A Quilt for Kayleigh

Kayleigh's little quilt is finished, and I LOVE IT!!  

As I mentioned in last week's post my little girl is turning 3 on 18 April, and I wanted to capture a little something of her within the quilt.  I did not have anything specific to work with, she has no favorite colour yet, not one single toy that stands out, or one specific movie I could use as inspiration.  

But I really wanted to have something to remember her at 3 years old, so I decided on her hands.  Trapunto was the best technique to really make them stand out.  It was the first time I've tried it, and I really love the effect.  The design really pops.

April is mid autumn here in South Africa, and in our region, Cosmos flowers spring up everywhere.  These flowers are also a wonderful reminder of Kayleigh's birth date.  So we took all of these pictures just outside of town between all the pretty colours... I think the quilt blended in perfectly in the background.  Even the blue sky and puffy white clouds helped bring out the colours of the quilt.

She had a lot of fun running around between all the flowers, its at times like these I wish I can freeze time.  She is at such an adorable age, everything is an adventure.  She has no fear!  She is such a loving child eager to give us all hugs and kisses, and she's very funny.. and even at this young age I already know she has a strong personality and she's very strong willed.. 

I used all of my favorite free motion quilting designs in this quilt.  Swirls and pebbles in the center and feathers inside the border.  I also quilted figure 8's within the white sashing borders. I admit, those corners proved to be a bit tricky, not one ended up the same....

This little quilt finished at 52 inch square.

I think she will love her new quilt, especially as she grows each year, comparing her little hands to those of when she was 3....

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So much fun!

The weather has cooled down considerably this past week.  So I did not spend a lot of time behind my sewing machine.  

Instead, I've been basting some hexies again.  This project, I thought would take a long time, but it's turning out to go much faster than expected.  Many of you know that my mom has been  helping me, so with all the hexies she has basted, together with mine, it has come to a total of 1600, roughly...  

So I found this LINK to calculate how many hexies you'll need for a specific size quilt.  For the total we have at this moment, I would get a quilt of aproximately 65 x 65 inches.  I don't have a specific layout or design in mind jet.  Once I have all the hexies here with me, it would be easier to decide where I want to go with it.

Free motion quilting design hot-hot-spiral

I also worked a bit on my Goddess quilt, and  free motion quilted hot-hot-spiral in one of the rays.  Its a fun design to stitch, but I found it was so easy to stitch myself into a corner, luckily travel stitching around the edge of the rays made coming out not such a big issue.

Kayleigh had her birthday yesterday so I baked her a chocolate cake.  I tried really hard getting a picture of her licking out the bowl, but every time I came closer with the camera she stood up. She is such a busy body... LOL.  You can see a cute video I posted yesterday where she blew out the candles, she is such a cutie.  They grow up way too fast!

This morning I woke up to the sound of rain.  So I decided there and then that soup will be on the menu tonight.  I started very early preparing the soup and suddenly from no where I had an urge to crochet.  I don't have a lot of experience in this craft, so I found a 3 part video tutorial on youtube and made these cute little flowers.  I think I will stick them too some hair clips for Kayleigh to use.  Or I'll try making some head bands, and use it for embellishment.



Then ...

...I have a kind request from all of you here at blog-land.  I have submitted my disappearing four patch baby quilt to the Quilter's show and tell contest.  The theme is 'Just squares and rectangles.  To vote click HERE.

Voting starts today and will end on (my mom's birthday ♥♥) Monday morning 22 April 2013.








Linking up to FMQ Friday @ The Free Motion Quilting Project.

Happy quilting.

Happy birthday Kayleigh!

Yes, my baby girl is NOT a baby anymore.  I guess every parent realize how fast time goes by, just by looking at the 'speed' at which our children grow up.  It feels like yesterday when we came home from hospital when Kayleigh was born, not to mention that Marco had his 17th birthday a few months ago.

Proud 'Oupa' Grandad holding Kayleigh a few days after she was born

Kayleigh at ONE year old

Kayleigh at TWO years old

Can someone, ANYONE just his the pause button, only for a little while!

I thought it would fun to share with you when Kayleigh blew out the candles on her cake (which I baked by the way).  I think the whole experience was a bit confusing to her.  The whole time I was afraid she'll burn her little fingers, it looks like she wanted to grab the flames...  

Happy birthday my girl, I love you so much!

If this video does not appear, click here.

Happy day, it's almost Friday.

Anything Goes - Quilt 'n Sew #11 - March in review

I have been quite busy this past month.  I actually cant believe how much I got done!  I have added links to each of the photo's I've posted below if you'd like to read more.

