Comma Fabric Patterns

Sorry I am so slow to check in again...  I did just get back from quilt retreat and I worked on a few quilts using my Comma fabric by Zen Chic. I thought I would give you a sneak peek at the 3 quilts I have made so far using this bundle of fat quarters.  I used 2 different patterns. Both were inspired by pictures of quilts I found on Pinterest.
 
I used 25 of the fat quarters in the bundle (there were 40 all together, so I still have plenty left) to make these two quilts. At first I was calling them "his" and "her" quilts, but people just didn't get it. Plus, now I am considering making one quilt using both of these, one on the back and one on the front. Each one is about 90-inches square.   I saw this pattern and created my own version of it.

Once these are finished, I will post better pictures.
 
The third quilt top I made using this fabric is a strip quilt similar to this one.  I actually used the strips of fabric I had left over after cutting all of the rectangles for the quilts above. I was almost going the throw them away, but I am so glad I didn't; and so is Katie since I promised this quilt to her! The strips were not all the same width so it was a little tricky cutting the gray fabric for the background, but it actually went together a lot faster than I thought it would.

I will also post better pictures of this one and a more detailed description of how it was made once it is all done.

Comma Zen Fabric

This fabric is a new line from Moda, named "Comma,", designed by Zen Chic. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it, and I can't believe that this fabric is still bundled since I bought it 3 months ago. I suppose that might be because I haven't quite figure out what to make with it yet. I know I want to use it to replace the quilt on my bed that the dog accidentally chewed through (Oh-No!!!), but that is about it so far.

I bought this fabric from Country Fabrics and Quilting in November when they had a trunk show/mini shop set up at the quilting and craft retreat I go to twice a year. My intention was to find a pattern to use it with and then make it while I am at the retreat in March. So, I figured I better get to it!

Since there are 40 fat quarters included in this bundle, I am actually thinking about making two smaller quilts from it rather than one large one. We have a king-sized bed but, since I do the quilting on my personal machine, I am not looking forward to making a king size quilt. So, one thought I had was to make a "his" and "hers" quilt. Sounds like a good idea to me because that might mean less fighting over who has more of the blanket.

So, now I am off to find or design a great pattern. Any ideas?

From Popcorn to Puppy Food

At this point, I wonder if there is still anyone out there who doesn't know what Pinterest is? Like many others. I am hooked on it. I love using it as a tool for organizing great web sites I find, and I have a variety of boards that are related to crafts. (Follow me on Pinterest if you like.)

One thing I found on Pinterest that I wanted to try right away was this puppy food tin. My husband buys me a big container of popcorn for Christmas evey year and I am running out of things to do with the empty tins. I saw this idea on Pinterested and thought it was perfect!

It was so easy to make and didn't take much time either. Here is what I used:

• Empty Popcorn Tin
• Red Paint
• Paint Brush
• Cricut Expressions Machine
• Cartridge
• Adhesive Backed Vinyl

Start out by making sure your empty popcorn tin is clean and dry. Use your favorite color of paint, I used red, to paint the outside of the tin and the lid. Let the paint dry completely.

I used a Cricut machine and cartridge to cut out the letters and the puppy, but you can use a stencil instead, of draw them out freehand if you like. I cut out my designs on adhesive backed vinyl so all I had to do was peel the paper backing off and stick it where I wanted it.

A Couple of Quilts

I feel so horrible that we had such good intentions for this blog and somehow, over the last several months, life just got in the way. isn't that the way it goes sometimes though?

I have been busy with several creative ventures over the last several months, bbut since the last post I made was about the Pooh quilt I made for my grandson, I thought I would post a follow up with this post since he is now 11 months old!

My gradnson's name is Easton, and here are the two quilts I made for him after he was born. I couldn't decide on a style for his name quilt so I decided to make him one styled after one I made his daddy, and then I made another one styled after one I made his mommy.

I still need to work on typing up a tutorial for these. Would you be interested in learning how to make one or both?

Winnie the Pooh Quilt

I can't believe it has been so long since our last blog post. I am amazed sometimes how time gets away from me!

I had put quilting on the back burner for awhile. For some reason, I was just not feeling it; this last week, however, I have made 3 quilt tops and am working on a fourth! But I digress... This blog post is about a special quilt I made last month.

This Pooh Bear quilt was made for my 3rd grand baby, who I have nicknamed Jora because Joey (my son) and Sara (his girlfriend) won't tell anyone what name they have picked out. This made it a tad harder for me to decide what kind of quilt to make simply because for the other 2 grand babies I appliqued their names onto the quilt.

I did have some Winnie the Pooh fabric in my stash and I pulled it out to work with because that is the theme they picked for the baby's room. No matter how many quilt patterns I looked at, my mind kept going back to a pattern I downloaded from Blank Quilting Web site called Froggles.

I modified this pattern to suit my needs:

And since I couldn't applique a name onto the quilt yet, I did do a little applique on the back of the quilt...

Now, I just need to wait for hopefully just a few more days to be able to make the new baby a quilt with his name on it... His due date is February 16th!

Christmas Stockings

This past week I was at quilt retreat...  I usually get at least 3 or 4 quilts made during my week long stay plus a couple of other projects, but this time around I didn't feel like I accomplished much. The projects pictured here are the main reason why:

I actually made 6 of these a couple years ago and I needed to make for this Christmas since there are 4 1/2 new members of our family this year.

This project was so time consuming because I ended up cutting, sewing, and quilting 1445 2-inch pieces of fabric! It was truly a labor of love.

Mason's Quilt

So I can finally post a picture of the quilt I ended up making for baby Mason now that the baby shower is over and I have given it to Emily and Chris. Here is what I ended up coming up with. What do you think?

This quilt pattern was inspired by 3 other quilts I saw:

• Peek-a-Boo Monkey Quilt
• Simple Modern Baby Quilt: Giraffe
• Snuggly Squares II Baby Quilt
  

A huge help in coming up with this pattern was a Web site Katie introduced me to, called Pinterest. I gathered together pictures of all of the baby quilts I liked and it helped me compare them all side by side!