hudson’s bay point quilt tutorial

May 25, 2015May 26, 201520 Comments

welcome to the first day of Vintage May 2015!

Vintage May started back in 2012 with just kid clothes, then Jess and i expanded it to adult clothes, and this year i thought it’d be interesting to add vintage-inspired home sewing into the mix! one evening i had a brainstorm of wanting to make a quilt inspired by the famous Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket…and i knew i had to make it happen!

the Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket has a fascinating history – the original blankets were used as currency in the colonial U.S. and Canada during the 18th and 19th centuries.

the blankets were typically traded to First Nations and Native Americans for beaver pelts and were 100% wool, which is both fire and water repellant. they were also very warm and easily sewn into coats.

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sun print pot holder deluxe

September 19, 2014September 19, 20148 Comments

popping in with a little birthday present i made for my sister Laura. she loves to bake but doesn’t own a stand mixer (!), so for her “main present” the family teamed up on funds to help her buy one. couldn’t just leave it at that, though! had to make her a pot holder too.

i love to make pot holders as gifts. they satisfy the urge to do a little bit of quilting, they’re super practical, they’re quick and fun. i can make them with scraps or a fat quarter in an evening. haha too bad my own pot holders are basic black ones that i bought when i was in college…

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typewriter heart pillow

April 22, 2014April 22, 201412 Comments

my little niece turned 3 recently, and a couple weeks before her birthday my sis asked me if i could sew a quilted pillow to go in her “big girl room.” she gave me a sham from the bedding set she had ordered to coordinate with, and set me loose design-wise. her new bedding was inspired by the balloon dress i made that she seems to be wearing every time i see her lately – it sure does make you feel good to sew a gift that is so well loved, ya know? i was actually going to sew her another dress until this request came in. 😉

i decided to make a simple log cabin pillow showcasing some special fabric. i wanted it to have enough contrast to stand out against the pink/cream balloon bedding my sis had bought (see below) didn’t want it to be too serious – it had to have whimsy! and i happen to think typewriters typing hearts with gold polka dots is pretty darn whimsical.

my friend ~~Kelly~~ (nope, Kelly says not her – probably Jess but she can’t remember) had given me a fat quarter of this super special Ruby Star Rising typewriter fabric (Melody Miller for Kokka – couldn’t find the typewriters online but Superbuzzy and Miss Matatabi have some Ruby Star Rising left). it was so generous of her – i’d never owned any of Melody’s fabric but always admired it, and i’m ridiculously excited about cotton + steel, too!

it pained me to do it, but i trimmed off a few inches on each side, then added a 1” border of dear stella confetti sparkle and then a 1.5” border of kona charcoal.

i backed it with more confetti sparkle and a scrap of kokka polka dots from this coat. i ended up super happy with this fabric combination…it just made me smile when i brought it all together.

the quilting is a diagonal grid 2” apart – consulted Jess for quilting advice and whether to add the second boarder, sometimes I have trouble with quilting vision and she has it in spades. it’s hard to show in photos but i love how the darker border splits up the polka dots and makes the front look like it’s floating in a frame.

i also made a little raw edged heart pillow with scraps from Em’s hide-and-seek dress. it’s got a little Liberty pocket for secret treasures (or maybe baby teeth, when it’s time for her to lose some!). Em stuffed it for me!

i felt like it needed a special (wonkily) hand stitched touch, so i stitched around the bottom right typewriter heart with embroidery thread. the pillow closes with an invisible zipper and there’s a down pillow inside (from IKEA).

the little gal seemed to be a fan and it went really well in her room! these photos were actually taken in Em’s new room (she switched with the boys before C’s birth but i can’t do a proper tour for ya until i sew her some curtains, sorry).

quilted pillows are such a fun gift to give!

confused geese pillow

January 24, 2014January 23, 201415 Comments

sometimes, you just gotta make a pillow.

my sister had a birthday a few months back, and due to some last minute party rescheduling, i couldn’t make her something like i’d originally planned. as time went by, i felt worse and worse that i HADN’T made her something…so finally i got down to business and sewed this pillow for her. i’ve been big on crossing things off my “to do” list lately (probably a nesting thing) so it felt great to get this done and finally gifted.