Made this photo mosaic with bighugelabs

I got to catch up quite a bit on my FMQ on Express Your Love - Goddess quilt, I made a  Picnic basket cover for a good friend.  I made a Table topper/wall hanging which was a bit of a flop, but overall turned out not too bad.   My March BOM Lucky Stars - Ninja Star was a good sewing day.  I also started and finished Kayleigh's Flannel baby quilt this month.  I played around making a few Cathedral window pincushions.  Loved FMQ my QAYG Sugar BOM - Snow Blossom and of course I had some time in between to make some more Hexies.

I would love to see what you've been up to!

Sew now it's time for this week's linky party

It's Monday and a new week, so lets all share some of our projects, please link up any current projects you've been working on, anything at all...  This link is open for a week and will run every Monday.  Remember to come back next week, or follow my blog to get regular updates.

If you wish feel free to add any other blog posts you write during the week, since this linky stays open for a full week, I think its a great idea to share and keep sharing.

All I ask is that you either add the 'Anything Goes' blog button to your sidebar or add a text link to your blog post, and comment on a few of the other links too, share the love and make this weekly link party a fun way to connect.

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Happy quilting.

Can I brag a bit?

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There is really not a lot I can say about this quilt, except that I loved every second I spent free motion quilting it.  If you'd like to read up on the process of how I made this little baby quilt, you can read about it here, here and here.

I quilted feathers and swirls free hand without any markings.  I had so much fun.  I'm most proud of this quilt, not because of the piecing or fabric, but the quilting.  It's probably NOT perfect, but hey, this is the first I've tried quilting feathers without any pre-marking and I really like the result.

I did cheat a bit, I didn't make binding for this quilt, instead I folded over the backing fabric and blanket stitched it instead of hand sewing it down.

I know the pictures are a lot, but I am still amazed that I DID IT, so I have to show off a bit, LOL...

♥ Kayleigh already cuddling with her quilt ♥

I'm linking up to FMQ Friday with Leah Day @ The Free Motion Quilting Project.

Happy quilting.

WIP Wednesday - In love with feathers!

Kayleigh's quilt is coming along really nicely.  I am in love with quilting feathers, it is so much fun and it looks soooo pretty!  I've been trying to let the feathers go in different directions to not have them all point in one way, so at some places there are quite a few swirls to fill the space.

I have also found that quilting the feather towards me (starting the 'stem' at the top, stitching the point of the feather to me) that my feather ends up more 'rounded' and the loops of the feather are bigger too.  Depending of the bulk inside the throat of my machine, I now try to stitch it that way.  I like when the feather appears 'fat' rather than 'skinny', LOL.

I have a little space space left then its just the binding and I'll be done.  This little quilt came along surprisingly fast. 

I am also working on my hexies these past few nights.  I now have 248 hexies pieced.  I'm still not sure what I'm going to make with these, except that it feels good using up all my scraps.  

Remember, today is your last day to enter for my giveaway, I have reached a 100 followers, yee-ha.

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced.

Happy quilting.

Just because...

... she's so damn cute!!! ♥♥♥

... hang in there, it's almost weekend!

So little time...

Even with a busy schedule of taking care of my 1½ year old, I get quite a bit of time for piecing and quilting.  I have quite a few projects still in progress...  Here Kayleigh is quite happy sitting next to me, 'reading' a magazine.

Here are some of the things I've been working on.

I am currently busy quilting this wall hanging. 

Back of quilt

I have decided to quilt 'feathers' in the light yellow areas.  Its a first for me, but I am so pleased with the result.

I started out by drawing a 'half heart' and then added the feathers and worked from there filling the area with pebbles, it adds beautiful texture and really makes the feathers pop out.

Back of quilt

This lap quilt is still a work in progress, as I'm not entirely sure how I want to piece the border, I want to add  bright green printed fabric around the 9 squares but I cant decide if want to make it a plain border or random pieced pieces of fabric to add to the theme of the 'crazy' blocks...

My sister-in-law asked me months ago to make her a quilted tote bag.  She bought these beautiful purple print fabric, and at last I've finished it for her.  Cant wait to give it to her.

Another UFO, is this bed quilt (left) and a baby quilt.  I've thought of adding broad borders at the top and bottom, and applique Kayleigh's name at the top and something else at the bottom.  Still undecided..

As you can see, I have quite a few project to still finish, and already I'm thinking about new ones.  I think its best to finish these off 1st.

Happy quilting