Welcome to the next stop in the Fat Quarter Shop's Top 10 Videos blog hop!

The Fat Quarter Shop is celebrating their top 10 You-Tube video tutorials of 2015 with a blog hop. Myself and some other super talented quilty bloggers are each featuring their take on the Fat Quarter Shop's "Fractal Quilt" pattern today! Make sure to visit the Jolly Jabber today and the hopping bloggers, too:

Well, the Christmas rush is on.

I've been madly trying to finish a ton of stuff for the kids - most of it has been in some stage just shy of completion for months now. Feels good to finally finish a bunch of stuff!

Two of my most recent quilty finishes are kind of - well - cheater finishes - heheh.

I used two quilt panels to create minky-backed throws for the kid's cuddle time on the couch.

For my 2 year old son, who is absolutely nutters for *anything* comics -

The quilt finishes in at about 32" x 44". I used a 100% cotton batting, and bound it with a royal blue Kona I had left over from his baby quilt.

I backed it with a butter yellow minky -



Along the top of the quilt I free motion quilted the words "SUPER HERO EWAN":

For the girl, of course it had to be princesses -


I backed this one with a lavender minky, and bound it in a coordinating Kona-

...and, across the top I quilted "PRINCESS AUDREY".

I think they are going to be a huge hit this Christmas! Super excited to give them to them!

I'm linking up my finishes to TGIFF - Iris at Crazy Dutch Bird Quilts is hosting today!

This week I finished up another commission project for a friend.

I have decided that 2016 (and 2017, for that matter) will be the year of saving. Saving for a longarm/midarm. I'm a woman on a mission.

So - I've been working hard at making money (I wrote up my 'techniques' on how I do that as a stay at home mom in this previous post) - offering my services to friends and relatives, plugging away at my Etsy shop, and squirreling away gift cards from doing online surveys (don't laugh - I make good coin at it...).

One of the projects I've been really lucky, and honored, to create was a commissioned set of pieced and quilted tie pillows for one of my friends from her dad's old ties. A way she and her siblings could remember him by.

It was fun to work with a different textile; and even more fun when she told me not to wash out the coffee stains and food remnants - all the more to remember her dad by.

Very cool.

Also very unnerving cutting into someone's memories. Oy.

But they turned out well; this set are 10x10; earlier in the summer I made another 4, almost double the size, and they turned out well too.

They are backed with a silk, chosen by the customer.

The recipient wanted me to cut the ties open, remove the interfacing, and cut the ties into smaller strips - unlike other tie pillow tutorials out there.

I used a QAYG (quilt as you go) method to assemble the fronts, stitching the cut tie strips onto a batting and Osnaburg foundation.




Sew at Home Mummy Tip:

Ties are cut on the bias - therefore very stretchy, and wriggly!
When using the QAYG technique use plenty of pins or a quick spray of quilt basting spray to keep the pieces from shifting as you piece.



I placed YYK zippers in a side seam on each of the pillows.

Sew at Home Mummy Tip:

For puffier pillows, make smaller covers.

Make your cover 1/2" - 1" smaller square than your form/insert. 

These covers are 9" square for a 10" form.


Pillows are off to be with their new owner(s) now! Today I'm linking up with Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday!

This week TGIFF is being hosted by M-R of Quilt Matters - head on over there and visit her linky-party, and check out what she and others have been up to!


**And, as a side note - check out my post {HERE} for a GIVEAWAY! for Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!**

A (long!) while back a friend asked me to make her an apron using this tutorial out of an old pair of her jeans.

With the move to the new house, and then the water seeping through our basement walls and into my sewing space this Spring/Summer, I hate to admit it but her project got put to the side.

Well, it's FINALLY done. And I think it looks great! I hope she loves it.

recycled jeans apron with Lotta Jansdotter trim

The cotton trim is a Lotta Jansdotter print, chosen by the recipient.

It was a lot of fun to do something non-quilty for a few hours!

Linking up with Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday (hosted by Quilt Matters today), Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts today!

Happy Friday, Everyone!

I'm doing double duty with this one - it's a TGIFF (thank goodness it's finished! Friday) and I'm gonna take the plunge and enter it into the Blogger's Quilt Festival (Small Quilts category).

My best friend in the entire world is having her first baby!! WOOT!!

They decided to go with an elephant theme, and she went with the color scheme of lavender, teal, and grey.

So! I had to make an elephant quilt, and if you read along with me, you know I like pixelating things hehehe.

Without further adieu, here is the quilt! It measures 40"x45", and I hope it will be well loved by its new owner when she decides to arrive.

The quilt is made up entirely of scraps from my stash and from some Chicago MQG friends who were SO kind as to contribute in areas I was lacking! (thank you ladies!! mwah!)
The gorgeous quilting is by the fabulous longarmer, Melissa @ Sew Shabby Quilting. She's fantastic, I highly recommend her!

You'll notice I machine bound my quilt; I used one of the 'fancy' stitches on my machine and some gorgeous variegated #Aurifil. YUM.

And the back:


I'm all about making my quilts double sided - two reasons:

1. two quilts for the price of one! reversible!
2. piecing your back saves you money. You don't need to buy as much yardage if you can pull something from your stash, and make it scrappy!

I love the Lotta Jansdotter print on the back. The little quails are so cute!

I've been working on this quilt since April - I actually started it at the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild bi-annual retreat. Feels good to get it done, and just in time for my trip home to Vancouver next week for her baby shower! WOOT!!

Please head over {here}  to vote starting May 22 on your favorite Blogger's quilts in all the different categories! Have a ton of fun, there are always so many talented Bloggers linking up!

A special thank-you to Amy of Amy's Creative Side for hosting the annual Blogger's Quilt Festival.

I'm linking my finish up today with A Quarter Inch from the Edge, who is hosting TGIFF! Make sure to head over and take a look at her finish - gorgeous!

Also linking up to Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop! for the first time today - Whoop, Whoop! and Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Up Friday virgin no more!