Quilt in a day

A very good friend of mine just had a baby, so of course a baby quilt was in order!  She didn't find out what she was having ahead of time, and instead of just making a gender neutral quilt, I decided to live life on the edge and wait till the baby was born to begin the quilt.

As the title of this post implies, this quilt was fully constructed in one day!  I have to say that is certainly a record for me, I headed down to my sewing room on Saturday morning, and started cutting, then piecing, and before I knew it, I had a quilt top!  Not that I don't love spending time with my husband, but the weekends he works are sometimes nice, as I get the entire day to do what I like, and Saturday that meant a quilty marathon.

As for the fabrics I used, I picked out my favorite baby friendly charms I received in an I Spy charm swap that Kati organized a few months ago, and paired them with turquoise, orange, green and grey prints I had in my stash, and added a ring of white to each block to give the eye a place to rest.  The blocks came together incredibly quick, thanks to chain piecing.

I used a random piece of Kona Grass I found in my solids stash for the backing, and while at first I thought it was a pretty boring choice, it actually shows off the quilting quite nicely!

I decided to step a tiny bit outside of my comfort zone and try a new (to me) FMQ design.  It actually reminds me alot of the quilting I did on my Scrappy Rainbow quilt last year so I guess its not that new, but I added intersecting lines for a sort of boxy robot feel.  I'm totally digging it, and think it really fits the design of this quilt great.




As for the binding, I used this fun stripey Riley Blake print I found in my stash, and its the icing on the cake.  I'm a sucker for stripey bindings, and this one is certainly no exception.



This little guy will be off to its new home tomorrow, hopefully little Tommy enjoys it as much as I do!

Quilt Stats

Quilt Name:  Modern I Spy

Quilt Pattern:  Charm squares in square in square layout

Quilt Size:  39" x 39"

Fabrics Used:  Assorted charms and prints in turquoise, greens, oranges and greys from stash with Kona White

Binding:  Zoofari by Doodlebug Designs for Riley Blake

Quilting:  Boxy free motion quilting done by me on my home machine

Craft Book Month: Grocery Totes

When Lindsay asked if I would take part in Craft Buds Craft Book Month, I just had to say yes.  I just love flipping through sewing/quilty books and admiring all the projects.  Very rarely do I copy a project exactly as it is in a book, but it always serves as awesome inspiration and gets the creative juices flowing.  

I've had reusable grocery totes on my list to make for myself for some time now, and it just seems to get shoved to the bottom of the list.  Thanks to Craft Book Month, it was just the kick in the pants I needed to get sewing some for myself!  I found a pattern in my One Yard Wonders book that was actually one of the very first sewing books I purchased way back before I discovered quilting.



I dug through my stash and pulled out some of my favorite prints and went to town stitching.  These bags came together so quickly, and were incredibly easy to put together.  They very much remind me of the Jane Market Totes I have made in the past, minus the front pocket.









While nothing can make grocery shopping enjoyable, these fun bags do certainly make the task slightly more enjoyable!

Here they are on their maiden voyage to the store this weekend.  These bags got double thumbs up from the grocery baggers at Giant Eagle, and well, who would know grocery bagging better than them!



In case you are looking for a little more Craft Book inspiration, check out these fun posts from some awesome bloggers:

Week One

Sunday 9/2: Hopeful Threads / The Jolly JabberMonday 9/3: Stitchery Dickory Dock / Me Sew CrazyTuesday 9/4: Olive & Ollie / Sew SweetnessWednesday 9/5: Fabric Seeds / The Busy BeanThursday 9/6: CraftFoxes / Stitched In ColorFriday 9/7: Katie's Korner / A Prairie Sunrise

Week TwoSunday 9/9: Sweet Diesel Designs / missknitta's studioMonday 9/10: Sew Tara / Clover and VioletTuesday 9/11: Sew Fantastic / amylouwhoWednesday 9/12: Projektownia Jednoiglec / Two More SecondsThursday 9/13: Ellison Lane Quilts / Don't Call Me BetsyFriday 9/14: Live a Colorful Life / LRstitched

Week Three
Sunday 9/16: Fairy Face Designs / Canoe Ridge CreationsMonday 9/17: Inspire Me Grey / Freshly PiecedTuesday 9/18: Lindsay Sews / The Cute LifeWednesday 9/19: The Littlest Thistle / Sew Crafty JessThursday 9/20: Urban Stitches / imagine gnatsFriday 9/21: Sew Bittersweet Designs / The Plaid Scottie

Week Four

Link up your craft book project at Craft Buds from Sept 23-30 from your blog or Flickr account, and enter to win prizes. Winners will be announced on Monday, October, 1!

{{crickets}}

chirp chirp.  chirp chirp.  I feel like I should go to blogging confession or something...dear blogging gods, it has been 2 weeks since my last blog post.  I really have no good excuse.  No things haven't been super crazy in life, no I haven't been working on a million behind the scenes projects that I can't share.  I just haven't been sewing all that much.  Admittedly I have been doing my fair share of fabric shopping, I walk past, give the pretty stacks an occasionally pat, and continue on my way.  

I think I have lost my sewing mojo.  No, I won't say lost, maybe misplaced is a better word.  I've been dabbling a little here and a little there, but I'd really like to get back in my groove.  And soon.  

Luckily Lindsay from CraftBuds asked if I would take part in the Craft Book Month Blog hop a while back, and my post is coming up soon.  Have you heard about Craft Book month?  If not you should totally check it out.  The idea is simple, to celebrate September being Craft Book month, find a project in a craft book...and make it!  

I've been perusing my stack of stitchy books (pardon the explosion of zippers which seem to be taking over) in search of the perfect project to get back into my sewing groove.  I'm thinking something quick and easy is just the ticket.  Perhaps something like some reusable grocery totes in the One Yard Wonders book.  I tend to make tote bags for the purpose of giving them away as gifts or to friends, and never for myself, so this is the perfect opportunity to whip up a few grocery totes just for me.

I started digging through my stash last night, and pulled out a few fun prints which would make great grocery totes.  Heck maybe this would even get me excited to grocery shop!  Ok lets not get carried away there...anyways, I'm super excited to go home today and get stitching.  Stay tuned, I promise it won't take me two weeks to put together my next post!