Fall Scarecrow Quilt

For the past several Mother's Days, I've given my mom a series of wall hangings from the Wooden Bear. 

She's got a turkey, a Santa, a snowman, an Uncle Sam, and maybe one more...

For this past Mother's Day (yup, I realize it was six months ago), I added to her collection with a Straddling Scarecrow...perfect for fall!




Now, I've just got one season left...spring!  I'm notoriously late with these, so maybe I should get working on it over the holidays!



"Swoon"-ing Over Kate Spain

So, today's the last day of the Kate Spain Blog Hop hosted by Blossom Heart Quilts.  As I mentioned yesterday, I basically "lurked" my way through the blog hop - following along, but never making it known.  But, I promise, I have a good reason for my "lurking" tendencies - I was working on my entry for the "finished project" challenge...and boy did it take me the entire month!

When I read about the challenge Alyce put forward about completing a project (any type of project) using Kate Spain fabric, I took it as a sign to finally work on the project I've been dreaming of completing!

I've always been a huge fan of Kate Spain's designs.  My husband knows whenever there are Kate Spain items at Michael's - he can't go wrong bringing some notepads or those cute little clothespins.  I love all of her designs and wish it was a reality to buy fabric from each and every one of her lines! Anyways, a couple of years ago, when Kate Spain's Terrain fabric line came out, the Fat Quarter Shop offered a Designer's Bundle of about 12 fat quarters of Terrain and three matching solids.  Thanks to some very kind birthday presents from family, I was able to supplement it with four more prints, some solid white and some matching binding fabric.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it...make the ever popular "Swoon" by Camille Roskelley.

Fast forward however long it's been.  Recently I've been commenting that I've misplaced my "quilting mojo."  Anyone who reads this blog knows my finishes are spotty at best, but it was even harder to get myself into my craft room, and I'm not quite sure why - but that's a conversation for another day.  So, when I read about the Kate Spain blog hop and the challenge to post something you made in June out of her fabrics, it gave me the motivation I so deparately needed.

So, I give you my entry for the blog hop.  My Terrain "Swoon." 

ETA: Just realized this photo is from the side!

Here's one from the direction I'll probably use when on our bed...
 

I really did get this done in a month.  How?  I'm not really sure...I don't think I'd believe it myself if I didn't know it was true.  But I pulled down the fabrics out of their hoarding, errr hiding, spot in early June, got to cutting and put the last finishing stitches in this past Wednesday night.  Mr. Gnomemade helped me with photos this morning in the rush to get to work, so they're not ideal, but they work!

Here are some more shots!

 

And some individual blocks!

So thanks to Alyce for the blog hop - I got my quilting groove back!  And I got my Swoon done!  (Well at least the top of it!)  It was an effort - but in the end, I'm super proud of it! 

Kate Spain Blog Hop

Between work and home life, my blog gets sorely neglected.  Even finding time to read some of my favorite blogs can be challenging - and don't even get me started on commenting!  So, essentially, it means that I'm a blog lurker.  Yup - I'm that person who reads blogs, but essentially leaves no footprint behind.  I always have the best of intentions to comment or to link to blogs or in the most recent case make myself known that I'm participating in a blog hop.

But, alas, June has come and gone and I'm only now commenting on the fact that I'm loving the "Kate Spain Blog Hop" hosted by Blossom Heart Quilts.

I adore Kate Spain's fabric and I think I may make it a bit too well known in our household, because she's one of like two designers that my husband can identify!  So, when I came across that there was a blog hop, I followed along.  And when I realized that there was a call for us to work on a Kate Spain related project during the month of June - I knew I wanted to participate.

However, that brought me right back to my "lurking" tendencies.  I had a Kate Spain project that's been sitting on the shelf for longer than I'd like to admit.  I really wanted to do it, but could I get it done in a month?  And if so, could I also blog about it?  The answers to those questions were yes and no.  I started the project at the beginning of June and completed it last night.  Mr. Gnomemade took a photo of it this morning, and I'll have it posted tomorrow for the June 28th deadline!  [Insert sigh of relief here.] But, it was more time consuming than I ever imagined (in fact, I can barely believe I finished it in a month - and if what I post on my blog is any indication, I really don't work that fast in general).  So, it meant that I never even posted any progress shots of it!  But, thanks to the Blog Hop it gave me that incentive that I really needed!

So, thank you Blossom Heart Quilts for the motivation and incentive!

May the Quilt Be with You...

