Hopscotch Outfits

My One Monthly Goal for May was to complete the Hopscotch outfits for my girls and I did it! This pattern was designed by Oliver and S and I love it. I've made the shirts three times now (well, six since I have two big girls I've sewn for), but this was the first time I sewed the skirt. The shirt goes together so quickly and my girls just love it. It's comfy for them, and I added several inches to the length so it's nice and long for my tall girls.

The skirt was a little trickier than the shirt, but I got it figured out. The trickiest part was the pockets. Liesl called them origami pockets and they were for sure like origami! I eventually got them and my five year old LOVES them. She loads them up with all sorts of things, and walks around with her hands in her pockets. I didn't do well with the button hole placement. I wish I had bumped over the top button hole, but I followed the button placement pattern that was included. I might add a hidden hook and eye to keep it closed a little tighter.

I do think the fabrics are so cute. I love how these outfits turned out and I really love so much how much my daughters love them. Especially my five year old. I was worried since it's not pink...and the yellow is not a color my kids would just pick, but it matches perfectly and I'm glad they're down with it. It's an Art Gallery Fabric knit and it's a really great blend and weight with a great drape. It's smooth and just stretchy enough, and I want a shirt made from it, too. Luckily, I have plenty left. I bought enough corduroy and knit to make Hopscotch outfits for my big girls and jumpers and shirts for my twins, but I'm thinking I'd rather skip the twins' outfits and make myself a pencil skirt and a shirt. We'll see.

As far as my other goals, here's how I did.

• Sew a shirt for myself: this didn't happen. I was sick the first week in May, and the second week I sewed these outfits, and then my daughter got the flu right in the middle of end of year festivities, and then a week later, I got sick again, this time with pneumonia (along with my 5-year-old), and that took me through the end of the month. It was a really rough month in our house.
• Black and White Quilt: I did get this started. I got all my fabric cut out, and I started sewing the pieces, yay!
• Camping Trip Progress: We've gotten some progress made, but haven't purchased everything we need.
• Summer Break: I've gotten these planned out, but we'll see how well they go! 
• Exercise 3 times a week: I tried. But, all the sickness. *sigh*
  

Argyle Medallion

I'm so excited to show you my finished Argyle Medallion quilt! This quilt is an accomplishment for me. First, it's my first scrap-only quilt. I did cheat just a little and pulled a few low volume cuts for the flying geese because I didn't have enough scraps that were big enough, and I bought the background fabric, but everything else was scraps. The backing is a cut of fabric I got from a friend when she moved, so I didn't even have to purchase that. I love seeing scraps from other projects all over this quilt. And second, I made this quilt entirely as a leaders and enders project, my first one. I've sewn with leaders and enders before, but I've never made an entire quilt as a leaders and enders project. The only times I didn't use it as a leaders and enders project is the topstitching on centers on the Dresdens, and assembling the quilt. What's funny is it didn't even take as long as I expected. It took months, for sure. But I finished it much more quickly than I expected since it was a "bonus" project, and a big project at that: it finished at 80 inches. (So big shout out to my awesome husband for holding up this HEAVY quilt for me to take pictures!)

When I finished it, I decided to get it custom quilted. This pattern is from the Scraps, Inc. Vol 2 book, and the quilting on the original was stunning. And I decided I wanted a similar style on mine. I emailed the original quilter, but her turnaround was 6 months or more and I would have had to mail it, which I don't like doing. So, I emailed a more local custom quilter and asked if she would be okay with using the pictures as inspiration (that it didn't have to be identical but I loved the feeling and style so similar). She agreed and I took it down. She had it for about 4 months, and I definitely got anxious to see it but it was worth the wait. She did an amazing job and I love it!

When it came to binding, I decided to try using my binding scraps. But, the tricky part was that they weren't all the same width. I used to use the standard 2-1/2" strips, but I switched a couple years ago to 2" because I get better results. So, I had to sort out which were the right widths before I sewed them together. Luckily, I had more than enough 2" strips that I didn't have to trim any of the other ones. But I'm happy with how the binding turned out, I think it's fun!

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this quilt. It was a great experience! And since it was so great, I started another scrap quilt (from Volume 1, this time) as a leaders and enders project. So fun to use up these scraps!

Argyle Medallion
Pieced by me
Pattern by Erin Burke Harris from Scraps, Inc. Volume 2
Quilted by Marion McClellan
Completed April 2018

Red Cross Baby Quilt

I have a good friend from college who is expecting her first daughter. I'm so thrilled for her! Having four daughters myself, I'm so happy for her. When she told me it was a girl, I started brainstorming quilts for her, and she said she didn't really have a preference on color except for gray and pink, and extra colors were okay.

Then, she told me she'd be in town for a conference and would be having a baby shower, so my deadline, which was originally based on her July due date, got moved up a couple months. Yikes! I got to work quickly and got a quilt top off to Marion for quilting about a week later. Marion was willing to work with my quick deadline, and got it back to me just in time to bind.

I used a pattern from Vintage Quilt Revival, one of my favorite quilt books, and I modified it only so slightly. They used nine Red Cross blocks to create a center and then set it on point for a lap sized quilt, but the center was about 43" square, which I thought was a perfect size for a baby quilt and I liked it better not set on point, so it worked out great! 

The prints all came from my stash, and all I needed to purchase was the background. And the backing. I opted to go with minky because I'd need to piece a back for quilting for a plain backing, but minky is 60" wide so I wouldn't need to piece it. Lazy? Yes. But also, you can't beat minky! I got so lucky and a local shop had their flat fold minky for $7/yd, so I got a slightly bigger piece than I needed (the piece I found was 1-3/4 yards) but paid only about $13 after tax, which is less than a yard would have cost, and cheaper than a backing from Kona. Huzzah! 

I decided to bind it with a solid pink I had in my stash, and I think it worked well.

I'm really so excited for her and I hope she loves this quilt!

This quilt was my One Monthly Goal for April and I'm happy to say I finished it. I'll be linking up at Elm Street's One Monthly Goal link up party.