Finished Raindrop Quilt!

I finished the raindrop quilt!  Props to my tall and handsome quilt-holder ;).  It lives on our couch right now, and it's totally appropriate, considering it's May and we're still having plenty of rainy days here!

Weighted (Sensory) Blanket

I made my first weighted blanket recently, and it wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be!  Ok, I was nervous about bringing a 10 lb. box of poly pellets into the house...with little ones it's easy to imagine the whole thing getting dumped out by someone (probably a 2 year old)!  I found this great tutorial from Mama Smiles (thanks!), gathered the supplies (2 different fabrics, 1 and a 1/4 yd of each, 10 lb box of poly pellets, and a postal scale), and did some quick math.  The recommendation for children is to have it weigh 10% of their body weight, plus 1-2 lbs, but no more than 15% of their body weight.  I wanted my blanket to come out to just under 4.5 lbs, so filled each of the 100 squares with .7 oz of pellets.  I used a 1/4 C measuring cup, placed it on my scale, and hit the tare button on to zero it out.  The cup was small enough that I could scoop some pellets out of the box, weigh them, then dump straight into one of the tunnels without a funnel or PVC pipe.  The total size of the blanket is about 40 in. x 40 in., so it should be a good size for sleeping and snuggling for quite awhile.  I figure once it's too small for sleeping with, it will still be a good size for a lap blanket for car rides or lounging around.

One tip I have is once you get to the second to last and then last row of the blanket, only fill a few squares at a time, otherwise it's too much to manage, and becomes very easy to spill pellets everywhere.  On the second to last row I filled 5 squares at a time, then sewed across those squares, and then filled the rest and sewed.  On the very last row, I only filled 2-3 at a time and then sewed across them.  I did double stitch every column and row, just to ensure durability.  I figured with washing and all those pellets tumbling in the dryer against the fabric, it will be a little rougher on the fabric than a regular blanket.

This was a fun project, and after a few family members tested it out, I've decided to definitely make one (or two...) for us!

Tell Me a Story blocks

I've been wanting to do an I spy sort of quilt for the kids for a couple years now, but couldn't decide just how I wanted to do the blocks.  When I saw an Instagram post of someone using Amy Friend's (of During Quiet Time) Tell Me a Story quilt pattern from her book Intentional Piecing, I knew that's what I wanted to do!  This pattern is perfect for fussy cutting, and even though I've never done paper piecing before, the instructions were easy to follow.  These blocks were so fun to put together, and I'm looking forward to doing the rest of them (all from my stash!).  5 down, 51 to go...

Quilts from 2014-present!

My sewing and quilting has been intermittent since 2014, mostly due to moving a couple times and finally settling our family back home in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  I'm really hoping to have a lot more finishes this year, however, and I have a really awesome quilt series planned!  It might take years to complete, but it's a project that I know will be so worthwhile in the end.  So, here are the quilts I've made in the last few years:

Finished in 2017 - Pattern from Quilty magazine

Fabric mostly Flea Market Fancy (Denyse Schmidt)

For my mom's birthday!!

Made for one of my best friend's brand new baby - 2016

Pattern is a tutorial from Amy Smart (Diary of a Quilter)

A dear friend commissioned me to make this for her as a 

retirement gift for one of her friends (whole quilt not shown for 

privacy reasons) - Made in 2016

Wall hanging for the Boerne, TX quilt festival - 2015

Pieced back

Made for Oliver in 2014 - pattern from Quilty magazine

Prints were a bundle the Fabricworm put together

Raindrop Quilt...In Progress

After several years of a break...I'm ready to get back into blogging!  Here's a little "what I'm up to now" peek, but I'm going to try to do a mega catch-up post that will have photos of several of the projects I've created in the last 3 years since my last post.

I found this quilt pattern in a 2013 issue of Quilty magazine, cut everything out for it in 2015, 2016 was a huge bust for sewing because of moving/life transitions, etc., and I'm determined to finally finish it in 2017!

Plus Quilt

I bought the Glimma fabric line in a fat quarter bundle with no plan of what I wanted to do with it.  I've been wanting to make a plus quilt for awhile now, so I decided this would work great.  I was so proud that I carefully made all my calculations and even used some graph paper and colored pencils to plan it out.  Best laid plans…I somehow ended up 5 squares short!  How frustrating.  It took a lot of reworking, but I'm very pleased with the result! This may end up being a quilt I give away, since I am pretty good about keeping my quilts all to myself, and that's a habit I'm trying to change.   I apologize for the photos, I'm missing my quilt holder (husband!).

Quick Baby Quilt

A dear friend came over for a visit awhile back, and the day before she came I whipped up this easy baby quilt for her very adorable new baby girl.  I was kicking myself though, because I used a black sewing pencil to mark the quilting lines and it did not come out in the wash.  It took running it through several soaks in Oxyclean and lots of Shout before the lines finally faded.  So, I ended up having to mail the quilt.  But, I love the colors and how it turned out.  I think this is going to become a go to gift for my friends with new little ones!  The backing is a light aqua herringbone print which I absolutely love.  I still have plenty left over, but I wish I bought more.