2016 look back

it is currently 3am on december 31st and i have NOT prepared this blog post at all.
(why am i awake at 3am?  melissa's birthday dinner, 3 dr. peppers, dance moms... wide awake)
anywho, i spent today getting certified to rent long arm quilting machines (more on that later) and realized it was time for my year review of everything i've done!
while this year may not have been as blog filled as previous ones, it was rather eventful in many ways.  2 weddings, a handful of babies and birthdays were all valid reasons for crafting for some of my favorite people.  here's the run down of 2016's posts!
quilts: 13
science ribbon star quilt
dragons & knights on the nine patch
baseball baby quilt
peter pan mini quilt (plus a sew together bag and onsie)
blue, white & gold argyle wedding quilt
goodnight, quilt - winnie the pooh
baby a's charm (and 10!) quilt
musical charm (and 10!) quilt
musical amy butler's daisy chain 2.0
andrew's disney i-spy quilt
fandom filled amy butler's daisy chain
stripes & triangles elephant quilt
giraffe abstractions for baby a
cross stitch
bridal shower cross stitch collection
miscellaneous sewing
boba fett pillow
blush & gold rose ruffle apron
bridal/baby showers
aileen's nerdy bridal shower
erika's gender reveal
erika's baby shower decorations
big events
alaskan adventure
aileen got hitched
surprised lisa for her 30th (forgot to blog anything here.  but it totally makes the list)
this year in my personal life
i survived my first dog bite
bridesmaid for the 4th & 5th time (1st time not being a maid of honor)
took 2 major vacations
became lead teacher in a preschool classroom
turned 28
photographed 5 weddings
didn't sleep enough, but made up for it by eating lots of mexican food
stay tuned for my "plans" for 2017 post.  perhaps that won't happen at 3am.

giraffe abstractions for baby a

you know how sometimes you get those perfect gift ideas in your head, and no matter how hard you try you just can't let it go when the time is right?
this is one of those moments.
i had this moment previously when it came to making the lion king quilt for amy, and it happened yet again when my friend sarah announced she was pregnant.  sarah is a big giraffe enthusiast, and when i saw violet craft's jungle abstractions series, the giraffe was instantly perfect.  i knew the quilt was going to HAVE to happen, but i waited for the gender to figure out what shades to do the background.  she announced she was having a baby girl (yay!) and after hemming and hawing over pink, i decided to go for purple, which was also one of her wedding colors.  i printed my pattern pieced, purchased my fabric and packed it all to take to colorado with me in october where the fun all began.  while i had plenty of time to do this project, i obviously waited until last minute to get it going.  knocked it all out in a matter of weeks, and then got to celebrate at their baby shower.  here's a whole lot of giraffe fun!
i just love the little giraffe face and footies!
there were so many of these big pieces, which were likely just as frustrating as the tiny ones. its so much easier to keep little pieces in pace, while the big ones just flop around to their little heart's desire. oy!
it was so fun to see sarah reach in to the bottom of the gift back and exclaim, "and an emily blanket!" her mom was also at amy's baby shower, so she was just as excited, but i don't think either of them knew the giraffe-ness that was in store for her. i'm so excited for raymond and sarah and their soon to be little baby girl. january is going to be oh so baby-ful! her mom

stripes and triangles elephant themed baby quilt

a few months ago, my aunt asked me to make another baby quilt, this one with the specifications of elephant, blue & gray.  i was absolutely on board to make a fun & quick little project, especially when i knew i had seen the perfect fabric for the job!  i bought the elephant fabric without a pattern in mind knowing if i didn't purchase it, it wouldn't be there when i actually needed it. i finally stumbled across an idea on pinterest, but unfortunately it was a link to a sold quilt on etsy.  from there, i guesstimated fabric yardages and was able to come up with this little elephant filled quilt!
i used my experiences with the triangle quilt along quilts to do the sizing for the triangles on the quilt, which matched quite perfectly with the width of the fabric without causing it to be to far off for trimming or wonky triangle sizes.
triangles, stars and polka dots... could the fabric combo be any more perfect??
i didn't want to stitch all over these cute little elephants on the front, so i kept the quilting simple by following the seam "ditches" which left a few triangles on the back as well. and of course, one of the last few remaining "specially made by emily" tags went on this little quilt :)
there you have this cute little elephant quilt.
though the paisley does seem very much appropriate for my sister.
no nieces and nephews though for another 10 years... or else!
now, it is back to the sewing machine for me :)

