Blogger's Quilt Festival: Deck the Halls

Welcome, visitors from the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  And of course, welcome to all my regular readers!  You all are the best.  :)

It's finally time to share my finished "Deck the Halls" quilt!  Yay!  I had the top finished almost in time for Christmas last year, and now the whole thing is finished with plenty of time to be used all season long this year.  ;)  You all know how these things go, right?

So here is the story of this quilt.  Way back in November of last year, I won a gift card giveaway - one of the best kinds!  I decided it was high time to make something wholly for ME.  I had Christmas on the brain, so I ordered myself these adorable Christmas fabrics!  Everybody needs a Christmas quilt, right?  I thought so too.  I'd also had my eye on the Fat Quarter Shop's free "Deckade the Halls" quilt-along and on a whim decided to jump on board (check out the Flickr group HERE).  It was so much fun and I love how my quilt turned out!

Fabrics from left to right:  1-4 Kate Spain's "In from the Cold," 5-7 Josephine Kimberling's "Hip Holiday", 8-9 Nancy Halverson's "Ho Ho Ho."

And then something awesome happened.  My husband got assigned to go to a two day weekend workshop in Las Vegas and his boss agreed to let me come with him!  I don't know about you, but sometimes a break from real life (and kids, mostly kids - even though I love them to death) is JUST what we need.  So while the hubby spent his daytime hours at his workshop, I holed up in the hotel room with the laptop and the iPad and SEWED.  It was so awesome!  I got tons of stuff done.  :)

Anyway.  I managed to finish the entire quilt top by New Year's Eve.  And then I decided it was okay to table this quilt for awhile.  Well, a few weeks ago I pulled it out, made a back and quilted it.

For the back, I originally planned to use a flannel sheet I had picked up at a yard sale, but in the end I didn't love it enough to force myself to use it.  So I decided to piece together all of my leftovers from the quilt top (plus a larger cut I picked up after the top was finished).  With the help of some of my IG friends, I ended up arranging the randomly pieced blocks to looks like presents.  

 For the quilting, I first stitched in the ditch around every. single. block using a clear thread.  I wanted my blocks to pop and intended to do some tight free motion quilting in the background.  But when I asked the hubby for advice, I found out that he pretty much hates pebbles, swirls, stippling - anything that is not straight lines.  He insisted that I should quilt diagonal lines.  And even though it was WAY more work than simple FMQ would have been, I did.  I like that the crosshatching is nice and subtle, which is kind of what I was going for.

Here are a few close ups:

It felt a little weird photographing a Christmas quilt on the fall leaves, but you've got to admit that they make a gorgeous background, don't you?

The binding was also pieced together using two of the leftover fabrics.  Machine attached, hand finished.

I am entering this quilt into the Large Quilts category of Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Go check out the rest of the quilts here:

Quilt stats:

Started: November 2013

Finished: October 5, 2014

Fabrics:  Kate Spain's "In from the Cold,"  Josephine Kimberling's "Hip Holiday,"  Nancy Halverson's "Ho Ho Ho."  Background fabrics were yard sale finds/given to me by friends.

Batting:  Various scraps given to me by a friend and stitched together - I think they were Cotton/Poly 80/20

Finished size: 59" x 68" (3 inch shrinkage after washing)

Recipient:  ME!

Methods used:  Piecing, Straight Line Quilting (on my home machine)

Binding:  Machine stitched to front, hand stitched to back

All previous progress posts for this quilt can be found HERE.

Also, this was goal #1 on my Quarter 4 Finish Along list.  So, come January I'll be linking up here:

Finish-Along Quarter 4 Goals

It's time for the final Finish-Along Quarter of the year!  Yikes!

In the past, I have listed pretty much every possible project I have going in the hopes that at least a few of them will get finished.  This quarter is going to be different.  I have been turning down opportunities for extra projects for a while now because I have a whole bunch of projects with very specific deadlines already.  You know how it is with Christmas and all.  Plus, we are getting two new babies in the family this year, so I've got plenty to do!  This quarter I WILL finish everything on this list or BUST! 

