Giant Willow Star

A friend from our church had a baby in September, and I was honored to be able to throw a baby shower for the two of them at our house! It really was fun to plan the shower, but my favorite part was that there was a sweet baby girl to make a quilt for!

I found some fat quarters of Riley Blake's organic cotton line, Willow, at a quilt shop in Winthrop, WA when we were camping this summer, and they were perfect for this quilt. I also found Jeni Baker's tutorial for the giant vintage star, and wanted to try out this pattern. I love the idea of a quilt block enlarged to be a giant size. It was simple but I think it turned out really pretty!

I added a Moda solid, but forgot the name of it, as well as the green which was a fat quarter that I got from my mom. I'm not sure where I got the white, or what it is, but it's really soft! With a small scrappy border and scrappy binding, I think it turned out really well!

I did all straight line quilting which really isn't my favorite to do, but I love the final look of it! This quilt ended up having a vintage look that I didn't really anticipate. 

For the back, I ordered a yard of one of the prints from the Willow line off of Etsy, and got a half yard of the solid from my local quilt shop. 

I love how this quilt turned out, and now I want to make another, maybe even larger, for myself!

Popsicle and Progress

In early May, I took on a challenge, to try paper-piecing for the first time. I planned to make a summer-y mini quilt, following along with Jennifer's patterns. I made the first block - a popsicle - and realized that I really need to work on perfecting my 1/4 inch seam. The block's size was a little off. 

But I hung it up on my wall and didn't do any of the other blocks. Oops.

Last week, I decided I wanted to make a gift for a friend, and rather than starting something new I thought I'd work with this little block. My friend loves summer, but she's been injured and hasn't gotten to enjoy it like she should. So, I wanted to give her something to bring a little piece of summer inside.

It's a little quilted mug rug (coaster) for her morning coffee. This was a fun little project to finish up! The fabric that I used for the binding is one that my mother-in-law found at a garage sale - it's getting used in many different projects lately! 

I've been making slow progress on a few other projects lately too - like the quilt I started a year and a half ago for Micah's big-boy bed:

And I also started a scrappy trip around the world. 

This has been a really fun project to work on! I love how the scraps come together, and I never know exactly how a block will look until it's all put together. That can be a bad thing too, I guess, because I had to take a block apart and re-do it when the fabrics I grabbed didn't look very good together.

Because I don't have enough projects going at a time, I also started a baby quilt yesterday for a friend's baby - I'm in the very beginning stages, but it's always fun to put fabrics together and envision the final result. 

I'm planning to use Jeni Baker's tutorial for the Scrappy Star Quilt for this baby quilt. The blocks will be a little smaller, though, only 10 inches instead of the 18 that she used, which will make it a better size for a baby.

I can't wait to share more progress on the different projects I have going!