So what can I tell you about this quilt? Maybe I should just tell you how much I love it and leave it at that?

I think you already know how much I love these fabrics. I’ve been collecting them for quite a long time now, with help from many online friends (thanks everyone!). I’m currently working on a quilt with many of the prints, but it’s slow going. So in the meantime, I wanted to do something that would be a little faster and would use some of the prints I hadn’t yet used.

Since these fabrics weren’t designed as part of a fabric line, they don’t necessarily all work together, and sometimes it makes it hard for me to think how to use them in a quilt. (I feel like the quilt should make sense, you know? But maybe that’s silly…). At the same time, I feel the urge to keep them all together, even though you might look at it and wonder why there are kittens paired with tennis players with a few pears thrown in. As I was contemplating this the other night, I pulled them all out again just to look at them and I realized that I really love the background colors, especially when they’re all together. The colors are so bright and fun — hot pink, lime green, orange, purple & turquoise. I decided to go with those colors to create a really bright and colorful quilt based around these fabrics.

Each munki munki center has a really thin white solid around it and then on half of them I used a solid as the second layer, followed by a print, and the reverse on the other half.

And then I sashed all the blocks in white. And like I said earlier, I love it. (Although these photos really don’t do it justice! I should probably retake them when the sun’s out and I have someone around to hold it up!)

For the back, I used an Amy Butler solid and I pieced in a few extra munki munki blocks.

I wasn’t sure about this yellow polka dot for the binding, since I had a feeling that the polka dots were too spread apart, and possibly wouldn’t even show on the binding, but in the end I went with it anyway because I really wanted to use yellow for the binding (and it turns out my stash is a little lacking in yellow!). The polka dots do show in some places and not in others, which actually kind of works with my quilt design – half solids, half prints… ah ha!

This little quilt measures about 27″ x 34″, and is now listed in the shop!

The leaves around here are already starting to change, and there are even some that have already fallen, so I just couldn’t resist another fall leaf photo shoot.

I made this quilt out of a variety of fall colored prints and solids, including several of my favorite Heather Ross prints. I really love the addition of the pale pink prints -the tadpoles on the blush background, as well as a japanese stripe that matches quite perfectly.

And doesn’t it look great in this fall scene? All we need is a few apples, some cider and maybe a pumpkin or two to really complete the look!

The back uses this lovely solid (how many times have I mentioned this color in the last few posts?!) I added in a few larger blocks along the top and bottom edge, and then a few of the smaller blocks near the center.

I stippled this one and then bound it in a nice medium brown solid.

Final measurement: about 36″ x 45″.

And it’s washed and ready to go! I’ve listed it in the shop for the moment, but I’m still debating… it really matches our couch quite well!

The white sashing really turned the corner for me – I liked the blocks on their own, but the addition of the white really makes it all come together for me. I used the Robert Kaufman Kona white for the sashing and a large part of the backing.

As I mentioned previously, I had had fabric pulled for this quilt for several months. It was all based on the fabric used for the centers of each block – a print from Robert Kaufman’s Hot Courturier line. I really love the colors  – the raspberry, lime and chocolate combo, along with those great silhouettes of the birds and butterflies.

For the backing I used up some of the remaining scraps to create a scrappy strip, and since I had a couple butterflies left, I made up a couple smaller blocks for the bottom corner.

I stippled this one, and did a fun patchwork binding, pulling in the brown, lime and raspberry colors. It shrunk to just about a perfect crib size, about 45″ x 60″.  And yes, it’s also for sale!

This quilt was so fun to make. I actually forgot that I had bought this great Marimekko panel… I think I bought it while I was in Florida, right before our wedding (when I was spending more time than I should have been shopping for fabric rather than taking care of last minute wedding details!) Anyway, the other night I came across this same piece of fabric online and read this description of it:

“Karkuteillä can be translated to “being at large” and these animals certainly seem to be up to something. The elephant and the zebra are wearing funny boots in an attempt to disguise themselves.”

Suddenly I wanted to make a quilt out of it right away. The thought of the animals escaping the zoo in their fancy shoes just makes me smile, each and every time I think of it.

So I pulled some corresponding fabrics and came up with this fun stripe design for the other side.

And I know I told you these aren’t colors I usually like… so you might laugh when I tell you how much I love this quilt. And I do. Very much.

I stippled this one and then finished it off with a great red and white striped binding.

It measures about 50″ square, and I’m really, really tempted to keep it, but I know the look Morgan will give me. A look that sort of says “are you crazy?” (but in a nice way, of course!) So for now, I’m going to list it in the shop, but once again, I might secretly be hoping that it doesn’t sell! Sold! Thanks Caroline!

(oh, and the name? mainly because it reminds me of the circus, and so it seemed appropriate to name it after one of my favorite books, Water for Elephants… (if you haven’t read it, you should!))

(Ok, they’re not actually squares, but ‘sunny rectangles’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it!)

I started this quilt back in February, while I was dreaming of spring. To bring a little spring to an otherwise dreary February, I selected all of my favorite bright and sunny colored fabrics. I like this simple design, as it really allows you to show a nice big piece of favorite fabrics, and of course, they look so great set off by the alternating white rectangles.

This one is for our bed and it was actually the first time I made a queen sized quilt. It’s quite large, and I hadn’t really worked out the logistics of putting something so large together! I had to baste it in our bedroom, after moving everything out of one side of the room.

I finished the quilting and binding over the weekend and yesterday I found some volunteers at the beach to hold it up for a little photo shoot. While my aunts tried to make sure they weren’t part of the photo

my cousins wanted to be front and center…

For the back, I decided to go with a solid again. I went for pink this time, mainly because that’s what my local quilting shop had in stock. I added a few white vertical stripes with just a touch of some patchwork sections.

