Name Quilt 2 Finish

 Hi! Remember I made a Jonah Name Quilt a few weeks ago? Well, my daughter's bestie from high school asked me if I could make one for her new nephew, Lhiam. She saw my Jonah Quilt on my Instagram, how could I say no? She asked for light orange, light yellow, light green, and I suggested aqua/light blue. Pastels aren't really my thing, so I bought a few quarter yards, but I did find enough in my stash to pull it together.

 I used aqua minky on the back, it is smooth and so soft!

Although, the Name Quilt pattern can be found in Lori Holt's Spelling Bee book, I used the New Puppy block found in her Vintage Christmas book. I also made this quilt wider and longer than the pattern calls for. It measures 40 x 50 inches after washing.

This puppy is too cute!

Since I was off this week, I spent some time trying to reorganize my sewing room. I went through all my Bonnie & Camille fabrics. I have eight fat quarter bundles in a tub still in their ribbons, another tub has the yardage, and two smaller boxes have the scraps. I instructed my hubby if we ever have to evacuate our home, he should grab the tub of fat quarter bundles! He asked about by my sewing machine and I said to leave it--it is easily replaced, but not all those B&C fabrics are! As I was organizing the scraps, I decided to cut the fabrics for this Spools 2 Quilt. All of my spools will be scrappy with no repeats!

Here is that scrappy goodness! I ordered some B&C fabrics at a Black Friday sale and I am waiting to see if one of those fabrics will be better than a plain white background.

My daughter spent this week in Portugal! They visited both Porto and Lisbon.

She loved Portugal--it was inexpensive especially compared to Paris.

They had amazing food, rode around on motorized scooters,

and got an ocean fix with a boat ride. One more trip is scheduled to Ireland before finals and her return to the US on December 14.

I return to work tomorrow for four weeks before Winter Break. We had a little snow yesterday, so it is really feeling like winter here. I have a couple pork tenderloins in the crockpot to help with meals this week. Cook once eat twice right?

I finally get to reveal my Fat Eighth Fruitcake Quilt on Wednesday for the Fat Quarter Shop--it is a great free pattern, so be sure to pop over and see it!

Vintage Xmas Blocks 2

 Lucky me--I have the whole week off for Thanksgiving! I started it off right--my mom and I ventured up to one of our favorite fabrics stores, then Joann's, and one of our local quilt shops. I needed some pastels for a baby quilt I need to make this week. We had a Thai food lunch from our delicious local food truck. Then I spent the afternoon, putting together some more Vintage Christmas blocks. I had needed the skin tone for the dolly and we did not find it until our last stop. I am thinking I need to make the Snow Globe Pillow in the book, but which block to feature?

 Here is the Ginger Bread House Block and the Glimmer Block. These blocks are fun to dig into my scrap bins and find the fabrics for them.

My long arm quilter is going to try to quilt my Farm Girl Vintage Quilt this week and some other quilts that are his mom's. She has macular degeneration and can no longer see to bind her quilts, so we trade--he quilts for me and I bind her quilts. He told me to get another quilt or two ready for long arming, so I have been working on prepping some backings today.

I am embroidering the label on my Jumping Jacks Quilt--I plan on gifting this to my daughter when she returns from London next month, so I need to get this one in the queue.

I have some embroidery details to add to this top and I got its backing all together today. I am snuggled up in my jammies with football on and Slow Sunday Stitching:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/11/slow-sunday-stitching_18.html

Last weekend, my daughter jetted to Copenhagen. She stayed with her friend, Katie, who is doing her semester abroad there. Katie visited her in London last month--it is nice that they can see each other and not have to pay for accommodations!

She enjoyed Copenhagen and was very impressed with their transit system and museums.

This weekend, she and Katie met in Paris. She fell in love with Paris and can't wait to visit again! They stayed at an Airbnb in the heart of Paris and splurged on a really good meal along with their sight seeing.

Since they are technically EU students, they get into most museums for free including the Louvre. She said she was drinking the best hot chocolate she has ever had in this picture and loved some incredible madeleines.

 She called this morning and had already left Paris and arrived in Porto, Portugal. Her friend who is studying in Vienna is meeting her there. They will be there a few days before taking a train to Lisbon. This is our third Thanksgiving in a row with her not coming home and seeing the world instead...It is a little bittersweet!

Vintage Christmas Blocks 1

 Greetings! I got started on the Vintage Christmas blocks. I am making the quilt on the cover, but with turquoise/aqua in lieu of the mint green. There are several projects in the book I plan on making.

 I am also using fabrics from my scrap bins instead of the Lori Holt fabrics in the kits and book.

 My version will be scrappier and probably brighter.

 These are six inch blocks with some tiny pieces. This is going to be a fun BOM for next year!

Last weekend, my daughter and her friends visited Barcelona--they managed to spend some time at the beach where it was in the 70's.

Her bestie on the trip is a guy. Nothing has changed as her best friend in kinder and first grade was a boy too--less drama! This weekend, she went to Copenhagen to check it out and visit her friend who is there for this semester. She has a few more trips scheduled in the next month--Paris, Portugal, and Ireland before she comes back to Colorado mid-December! 

Name Quilt Finish

Last Sunday, I was all done with my Ghosts Quilt and trying not to start anything big as I was awaiting the arrival of my Vintage Christmas by Lori Holt book. I remembered that my friend Mandy had just announced the birth of her first grandson, Jonah. Of course, I had no boy quilts already made in my stash! Time to come up with something quick. 

