Celebrate Good Stitches

If you've been around my blog for a while, then you know the majority of my sewing for the last couple of years has been with do. Good Stitches, a quilt bee that makes quilts for various charities. Rachel from Stitched In Color, the lovely woman who started this group of quilters, is having an event to celebrate all of the quilts completed this year, including featuring some of the best quilts. Be sure to head on over and check it out and vote on your favorites!

<3 Kelsey

do. Good Stitches, May 2012

This quilt was started by the gals in the Faith circle of do. Good Stitches way back in May. I've been working on it slowly, but surely, ever since, and can finally call this one done.

This quilt is a bit more traditional, but I do love red and white quilts.

The block is called the "Ohio Star". Together with 6" sashing this quilt is about perfect for a Full/Double bed (show here on our Queen).

For the first time ever I ventured away from an all over FMQ, and quilted feathers in the sashing.

This will be my last do. Good Stitches quilt, at least for the forseeable future. I just don't have the time to dedicate to it any longer, as you can see by how long it took me to complete this one quilt, and I'd love to have some time to sew some things for my own family. I love what these women do, and look forward to seeing where they go in the future. They are a talented and compassionate bunch.

Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving.

<3 Kelsey

P.S. Linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday.

My First Sweater

Today I have a knitting finish for you - my first ever sweater! As far as apparel goes it is certainly nothing special, but I intentionally was trying to pick a simple project to transition into knitting clothing.

The pattern is "Vested Baby Boy" by Scarlet Taylor, which I found via Ravelry.

I had a little difficulty with the neckline - when I first completed the collar, my son's head would not fit through the hole! That would be a bit of a problem. :) The traditional bind-off I used just had no stretch at all. So I undid the bind-off and used this method combined with a larger needle size to finish it, and now it stretches easily to come on and off.

I definitely want to work on my knitting to be able to make sweaters and socks for myself, there are some absolutely gorgeous sweaters on Ravelry that are crying to be made. I just need to work on my skill to be able to do them justice first. :)

<3 Kelsey

P.S. Special thanks to my little man who posed so nicely all on his own. :)

Fat Quarterly Issue 11

Today the eleventh issue of Fat Quarterly was released, and it includes my first ever published pattern! So if you are interested in the pattern for my stocking, or any of the other amazing patterns in this issue (and you should be - there are some fantastic ones!), then be sure to head on over to the Fat Quarterly website and pick up your issue!

<3 Kelsey

Giveaway Winner, and another giveaway!

Hello everyone!

The Christmas in July Block-a-Thon has finally come to a close. Be sure to head on over to the Freespirit blog for the full reveal.

I pulled a winner for the block-a-thon giveaway, and Mr. Random.org chose......

I'm sending an email to lucky miss Karrie, and will forward that on to the Freespirit folks to send you your prize. Congrats!

To celebrate the quilt reveal, I thought it'd be fun to do another little giveaway of my own for the remainders of the prints sent to me to construct my block. There is about a fat 1/8th each of these two prints:

Source: fatquartershop.com via Ramona on Pinterest

Source: fatquartershop.com via Ramona on Pinterest

I'll also stuff a few other random little surprises in there. Rules of entry are the same as before:

(1) Leave a comment - any (appropriate) comment.

(2) For an extra entry, become a follower, and leave a comment saying so. (Or, let me know if you already are one!)

I will draw an entry next week when I return home from my brother-in-law's wedding. :)

Hope you are all doing fantastic!

<3 Kelsey

Christmas in July Giveaway!

The nice folks over at Free Spirit have given me a 6" charm pack of Amy Butler's Cameo to giveaway to one of you as part of the Christmas in July Block-a-thon!

This giveaway will remain open until 12pm EST on Saturday, July 14th (which just also happens to be my wedding anniversary!). To enter:

(1) Leave a comment - any (appropriate) comment.

(2) For an extra entry, become a follower, and leave a comment saying so. (Or, let me know if you already are one!)

Thanks Free Spirit!

<3 Kelsey

Christmas in July Block 5

Hello everyone!




Today is my day in the Christmas in July Block-a-thon, so be sure and head on over the the Free Spirit blog to check out my tutorial and follow along!

<3 Kelsey

Pillow Talk Swap 8

The mailing deadline for round 8 of The Pillow Talk Swap is today, so naturally I just finished my pillow right before midnight last night. I'm pretty sure this is my favorite pillow I've made yet.