fandom filled amy butler's daisy chain quilt

another major project that was a long time planned was this beast!
melissa & jared got engaged on october 1st of 2015 and then after much debate set their wedding date for a year later.  i instantly knew i wanted to make them something that would blend a variety of their fandoms together and give them the perfect quilt to kick off their marriage.  much like andrew's disney i-spy quilt, the fabrics for this one were hunted far and wide to get the perfect combo without being too in your face and chaotic.
the fabrics used combine their enthusiasm for star wars, star trek, dr. who, marvel (avengers), zelda (particularly jared on that one), disney, music and harry potter.  i picked a color scheme that was subtle, mostly black & white with blue and red touches in there to keep it all together.  each fandom has anywhere from 2-6 prints (star wars had a lot with the force awakens coming out recently) which made for a nice variety on the blocks.  i chose the amy butler pattern again, since i was familiar with it and knew it would be the perfect way to blend all these fabrics together without them looking too uniformed. one of my perfect little mishaps, where thor fit perfectly inside the triangle point. there is one of harry potter playing quidditch as well, but i couldn't find him when i was photographing the details. it's seriously like an unintentional i-spy game!
when i was putting this quilt together, i texted my cousin often, feeling like this quilt could either turn out cool, or a big hot mess.  thankfully, it turned out pretty cool in my opinion.
i chose the blue sparkle to keep one color consistent, and since this looked rather spacey it tied right in to all the fandom-ness. i think if i had gone to the red side, it would have looked WAY different and potentially even an eyesore. ha!
the solid backing worked perfectly, and allowed the quilting to pop out just enough.
i actually got to deliver this to them a few weeks ago and see them open it (and then immediately spread it out on their bed) which was so much fun to see their reaction.  seriously, that's the best part... see?
pardon the crummy cell phone photo, but clearly all worth it.
happy one month and 9 day anniversary, melissa & jared!

andrew's disney i-spy quilt

this quilt is pretty much happiness all summed up in rainbows, sunshine, and disney.
while the pattern and layout was simple as dirt, the end result was more than i could have imagined.
this quilt was over a year in the making - from planning the idea to fabric shopping and then wrapping up with the end result.  i have given andrew pillow cases and pajama pants a few times in the past, and after making his mom a triangle quilt in december, i knew i had to for sure make him something just as great.
andrew's quilt is a little more "in your face" disney, and just as much fun to hunt for the fabric as it was to put it all together.  i had a good chunk in my stash already (toy story, as you could probably guess) but fabric was also hunted on trips to idaho by my parents as well as when my mom and i went in november to wedding dress shop with aileen.  since frozen is andrew's new love, there is plenty of that scattered throughout as well.
while my goal was for the quilt to be all disney animation type fabrics, i had to include a little nod to his high school musical days.  this neon print was the perfect subtle hint without having zac efron's face staring at me.  that might have been a bit much.  haha
side note: i love when random little mishaps happen... like half of snow white's face being jack skellington.
the more i look at these pictures again, the more i want one for me. but that would mean more fussy cut squares. hmmmm...
i love the back of this quilt almost as much as i love the front. i wanted it to be flannel, because it just feels oh so wonderful, and i remembered this olaf flannel i had used in the past. i broke it up with some of the tones that were hinted in the print to make it a little less in your face olaf, and it turned out to be just as fun and unique as the other side.
hey there, olaf.
the following ones are from the actual opening of the gift, which i love to try and document when i can because it gives me warm fuzzies each time i look at the pictures from it.  with our "benny and the jets" crew, we usually go out to dinner for each of our birthdays (the first round we all went to chevy's and got a sombrero) and so since andrew has hung out with us time and time again, we took him out to his choice of applebee's on a friday night.  so naturally, these photos are taken in a parking lot at about 9 or 10pm... that's how we roll.
that face... all the warm fuzzies. every time.
yes, there are princesses in this quilt, but the colors are subtle enough to blend them in... even with the few pink blocks thrown in as well.  ha.
when i set out to create an "i-spy" disney quilt, this is exactly how i hoped and dreamed it would turn out.  though, i found myself in joann's last weekend having to remind myself that i didn't need to purchase any moana fabric, because andrew's quilt was done.  funny what a year of fabric hunting mentality will do to you!

blush & gold rose ruffle apron

that's right, another ruffle apron!
melissa got married a month ago, and prior to that we had her bridal shower!  as i have in the past, i decided to make her a ruffle apron that matched her wedding colors and add some girly-ness to the kitchen.  joanns had this perfect coordinating fabric that was in blush pink and ivory (also seen in navy on aileen & ben's argyle quilt) with little gold rose accenting to it that was so very melissa.  my sister was home for a week during that time, so stepped up to the plate and modeled this apron for me.
unfortunately, the link i had for this apron doesn't seem to work anymore :(
one tool that i'll say has made a world of difference for this apron is using a rolled hem foot on the edges of the ruffles.  they look SO much more crisp and clean than using a seam gauge.

boba fett pillow pet

ok, i suppose calling this a pillow pet is not even accurate, but it was a good enough rhyme for me.
i've had this post drafted out and apparently set to post since august.  oops!
waaaaay back at the beginning of the year (pre-aileen wedding.  pre-aileen birthday even) someone on a facebook group was looking for someone to test a pattern for her star wars mini quilt swap.  when i saw the design, i knew i had to try it out for her!  she sent me the pattern after a few tweaks, and i went about bought the perfect shades of kona cotton to make this boba fett creation.  i used pieces leftover from aileen & ben's wedding quilt for the background around his head.
i knew that aileen would really have no use for a mini quilt, so i turned him in to a pillow cover.  i used the same type of tutorial that i did for the beauty and the beast themed pillows last year, and it turned out great!  he's a little larger than your average throw pillow, so hopefully aileen and ben will find a home for him.  even though ben apparently despises throw pillows.
pattern designed by: radioactive_squirrel
and there you have it! consider this a hopeful reboot to catching up on posting.