What a joy this Mum's The Word wall hanging was to quilt.  I feel like picking that beautiful flower!

I loaded this darling wall hanging onto my longarm and pondered what to do with it.  I asked myself, "How can I bring this flat garden scene to life?"  And then, I felt the warm breeze of summer and fans moving gently to cool.  A petal took shape and then two.

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I’ve become a big fan of Kristin’s patterns.  And I love our soft flannels.  So, when the opportunity came to sew up her Snips & Snails quilt in our new Wild Ones flannels I made sure I was first in line to volunteer! 

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In just a few short weeks I'll be welcoming a new little bundle of joy at home. I've been busy making him all sorts of wee little things and dressing up the nursery. I love our Wild Ones flannel collection, so of course I had to make him a quilt using the boyish colors from the group. Blue, green and brown is my favorite color combination, and I just love all the little animals motifs in this group.

I started out with Paula Stoddard's Crayon Quilt pattern, but then I went my own direction with it as far as cutting the setting triangles and arranging the blocks, so it's a bit different than the original pattern. When thinking about all the quilts and blankets that we've used over the past few years for my daughter, I noticed that the soft, snuggly, drapey ones get the most use. Blankets that are just flannel with satin binding, or fleece blankets, or ones with that minky fabric seem to be the favorites for sleeping with, and the cotton quilts are best for laying on the floor, hanging on the wall, or for picnic blankets. So realizing that, I decided that I would make this the most snuggly quilt I could. I started with the flannel top, and then instead of batting and backing, just used a solid brown fleece blanket for the backside. (Tip: you can get big fleece throws from places like IKEA and Walmart for like $4, instead of the $10 per yard or more you'd pay for fleece at a fabric store). I quilted it using just straight lines going through the diagonals of the on-point blocks. I love how the quilting makes it look like a string quilt. Then I bound it with satin binding. My experienced quilter coworkers here warned me about what a pain the satin binding is, and boy were they right! I hated putting it on, and it was expensive too, since I ran out of the first package 10 inches before the end and had to go buy more (isn't that always how it goes?). My consolation was knowing that babies love the stuff. He won't be examining my wonky corners or uneven zigzag stitching, he'll just love the feel, right? With the fleece back, the entire thing was very stretchy, so the quilt has some character, that's for sure. But in the end, I am really happy with how soft and cuddly it turned out, and at about 40" x 50" it's the perfect size for napping with well into the toddler years.

I think Artemis the cat approves. (Don't worry, I'll wash it before wrapping baby in it!)

When designing this February block pattern for our Year in Stitches group, I had two specific things in mind.  One, I wanted to feature a cupcake, because, well who doesn’t love cupcakes!  And Two, I wanted to incorporate hand embroidery, because it’s something I really enjoy.  Instead of “Redwork” I tagged this “Chocolatework” in my mind, ha ha!  I also wanted to make sure my block design incorporated many of the fabrics since they’re all so much fun together.  In my mind the scallop around the frame of the cupcake is like a picot stitch, (this is where my history in lingerie design came through I think, since many dainty lingerie pieces are trimmed with these cute little stitches be it on straps or hems).  I also love stripe fabrics for binding so felt that was the perfect choice to use.  What I love about the Calendar of the Month blocks is how each person personalizes their own blocks, choosing design elements that work for them, and how unique each block is.  Melissa sewed up her block and she used different methods for the scallop and it looks adorable. 

I can’t wait to see all the other versions that will be created!

If you want to make one of your own cute cupcake blocks, you can download the 99 cent pattern here, and the fabrics used are from my Just Desserts collection, available here.