I have been working on a couple of new quilts. There seems to always be a dearth of ideas for boy quilts. When the new Dr. Seuss fabric lines came out a couple of years ago, I thought they would be perfect for boys. I have been wanting to do something with my Dr. Seuss stash of fabrics for quite some time. Now was the time to get started on a couple of boy quilts.

The first is Bear Paw pattern for a 1 year old boy. At first I was planning on making this a variation of the traditional Bear Paw that uses no sashing or space between the blocks. However, the Dr. Seuss fabric is very colorful and busy and these paws were asking for places for the eyes to rest while looking at the quilt. As a result, I went back to the traditional pattern. I made the white space between the paws about 1/2 the normal width and each paw is made from one fabric. I did fussy cut some of the larger squares to make sure I preserved the Seuss characters, but the claws are all random cuts of the matching fabric. I wanted the colors to be consistent.

I used the plain aqua fabric to add a little calm to the layout. Since this is for a 1 year old, I also kept the white areas to a minimum. I do like the way the white contrasting fabric sets off the paws and really makes them stand out. I expect this quilt to get a lot of use -- at least I hope so!

Here is the finished top. The quilt has been sent to the quilter - Cindy Luby, of Cindy Luby Designs in Springfield, VA. She is a fabulous long arm quilter. She's not far from my home. I can't wait to see the final quilted version.

Dr. Seuss Fabrics - Bear Paw Quilt by Luna Quilts

Close up of the paws:

Close up of Dr. Seuss Fabrics - Bear Paw Quilt by Luna Quilts

Tea Party Sundress - Oliver+S

Finished a Tea Party Sundress for Eva last night. The dress uses Oliver+S Modern Workshop and cotton Seersucker fabrics. Light and airy for the summer!

The pattern is very easy to follow. Liesl Gibson is a wonderful designer. Using her patterns you just can't miss!

Get the pattern here: http://oliverands.com/digital/OLV-OS001TP.html

More photos coming soon.

Hungry Caterpillar Quilt

My latest creation is a quilt for the latest addition to the family. Since I didn't know if my neice was expecting a girl or boy baby, I made something that would work for either.

Made with Razzle Dazzle, wild Garden and fabrics from the Andover Hungry Caterpillar fabric line. My preference is to not use the standard pattern which just uses a lot of long strips. Instead I mixed it up with stars and jacob's ladder. Can't wait to see a photo with the baby on the quilt.

Emily's Quilt is Done!

Hurricane Irene resulted in at least one good thing. I finished Emily's quilt. Emily and Kyle has a spirited celebration of the quilt!

This quilt was made with fabric from the City Weekend Collection by Oliver+s.

Great colors. Wonderful quilt pattern. Obviosly they like the results!

Kyle's Quilt

The second quilt I ever made was for my son Kyle. It was delivered to him shortly after the new year in 2010. He loves it and sleeps under it most nights. It was a simple bear paw pattern made from lots of gorgeous Daiwabo men's kimono fabric that I purchased from The Quilt Patch in Fairfax, Virginia. The proprietor of the Quilt Patch (Leslie) has a very nice selection of these special fabrics. I first noticed them when I was shopping in the store for my first quilt class back in September 2009. I used Marti Michelle templates to make the patches. I think the results are beautiful -- and masculine at the same time. I love the way it turned out. Now I need to make a quilt for my son Jamie. His is 360 degrees different - a tropical batik design with beautiful hawaiian pineapples. Once I make that quilt I guess I will have come full circle to my first trip to the quilt store on Kauai back in May 2007. I have an appointment to get that quilt quilted in March -- just in time for Jamie's 20th birthday.

This paw was my favorite. I love the way plaids work in the bear paw. The quilting was done by Cindy at the Artful Quilter. It's a leaf pattern. She did a wonderful job.

I have a lot of the fabric left over. Maybe Kate Flynn can cut them into a couple more quilts for me :-) They would make great quilts for guys. hmmmm

Next Up - Oliver + S - Test Pattern Quilt

I took a fun class with Charlotte Angotti at the Quilt Patch in Fairfax VA back in September. I haven't finished that "Let Me Surprise You" quilt yet, but I did get a fabulous tip from Charlotte. Kate Flynn of Flynn Quilting Frame Company will laser cut a pattern for you. It just takes a little time waiting in her to-do queue, but it's totally worth the wait. I first saw the new Oliver+S "City Weekend" fabric line in a coming soon blurb online. I also saw the free quilt that was designed to go with the fabric. Well, I got the fabric from the FatQuarter Shop and immediately proceeded to start my first attempt at paper piecing. Like my experience with the long-arm quilting machine, I realized that this particular quilting expereince wasn't my cup of tea. Unfortunately, the pattern didn't lend itself to any of my quilting templates (and I have a lot of them.) So . . . I contacted Kate and found out that she could laser cut the pieces . . . and no more paper piecing. I sent her enough to make 3 lap quilts. I just got the pieces back on Friday. It was so much fun to open the box and take a look. Here's what I got back from Kate - pattern pieces ready to piece together and an extra set of templates in case I need to make a couple of extra pieces. The interesting thing is the fabric is slightly burned on the edges from the laser. That seems to keep the edges from fraying. It smells a bit smokey, but I figure that will go away eventually. Can you believe that there are 3 + quilts in the box? I guess I'll see. Should be a fun winter project.

A Very Buggy Christmas

This quilt was made using fabrics mostly from Andover's "The Very Series." However I did throw in one by Jinny Beyer's Northern Lights Collection and one from the Kaffe Fassett Ikat Collection. Since fireflies were a big part of the quilt, I love the way Jinny's fabric looks like firefly streaks. This quilt was fun and easy to put together -- it took about two days of cutting and sewing. It has a lot of borders and I ended up taking a couple of the borders out of the pattern (which is free on the Andover website.)

I love the way the quilt turned out. It's definitely big enough to keep a young boy warm at night while he dreams of bugs and fireflies.

Now it's time to rest for the holidays. The Bernina is getting it's first annual COA at the Quilt Patch. It should be ready to pick up tomorrow. Next up. . .a beautiful quilt using Oliver+S fabric.