Picnic Worthy Patchwork

I recently bought up some Country Girls fabric and mixed in a little bit of April Showers.  Just because.
The two play nice together.  I was able to make up 2 patchwork baby quilts using my FQ's I got and some blue Lakehouse polka-dot print.  YUMMY.

Before I got my Babylock, I was sewing on a Brother Innovis.  This was my 'transitioning' machine.  She worked really well, for what I needed, until I wanted to go big time.  Haha - well big time in my mind.
My Brother (Penelope) did not enjoy straight line quilting.  She would cause puckers everywhere and this would give me major anxiety...which led to me hating straight line quilting.  Interestingly enough, she relished in the stipple.

I have been getting to know my Babylock, whom I have lovingly named Betty, after Betty Draper in Mad Men.  I named her after I saw Betty sitting at her kitchen table sewing one night with a cocktail by her side. This fits me perfectly, so Betty she is! ;)  That is where my similarities with Betty Draper end.  Moving on...

As I have been getting to know Betty, she LOVES to straight line quilt. NO Puckers!  NONE!  It's amazing. I read somewhere that your walking foot could be to tight, thus causing the puckers.  I never tried to fix it on my Brother, because at that point I was just annoyed and threw in the towel.  Well, I can happily say, I have retrieved the towel and am back to doing SLQ!

I quilted around the border, then cross-hatched the inside.  I ♥ cross-hatching.

 

This one I used the green duck walk print from Country Girls for the outer borders.  Aren't they so sweet?

And I echoed the patchwork lines.

These quilts are ready for a picnic!  Let's go!

♥

What about you?  What is your favorite thing your sewing machine does, and one not so favorite thing that you wish you could change on it?


Linking up to:
Anything Goes Mondays
Sew Cute Tuesday
Fabric Tuesday

Patchwork and Chenille

 I have recently fallen in love with Chenille.

Who knew Chenille could add such interest and texture to a quilt?
And it washes up deliciously soft and buttery.
Soft like a teddy bear.

This is one of my very favorite go-to designs for a quilt.  It's super fast and easy, but with simple classic patchwork that catches your eye.

Notice how the Chenille is wider spaced than your typical Chenille?  This is Riley Blake's Chenille.  It's AMAZING.

Yummy right?

Tips for working with Chenille:

• Have a vacuum on hand for after you've cut the Chenille. It's messy, like Minky.  And you probably should use your old cutting mat that you save for cutting batting and minky.  Don't use your new pretty one.
• I recommend purchasing high quality (quilt shop) Chenille, rather than from the you-know-where store.
• Wash in COLD COLD water.  I detest pre-washing fabric, and the Chenille does shrink up quite a bit, so wash in cold and you'll be fine.  Promise.
• It does shed, even after washing.  Use a lint roller over it.  I'm hoping that after it is washed a few times, the shedding will stop.  ;)

Quilt Stats:
Mostly Riley Blake Sidewalks fabric used  (purchased bundle from Fresh Modern Fabric)
Chenille purchased from my LQS

Measures: Approx 32 x 33

This quilt is in the shop!

Linking up To:
Anything Goes Mondays
Sew Cute Tuesday
Fabric Tuesday
Let's Bee Social
Needle & Thread Thursday

♥

School's out and Summer is IN!

I've been a busy mama bee to get end of school year stuff done.  I made these notebooks for the kids teachers.  I did a cheesy theme of 'bees' because this fabric was too cute.  I didn't get pictures of the notes we made, but it said:
'You are the bee's knees!  Thanks for keeping us buzzing with knowledge!'
See, cheesy right??  But still cute I think. ;)  Robot Child #1 said it was lame. Hahaha!  Oh kids....

Updated to add:
I forgot to add the tutorial I have been using for these notebook covers!  I feel so bad!! I'm happy to give credit to those whom I use their ideas and tutorials!!  Egads...I am just forgetful.

I used this tutorial from Riley Blake.  It is super easy.  Go make one!  You'll see. ;)

We have a tradition in my house for the end of school year.  I get a bunch of little things for the girls to keep them occupied during summer....it's the Summer Activity  Basket!  Now, I realize the items stuffed in these baskets are only going to keep them occupied for a short amount of time...but the girls did really well in school and they deserve a little bit of fun.

