quilting i bee

I have been swamped (by my own choosing!) with quilt projects lately. I tend to do all my sewing at night, after Britton is down for bed and the hub is either on the exercise bike or watching television. It is my longest stretch of free time and I really can get lost in cutting, piecing, and sewing. I usually hang out with the hub, catching up on the DVR (which will be better now since all our shows are back on) while cutting my pieces out, then a couple of nights downstairs sewing, then back upstairs with him for my quilting.

Here are my latest projects:

This quilt is for a co-worker of Memaw who is having a little girl in October. Her due date got pushed up from November, so we thought we had more time to get this done! I went with the simple nine patch to showcase the fabrics and keep sewing time to a minimum. These fabrics are from the Strawberry Fields line.



A polka dot binding is ever so cute for a little girl...



I just fell in love with this fabric, Robert Kaufman's "Three Little Bears." Oddly enough, it doesn't have three little bears in it! But it depicts every nursery rhyme I can remember, and is gender-neutral. My friend just told me she's pregnant, and they aren't finding out what they are having. And because I love this fabric so much, the quilt will go to her. It's actually progressed more than the photo - it's four nine-patch blocks with borders, and I've almost finished hand-stitching it. All it needs is some binding, and since she isn't due until April I've got plenty of time to finish it.




And finally, my Christmas quilt. I wanted a bigger project for myself, and I finally feel ready to move on beyond baby quilts. I saw this quilt and felt the design ("Charming Stars") would make a beautiful Christmas quilt.



The pattern is based off of using Moda charm packs, which are pre-cut five inch squares. I've never used these before (mainly because I can pick out my own fabric, thank you very much) but decided that if I was going to get through 16 blocks plus borders I needed to find an easy out somewhere! I've since come to love those little charm packs and have to resist buying them every time I see a beautiful new design. I decided on "Flurry" by Kate Spain for Moda.



Here it is laid out on the kitchen island! I'm actually finished piecing together the top and I've since handed it off to Memaw for hand-quilting. She is using red thread to quilt around each star, and with the backing being white you'll see the stars on the back too. I made the binding last week (green and red stripe), so I will be ready to complete it once it is returned. It will end up being about 58" x 58" square once complete, and a great size for a couch throw.



I've also completed the top for another baby girl quilt and done some binding on one of Memaw's quilts, but I can't find any pictures of those projects. So, an update for now, and I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished quilts!