sample making for penguin and fish

This past month, I stitched up a few samples for Alyssa, the fabric and embroidery pattern designer behind Penguin and Fish.

Alyssa sent me five animals to embroider: a giraffe, an elephant, a lion, an owl, and a hedgehog. I was able to stitch up each of the patterns in one sitting, and I loved the results!

The designs were adorable, and I loved the small details, like the satin-stitched giraffe spots and one-stitch lion's mane.  I'm excited to see what Alyssa does with all of the samples!

spoonflower staff challenge: rocket ship quilt

For this year's staff challenge at Spoonflower, we were tasked with making quilts (here's last year's project). Inspired by the impending arriving of my half-Japanese twin nephews, my group and I decided to make a bilingual baby quilt. My teammate Jaysen designed the fabric, and I got to work on creating the quilt.

I used Elizabeth Hartman's Refrigerator Magnet Quilt Blocks pattern for the English characters. After mastering the art of piecing with freezer paper (my first time trying it!), I used my new-found knowledge to create templates for the rocket ship kanji. Many, many pieces and hours (and a few episodes of Alias) later, I had pieced kanji.

To keep things simple, I did organic straight line quilting across the quilt.

It was fun learning a new skill, and I have lots of ideas about how to use letters in upcoming quilt projects. You can learn a bit more about our project in this blog post my teammate Sarah wrote. 

Voting for the staff challenge goes through next Wednesday night. You can see all of the staff quilts here and vote for all of your favorites!

baby shower

This past weekend, I orchestrated a surprise baby shower for my sister-in-law, who is expecting twin boys. Since she and my brother live in Japan, we decided to do the shower via Skype, so that family members could call in from around the country. I sent gifts ahead of time, including a few handmade ones.

Using Prudent Baby's top-knot hat tutorial, I made two little hats out of organic cotton interlock knit printed with two adorable Heather Ross designs (Race Track and Buses).

I also made a fabric banner, using a design I created and uploaded to Spoonflower (you can find the design for sale here). I backed each letter in green and white gingham, and made a light blue binding.

I'm happy to report that the shower was a success thanks to my brother's help, and my sister-in-law was completely surprised. Now I just can't wait to meet my nephews!

quilt label tutorial for spoonflower

Head on over to the Spoonflower blog today to check out the tutorial I put together on how to make a simple quilt label in Photoshop!

do. Good Stitches: February Blocks

My February blocks for our circle of do. Good Stitches. Lynn will be turning these Road to Tennessee blocks into a quilt for Project Linus.

alzheimer's art quilt initiative

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative is one my favorite charities to support. The money they raise by selling mini quilts made by volunteers goes toward Alzheimer's research---a cause near and dear to my heart. I received my first AAQI quilt for Christmas two years ago---a beautiful hand-quilted piece by Yumi Tsuruta, titled "Japanese Goldfish."

Since then, I've been wanting to do more for the group, including donate a quilt and collect a few more to start my own collection. So when I heard that 2013 would be the group's last year of fundraising, I knew it was time to take action. I immediately purchased a quilt that's been on my wish list for a while: a wonky log cabin mini quilt titled "Cotton Candy and Apricot" by Michele Lancaster.

I'm hoping to add more quilts to my mini collection throughout the year (I have my eye on these two to start), as well as make one to donate (perhaps from hand-printed fabric?). To purchase your own quilt and support a great cause, please visit the AAQI's Quilts for Sale page.  

do. Good Stitches banner quilt

Way back in August, I was tasked with deciding on what quilt my circle of do. Good Stitches (the Wish Circle) would make. I eventually settled on making a variation of this quilt, by Ellen Luckett Baker. I asked my circle members to make the banner blocks in primary colors: red, blue and yellow. You can see the two blue blocks that I made here.

After receiving all of the blocks from my circle members, I pieced the top together, adding white sashing between each block. I kept the quilting simple, outlining each banner.

For the backing, I pieced together larger pieces from my stash that fit within the color scheme, including some Lizzy House and Heather Ross prints. I also added in an extra banner block.

I bound the quilt in blue and yellow scraps and added a do. Good Stitches label to the back.

I'll be donating this quilt to the Raleigh chapter of Project Linus this week, the charity that our circle supports. Hopefully the quilt will brighten the day of a child who needs it!