Nothing like a new baby coming along shortly to give you some inspiration!  Good friends of mine and Mr. Gnomemade are expecting their second child in June.  The first little one came along in August 2011, and she got a quilt made just for her (and Mom).  You see - mom loves everything owl and Wizard of Oz.  So, when the first little one was on her way, it was an easy decision of what type of quilt to make when I found an owl quilt pattern.  So, after months of work, Baby #1 was gifted with this quilt at the shower. 

Fast foward a year, and the Baby #1 turned one!  It seemed only fair that Dad get in the act and something that he loves.  And what does he love...nothing more than Star Wars.  I've never met a bigger fan!  So, Baby #1 got a set of Star Wars Finger Puppets. 

Well, now Baby #2 is on its way (we're not sure if it's a girl or a boy).  And since Mom got an owl quilt for Baby #1, I figured it was only fair that Baby #2's quilt is inspired by Dad.  After a lot of conversation with Mr. Gnomemade and a bunch of internet searches, I decided on an R2D2 Quilt!  I couldn't find any specific pattern, so I needed some inspiration - enter in a cute little photo on Google Images, which I used to inspire a pattern and voila...

R2D2 Baby Quilt, a photo by gnomemade quilts on Flickr.

I present to you the R2D2 quilt!  I'm pretty proud of this one!  It's made of primarily Kona Cotton solids, and is machine appliqued.  I did some interlocking square/rectangular quilting on the light blue background.  Overall, it came out pretty well, but it's a little wavy since I doubled the white fabric to keep the blue from showing through, which made that a bit thick compared to the quilted part.  But, it's a baby quilt, so hopefully Baby #2 won't mind!

And of course, a Star Wars inspired quilt needed an appropriate back.

 

 

Baby #2 is due in June, so I'm way ahead of schedule!  Woo hoo!  It's ready to be packaged up and delivered either at a baby "sprinkle" or when the baby arrives!  However, now that I think about it...dad got both a quilt and finger puppets, and mom's just gotten a quilt.  Anyone have any ideas about owl or Wizard of Oz finger puppets?  I've got over a year until Baby #2 turns one!

 

Final Stats:

R2D2 Quilt

Appliqued and Quilted by: Me!

Inspired by Pinterest /Tumblr Image

Size: ~36 x 40

Valentine's Project

With Valentine's Day coming up this week, I wanted a project that could decorate our new home for the holiday.   I had seen this tutorial on Diary of a Quilter, and had filed it away as a project I'd like to try soon. 

As I was cleaning my craft room, I came across a charm pack of Valentine's fabric, and had some quilter's linen floating around I had purchased a while ago.  Add just a little bit of Kona White and some dark gray floss, and it was a pretty quick project.

Since you could see through the white, and I didn't want any spare threads to show, I ended up quilting the front panel.  I did a meandering FMQ stitch on the white and then tried some litle loops with hearts thrown in on the tan linen.  Had never done hearts before and while they've got a long way to go - I was happy with the outcome.  It gave me some more confidence in trying some new FMQ patterns.  (I think stars will be tried for the next project!)

Wishing everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day.  Hope it's sweet!

First Finish of 2013

My small quilt goup had a challenge a while ago (noticing a trend?).  We all chose the same pattern, and made a quilt with our own choice of fabric.  Over winter break, I finally got around to fnishing up mine! 

The pattern is "Lucky 13" and I used mainly fabrics from the "Arabesque" line.

I really enjoyed making this quilt and tried some new things with the quilting - including loops and a flower!

I also made my first pieced back...

I'm so happy it's finally done.  It's the first big quilt that I'm keeping for myself.  It's in my office now - because I'm always cold.

Final Finish of 2012

This one was a race to the finish.  And I'm a bit ashamed of how long it actually was in the making!

As the clock chimed 11:53 pm on December 31, 2012, I put the final stitch in the binding.  It was a miraculous finish right before the New Year and one I wasn't sure was going to happen. 

Straddling Snowman, a photo by gnomemade quilts on Flickr.

The pattern is by the Wooden Bear and I've made a couple others like it - including two Turkeys, a Santa, and an Uncle Sam.  My mother has been the recipient of one of each, and put in a request last Christmastime for a few more so she'd have one for each season.  They've become a traditional Mother's Day gift, but not always on Mother's Day.  In fact, this one was over six months late!  But it made it up to mom just as Santa was ready to come down and the need for a winter themed one went up!