quiltingbydawn: 2012

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas to all!

graphic by Madame Samm

May you all have a very Merry Christmas

and

find peace and love in the new year!

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Matt 1:21

Monday, November 26, 2012

Pillow Talk

Thanks for joining me here at my blog for some pillow talk! Yes, today is my day to share my version of the Holiday Lane Pillow.

Before I do, however, I must send out thanks to Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt for the amazing ideas that keep us coming back, Pauline from Quilt n Queen, our hostess for the Holiday Lane Hop who kept us organized, and Jill Findley from Jillily Studios for her fantastic pillow design.

When I first saw the Holiday Pillow design, I knew that I wanted to take part in this hop. Since I have been trying to limit my fabric purchases and create out of my stash, I had a bit of a challenge searching through my stash for just the right fabrics.

I found some scraps left over from a Christmas quilt I made several years ago. I added some additional fabrics in similar muted tones. I found a cream colored Christmas fabric that looked like snow swirling to use as the background fabric and added some creamy white wool for the snow. Once the hard part was finished...the creating began!

I added some additional embellishments...beading on one of the trees, some Christmas lights on some roofs and window, embroidered and beaded a wreath, more windows and a little button doorknob.

This pillow is much larger than I originally though but I really like it. Here it is with the coordinating quilt.

I hope you enjoyed your time here! Please join me in visiting the others on the Holiday Lane Hop today!

Tuesday November 27

Cindy's Crafty Creations

Scrapbook-Chickadoodle

Stitching by the Lake

A Stitch in Time

A little bit of knitting

I have been doing a bit of knitting lately. I came across this very cute and easy to do knitting pattern for a little sweater for a newborn baby. I knitted one in pink and one in blue. I really don't have anyone in particular in mind to gift them to even though I do know quite a few babies arriving soon.

They were just fun to knit and very cute and soft!

Edit: Here is the pattern.

I also knitted this hat and scarf set for a 5 year old boy. One of the schools I teach at adopts some families for Christmas and this was one of the items on the wish list.

I also knitted this bandana cowl pattern. It will keep me warm in the winter!

I have continued crocheting around fleece to make blankets and finished one more baby blanket, one lap size and a good size throw. You can see one here. One will be gifted, one donated and the other may stay here for the winter.

Come back tomorrow for my turn on Holiday Lane!Edit:http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/puerperium-cardigan

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Catching up and FNSI

Work has been very busy most of the fall so I haven't spent as much time as I usually do in my sewing room.

So I took a little time off of Blog Hops to do some catching up.

I had fallen behind in both the Craftsy BOM and the BOM with Quilt Story.

For the FNSI, I made these 2 blocks that I will use in place of the April Craftsy BOM blocks.

Disappearing 4-patch

Disappearing 9-patch

The April blocks were supposed to be English Paper Piecing. Since I am already have a long term paper piecing project in process, I decided not to do those blocks and replaced the blocks in the quilt with these. They are the last of the blocks I needed to make!

After sewing the blocks, I started knitting this scarf.

This will be a scarf, hat, and mitten set that will be donated for a 5 year old boy. One of the schools that I work at adopts families for Christmas and this was one of the needs. The pattern is very easy and goes fairly quickly.

Between Hops, I managed to complete these Craftsy BOM blocks.

October blocks were paper piecing.

September blocks were curved piecing.

I am now working on sashing and the borders!

I also worked on the BOM with Quilt Story blocks.

October was Pinwheel.

November is Log Cabin.

Each month has a theme but you could choose any block that fits the theme. My blocks are also half the size...measuring 6". I do have a plan...hope it turns out like I envision in my head.

I have the week off for Thanksgiving Holiday! I hope to get a few more things done as well as joining in the fun of the Holiday Lane Pillow Blog Hop! It starts on Wednesday! Check here for the schedule.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Something new, something old and...

Let's start with something old! Remember this?

I wasn't sure how to quilt it since there was large negative spaces. So I set it aside while I worked on projects for the Leafs Me Happy and Wicked Blog Hops. But it was time to get moving on it since the baby shower for my nephew's baby is this coming weekend!

I decided on a template pattern that fit nicely in the pieced blocks as well as filled the negative space. I also choose a border pattern that coordinated.

I FMQ in yellow thread to bring out the yellow in the blocks and gingham border. I'm very pleased with how this quilt turned out...simple and sweet...Cute as a Button!

