Friends in the forest

I don't know if you all have noticed, but it is almost mid-August.  How did this happen?!  I am looking forward to the end of summer, but I didn't know it was coming so soon!  Yikes!

This weekend, the hubs and I are off on our last trip of the summer, a visit to our son, daughter-in-law, and sweet grandson.  I cannot wait to hug that baby, but that reminds me that I never did show off the quilt I finished for him:

This is Forest Friends, another pattern by Lorna McMahon.  Since our son and daughter-in-law love the outdoors, especially camping, this is a perfect quilt to get their little boy started learning some animals.

The badger does have eyes, they just blend in!

This pattern is not paper-pieced, but it did use some very small pieces.  It was not difficult, just a little putzy.  And the results are absolutely great.  I quilted this up myself using just some basic wavy lines in an antique gold thread from Connecting Threads.  It has a very cute blue flannel on the back:

I'm not sure how well those wavy lines work.  When other people do them they turn out great, but my own I'm not too sure of.  Also, the flannel was very bulky--but totally worth it because it's so cozy!--and that made it hard to make the lines close together.  Not sure about using flannel on the back again.  I do really like the dark green binding, which makes a nice frame.

You can buy this pattern in Lorna's pattern store , and the pattern includes a couple of sizes and some alternate blocks (including a Canadian beaver!), plus some ideas for using the blocks in different ways.  I already plan to make myself one of the love birds blocks for a small wall hanging.  (For the new house!)

Everyone have a wonderful weekend.  Here's hoping you don't melt!  I recommend popsicles, AC, and maybe ice cream.

Sharing at  Finish it up Friday, Confessions of a Fabric Addict and TGIFF at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

A bear paws through the woods

Hi all, and happy Friday!  Guess what?  We finally found a house and have an accepted offer!  I am so excited.  Here's the best part--we walked into one room and my husband said "This would make a great sewing room." Best husband ever! Is he a keeper or what?  The really great part is that he was totally right--it will make a great sewing room!

In between looking at houses and negotiating the offer, I did do a little sewing.  For this week's finish, I have this to show off:

Isn't this darling?  This is the Bear's Paw pattern, which I tested for Lorna over at Sew Fresh Quilts. Lorna has the cutest patterns and I can tell you that they are terrific.  They always turn out so nicely.  And they are all pieced using regular-sized pieces--they are not paper pieced!

We all know that I have trouble making a quilt exactly as the pattern shows, so I made a few different choices for my quilt.  (And of course I had to make it as difficult for myself as possible instead of following the pattern exactly.)  Lorna shows the quilt with all the Bear's Paw blocks in the same color, which looks terrific in her quilt.  I had a stack of 10-inch squares in solids, so I made the Bear's Paw blocks using those squares.  You can cut one of the Bear's Paw blocks from a 10-inch square and have some nice-sized scraps left over.

The other thing I changed was the color of the bear.  My daughter-in-law loves black bears so I made this bear black as well.  I think he turned out pretty well. Pretty sure it will show every little bit of dirt, but don't bears collect stuff in their fur anyway?  I have this piece with some fun owls for a backing:

I have a couple of tips for success with this pattern.  First, read the entire pattern before you start.  I get the patterns as a download, but then I always print them out and write all over them.  I also cross out as I go, because otherwise I get confused, and that's never pretty.

My second tip is to label all the pieces as you cut them:

It's just so much easier when everything is labelled and I don't have to guess.  My last tip is to sort the pieces by block after they're cut, which means you can grab one stack and sew without having to fuss with finding the pieces.

Lorna plans to offer this pattern as a quilt-along later this year, but you can totally buy the pattern in her pattern store and make your own before then.  She has a lot of other really fun patterns, too, so you should totally go and check it out!

Thanks to Lorna for another great pattern!  This little quilt is becoming a part of my Grandma stash, which is a bunch of quilts that I have for tiny humans when they come to my house. Who doesn't need some of those around all the time?

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  We will be sorting and putting things in boxes, at least until the thunderstorm knocks out the power again.  Seriously, is the power grid made of paper mache? It has gone out a lot these last few weeks.

Happy sewing!

Sharing atConfessions of a Fabric Addict and Let's Bee Social.

A badger for baby

Hi everyone! Wow, it's bracing out there, isn't it?  It's a beautiful day here--lots of sunshine, temps aren't too bad-- but the wind will knock you over!  I tried to get pictures of today's work, but they were blowing so much that I was afraid I'd end up chasing the blocks all over.  So, indoor pictures, but at least there was a lot of sunshine.

So, anybody out there have any grandchildren?  Our son and daughter in law are expecting their first baby--and our first grandson--in a few weeks.  You know what that means--a special baby quilt just for the new little one! I am making him a quilt from Lorna's Forest Friends pattern.  It's going to be a great quilt for a little boy whose parents love the outdoors.  Here's my first block:

A red fox!  How cute is this little guy?

Lorna has written such a great pattern.  The directions are very clear and there are a lot of illustrations.  The pattern has a lot of pieces, but it's very easy--all straight stitching!

I'm not sure how Lorna will feel about this, but I adapted the other fox block into a different kind of animal:

It's a North American Badger!  Hey, this little boy is a Wisconsinite, so he NEEDS  a badger!  Badgers have those characteristic black and white stripes on their faces, which makes them very striking.  I know this one has no eyes yet, but badgers have black eyes in the black stripes, so I figured that I will stitch in some eyes with dark gray thread when I quilt it up. (Yes, I'm quilting it myself--it's for my grandson!)

This was way more difficult to adapt than you would think.  I cut the pieces out of  paper and tried to find a way to make Lorna's pieces work, but I ended up drawing lines and then paper piecing the sections.  You can see that even that wasn't perfect, because the ears are weird, but I think it came out acceptable enough.  And I have much more respect for pattern developers now, and I thought they were great before.

Anyway, I'll be working on this for a little while, but he's coming in February, so a very little while.  I finally got the fabric ordered for the wedding quilt, too, so I'll be plenty busy.

Hope your fabric doesn't blow away!  I hear we're having a winter storm this week, so maybe I'll get extra sewing time.  We'll see!

Sharing at  Linky Tuesday,  Let's Bee Social and WIP Wednesday.