Robot Child #1 loves Paris, even tho she's never been, but as a little(r) one she loved reading Fancy Nancy, so I think that's where this comes from. ;)  SO, when I saw this Paris fabric, I had to use it of course!  I've now made 7 of these baskets....they are super addicting.

She also wanted a notebook cover since I made my first one a while back, so I made her one to match, with a little Paris heart detail. ;)

Sorry for the Instagram pictures - I was in a hurry to get it all done before school got out and of course, my camera battery died.  GRRR.

  

Are you on IG?  Find me and lets be friends!  I am:  @robotmomsews

Here they are all filled up with goodies and stuff to do.  Paper dolls, activity books, drawing pads, colored pencils, watercolor pencils, bubbles.....oh my.  I hope this stuff lasts a while. ;)

Robot Child #2 loves Piggies.  Piggies are her favorite thing in the world.  Piggies make her smile and that makes me smile. :)

To say they were happy and ecstatic is an understatement!!  They loved their baskets and goodies. :)  They have played happily and content...and now I have spent hours cutting out paper dolls. What was I thinking?

To leave you, here is a pug picture.  :)  We got a bike trailer, well Robot Child #2 calls it her 'carriage'. She's a little bit of a princess if you haven't guessed.  So we put Mimi in there to go on a bike ride with us.
Don't let Mimi's face-of-sheer-terror fool you.  She loved it...well mostly. ;)

Linking up to:
Quilt Story
I Have to Say
Sew Cute Tuesday

♥

Woodland Friends

I forgot to blog about this one.  :(  Awww...sad.  I feel bad for little quilts that don't get their own blog post, so here we go.

This one is just a simple block quilt with lots of coordinating squares...sort of like a postage stamp quilt.

It turned out more rectangle than I would have liked, but it's ok.  I still love it.

The little deer prints and the wood grain are my favorites.

And I backed it in the woodland friends print (sorry, can't remember who this is by - but it's super cute!) and a plaid binding. :)

Hope you all had a great weekend!  It went by way to fast for my liking!

I've been busy doing end of school year stuff.  I can't believe this school year is already over!!  WAY too fast.  Now, what to do to keep my kids entertained during the summer is the big question. ;)

I have lots more to share tho, I know I promised that last week, but I'm working on it, I promise!

Linking up to:
Quilt Story
I Have to Say
Blossom Heart Quilts

♥

Craftsy Free Mini Classes available!

Try a Free Mini Class at Craftsy!

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Are you looking to take your crafting to the next level, or perhaps branch out and learn a new skill, but aren't sure where to get started? Check out the Craftsy Free Classes, mini classes that allow you to sample everything from food classes to quilting (How fun would A New Look at Longarm Quilting with Mandy Leins - FREE! be?), to photography (Seriously, Learn How To Take Professional Family Portraits with Craftsy for FREE! could only help us all.) and more! Just register for your Craftsy account and get started!

Craftsy mini classes are fun and easy, and best of all, there are SEVERAL free ones and free patterns out there on Craftsy.  I've taken many and I enjoy all of the them.  I've got two projects I'm working on from classes I've done thru Craftsy.  I'll be posting my reviews on them soon!!

The classes I have done are these ones:

Twisted Irish Chain

I LOVE this Irish Chain quilt by Amy Gibson.   So fun and she has 3 different quilt patterns all included in this class. Bonus!

Magical Blocks

Anything with 'Magical' in the title sounds awesome to me!  I love the colors and all the different types of blocks in this one.  

So there you have it, I will post my quilts that I've made on these later.  If you haven't heard of Craftsy, go check it out and try a class for free!!

Or, if you've got your eye on a class, keep watching, they do go on sale a lot!  I'm cheap so if I can wait it out for a deal, I'm there!!  

♥

Hey Quilty!

Quilty

It's here!!  I briefly blogged about this last week, but I'm still elated..  ;)

My Zebra Parade quilt is in the May/June issue of Quilty!

