Minecraft Quilt

I received a request recently to make a Mr. StampyCat Minecraft quilt for a customer's 12 year old daughter.  Not having ever played or even seen Minecraft I was a little hesitant at first.  How would I even know what it was supposed to look like? I did some quick research and realized it was a perfect opportunity for me.  I had been wanting to make a pixelated quilt for quite some time and this was the perfect chance.  A twin bed-sized quilt of Mr. StampyCat.  

Obviously I accepted.  It was such a fun process! I really enjoyed the idea of pixelated quilting.  I am already overwhelmed with ideas for making more pixelated quilts.  Super Mario Brothers, TMNT, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Firefly... and yes, I am a complete sci-fi nerd.  

All finished! I quilted it in straight horizontal lines to keep it loose and soft.  I also wanted the quilting to be understated and minimal so it didn't steal any attention from the quilt itself.  I'm very pleased with it.  I have quite a bit of extra fabric leftover and am actually contemplating making another one.  Not soon though.  I've got lots of other projects on my list first.

The back.  Isn't that bird fabric just gorgeous! I love it.  I wish I had a reason to buy some for myself.

I'll leave you with this.  All rolled up.  I do love rolled quilt photos.  I'll be back soon to post about the Halloween quilt I have in the works.

A Quilt for my Granny

This quilt is very dear to me.  It was cut and pieced by my mom and quilted and bound by myself.  We made it together for my sweet Granny.  

 It was intended to be a Christmas gift for her, but the holidays were so busy with all the other making I had to do I set it aside and told my mom I'd get it finished and sent after Christmas. 

I managed to finish it last week and got it sent off to her.  It was actually perfect timing as she had been very sick over Christmas and was in the hospital for a while. 

My mom said she called and told her she opened the box while my Grampa was gone and was all snuggled up in it.  I'm so glad to have finished this for her.  I have a smile on my face thinking of her sitting in her favorite easy chair with this quilt draped over her legs.

Here's a close up of the quilting I did on it.  A new design to me but I had fun with it.  I have to be real though.  I completely dislike that you can see the quilting so much on the back.  Maybe it's more that you can see the thread color, not so much the quilting.  I know I'm being ridiculous about it, but it's just one of those personal quirks.  I don't like seeing quilting on the back.  

It looks wonderful on the front and everyone else that's seen it loves how the back looks so I'm not going to let it bother me.  I'm going to take the advice I often give my kids and "get over it". 

Anyway, it's finished.  It's lovely.  And it's in my Granny's hands.  I can't count this as a finish for 2014 though because I didn't actually make it.  I just quilted it.  

Rainbow Baby Quilt

Here is the first quilt in a new collection I'm trying out called Rainbow Baby Quilts.

I just love the bright colors of this quilt contrasted with the Kona grey (forgive me, I'm not sure which grey it is).  And the quilting I did makes me happy.  I love how the straight(ish) lines on the side borders look.  For the center of the quilt I did a loose meander to keep the quilt soft and snuggly.

I used up a lot of my yellow scraps for this quilt and still it doesn't look like I've touched them! I was hoping to make a dent.  Anyway, this quilt was so much fun to make.  I enjoyed the whole process so much I thought I'd make a bunch more in all the different color ways.  Then I thought, might as well give them all a name, so Rainbow Baby Quilts was born.

This one is listed for sale now in my shop under Baby Quilts.  I hope to have more of them in a bunch of different color ways listed soon.  I'm starting to piece together a purple version today and will probably (hopefully) if time allows, get a blue version done tomorrow.  

Here's the back.  I was so excited to use up these pieces of fabric for the backing.  I've had them sitting in my stash for quite awhile and have not known what to do with them, even though I loved the print.  They are from a collection by Connecting Threads and unfortunately, it's out of print now.  :(

Don't forget today is the last day for the 40% off sale in the shop! Please remember, the sale applies to fabric only and not finished goods.  I'll have a new sale starting Monday for everything in the shop - yep, even the quilts!  

I'll see you back tomorrow for more Rainbow Quilts and a new sale code!