Despite being so under the gun to finish, I did actually start a couple of weeks ago. This star pattern is called the Lonestar, and I made it by hand-sewing 200 diamonds together using the English Paper Piecing method.

I then machine appliqued the star to the background, and did a little straight line quilting for interest.

I love the Flea Market Fancy grey seeds that I used for the background - I'm already starting to fret I didn't buy enough of the reprint and this is the first I've used of it.

I sure hope my partner likes her pillows big - I put one of our king-size pillows inside for these pictures!

If nothing else, I know at least someone approved:

Hope you are all having a fantastic summer. ;)

<3 Kelsey

P.S. Linking up to Amy's One Thing, One Week Challenge.

Lounging in style

Admit it - you wish you could do it too.

Christmas in July Block-A-Thon!

Hey everyone! I have some very exciting news!


Free Spirit will be kicking off the Christmas in July Block-A-Thon in just a few weeks, and I get to participate alongside some amazing bloggers! Below is the list of bloggers that will be participating and showing you how to create some fantastic blocks. So be sure to check out their sites and watch Free Spirit Fabric's blog for each block tutorial. It is a jam packed month with lots of blocks, but if you do not get them done in the short amount of time, Free Spirit will be putting together an E-book that will have all the blocks and tutorials inside so you can go at your own pace.

2 GRAND PRIZES include all the fabrics to create the Christmas in July quilt. They will be randomly selected at the end of the QAL.

Post your progress in the Flickr group that you can find at http://www.flickr.com/groups/2022427@N22/

Also, if you are joining in, grab our button on the sidebar to post on your blog!

List of Bloggers!
July 2^th - Heather at Fiberosity http://www.fiberosity.com/
July 5^nd - Pat Sloan http://blog.patsloan.com/
July 6^th – Melanie at Melanie Dramatic http://melaniedramatic.com/
July 9^th - Pam at Pam Kitty Morning http://pamkittymorning.blogspot.com/
July 11^th - Kelsey Creates  http://www.kelseycreates.com/
July 13^th - Katie @ Swim Bike Quilt  http://www.swimbikequilt.com/
July 16^th - Kim at Persimon Dreams http://www.persimondreams.com/
July 18^th - Amanda at Sasikirana http://amandasasikirana.wordpress.com/
July 20^th - Jane at QuiltJane http://www.quiltjane.blogspot.com/
July 23^th - Kristy at St Louis Folk Victorian http://stlouisfolkvictorian.blogspot.com/
July 25^th – Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop  http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/
July 27^rd - Lee at Freshly Pieced freshlypieced.blogspot.com
July 30^th - Jennifer at MJandCo http://mjandco-quilting.blogspot.com/
August 1^st – Mishka at Quilting Gallery http://quiltinggallery.com/blog-posts/
August 3^rd - Tiffiny at www.freepatchworkquiltinfo.com
August 6^th - Tacha at Fat Quarterly http://www.fatquarterly.com
August 8^th – Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations http://canoeridgecreations.com
August 10^th – Jocelyn at It’s Sew Emma http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/
August 13^th – Final Quilt Reveal! http://www.freespiritfabric.blogspot.com/

<3 Kelsey

A few favorites...

A few favorites to brighten up your day. :)

1. Somerset Star Pillow, 2. Pillow Talk Swap 7 - Finished, 3. PTS7, 4. Pillow Talk Swap 7, 5. PTS7 all finished!, 6. innocent crush kaleidoscope quilt, 7. Mug Rug Swap Round 2 for Emedoodle, 8. Pillow Talk Swap Round 7, 9. Will these work partner?, 10. Granny Square Table Topper, 11. Not available, 12. Not available, 13. swoon back, 14. Spooky & Splashy Goldfish Mug Rug , 15. Quilted, 16. 241 Tote

<3 Kelsey

A Sneak Peak

A sneak peak at what I have been working on lately.

<3 Kelsey

Amazing Indie Designer

Things are still settling in around here after the big interstate move. I finally plugged in my sewing machine the other night after it being away for a whole month (yikes!). I haven't had any time to make anything to show you yet, but I wanted to take some time today to let you know about an amazing indie designer I stumbled on in Spoonflower: Holli Zollinger.

