Innocent Crush::Smitten

It has been a CRAZY few weeks at work without me being able to do much other than more work on weekends. Things are settling down a bit now, and I finally unpacked my sewing machine and all the things I brought to the sewing retreat in the first week of January (yes, it's been that long), and got myself set up again in my sewing room upstairs. I was able to finish the Innocent Crush quilt I started at the sewing retreat. Smitten, is what I am and also what I'm naming this quilt!

To say that I'm in love with this quilt is an understatement, but Smitten will be going home to my best friend Levy one day in the (hopefully) near future.

A few people have mentioned that they really love the quilt blocks I made for this quilt,so I think I will try and put together a tutorial for it soon, stay tuned!

First quilt top and a half of 2012

Last weekend, Sylvia and I went on a sewing retreat in Pleasant Lake, Michigan with the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild. It was my very first sewing retreat, I had a ton of fun and was quite productive! Sylvia and I left Toronto in the morning (it was a long drive) and arrived at The Hankerd Inn just after 4:30pm. The ladies from the AAMQG have already been sewing most of the day, so we joined in right away and started sewing, all Friday night, and all day Saturday. I was able to finish the first quilt top of 2012. 

I took the Sparkling Sawtooth star I made for Sheila's QAL and made it into a baby quilt.

Next I dug up the Innocent Crush charm packs I've been hoarding since I don't even know how long and decided that I should finally make something out of them. I don't like following patterns, so I like to doodle on graph paper and make sketches of possible quilt block ideas. This is one of them I thought I'd bring to life using the Innocent Crush charm packs since it's HST friendly. The blocks are huge which is perfect because I only needed to make 4 of them to make up most of the quilt top.

I really love how this had turned out! I'm not quite done yet with the quilt top though, I have plans to add a grey border and another border of Innocent Crush strips all around it. And I plan on trying out hand quilting for the first time and hand quilt this quilt top. I already ordered some perle cotton threads and a Finca colour card =)

Now I just have to find time to sew. But first, we finally got a real snowfall, the first of this winter, and I have some shoveling to do.

Sparkling Sawtooth Star

Happy New Year everyone! Just popping in to let you know that I was guest posting at Sheila's blog for her Oh My Stars! quilt-along. I created the Sparkling Sawtooth Star block for the quilt-along and you can get the tutorial over here. So please go and check it out, and if you haven't heard about Sheila's wonderful quilt-along yet, it's never too late to join in!

Raspberry Lemonade Plus Baby Quilt

I've been busy and sick the last little while, so the blog has been quiet. But somewhat regular sewing has resumed, which is a good thing considering how much fabric I have been getting in from my good friend Brenda, there are boxes and boxes of them... Anyway, a couple of weekends ago I had a nice sewing day with Sylvia and Jennifer. We were all pretty productive. I worked on my Habitat challenge quilt (which is not yet done and now ready for show), and basted the plus baby quilt I started back in September for a friend's new born daughter. 

The quilt is now finished and washed, in all its crinkly goodness and we'll be visiting the new parents and baby soon, hopefully next weekend, and this happy little quilt will meet its new owner.

The colours of the quilt reminds me raspberry lemonade that I so love to enjoy in the summer, so I decided to call it raspberry lemonade. I know, I'm so creative...

This happy little quilt measures about 34" by 42", and was so quick and easy to put together. I used a yard of Anna Maria Horner's folksy flannel as the backing, and after the wash it's as soft as can be! I hope it'll keep baby Aisha warm and cozy.

Aside from being the first quilt finish for me as a married woman, there was another first for me with this quilt, I sewed on the binding on the sewing machine instead of hand sewing it. I actually enjoy the hand sewing part of the quilt making process, but I figured with this baby quilt probably seeing a lot of use and abuse in the near future, machine sewn on binding seems to be a better option.  It was fast, so fast, and very gratifying to have it done in so little time. But I was sloppy, the corners were not lined up straight, and stitches ran wild a few times. I guess this means I need more practice. 

The binding was a print I had forever from Joel Dewberry's Chestnut Hill line, it's soft and neutral and I like how it almost blends with the quilt.

I'm really happy that I finished this quilt, I almost feel like I had to prove to myself that I could still do it after such a long break since the summer. I feel relieved that I still find the process enjoyable, and with the long winter days ahead, I hope I can be more productive when it will be "snowmageddon" outside.

And my favourite part of this quilt? These happy little peeps!

I'm back!

I'm back, thanks to a much needed kick in the butt by a reader (thanks Martha), I'm finally ready to get back to my very neglected blog and sewing room. K and I went to Beijing last month to visit my grandparents who weren't able to make the trip to Toronto for our wedding in September. And since we've been back, work has been absolutely crazy. Anyway, enough excuses! I still want to finish telling you about my wedding and all the projects my friends and I did, and of course some pictures from our week in Beijing. The good news is, I have been doing bits of sewing before we went on our trip, and I finally have pictures!

I have to make some baby quilts for a few little bundles of joy my friends are welcoming into the world =) I picked out this little stack of happy fabrics for a sweet little baby girl quilt. I've been wanting to make a simple plus quilt for a while, and this seemed perfect for a simple project to ease me back into it.

I'm hoping to have this one finished soon as the little princess this quilt is meant for is already here. It'll also give me an excuse to go visit her and the new mom and dad. I can only imagine how exhausted they must be with their first baby, but I really want to meet her =P It's good to be back!