WIP: Kids Art Quilt: Turning Your Kids Paintings into Unique Fabric

Here is my 5 year old's first fabric line. We couldn't be more excited!!

A Quick Quilt

The church contacted me to let me know there was a baptism coming up for 7 year old boy. Thinking that a 7 year old boy would not appreciate a playmat - I decided to make  a quick Twin sized quilt to welcome him into the church community.

School Auction Quilt

Our kids go to a lovely preschool. Every year they have various fundraisers and I donated a quilt for their silent auction. After speaking to the family who won the bid they decided they wanted a 'purple, modern quilt with flowers'. I do not have a whole ton of modern designs on tap so I consulted my bookcase. This design is based off of the Peacock Blue quilt that can be found in Brave New Quilts. Though I replaced the tear drop peacock motives with flowers.

Bee Purposeful: Navy and Aqua Chevron Striped Quilt

Back in July 2013 Little Miss Shabby asked for participants in a quilting bee that would fundraise for her churches mission work.

Memorial Quilt: Bear Paw Shirt Quilt

When I was first given the materials for this quilt I was a little scared. I had no idea how to make this pile of shirts into a beautiful quilt for the family.

Diary of a Longarm: Day 6-8

I have loaded the memorial quilt that I have been avoiding to quilt so long on Bernie. Loading on a longarm really is so easy and the lack of 505 spray & endless smoothing while on my knees made me feel like there is hope in this purchase.

For this quilt I was using ladies shirts. All sorts of different patterns & materials. The family wanted to use the quilt in their house in Vermont - so we agreed on the traditional Bear Paw pattern.

Union Jack Patchwork Quilt

This was a custom quilt that I made for a family for Christmas. The wife had seen my Union Jack Recycled Sweater Quilt and wanted a Union Jack Quilt - perfect sofa size for her husband - who was British too.

I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed quilting this quilt because I'm usually really nervous about starting the quilting process of a quilt - but all that practice must be paying off as I'm really pleased with this quilt - as is the receiving family.

The red squares are quilted using a design I first saw on Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project - she calls the design Pearled Feather. 

Sticking with Leah's site to describe the other parts of the quilt design. The white portions of the quilt are quilted in Echo Shell - but I used 5 echos on each shell.

The red diagonals are sort of like a mussel shell. 

The blue squares are quilted in a spiral that I honed from Angela Walters class on craftsy.

The quilt measured approx 92" x 52". It might be the last large quilt I quilt on Bernie (sssh don't tell him.) I felt pleased with the result.

Technical Info:
Batting: Supreme Loft Quilters Dream Cotton Batting
Backing Fabric: Wide Flannel Quilt Backing Leaf Black
Top: Blue Fabrics: Bumper 2 Bumper Tonal Dot Dark Blue, Peanuts Hugs for Heroes Netting Navy, Timeless Treasures Sketch Navy, Kona Dimensions Honeycomb Navy. Red Fabric: Christmas Peace Paisley Red, Timeless Treasures Soho Solid Broadcloth Cranberry, Moda Weave Texture Country Red, White Fabric: Various white on white fabrics from stash.
Border & Binding: Timeless Treasures Soho Solid Broadcloth Cranberry
Thread: Aurifil Quilting Thread 50 wt Dark Navy, Natural White, Carmine Red & Sulky® Clear Premier Invisible Thread in bobbin

Children's I SPY QUILTs Auction & Giveaway

I have finished all three I Spy Quilts. Two of them are now up for auction. The smaller one will be a giveaway. (Please note this giveaway is for shipping within the US only.)

Each quilt comes with a list of lots of fun things you can try and spot in the quilts. My children are totally enchanted with these quilts. I will post more about how I quilted them again soon.


PROCEEDS:
All funds from the auctions will be donated to 'Quilting A Memory'. This is a charitable organization that provides free quilting services to the families of fallen service men & women - using their clothes/uniforms to make beautiful & detailed quilts that can be treasured for ever. Materials for a Queen sized quilt typically come to approximately $130. It would be wonderful to raise something around this amount by selling these two quilts.


