Babushka Dolls

I love nesting dolls or as we always called them when I was growing up Babushka's.  This was a very hard quilt to complete and took a long time.  Each doll was painstakingly paper pieced using foundation paper.

 The grid lines had to be measured and drawn on with a washable pen.  The faces were drawn on with fabric marker.

 Each set of three dolls has coordinating fabric.

 The pattern called for another set of three dolls but 9 was my limit.  I really liked this pattern and I love the way it turned out.  But it was definitely a difficult project which took almost a year to complete.

Skeleton Halloween Apron

I was saving this black apron for a special reason.  I just didn't know what the reason was until I saw a Skeleton Halloween Apron.  Fortunately I had some skeleton bone patterns lying around.  A little felt and some iron on adhesive and I have my own Skeleton Halloween Apron.  Happy Baking.

Baby Bunny Quilt

 This is my new baby bunny quilt.  It is for a friend with a new little one.  I found this idea on Pinterest.  The fabric is full of bunnies wearing coats and holding balloons.  As the new little one's room is filled with Peter Rabbit I felt this was the perfect match.

The strips were sewed to the batting as I went along.  Then I used the decorative stitches on my machine to decorate each seam. I had so much fun choosing the stitches and matching up colored thread.

 You can really see the different stitches on the back of the quilt.

This is a log cabin table runner I made for a dear friend.  The pattern I copied was from something I had seen on Pinterest.  But after I started quilting I noticed my log cabin pattern looked a bit different then the sample pattern.  My logs were longer.  I checked and double checked my measurements but I still haven't figured out what went wrong.  The good thing about giving a quilt to a non quilter is they will never know if you made a mistake.

I love the colors of this quilt and have used this material before.  The fabric strips were already cut which made it very easy for me to get started quickly.

 I was also supposed to alternate the color strips more.  I didn't but again unless I told you that you probably wouldn't have known.

The stippling is the part I am most excited about. I saw this on Pinterest as well.  A great tutorial on how to make these flowers. I mapped out the entire thing in a grid on the back with a white pencil.  Then I carefully sewed each curve going up one side and then down the other. I washed the quilt and the white pencil went away.  I have been wanting to try new stippling methods and I was really happy with how this one turned out.

Strip Quilt

I found this adorable blog called Cluck Cluck Sew.  Such cute quilts and lots of tutorials.  I found this quilt there.  It is called a strip and flip quilt. Very easy to make as I had the strips already cut.  I loved flipping the strip around and seeing where it matched up.  The entire back is white and I used the backing to make the binding.  This was a new technique for me and it came out beautifully.  Binding is the hardest part for me.  This quilt will be going to my little muse who inspires me to make sweet little girl things.  Check out Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Braided Runner

It has been a long winter (read no quilting was done, nada, nothing, the sewing room had cobwebs in it). Spring is upon us and I am quilting again.  This is a braided table runner made from strips.  The pattern is from the magazine "Sew it...today" (October/November 2013) issue.  I love braids. I use to braid my girlfriends hair all the time when I was growing up.  We did french braids, fish tails, and just plain braids. Alas, I have no girls hair to braid.  Just my own, and that's not the same.  So this quilt will have to do.  The directions were very easy to follow and the quilt was actually fun to make. I liked seeing the braid grow longer and longer.  It took me a long time to finish it because I got stuck on how I was going to put the backing on. I tried one long stitch down the center but the back looked all puckered.  So I took that out and then spray basted the heck out of the thing making sure it was really stuck together.  Then I pinned it for extra protection.  I finally decided to stitch in the ditch on every third row. This worked out nicely as the back was smooth and the zigzag followed the pattern.  The binding was also tricky because I couldn't decide on the right color.  Finally, this is the finished product.

Happy Quilting!