Remember This?

So, remember when I got all crazy and cut up a bunch of fabric for a Christmas Sparkle Punch quilt? Then I reigned it in a little and started a pillow? Well, that pillow has bone done for a few weeks but I'm just getting around to showing you...

                                          

I used a variety of red and green prints with one yellow star thrown in just for fun. A little hand quilting in red perle on the Essex linen and the front was done.

                                         

I finished the pillow with a simple envelope closure since I didn't have any zippers long enough. For the back of the pillow I just used up some of the scraps from the front. 

                                         

I actually just intended to have the patchwork strips and plain linen strips, but I got a bit distracted cutting the linen and had to add the red/green blocks to get them back to the right size. I blame it on my kids eating red popsicles around my sewing area...

So now I have a tiny start on my Christmas decorations for the year. I have an idea for an autumn-inspired pillow that I really want to make, so hopefully I'll find some time for that before fall is over!

**Linking up with the fabulous ladies at Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday**

Radiant Ring Quilt

May was my first month as quilter for the Imagine Circle of do.Good Stitches. After much debate, I decided to have the members use Elizabeth's Radiant Ring tutorial and make blocks using orange, yellow, apple green, aqua, and white.  

I decided that the blocks needed some sashing to break up the busyness of all the colors and to enlarge the quilt a bit, so I added a 2" strip of Kona Azure between the blocks and also used that as the binding. 

For the back of the quilt I used a vintage sheet that had a fun aqua floral print. And now for the confession...I totally cheated on this quilt. Since I was quite pregnant by the time I received all the blocks and got the top put together, I sent it to mom and got her to quilt it on her longarm. I knew there was no way I was going to get this baby basted and quilted in a timely manner so it was Mary to the rescue! She even hand-delivered it when she came to help when Jill was born. My mom is the best. 

And now the quilt has been sent to Threading Hope, an organization that delivers quilts to children in need in various poverty-stricken and war-torn countries around the world. 

August Blocks

I finished all my August bee block obligations the day before Jill was born. I knew I probably wouldn't get around to making them after she arrived, so I'm glad I was able to finish them. I didn't get them into the mail until just a few days ago though! I took these lovely pictures with my now-defunct iPhone since my memory card has yet to appear...(My first Apple product lasted less than 30 days. Highly annoying.)

For the Modern Blocks Bee, Marci asked for the Stargazer block by Angela Pingel, using the aqua print for stars and a pretty floral for the background. This block was high on my list of possibilities for my month in the bee, too. I think Marci will have a really fun quilt when she gets all the blocks together. 

For the Imagine Circle of dGS, Jessica had us use her Technicolor Twist tutorial to make a 20" block in orange, yellow, bright pink, and purple along with white and light grey. This was a fun block to put together and I can't wait to see the quilt when Jessica is done!

I haven't spent much time on curved seams, so when Stephanie requested that the members of Always Bee Learning make the pods from Quilting Modern, I thought it would be fun and a bit challenging. She sent a selection of her scraps in various oranges and other warm tones along with greys, asking that we use one of each per pod. 

These actually went together very easily, thanks to the fabulous directions in the book. The only one that I made that didn't turn out well was one that was pretty small and I had a hard time holding onto it as I sewed. I'm interested to see how this quilt turns out. I haven't seen a picture yet of the quilts in the book that use this type of block, though it seems that everything Jacquie and Katie make is awesome so I'm sure they're great. I will say that the entire time I was making these, all I could think of was my impending childbirth and how these looked like something entirely different than "pods". Much like what Kristie talked about today...

She's Here!

Ok, so she's been here for nearly a week now, but I've had a lot of snuggling to do that took priority over computer time. Can you blame me?

Allow me to introduce Jillian Grace...

The memory card for my camera has gone missing, so all I have are a few pictures from my phone. I decided that if I kept waiting until I could use my camera she might be walking before you got to see her!

Jill is a very sweet baby, and our smallest one yet weighing just 6 lb 11 oz at birth. She seems so tiny and now Max seems enormous!

My mom is still here helping, so most of my time has been spent in my comfy chair holding Jill trying to keep Max and the older boys from completely smothering her. 

This is the view from where I am now, typing one handed...

And now I must go and try to steal a quick nap before everyone wakes up. I'm sure you'll understand if I'm a little slow answering emails and leaving comments for the next little while!