Please bid on the quilts - these links will take you to their listings on eBay. Auctions & Giveaway will end Sunday December 15th and I will mail the quilts on Monday 16th.

I SPY Quilt - Red Border & blue binding
Measures 47.5"w x 54"h
165 squares of different fabric with hundreds of items to spot. 
Click for eBay Listing is here.

I SPY Quilt - Pink border & binding
Measures 46"w x 53"h
168 squares of different fabric with hundreds of items to spot. 
Click for eBay Listing is here.

I SPY Quilt - Green border & orange binding
Measures 46"w x 46"h
144 squares of different fabric with hundreds of items to spot. 
To win this giveaway quilt (green border with orange binding) please leave a comment on the blog below - ensure you leave a way that I can contact you - e-mail, blog or website. 

BIGGEST THANKS TO ......
Practically all the materials for these quilts was donated. I would again like to deeply thank all those who contributed to these super cute & fun quilts:
Anita, MD
Mary-Etta, MD
Candice, OH
Anne from Bunny Hill Designs
Cathy from Blueberry Patch 
Corey from Little Miss Shabby
Pat, MD
Mike from The Amateur Quilter
Angela from Sewing with Squeak
Toni from Hoosier Toni 
Elke, ME
Leanne, NY
Chris Lang, OH

Memory Quilt: Wedding Memories

Five years ago a loving Sister and Bridesmaid made a plan - she would get each guest at the wedding to decorate a square of cotton with messages of love. These cotton squares would then be made into a Memory Quilt for the Bride and Groom. Five years later the squares had been decorated but the quilt had not been made. Recently her sister unfortunately got the news that she would have to have a double mastectomy - and she wanted to get the quilt completed to provide love and comfort to her sister after the operation.

I was honored to be asked to help complete this quilt. In my previous post I mentioned the 70+ Fancy Fandango's I had been toiling away on (see above). They were for this quilt. Each corner has a gold Fancy Fandango placed on it. I like that they add some texture to the quilt which would otherwise be perhaps a bit blocky.
 

You can clearly see the flower pattern I quilted all over. This flower design is an adapted from a design that Angela Walters showed me on her Craftsy lesson.

In the central panel there is a Celtic Blessing - it is quilted with hearts - it reads:

-->

"I wish you not a path devoid of clouds,

Nor a life on a bed or roses,

not that you might never need regret,

nor that you should never feel pain.

No, that is not my wish for you. ...

... My wish for you is:

That you might be brave in times of trial,

when others lay crosses upon your shoulders.

When mountains must be climbed,

and chasms are to be crossed,

When hope can scarce shine through.

That your gift God gave you

Might grow along with you

and let you give the gift of joy

to all who care for you. ....

 

... That you may always have a friend

who is worth that name.

Whom you can trust, and who helps

you in times of sadness.

Who will defy the storms

of daily life at your side. ...

... One more wish I have for you

that in every hour of joy and pain

you may feel God close to you.

This is my wish for you

and all who care for you.

This is my hope for you,

Now and forever."

At the base of the central panel I added some metallic free motion quilting to the Celtic Cross. I also added more Fancy Fandango's and some ribbon that had been kept all that time from the bridal shower. I wanted to make something that looked somewhat bridal bouquet like. The border around the blessing was made my doing a satin stitch over a piece of yarn. It made a very neat and nicely raised ridge for the border.

The label for the quilt is made from a decorated square too. I love this square. 

Here it is all folded up and wrapped in another ribbon from the bridal shower - ready to go to provide love, memories and comfort. 

Technical Info:
Batting: Quilters Dream Wool Batting 100% Wool
Backing Fabric: 110" Wide Quilt Backing Daisy Cream
Top: Client provided decorated cream & brown squares, Quilting Treasures Autumn Speckle Blender Pumpkin, Celebration Outline Rose Metallic Cream, Joy of Life Metallic Gold
Binding: Quilting Treasures Autumn Speckle Blender Pumpkin 
Ribbon: provided by client

Quilting Thread (Top & Bobbin): Sulky® Clear Premier Invisible Thread & Gutermann Decor Metallic Yellow Gold

Doing the Fancy Fandango with Jennie Rayment

 
I think I have mentioned before that my Grandmother was a keen patchworker and knitter. We sadly never got a chance to share the passion together. I also have some UK patchwork royalty in my family too - the wonderful Jennie Rayment. Jennie has been my step-mum for a long long time - although I have none of her actual sewing genius genes - she is a great inspiration to me. Jennie's work is quite incredible and she was able to stop and stay with us in between teaching & Houston. She was kind enough to give my church quilting group a private talk. It was so much fun, witty and so inspirational to us all.

