Scrappy scottie

Another handmade holiday gift, this one for Malcolm to give to Hamish. Starting with a Denyse Shmidt pattern, I went back to the last extra fabric panel from my marquee projects. The squares are cut from bias strips, then pieced at alternating angles. Alert readers may remember that Hamish has been the recipient of two projects using these same fabric panels (the gaming quilt and the consolation quilt), so Scrappy should feel right at home.

Hexy update

The one-inch hexy count has reached 820. I've started hand stitching the pieces together into larger hexagon blocks. Over the holidays I hope to start working in some four-inch hexies over the holidays.

Wedding quilt

We just gave this quilt to some good friends for their wedding. The pattern is 'Sexy Hexy' available for free from Amy Butler. It was a lot of fun to make and I enjoyed working with the bold bright prints. It was also my first experience working with glue stick - the center hexagons are stabilized with freezer paper, the seam allowances glue sticked to the back of the paper, and then top stitched to the already assembled outer rings of the hexagon. It made the tricky business of matching the corners very easy.

The biggest challenge on this project was completely self imposed. I fussy cut all the hexagon sides (except the columbine and lindy leaf, if memory serves) for maximum kaleidoscope effect. That's a lot of fussing! But I'm glad I did it.

The pieced back is a calmer palette of two blue fabrics.

I ran with the floral theme for the quilting. It's a free motion loopy daisy pattern (photo by Stacey Sharman).

The quilt is finished with a hand-embroidered label attached to the corner binding on the back of the blanket (photo by Stacey Sharman).

Fabrics:
Lindy Leaf, Pocketbook  and Welcome Road by Heather Bailey for Free Spirit
Sunflower, Flower Fields and Columbine by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit
Bubble Burst by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit
Lotus Pond by Amy Butler for Free Spirit
Sophie's Garden by Erin McMorris for Free Spirit
Posh Petals by Khristian Howell for Anthology Fabrics
Mod Trees by Giancini Atelier for Anthology Fabrics

Next on the gift list

Please tell me you see Mario when you squint.

Christmas list

I've checked the first item off my Christmas list. I used an Amy Butler pattern to sew these two kitten pillows for my niece. The larger one is the pattern size;the smaller is three-quarters size, though the face isn't reduced quite as much. I decided the two looked better together if the faces are closer to the same size. That's the way it is in real life, right? The proportion of a baby's/kitten's head to her body is larger than the same proportion for an adult.

The fabric is from the Clothworks Woodland Friends collection, with contrasting color on the back of each pillow. The faces are felt with a satin stitched edge.

The biggest challenge was stuffing the ears and feet without overstuffing. I popped a couple seams in the process and ended up whip-stitching on the outside to repair. I've decided to follow Cyn's lead and value the scars.

The back is finished with a bit of hand embroidery to personalize the gift.

Something different

Here's a peek at another project I'm finishing up. In the past I've worked with finer, more tonal prints, so using large-scale, mostly floral fabrics was intimidating and exciting. The color palette also stretched my comfort zone. I'll have more photos soon.

Name and date

I've resolved to be better about labeling my quilts. For the shirting quilt, I embroidered a tag and sewed it into the corner binding. The embroidery itself goes faster than I expected, especially considering all the time that goes into piecing and quilting a blanket. Now I have to finish hand sewing the binding to the back of the quilt.

What's your favorite way to label your projects?