Monday I finished my latest quilt using Heather Ross’s Munki Munki fabric as well as other designs from her collections. Munki Munki is a company that sells clothing/pajamas made from Heather’s designs. Crazy people like me buy pieces of the pajamas, cut them up more, and use them in quilts. Lots of people sell pieces of Munki Munki pjs on Etsy as well as trade it on Flickr. You can also find it at TJ Maxx and Marshalls.

For this quilt, I used the Heather Ross fabric for the center of each block. I included lots of whimsical prints – VW vans, campers, bikes, goldfish, tennis, the princess and the pea, mushrooms, gnomes, sushi….and more! Then I framed that in a coordinating solid. I used shot cottons and Moda cross weaves for these solids. Finally I completed the block in some of my favorite bright prints. The squares are 12″ each.

I quilted this one with straight lines, 1/4″ on each side of the block seams (horizontal and vertical). Then I also added diagonal quilting through all the blocks.

The back is a really fun print from Cosmo Cricket’s Snorkel collection. I have been saving it for a backing on just the right quilt and I think this was it. I love how the bright squares mirror the bright squares on the front. The binding is Kona Peacock.

This one came together fairly quickly and it was great fun to cut into my Munki stash that I feel like I’ve been hoarding. It’s listed in the shop!

It has been so nice outside for at least 3 days straight now. The kids and I have been taking advantage of the weather by spending every moment we can outdoors. I have managed to put together a new quilt top during naptimes though. I hope to finish this week and share the full view with you then.

And it seems my flowers have also taken notice of the warmer temperatures (even though the weatherman keeps saying they are unseasonable.

I even broke out the picnic quilt today to catch some rays.

I hope it’s beautiful where you are today!

Last Tuesday was my husband’s grandmother’s 90th birthday. How cool is that? You wouldn’t know she is 90, she has a more active social life than we do! The family had thrown out ideas of taking a big trip to celebrate, but we couldn’t really swing that since we are on a single income and life in Chicago isn’t exactly inexpensive. We wanted to do something special in our own way though, and then I remembered seeing this quilt on Flickr a few months ago. Perfect!

I had a couple concerns…first, we only had 11 people for the tree which is a lot less than the 20+ hands on the inspiration quilt. Also, the tree fabric on the inspiration quilt used was perfect, but out of print. (Joel Dewberry’s woodgrain in Chocolate). So…my tree ended up being a bit wider and I used the JD woodgrain I could find – light green – instead. Luckily it matched the Sweet Broderie fabric I used for the hands and border.

I never have done applique before. I was a bit nervous, but it turned out great! Sandra has a great tutorial I used on her blog.

I used my Bernina Embroidery Module to stitch the names for the hands and the initial in the center of the tree.

The back of the quilt is a bit wild…but I love it. It is from Amy Butler’s new Soul Blossoms line of fabric.

I quilted this one free motion and it measures about 72″ x 86″. It’s a big boy. LOL Half way through the quilting I started to wonder what I had gotten myself in to.

We are gifting this to her Sunday, I really hope she likes it but also uses it.

A few months ago I bought my first (and only) quilting die for my Big Shot Sizzix die cutter. Sizzix is getting into the quilting die game now which is quite handy since I already had the cutting machine. The half square triangle seemed a good place to start because exact size really matters. It made quick work of the cutting pieces for this mini quilt.

I am always inspired by the colorful quilts made by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts so I just picked some random bright colors from my fabric stash. Initially I just had a white border, but when I was auditioning fabrics for the back, I realized the additional turquoise border would really frame out the quilt nicely.

To offset the brights on the front, I chose Kona Ash and White for the back. The binding is a wonderful Tula Nest print.

I quilted this one free motion and it measures 26″ x 30″. I’ve put it up in the shop, but if it doesn’t sell it may find it’s way on my wall in my sewing room.

ETA: I forgot to mention I now have a Facebook page for Fresh Lemons Quilts. Come on over and join if you are a Facebook user. It will keep you updated on new blog entries, shop sales, and just all around fun things I find to share!