A lot of Jennie's creations are made from manipulating and folding fabric (think origami for fabric fans.) You can see the vast array of quilts she showed us due to the massive pile on the floor. I don't know how she drags everything around the world with her - she is much fitter than I.

One of the things that Jennie showed me was a box made out of what she calls Fancy Fandango's (you can get the pattern of a Fancy Fandango on this DVD). During Jennie's stay I was in the planning stage for a Memory quilt and these Fancy Fandago's really spoke to me.

 

So what did you do this Thanksgiving season? Because I made 70+ of these little guys ranging from 0.75"- 2" finished size!

Memory Quilt: Recycled Baby Bedding

I was asked to make some new bedding for a family's little girl (5) who was graduating from her crib/toddler bed into brand new bunk beds. Her toddler bed had various bedding - a bed skirt, sheet, pillows & blanket.

We talked about what would be best and we decided that a duvet cover instead of a quilt would be most utilized.The aim was to make two matching duvet covers for each bunk.

I carefully took all the old bedding apart, washed it all, ironed and began to assess how much fabric we had. The family wanted a very classic calm design and we decided on plain squares - keeping them 5" in size so the duvets would seem classic but still modern.

I am pleased with the result. They look like something out of a Pottery Barn catalog. The flannel duvet covers are so soft and the weight of the quilted top make them feel very expensive - I'm not sure anyone would guess at first glance that these are a recycled project.
 
After I had pieced the tops I attached the quilted tops to cream flannel duvet cover top & added stitched detail using some Gutermann Heavy Duty Polyester Thread in straight lines.

I love how this looks - I will have to use this again on another project.

We still had a little bit of fabric left over so I made Teddy a little apron (happily modeled here by Felix the bunny)

 

.... and Teddy also got the cutest sleeping bag too (I haven't let my girls set eyes on this - I just know they would want thousands for all their stuffed toys!)

Here is the little package all together. Duvet on bed, 2nd duvet cover folded, Teddy's apron & Teddy's sleeping bag.

******

Other Recycled quilted projects:
Union Jack Sweater Quilt
9/11 Memorial Firefighters T-shirt Quilt
Memorial Uniform Quilt
Men's Cotton Shirt Quilt

Update: Charity I-Spy Quilt

To read about how this project came about go here. 

I just wanted to let you know that I have been blown away with the amount of fabric that has sent to me and I'm very excited to start sewing this project.

The huge amount of donations have come from:
Anita, MD
Mary-Etta, MD
Candice, OH
Anne from Bunny Hill Designs
Cathy from Blueberry Patch 
Corey from Little Miss Shabby
Pat, MD
Mike from The Amateur Quilter
Angela from Sewing with Squeak
Toni from Hoosier Toni 
Elke, ME

Thank you to everyone so far. Be quick if you haven't sent your donations in - I've done all my cutting and I'm about to start sewing.

Kid Painted Quilt #2 - Throwing Paint

You might remember my girls throwing paint at fabric this summer. Here is what the fabric looked like after we had washed & dried it.

Many of you might not see my vision here - but I decided I wanted to try to piece together curves. I used the Drunkard's Path block - I found this great tutorial at Stitched by Crystal. These blocks were very quick easy to make.  

I liked the circles layout to begin with - the design made me think of moons & planets.

 But in the end I settled on this design.

I am very pleased with this quilt - for a couple of reasons. I really love the fabric the girls made and the way it looks in the quilt against the bright white.

I feel like I pieced the blocks together well & accurately.

And I have conquered my fear of free motion feathers. I have feathers on a curves & bends, feathers in corners - feathers in the middle of other feathers. This quilt is covered in feathers.

