Bright Butterflies for Baby June

All year, I've been making butterfly blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The block is one I adapted slightly from the Summer 2014 issue of Quilter's World magazine.  Each butterfly is 12 1/2" high and 17" long unfinished.  Over the course of 2016, I made 16 butterflies.  I picked the 9 brightest and turned them into a baby quilt.

Baby June arrived a week before Christmas.  Her mom, my friend Kate, has seen the finished top and was really pleased.  Kate loves scrap quilts, and since she & I have traded scraps many times over the years, several fabrics that made it into the quilt came from her and some have family associations--there's at least one from a quilt her grandmother made, and I didn't even know it!

The sashing fabric is Kona Bordeaux.  The back is The Very Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. Kate & I are both librarians so a fabric that comes from a children's book seems very appropriate. I quilted it with the wavy line stitch on my machine; I thought that might make it look like the butterflies are in flight.  I'm super pleased with how it turned out!

Finishing this quilt was my One Monthly Goal for the OMG goal-setting party hosted by Elm Street Quilts (goal setter #56).  It was also #9 on my list of Q4 goals for the globally hosted Finish Along under the name "Gummie's Quilt, as Gummie was how baby was referred to before she was born and her name was announced.

Piggie Pillow

My son has recently become interested in pigs.  He told us that Santa was going to bring him a Blueberry Piggie.  (Yeah, we had no idea what that means, either.)  I talked to Santa and knew he was bringing a stuffed animal pig with a blue bow around its neck, but I decided at the last minute to add a piggie to our pillow menagerie in addition.  So this guy was waiting on the couch Christmas morning.

Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts released a farm animal pattern recently, and just before Christmas she started putting single blocks from her patterns into her etsy shop.  Since I only wanted the pig, that was perfect for me.  I had the day to myself the Friday before Christmas and on a whim at lunch time I bought and downloaded the pattern and got fabrics from my stash.

And here's where the shenanigans began.  Because I decided to double the block size.  Except I just did a straight double and didn't think about how the seam allowance would now be out of wack until I was a fair way in.  But I was able to compensate and I don't think the proportions are too far off, though anything that looks off is the fault of me and not the pattern.  It's also now a really large pig face.  If I had it to do over, I would use the standard block, but oh well.

The fabrics in the pig are Kona Ballerina, Plum, Pepper, and Coal.  I had a pig print that worked nicely for the back; it is Barnyard Boogie by Blank Quilting.  I am now a pro at the envelope pillow method from Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts and I didn't even need to pull up the directions.

So here is our current pillow family.  A kangaroo was supposed to be next, but the paper pieced pattern is much bigger than I realized, so I'm putting that on the back burner because I don't really want a pillow that big--that's why I got rid of the couch cushions and moved to the fun ones in the first place!

car and train carriers

Munchkin likes cars & trucks.  We generally have some small trucks with us whenever we are out.  I've been wanting to make him a car carrier for a while and finally made one for Christmas.

I meshed 2 patterns together: this tutorial from homemade by Jill and a pattern that was in the Winter 2012/2013 issue of Simple Quilts & Sewing magazine.  The outside fabric came from my local quilt shop recently and the inside fabric is part of a fat quarter a friend gave me.  The solid is Kona Clover and the road is felt.

While I was at it, I made one for our friend Buddy whose birthday is 2 days before Christmas.  Buddy is about 10 weeks younger than Munchkin.  The 4 of us parents were friends before the boys were born; timing was just really lucky!  Buddy is crazy about trains.  His version has a train print on both the outside and the inside, also with the Kona Clover as the solid.  I swapped out the road for train tracks.  I did a Google image search for "felt railroad tracks" to get some ideas of how to put together the train track and I basically did it off a picture.

I like that the boys have matching toys but that they reflect individual preferences.

outside

inside, without cars or trains

We had some fire trucks for Munchkin, so he got his loaded up on Christmas morning.  It was a hit and he stopped opening presents to line up his new trucks on the road.

