Monkey Baby Quilt

I’ve been working on baby blankets for the past couple of months. I just recently completed 4 whole cloth baby blankets and a Monkey Baby Quilt. The monkey themed baby quilt was for a co-worker who’s having a boy and is leaning towards a monkey themed nursery for Year of the Monkey.

When planning for this quilt I decided to check out Hawthorne Threads for some monkey themed fabric. I found Urban Zoologie Part 2 by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. The monkey’s in blue were pretty perfect! From there I chose some coordinating prints with a particular pattern in mind. The Basic Baby Quilt Tutorial by Knitty Bitties is my go-to quilt for a quick and easy project. This is my third time using the pattern, but this time I modified it slightly by using 4 prints instead of 5 to make the blanket smaller. My version turned out 40″x36″. I also didn’t follow the “Cheater Binding” that is suggested as part of the tutorial, but I have tried it before. It oddly enough proved more difficult, so I’ll stick to the normal machine sewn binding. The banana yellow binding I added was the finishing touch to this sweet baby quilt.

The whole cloth baby quilts were fun to make too. Three of them were a cotton and flannel pairing and the last was a cotton and minky pairing. I noticed the cotton and flannel wash and dry a little differently, so I recommend a little bit of quilting to keep the fabric aligned. The cotton and minky do better after a wash and dry, so a top-stitch along the edge is sufficient. I’ll have to play around with future designs and maybe add a little quilting to the minky blankets and see how they turn out.

These three were made for friends and family who recently had a baby.

This last blanket was made for my husband’s boss, who welcomed their 5th boy! The family loves Star Wars and we found the perfect fabric paired with a starry minky in grey.

I have another commission in the works and the fabric has been ordered. I can’t wait to get it in so I can start fabric shopping. I hope to get some work done on my own quilts as well. Until then!

Sunburst Blocks 1-4

I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! I sewed the entire weekend since it was both an extended weekend and our first weekend for National Sewing Month! I had lots of projects on my to-do list and had piles of fabric on my cutting table to get me started. The first thing I worked on was a Birthday present for my sister-in-law, which I will gift next weekend; stay tuned for the reveal. I also caught up on my TBT blocks, which I was behind on by two tutorials. I will reveal these blocks on Thursday! The third project on my list was my wall hanging quilt and I completed 2 more Sunburst Blocks. Finally, I got started on the next baby quilt for a cousin on my husband’s side who’s having a boy! She’s not due until November, but the shower is at the end of this month and I was able to get all the pieces on my design board. All I need to do is sew the rows together and I can get started on the quilting. I designed a simple Four-Patch and plan on straight-line quilting, so I should be able to complete this quilt on time. What did you complete this Labor Day Weekend?

My hanging wall quilt is from the Moda Bake Shop and it’s called the Sunburst Quilt by Lauren Terry. I’m making a smaller version using 9 blocks, instead of 12, and will finish 36″ x 36″. The fabric cuts per fat quarter makes 2 blocks, so it will be difficult deciding which block to omit from the front. It won’t be wasted and will probably be used as a large quilt label for the back. There are many seams in creating these blocks and the Strip Stick has come in handy. It allows me to press open seams without disrupting surrounding seams. Both open and side pressed seams are required to nestle seams and to minimize bulk, which took up to my fourth block to find a happy mix. The background fabric that I’m using with all blocks is Moda’s Grunge Basics in Winter Mint. Every time I go to the fabric store in search of a solid, I’m always intrigued by Moda Grunge. I love the white and cream together! Block 1 and 2 feature Ghost Bunny by Sarah Watts for Cotton and Steel and Carolyn Friedlanders Crosshatch in Curry for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. Block 3 and 4 features Lazy Day in Neautral/Red by Sarah Watts from her Honeymoon Collection. I’m not sure which line the brown polka dot fabric is from, but it paired perfectly with Lazy Day.

Be sure to visit back and check out more of my Sunburst Blocks! I hope to have this quilt up on my wall soon enough 🙂

New Sewing Space and Some Quilting Fun!

We’ve been in our house for almost 3 years now and have slowly been decorating. We have remodeling plans in mind, but when you’re on a budget, you stick to the priority list. I originally knew my sewing space would be shared with the guest room, but so far, I’ve made the entire space a sewing room…oops! We recently decided to make use of the extra space in the master bedroom as my sewing area. The master bedroom measures 12 x 20 ft. And we only use a small portion of the room for the bed. With such a lengthy room and the bed on one end, the other end has been wasted space, so we decided there’s plenty of room for the sewing area.

With the plan in mind, we decided to also paint the walls. We were looking for a calm and serene color, then decided on something lavender. Husband wanted dark and I wanted light….we finally agreed on Stardust Evening by Valspar. The painting project took a good two days. We’re first time room painters and we also patched a few spots and needed to work around them until they were dry enough for painting. Mom came over and showed us her painting tips and techniques — What a pro! 😀 Neko and Petey were not happy about being kicked out of the room for an entire weekend!

We divided the space in half using Ikea’s Kallax Shelving Unit in Black/Brown. It’s huge to divide the room and doubles as storage. To avoid a kitty jungle gym, we decided it really needed to be filled in ASAP. The plan is to store my husband’s vinyl records, which he has plenty of, and baskets of fabric. A project to add to my goal list will be various 1-Hour Baskets for fabric storage that will fit in the spaces. Filling this shelving unit will be work in progress until it looks just right! For my cutting table, I got the Linnmon Table Top that measures 47″L. This holds my cutting mat, rulers, and fabric. For adjustable height, I definitely recommend the Olov Adjustable Legs. Tip after installing these that my husband had to research, was not to over tighten when selecting the desired height or you will hear some type of rattle. So far this table has been great! To the right of my cutting table is my sewing table and as you can see, I have a great spot for a hanging quilt! To the right of my sewing table is my design board. My design board is actually from Cheryl Ann’s Design Wall, but I decided to remove the legs that prop it up on the floor and hook the frame to the wall. This still allows my board to come down whenever needed for portability. I found some green decorative hooks at Michaels that compliment our purple walls! Such a great find since they were also on sale 😀

Yesterday, Mom came over and we had ourselves a quilting day! First we headed out to our local quilt shop to pick up the Row by Row pattern, which mom is working on, and I bought background fabric for my wall quilt that I was able to start. We were able to setup a sewing station for my mom at the window and we accomplished alot over stories, wine, snacks, and laughs 😀 Mom finished her quilt top, from a set of two matching quilts for my cousins. I also finished the Plus Quilt top! All I need now is the backing and batting to get started on the quilting.

I then got started on my wall hanging quilt. I’m super excited about this quilt from the Moda Bake Shop. It’s called the Sunburst Quilt by Lauren Terry. I’m making a smaller version using 9 blocks, instead of 12. It will finish 36×36″. Mom surprised me with some new fat quarters, which I decided to include in my quilt because they were perfect for the project! I was able to finish one of the blocks last night before our sewing day came to an end. This block features Ghost Bunny by Sarah Watts, a collaborative effort from the Black & White collection for Cotton and Steel. For the sunburst points I used Carolyn Friedlanders Crosshatch in Curry for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. The background for this, and all remaining blocks, is Moda’s Grunge Basics in Winter Mint.

All in all, we had a great time sewing together. Can’t wait for the next!