Trying To Be Cool

I finished this quilt in mid-August, so I don't know why I haven't posted about it until now! My husband's birthday was August 19th and we took four days off of work to go on a road trip up to Niagara Falls. On our way out, we stopped in Philadelphia and had our pictures taken by Autumn Kern. I found Autumn on Instagram and loved her style of photography. I thought it would be fun to commemorate his birthday and our almost-two-year anniversary with some pictures. 

As I started to brainstorm the setting for our photos, I knew I wanted to include a quilt somehow. This quilt began to formulate in my mind after I bought a fat quarter bundle of Kim Andersson’s Tidal Lace collection for Windham Fabrics. 

How's that for some inspiration??

I pulled some other complimentary fabrics out of my stash and started searching for a pattern. I wanted something with big blocks, both to accentuate the fabric and to speed up the assembly process (I was working with a deadline after all). I finally settled on the Stacked Squares pattern from Moda and used My Quilt Infatuation's cutting calculations so I could use fat quarters instead of a layer cake and jelly rolls.

I call this quilt "Trying To Be Cool" because I felt like this color pallette was really mellow and bohemian and as I was picking out fabrics, I was sort of thinking, "Would a really cool and hip person like this?" If the answer was yes, it went into the quilt. Don't ask me to explain the logic behind that one. Haha. :)

Here is the final product!

I pieced together some gray and blue-green fabrics for the backing. 

Overall, I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out! It has become a regular "couch quilt" in our house already and when it gets really cold this winter, the colors will remind me of summer. :)

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Watkins Glen State Park in New York state was BEAUTIFUL!! I liked it even better than Niagara Falls because you could walk around and through the waterfalls. They even had a great quilt shop in town called O'Susannah's Quilts and Gifts. I can't wait to go back!

Wonky Rectangles Baby Quilt

Back with another finished quilt (and I have ANOTHER quilt that I'll be posting about in the next few days)!

My cousin's wife recently had a baby and they waited until the baby was born to find out the gender (I love that idea!). Luckily the baby was a girl, because these colors definitely read more "girly" than I originally thought when I picked them out. Haha. :) But I had a lot of fun making this quilt and I can't wait to send it to the newest member of our extended family, Selah Grace Saville!

I love the way the big, random rectangles accent the patterns in the fabric so well.

The proportions turned out a little bit different than I was expecting, but it looks great even if you turn it vertically, so there's no right or wrong way to do it. :)

 I visited a new (amazing) quilt store called Rock, Paper, Scissors in Montclair, NJ and that's where I found this perfect backing fabric. It's a cream color with peach/salmon accent lines. SO great!

I machine-stitched the binding instead of hand sewing it so it would be extra durable and hold up to lots of repeat washings.

Welcome to the world, Selah! Can't wait to meet you!

Black and Gray X-Plus Quilt

I have another quilt finish to share with you all! 

My youngest sister, Mandi, has a birthday coming up in April and she requested a black/gray/white quilt. As much as I love wearing black and gray, I didn't have a lot of it in my fabric stash, so I had to start shopping around for the most economic way to get scraps. One of my Instagram friends (@leilagt) was kind enough to send me scraps from her stash for an amazing price! I also knew I wanted to try the X-Plus quilt pattern (re-sized to 12" finished blocks), so here is the final product. Drum roll please... 

Wes and I went exploring around back roads today and I kept my eyes peeled for some good photo shoot locations. As soon as I caught a glimpse of this rundown brick and wood building, I made him do a u-turn in the middle of the road to go back and take advantage of it. :)

I knew I wanted to add a pop of color, and this teal Doe fabric was so "me", I had to include it.

I got the backing fabric from IKEA for $5 a yard (can't beat that!) and my longarm quilter actually recommended using the aquamarine colored thread and I am SO happy with the results!

I usually like my quilt gifts to be total surprises for the recipient, but A) my sister had a hand in picking out the fabric and she saw some of my finished blocks when she came out to visit in January, and B) I literally could not wait to post pictures of the finished product. :)

I'm so happy I was able to finish this quilt on time. I recently started a job at Ace Hardware and I'm working 35-38 hours a week, so my quilting time has definitely become more rare and precious. But before you feel sorry for me, it's been great to have a reason to get out of the house AND my husband told me yesterday that my legs and abs have become more toned since I started working three weeks ago! (I guess standing and walking IS better than sitting around the house all day...) Haha. :) I hope everyone reading this is finding the time to enjoy their hobbies just like I am. Every time I finish a project, I am so excited to share it with my online quilting friends. :)

PS - I'm going to my first Modern Quilt Guild meeting tomorrow night in Philadelphia. I'm going to bring this quilt and my Cuzco Crossroads quilt for show and tell. Wish me luck!