First Finish of 2016 + Some Exciting News

For our family, 2016 is going to be an exciting year. We found out shortly after Thanksgiving last year that I was expecting, and just this week we went in for an ultrasound and found out that our baby is a BOY! Due in early August. After 2 girls close together, followed by a 6 year gap, it's going to be fun to have a baby in our home again and we are thrilled to find out that it's a boy. So that means I finally get the excuse to use up all of the darling blue, nautical fabric I've been hoarding for years! :)
My first trimester was filled with lots of nausea and not much desire to sew, so I haven't had too much to show over here on the ole blog, but I just finished my first make of 2016. It's just a small mini quilt for a swap that I was a part of, but it felt good to turn on my sewing machine and put the petal to the metal after weeks spent lying on the couch feeling blah. ;) My second trimesters are always much easier for me, so I am doing my best to take advantage of the surge of energy I've been having... And because it would be just too simple to sew one large quilt at time, I've jumped in and am in the middle of sewing 2 queen sized and 1 king sized quilt at once. My sewing room is kinda a disaster with three projects going on at once, but its fun. :)

Back to my mini quilt... This was such a fun little project to make. I love foundation paper piecing. I feel like it is the only way that I will take on intricate quit blocks because I can be so precise doing it that way. This cute little envelope block can be found in darling book Patchwork Please by Ayumi Takahashi. It may be the only book that I have that I actually like every single pattern included in the book, so I always feel totally justified in recommending it to a friend. Ayumi is just one of the most kind, and talented people that I know. Everything that she comes up with, from fabric to pattern to pretty much anything she touches is seriously GOLD in my eyes. (ok... I'll quit gushing now. ha ha)

This pattern is perfect for fussy cutting small pieces of fabric into the insides of the envelopes. I used cute bits of fabric by Tasha Noel from her Vintage Market and The Simple Life lines, and then bits of Bonnie + Camille and a handful of other fabrics I had in my stash for the envelopes. Firefly in Whisper from Bonnie Christine's Hello Bear line was the perfect low volume background. 

Well I hope that y'all are having a great day. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read my exciting news. :)
Happy Sewing!
xoxo, Ashley

Happy Mail Mini Quilt Swap

One of my very favorite things to make and receive are mini quilts. I love them because they are the perfect way to try out a block or two of a quilt you've been wanting to make, or the perfect size to design something intricate that you may not want or have the time to do in a full size quilt.

I joined a couple mini quilt swaps this year and have had such a fun time with them that I decided to host my own. I wanted it to be small, just a handful of friends. I named it the Happy Mail Mini Quilt Swap, because who doesn’t love a bit of happy mail?!

It has been so much fun! Big swaps are fun too of course, but this one was extra fun because I knew everyone involved. 

Once the partners were divvied up, I found out that the friend I would be creating a mini for was Ayumi of Pink Penguin. Talk about intimidating! She is incredible! She just came out with her very own fabric line! (Lighthearted Fabric) Ayumi is one of the very first "sewing bloggers" that I started following when I started blogging/sewing. She is sooo talented, so to say I was nervous to create something for her, is an understatement! 

As I was planning the mini I wanted to create, I remembered a picture that I came across 2 years ago on Pinterest. At the time, the picture that I had pinned didn't have a link. So with the help of friends on IG, I discovered that it was a picture from the Japanese magazine Couturier. I don't speak Japanese, so I am not sure what is said about the quilt, but I decided to make something that was inspired by this image. 

Image Source 

I started by making 5 inch quilt blocks. (I made roughly 16 but only 12 made the cut.)  After each block was made, I took the block, batting, and 5 inch square of backing fabric and put them right sides together and then stitched around the entire block leaving a 3 inch opening to turn the block right side out. Then I whip stitched the opening closed (I know I should have done a ladder stitch, but for some reason I just can't get the hang of it.) Then I hand quilted each block with 12 wt white aurifil thread. 