She designs these amazing modern prints.

Many of them are such statement fabrics, yet work together so well, you can easily see how they could be used all together in a quilt, or on their own.

Some are great blenders.

And some make a statement.

Some are minimalist.

And others are whimsical.

This is clearly a woman who loves her craft. You really should go and check her out:

• Spoonflower: http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/holli_zollinger
• Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/hollizollinger
• Website: http://www.hollizollinger.com/

Hope that gives you some inspiration for today!

<3 Kelsey

P.S. This post is not sponsored in any way. I simply saw her fabric, loved it, and reached out to her to ask if it was ok to showcase her work.

Do. Good Stitches Quilt Finish

I have another quilt to share with you today that was finished and gifted a while ago. This time it is the December quilt from the Faith circle of do. Good Stitches.

The quilt I've "designed" is a fusion of the Prism quilt by Fresh Lemons and Elizabeth Hartman's New Wave quilt. (Be sure to check both these quilts out - they are great!) I created this quick mock for myself in EQ7 to test out my idea, and created paper piecing templates for our group in the hope that this would increase accuracy.

I learned an important lesson with this quilt - if you are going to do paper pieced blocks for a quilt that need to line up with each other in a bee - mail the bee members the templates! Even if they all print with no scaling, there are slight variations among printers. It's worth the 44 cents each to ensure they're all from the same templates. :)

For some reason, the whole quilt shot of this quilt just doesn't quite do it justice. I blame the cloudy skies and the fact I was in a hurry taking these photos. :) This up close shot shows it a bit better I think.

I quilted along the vertical lines to try to emphasize the new-wave aspect of it a bit. This recreated the design on the front on the backing in a kind of neat way.

The final quilt measures about 60" x 67.5", and was given to a single mom of four in our church who lost her husband. I can't even imagine being responsible for providing for and caring for four children all by myself - she must have the will of a superhero.

This is another scrappy quilt finished up this year, so I'm also linking this one up to Rachel's Festival of Scrappiness at Stitched in Color.


<3 Kelsey

P.S. Linking up to sew & tell, too cute tuesday, fabric tuesday, made by me, nap time crafters, and {sew} modern monday.

San Bruno Quilt Wrap-Up

Hello all,

This finish I'm sharing with you today was actually finished quite a while ago and has been living in its new home, but with the craziness of the inter-state move, I am just now getting around to posting it.

Some of you may remember this post where I asked help for making a quilt for one of my husband's coworkers who had a lot of terrible stuff happen in the previous year. Many lovely ladies donated their time and scraps to making blocks for this quilt. It took a bit longer than hoped to get all the necessary blocks, but I did get the quilt together in the beginning of this year.

This quilt was made using the Mod Mosaic pattern from Elizabeth Hartman, available for free on her blog, Oh Fransson!. This pattern is simple enough, but very time consuming. I had to make 9 blocks myself, and each block took over an hour easily.

I had to get a bit creative with the block arrangement to accommodate all of the different interpretations of orange. I tried to just go with the different colors and use that in the layout to create "windows" of the different hues rather than just having a few randomly stand out.

I quilted it using a sort of boxy stippling, also inspired from Mz. Hartman.

The final dimensions ended up around 64" x 80", which is pretty huge for me. My mom had to stand on a stool just so we could get a picture without it dangling on the ground. :)

This quilt was made pretty much entirely from scraps from ladies all around the world, and as such I think it appropriate to link up to Rachel's Festival of Scrappiness at Stitched In Color. Whether or not a group quilt qualifies for the competition, I think it is a scrappy quilt to be celebrated for all the work the amazing volunteers put into it.

<3 Kelsey

P.S. Linking up at sew & tell.

Pillow Talk Swap 7

Sorry for the long absence, but I've been sewing furiously to finish all of my sewing commitments before we move next week. This means I have lots of lovely finishes to show you over the coming days.

First up (because it is due today!) is my pillow for round 7 of the Pillow Talk Swap. For those who don't already know, this is a blind swap - meaning that you know who you are making a pillow for, but you don't know who will be making a pillow for yourself.

For my partner, I used this block pattern pattern and color scheme from Red Pepper Quilts, and changed it up a bit by changing the color of the background fabric behind the connecting squares, and added a few borders around the whole.

