A Christmas Wish...

May this holiday season be filled with Light, love, joy, and peace for your and yours!  

Just in time...

"Not my normal color palate" turned into this:

 and I am in love!!!  I could not be more thrilled with this quilt!  It measures 70"x80", larger than I had originally decided on, but I had to go big- I love big quilts!~  So a BIG lap quilt it is :)  This quilt, if you remember, was made for my dear friend who just began a three year chemo regimen.  So for on the days she may need an extra hug, here is a HUG for her!!  It is not my normal color choices, but it is oh so her!!  I am giddy with how much it looks like her!  And I absolutely loved watching the colors come together!  It was a work of love- a fast one too- my fabrics did not all arrive until four days ago, and with the holidays and all the obligations I had this week, I was up til the wee hours every night getting this done.  It has to be done by today to go in the "Hug" boxes her family is giving her for Christmas.  She will open a box each month- such a wonderful idea!  It is in the wash at the moment so it can get all lovely and crinkly in the dryer, and then it will be delivered to the boxer-uppers!  I can hardly wait!  What a fantastic surprise!

 For quilting, I chose my all time favorite, teeny tiny loops!  It just makes me smile, and it's an added bonus that it makes it crinkle up extra good in the dryer! ;)

I chose prints and solids for the front- and love how they play together!  It was my first time mixing in quite a few solids and I will definitely be doing this again!  A good thing!  The backing had to be a super soft vintage sheet.  I had found this butterfly one a while back and was so happy that it had not been listed (and cut into) yet!  The colors are perfect, and I love that it's a butterfly!  It reminds me of hope!  So it fit this quilt to a tee!  

Off it goes for a special Christmas box of HUGS!!!

(photo from Mel at The Larson Lingo)

When there are no words, it is all there is.  And hope...

Hello Pickles is DONE-- Yeehaw!!

Finally, a year and a half later, Hello Pickles is COMPLETED!!  Hip hip hooray!  The pattern is from sweet FeistyEily.  I am so beyond excited!  Piecing the top took a bit longer than I planned, and then I added the border at the end, so it took a bit longer then I had hoped.  Life happens- seriously!!  Does that happen to everyone else??  I am blown away by how many amazing quilts my quilty friends can make!  Either I am re.al.ly slow or I just don't put as much priority on my quilting- I hope it's the latter :).  hehe.  With my family and life obligations, quilting has to take a back seat most of the time.  I long to finish projects and make beautiful pieces, but some times, it just has to wait.  And I have had to come to a place in my mind where that's ok.  I may never be a hugely "popular" blogger, but I make things that bring joy to people, and create sunshine in their lives, and that is what quilting is all about, to me.  

 I love how the completed top looks, but the back (even though it's just one piece of fabric) really has my heart.  This quilt was made for a special boy in my family.  He surprised me by his choice of fabrics- I had expected dark, somber prints with maybe a few bright pops of color, but he blew me away with his choice of a modern, very brightly colored bundle from Sew Fresh Fabrics.  Peg and Becca had run out, but created one for me with just one substitution- it saved the day!!  One piece of fabric was this backing print- it was just a FQ though.  The boy just could not get over how awesome that print was- it had become one of my all time favorite prints, once I saw it too!!  I knew I wanted to back it in that print, but never dreamed how tricky that would prove.  Apparently the fabric had been sold out and after much crying and tons of searching, I found an amazing etsy seller that had the 6 years I needed!!  WOW!!  So there's the back, all awesome and colorful- it's called Wild Garden.  

 The background is Kona Ash- love that color!  Love how the colors around it POP!!  It's a favorite for backgrounds!

 For quilting, I chose to FMQ spirals on all the colored centered blocks and I zig zaged over the entire ash centered blocks.  I alternated the directions of the zig zags on each row.  It turned out fun!  How I wish I had a larger throat space on my machine- someday, someday.  I'm working with under 6" here, so it gets tricky.  

 The quilt is abut 100" long and over 6' wide.  I love how it looks with all the happy colors showing!

 All rolled up and ready to go to that awesome boy I know!!

Warm Cool Quilt Along DONE, Finally~

A year and a half later, the warm cool quilt along quilt I made for a kiddo is finally done :).  The top has been done for quite some time- over a year, but the child requested a minty backing and it honestly scared me.  I had read so many posts about what nightmare minky was to baste and quilt that I put it off as long as possible!  I LOVE how it turned out, and the child likes it even more, so everyone is happy!!  I love these colors myself so it was very fun to make too!

 The minky was not near as bad as I had dreaded!  The quilt is between a twin and queen so the size is what had me so worried!  When I sandwiched the quilt, I taped it down to the floor really well!  With duct tape :)  Then I used an entire can of 505 to spray baste it- told ya I was really scared it would wiggle or move.  :)  hehe!  Then I got the batting and top situated with spray, and then added pins to have an extra extra good hold of that minky.  

 Once it was all situated, I took it to the sewing machine and got to work!  I decided to quilt it to mirror the diamonds made by the colors.  I love the simplicity of it!  You can sort of (if you look really hard) see the design on the back a photo down.  

 The quilting...  The minky is the softest I have ever felt, and it gives the quilt a wonderful weight.  I love a quilt that's just a drop on the heavy side!

 All rolled up and ready to give to a sweet kiddo!!  So after so long, it is wonderful to have it done and to be able to see it being used!  Makes a quilter happy :)

Not my normal color palate...

I have a dear friend who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in the past few weeks.  She just began THREE YEARS of chemo.  It hurts my heart to know a little of the things she will experience.  My mom had chemo during my Senior year of high school, so I have been there a bit.  She is a survivor and has such an amazing attitude.  And I believe in miracles, so I have faith all will be well.  For Christmas, her family wants to surprise her with a "box of hugs" for each month.  They asked friends to participate in the fun too.  I immediately knew I had to make a quilt.  It just hollered at my heart and head!!  

After several calls, I found out her favorite colors are autumn colors.  I go for more happy, rainbow jewel tones, so these were not in my stash.  After several trips to get Kona solids, some beautiful prints, and a couple etsy orders (I am still waiting on 4 solids), I am almost ready.  The creme is the background and the vintage butterfly sheet will be the back!  I usually wait til I have the top pieced to pick a binding- I'm just weird that way :).  

As much as these are not my normal colors, they are gorgeous and I can hardly wait to see it come together!  I hope those last few colors get here fast because this has to be done by the 20th!  I'll be doing some fast and furious sewing :)  Love it!  I am so glad that I know how to make something that can give her a hug on a day she may need it!

A little Dolly...

A sweet little girl I know asked for a "pink doll", and I just had to oblige!  I drew out the perfect doll, and although she did not come out quite as I planned, she's still awfully cute :)!  I call her "knobby knees".  She is very well loved, especially her long hair!  The yarn comes down to her legs :)  She's just right for the little girl to love and cuddle.  She's about 20" tall.  It was fun to try to start from square one and go from there- with a cute end result!  And it made a little girl happy- what better result it there?!!