Baby Boy Quilt

Not only did I make Christmas gifts for my own family & friends this year, but I made my first commissioned quilt!

A woman at work asked me to make a quilt for her baby grandson.

While not everything turned out like I wanted, I learned a lot (sewing skills & selling skills) & think the quilt turned out pretty cute.

I know kids will latch on to whatever they will latch on to, but I can't help but hope that this little boy will love the quilt for years to come. That hope is why I enjoy quilting.

Christmas in Long Beach

Santa Katie's workshop was a busy place leading up to Christmas. Sadly, Santa Katie isn't nearly as skilled as the real good ol' St. Nick. Maybe it's his hundreds of years' experience...maybe it's his hundreds of elves...but somehow he manages to get all his gifts made & delivered on time. Not me!

Despite what I thought was an early start, & a bit of assistance from Elf Jacob, I still failed to finish & mail out all my gifts on time. One gift (or part of a gift...she also requested placemats) that did get to its recipient on time was a tree skirt for my sister & brother-in-law.

I've had the fabric for this project for months. It took me so long to decide on a pattern. I would make up my mind & start to lay everything out just to change my mind again & again & again. But I'm really happy with how it finally turned out.

One of my favorite little details is the snowflakes in the quilting. Thanks to my new sewing machine (the best Christmas gift from the best boyfriend) I have all these fun decorative stitches.

The fabric is super cute & this was one of my favorites.

And of course I had to get a picture of my tag on the finished project.

Karie got the tree skirt on Friday...barely in time! But it was under her tree for the big day & looked great!

Jacob & I spent Christmas day cooking (ham balls, vegetable casserole, party potatoes) & baking (pizzelles, sugar cookies). My mom safely made it to California (all by herself...I'm so proud) & we walked around Naples looking at the houses decorated for Christmas. Apparently the neighborhood theme was "Movies."

Mom has a bit of a thing for Snoopy.

This was the winner in my mind though! Talk about a Griswold house!

After we'd had our fill of Christmas lights we came home to have dinner & open presents. All in all, it was a wonderful, relaxing day.

I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas as well...full of family, friends, love, & laughter. We missed all of you terribly & wished you could have been here...because it's 70 here & most likely a lot colder where you are. :)

New Wave Quilt for Katie (Kenzie)

I am so happy to finally post pictures of this quilt. I started it over a year ago without any solid idea of who it would be for or why I was making it. But then a friend saw it in progress & told me how much she loved it. Perfect, I thought, someone to give it to! And several months later she told me she was pregnant!! Double perfect, an excuse to give a friend a present!

The quilt made it to its new home a week ago. Apparently Katie (pregnant Katie, not me Katie) had a really rough week at work & her daughter had a bad one as well...which of course made Katie's week even tougher. Then Friday...voila! A present in the mail. I was so glad to be able to put a little happy in her week. But I should have known better than to send her a quilt & only send her daughter a book. About half an hour after getting home, Kenzie had already stolen her mama's quilt.

The other day, I got this email:

After a long COLD day, Sis and I are lounging around. I as

ked her if she needed a blanket and she went right over, picked up MY quilt from you and handed me her bird blanket. She said, "today we trade, Momma!" Oh Stinker!

I'm so glad they love it and I'm so glad we have them as friends.

For those who care, the fabric is Tula Pink Hushabye. I actually got the line in both the pink & blue colorways. The pink became this quilt, & the blue, a quilt for Warren.

The pattern is New Wave from Oh, Fransson!. This quilt was my first experience actually using a pattern & I can't say enough how great this tutorial was. Easy to understand, easy to measure, easy to make, etc. I'm so happy with the outcome.

And this was my inspiration for the quilting.

Denyse Schmidt & LAMQG

WARNING: This is a quilting post.

In the weeks leading up to our move, Jacob & I frequently talked about all the things we looked forward to in California: fresh avocados, no freezing winters, panaderias, the beach, fresh avocados, etc. One of the things I was really excited about was the active modern quilting community out here. Living in Manhattan, the closest modern quilt guild was in Kansas City. Where we are now, I have the luxury of choosing between two guilds!

Last night I attended my first guild event: Denyse Schmidt gave a talk for the LAMQG about quilt design, fabric design, stationary design, & writing books. Denyse is credited with starting the modern quilting movement & I was so excited for this opportunity!

Here are a few of my favorite quilts that Denyse highlighted at last night's event:

Photos courtesy of dsquilts.com

I stayed a little longer after the talk ended so I could be one of those people who asked for an autograph.

Because of our move I haven't done any sewing in WAY too long. I think I had some separation anxiety being apart from my fabric for so long. After last night I'm feeling super inspired & motivated to get back to my rotary cutter, rulers, & machine. Hopefully I quickly make some progress on my WIPs (works in progress) & start some new ones.