Essentially I had 12 coasters when I was all done. 

I arranged them in the order I wanted and then it was time to stitch them together. I took my blocks, starting with 2, and put them right sides together and whip stitched the edge. If you have done EPP, you will probably know what I am talking about. (the trick was just catching the front quilt block fabric- I'll explain later.) Once the two were connected, I opened up the blocks and added the next one on. I created 3 rows of 4. Once the rows were assembled, I put the rows right sides together and did the same thing all along the edges to connect them- again, just catching the front fabric with my needle and taking small, tight whip stitches. Once the rows were all sewn together, I laid the quilt face down on a table and carefully whip stitched the back of the blocks together.  

This probably doesn't make a lot of sense as you are reading it, but the reason I did it this way was because just like in EPP, you don't want your stitches to be visible from the front when you are looking at it. So with piecing the blocks together just like EPP, the stitches aren't visible- the only difference is the back wouldn't be "hidden" with a quilt back, so that is why the whip stitches were necessary on the back, they kinda "closed up" the seams and hid my first whip stitches in between the blocks. 

In the end, this quilt is pretty much all hand pieced, with the exception of using my machine to sew around the edges of the blocks as mentioned before. 

I had so much fun creating the blocks. Most of them were hand appliqued, but all of them were of my own design. If I wanted to create something- like this pink penguin (a nod to Ayumi's blog), I just found a picture online to eyeball and drew out my pieces by hand to create my tiny patchwork. The blocks aren't perfect by any means, but overall I love the effect of the quilt. 

I hope my directions make sense! Be sure to let me know if you have any questions and I will be sure to answer them! 

Hope y'all have a wonderful week! 

Happy Sewing!

xoxo, Ashley

Mini Quilt | Kaffe Fassett Pickle Dish

Do you ever get an idea in your head, and even though you have a million other things you should/need to be doing instead, you just can't seem to shake it? THAT was totally me for the last couple weeks! I have been wanting to make a pickle dish quilt ever since I saw one in my local quilt shop {Sew to Speak} by the amazing Mary Dugan of Molly Flanders. 

My photos are courtesy of my phone and instagram... sorry they aren't the greatest! 

 Then my friend Rachel started making one. She would bring it to work on when we would get together and I fell in love with the idea of making one myself! Obviously I couldn't add another WIP {work in progress} to my growing pile, so I decided to make one block and turn it into a mini. I had package to send Rach that I had been putting together for her and figured that a pickle dish mini was the perfect thing to finish off the package. 

 There are 3 patterns for a pickle dish quilt that I am aware of. There is a fabulous {and free} tutorial with step by step pictures and templates by Aneela Hoey. Then there is one called Gypsy Kisses by Sarah Fielke in the Material Obsession 2 book. And the last one is by Kaffe Fassett in the Quilt Romance book.  

The Sarah Fielke and Kaffe Fassett pickle dish look very similar to my eye. I am sure if you had one of each quilt side by side, you would see that there are definitely differences in them, as they are assembled using different techniques, but at a glance they look the similar.

The one that I have seen by Mary, and that my friend Rachel is making is the Sarah Fielke Gypsy Kisses version. I haven't read the pattern, but I am pretty sure it involves hand applique and machine piecing. I have never done applique before so that kinda scared me! So I did a little research and found that the Kaffe Fassett one is all machine pieced. That seemed a little safer for me to try, but I have to admit- the curved piecing was kinda freaking me out! I have never sewed with curves when it comes to patchwork! So I tried to muster up the confidence needed and ordered the Kaffe Fassett book.

 I started working as soon as the book arrived. The pattern is great and very straight forward. The only changes that I made to it was I didn't add the final piece to the outside of the block to make it "square". I liked it curved around the edges since it is just a mini quilt. I also made my own center template by taping 4 of the "template B" pieces together to create one center piece of fabric instead of 4 separate pieces. 

