Finish What She Started...

Since I started quilting I have fallen in love with the idea of making a twin sized holiday quilt, for each holiday and for both daughter! It may take my entire life time, but the girls can use them for their own children one day if it takes me longer than 18 years. (Which I'm sure it will ;)

I bought these 6 finished blocks from a vintage fabric shop on Etsy. They came from an Estate Sale!!

I like to imagine a little old lady sitting by a cozy fire sewing these blocks and drinking a hot cocoa. And they look like they were a lot of work so it breaks my heart to think that her project would never get finished...so I'm adopting this sweet little quilt! I hope wherever she is she's smiling knowing that it'll get finished and will hopefully be treasured by my girls for years to come!

 I think this pattern is called a Dresden plate and it was all beautifully hand sewn. There were six in the lot. I just love them...they are so sweet! And I'd never hand sew anything like this...I just don't have the skill or patience yet, so thank you little old lady for passing them along!

I brought the blocks to my local quilt shop to get some advice and see if I could find more vintage fabric because I'm still very much a novice when it comes to creating patterns and choosing fabrics. 

As it turns out Christmas time is not the time to buy Christmas fabric...it's all gone by then...so I went with solid colors to make a nine patch and it's taken me until now to get them together so perfect timing actually. 

The super fab owner of the shop helped me with the math of the project and told me to come back for more fabric once I finished up my nine patches and sashing.

This is what my blocks are looking like.

And when together it'll look something like this, with the cute little "Holly Buds" fabric as sashing.

Now...I have to admit I am totally NOT a perfectionist, but I'm willing to let this one below go...I don't think my mother would approve...she's definitely the perfectionist when it comes to quilting.

But this one is pretty embarrassing so it's getting ripped out.

I'm so guilty of rushing to get the project started that I'm pretty dangerous with the rotary cutter...I hate cutting fabric...that's my least favorite part..but I'm learning that it's oh so important later on!

Here are my lovely assistants Kitty and Cora! 

The nine patches are all completed, ironed, flat and fancy so I'm off to get that sashing done! 

Have you ever finished someone else quilt?  Seems like such a romantic notion to finish your grammy or auntie's project...I'd love to hear about it!

Vintage Quilt

I bought my first vintage quilt from an estate sale, my new obsession, last weekend for $40!

 Its a twin size white and lavender "Drunkards Path" pattern.

It's a really intricate and complicated pattern, but I love that's it's simplified by just having two colors.

 It does have a little damage and stains on the back, but really for the price it's a great quilt!

Although I didn't realize when I bought it that it'll take a little TLC to keep it in good shape...like not putting it in the dryer and hand agitating it while it's in the washing machine, but all in all it's a great quilt that'll look great hanging on the back of a rocking chair in the new nursery!

First Quilts

These were my first quilting projects...I've learned a whole lot since then so hopefully my future quilts will be better!



I started with a pattern from this book which was super cute, but I have to admit that it was a little too ambitious for a first quilt, so after some major scaling back it turned out pretty cute.

Each little monkey is an applique and their little ears stick out from the quilt making it a little more tactile.

(This is not my finished product! This one looks awesome... I found it here http://www.flickr.com/photos/patchworkpottery/with/3478350840/#photo_3478350840 )

I gave the quilt I made to my nephew and didn't take a picture of it...oops! Even though the pattern calls for nine monkeys after appliqueing just one...I was like...that's enough right...so the finished quilt only has one monkey on it. Again a little ambitious for a first quilt!

This is my second quilt...still an attempt at applique, but a lot less work since the background is totally one piece there was no patches or blocks to sew.

Here's an up close shot of the face. 

And I added some lace trim for the "skirt".

Still very amateur, but I'm calling it whimsical!

Does anyone have any first time quilting flops or successes? You've got to start somewhere right?