Finished! 4-Patch Slice Baby Quilt

I've finally finished the baby quilt that I gave you all a glimpse of at the end of May in this post. This is a 4-Patch Slice Quilt that I made using these instructions from Inspiring Creations. This is a beautiful quilt pattern that can be used to arrange your blocks into a chevron or lattice pattern. I elected to do the lattice version.

I found my inspiration for this quilt from baby Cecilia's nursery decor -- vintage ballet. I fell in love with this white & light blue ballerina fabric and decided to build the quilt off of it. I ultimately used 4 additional prints -- pink paisley, green herringbone, blue polka dot, and green stripes. My goal was to take the vintage ballerina motif and make it fun and modern while still keeping it feminine.

I used a multi-colored stripe for the back of the quilt to help tie in the purple of the borders and binding. It took a lot of fabric store browsing before I found a stripe that had all the colors I needed in it, but the one I found works perfectly!

After piecing the quilt top, I added an appliqué. There may be a better method out there, but here is how I generally do my appliqué:

• Determine what size you want the appliqué to be. I will usually lay out my piece and then use a ruler to determine the scale that the appliqué should be. Sometimes I will print out multiple sizes of my appliqué pattern to see which looks best on the piece.
• Find a font you like. I like to use a simple script font or a chunky block font. Script fonts are good because you can attach multiple letters at once (like the "ec," "il," and "ia" in the photo). You don't want to try to attach an entire word all at once because the letters may start to peel before you finish sewing them all.
• Print out your word in your font in black! Use a light box or a window to trace your appliqué pattern onto some Wonder Under. You will trace it backwards onto the paper side of your interfacing. This way, when you iron it onto your appliqué fabric, the appliqué will end up facing the right direction.
• Fuse your Wonder Under to your appliqué fabric. For this appliqué, I used some of my pink paisley fabric. The font was narrow enough that the pattern on the fabric is not very visible, so I could've just as easily used a solid color. The wider your letters, the more of the fabric will show.
• Cut out your pattern on your appliqué fabric. At this point, you should have your fabric fused to your Wonder Under with the pattern drawn on the paper. Cut carefully, especially if you're using narrow or small pieces. The fabric can still unravel around the edges even when it's fused.
• Place one section of appliqué on your piece at a time, ironing it in place. Then stitch around it. I like to use a tiny zigzag stitch to make sure I'm catching all the edges.

Once your appliqué is finished, add the borders onto your quilt. Then you can make your quilt sandwich, quilt it as you like, and bind it. Since I am self-taught and not terribly experienced and have a hard time sewing straight, I have found that the less quilting I do, the better it turns out. I simply use straight line quilting and follow the lines on my quilt top, so in this case, the quilting followed the lattice pattern.

What I'm Working On Wednesday - Baby Quilts

I feel like I am right in the middle of several projects, but not getting anything finished! Here is what I am working on today: baby quilts!

This first baby quilt that is almost finished is a ballet-inspired 4-patch slice quilt that I made using the tutorial on Inspiring Creations (found here). Since little Cecilia was born last week, I really need to finish this up, but luckily all I have left is the quilting itself. The piecing and appliqué were the real time-consumers on this one. But I love how it is turning out, so it was totally worth it!

This baby quilt is in its first stages, cutting and piecing. This pattern is from Moda Bake Shop and it's found here. This one uses pre-cut layer cakes, so I chose Ashbury Heights by Doohickey Designs.

The other thing I am working on this week is putting together kits for Days for Girls International. As mentioned in a previous post, I started my own team, and today, I became official! Check out my new logo:

So, if you happen to live in the Salt Lake Valley and want to join my team, let me know! It's a great cause!

Trendy Tuesday - A Hexilicious Round-Up

I have been seeing hexies everywhere these days and now I am thinking of trying it out myself. Now, I am not a very experienced quilter, but I've found tutorials on how to piece hexes, so I will be giving it a whirl.

In the meantime, here is a round-up of my favorite hexie projects that I have seen so far:

**Please don't pin these images from my blog, but click through and pin from the original source!**

The "Hexcellent Headband" by Michele Made Me

The "Hexy Clock Ikea Hack" by Sew Fearless

"Hexagon Picture Frame" by Landee See Landee Do

"Scattered Hexagon Pillow" by Jacks & Kate 

"Quilted Hexie Stocking" by Simplify

"DIY Instagram Hexagon Frame" by Oleander And Palm

Quilt-Along: Finished!

I am happy to announce that I have finished my quilt! I am sure the rest of my family will be happy as well... Dave will be happy to not have fabric and batting shreds scattered throughout the house and the kids will be happy that I'm not sewing all day long. Not to mention that Violet will no longer have the temptation of the sewing machine in the living room. Yesterday I came in to find that she had unraveled the thread and wrapped it around the couch (along with several toys and her brother).

