Ticker Tape Quilt

I love finding new ideas to use my scraps, and I really like this idea from Crazy Mom Quilts!  It's something that you can prepare and then just add to as you get more scraps.  And the best part ... you piece and quilt at the same time!  Go {here} for a tutorial.

I've also seen her do one that is more of a twin size quilt ... a lot of work, but so cute!

Memory Quilt {lesson learned}

Alright, today I did the second block for my memory quilt, but it didn't go as smoothly as the first. The difference; I used clothes with different types of fabrics. I knew that if I was sewing a knit fabric that I would need to use fusible interfacing, but the cotton ... or less stretchy ... stuff didn't need it ... or so I thought! I'm thinking that if I use the fusible interfacing on all types of fabric then it will work out a little better. That way there wont but such a difference in thickness. We'll see ... I'll let you know how it goes!!

So ... here they are. The first two blocks in my tedious {but fun} project. I wont have these two next to each other because every other block will have white for the outside border.

Memory Quilt {sneak peek}

Okay, well I finally started sewing together my memory quilt {and let me tell you ... this is a PROJECT! If the fabric is knit ... t-shirt material ... then I have to use fusible interfacing so they wont stretch too much.}. I'm excited how the first block turned out ... I'm only hoping I can pull this off!

I really have been struggling letting go of all of my girls' baby clothes ... kind of sad for me since we wont have any more kids. So I decided to keep them and cut them up for a quilt.

I took a "before" picture of most of the clothes I'm using.

Here is my first square. I'm going to do each block like this, only on every other block the outside border is going to be white. I'm going to try to coordinate each square, but as far as all of the blocks going together ... they wont.

Here are some of the clothes I used ...

{All of my girls wore this one. There are only a few things that they all wore, so I'm really trying to use those pieces!}

{This one I only used the end of one of the sleeves - so far - for the "pretty" tag}

The Poppy Doll

I have loved the Poppy Doll from Hop Skip Jump, and was so excited when she made her pattern available. {You can get yours here}. I got it a couple days ago, and made my first one today. I made it for my 18 month old, but my 8 year old has played with it all day. It was kind of a "whoever gets it first" battle all day!

I have been in the mood of refashioning things ... like turning my old shirts and my husbands dress shirts into dresses or skirts for my kids. I used an old bed skirt's middle for a crib skirt that I made {here}, so I used the actual skirt part of it for the skin of this doll. The pattern calls for a wool fleece, but I'm trying not to spend any money, so I used what I had.

I wish I could give more of a tutorial, but since she sells her pattern I didn't think it would be nice of me to do that. Sorry!! Go get the pattern!! It's fairly easy and it comes with patterns for a few pieces of clothing as well.

I used her pattern for a top and added a strip along the bottom to turn it into a dress.

I told her to put her new baby "night night", but I think she got confused and thought I told her to go night night on her new baby. She didn't move for a good 5 minutes. I thought she really would go to sleep ... no such luck! ;)

Ribbon Blanket & Block ... GIVEAWAY!!

I don't know if you've noticed but I love Moda Bake Shop; a quilting blog with TONS of "quilty" tutorials. Today I checked out her site and found this cute tutorial, and at the end it directs you to her other blog, Our Cozy Nest, where she is giving away all of the fabric, ribbons, and batting to complete this project, as well as some other bonuses!! Go check out Our Cozy Nest and enter for her giveaway ... here's hoping!!

Almost Done ...

Today I finally finished Charlise's crib set. I used a pattern out of Amy Butler's "Little Stitches", and I love it. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Now we'll just have to see how sturdy it is ... {crossing fingers}. 

I wanted it to match the quilt my mom made for her (which I forgot to take a picture of. This quilt is the one I made out of the scrap fabric left from my mom's quilt). I didn't find the exact fabric I wanted ... until I was all done (of course). I got a yard of it, though, and I plan on making a pillow or something out of it ... which is why I titled this post "almost done".

A view of one of the pockets.

Oh ... there's the quilt my mom made! Guess I did take a picture!

The pattern said to make the ties out of fabric, but I decided that ribbon would be cuter ... so that's what I did!

Now all I need to do is paint the crib black! ;)

Charly's Crib Quilt

My mom made my 13 month old, Charlise a twin size quilt, and I LOVE the fabric. There was quite a bit extra, so I decided to make her a crib size quilt using the same fabric so that I don't have to wait until she gets a "big girl bed" for her to use it. While I've made quite a few baby quilts in the past, this is my first attempt at machine quilting. I really like how it turned out. It's actually opened up a can of worms because now I want to make her a crib bumper and skirt to match ... both of which I've never made. I just hope I can do it without messing up. We shall see ...

The journey ...

Laying out the squares and beginning to piece it all.

The first look at a completed top.

I bought this purple-ish polka dot fabric a while ago because I liked it, and decided that since it was in the quilt I would use it as the back. Only thing ... it was about 5 inches too short. I had to go buy 1/3 of a yard more. I hate almost finishing something and having to stop because of lack of materials.

My friend, Lindsay, was nice enough to let me use her sewing machine to quilt it. I was just going to use a straight stitch and "stitch in the ditch", but I thought this wavy line was so cute ...

A look at the back after I was done quilting it.

Sewing on the binding. I have never used black in a baby quilt, but I really like it. 

After the binding was sewn on and before the hand stitching to complete it.

The long and tedious process of hand stitching all the way around the binding to finish it off.

And three days later I finished. I've never finished a quilt in three days! I'm proud of myself and happy that it actually lays flat ... this would be a first for me!

More of the finished product ...

and another one ...

And one more!