(I cut the seam allowance off of the 2 straight edges, but left the seam allowance on the curved edge and then taped them to create one template.)

I was super excited to cut into my Liberty Bloomsbury Gardens stash and I knew they would pair perfectly with some of my Cotton + Steel and Anna Maria Horner stash. I used Kona Charcoal as the background, backing, and binding of the quilt. Then I hand quilted it with Valdani pearl cotton. I pin basted the layers together for quilting but I didn't use a hoop to stretch it out as I quilted it. I just wanted it to have a loose, soft, puckery feel to it and I really loved the result! 

(I definitely wouldn't use this method for a whole quilt, but since it's a mini and is just hanging on the wall, I figured it was ok.)

Now that I have made one block, I feel like I can go on with my other WIP's and I don't have a pickle dish quilt in the back of my mind....ok... ok... who am I kidding?! Now I want to make another pickle dish more than ever! 

I definitely need to make a mini for myself to hang on my mini wall and I'm totally adding a full pickle dish to my bucket list for sure!! I'm afraid I've awakened a pickle dish monster inside me! ha ha ;)

I hope y'all have a wonderful week!

Happy Sewing!

xoxo, Ashley

Briar Rose Baby Quilt with KNIT Backing + Matching Doll Quilt for Big Sis

One of the things I love most about working with fabric is all of the endless colors, patterns, and possibilities. Since I only started sewing a couple years ago I am definitely new to the designer fabric world. There have been a few times that I have come across fabric lines that were printed and sold a few year ago before I even knew they existed that I have been so bummed I missed out on! (Mainly the Good Folks line by AMH- but... luckily I have gotten my hands 9 of the prints from that collection that were still lying around a quilt shop off the beaten path).

One of the fabric designers that I have fallen in love with is Heather Ross... I love all of her past fabric lines that are oh so cute and sadly out of print and not available to me now. So when I saw she had a new line coming out, and printed on quilting cottons no less, I pre-ordered a fat quarter bundle and felt so happy to finally be in on the Heather Ross action! 

As you can see... this line is so bright and happy! I love it. The darling strawberries are my favorite! (These knit leggings I made my daughter are so darling that I may or may not have contemplated making some for myself... ;)

When I cut into my bundle of Briar Rose to make a baby quilt for my friends baby on the way, I was tossing up ideas for what I wanted to back the quilt with. I have mixed feelings on quilts for tiny babies. I really love blankets that will swaddle and snuggle my babies and quilts can be kinda stiff until you really work them in and soften them up a bit. (I have always used my girl's baby quilts as more of a play mat than a "blanket".)

While in the midst of contemplating quilt backing, this gorgeous Briar Rose knit showed up on my doorstep from The Fabric Fairy... Lightbulb moment! 

My very favorite baby blankets that I have used on both of my babies have been blankets made with knit fabric. So I thought... "I wonder if it would work to use this knit as backing for this baby quilt?" 

 IT WORKED! I am so happy with the result. The drape on the quilt is perfect. Not stiff at all and totally ready to swaddle a brand new baby! I did straight vertical lines about 3 1/2 inches apart to quilt it. It is very minimal, but since I was going for a "not stiff" quilt it worked great. It has such a great feel to it. 

I went totally overboard when basting my quilt and used TONS of pins to make sure that this knit wouldn't shift or bunch up while I quilted... It paid off! So if you do use knit as your backing be sure to pre wash your knit fabric, pin like crazy when basting, and use a walking foot while quilting to insure that you have a good experience like I did! :)

One thing that I have tried to do when gifting quilts to my friends, is make a matching quilt with the scraps for big sis or big brother to use for their doll or stuffed animal. My friend has a daughter that is becoming a big sis for the first time so I knew that a mini quilt for her doll would be perfect. Now she can take care of "her baby" just like mommy takes care of the new baby.