Some of my feathers are not perfect - but on the whole they have improved so much. You might remember my feather peacock - which was obviously a good exercise and helped me learn some skills.

Once you have the feather pattern down - you can cover the quilt really quickly. Although I have to constantly remind myself to slow down - speed seems to be my biggest enemy when it comes to free motion quilting. 

I am really liking these little projects with the girls. They provide fun activities for us. They give me something to work with that the girls created. And they give me valuable practice in piecing & quilting skills.

Our other kid painted fabric projects this summer have included:

Kid painted Teepee

Kid painted Garden Picnic Blanket

Kid painted Quilt #1 - Blotter Art

Kid painted Quilt #3 - Spraying Paint

Kid painted Quilt #4 - Shaving Foam Paint

Union Jack Recycled Sweater Quilt

I put this quilt together in May - if you remember I used scrap cotton on the back of the felted sweaters to help keep their shape after they were cut and while I was piecing them together  and then you saw me layer it in June with my trusty cardboard roll.

This quilt has been sitting staring at me from our spare room waiting until I felt confident enough to take it on with my improving free motion quilting skills. 

I quilted the quilt from the back. The backing is mostly a light blue paisley pattern with a scrappy strip along one edge. Following the paisley curves gave a very fluid soft quilting pattern on top. My thanks to my quilting teacher Teri who suggested this idea. It is something I will surely use again - using the backing as an outline for quilting patterns. 

The finished quilt measures 86 x 72. I used flannel instead of cotton on the top as I wanted something with a soft/fuller texture to blend in with the felted sweaters. The flannel & felted sweaters give it a heavier cosy feel - perfect for the winter which unfortunately will probably soon be here. 

The Union Jack is placed on the bottom 2/3rds of the quilt so once you put it on your bed the Union Jack isn't covered by comforters or pillows.

It felt good to make a Union Jack. I've lived in New York for nearly 10 years now. I still feel very British at heart.

Technical Info:
Batting: Warm & Natural 100% Cotton Batting
Backing Fabric: Blue Cotton Paisley from stash
Top: A E Nathan 108" Wide Flannel Quilt Backing Navy
Border & Binding: 108" Wide Flannel Quilt Backing Red
Thread: Aurifil Quilting Thread 50 wt Dark Navy & Sulky® Clear Premier Invisible Thread

Free Motion Quilting: Around the World Play Mat

This is a preprinted panel that I picked up at JoAnn's. I've admitted previously that I've been a bit prejudiced about preprinted panels. But I am now humbled and yet again shown myself that you shouldn't make up your mind about things until you have tried them. It reminds me of when I was pregnant with our first bunny and I had this idea that she would only have one wholesome wood toy - and now - our playroom is full of small pink plastic princess toys.

This was a quick and easy gift to make and I hope it will get lots of play in the future. I used an invisible thread and used my BSR foot (we are not yet friends) to follow around all the countries. I can not tell you how much I learnt about Geography while doing this - and I took Geography at school - although our Geography had a more social element to it - now I'm making excuses for my lack of intelligence about how long the River Nile is (4132miles apparently.)


After I had attacked the panel with my growing free motion skills (along each longitude & latitude lines and around every country, lake, river, island) I added a pocket in the bottom right hand part of the panel. And this is where I get really excited - a button hole!!! I have a button hole foot that I haven't really used since I got Bernie - and I don't know why I've never used it. THRILLED I learnt something new - though now I will try not to add button holes to everything.

I'm an addict of a website about sensory and learning play for kids - and Asia at Fun At Home with Kids put me onto Safari Ltd Toobs. They are tubes of small plastic miniatures. I got four Toobs:

...In the Water (boats) ...

... In the Air (airplanes) ...

... Around the World (Famous World buildings like the Eiffel Tour, Big Ben etc) ... 

... and World Landmarks. 

You can fit about two packs of the miniatures in the pockets (or your select favorites) at the same time.

The playmat and miniatures roll up in the mat for easy transportation. Why not take the world with you at all times?  To Granny's house or on a picnic, upstairs, downstairs .....

... happy travelling brave little explorers!