Click on the picture of a closer look at the quilting.

I made the binding from a pink polka dotted fabric from my stash.

Something new that I have been working on is a cute fleece baby blanket with crochet edges. I thought this was a nice change from the fleece blankets with the tied fringe that have been popular for sometime.

I first saw this on Pinterest. After doing a bit of research, I order a skip stitch blade from the Skip Stitch store. Once I received it in the mail, I followed the easy video instructions and made this cute baby fleece blanket.

I love how this finishes...it is so soft and cuddly. This will be a present for another nephew and his wife, expecting their 2nd child. See the cute Just Ducky label I added. On the back side I embroidered my name and the year.

I'm crocheting another one in yellow. It was so fun and easy to do.

And finally, I have been working on some quilt blocks for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Erin at My Patchwork Life is asking for help by making 12" disappearing 4 patch blocks. These are easy to make and she has a great tutorial on her blog. She is asking for blocks made from a multi-color FLORAL and a coordinating fabric that provides good contrast to the floral and reads as a solid. I just searched through my stash and came up with these.

Seven blocks made in no time at all! If you are interested in helping, stop by Erin's blog.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Blogger's Quilt Festival

It is that time again when Amy from Amy's Creative Side is hosting the Bloggers' Quilt Festival.

Twice a year, Amy gives quilters a chance to 'show off' a quilt that they made. Today is the start of the Fall 2012 Quilt Festival!

If your visiting for the first time, welcome! I hope you take some time and browse around my blog and come back again!

For my regular readers, I sew appreciate your words of encouragement. Thanks!

For this festival, I'm sharing my Loving Hugs Baby Quilt that I recently finished. This quilt was featured in the Dots on Dots blog hop on September 19th. The pattern is from Geta's Quilting Studio.

Keeping with the dots theme I searched my stash and settled on the multi-colored dot fabric as my main fabric and then built the blocks with coordinating dotted fabrics. This unique pattern was a lot of fun to make!

The blocks are 12" finished and the quilt finished at 38" x 50".

The back is a sweet print with elephants in all the coordinating colors I found in my stash.

I FMQ in all the negative space and outlined each octagon. This baby quilt will be a gift for a special baby.

Be sure to visit all the beautiful entries in the Blogger's Quilt Fest! Much inspiration will be found here!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Wicked Blog Hop

Welcome to the Wicked Blog Hop!

Today is my day to share my wicked projects!

I first want to send a howling thanks to Spookie Madame Samm, at Sew WE Quilt, for her encouragement and inspiration and to our wicked leader, Wendy, over at Why Knot Kwilt for her leadership and organizational skills. If you haven't been following along, you can hop over to Wendy's blog to find the complete list of Wicked participants.

For my first ghoulish project, I spun a spider web block using strings of orange and black. This paper pieced pattern is from The Confused Quilter. I tried my hand at a yo-yo spider and used a zig-zag stitch for its legs.

(This is my first attempt at making a yo-yo AND without a yo-yo maker! YIKES!)

'Come when the sky is

the color of soot,

but Beware! Beware!

There is mischief afoot.'

author unknown

What is wicked without a witch? Using the paper pieced pattern from Sewhooked, I made this witchy block. I wanted my witch to be a shadow flying across a full moon, so I changed the potion a tad.

Soon she landed at her haunted house. This 8" paper pieced pattern was found at The House of Wilson. I needed the block to be 12 1/2" so I added night sky borders and a full moon. If you look closely, there is the man in the moon.

Waiting in the eerie night was her black cat, Spooky and her witchy friend, Miss Helga Broomswell. Some of you may remember her from the Ghastlie Hop last year.

This block is another paper pieced block from Sewhooked.

A Halloween night without a Jack-o-lantern? Not!

In the darkness of the night, shines the frightful face of my Happy Jack-O.

This paper pieced pattern can be found at Peekabootoyou. It is from the Something Wicked This Way Comes Hop. I did change it up a little...making the nose a triangle rather than a circle.

Since I was having such a spooktacular time, I couldn't resist this enchanted block from TrilliunDesign ~ Witchy Toes. It also comes from the Something Wicked This Way Comes Hop. Don't you just love those shoes!

I added a tiny peek of her witchy dress (and larger borders) to make the block finish at 12" so it would fit on my table top stand. I'm loving how this mini turned out!