Buddy's dad told me that his was a hit, too, and that it will be the go-to toy to take out to lunch or dinner.  Travel and eating out will likely be the primary uses of ours, too.  I wanted something that could take trucks on the go. 

This was goal #10 on my list of Q4 goals for the globally hosted Finish Along. 

last minute Christmas gift

My dad is particularly difficult to find gifts for.  This year when I asked what he wanted, he clearly wanted me to make him something but didn't have suggestions for what.  I was at a loss until I remembered the car trash bags I have made--you can see them here and here.  So I made him one.

The main fabric is a train print that my friend Snow gave me recently.  My dad has always liked trains, and the print seemed subtle enough to work for him.  The straps & binding are Kona Pepper leftover from Here, Fishy Fishy.  I use the pattern "Not-Ugly Car Trash Bag" from the book One Yard Wonders.  I've made it several times.  I line mine with PUL so they are less likely to get gross and I've made a few other minor adjustments. 

I also used snaps this time, something that Snow added to the one I made for her this summer and I thought was brilliant.  It was my first time using my snap setter but definitely not the last!  I love how easy it was!  I went back and added snaps to mine while I had it out and will upgrade Husband's as well.

This was essentially a spur-of-the-moment make and I hope he likes it!

Yellow!

I finally finished all my butterflies for the rainbow scrap challenge!  Yellow was the last color, and here they are:

I added them all up and I have 16 butterflies from throughout the year.  I didn't have one space big enough to lay them all out, so you'll have to wait until I have a finished product to show.  They will be split into 3 projects. 9 butterflies are going into a baby quilt, 6 will go into a quilt for Project Linus, and that leaves 1 to become a mini for me.  Interestingly, I am keeping the very first butterfly of the year!

That's right, I'm keeping the butterfly with Darth Vader's face in it!  It just makes me so happy.  At some point, I'll quilt it up and it can join my wall of minis at work.

The block is from the Summer 2014 issue of Quilter's World magazine, though I have adapted it slightly.  Mine finished at 12 1/2" high and 17" long.

I had a good time with the rainbow scrap challenge.  I haven't decided exactly how I am going to use it next year, but I will do something.

Hey Hey, I'm a Monkey!

As I finished this pillow, I couldn't stop singing the theme song from The Monkees.  And so a pillow is named!

The pattern is part of the Zoo Animals bundle from Kristy @ Quiet Play.  The Zoo Animals bundle includes 9 different animal blocks.  I have plans to make the giraffe and the koala in the near future; some of the others may come at a later date.

Her paper pieced pattern is for a 10" block; I enlarged it to a 16" block.  I added more of the background fabric to make it fit a 20" pillow. I think some of those pieces around the eyes would be awfully tiny in a 10" block!  My one disappointment with the pattern is that there was no instruction about adding the face.  The picture showed what I am guessing was embroidery, but there was no guideline or written direction.  I used embroidery, and I wished I used more strands to make the face show up better.

The fabrics are Kona cottons in Chocolate, Scone, & Seafoam, with Black & White used in the eyes.  I used a 20" pillow form from IKEA and the envelope pillow method from Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts.

Kangaroo is next, but I have a few projects I want to finish before I can hop to making that one.  Here is the Monkey with its friend Panda.

The monkey pillow was goal #6 on my list of Q4 goals in the globally hosted Finish Along.

OMG December Goal

I am hoping to get quite a bit done during December, as I get extended time off work and should have extra sewing time.  For my One Monthly Goal, I've chosen the baby quilt that will be made with the butterflies I've been making all year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Green Butterflies

This might be a bit of a stretch, as I still haven't actually finished all the butterflies; I still have yellow left to make.  I intentionally haven't been counting my butterflies and made a number each month that made sense with how many scraps I had.  This goal is to completely finish one quilt, but I suspect I will still have some butterflies left for a second quilt.

The main reason for fast-tracking this project is that it is a baby quilt for a young lady expected to arrive any day now!  No official name yet, parents are referring to her as "Gummie" for now.  So Gummie's butterfly quilt is my One Monthly Goal.  Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts.