Triple Rail Fence

Another baby quilt! I've done several this year but I think this is the last one for a while. Of course, I always think that but I'm always wrong. Which is just fine with me because I LOVE making baby quilts!

This quilt is for my dear, dear friends from Lafayette. They are having baby #2, a little brother for Reed. For Reed's quilt, they asked for something in brights which I did but I wasn't sold on the random star pattern I chose. So for this quilt, I went with a contemporary twist on a class pattern. Enter the triple rail fence....

The quilt I made in the requested aquas, oranges, and grays was inspired by a few pinned items from Pinterest:

By Red Papper Quilts, taken from Flickr

Pattern can by purchased from her Etsy shop

By Liz Taylor of LizTaylorHandmade

I needed this to be scrappy and I thought I had plenty of orange, aqua, and gray scraps. But my gray scraps were mostly solids, I didn't have nearly as much aqua as I thought, and my orange scraps were mostly used up making a log cabin quilt for the 2014 Covered in Threads Challenge. (More on that at a later date.) This meant I was forced to buy fabric. Poor me! :)

I needed variety of fabric to achieve the scrappy look and of course I ended up with too much fabric. Which isn't normally a problem except that I cut all that fabric in to two inch strips. Doh! I wasn't sure what to do with all the leftover strips. (I only used about half of the cut strips for my front.) The situation got me thinking... how could I use the leftover strips on the back? Hmmmm....

I love how the back turned out (almost has much as I love the front!). It's pretty kick ass...

If I do say so myself.

The Polack has been challenging me to make a two sided quilt and with this quilt, I can check that project off the list. (Bonus!)

Now we just need to find some time to get this quilt to it's intended. They are due any day now!

Runt Rowe

I know I've said it before but it bears repeating... I love making quilts for people who appreciate the blood (sometimes), sweat (figuratively), and tears (hopefully not) that go in to each individual work of art. I had made a baby quilt for the Rowe family a few years back. They were so appreciative that when I found out they were expecting baby #2, I immediately asked if I could make a second quilt for them.

I always want some sort of guidance in terms of color scheme and/or pattern/style when I'm giving away a quilt. They asked for something in their color scheme - pink and green with gray. Since they loved Ryleigh's quilt, I wanted to choose a pattern that was similar in style.

I created several gray blocks with green and pink "sticks" in them. I wasn't sure about the layout so I tried two different options:

I ended up going with option 2 and I'm happy with the end result. I especially love that I used scraps for this entire project. I didn't have to buy anything for it. I even pieced batting leftover from another project.

Baby 2 will be arriving sometime in the next few weeks and I can't wait to hear how much Ryleigh enjoys being a big sister.

Paintbox Quilt

I have always loved the Paintbox Quilt pattern by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh! Fransson. But I had never thought gsdgabout doing it until a few years ago when a friend said she was making one. She had been collecting solids for the project and offered to share some cuts with me. It was what I needed to get started.

Here is Elizabeth's version:

Isn't it so pretty?! I worked on putting blocks together of the course of about 2 years. Every time I added a new shade of a solid to my stash, I cut some strips for this quilt. 

When I went to lay it out, I was shocked at how big it was. I had trouble finding space in my house for the layout. The layout was tough... I wanted the colors to flow from one shade to another. I played and played around until I found a layout I liked. 

Here is the finished top:

Figuring out how to quilt it was another challenge. I ended up coming up with a pattern that I made up. I did geometric angles and filled them in as I went.

It took a long time.

A really long time.

A really, really long time.

But I love how it turned out. You can see some of the quilting on this photo of the back: 

Taa-daa... the final project! I took photos from a few different angles so you could see the different blocks. Don't mind Freddy who is sitting in his favorite spot.

I definitely gaze fondly at this quilt when I'm hanging out in my bedroom doing laundry, watching tv, or prepping for the class at I teach. I'll see a block and I think "I love that block - it's my favorite!" And then I'll see another block and think, "Oh wait, THAT'S my favorite!" I definitely can't decided; they are all unique. (It sounds like I'm talking about my children.)

Here are some blocks that I wanted to highlight:

 

 

 

For more Paintbox inspiration, visit this Flickr page!