Pixel Quilt

 My son needed a new quilt for his twin bed.  His birthday was coming up, so I gave myself a deadline and got to work.  I let him choose a quilt design from my Pinterest page, that way he had some say in the design and I got to make something that I liked.  He finally decided on THIS quilt because it reminded him of pixels, like in a video or computer game.  That's my boy.

There was a lot of cutting and fiddling with placement, but after that, it all came together really quick.  It's basically a patchwork, just with more purpose in placement of the squares.

Trying to decide on design.  I made myself a little "key" out of graph paper squares, you can see it just a little bit in the top left corner.

Sorry for the funky pictures, they were cell phone pictures I played around with to post on Instagram.  Next time, I'll make sure and get some normal camera shots too.

 Ahh....that's better.

 Quilt top done.

 I cut 5 and a 1/2 inch squares, after sewing with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, each square measured 5 inches even.

 

Pieced together a backing and started quilting with a rainbow quilt thread.  I still haven't tried free motion quilting, I'm completely intimidated by it.  Maybe I should take a class or something.

 My nine year old on a step stool isn't quite tall enough or has enough wing span to show a twin quilt properly....yet.  Maybe this time next year.

The quilt is 60 x 90 inches and fits his bed perfectly.

 He loves his quilt and brings it out in the living room to snuggle in during morning cartoons.

 

Pieced backing.  Some leftover pixels and a cool maze-like grey fabric.

My son actually got a bit frustrated with me for dragging his quilt outside and getting it dirty on the deck.  I threw it in the wash as soon as I finished taking photos though and all was well again in our home.

My son picked out the binding himself.  I probably wouldn't have chosen it since the greens don't match, but he loves it and when it's all put together, I think it works.

 I think I'll wait a bit before tackling a twin size quilt again.  They are hard to work with because they are large!  This was a lot of fun though and it was worth every ounce of trouble because the recipient is so happy with the finished result.


 

Three Baby Quilts

 Baby #1

Our YW leaders have been having babies lately!  Flannel top with a minky back, tied with cute yarn by the Laural class.  I bound the edges by cutting one side of the fabric a little smaller than the other and then rolling the edge and sewing it closed.  Didn't take too long and they all turned out cute.  Beware: Minky fabric (the cute, bumpy, soft fabric that everyone loves) is really hard to work with on a sewing machine.  It's a bit stretchy and slippery, so watch your fabric to make sure it stays where you want it to stay!  Lesson learned after picking out a couple of spots where the fabric slipped out of where I  was stitching.

Baby #2

My quilt holder's head showing a bit here...

And his assistant....

 Quilt holder's arms getting very tired!

Baby #3

Babies #2 and #3 are twins, thus the matching fabric.  Can't wait to get these delivered, Enjoy!

Little Irish Girl Quilt

One of my son's autism tutors recently had her first baby, a girl!  Knowing that the mom loved her Irish heritage (her wedding colors were even orange, green, and white), we decided a little tribute to Ireland for the baby was in order.

I do realize if this was a flag it would be upside down.  I already gave her the quilt before I realized my mistake and couldn't retake the pictures.  Luckily, this is just a loose interpretation and can just pretend it's a color block quilt instead, right?

Backing was a simple yellow floral print.  We didn't know the gender at the time I was making the quilt, otherwise we may have thrown in a bit of pink here.

There is the correct way for the flag!  I quilted a lot of small width straight lines with a couple of wider strips down each color, for some visual and textural interest.

I'm not going to lie, it took a while to sew all of those lines, but it was a worth it in the end.  The quilt washed up beautifully and is super soft.

Congrats to the Nelson family!  Can't wait to see more pictures of their little Irish girl!

Elephant Chevron Quilt

My dear friend, Stefanie, is expecting a baby any day now...we are so excited to meet their newest addition and I have a had a lot of fun scheming and dreaming up a beautiful nursery with her.  We were inspired by THIS and THIS, going with an elephant theme in grays, white, and yellows.  We don't know the gender of the baby, so we will finish the rest of the nursery with some teal or pink...I'll take pictures once the baby is here and we have finished decorating.