Quilting the quilt was a bit complicated on my little sewing machine, but I was able to do it. I don't think I could quilt anything bigger than a twin size on my machine. Binding the quilt was a struggle because I am not very precise... especially when I am that close to the end! I was just so excited to get finished, that I didn't really care to rip stitches out and make them look good. So I ended up doing a straight stitch around the binding, then finishing it with a zig zag so that it would lay flat.

It was a fun project to do and I am glad I did it. It turned out well enough that I am considering doing a second one for Eddie... but there's no rush. I am looking forward to a break from such a big project.

Thanks to Jill and Sarah for hosting the quilt-along. I couldn't have done it without the walk-throughs!

{Linked on Content in the Meantime, Mom On Timeout, See Vanessa Craft}

Patchwork Pillowcase Tutorial

I ended up with a lot of extra fabric from the quilt I am making for my daughter, so I decided to whip up a pillowcase. Pretty simple project, right? Well, I wanted to be able to use a lot of different fabrics on the pillowcase and I can't let anything be too simple. So I made it up as I went and created a fun patchwork pillowcase.

In case anyone else wants to do something like this, I put together a tutorial (Disclaimer: measurements are approximate and based on a standard U.S. pillowcase size.)

Step 1:

Gather your fabrics and determine which you will be using for the body of the pillowcase, the band of the pillowcase, and for the patchwork band. Start with the patchwork band. For mine, I used solid orange pieces between the patterned pieces. Cut your solid strips 2 x 4 inches. Cut your patterned pieces 3 x 4 inches. You can vary the sizes of these strips depending on how you want the final product to look. Just be sure to include 1/2 inch extra for seam allowances on each side.

Sew your strips together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, alternating patterned and solid. I didn't bother pinning since that would take longer than sewing. Just place your strips, right sides together, under your presser foot and let 'er rip! Sew all the strips together to form a long strip.

A standard U.S. pillowcase is 21" x 30", so make your strip 21.5 inches long. Press all your seams flat.

Step 2:

On to the band! You'll want the band fabric to be 21.5 inches long x 7.5 inches wide. Press your fabric in half long-wise, wrong sides together. (My fabric came from a left-over fat quarter, so it was not long enough. I ended up adding a bit of solid purple to make it the right length.)

Step 3 (no photo):

Place your folded band and your patchwork right sides together and pin. Stitch them together with a 1/4 inch allowance. Turn wrong-side out and press seams flat. Stitch ends together to form a circle.

Step 4:

Cut your pillowcase body to size: (60.5" x 21.5"). Fold it in half (right sides together) to make it 30.25" x 21.5" and press the fold flat. Stitch both sides from the fold to the edge. Flip it right-side out. (Test this portion to make sure it fit on your pillow. This way you can alter it if you need to before you sew the band on.) 

Pin the patchwork & band to the open end of the pillowcase body, right sides together. Sew all the way around. Press all seams flat.

Step 5:

Top-stitch along the long seams for a nicely finished look. 

Put it on your pillow and enjoy!

{Linked on Hickory Trail, The DIY Dreamer, Coastal Charm, Daisy Cottage Designs, Romance on a Dime, New Nostalgia, My Girlish Whims, Ivy and Elephants, Ginger Snap Crafts, DIY Crafty Projects, The Owl's Skull, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, We Like to Learn as We Go, The Stitchin' Mommy}

Summer Project Ideas

Here is what I want to make this summer:

1. Quilted placemats for our freshly painted table - from Sew4Home
2. The perfect picnic blanket - from Mom It Forward
3. A kid-proof table cloth - from Creatively Christy
4. The ultimate menu planner - from The Thinking Closet

What projects are on your summer to-do list?

Quilt Along - Piecing

This past week in the Quilt Along, I started piecing my quilt together. I've been a bit distracted by my dining table makeover (post on that next week), so I haven't quite finished sewing it all together. I have a few more rows to go. Nevertheless, here is a poor photo to give you an idea of what the quilt top will look like:

Next week, I'm supposed to start the actual quilting. Once our table is finished (and it needs to be finished before Wednesday), I will be able to dedicate most of my time to getting caught up with the rest of the quilting group.

Quilt Along - Cutting

As previously mentioned, I am participating in a Quilt Along organized by Jill at Create.Craft.Love and Sarah at Becoming Martha. If you're interested in the details, click here:

This week, we started cutting. I have never been so grateful for a rotary cutter than I was as I cut the pieces for this quilt. I sure hope people are being honest when they say that cutting is the worst part. It took a lot of time to cut all the pieces, but once they were cut, I got to have a bit of fun figuring out what order I want them sewn in. Here they are, laid out how they will be sewn together (except I had to fold them and overlap them to get them all to fit on my table):

My borders and sashing are green. The patterned blocks are from Riley Blake's Dress Up Days collection. There is a small orange piece between each block and the back will be purple. Next week, we start sewing, so wish me luck!

{Linked on Content in the Meantime}