Pretty Petals

Yay!!! I finished the coin quilt! Thanks everyone for the positive thoughts-- they really helped motivate me to get off my duff and just do it!


I'm calling it Pretty Petals.


Amandajean's Stacked Coins Baby Quilt pattern (available through the Moda Bake Shop-- a great resource!) was just awesome, and really does make a perfect baby quilt.


I decided that with all of the various fabrics and the narrow strips between them, I'd just go with an all-over stipple. Simple and effective, I think. For some reason, I got it into my brain that it would be better not to use my stitch regulator. But it turned out alright (so what if the stitches are a little big, right?).


Another awesome thing about this quilt: it was nearly all made from stash! The only fabric I purchased was 1/3 yard of the Alexander Henry multi-color floral print (because it had all of the colors I wanted to use in one fabric). And I used every bit of that.


I really hope baby Claire likes her new quilt!

Putting off...

I've been putting off working on my stacked coins baby quilt. There's probably about 30 inches of binding left to stitch before it's done...


...and there's been about that much for about 4 weeks now. Since baby Claire was born 5 weeks ago, I seem to have lost all sense of urgency regarding finishing this quilt.

Do you ever have this problem? The project that is just-so-close to done, but you can't seem to get to it? How do you get yourself re-motivated? I'm stuck (so much so that I'd rather write a blog post than finish it!).

Sigh...

An urge to finish

Over the last few days, I've really had this urge to finish some projects. The top third of my Playtime quilt is put together, I finally got my Stacked Coins Quilt to the binding stage (nearly complete!), and then last night I basted my Mod Sampler Quilt (from the Oh, Fransson! Quilt Along).


I've even started working through ideas for one of my long-closeted UFOs (I think I even have a plan now!). Hopefully, I can keep the momentum going.

Stacked coins baby quilt

Over the last few days, I was finally able to get going on my Stacked Coins Baby Quilt-- and I have a completed top!


I think it's looking pretty and sweet so far. Very girly! I've also completed the back, and hope to get it all basted this week (the baby is due next week!).

I'm undecided about how to quilt it. Initially, I was thinking about trying to quilt some pink and yellow or variegated flowers in the sashing strips, with a simple stipple through the coins. But I'm not sure if my skills are quite up to flowers. So then I was thinking an overall stipple, in the style of amandajean's original. Hmmm...

It might be good to try and stretch myself a little.

Trying to get back in the groove

Ugh. More sickness! I swear, I'm cursed. And this time, the boy has got it too. :( Sufficit to say, I've not been very productive on the quilty front. But with the guild meeting coming up on Thursday, I had to get my groove on.

Here is this month's block exchange block:


The fabric choices were left up to us. The instructions said that she preferred "a vintage look with reds, greens, browns, and beiges or off-whites." I had a lot of fun picking out fabrics for this block. I think they work together pretty well.

The only downside to this block is that I actually had to do some calculating. There were no cutting directions. The only instruction was that the four-patches and the half-square triangles should be 4.5" and then be put together to create an 8.5" block. Math with a head cold? Not my cup of tea, to be sure! But (despite the horribly askew picture) my block did end up the right size in the end.

Meanwhile, I also managed to get the binding on the "Little Sheep Quilt." It just needs a label and then will be ready to send off to the new baby! I haven't made the label yet, but the fact that the binding was done made me feel like I could go ahead and start on the next project:


These fabrics are going to be made into a "Stacked Coins Baby Quilt." (And oh, my gosh-- let me tell you, the Moda Bake Shop rocks! So many cool ideas there!) But instead of using a couple of charm packs, I went ahead and dug through my stash and created my own little stack o' 5" squares. I'll be using Kona cotton Snow for the sashing and borders.

Hopefully, I'll be able to start sewing on it soon. (The baby girl is due in a couple of weeks!)