627handworks

Dang! I almost forgot to take pictures of this before it’s taken to a baby shower tomorrow.  A co-worker of mine is having a baby boy and her husband is a cowboy – like a real one. Rodeo and all.  This fabric line by Samantha Walker for Riley Blake is PERFECT!  It’s called Wanna Be a Cowboy 2.

It took me forever to decide on the quilt top pattern. I’ve seen a bunch of adorable clothes made from this fabric line but only a few patchwork type quilts.  I ended up making all of these things out of 8 fat quarters!  Pretty amazing to me.  I had actually ordered 1/2 yards and cut them in half before I began. So I still have a another set of these fabrics in fat quarters… what to make, what to make? Anyone need a set?

This gift set was a series of firsts for me: bib, burp cloths and baby shoes. Oh – and that grommet thing on the bib.   I had only planned on giving her the blankie but realized I still had lots of leftover fabric.  So I used 3 of the long strips for burp cloths, some remnants on the baby bib and lastly the shoes.  I love the shoes!  They were easier than I thought following this pattern.

For the quilt I cut two 10″ squares from each fabric, lined up a light and a dark and made 8 half square triangle things.  That made a total of 64 and I was able to arrange them into a pattern I like. It has a cotton/bamboo batting and is backed in chocolate minky dots.  This is the first time I’ve tried wrapping the backing around for the binding and it did turn out okay but I prefer traditional binding.

There are still a few other projects that need to be blogged. Recently  I made a rag blanket with soft plush minky (not dots), flannel and fabric.  Perfect project for this massive heat wave. Ha.  I also tried paper piecing with hexagons! That was surprisingly fun and I can see the addiction people have to it. Also a perfect excuse for me to keep hoarding scraps.

This is my blood, sweat and tears quilt.  Took me forever to finish this thing and for some reason I didn’t enjoy making this one.  Love the fabrics and the end result though!

The fabric is from Amy Butler’s Love collection.  I found someone on etsy last year that was selling 5″ squares – I think most of the collection is represented here.  Then I chose my 3 favorite designs for the border, binding and backing.

This is the first throw I’ve straight-lined quilted.  I think it was more stressful than free motion because you can definitely see any screw ups!

On to the next project… I have a new nephew coming in September and his room theme is monkeys.  Think I’ll try a rag quilt with the Funky Monkey sock pattern fabrics.

Remember this?   I was able to turn it into a large runner, 4 place mats and STILL have enough leftover to use on something else.   Maybe another scrappy dishtowel? Except not so scrappy.  The remnant is about 6″ x the length as the runner.  I’m just surprised all of this came from one little honey bun of fabric.  Woot woot.

The runner is backed in chocolate and all pieces have a layer of warm & natural sandwiched between the front and back.  I’m really glad I went with chocolate for the place mats – I’m not stressing out about food getting on them.  Which would be dumb anyway because that’s what they’re for.