she had mentioned she needed more throw pillows in her living room, so i made the colors neutral to go with her existing white/cream/wood tone scheme. the flying geese are essex yarn dyed linen in leather (i got it at Bolt, you can find it here), and the background is a creamy bella solid that i also got at Bolt. you’ve seen it before as the bodice of Em’s Christmas Dress this year.

i used my friend Cherie’s awesome confused geese pillow tutorial to make the pillow. i went with the larger size (18″ x 18”). once i finished the piecing, i quilted it to a slightly larger scrap of batting, trimmed it, cut an 18” x 18” back, added a zipper, stuffed it, and done!

the insert is the IKEA FJÄDRAR, which is a pretty great price for a feather pillow and my favorite to use for these types of projects. it’s good to make the outer cover a bit smaller than the pillow insert (the insert in this case is 20” x 20”) so it lays nice and tight and keeps a puffy pillow shape. 18” x 18” may be a bit smaller than i’d normally go for a quilted pillow outer, but it still looked good once i carefully zipped it up.

i’m happy with how it turned out, and my sis put it on her couch immediately, so it was well-received. i think quilted pillow covers are a great “i feel like making a quilt but i can’t commit to all that time/fabric/effort” type project. you still get to experience the fix of piecing and quilting, but they can be made in a day. perfect to practice on, and especially fun to give as gifts!

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P.S. get ready – a new film petit is coming on monday!!! it’s also the first day of Kid’s Clothes Week but we figure we’ll sneak it in before KCW really gets going. trust me, it’s inconceivably good. 😉

P.P.S. teepee print from this awesome shop.

ed emberley alligator quilt

November 18, 2013November 18, 201315 Comments

i snagged a couple naptime hours this weekend to clean up my utter disaster of a sewing room…and in the process, i got inspired to do some stashbusting and a project i’d delayed for far too long – a cozy quilt for O!

the little guy doesn’t realize it, but i’ve felt bad for a long time because i’ve never made him a blankie of his own. i made his sister a quilt, and multiple cozy flannel/minky blankies for snuggling/school, but none for him.

it’s not like he’s blanket-deprived – he was gifted a number of handmade and store bought blankets at baby showers and has actually adopted my baby quilt as his own…just none made by ME. and i believe that there’s nothing more special a mother can make than a cozy blanket for her kids. you’re literally wrapping your little one up in love!

it was when his unborn baby brother was gifted a beautiful CINO quilt that the guilt really started to set in. O needed a home sewn quilt! NOW!

i had gotten this Ed Emberley for Cloud 9 alligator print at Bolt last year with the intention of using it for a blanket for him…

…and same plan with the super soft light blue minky on the back.

it’s hard to see in photos, but i did irregular sawtooth quilting on the alligator print and straight horizontal lines across the solid color blocked top and bottom rows. it looks like alligator teeth in person! there is no batting, but due to the minky it still has a nice weight to it.

the top and bottom rows (scraps cut 8” high to extend this directional print a bit for more coverage) are a mix of Kona and Moda Bella solids from my stash in colors that pull from the print. the quilt measures 35” x 50” which covers him very nicely.

the binding is Amy Butler’s full moon polka dots in tangerine (still available here)! think i may have gotten that at Bolt too. 😉 it’s finished by zigzag stitch, both for speed and to mimic the sawtooth quilting / alligator teeth motif.

love how the colors look when they all drape together, it feels bright and happy but still boyish.

i showed the in-progress quilt to O when he woke up from his nap, only partly quilted, and he was very excited about it, rubbing the minky side on his cheek, etc. i promised him i’d finish it when he was asleep that night, and i did. i laid it on him while he slept and when he came to our room in morning, he had wrapped himself up in it! he proceeded to “Linus around” with it for a good part of the day. GREAT SUCCESS.

does fall make you want to quilt too? i feel like the knitting and quilting bugs hit me hard when the weather gets cold (still haven’t picked up the needles yet this year, though)!

** i have emailed Lara, the winner of a Gingercake pattern. thank you to all who entered the giveaway! **