Here we go:

1.  Deck the Halls Quilt

This one is actually essentially finished.  I put the last binding stitch on it yesterday while watching LDS General Conference.  Now I just need to give it a quick bath to wash away the marking lines I put on it, and take it out for a photo shoot!  Stay tuned for more on this one!

2.  Braden's Growth Chart

We're getting a new nephew in November!  We're so excited.  His Grandma ordered another Growth Chart from my Etsy shop and the Mom and Dad requested another BYU one to match his brother's.  It's about half way through quilting now.

3.  Braden's Stocking

I wanted to make the new baby something, but I know that he already has about a million quilts.  So, after consulting with the Mom-to-be, I decided to make him a Christmas stocking.  I found some red flannel houndstooth that matches his older brother's green flannel stocking perfectly. 

4 and 5.  Avonlea's Puff Quilt

Yay!  Not only are we getting a new nephew on one side of the family, but we're getting a new niece on the other!  We're really excited about all the new babies coming in the next few months.  This time mom requested a Puff quilt made from this Giggles fabric.  I think I might make another one while I'm at it to sell in the shop.  Because I love these things so much.  :)

6.  Jaxson's Cruiser Blvd Broken Herringbone Quilt

The boys will be turning 3 at the very beginning of December and we are planning on putting them in big boy beds then.  Wahoo!  We already have beds and mattresses (thanks to the help of their AWESOME grandparents).  The only thing left is new quilts for their new beds.  I've had these in progress (sort of) for quite awhile now (YIKES - I got this fabric LAST CHRISTMAS!), but finally made some headway on the first one.  Jaxson has claimed this one because it's green.  Luckily, Bronx loves blue so he'll get the other one.  :)  I just need to add borders to this one to make it bigger.  Broken Herringbone block tutorial found HERE.

7.  Bronx's Cruiser Blvd Jungle Path Quilt

Bronx's quilt is actually a big pile of cut strips right now, waiting to be pieced.  I'll be using THIS tutorial.

8.  Secret project for special family member

9.  More secret projects for a special family member

 

10.  Do. Good Stitches October Quilt

October is my month to receive Do.Good Stitches blocks from my group.  I'm asking for flying geese blocks in these colors.  I'm excited to try my hand at piecing together blocks of different sizes.  Hopefully I will have all of my blocks by November and can have my quilt completely finished before the quarter is over!

WHEW!  I better go get busy!
Linking up here:

WIPs and Stuff

It's been a little while since I've shared something quilty here, so I thought I would let you all know what I'm in the middle of.  Things have slowed down quite a bit around here now that the boys only nap a couple of times a week.  Urgh.  But I have been making things.  I've had a few Etsy orders, which is great - it just means less time for quilts.  :)

First of all, I've been making lots of progress on my Christmas quilt.  I pulled all the leftovers from the front and pieced them together into blocks.  From there I asked my Instagram friends for advice (by the way, I'm on IG now!  You can find me here:  tiffsewinsomethin).



On of them recommended that I sew them into presents.  Turns out that will fit perfectly with the front, so that's what I did!  I spray basted this quilt and I am a TOTAL convert - love spray basting.  The secret is to iron it to set the adhesive.  And you can even do that while your quilt is still tacked to the floor!



By the way - here is the top of the Christmas quilt.  Now I'm about half way through stitching in the ditch for every block.  I don't think I'm going to do any fancy quilting on this one.  I want it soft.

I also got an order for three custom made Rummy Royal/Tripoley mats and have been plugging away at those:

And then there are my bee blocks.  All of these were on time, I just haven't gotten around to posting about them yet here.

July's block was for Sandra.  She just finished her quilt and it is AMAZING!  Check it out HERE.


August was Brittney's month.  She's making an ABC quilt using the Spell it with Moda patterns.


And September's block is for Jaime.  She's making a pixelated quilt, so this block doesn't look like much right now, but her finished quilt is going to be phenomenal!

I also spent some time making these custom hot pads for my shop.  My sister-in-law's parents just bought a cabin (and it's GORGEOUS - we were lucky enough to visit last weekend) and she ordered some new hot pads to match the new decor. 