The binding is a nice brown and pink medallion print from the Flea Market Fancy line.

After washing, it measures about 84″ x 92″. Now that I’ve managed to do one queen sized quilt, I’m kind of ready for a second – maybe one for the guest room bed?

Now that I have a machine large enough to quilt it, I pulled it out and got to work!

And if I can find a few people to help hold it up tonight, perhaps I’ll have finished photos to show tomorrow!

So this is perhaps a sad story (well, sad for me, anyway), but with a happy ending, so all is well…

I started this quilt to use up some scraps. The inspiration was the back strip of scraps on the abstract quilt. I decided I’d like an entire quilt with strips of scraps alternating with white. I cut a ton of scraps and got it all sewn together…

And here’s where the sorta sad part came in… everything looked good until I went to square the top up. No matter how I tried, it never appeared to be straight and square. I kept trimming the sides, and it still looked crooked (and not in a good, wonky kind of way!). Even when it measured correctly, it was definitely still off. Perhaps it was just an optical illusion, but whatever it was, I just couldn’t go ahead with it. And I don’t even generally have a problem with things being perfectly straight! (imagine what my brother (or anyone else with OCD tendencies) would think!)

So instead I chopped it into four pieces. And while I’m sad that it won’t be a quilt I’ll be able to use, it does make for four very cute baby quilts. Perhaps the perfect stroller quilt? (or maybe even a nice wall hanging!)

Cute, cute, cute (and cute!)

Each quilt measures about 25″ x 35″ and each one has a variety of all of my very favorite fabrics (lots of flea market fancy in there!). They’re each backed with a different fun printed fabric with a coordinating binding.

I stippled two of them, and I quilted the other two with random straight and curved lines.

For sale here! Sold – thanks everyone!

I hope you’re not disappointed in this one. I think my sneak peek may have led everyone to believe that it would be an entire half hexagon quilt, when in reality, there’s just a sprinkling of hexagons. I think an entire hexagon quilt out of the far far away fabrics would be wonderful (and I still might make one!)… I just thought that I’d try it out first before committing to cutting so many half hexagons!

I actually like this one quite a bit. I like the way the hexagons stand out and I think it’s a great way to showcase a favorite fabric, without having to use too much of it!

I had bought a couple yards of the pink frog prince fabric when it first came out. I think I had it in mind to make a dress or a shirt out of it, but I never got around to it, and so I gave it up to use as the backing of this quilt. I love having a big piece of the far far away fabric on the back of a quilt because it’s so soft! Of course, if I had been thinking, I would have made sure to keep the top small enough so I wouldn’t have to piece the back…

I stippled this one (on the new machine!) using a nice variegated thread. It worked well to tie in all the different colors on this quilt. And once again I used the lime green solid from Joelle Hoverson’s Net of Jewels. It matches the greens in the Far Far Away perfectly, and it has a similar soft feel. This quilt measures about 40″ x 50″.

I’m continually told that I have too many quilts, and while I disagree that you can actually have too many, I guess I have to agree with Morgan that we’re running out of room. I’ve started separating them into piles of “must keep” or “might possibly be able to part with”. I think this one might go to the second pile, since I already have two quilts made of the far far away fabric… It should also be noted that I did just sell two quilts from that pile… that’s progress people! (thanks to Sarah and Ginger!)

And this one’s now for sale here! Sold! Thanks Lana!!

This one’s done! It’s still busy and it still makes me a little dizzy, but as expected, I am liking it more now that it’s completed.

For those who may not have seen the original post about this quilt, this is my take on the bento box quilt. I thought it might add a little interest to add a few more pieces to each block and to change the width of the strips a bit. A tutorial is posted here on the way I constructed these blocks.

I quilted it with a random meandering, using a light gray thread. (I use Mettler thread, and I can only say good things about it!) Initially I wasn’t sure I liked the gray on this quilt – it ended up being quite noticeable on the lighter backing, but I decided I could live with it (I just couldn’t bear the thought of ripping it all out to start again!)

The binding is a great turquoise stripe from the Lizzy House Red Letter Day line. And I’ve already shown you the back, but here it is again.

I wanted something simple, since the front is kind of busy, so these wide solid stripes seemed like a good idea. Of course I couldn’t resist adding in just a few other pieces of some of the prints from the front!

This one is on the smallish side, measuring about 40″ x 54″. I kept it small so I’d have enough of these fabrics for the second version (coming soon!)

The fabrics in this one are all Etsuko Furuya – many different pieces I’ve been collecting here and there – and the idea for the giant log cabin was Morgan’s (and he was right – I think it turned out great!). I wanted to keep my favorite piece intact – the bird on a ball in the ivory color – so this became the center of the log cabin. I started from the center and worked out, adding on strips of various widths, and piecing in a few other smaller pieces.

We took it out the other day for some photos and came across this field of chives which were all in bloom. I think it might have been someone’s backyard, so I suppose that means I was probably trespassing…

Cool though, right? Oh, wait… you wanted to see pictures of quilts, not chives? Ok, ok…

I planned on quilting it with a spiral square out from the center, but then ultimately decided to just stipple it. I think I would have liked the spiral square, but I had a strong suspicion that I would have spent some time with the seam ripper first! (just a hunch!)

For the back, I used this great Robert Kaufman Linen/Cotton blend in the color flax. It matches quite well with the natural color used in many of the echino prints. I added in this strip of log cabin blocks…

and a nice stripey binding to complete it all!

Oh, and it measures about 50″ x 65″