Weekend Happenings

 I got to spend Friday and Saturday with my sweet sister-in-law.  

We went to a couple of quilt shops on Friday and Saturday. 

 I was able to pick up a few things I need for the patterns I will be pattern testing. 

 I was very happy about that!  

I will get pictures later of what I bought.  

I brought her an early birthday gift. 

 She had told me how much she loved a sampler I had made so 

I made the quilt again using different fabrics.  

I completely forgot to get a picture of her with her quilt though, d'oh!  

It will be a BIG birthday for her too (60).  She was so surprised.

I brought my sewing machine and completely forgot to bring the 1/4" foot so no sewing for me! 

 She picked up some fabric for a quilt for a particular person, and since I couldn't sew

 I cut out the quilt for her.

I set up a google spreadsheet for the 2 of us to use 

to put our monthly goals into and a place for yearly goals. 

 I am hoping this helps me stay on track. 

 I did this previously with some other friends and it was a great motivator for me.

On top of all that I also got to meet the newest member of the family, Lincoln Ray Schmidt.  

He made his debut 5 weeks early! 

He seems to be doing well and is home with his parents.

 I had made a quilt for him using some left over blocks from his parent's wedding quilt.  

I had it done right when I had their wedding quilt done. 

 I was just waiting for his birth so I could label it. 

 I was happy to be able to gift it before we leave for NC next week.  

I used a dark gray Minky for the back.  It was really soft.

This is my beautiful niece with Lincoln. 

 I felt very blessed to be able to visit and hold him. 

 Our family had 5 babies born from October to March.  

4 boys and 1 girl. 

 Avery was the first and Lincoln was the last.  

We are so lucky to have so many new additions to the family.  

I can't wait to see all these cousins together this year for Christmas.  

~XOP~

Baby Quilt For Sale

 I finished quilting a little baby quilt. 
 It is so cute! 

 Fabrics are cotton plus Minky. 

 The bear fabric is minky, so soft! 

 The minky is on the front and back.  

I bound it in satin, for that great silky edge babies love.  

The size is 37" x 37". 

 If you are intereste,d please contact me via email at mamaspark@gmail.com

Close up of the quilt.  

Bear, Minky on the back.

Satin edging.

I made one like this for my grandson but with slightly different cotton fabrics, same minky bears.\

This little guy has one that his mama uses all the time. 

 She told me it is the perfect size.

Have a great weekend!

~XOP~

Framed Folk

 Working on a concept for a quilt for a wedding. 

 The quilt pattern is called Framed Folk. 

 Instead of making a bunch of blocks I made one row.  

I bordered that row and will set it about 2/3 down the top which will be solid white.  

I had quite a little bit of help.

 He just doesn't understand that his fur leaves a mess on all that white fabric.

I have to go over it with a lint roller before I send it to my friend in California to quilt it.

Usually I make a hand embroidered label for the back. 

 This time I wanted to try something different.

I found a paper pieced alphabet I liked and went from there.  I did the couple's first initials, the wedding date and an acronym their family uses a lot.  

I can't show that as I don't want to give it ALL away, LOL.  

I had fun paper piecing the letters using some text fabrics in specific ways.

Just a couple of examples (b mine).

I ended up with one block left over so I made a pillow cover with that.  

I even did a hidden zipper on the back and quilted the front myself!

All it needs is an insert and viola, a shower gift!

I had cut too many of the blocks trying to decide which ones I wanted to use but not enough to make anything else from so I cut a few more and put them together as a baby quilt. 

 I really love how this pattern came together!

The top is now all put together but I have not taken a photo of it yet.  

I may not until I get it quilted.

Aren't these blocks the bomb?  

I will make this pattern again.  

It is by Modernly Morgan and you can buy a copy here if you want to make one too.

It goes together so quickly!

~XOP~

Another Minky Quilt

See, I told you I have been busy, LOL.  

I just have not been able to post anything I have been doing.

A co-worker and his wife had a baby and they needed a quilt for their baby.  

He has been very ill having been born with the inability to digest proteins.  

My friend that let me use her scraps and I work together so when were were brainstorming I said I would use the second quilt I have cut out if she would quilt and bind it.  

I was going to squeeze it in before I left for NC.  

Because, we all know, I had nothing else to do before I left, right??

I did manage to sew it together in one night and bring it to work the day before I was leaving.  

Robin not only quilted and bound it, but she also made an adorable label for the back.

This is the front.  All made of Minky!

She used some of this flannel for the back and bound it in flannel.

Here is the label.

I am totally out of Minky scraps now.  Send more!  5" squares and 9" squares please, all accepted! 

 It was so nice to have such a fun little quilt all cut and ready to sew when the need arose!  