 You've seen those hot pads with the two pockets for your fingers, right?  Well - my SIL's mom wanted something with a strap instead.  Something that is easier to slip your hand in quickly.  Genius, isn't it?  I'm surprised I haven't seen more like these before.  I should make a whole bunch for myself...

Linking up with Lee:

My Quilty Little Secrets :)

Have you seen Amy's post (and link-up) about her Quilty Secrets?
It got me thinking, and without further ado, here are my top 10 "Quilty Secrets:"

1.  I rarely pin.  But after reading a few other "Quilty Secret" lists, I would say this is more like the norm (well, either that or sewing over pins).  :)

2.  I do most of my cutting with my cutting board on my ironing board or on the floor.  I think I'm supposed to use a hard surface or something?

3. Not really a fan of Cotton+Steel.  Or Liberty.  Or Aneela Hoey.  SORRY!! I've also never really been a fan of scrap quilts. 

4. Sometimes I let the twins scatter my buttons all over my sewing room just so I can have a few extra minutes of sewing time.  Not to mention the fact that letting them watch a few episodes of Dora or Blues Clues every day is becoming alarmingly more common.  I used to try so hard to limit my sewing time to times when they were NOT awake.  And I feel guilty letting them watch so much TV.  But as they get older and take fewer naps (almost none now), it's just SO HARD.  Sometimes I just have to be a bad mom for an hour or so.  ;)  It's for my sanity.

5.  I don't really like the post-wash crinkly look.  I prefer flat an crisp and I don't like the way washing my quilts changes the way the quilting looks.

6.  I press open 90% of the time.  I had a couple of ladies freak out about this once at a sewing night (I was even pressing my HSTs open - gasp!) so I have tried pressing to the side a few times since.  It works okay for me, but I just can't quite get the hang of it.  Also, I love ironing. 

7.  I don't really have UFOs.  I prefer to finish things completely before starting new things.  My to-do list, on the other hand, is quite another story...

8.  Rotary blades and needles - changing them is like pulling teeth.  I don't have a problem cleaning out my machine every now and then, but that's because I do that for free.

9.  I've tried machine stitching binding and was convinced for awhile that it was the way to go because it's so fast.  Then I learned how to stitch binding by hand and realized how much better it looks (at least, compared to MY machine binding).  Now I hand bind EVERYTHING and I love it.

10.  Sometimes I use polyester batting.  I know.  It's really not as bad as others make it seem.  :)



Now how about you?  What are your "Quilty Secrets?"

Wanna see some more?  Check out the link-up HERE.

New Quiet Book: ABCs!

This quiet book has been in the works for a REALLY long time.  I probably started sketching ideas for it a year ago.  I love making these, and since we already have a Shapes and Colors one, it was time to make a Letters one too!  I wanted one page for each letter of the alphabet, with a coordinating and interactive item on each page.  What do you think?

With 26 pages, it turned out SUPER FAT, so I added a little strap to keep the thing closed.

Here are all of the pages before they were sewn up into the book:

And these are a few of my favorites:

I even made this pocket for the back using some faux leather I acquired.  :)

 So.  Another reason for creating this ABC book was so that I could list some personalized name books in my shop.  I took all the appropriate letters from the ABC book to make a little book for my boys.  As it happens, most of the letters in their name ended up red or blue and I didn't really want to make them all over again...

Luckily, their little cousin just turned two so I got to make a new one with more color variety.  ;)

I had to get a little creative, because Connor has two repeated letters in his name.  In fact, while I was at it I came up with alternate ideas for nearly every letter and included them in my shop listing - just in case I run into this problem again.  ;)

N is an especially hard letter to come up with ideas for, believe me.  But I think the numbers turned out pretty cute.

The octopus turned out ADORABLE!  So much cuter in person.

Whew!
You can find all of my quiet books in my shop HERE.  I think now I need to work on a numbers book, or maybe just some fun pages for custom books like the one I did for Henrik.  So many ideas!!!!

BONUS.  This project was #11 on my Quarter 3 Finish-Along list.  Linking up here: