Quilts for Baby…or Babies!

Rag Quilts Fabric Pull : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Sometimes I forget how fun it is to open up all the tubs of fabric and create a scrappy pull. A couple weeks ago I made two rag quilts for twins that will be born any minute now. When I create a stack of fabrics for a project, I typically start with a favorite and work my way from there, pulling scrappy coordinates or complimentary pieces. For the baby girl, I started with one of the new florals from Tiger Lily by Heather Ross. She is just the best when it comes to whimsical and beautiful fabric. I decided on a light and airy palette, and I think I achieved that by adding fabrics by Cotton + Steel, Lizzy House, Anna Graham, more Cotton + Steel, and more Lizzy House.

Rag Quilts : Fresh Lemons Quilts

For the boy’s rag quilt, I will admit I was staring at the fabric from my son’s Cargo Duffle. So I started with the dinosaurs and ocean animals from Natural History by Lizzy House.

Rag Quilts Fabric Pull : Fresh Lemons Quilts

I added in coordinating green and blue prints by Cotton + Steel again, Amy Butler, Bonnie & Camille, and believe it or not…more Cotton + Steel. The stripe is an old Lizzy House print, I believe from her Hello Pilgrim line.

Rag Quilts : Fresh Lemons Quilts

They are backed in white minky and both turned out so very soft and cozy. If you have never made a rag quilt before, I do have a photo tutorial in my Pattern Shop. It gives basic directions for making a small lovey, and you can use the technique to make a rag quilt of any shape or size.

Rag Quilts : Fresh Lemons Quilts

I’ve pulled a third set of fabrics for a future quilt. Maybe something baby sized for my shop? I’m not sure, but I am loving the colors so much that I doubt it will sit lonely for long!

Rag Quilts : Fresh Lemons Quilts

I hope all my USA readers have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week. Travel safely and check back in Friday…there just might be some Black Friday sale information here waiting for you.

A Cargo Duffle for Everyone

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Everyone in my house that wants a cargo duffle now officially has a cargo duffle. Earlier this Fall, I made myself a Cargo Duffle (super cool pattern by Anna over at Noodlehead). The kids immediately wanted their own bag for weekend trips and sleepovers. I let them look online at fabrics and they both chose different Lizzy House designs for their focal prints. I can’t blame them – her designs are the perfect mix of whimsical and modern.

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

My son really wanted a dinosaur bag, featuring Dino Exhibit in Aqua from Lizzy’s Natural History collection. For the accent on the bottom, I sort of fell in love with the idea of using Carolyn Friedlander’s topography print in the perfect green from her Architextures collection. Of course it is now no where to be found! I put out a desperate call for a trade and my friend Cristin generously offered up her half yard for swap. I’m so happy because I love how it turned out!

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

I also used the very last of the scraps to line the pockets. The outer pocket fabric is an Essex linen by Robert Kaufman. I’m becoming more and more addicted to working these into my projects.

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

When I wrote about my first Cargo Duffle, I mentioned some alterations I made when assembling it (widening, adding lining). I did the same for these and my son chose another Natural History Lizzy House print for his lining ~ Giants of the Deep in Blue.

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

I selected a gray zipper to match the pockets. The pattern requires a pretty specific zipper that I couldn’t find locally, so I bought mine online from WAWAK Sewing Supplies. They ship from the US, so it didn’t take long for them to arrive!

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

I love how his turned out!

My daughter really wanted a unicorn bag. We found (what we thought) was a unicorn print from The Lovely Hunt, another collection by Lizzy House. Unfortunately, when it arrived we discovered it was a very large repeat. This meant only one full unicorn was able to make it onto her bag. She was disappointed but I put it smack dab in the middle of the back so you can’t miss it.

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

Luckily the rest of the print is just beautiful with a variety of floral designs. We combined that with Stellar Slub Chambray in Cerise by Andover for the bottom. This was much thinner fabric than I anticipated, so I used an additional layer of fusible fleece interfacing on the back of it to thicken it up.

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

For the pockets, she chose a combination of Meadow Flower in Pink and Flower Carpet in Fuchsia, also part of The Lovely Hunt.

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

The lining is more of the Flower Carpet in Fuchsia.

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

And the zipper is white.

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

The kids were both SO excited when they came home and saw their finished bags. My son immediately loaded his with stuffed animals and declared himself ready for a sleepover!

Cargo Duffle - pattern by Noodlehead : Fresh Lemons Quilts

They did get a chance to test them out at their grandma’s over the weekend and we plan to take them on our next trip to Ohio. Thanks to Anna for an awesome bag design! It’s amazing how easy a pattern is after you’ve already made it once. That said, everyone in my family (minus my husband!) has their own now, so I think my cargo duffle making days are officially over. 🙂

Quilt Along with Christa Quilts

One of my wonderful sponsors, Christa of Christa Quilts, is hosting a new quilt along next month on her blog. This project features the hugely popular Pearl Bracelets fabric by Lizzy House. (One of my personal favorites!)

Christa has a lot of experience in the quilt along department – this is her sixth time hosting one. String of Pearls will launch Wednesday, June 5th at ChristaQuiltsBlog.com.

Christa will offer a limited number of kits available with 10% off any kit purchase through 6/30. Just use the coupon code CQA2013 at checkout. For complete details along with the quilt along schedule, visit ChristasQuiltAlong.com.

A Very Cherry Christmas Quilt

Cherry Christmas Patchwork

Last week I decided to do a bit of selfish sewing and make my family a Christmas quilt. I tend to do all my Christmas sewing the last week in November. Three years ago it was the advent calendar. Last year it was the tree skirt. I guess I’m pretty motivated by a December 1st deadline.

Cherry Christmas Patchwork

Due to my self imposed short deadline, I chose one of my favorite quick and easy layouts – 5″ squares. And to make it even easier, I used mostly charm packs from Aneela Hoey’s Cherry Christmas line.

Cherry Christmas Patchwork

I really love Aneela’s artwork. The designs on the fabric are so pretty and holiday, but in an understated way. For some reason, I decided I just needed to add the black text print from Violet Craft’s Madrona Road into the mix. This led to the addition of a few other prints, including some pearl bracelets by Lizzy House, dots from Sarah Jane‘s Children at play, and a Kei Honeycomb.

Additional Fabrics

I really love that punch that the black prints add.

Cherry Christmas Patchwork

A bit of sizing details…I used 4 charm packs and 40 additional cut squares (5″ x 5″ each). The quilt is 13 columns by 16 rows. It measures around 59″ x 72″.

Wavy Quilting

I quilted using a wavy line. On my machine, I use the Running Stitch (Bernina 440QE stitch #4, looks like a zigzag), max out the width and set the length to 4. Although this led to some kind of boring hours of quilting, I love the finished effect.

Cherry Christmas Patchwork

The back is a flannel from Bonnie and Camille‘s line Vintage Modern. I used 4 yards with a tiny amount left over. I did prewash the flannel…I knew it would shrink a lot more than the cotton on the front. The binding is also from Bonnie and Camille, but their new line Marmalade. I just couldn’t resist it for a Christmas quilt.

So now I’m enjoying some snuggles under the quilt, at least until Spring!