It turned into a wonky quilt unintentionally... I forgot to use my walking foot when I started quilting it and once I realized my mistake- it was too late to do anything about the shifting without picking out all of the stitches I had done... But I figure our little friend probably wouldn't mind a little wonkiness! ;)

I backed it in the PERFECT quilt backing for a little princess... Fair Maidens...The colors matched perfectly and I love how the frogs in briar rose mixed with the princesses kissing the frogs on the back made for a "Princess and the Frog" dolly quilt. 

Perfect baby gift for mommy and big sis!

Happy Sewing! xoxo, Ashley

DIY Dolly Towel Tutorial

Last weekend while we were visiting family in Kansas, we were able to take our girls to the American Girl store.... They have been a couple times and they LOVE it! It is was fun to watch them look at everything and try out all the fun accessories with their babies. 

My oldest had been saving her birthday money for our trip so she could buy something new for her baby. Once we got there, she was torn between a new outfit and a towel. She ended up buying the new outfit but I could tell that she was still thinking about that towel for the rest of the day. Once we got home from our trip, I decided it would be fun to make a towel for her baby.

It was so easy and quick... I made two towels for about $6. Pretty great deal since it would have cost me over $20 to buy at the store!

Supplies:

(you can actually make 2 towels with the supplies listed below... If you make two towels be sure to measure twice and cut once because you will need almost all of the fabric I listed. If you prefer to only make one towel you can just cut one of each piece instead of two like I am instructing)

1/2 yard terry cloth (I got mine at Joann- located in the baby section near the minky fabrics)

1 package double folded bias tape

(I made my own bias tape- I used a fat quarter per towel- I am not sure how much binding comes in the prepackaged binding so you may need 2 packs if you are making two towels-)

Step 1: Cut two pieces that are 18x18. These will be the main part of each towel.

Step 2: Cut one 9x9 square. Then cut it in half diagonally to create  triangles. These will be the hood for each towel. 

Step 3: Place one triangle on one of the corners of one large square. Be sure the nap of the terrycloth is going in the same direction on each piece. I used a plate as a template to round the edges of my towel, but if you prefer you can leave them straight. (if you are making two towels repeat this step for the second towel)

Step 4: Bias binding... If you are using a pre-made bias binding then you are all set- if you are making your own binding you will make the bias tape at this point. (I am not going to do a step by step on how to do this, but if you need one, Dana at MADE has a great tutorial on how to make bias tape. If you rounded the corners on your towel you will need to make your binding on the bias for stretching around the curves but if you are leaving your corners square you don't have to make your binding on the bias.)

I wanted a really tiny binding so I cut my strips of fabric on the bias to be 1 1/2 start so once I folded them (double fold) they were pretty tiny (just under 1/2 inch). You can use whatever size you would like, but I think the weight of the tiny bias worked well with the thin terrycloth. I used a fat quarter so I had to piece a lot of strips to get the length I needed... I made about 90 inches of bias but didn't use quite that much per towel.

Step 5: Attach the bias binding. (I am not going to do a step by step on how to attach the binding, but here is another great tutorial by Dana at MADE on how to sew on binding. I sew my tape on the "proper way" like she explains and it looks really nice.)

To start, sew your binding to the bottom edge of the triangle. 

Step 6: Once your binding is sewn to the hood of the towel (triangle) place the triangle back on the main part of the towel and pin in place. I basted the hood to the towel so that it stayed in place when I attached the rest of the binding but that step is optional.

Step 7: Apply the rest of the binding to the outside of the towel.

That's it! You are done!! Unless of course you are making two towels- then repeat the steps for the second towel. 

I hope your little one enjoys this new towel as much as my gals do! 

Darling Doll Quilt Tutorial

My very favorite thing about sewing, is being able to make things for my two daughters. 

I love when they come to me with something that they want me to make for them. The look on their face when I am all finished and hand it to them is priceless.

Lately I have been making a lot of dolly quilts. They are so fun and easy to make and as opposed to regular sized quilts, they only take about a day to make depending on how labor intensive you design it.

