Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Confessions of an understuffer

Well, I finally finished my Hexagon Caddy from Penny's tutorial. It was a lot of fun!   It is much larger than I was anticipating. But I guess in order for it to hold supplies it has to be, otherwise it would fall over.

Mine!
However, the way I stuffed it is pretty awful.  My points aren't pointy and the sides don't pooch out like they are supposed to. But it is done and it is mine and I love it anyway.

I posted it (and all of its imperfections) on Penny's Pincushion Parade.

Thanks Penny for posting the tutorial. Love it!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Royce's Dinosaur Quilt


Royce!

My now 5 year old nephew, Royce, LOVES dinosaurs.  When he was 3 his big sister, Gabriella,  asked him at Thanksgiving what he was thankful for. He raised his arms up and yelled "DINOSAURS". So, I figured I couldn't go wrong with a quilt with those giant creatures. I searched the internet tirelessly for the "perfect pattern". I had decided I didn't want cartoon like ones and was not comfortable enough with designing my own.  So, I found a fabulous pattern booklet called:  Dinosaurs, Stomp Chomp & Roar, by Pam Manning. Perfection! Seriously.  I highly recommend it.  It can be found here.  I also saw it at my LQS when I was home recently. So check yours, too!

This was a labor of love.  Mostly love, though. ;-) I decided to make the quilt large enough to fit his full size bed. This would be the biggest quilt I have made yet. It was a giant. I chose to do fusible web applique, even though the book called for something else. One of the cool things about the pattern is that it has 3D parts to it. Some of the legs move as well as the top parts, you know, the sharp 'fin-like' things on their backs. It is really cool.  I was concerned about my pieced sashing at first. Looking at it before it was sewed to the blocks, it looked way to bright. Now, seeing it all together, it is just right. :)

I sent it to a longarm quilter in Dubai. She did a fabulous job. She even quilted dinosaur shapes into the 4 corners. Love it, love it, love it.  I had to steal it away from my husband.

Here are a lot of pics, including some of the details.


ignore the hay and lint.


My label, complete with a thimble sewn in!
It's these extra special touches that mean so much.

The black dotted fabric is done in layers and is not attached to the foundation.
This is one of my favorites.


His head could move, if I hadn't tacked it down.
Although, this did go to a 5 year old boy, it may not even have a head now.

His teeth are rick-rack. His right lower leg moves!


His left lower leg moves, too!
 

The orange colored part is 3D, it is not attached to the foundation either.

  
Another favorite.
That 'fin-like' thing is really cool. The technique is awesome.
Click on picture for close-up. It's kind of textured, maybe
it is called pintucking?


A Sampling of my recently completed quilts.

I am finally back home!  I returned home to Oman about a week ago, now just trying to get used to the time difference. Texas is 10 hours behind Oman. Traveling to Houston is much easier than traveling from there.  Takes me at least a week to re-adjust.  I am starting to feel normal again.  I haven't even taken a nap in the past 2 days!

Anyway, my quilts were a huge success. I think everyone loved them. I even received an Accuquilt GO! cutter in exchange for one of them! WoW!  Was. Not. Expecting. That. At. All. Thank you cousins, Sharon and Stacy!

Here are the pics!  More details to follow.



 
 

 
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Stomp! Chomp! Roar!
The Dinosaur quilt for my 5 year old nephew, Royce.
He loved it! I'll post more details and more photos later!

Close up of one of my favorite blocks.



Baby Quilt.


Aja's Spring Flower quilt. Aka "my GO!-getter quilt"

 

The back.