Pillow Set for the Lovebirds

This is my latest set of quilted scrappy throw pillows. I made these as a gift for my friends Catherine and Kevin, who just took the big moving-in-together step. I have not yet been to their new love nest, but was told their livingroom had not-quite schoolbus yellow walls and a couch the color of chocolate. So this is what I came up with:

this view shows the envelope closure on the back - the quilted
covers can be easily removed from the pillow forms for washing.

Maybe even more than for other occasions, I love the idea of pieced items for couples. After all, we are celebrating that these two people, with different histories, memories, abilities and talents, come together and their union produces something greater than just the sum of their parts.*

Happy Shacking Up, Catherine & Kevin!
May the two of you have a long,
happy, and colorful life together!

* hehe. parts.

Mom's Hug Quilt

How great it feels to finish a UFO!* This quilt has been "in progress" for a few years... one of those projects you start and then get distracted from, or other projects have to take precedence over and the next thing you know it's shooting you dirty looks from its Tupperware storage in the basement every time you go down to put laundry in, and you feel guilty even glancing in its direction. (I'm not the only one, right?)Technically, I started this quilt when my son Jake (now 12) was just a baby. I must have seen a photo somewhere of a quilt someone had done all from flannels and terrycloth. I decided that instead of donating my old winter pjs or bathrobes to Goodwill (which I do with lots of stuff!), I would hang on to them and use them in a quilt. I cut them up and started piecing them in a modified four-patch that formed this groovy diagonal pattern. I got more than halfway through the quilt top and then my daughter came home from China, and my husband and I divorced, I got a new job and went back to school.. and gosh, things just got busy. But wouldn't it be cool, I thought, long about November of this year, if I could finish this thing up and give it to Jake for a Christmas gift? So whenever I had a few spare minutes and the boy was otherwise occupied I stitched away on this one and lo and behold at 6pm on Christmas Eve it was finished.

Last inch of binding sewn at 6pm Christmas Eve. Phew!

So within this quilt are nights of rocking my boy to sleep, reading him stories, cuddling up and watching movies together. There are lots of hugs in this quilt. When he opened the box on Christmas morning and held the quilt up I told him that no matter where he went or where I was, this quilt was my way of making sure he could always have a hug from mom. Jake's a sentimental boy, and totally "got it." Maybe he even got a little teary, but don't tell him I told you.

Our Buddha-cat Tucker, diggin' on the new quilt

detail, Mom's Hug Quilt

Don't worry, Santa made sure my son also got electronic gee-gaws and computer gadgets and other manly things. I'm not turning him into a complete sissy-boy.

*(Un-Finished Object)

Maksim's Quilt

Maksim’s Quilt

This was a commissioned piece I finished in December but didn’t want to post because it was a holiday gift and I didn’t want to ruin a surprise!
The client wanted a quilt, but knew the baby already had plenty of blankies for his crib so we worked on a quilt that would be used as a wallhanging. We chose colors together, and collaborated on a pattern that would be bright and cheerful but not too busy. And of course, we wanted the baby’s uber-cool name to be a big part of the design.



I had not done appliquéd letters before but went online for some tutorials and found a great one here. They recommended the use of Heat n' Bond Lite, but I used Stitch Witchery (fuseable webbing) to keep the letters in place while sewing around them and that worked just fine. I love how they came out! In future, I would probably do a zig-zag stitch around the whole letter, which would be much more time-consuming and add to overall labor cost, but it would make the quilt usable as a blanket; this one should probably be ornamental only.

This shows the self-fabric sleeve on the back; you can just slip a
curtain rod through, put the curtain rod hardware on the wall & voila!

close-up

From all reports, Maksim liked his quilt so much he kissed it! Awwww…. now that makes my job so gratifying.

Garden Patch Baby Quilt / Play Mat

Just finished! This 45" x 46" quilt is perfect for a baby quilt or play mat for when you bring baby visiting, and is up on my Etsy shop now ready for purchase.

(click pic for a closer look :-)

This was an extra-fun project because it was a collaborative effort between my mom and me; she machine-pieced the quilt top out of cheerful pink, blue & green checks, ginghams, and garden prints (including a vintage-look seed packet material I am mad for!). Then she handed it off to me and I gave it batting, a backing of sturdy cotton in a morning glory print, and a contrasty binding of darker green. Quilted "in the ditch" both vertically and horizontally, and on the diagonal green inside border as well. Binding is machine and handstitched, as outlined here: http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2008/10/binding-tutorial.html. I just love how it came out!

(the back)

This is a sturdy piece you can machine wash in cool water and hang to dry or machine tumble dry on low.

We hope you will love it as much as we loved making it for you!