For this dolly quilt, I used some of the leftover fabric that I had from my Tied with a Bow Car Seat Canopy- which was the Fly a Kite fabric by Riley Blake.

I loved this cathedral window print and thought it would be a lot of fun to hand stitch since the pattern was pretty much already there for me to follow.

-Note to self/you guys: This took a lot longer that I had anticipated! Like a full week of stitching each night once the girls went to bed. It doesn't look like it would take that lone until you get started... ha ha

But to be honest, I really love the way it turned out! The other day my little gal spilled water all over it so I had to throw it in the dryer and when I took it out it was even cuter than before since it got that "crinkled old quilt" look from being in the dryer. LOVE IT!

You totally don't need to hand stitch your quilt like I did- you could machine quilt it in any way you wanted and it would take minutes!

 I find that for my girls a fat quarter (18x22 inches) sized quilt is just about perfect for their little hands and arms to maneuver and wrap their babies in. But you could easily make this any size you would like.

Ok... so here is how I made it.

(Keep in mind that for this quilt I didn't really leave any over hang of batting, or backing fabric. Since it is so small there really wasn't any shifting when I was quilting. But if you like to play it by the rules- add a few inches on each side of the backing and batting so that you have a little leeway.)

Supplies:

This is the perfect quilt to use scraps from your stash, but if you want to buy your fabric- here is the yardage I used-

1 fat quarter for the back of the quilt

1 fat quarter for the front of the quilt

5x44 inches of fabric for the binding 

2 strips of fabric that are 3x20 inches

Optional:

Lace trim- I used 1 1/2 inch lace- two pieces that are 20 inches long each.

batting- you can use it or not. I like it both ways. It is a little stiffer if you use the batting, but for this dolly quilt I wanted to use it since I was hand stitching everything.

Step 1: Cut your fabric. You will leave the fat quarter for the back as it is. Take the fat quarter for the front and trim it to be 12x20 inches. Cut two strips of fabric that are 3x20 inches each. And then cut your binding- you will need two strips that are 2 1/2 by 44 inches.

Cut your lace (if you are using it). You will need two pieces that are 20 inches long each.

Step 2: Now it is time to sew. Take your main piece for the front and line up each piece of lace along the 20 inch side on each side and then lay the 3x20 inch piece of fabric on top of that for each side right sides together with the main fabric. (If you aren't using the lace then just put the two pieces together without the lace)

Pin each side so that the lace is sandwiched between both layers on each sides.

Step 3: Sew along each side. I used a 1/2 inch seam just to make sure the lace was hooked in there good. Once it is sewn, press your seams toward the outside of the quilt.

Step 4: Top stitch as close to the seam as possible to give it a finished look and extra durability. (I set my needle all the way to one side and sewed as close as I could to the seam.

That is it for the quilt top. Easy right??

Now for the quilting. Prepare your "quilt sandwich". Start by ironing your backing. Lay it on the ground so the wrong side is facing up. Either pin it into the carpet with t-pins or tape it to a hard surface. Lay your batting on top of that if you are using batting.

Lay your quilt top on top of the batting and backing and pin it in place every several inches- I used curved safety pins. This will hold it in place while you quilt it. 

Now you can quilt it however you would like. Like I said- I chose to hand quilt mine pretty intricately, but there are multiple ways you could quilt yours.

Once your are all done quilting, trim off the excess backing and binding. Next you will sew on your binding. If you need a tutorial of how to prepare your binding here are a couple- here is one that is all done by machine and another that is part done by machine and part done by hand. 

I prefer to sew the binding to the front of the quilt with my machine and then hand stitch it to the back of the quilt. It takes a little longer, but I think it looks a lot nicer- plus my very favorite part of the whole quilt process is hand stitching the binding to the back of the quilt. I know- I am a total weirdo! ha ha

That is it. Easy right?? Bet your little lady will be so happy once that quilt is tightly wrapped around her baby doll!