I am currently saving my flannel scraps and cutting them to usable sizes too.  

I see a scrappy flannel baby quilt in my future too.  

You can feel free to send 5" -12" scraps of those too!  LMK if you need my address! = )

What do you do with your Minky scraps or flannel scraps?

~XOP~

Minky Baby Quilts

Awhile ago, last summer, I decided I wanted to make a Minky quilt from scraps.  

I asked my friend if she would let me take from her scraps and combined with my own.  

I designed a little quilt and cut out LOADS of Minky.  

I cut out 3 of these quilts!  

I kept 2 and I gave one to my friend who gave me her scrap Minky to play with.  

I thought that a fuzzy front would be so fun AND decided to use a satin for the back!!!  

Talk about sensory overload! 

My niece was expecting at the beginning of June so this one was for her new baby.  

They knew they were having a girl.  

Of the 3 quilts I cut out 1 was def girly and the other 2 were more unisex.

I thought it was so cute.  Not that much to look at but I love it.  

This was before it was quilted.  

 I had my friend that has a long arm do the quilting.

I was going to try to fold the back around for the binding but the quilting went off the edge.

That made it really difficult so I opted to just machine bind it and 

used a wavy stitch to hold the binding in place.

You can see the whole top all quilted up in his photo.

I wanted a special label so decided to embroider a Caticorn.

I used a fusible I could sew to the front, and sewed all the way around.  

I cut an X in the web and turned it right side to, then pressed it to the quilt back. 

I decided to blanket stitch all the way around to secure it to the back. 

 I LOVE how this came out too!!!

Simply purrrrfect!  I think little miss Zoey seems to like it too.

~XOP~

Knights and Dragons

I'm back!  

I have a few things to catch you all up on and one of them is the knight and dragon quilt

 I made for a sweet little boy named Warner.  

His mama is a good friend of my daughter's.  

You may recall the fish quilt I made for their first little boy. 

 It is still one of my favorites that I ever made.

I wanted something a little quicker as 

I have been much busier this year so opted for the knight and dragon quilt.  

The original quilt was just for the strips of fabric to be sewn together, but that seemed so plain. 

 I inserted a paper pieced dragon into the quilt and hung some pennants/flags like you would see around a castle and viola, my version of the knight and dragon quilt!

 I used matching Minky on the back.

I just love how this turned out. 

 So much so that I should buy more of this fabric line!  

Or I guess there are always knight and dragon fabrics out there right?

 I think he liked it too!

This is destined to become a go to baby quilt!

I made a similar one for my great nephew but used a different dragon pattern.

I guess I have used multiple dragon/knight fabric lines to make these!

~XOP~

Neverland Quilts

I have been wanting to make this quilt for some time now.  

I finally have a reason to make it, YAY!  

My daughter's best friend is expecting twin girls and I need to make 2 quilts.  

I decided I would make them different but use the same fabrics.  

I am using the Neverland line from Riley Blake.  

The colors are very soft and beautiful.  

I matched a few other plainer fabrics to this and got what I needed to make 2 baby quilts.

The very first pattern I thought of is the Meadowland pattern by Then Came June.  

As it turns out it was a really easy pattern to follow and 

comes together pretty quickly once you figure it out.  

I have directional fabrics in this line so the flying geese were a bit of a challenge but I got there. 

 If you want to make a Meadowland quilt too you can find the pattern right here.

I will show you my blocks so far.  

I have all 12 finished for the quilt but have not had time to assemble it yet.

I didn't have a mosaic maker that would do 12 but here are the first 9 all together.

There is no sashing in this quilt.

I love how this looks.

I bought a Tinkerbell fabric in gray for the backing.

I don't have it yet but will show you once I do.

I will show you the other one once I make some more progress on it.

I am using the Starbreak pattern from the Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

If you want to make one you can find the free pattern here.

I began with a FQB and a few "companion" fabrics and 

had more than enough to make BOTH baby quilts!  

I do have the stars from the Starbreak pattern done.

I found the CUTEST coloring book page to use for the labels!

I am working on the embroidery for them so will show you when they are both finished.

I am off to a local quilt retreat today and will be back home on Sunday.

I am hoping to have 4 count them 4 baby quilt tops finished by the time I get home!!

I like to sew the label into the back rathe than sew it on after I get the quilt back from the quilter.

That means I have to wait for the baby to be born to add the name and DOB.

I try to embroider as much as I can on the labels.

If it is just words that is a bit more difficult.

I can usually get a all word one done in a couple of nights though.  

It just means the baby won't get the quilt right away, but I am so much happier with the look.

Have a great weekend and stay tuned.

I will be posting on Instagram as I work this weekend.

If you want to watch my progress please find me at 

@mamaspark59

Happy Stitching!

~XOP~