{I finished something!} : Dr. Seuss Charm Squares Quilt

I've been mysteriously absent from my blog ... it doesn't mean I haven't been making stuff, but more like I haven't finished any stuff!  I've started a new job that keeps me just a little too busy, but that's neither here nor there so let me show you something I actually finished ...

A baby quilt!  My daughter has a teacher who just had a baby this year (she's on maternity leave, to be returning shortly to the classroom), and I love using book-themed fabric for book lovers.

I love Elizabeth's updated Charm Squares Baby Quilt pattern which includes a twin size quilt.  I'm going to make that bigger version one day!   In the meanwhile, I offer you the Walking Quilted photo of the finished quilt :

And a close-up of the quilt :

I'm especially proud of the free motion quilting that I did where I attempted to quilt in the names of all of Dr Seuss' book titles in the white strip portion.  Can you read the "Dr Seuss and ..." here? :

I loved the fabric I used for the binding, a new addition to the line-up at Joann's, and a pretty nice quality fabric to boot.  (I see myself stocking up on this.)  I did my usual tab-style quilt label, though this was my first experimental one which ended up too large, but then I ran out of time so I grabbed it & used it anyway.

Hooray for finishing something!  It's been sent off and has a happy new home.

Wonder if I can mange to scrounge up a few more finished objects to post here?  In the meanwhile I hope your finishing goes well. :)

summer reinvention (contest) ... the Man Wallet

Sew, Mama, Sew! is hosting a contest called the summer reinvention challenge, geared toward highlighting projects re-made with a variety of materials.

If you've been following my progress on the Zakka Style sew-along, you know that I call denim "poor woman's linen" ... with that in mind, I'm submitting a project I haven't blogged about yet, but just recently sewed up :  a Man Wallet.

My husband, also a teacher, recently had his wallet stolen from his laptop bag while at school.  (phooey on the person who did it!)  While he was moaning about the loss of his wallet & its contents, and the need to replace it (he really hates shopping!), the Purl Bee came out with their little summertime wallet tutorial.  Could it have been better timing?  I think not!

So -- I took two different colors of denim scraps, embroidered a "D" on the front of one for fun, and sewed up a little wallet.

My husband is still using it ... he's the worst at shopping for new things!

PS - if I were to do this again, I'd definitely add some velcro, or even better -- a magnetic snap of some sort.

yippee !!

Just stopping in to say that I just won this week's zakka style contest ... the big prize of a $75 gift certificate at the Fat Quarter Shop !!! Yay!

I've been wanting to tackle a large quilt project for a really long time ... so I think that this is the opportunity I needed, to help me stock up on some fabrics for a quilt for my bed (a queen-sized quilt ... am I crazy?).

Here's what I'm thinking ... I'm going to go for a modern style quilt, most likely something that has a lot of solids with a white background.

I might go in the direction of a wonky log cabin -- no surprise as I just made two of them (here and here).  I like this one with flea market fancy, this one or that one),

Or, I might go for a design like Denyse Schmidt's Bunch of Squares (this one has been haunting me recently).

Here are some fabric choices, all at the Fat Quarter Shop, that I could get in bundles to work into the quilt:

I'm just about sold on the Crab Shack ... it's the bicycles that really do me in (we're big into biking in our family!).   

Yay!  Isn't it so much fun to be dreaming of new projects?