Here is the back of the pillow. For some reason these chevrons kind of hurt my eyes in an optical illusion sort of way in my photographs, but I promise they aren't so eye bending in person.

This pillow is winging its way off to it's new owner later today. I sure hope he/she likes it, because I sure do!

<3 Kelsey

Linking up to Sew & Tell and Fabric Tuesday

do. Good Stitches, February 2012

Another month, another pair of blocks for do. Good Stitches. This month Rachel from Stitched In Color had us creating granny square blocks, which are all the craze in the modern quilting community recently it seems.

For my part, I made two blocks with Kona Aqua as the background. Our color palette was blue, green, teal, turquoise, orange, and gray.

Sorry for the lighting in the photo - the weather here has been just awful lately, so I was forced to take a picture standing in our doorway.

<3 Kelsey

Just Because

Just because some moments are too precious not to share.

<3 Kelsey

Pillow Progress

It's time for round 7 of the Pillow Talk Swap, and since I will be moving next month, I wanted to get a jump start and not procrastinate on this one. I was inspired by this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts. It is just so colorful and modern, I couldn't resist. :)

I pulled these fabrics mostly from my stash, with the exception of the two black and white prints in the bottom right . I had to buy those two special - apparently I rarely sew with black.

I shrank the original block design down to 5" blocks, and my final pillow will be 3 x 3 blocks, with 1" sashing in between.

With the first four blocks done, the feel of the pillow is finally starting to come through. Hopefully my partner likes where I am heading!

<3 Kelsey

 PS. Finishing these blocks was my goal for the One Thing, One Week Challenge over at Amy's Creative Side, but I didn't manage to finish them all since I got sick on Thursday. But I am still pleased with my progress, even if it wasn't as much as I hoped.

Orange and Grey Cowl

Having recently finished my first knitting project, I jumped right into my second. This time I went with a nice simple garter stitch to avoid the rolling that happened on my first cowl. I actually really love the feel  and the density of the fabric that resulted - it was almost sponge-like.

 

I also challenged myself to one new technique by working with two separate yarns concurrently. I chose a bright orange and grey for a more masculine look. Turns out working with one yarn is just about the same as working with two. :)

This cowl was a gift for a good friend who we went to visit for a weekend recently (moving out of state causes a sudden need to give everyone gifts as it may be the last time you see them).

Next challenge: knitting in the round!

<3 Kelsey

The Longest UFO

I started this quilt just over two years ago. It was the very first quilt I ever started.

Back then I didn't know anything about fusibles or any other tricks to make appliqué easier. It was appliquéd entirely by hand with nothing more than a needle, thread, a pair of scissors, and a pin or two.

I originally started it as a gift (I worked at 23andMe at the time), but when I didn't have time to finish it, it got packed away and essentially forgotten about. 

Before I left 23andMe for a new job, I had promised I'd finish it for decoration in the office. Since we're about to move to another state in a month and a half, I figured I better make good on that promise. :)

This was my first time trying any free motion quilting other than stippling. I quilted two double helixes, and while I was initially concerned with some flaws, in the end I am pleased how it looks as a whole. I did a simple loopy FMQ design for the background. 

This also was my first time having my own fabric printed on Spoonflower. I used the company logo to create a custom quilt backing. It was a lot harder than I expected to hide the repeat! But I hope to get to try my hand at a lot more fabrics in the future. :)

It feels good to put this near 2 year UFO in the D-O-N-E pile!

<3 Kelsey

Lord of the Kindle

Today I'd like to share another project I made as a Christmas gift for a family member. My husband and I got my Dad a Kindle Touch back in October, and he has still been carrying it around in the box it came in. Clearly, this needed to be rectified. :)

My Dad had loved The Lord of the Rings since before I was born. We went and saw every movie opening day when I was in High School. We've read the books countless times. We both still play a Lord of the Rings based online video game.

So when I saw this pattern for a paper-pieced Gandalf quilt block, I knew I must use it to make my Dad's Kindle cover. I didn't use any particular pattern for the case itself, but followed pretty standard procedure for making a slim carrying case.

Of course I ran out of time to photograph it before Christmas, so both these pictures and those from my last post are curtesy of my parents. :)

I used fusible fleece for the batting (that stuff is great for bags!) and did some simple straight line quilting on the front, with a velcro enclosure.

<3 Kelsey