Just a little Christmas in July...

So I never really got around to posting all the stuff I made for my shop last year.  I had a super busy and successful Holiday selling season in 2017.  Now that I'm starting to prep for Christmas 2018, I thought I might share a little bit of what I made last year and what my plans are for this year. 

Last year was most definitely the year of the Stockings for me, with Fabric Photo Books coming up as close second.  I'm hoping to have another successful stocking year this year, but it's really hard for me to predict what will take off and what won't!

Last year I made:
45 stockings (19 of which were custom made to match a customer's specific size/fabric request).  Most of these were ordered with blank cuffs, for customers to personalize themselves.  However, I did cross-stitch 4 stockings and appliqued a set of 12.  Whew!

I figured out that the trick to selling stockings last year was to offer them with blank cuffs for customers to add the cross-stitching themselves.  It turns out there aren't a lot of sellers online offering something like that!  I the past, I tried to sell my stockings WITH the custom cross-stitching, but as soon as I took that part out (and slashed the price to account for it), they sold like hot cakes.  Nobody wants to spend an extra $25 on something they could do themselves for a couple bucks.  ;P 

I spent a few months in the summer searching out sales on Christmas fabric and turning those into stockings so that they were mostly all ready to go by October.  Of course, these drew in quite a few custom orders, which were fun.  This year I've been collecting more Christmas fabrics and I probably have enough for... more stockings than I care to admit at the moment.  Lets just say that it's in the triple digits.  ;)  I want my customers to have options, and I'm pretty confident that I have a wide array of choices this year...

I also made:
8 fabric photo books (it felt like a lot more because these are so individualized and they were all ordered within a couple weeks of each other), plus a couple quiet books/rummy mats. 

I even made a bunch of bibs in preparation for the Holiday rush, but they didn't really sell.  I think I'm done making bibs for Etsy, but I might make a few more for a very small local trade show I want to do in September...

Now I'm off to see if I can make a dent in my newly(ish) acquired stack of Christmas fabrics!  Eeee!  I LOVE Christmas fabric!!!

Puff Quilts: Jurassic Jamboree, Butterfly Blooms, and Work Zone

I've got a few new puff quilts to share with you!  I love making this from my (extensive) stash of charm packs.  Puff quilts are the perfect charm pack buster.

This first puff quilt was made for my sister and her brand new baby boy back in November.  Fabric is Jurassic Jamboree by Abi Hall for Moda.

I loved the fun border fabric on this one!

More Jurassic Jamboree fabric for the back.  :)

These next two puff quilts were made for customers in my shop.  They each got to choose their fabric as well as the border/backing.  Both customers chose minky for the backing/border and these quilts are SOOOO soft and cuddly!  Like a giant super soft pillow.  They were seriously so luscious.  :)

This one was made using Butterfly Blooms fabric line from the Lily and Loom brand for Craftsy.

Mmm.  So soft and puffy.

This last one was made with the Work Zone fabric line by Lily and Loom for Craftsy.  Super cute for a tractor loving little boy!

These are so fun to make.  Now I just need to decide which of my charm packs to break open next...

Moda All-in-a-Row Quilt

Back in early 2016, Moda/Martingale introduced a new book called "Moda All-Stars: All in a Row," along with a fun quilt-along with AMAZING prizes. 

I kinda LOVE row quilts and definitely don't make them often enough. I was SUPER lucky to win a copy of the book AND some fabric!  The stars really aligned for this quilt to come together.  :)

It's made using Sherri and Chelsi's first fabric line, "Bright Sun," which I LOVE.  (I threw in a few greens from my stash for the grass and trees.)  I basically just made one row at a time from the book, picking from my favorites until I had enough for this little quilt. 

I knew this one would need a special finishing touch, so I did some custom quilting in each row.  Aren't those little shorts so cute?

I just love this fabric line.  :)

And these little birdies.  :)

For the back, I decided to use this piece of fabric my friend Abby gave me.  I mean, come on - it has little birds and flowers on it so it totally matches!

I thought the quilt needed just a touch more green, so I chose this pretty print (which matches the dresden flowers) for the binding.  :)

This quilt was SO much fun to make!  Now I want to make another row quilt. For now, this one is listed in my shop HERE.

Quilt stats:

Started: March 2016

Finished:  August 2017

Fabrics: "Bright Sun" by Sherri and Chelsi for Moda

Batting: Pellon 80/20 Cotton/Poly

Finished size: Approximately 44 x 46

Recipient: ???

