Swoooonnnn

I finished my swoon. And I am in love.

The front, before washing

The back!

It's currently at Mom's being washed now. I cannot wait for it to come back all wonderful and crinkly :)


On another note, being a part of the Swoon-a-Long group was a totally new experience for me. I had never done a quilt-a-long, and had never really participated on flickr. This group changed everything. Everyone was so encouraging, and the hostess, Katy, was so wonderful. She commented on every. single. picture. I posted to the group, with such encouraging things to say. I couldn't have had a better experience with it. Thank you so much Katy!!

Quilt 1 out of 5 for 2012: Check. And this one is staying with me!

Heirloom

My Papa is a quiet, strong man. He loves fishing, tying flies, watching football, and the color orange. He's the one who taught me how to whistle (we started with the Andy Griffith theme, of course), and build a birdhouse.

My Gram is a kind, fiery woman. She loves country style, gardening, visiting with just about anyone, and any color but orange. She's the lady who taught me how to count back change, play a scale on the piano, and who started (and has unfailingly enabled) my skeleton key collecting.

Of course, I had to make them a quilt. With orange. When I saw Joel Dewberry's new Heirloom line with the Citrine palette, I knew what I had to do.

Quilt pattern modestly borrowed from Faith at Fresh Lemons

Stats:
6 selected prints from Joel Dewberry's Heirloom in Citrine cut into 6.5" blocks
The sashing and binding is Kona stone
The backing is some camel-colored flannel I bought from Joann's on sale.
It's approximately 54 x 64 inches in size.


Merry Christmas Gram and Papa!!!

Baby H's Quilt

Again, I apologize for the crappy cellphone pictures. It was like 11 at night, and I forgot to have my mom hold it up the next day for pictures.

Stats:
1 charm pack Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hooey
Sashing and backing is Kona Medium Gray
Binding is Sherbet Pips
Pattern is a modified Charm Squares baby quilt by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson!

Baby H - I hope it's ok I didn't make you a Christmas themed quilt, even though you are going to be a Christmastime baby. I figured you'd get enough of that in your life. I can't wait to meet you little girl. See you soon.

Bean's Quilt

I finished Bean's quilt yesterday. Please forgive the poor picture, it was taken with my phone on a cloudy, pre-hurricane-y day.

Stats:
2 charm packs Dream On by Urban Chiks
Binding is from Carolyn Gavin's Spring Street
Backing is a solid piece of Robert Kaufman flannel in Celery (I *think*)

Bean- I can't wait to meet you little girl. I hope you have your daddy's eyes. I'm a sucker for green eyes.

Mom's Christmas Quilt

This is (almost) the quilt that started it all. The first quilt I ever finished was a baby quilt for my nephew Logan. Plans for that one started as soon as I found out my step-sister was pregnant (September 08). I borrowed a machine, went out and bought a cute, gender-neutral kit, and made it. Didn't catch a picture before I sent it off, but I'll try to get one later. After I finished it, I had a bit of extra fabric.

And so, this quilt began. I ended up only using two fabrics leftover from Logan's quilt (a fairytale print that I have one scrap left of that I adore, and a green scroll-y print). The corners are leftover flannel from my favorite men's PJ pants that ended up ripping beyond repair. I washed the pants, then cut up the legs (which were HUGE) and saved the fabric. It's soooo super soft, too. All of the other fabrics I either bought or already had lying around. All this quilt takes is fat quarters, which I bought at Joann's on sale, so it really didn't end up costing very much at all. The colors aren't exactly unified or matching, but I liked the idea of using fabrics that I really loved, regardless of whether or not they "matched." The back (and the binding) is this beautiful brown print that goes well with our living room. Since the front is so busy, I wanted the back to be one fabric. Also, I was sick of sewing at that point. Everything is hand done. Hand pieced, hand quilted, hand bound. My fingertips hated me for weeks. The worst part was the binding. Figuring it would take me about a day to do, I started it the week of Christmas. 4-5 hours later, one edge was finished. Now, a day on Christmas break for me was about 10-11 hours, only 5 or 6 of which my mother wouldn't be home (yes, I slept in as late as I could; I'm in college, it's what we do). The clock was against me. After 2 nights of staying up until 3am to finish just one edge, I got it done.

I started this quilt in Winter 08, and finished it on December 23rd, 2009. It was just in time to give my mother for Christmas. She knew what the top looked like, but I managed to keep her from seeing it quilted and bound until Christmas morning (a great feat, let me tell you). I consider this my first quilt, since I did EVERYTHING on it (as opposed to the kit, which already have the fabrics picked out, the pattern laid out, and the proper cuts all ready). And I know she loves it, which makes those tedious hours all worth while.