Safari Delight {Finished & Delivered}

"Safari Delight"

The "Safari Delight" Quilt was a graduation gift for one of the young ladies in our church. I started this quilt way back in January, thinking I'd give myself plenty of time to get it finished well in advance of her graduation party. But, as they say, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." I worked like a mad woman Friday and Saturday to finish it in time.  I actually took the last stitches just moments before we left the house for the party. Whew! Nothing like cutting it close!

The inspiration pattern came from Better Home & Gardens Special Publication,
"Sew Scrappy Vol. 2"

In the original pattern the small diamonds on either side of the print were a part of the printed fabric. As you can see below the fabric I wanted to use didn't have that kind of a border on it, so I did the next best thing and added Kona Black to either side of the animal print. Originally my plan was to stitch diamonds in gold thread on these black strips. In the end I did stitch the diamonds, but I did them in black instead of gold. I'm sure the gold would have been amazingly beautiful, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep my stitching as perfect as it needed to be to make me happy.

Diamonds on the inner border and feathers in the triangles

The "square in a square" blocks turned out beautiful. I was a bit concerned when I first started these blocks that the colors weren't playing as well together as I wanted, but when it all came together they turned out better than I had imagined. In the inspiration pattern all of the "square in a square" blocks were the same, when I reworked the pattern I added some variety to those blocks. This change gave the quilt a feel of fun and elegance.

I so LOVE how it turned out.

 The last change from the inspiration pattern was to leave off the prairie points from the top and bottom ends. The ironic thing about this change is that originally I had planned to keep all the prairie points, but by Saturday morning the day of the party, I still hadn't managed to get the points stitched on and I was forced into making a decision. The question was did I want to deliver a partially finished quilt that I would have to take back after she opened it. Or did I want to be able to give a quilt that she would be able to immediately enjoy. I went for the later choice.  While the prairie points would have added a nice touch, it's still beautiful without them.

Back of Quilt with Customized Label

 When it came to quilting the animal print I played with two options. The easiest and quickest option was to do an all over stippling stitch. The second option which would take longer, but would enhance the pattern was to outline the designs printed on the fabric. After much contemplation I went with the second option absolutely LOVE how it turned out!

Quilting outlined the animal print designs

Close-up of quilting

Surprise & Joy!

Blessings & Happy Stitching,

Redwork Embroidery Quilt

Since July I've been diligently working on the embroidery for a Redwork Embroidery Winter quilt. All along thinking I had plenty of time to have it completely finished before Christmas. I'm oh so close, but since it's for me and not a customer, the finishing will have to wait until I have some free time.

I was able to finish all the embroidery work, leaving me to do all the piecing, and quilting. Which once I have time, really won't take a terrible amount of time. Especially if I choose to machine quilt it over hand-quilting. At the moment though, I'm still playing with the idea of hand-quilting this one. There's a part of me that can see the special touch hand-quilting might add to this particular quilt.  The finished size should be 36"x44".

The pattern is called "Redwork: Winter Twitterings" by Pearl Louise Krush. There are the cutest little birds in every design tying it all together.

Birds & Twigs

Bird & Pinecone

Birds on Chalet  & Bird with Birdhouse on Table

Snowman

Birdhouses

When stitching the Christmas tree the garland that the birds were placing around it disappeared into the snow of the tree and wasn't even noticeable. I thought a gold metallic thread would help it be distinguishable as garland. In the end the gold added a touch of class that elevates the piece.  This would be one of my favorite blocks in this quilt...though I really like them all.

Winter Tree  and Candle

Twig

Bird Cage and Wreath

My new goal is to finish this by Christmas next year.   What WIP (Works in Progress) do you have that you've had to be adjusted your completion goal? Or do you work on one project until it's completed before starting another project?

Merry CHRISTmas
and Happy Stitching,
Marcia ~ The Little Pink Rose

A Special Baby Blanket

This order all started with just a quilt top received as a baby gift that needed to be quilted.  From there the question came, "My youngest doesn't have a special baby blanket of his own, could you make one for him?" Of course, I'll say yes to most any request for a quilt, for me it's the perfect excuse to spend even more time sewing and piecing a quilt. Then there's the added benefit of getting paid to do it, that's just the icing on the cake for a seamstress/quilter. As soon as I saw the brother's quilt, I knew right where to turn, Sew Scrappy Vol. 2. I knew the quilt, "Rhymes with Baby" I had seen when browsing through it would be perfect for this request.

The Inspirational Source

The Inspiration Pattern

 Then it was off to shop for fabric, with a few ideas in mind, I decided to go with a train theme all in flannel.

Vibrant, Beautiful Fabric

The progression of a quilt is an amazing and beautiful thing.  It all starts as just  a pile of yards and yards of fabric that's cut into much smaller pieces, manipulated into different shapes and sequences all in the hopes of making something beautiful.

For the center piece I used Print Shop on my computer and then printed the design on printable fabric with an inkjet printer. After allowing it to dry completely I used a dry iron to "set" the ink into fabric.
Then trimmed the printable fabric to a square and added a border to make the block the same size as the other blocks

Looking good so far.

 After adding the sashing strips between the blocks, I sat back in satisfaction at the life these pieces seemed to add. At this point I absolutely LOVED how this was turning out!

 Then I added the train border.........and I have to admit, I didn't like it as much anymore. It was still okay, but I thought it was so much better before the border was added. But I forged ahead, deciding that I'm my own worst critic and others will love it, especially if I keep my dissatisfaction to myself (so much for that).

 Next came the quilting. It took me quite awhile to decide how to do the quilting, in the end I decided to go with part of the same quilting pattern that the original inspiration piece had. I have no idea what it's called, but I like how it turned out.

Almost finished.

The back.

Lastly came the final step of adding the binding. This simple step completely changed the personality of the quilt. I just shook my head, amazed at what a difference something so simple (and seemingly small) made.

Finished.

LOVE what the red binding did! 

Here's the reveal of my brand new label.

Happy Sewing,
Marcia - The Little Pink Rose

Mom's Special Quilt

A great big THANK YOU to all who said a little prayer for me as I rushed the finish my mom's Christmas Quilt. I wasn't at all sure that I'd get it all done before arriving in Missouri. But, on day two of our drive to Missouri I was able to complete hand-stitching the binding on the back of the quilt. She absolutely loved it and ooohhed and aaahhed over it quite a bit. Turns out I even got the blue right, it's her favorite color.

Mom looks pleased.

 

The label has a chicken sitting atop a huge egg in its nest. It's a salute to all the chickens she's had on the farm over the years.  

 

The perfect size for a bed-topper or a lap quilt. 

The inspiration pattern came from the Better Homes and Gardens, Sew Scrappy Vol. 2. I wasn't able to find a link to the pattern, but I think the magazine is still available.

I hope everyone had a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving and is already well into making preparations for a wonderful Christmas celebration!

Early Christmas Rush

Shades of blue have been stitched into actual blocks. Can you see the star? 

Starting to come together.

Laid out and ready for some sashing and borders

Finally at the quilting phase. Free-Motion Meandering.

We're celebrating an early Christmas with my family when we go back home for Thanksgiving. We'll actually celebrate Christmas with them before Thanksgiving. I know it's crazy and a bit backwards, but that's how our schedules end up working out. I've been working on this special gift for my mom in between other projects, but now we're to crunch time and all other things must wait until after Thanksgiving vacation. As of today I two and a half days to required completion. What do you think, will I make it?

Sneak Peak Sunday

Shades of Blue

Wide selection of  Blue & White fabrics to choose from.

Blue & Gold for the backing.

All the fabric squares and strips, the possibilities are endless.

"Birthday Surprise" Quilt Complete

The "Birthday Surprise" Quilt is finished and ready to be revealed! WooHoo!! This is just a really fun quilt, the colors are so bright and how the pattern came together is better than I had imagined it would. Enjoy the pictures. And why not begin dreaming about what you'd like to order?

Grace & Peace to you,
Marcia