shine bright | a quilt for Aria

My cousin Nicole and her husband welcomed their second daughter into their lives recently so I made her a quilt, of course. Nicole hasn't lived in RI in a long time, and the last time I saw her was the summer after my senior year of high school when she stayed with my family for a week, but we are in touch on facebook and it's nice to keep up that way. I combined two charm packs (Kate Spain, Tula Pink) and some coordinating scraps to make the quilt using this free pattern. I would definitely use this pattern again, and I don't often like to make the same pattern twice so that's saying something! I love the way these bright summer colors look against the white. 

I chose to echo the star with the quilting, straight lines radiating out from between the points. It's backed and bound in the same fabric, a multicolored graphic print from Joann. I hope Aria likes it! 

sunshine and stripes | a quilt for Zara

One of Matt's old friends moved into our neighborhood a few years ago and she and her husband just welcomed their third baby girl into their family. I wanted to make her a quilt so I used scraps of Yucatan fabric by Annie Brady for Moda using the quilt as you go method. I used a big piece of Carolyn Friedlander architextures, some Heather Ross kinder, and C+S stars on the back. I quilted some horizontal lines along the side seams to hold it all together and bound it in more architextures. We took it on our houseboat staycation to take a few pictures at the Fox Point Marina. As usual I had some pretty good quilt holders to help me out :)

my Rifle Paper Co. x Cotton + Steel Cooper Bag

I realized recently that I never wrote about the diaper bag backpack that I made before Rory was born, which is almost two years ago! His birthday is August 11th so I've been using this bag for a while now and I love it as much as I did when I made it. I knew I wanted a backpack for a diaper bag this time around because with two older boys and a baby I wanted to have my hands free. I looked at a lot of patterns and even considered buying one, but I couldn't find one that I liked that had the functionality that I was looking for. Enter Cooper by Collette Patterns.  It had lots of pockets, a non-fussy closure (so many backpack patterns feature multiple buckles and clasps and I knew I wouldn't feel like dealing with those during a newborn diaper blowout), and really nice details. I had the perfect fabric in mind - Rifle Paper Co. of course - and pulled some coordinates from my stash (more C+S). The hardware was the most difficult to track down because I wanted something bronze and there were so many pieces that I was having trouble finding each one in the right color as gold and silver as the most common. Eventually I contacted Fancy Tiger Crafts, where I had purchase the pattern, if they would consider making the pattern and hardware into kits. I was thrilled when they said yes! I ordered a kit for me and one for my friend Lorraine who was going to make the bag for her daughter.

Lorraine and I made a few modifications to the pattern - we added a few interior pockets including a lined zippered pocket, two slip pockets toward the top, and six elasticized pockets surrounding the bottom. I keep Finn's epi pens in the zip pocket, my phone and a lip balm in the slip pockets, and I organize various things in the elasticized pockets (currently diapers, wipes, a few Lara bars, my wallet, Finn's lotion, and a small Bible). We also added a lobster clasp for holding onto a key ring, but I always forget to use it and end up digging around in my bag for my keys anyway.

I forget where I saw the idea, but someone on instagram added a leather patch to their bag and I loved it and really wanted to add one to mine. I asked on facebook to see if any local friends had a leather embossing kit and lucky for me one of my neighbors did! She came over to give me a mini lesson and then I used her set to emboss my initials on a piece of scrap leather. I love how it came out, although I do wish I had used four rivets to secure the patch instead of two because it's curling a bit now.

I get loads of use out of my bag and lots of compliments on it too! It's one of my favorite things I've ever made and I envision using it for years to come!

 

classic patchwork | a quilt for Seraphina

A friend of mine is having her first baby soon and asked me about making a quilt for her. We talked about fabrics and I suggested she look on etsy for charm packs. She found one she liked, had it shipped to my house, and pretty quickly I settled on this simple design. The fabrics she chose aren't prints or colors that I am usually drawn to so it was fun to work with something outside of my normal palette. I love the muted tones against the gray background, and I love the backing too. I love when I find the perfect combination in my stash. Both fabrics are low volume - one is a light blue polka dot and the other is the alphabet outlined in red. I wouldn't have put them together but they both coordinate with the fabrics in the quilt top and I love them together now! I think the quilt has a vintage feel, like it's an heirloom already. I quilted it with diagonal lines, a departure from what I've been doing lately (it seems everything I make gets the horizontal and vertical grid treatment) and I think it adds to the vintage feel. I bound it in a light blue flower print with a little scrap of mustard for interest. Scrappy bindings are so nice! I brought the quilt to my mom's house for show and tell and while I was there I decided to use her little quilt photo shoot set up to take a few pictures. I love how the quilt fits right into the clothesline/weathered fence aesthetic! I couldn't go to my friend's shower (I had already bought tickets to bring the boys to a local production of A Year with Frog and Toad) so I didn't get to see her open it, but of course I hope she likes it! Pretty soon Seraphina will be here to test it out. If I'm lucky maybe I'll see some pictures of her with it! 

beach boy | a quilt for Carter

It seems every Rhode Island has a thing for the ocean, so when I found out my friends and fellow RI residents Jen and Chris were having a baby boy I knew exactly what fabric I wanted to use to make a quilt for their little guy. I had bought a jelly roll of this Riley Blake nautical themed fabric a while back and then changed my mind about using it so it's been sitting on a shelf waiting for the perfect project. Since the fabric was precut I thought it would be fun to try out a herringbone pattern that I've been wanting to make for a while. I used a tutorial by Maureen Cracknell for quilt-as-you-go and I really like it. It seemed to make the project go faster but I'm not sure it was actually any quicker. Either way, I enjoyed it! 

I pieced the back with blue fabrics from my stash. I love the whale print! It's quilted along all the seams of the herringbone strips, and then after basting I quilted along the vertical seams to hold the top and back together. I can't remember what I bound it with and it's hard to tell in the photos, haha, but I think it's a crosshatch by Carolyn Friedlander. I gave it to Jen at her baby shower a couple months ago, and now Carter is here and hopefully snuggling with it!