I made the letter blocks and the car block and cut out all the patchwork squares--all with some happy bright fabrics from my stash. The pattern for the Name Quilt can be found in Spelling Bee also by Lori Holt. I made mine one row wider to make it nearly square. I like bigger baby quilts that you can use to spread out on the floor for tummy time.

Yesterday, I pieced everything together and ran down to town to get a backing. I have decided that I prefer to back my baby quilts with luxuriously soft minky and Joann's had their minky 60% off. I selected the Nautical Royal Blue (there weren't many colors to choose from, but I loved this one!) and got 1.25 yards for $8.09 including tax. 

I pinned it this morning and quilted it grid style with my Pfaff's large wavy stitch. I decided to machine bind it to keep the wavy stitch pattern consistent. It just came out of the dryer and will be delivered to Grandma tomorrow afternoon.

On my way to Joann's, I stopped by my LQS to see if the Vintage Christmas book had arrived. It had, so now I can get started making my blocks for my sample. I am working with my LQS to offer this as a BOM for 2019. There are so many possibilities with this book!

Although the mint fabric Lori used is super retro 1950's, I prefer aqua/turquoise and some bling/silver/chrome. I grabbed these fabrics from the quilt shop. I want to show the BOM participants that you don't have to use the exact fabrics Lori used. I have always made her patterns using my own stash of fabrics and love how scrappy and bright my versions are.

 My daughter spent the last week traveling with her study group. They went to Brussels; she loved the beer, chocolate, and waffles there!

 Next, they flew over to Berlin.

 She loved Berlin and raved about all the history 

and artwork. Eight of the group left Berlin and flew to Barcelona for this weekend, she didn't send any photos of that yet, but she raved about the food there. She is flying back to London now and then will visit a friend in Copenhagen next weekend. I will just be slaving away in my classroom this week and enjoying not going to work in the dark!

October Finishes

 I finished my Little Ghosties this week! This was definitely my DrEAMi! (Drop Everything and Make It) for the month of October. I cut, pieced, quilted, and bound it all within the month. Check out what projects tempted everyone this month here:

https://www.mmmquilts.com/2018/10/dreami-21.html

This was so much fun to make and even better because most of it was from my stash. I washed it this morning and it now measures 57 x 58 inches. I put a hanger on the back and I am not sure if it will be hung up or used for a couch quilt...

I made an extra ghost block and used it on the back for the label.

 This is my Sugar Stars Quilt that I struggled with quilting a couple of weeks ago. It looks better after washing it to hide my awful machine quilting. It measures 59 x 78 inches after washing.

I think all the prints are from a Bonnie & Camille Marmalade layer cake, but I could have added some additional prints in.

The backing is this pink with red geometric design. I added in a strip of Bonnie & Camille to make it long enough.

Well, I was totally disappointed this week when the Fat Quarter Shop's Fat Eighth Fruitcake reveal was postponed! I had made my deadline and absolutely love the quilt I made, but the fabric the pattern is promoting was delayed. I have no idea when I will get to share it, but it was an October finish for sure!

 I traveled for work last weekend and the beginning of this week, so the only quilting that I got to work on was hand binding, but I did hit Trader Joes, Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret, and Old Navy--love to shop when I get to the big city! My friend Rachel has started experimenting with her long arm. We are trading my hand binding skills for her long arm quilting.

She made this small baby quilt, so I attached the binding this morning and will bind it this evening for some Slow Sunday Stitching:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/10/slow-sunday-stitching_28.html

I think these cheerful flowers are precious!

My daughter has been in London for most of the month of October--as part of their London studies, they were required to complete an internship. It gave her several weekends to spend exploring London.

Isn't her vintage Burberry trench coat fabulous? She found it in one of our local antique stores when she was home for her short summer vacation--it was a great buy for $150 (new ones are $2000)! They left London today for a few days in Belgium and then they will move onto Berlin--these two cities are part of her study group. Then, she organized for a bunch of them to go to Barcelona for next weekend. #semesterofalifetime

Project Progress

 Look what is on my pinning tables this morning--the cute little ghosties. I am going to quilt it vertically with my wavy stitch about an inch apart. 

 I picked up the gray background bats fabric at Joann's, but there was not quite enough of it--so I put a strip of black solid to make it work and put the label over the off center strip. I think it will look cute and I hope to get some Slow Sunday Stitching in by binding it.

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2018/10/slow-sunday-stitching_14.html

My mom and I wanted to test out her Handiquilter since she had it rebuilt. The stitch length is better, but still not consistent. I do not enjoy long arming to start with and then having technical difficulties makes it worse than having dental work.  I think I will do my machine quilting either on my Pfaff or by check from now on. This is my Sugar Stars Quilt--the pattern in a Lori Holt and the fabrics are Bonnie and Camille Marmalade--my two favorites combined.

I pieced this one back in 2015, so I am pleased to have this UFO approaching the finished category even if the quilting is not perfect. I already attached the binding and will work on that this week after my ghosts.

My Fat Quarter Fat Eighth Quilt is all done and will be revealed on here and Instagram on Tuesday, 10/23. Stay tuned, it is a gorgeous quilt and quick, simple pattern!