My Dad’s Quilt

Back in July my Dad was in a pretty bad motorcycle accident. Luckily he is alive but sadly he is still a bit broken and still not back at work. After his accident he would basically make me feel guilty every time I saw him by asking me where his quilt was since my Mom had gotten one while she was in the hospital only a few months prior. (you can read see hers here if you want.) Anyhow every time I would respond with oh sure Dad I will make you a 6” quilt to keep your toes warm. We would tease each other that is just how we roll in our family. In October I finally decided I would make my Dad his quilt after he landed himself in the hospital for a unwelcomed stay once again. Now he even had more leverage being there twice I guess. My brother pitched in a little cash and I went fabric shopping!

So I made him his quilt for Christmas. He didn’t know about it. We surprised him!  Well at first he unwrapped a blu-ray telling him to go to the laundry room where his 6” quilt was waiting for him…

He started laughing so hard. He was thrilled with his little mug rug. He even said that would have been good enough but wasn’t willing to give his actual quilt up to my brother. Afterwards I unrolled his big quilt for him. I used the Vintage pattern from the Simply Retro by Camille Roskelley book. I did not add the additional borders (My Dad is not the tallest guy, ssshhhhh). This quilt measures at approx. 60” by 80”.

My Dad has a thing for sailboats. So I had to add a sailboat block. I think that it turned out well. I used the lovely Tula Pink Salt Water line in the blue color way with a few Kona solids thrown in. I paired it was Kona ash and the binding is the anchor print. I couldn’t really make a block with that print because it blended so much but luckily I found yardage on sale for binding! I quilted it on the angle stopping at the sailboat block. I stitched around the sailboat which was easier said than done with my sewing machine.

 

Needless to say my Dad is very happy with his quilt! I am super glad that I made the time to make it for him even though Miss L thought I should be making her quilt instead. Hers is on the list.

 

Happy New Year to all my lovely blog friends! I hope we all have a few fun me projects planned for the new year!

Swoon Pillow

It is so nice to be inspired by those around you. I saw this lovely Christmas swoon pillow on Instagram and thought it was the perfect way to test the block. I have a stack of fabric just waiting to made into a swoon quilt but I was a little nervous. I was given a little push and encouragement to make a pillow. Since I was done my Christmas sewing for others I thought I would make a little something for me!

I did a little digging in “my fabric” and found some lovely Amy Butler Daisy Chain FQs I recently got from a destash on IG. I paired it with Kona snow hopefully dirty fingers will keep their distance! I love how pretty it is :)

I have to say that the block itself is easy to make it just takes forever!!!! (so the that stack will become a swoon quilt eventually! Yay!) This pillow is reduced in size from the original pattern by Thimble and Blossom. The pillow measures at about 18” with the border. I had a small spool of pink variegated Aurifil thread in Mako 12 weight so I decided to do a little hand quilting.  The fussy cut of the medallion print makes me happy!

I love how it turned out! The colors even look perfect with my new chairs that we recently bought for our living room. Yes we finally bought a couch and chairs. The couch is still being made but I am super excited about it!

linking to finish it up friday

WIP and a little finish

December is the month of lots of sewing but not much blogging. Some of my family read my blog so their projects are off limits for blogging at the moment…

I can show you some little things I have been up too though. I am taking part in the Doll Quilt Swap on Flickr, which I am super super excited about! I snooped and then snooped some more and then came up with a cross stitched fox for my partner. I was lacking some orange but some lovely ladies helped me out with some extras! I love this community! Here is a progress shot. I am hoping he will be very handsome!

 

I still have a lot of blocks to sew but so far so good ;) I used Pile O’Fabrics cross-stitch block tutorial but it is a little modified because I needed the blocks a little smaller. I am trying to figure out his ear tips and eye though. Should the eyes be the same print? how about his ears? hmmmm. What do you think?

My little finish is some sweet dumpling pouches. I decided to give Quilt As You Go a try! I have to say that QAYG is a lot of fun. I thought these would make a great “just because” gifts. Although I had to “fix” up one (darn a couple little holes caused by unpicking. I put the zip in upside down, oops) so my sister is getting my damaged goods ;)

I really enjoyed making these. You can find the pattern for these here. I used the harder pattern which is about 4” along the bottom.

Linking to WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation