A month of quilting

I'll admit I was kind of shocked when I realized the last time I posted here on MOM was April 16th.  How does time slip by so fast?!  In case you have forgotten, I am carrying my second set of twins.  I'm well into the second trimester, and I'm using every ounce of excess energy I can spare, whenever it's reasonable, to make things.  I know my days spent in the sewing garage are numbered.  I'm trying to make the most of it while I can.

First up was a baby present.

As it turns out, I am not the only one who is preparing for a baby.  This free pattern is thanks to Elizabeth from Oh Fransson!  It is super simple to piece together, benefitting from pre-cut squares in a charm pack.  I had two charm packs of this sweet Moda fabric called "Reunion", so I was able to extend the pattern a little bit making this quilt a more useful, larger size.  

It is sashed with an uber-soft shot cotton from Robert Kauffman.  Though when I walked into the quilt shop for sashing, I was heading for the Kona solids, I couldn't make it passed these newly arrived shot cottons.  They are so soft, and their colors are so enticing!

The Kona made it on the back.  Along with the remainder of the shot cotton, and the remainder of the halved charm squares pieced together in a long row.

An all over stippling with my darning foot, and the quilting truly was done in record time.  I debated about the binding, as I always do.  In the end, I had charm squares left over, and I could not bare to set them aside to languish in the stash piles!  I likewise sewed them all together, and then sliced my long row in half, lengthwise.  This gave me two perfect 2.5 inch wide stripes of pieced fabric that I could use for my double fold binding.

After a single cycle through the washer and dryer, this quilt crinkled up just as I was hoping it would!  Delightful.  It's a great pattern.  So easy!  If you are using fabric that you love, the whole process is that much more enjoyable!

Since making this baby quilt was actually fun, I decided I had more quilting in me.  Long ago I spotted and pinned Anna Maria Horner's gorgeous Patchwork Prism Quilt.  Though she offered it as a free pattern, the size alone made it seem out of reach.

Source: annamariahorner.blogspot.com via Annee on Pinterest

I don't know what changed my mind, but when I saw there was going to be a Quilt-Along for this pattern over on the Sweet Diesel Design blog, I decided that in fact the Patchwork Prism Quilt was within my grasp.  Of course, I consulted my Sew Sister Liz first.  She was adamant that I could do it.  I don't know why she has so much faith in me.  But somehow knowing that Liz believed I could do it was enough to make me jump in.  Liz sent me tons of her AMH scraps. I raided my stash piles and scrap bin, ordered a few fat quarters here and there, and before I knew it, I was cutting the quilt out: 

And laying it out on my make shift design wall:

And then suddenly, I was sewing it all together.  Piece, by piece, row, by row, for a few days in a row. And then late two nights ago I saw I had only one last row to piece, and five more rows to sew together to be done!!  

I honestly feel like this will be the last majorly indulgent sewing project I take on before I give birth at the end of summer.  I have lots of little things here and there that will get made between now and Labor Day (literally), but this will be the last one that was just for me.  Though at times during this processes I'll admit that I wondered if it was worth it... Now, when I see it all sewn together, I am convinced that it is.  This will be a quilt that will be treasured by my whole family for years to come.  

Hopefully I can see it through to the end.  There is lots of bending and squatting when putting together a quilt sandwich.  I am not very good at bending and squatting anymore.  But one day, late at night, I'll see that if I just work for one more hour, my quilt will be completely done.  And that will be an amazing feeling!  

PJs and Peek-A-Boos

Life has been busy here on West Coast MOM.  My husband turned 40, and we celebrated with a little vacation.  Re-entry to normal life after going out of town always sets me back a couple of days.  I've sewn since I last posted, but I just haven't had the time to take pictures and form coherent thoughts to put in a blog post.  Hopefully this blog post isn't the worst one I've done.  It's certainly not the best.

As promised I finally got pictures of the last thing I made for the KCWC.  I always feel badly when I present Grace with a new dress or skirt or whatever.  It's much easier to come up with things to sew for little girls, so George gets left out a little bit.  Everything in this post was for my big boy.  Now he totally knows I love him.

I whipped out some pajamas on the last day of the clothing week challenge.  I just took a PJ pant pattern I've used to make him some PJ pants recently, and then shortened them.  Easy.

I then had the bright light blue shirt sitting in my sewing room.  I found it on sale at Target for like $3.  I couldn't pass it up.  It's probably not my favorite color for a little boy, but for a PJ shirt it's perfect.  I added some arrows to the shirt matching it to the arrows on the fabric I used for the PJ pants.

George loves his new night clothes.  Can you tell??

Next I hosted Sewing Circle at MOM West Coast HQ's this week.  Unfortunately lots of girls weren't able to make it.  However, two good things out of a small crowd 1) more treats for those that did come, and 2) I got to sew.  I made a Mother's Day present and then I made a Peek-A-Boo Bag.

I pinned the Peek-A-Boo Bag a week or sew ago, and my friend Kimmy B. aka Kim (creator of Pin This Not That where she reveals if pins from Pinterest are really as great as people say they are) commented that she wanted to make a bag too.  Sew away we went making Peek-A-Boo Bags.

The tutorial comes from Make It Perfect.  I discovered Make It Perfect when I first started sewing 3 1/2 years ago.  I own her Pinny 2 pattern.  It's a good one, and I've always liked her style.  The Peek-A-Boo bags are the perfect bag for a little boy like my George who likes to just carry stuff around.  I also think this bag would make a cute gift or addition to a gift for a toddler or little one.

That's all for tonight.  I'm not sure what's next for me in the sewing room.  I did get a dress pattern for Grace that I was all excited about before I left town, but my passion for the project has died a little.  I also thought I was going to make a quilt, but again I'm not sure it's what I'm dying to sew next.  As soon as I get it all figured out, I'll be sure to keep you posted!

If you have any good ideas, send them my way!  What should I sew next??