Methods used: Piecing, FMQ

Binding: Machine to front, hand to back

Time to Make: About 22 hours

Donna's Twin Quilts

Last year, one of my customers on Etsy (check out her Carpenter Star Quilt HERE) contacted me and asked if I would make twin sized quilts for her two grandchildren.  Of course I was super excited to be getting a quilt request from a repeat customer!

We decided to make the same quilt pattern for each child using different fabrics.  This is a larger version of the Scooter Pattern by Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

We went with Grow by Me and My Sisters for the girl quilt,

And Mixed Bag by Studio M for the boy quilt.

I'm a real sucker for big tall stacks of freshly cut fabric.  :)

And Noah (my 2 year old) loves dump trucks.  I think this quilt would have been perfect for him, too.

Even though I called these the "twin quilts," the grandchildren they were made for are NOT twins - the quilts were made for twin sized bunk beds.  :)  Here is the boy version testing out one of our twin beds.  Donna likes her quilts large (like me!) and this one has plenty of excess for tucking.  ;)

These quilts were huge - I had to snap a photo of the quilting in progress.  YES!  It's totally possible to quilt a bed sized quilt on a home sewing machine!!!

Girl version on the bed.  :)

I took the rest of these photos on the lawn the day after I finished them, which just so happened to be the day we were leaving for vacation (and the day I shipped them out), so I didn't have a lot of time to wait for better lighting.  Ah well.

The border and binding for this quilt were from a different line that I though matched well.  And of course the binding was sewn down by hand.  Only the best for my favorites!

For the quilting on the girl version, I went with an overall flower/swirl design.  It took about 4.5 hours to quilt.

We decided to add in this little strip of fabric on the back of each quilt.  Both quilts were also backed in this neutral green solid, giving them a little bit more of a matchy feel.

The boy version got a straight line meander with a few arrows thrown in for fun.  It took about 3 hours to quilt.

This one got a fun stripe-y border and a colorful patchwork binding.

I love how they turned out!

Quilt stats:

Started: May 2017

Finished:  July 2017

Fabrics: Grow by Me and My Sister Designs, and Mixed Bag by Studio M

Batting: Pellon 100% Cotton

Finished size: Boy: Approximately 100" x 74"

Finished size: Girl: Approximately 99" x 72" 

Recipient: Donna's grandkids

Methods used: Piecing, FMQ

Binding: Machine to front, hand to back

Time to Make: About 25 hours EACH

A Few Shop Highlights: Quiet Books, Photo Books, and a Quilt!

As I mentioned before, I've been busy making things for the shop lately.  I'd like to share some of the things I've been working on.

First up, I've made a few fabric photo books, each with something new to it.

This book is the first one I've made with an odd number of page spreads.  Because of the way they are put together, I made this one with a binding along the edge.  Yeah, I stitched that baby through 12 layers of fabric.  Any more than that and my machine might have exploded.  

This book was made completely from organic fabrics.  I was more limited in my fabric selections for the inside (I so wish I could show you - but out of respect for my customers, I won't).  I do wish I had used something else for the letters, though.  And don't you love the little family of owls?

This book was made for a family who is adopting a little girl from China.  They had me make this book to send to her in the orphanage while they wait to go pick her up.  How cool is that?  Each page has words in English and in Mandarin. 

Next up is this set of bibs. I tend to make bibs for my shop, but then pull them out because they are difficult to sell (the Etsy market is very over-saturated with bibs right now), and they make the BEST baby shower gifts - particularly since I always seem to have a few on hand.  Why did it take me this long to think of adding rick rack to my bibs???

I was super excited when a customer contacted me on Etsy and asked if I would finish this quilt for her. She had the top finished, just needed it quilted and bound.

Oh, and it was Queen/King sized.  Nothing I can't handle though, right?  ;)

I just did an overall stipple to keep things nice and simple.

I pulled this binding from my stash and it seemed to fit perfectly with the colors and prints in the quilt.  Woot!

Next up, quiet books.
I bought some new buttons and couldn't wait to use them in one of my color books.  Can you spot them?  I'll give you a hint - the new ones are a car, a giraffe, and an elephant. )

I also made a TON of these baby quiet books for Easter/Birthday orders.  Here are two books for Eliza and Kendall all ready to sew into books.

I also got to make these cute books for twins Liam and Quinn.  I don't get to make these bigger books very often (they are a little more expensive), so that was fun.

And lastly - some new Rummy mats.  I actually had two different customer requests last month.

For this mat, my customer wanted something extra long, with beige backgrounds and this touch of ADPi blue.  This Rummy mat is big - 24" by 48".  It was fun to make something a little different.

And lastly, this customer requested some extra personalization in the center of his mat.  It's inspired me to add a personalization option to my listings - soon.  :)

Whew!  What's next?