This quilt was so fun to make.  We found some gorgeous gray fabric that kind of looks like elephant skin, paired it with a monochromatic dot white and a pop of yellow along the edge.  I loved learning how to do rounded corners for the first time and made my own bias tape using THIS tutorial from MADE.  Love her blog.

Used a black, gray, and white toned thread and followed the chevron lines.  Sorry for the date stamp on all of these pictures, it's a new camera and I'm still learning the ropes.

The back is a solid piece of smaller scale gray and white chevron.

A little heat transfer vinyl in the corner so this baby knows which "auntie" loves him/her the best.

Outtakes.  Trying to get some pictures of the quilt with two of my boys holding it up.  My five year old, who has autism, wanted in on the action.

He actually confiscated the quilt for a while and snuggled in.  Hey, if he hunkers down for a good cuddle, then you know did a good job.  He is a bit of a blanket snob.

Packaged up and driving it over to the new nursery.  This quilt was so much fun to make....no more twin size or larger for me!  Baby quilts are the way to go, they are so much easier to handle due to their smaller size and you get to see the fruits of your labor so much faster.  Can't wait to make another one.  Congrats to Stef and family...we are waiting for the call from the hospital and the cell phone picture announcement!

Current Project: A Sneak Peek

Two panels of my baby brother's Eagle Scout quilt.

It's coming along...I'll take lots of pictures of the finished product.

Third Time's A Charm

 I finally finished the third and final quilt for my boys' beds.  The first two were bunk bed quilts, this one is a little longer to fit a regular twin size bed.

Quilt top

In progress.  I went to a Scrapbooking/Craft Weekend at my friend's mom's house, about an hour away.  It was so much fun and I almost finished the entire quilt while I was there.  I was also introduced to dark chocolate cream cheese.  Dangerous stuff.

The above picture is the best one I have of the oval detailing I did on the white sides.  Each of the quilts have a different pattern; one is triangles and the other scallops or semi circles.

Lots of scrapbooking, crafting, eating and talking.  I had a great time...and my husband is a saint for letting me go all weekend.

My friend Jamie, tuckered out.  Due to unforeseen home construction projects, she had to bring her kids, including the 8 month old who doesn't sleep very well.  At least she was able to sneak a nap in on Saturday.  We all took turns holding the baby and playing with the other kids, so she was able to get a little crafting in too.  Perhaps she will forgive me for posting this picture of her if I tell you that she has a ton of great crafting ideas and a cute blog, check it out HERE.

The finished product.  Thanks Amy and Maddie for holding it up for me so I could sneak a couple of pictures.

The grateful recipient.  This is my five year old, Austin.  He is severely autistic and is unable to speak or communicate in typical ways.  He has, however, communicated very successfully how much he loves this quilt by snuggling in it every chance he gets.  That's all I need.

I have three or four more quilts planned in my head...a couple I have most of the fabric for already too.  I've got to do some less time consuming projects first though.  Am I officially a quilter yet?  Maybe after I make one that isn't all just strips of fabric.  :)

Bunk Bed Quilts: Complete!

Heat transfer vinyl quilt labels.  Scotty has the green binding quilt.  I documented my steps HERE and HERE on his quilt.  I am so glad I did because it helped me remember steps as I made the second one.

Finally finished Tyler's matching quilt after starting both of them at the same time.  Tyler has the blue binding.

Bottom bunk

Top bunk, and yes I had to stand on my tip toes to take this.

Two quilts down...now I just need to make a matching or coordinating one for the brother in the room across the hall.  Who knows who will share rooms in the future, so it would be nice for the bedding to be interchangeable.  So happy with these and how much easier it is to make the beds now that the quilts just drape over the sides instead of having to tuck all the time.