Scrappy Rainbow Quilt-a-long Finished

I finished!  I decided yesterday to bite the bullet and machine bind it.  I really prefer hand-binding, but there just wasn't enough time.  I'm pleased enough with it.  I'm so glad I chose pink.  I was going with green, but my 11 year old son (of all people!) suggested pink and I think he was right on!  :)

 Little Miss Ava has claimed it as her own.  She luuuuurves it...

Oh!  Here is the back:

Happy Monday!  :)

Blog Header Come to Life

As I was planning out how I would decorate my booth as a vendor for The Creative Connection, I wanted to use the banner that was created for me when I had my blog redone.
(Heather and Katy did it for me, and I loooove it!)

At first I thought I would take the original banner created and have it blown up really big to hang in the booth.
Than I had an idea to re-create it as a real life quilt.
I'm so happy with how it turned out :)

Linking up here:)

Happy Labor Day!

36 patch

In addition my scrappy rainbow quilt that I'm working on, I also started Amanda Jean's 36 block quilt-a-long as well.
I couldn't help it!  I turned 36 last month, and this quilt is made up of 36 blocks that each contain 36 squares.
Destiny, I tell ya!;)

Yeah, my first block didn't turn out exactly perfect.   It's because I ironed my seams open out of habit, instead of toward the dark color like she suggested.
It's okay, hopefully the next one will be more accurate.

1 down, 35 more to go.  I'm giving myself until next June :)

A New Quilt and a Finished Quilt

I've been cutting this stack of vintage pillowcases and sheets into 5" squares for a while now, waiting for the right pattern to appear.  When I saw this free pattern over here, I knew it would be perfect!

 Here they are all laid out.

 I know, I need to press them!  :)

 I'm thinking of backing it with flannel for a nice, cozy quilt.

 Oh, and I never showed you the quilting for this one.

 I went with a free motion loopy to quilt it.

 I backed it with a nice soft blue sheet, and binded with a bright turquoise. 

Finishing a quilt makes me very happy.
Then I feel okay starting another new one :)

Quilt Swaps

Remember when I showed you this that I made for my partner for the Urban Home Goods Swap?  In return, I received this set from Katydiddy.  Isn't it great?



I love, love Russian Nesting Dolls, and she made me this whole set.  There are actually four settings:  placemats, napkins, and egg cozies.

 They go perfect with my polka dot plates :)

 And then here is my scrappy strip swap package:  isn't the package itself adorable?

I was paired up with Cathy Gaubert, who included this piece that she sells in her etsy shop.  I love it!  I want to make a pillow with this piece in the middle.

Among other beautiful strips of fabric, she sent me these much coveted Castle Peeps strips.

 I love doing swaps.  It's so much fun! :)

A lovely Monday, indeed.

Monday is my "free day".  Everyone is at school, even Little Bit, who goes for a four hour pre-school on Mondays. 
When I got home from dropping everyone off, I needed to do laundry.  The breakfast dishes were stacked up and everything needed tidying from the weekend.   But... I decided to quilt instead.

I've been working on these blocks off and on all summer.  You know how it is, 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there.  I finally had all the blocks made and it was time to put them together.

I used this pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew.  It's for my favorite niece's birthday present and I'm hoping she loves it, despite the imperfections.  I never do get them perfect!

I still need to quilt it.  I'm thinking of a loopy quilt like the one I did here.

Sometimes it's necessary to put the chores aside and just create!

I'm linking up to Heather's Life Made Lovely Series.

New Quilt-Along

If you have a nice amount of fabric scraps you may want to join Heather's Quilt-Along.  It is a quilt as you go. She has all the directions on her blog.  Here is my first square before I quilted it.  I am using plain muslin on the back.

My square ended up measuring 12.5 x 12.5.  I have really wanted to try the pebble quilting for a while, but I was scared I would mess up!  But I figured this was a great place to try it.  I used my free motion foot, started in the middle, and then made circles.  I sewed around each circle twice.

I love it!  It wasn't hard at all.  What do you think?

Even if you don't want to make a whole quilt, a few blocks would make a nice table runner.  Heck, you could even do one for a pillow!  Hmmm...now I'm thinking I might do some smaller scale projects with mine...:)

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Oh, and "In His Grace" finally jumped on the Facebook wagon.  Most of my local work are custom mosaics, so I'll have regular updates and other "business" stuff :)  I would love if we were Facebook Friends:)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Dear Secret Partner,

I hope you like the hanging wall quilt I made you for the Urban Home Goods Swap.

You said you liked color,

and Amy Butler fabric.

I spent a lot of time hand embroidering the words...

and had a good time with the free motion quilting.

I really hope you like it!

Love,

Chrissie