Hooray!    There are some AWESOME projects in this issue.  I hope you will check them out.  Quilty is one of my favorite magazines.  It's geared more towards the modern/traditional type quilter.  Lots of tips and tricks included and great projects from the quilting community. 

 Here's some pics of my photo shoot last year after I made this. :)

I've been busy finishing up a couple quilts, which I will post about later this week...I've been dabbling with Chenille and I love it!!  It adds great texture to a quilt. Stay tuned for that!!

♥

It all started with one....

Warning:  Picture Overload!  

This weekend, my daughters kindergarten teacher was having her baby shower and we got invited!  We love her...I've never met such a sweet, caring, all-around awesome teacher in my life!  So, of course we were going.  I decided to make her this divided basket I saw over at Noodlehead.  I purchased the pattern and picked out the fabric I wanted a few weekends ago.  

I had already given her some bibs with this cute doggy print, when she announced she was expecting.  So, why not keep the theme the same, right?

I also made her a receiving blanket, backed with soft flannel.  And, of course, stuffed the other side with diapers.  Can't go wrong there!

It was a hit and I'm super glad.  I know it will be useful and it's cute as well. ;)

Now - before I go on, don't go thinking I whipped this up in an evening.  This took me all day last Saturday. ALL day.  With one or two coke breaks.   Here are some tips I learned along the way:

1.  Most obvious....when the pattern maker says to thoroughly read through the pattern beforehand, read through it a few times.  Maybe 5...just to be safe.
2.  Follow directions.  Don't get ahead of yourself thinking, 'oh I got this'.
3.  You should probably get all the materials needed and lay them out so you aren't running around like a crazy chicken.

So, now that we figured out this bag making biz-ness, I took the bag to my LQS to show them.  I had told them what I was making when I had bought the fabrics there, so why not show-and-tell?  They loved it.

They loved it so much, they wanted me to make a boy and girl version for the shop AND do a class on it.
Me???  Do a class??  After I just spent an ENTIRE Saturday (let's see, 8+hours I'm sure) making my first one?  SURE! Why not!!!  

Giddy with delight, I picked out the fabrics for the shops baskets.  I headed home with visions of unicorns and baby puppies running through my head.  Yah, I was elated.

So, here is Basket # 2...the girl version.  I added some pretty lace trim.

I'm in LOVE with the inside print.  It's a super bright hot pink and red print and I love it.  I bought extra.

And of course, the matching flannel receiving blanket to go with it.

Boy version - Basket # 3.  We kept the dog theme, changed it up a little and added orange.  I LOVE the orange handles.

And a houndstooth lining.  Sigh... LOVE it.

Same flannel as original.  It's Robert Kaufmann and it's really soft.  And we liked the contrast it gave to the puppy print.

So, here they are...side by side.  Ready to head over to the shop.  Squeel!!!!  What do you think?

Haha...Now, enter Basket #4.  Yesterday was Mother's Day.  Happy Mother's Day everyone!  I told my family I was sewing, and I wanted grilled steak for dinner.  That was my plan.  I'm not too demanding right?

I decided to do some selfish sewing and make myself one of these baskets.  I had ordered this owl fabric quite some time ago.  When I got it, I realized it was home dec fabric.  :( Sadness ensued.  However, home dec fabric is PERFECT for these baskets!!   Wahoo!  This is when fabric hoarding is very handy.

 Aren't they cute?

And you can see, the hot pink/red fabric was used gratiously on this baby.  I LOVE it.  It holds all my magazines and books at my bedside. ♥

Speaking of magazines!  Have you seen the new Quilty mag?  I'm IN IT!!!!!!!!!!  YUP!!

So the same day that I took my basket over to the quilt shop and they asked me to make them some, I came home and in my mail, was my very own copy of the magazine with MY quilt in it!!
Can you believe it??  That day was the Best.Day.Ever.  No lie.   There was lots of squealing and jumping around.

Here she is!!  My Zebra Parade quilt.  It's really fast and easy...and fun.  Check it out, won't you?  :)

Phewsh.  That was a lot.  Sorry, but I did warn you.

And...there might be some more baskets on the horizon.

Linked up to:
Blossom Heart Quilts
Quilt Story
My Quilt Infatuation

♥