Mug Rug & Boy Quilts

So, really quickly, here's a few pics of the newest Mug Rug to be born into the Quilting Whimsy family.  I bonded quite a bit with this one and had several internal (and one external) battles over whether or not to give this one up for adoption, but eventually the desire to sell more and help Jake save for our new house won out and selfishness lost.  Oh well.  Here's the link to the shop's listing.

Do me a favor please? If you buy her, send me a pic of how happy she is in your home.  It would help me know I've made the right decision in letting her go.

Pink Bicycle Mug Rug

Sigh... Love her.

Now, on to things I actually get to keep (even if they're not for me).  Remember last week I posted about the quilts I'm making for my boys beds? Well, I got a few opportunities to work on one of these and it is coming along nicely.  I love the fabrics I picked and so do the boys, so it's a win/win.

I showed Aiden the fabrics and the partially completed quilt so far and he -who is trained so well- says, "Ohhhhh.  It's really great.  I love your quilt making mommy.  It's so nice!"  So, after deflating my head, I told him I was making it for his bed.  He got really excited and then stops and, looking quite serious, says to me, "That's really nice mom, but I'll feel bad if Odin doesn't have one.  I can just share mine with him though!"  Seriously, his kid just melts my whole stinkin' heart! I told him he was super nice for offering to share but I was making them each their own quilt.  He says, "Oh that's so nice of you! I really didn't want to share anyway."  Totally love him.  :)

Without further ado, here is a pic of the quilt I'm working on for the boys beds.  I used this Patchwork Chevron free pattern from the Moda Bakeshop website.  First of all, I just love the pattern and (literally) squealed at the chance to use it. Second, it's free.  Enough said right there.  (Now if only the fabric could be free.  That'd really make me squeal!).

Here's a pic of the fabrics I used.  The pattern calls for 4 charm packs (5" square fabric bundles of 42 fabrics) but I had a layer cake (10" bundle of same fabrics) on hand already and just cut that into fourths to make my 4 charm packs.  I'm going to need more of the fabric since I'm enlarging the pattern some to fit my boys twin beds.  The fabric by the way, is 10 Little Things by Jen Ski, since I know you'll all be curious.  I don't remember where I purchased it from but it can be found in many shops on etsy right now.  I love how the fabric has such bright fun prints mixed in with the construction and owl fabric.  It's so fun!

Here's the completed Nine Patch Block.  (Please excuse my horribly old ironing board cover.  I'm too cheap to buy another one).  This was the easiest part of the pattern.  I managed to get through about half a season of In Plain Sight and a 16 oz. white chocolate mocha frappe while sewing these little babies up.  It also helped that the boys were with Jake's parents all day. I love their Thursdays with Baba and Grampa!

I pressed my seams open on the Nine Patch block.  This is something I really never do but it was worth the extra time since it eliminated so much bulk from the seams being pressed all the same direction.  It looks super pretty super cool too.

Here's the block getting pieced together into rows.  Sorry, it was dark out so the lighting is horrible.   This was done while the boys sat on the couch for some hot cocoa, corn dogs and a movie.  Hey, don't judge! I needed the kitchen table!

And a close-up of some of the fabric prints.  Aren't they so stinkin' adorable? Of course they are! And I have to say, I am so in love with the solid green print I used as the background fabric for this.  It matches these fabrics so perfectly! It's called Leaf Green and is one of the newest solids in Moda's Bella Solids line.  The color really does make me think of spring leaves.

I got this fabric from an etsy seller, Pink Castle Fabrics.  Her shop is great! If you're looking for fresh, fun fabric at affordable prices, you should really check her out!  The shop owner, Brenda, is also really nice and helpful and spent some extra time answering my questions and helping me make sure I got a fabric that would really compliment all these wonderful fabrics.  The shipping was super fast and everything was labeled and packaged so nicely.  I had a wonderful experience shopping there and will be going back for much more of this fabric soon!  (Well, as soon as I can... budgets really put a cramp in my fabric-buying style).  I still need at least 3 yds of it to make boy #2's quilt.

I should note I suppose, that Brenda at Pink Castle Fabrics and I don't know each other and she has no idea whatsoever I'm blogging about this and I am not/have not received anything by writing this review.  I simply like to point out the good great things in life and share the wealth with all my other crafty friends.  I also just really love etsy and supporting small businesses, so there you go.  My two cents.  Check her out.  'Cause I said so.  She didn't.