open up the coaster in the hole in the center where the four fabrics meet and turn it inside out. This hides the seams.

Topstitch around the edges, and you're finished. The coaster in this picture is the same one as the one above that but because I turned it inside out, the fabrics are opposite.

Chevron Baby Boy Quilts

Bold colors aren't my usual palette.

But I had a fun time picking these fabrics out for two baby quilts for either boys or girls. I only knew there were going to be two! I struggled with waiting until after they were born to find the perfect fabric, but finally because of the time two quilts would take, I went with brights and would then make the backing gender specific.

I cut them into strips.

I found a simple pattern for a chevron design...much easier than using half-square triangles. I sewed a white strip with a colored strip and then cut them into squares.

It's all in the layout.

Sew the blocks together diagonally and then sew the rows together.

First one down (above), one to go (below).

Square it up.

Made the quilt sandwich with boy-themed fabric (at this point the twins had arrived) and then started machine quilting along the seams.

I got these Clover Wonder Clips for Christmas. They are perfect for binding instead of using pins because of the fabric thickness.

Love how they turned out!

Half Square Triangles Baby Girl Quilt

I'm finally posting on a baby girl quilt I made last year. The baby was born and the gift has been given.

I had so much fun picking out the fabrics. 

It was my first quilt made out of all half square triangles. I cut the squares and then randomly sewed them together with a diagonal seam and then cut them in half.

I got a new quilting tool to help with squaring them up. I love it. So much easier to trim two sides before I pressed them open and then have to trim all four sides.

And it's all sewn together.

I'm still working on my machine quilting, and this was a perfect project for it since I could do straight lines.  I put the backing on the floor.....

...and spray basted all three layers together.

I quilted a quarter of an inch from each seam.

The back.

Love the polka dot binding.