An Ant Farm Quilt : :

Last week, on our way out to have dinner at my parents house, we took a drive to take these photos of my finished Ant Farm Quilt, a request & gift for my Nephew Owen. Since we couldn't think of a "hill" to take these photos in front of, we decided to take them at the very top of the prettiest hill around, Dutch Hill. It was windy and the sun was just starting to set, but it was so pretty! You may have already seen the video I shared here on my Instagram, it was a beautiful evening in Potter County!

This quilt came together super quickly, once I finally decided on a pattern! It's made up of scrappy, improv log cabin blocks on both sides, separating the colorful fabrics from the lighter, white, & grays that I used. For the center of the quilt I made four courthouse step blocks, keeping that same color separation. I really love the combination of these two quilt blocks, and have a second quilt all planned out using them once again!



It's quilted using my quilt as you go method, with a gray Aurifil 50wt and straight line quilt stitches spaced about an inch or so apart. In this photo below, with the sun facing the finished quilt, you can really see all those pretty quilt stitches!



One of my favorite things about finished qayg quilts is having that contrast of a heavier, more densely quilted quilt for the front, with the softer, square grid pattern for the quilt back.



Since I made my blocks for this quilt rather large, at an 18" square, I added a simple tie with a pale gray cotton floss to the center of each block, as well.



For the binding I chose a Lizzy House striped fabric from her Hello Pilgrim collection. I love using a small scale striped fabric for binding! The colors in this one worked perfectly with the Backyard Baby fabrics!



Here's that extension table binding trick once again! 




Along with the Backyard Baby prints I used lots of Riley Blake Basics -- their Cotton Dots, Solids, & Ombre Dots. I really put my overflowing scrap drawer to good use on this quilt, as well. That always feels so good!!




I'm tucking this quilt away with the others I've made and are making for my children, nieces, and nephews. I'm hoping to see that pile grow by seven more between now and Christmas! I've already made lots of progress on my Butterfly Quilt -- more on that one soon!!

Happy Monday, friends!  ♥   Maureen

Promised Quilts : :

I have nine quilts left to make for gift giving this coming Christmas. Yes, nine! I think by now you all know how successful I am at sticking to my plans without getting distracted, so... you know they'll be others too! I'm excited and have decided to begin with the two quilts I have planned for my nephews, Owen & Ben.

An "ant farm" themed quilt for Owen! Using several Backyard Baby prints, some Riley Blake Cotton Dots, and Pure Element Solids.



A nautical themed quilt for Ben! Using some Michael Miller Ahoy Matey ocean themed prints, lots of Pure Elements, some newly stashed orange fabrics from Form & Fabric, along with some older stashed fabrics.



I'm really excited about this large Making Waves panel print I ordered just for the quilt backing!



And as my bonus, totally selfish quilt project -- a gorgeous Koi quilt must be made as soon as possible, as well! Just like with Tsuru, I fell completely in love with Rashida's new collection for Cloud9 at first peek!!



I never mentioned this here before, but back in January things got pretty tough for me. I had been having complications with my Autoimmune skin disease since last July and just when I thought things were getting better, a bad bronchial infection along with a high fever seemed to trigger a really bad flareup. It was extremely painful, especially emotionally, and I'm glad those days are behind me. Of course I understand that Autoimmune disease can be a very mysterious thing, with no rhyme or reason as to why these things do happen to so many, but accepting that doesn't just make the desire to know what the cause of these problems is just go away. So during those difficult days at a visit with one of my doctors, we were going over everything that he knew might possibly trigger such a long lasting widespread issue. Blood work revealed nothing that's usually associated with my skin problems, allergy tests showed no link, reaction to all the medications I had tried throughout the last couple of years -- ruled out. Then he asked, "You say you sew? Do you do that often?" Me, "Oh, yes!" Then, for the first time he seriously discussed with me that although it's rare, there has been reported links to the skin disease I have as a sensitive reaction to dyes, possibly dyes used in fabric. Can you imagine how hearing that felt? I can't even begin to try to share in words what that did to me. I will share that I took that notion serious, it felt very possible, and I even began to believe that it was the reason for awhile. He decided to refer me to a new Autoimmune Dermatologists to get her opinion, as well. My appointment was scheduled and I had about three months to think about all of this. What would I do if I couldn't sew anymore? I thought about that for about a day and then I thought, well I can still sew now! If you look back at my blog from late January on, you'll see that I made a pretty big sewing shift to focus on quilt work at that time. Along with that shift came a promise to make each of my favorite kids, mine and my nieces and nephews all a special quilt. They all responded with some really fun ideas, from princess to peace signs to ant farm themed quilts. Thankfully, I can report that at my last appointment it was decided that dye wasn't the culprit, and although unfortunately we still don't know what is, I now have these special quilts to focus on finishing by Christmas time this year. I have three finished, the Stitched Typography quilt for my Jacob, the ABC quilt for a new niece or nephew due in September, my most recent Zig Zag quilt for Haila, and just nine more to go! That's all, no big deal, ahem. So that's the very summed up story of why I finally decided to and completely fell in love with making quilts this year. An unexpected push, from this strange and crazy ordeal, gave me the confidence I was missing to finally cut into these fabrics I love so much with quilt plans in mind, and I'm grateful. I learned a lot about myself during those several months, a made some quilts that I'm really proud of, and most importantly I remembered to trust that no matter how things turn out, they will always turn out exactly as they should.

♥ Maureen