double disney i spy quilts

 alright everyone, today we're going for a double header!
these quilts were so similar, and both stashbust quilts, it is only appropriate they live together in a blog post.

when i made andrew's disney ispy quilt a few years ago, i was left with LOTS of scraps.  i bought a quarter of a yard to cut ONE 6" square from... so yeah, LOTS of scraps.  since then, along with other disney fabric purchases (since it has been 4 years... oy!) i decided it was time to make some other quilts and send them on their way.  i cut, sorted and piled about a year ago (i remember a baby spud cat being involved in sorting) and came up with about 4 more disney ispy quilts in varying sizes.  this first one was about a row each way short of andrew's original quilt size, but still so bright, fun and colorful!

this variation has a flannel backing, meander quilting and even a hidden mickey stitched in it as well!  there were enough blocks to keep it borderless, but still have it be a nice large quilt for a child, or a perfect lap size for the kid at heart.this one was done earlier on, but still a pretty decent job at machine binding if you ask me.
i'm definitely glad that is a skill i've learned and worked on.  sure beats sitting on the couch under a quilt sweating in the summer! now on to the second quilt!for this quilt, the blocks were a little fewer in quantity, particularly to eliminate any repeats throughout the quilt.  with it being smaller in size, i went ahead and added a double border, which really brought out the mickey mouse vibes. i went ahead and quilted this one with the same meander style all over, keeping the focus on the fun disney characters, and the quilting there as an added texture.  of course, to keep with disney style, i threw in another hidden mickey, just for a little more ispy fun!while this quilt was also a "stash bust" project, the real struggle came when it was time to get binding.  i shopped for the binding "peak quarantine" so to speak, and was hitting up the local joann stores and guess what... as you would expect, they were WIPED OUT.  i managed to find this polka dot print at one, and it was the perfect mickey & minnie style print to frame it all up.  i bought the backing pre-quarantine, and thank goodness i did!  i originally planned it for the borders, but it was just too distracting from the blocks, but it made a perfect backing (and yes, you also saw it become 4 masks back in july)  this quilt isn't quite child at heart size, but it is absolutely a great toddler size!once i get through my next big boom of gift quilts (ALL october babies) then i think i'll finally be able to get back to finishing the other sets of blocks for these disney quilts.

as simple as they are, they make me so happy to look at... and that also might be aided right now in the fact that disneyland is still a no go.

5 months... 5 months with no disneyland... can you believe it?

quilt count: 138 & 139

winnie the pooh parallel path quilt

the sweet little recipient of this quilt made their debut about a month ago, so it is only fitting that it finally gets shared!  this quilt was a first of its kind for me, and i am SO happy with how it turned out!

my cousin and his wife were expecting their first baby this summer (which made it the first grandkid on that side of the family) so i knew i wanted to do something fun.

last christmas, sarah got a lot of winnie the pooh themed things, so with baby coming, i knew i wanted to include that in the quilt.  after going to quiltcon and seeing this great pattern by sewbrainy designs, i wanted to use it, but i just wasn't quite sure how.  then, peak quarantine, i saw some of the scraps from the baby quilt i made for jackson FOUR YEARS AGO...  and the fabrics were just perfect.  after a little bit of stashbusting and a little bit of shopping, this cute little quilt was created! this quilt officially became my first project with curves, and i am OBSESSED.

it was a whole heck of a lot easier to do than i expected, and i didn't even use a glue stick to baste the curves like i had planned.  i actually put off doing it quite a bit solely for wanting to find a glue stick for it.  but i didn't.  and i lived to tell the tale.having the curves just be on one corner or another really helped ease in the concept without having to create a full circle.  i love the shape that it gave the quilt, and how it took off the rigidness of having a harsh sharp corner on all the blocks. i used the same quilting pantograph that i did on their wedding quilt (boardwalk wedding quilt) and not only was it fun to tie in to that connection, but the flow of the stitches went really well with the motion and movement of the blocks.  after completing the quilt top, i realized the yellow just stuck out a but too much and looked lonely, so the quilting is done in yellow along with the binding to frame it up.  i think it was the perfect amount of yellow that was needed for this quilt!

the best part of stashbusting was that after i made the front, i had just the right amount of winnie the pooh hexi fabric to piece the back together with a little splash of fabric from the front to offset the backing a little bit. despite all the chaos and shelter in place, i was able to give the quilt to jacob and sarah in person, which was such a fun thing to do!  2020 has been a royal mess, and i cannot wait for the day when it is safe to meet this little one that i've only been able to see teeny tiny phone photos of.

do i love this pattern?  absolutely!

i still plan to use it with my charley harper cats & raccs bundle that i bought at quiltcon.

just gotta get through my current "to do" list of baby quilt o' rama!

pattern info: parallel path by sewbrainy designs

quilt count: 137

100 acre woods quilt - for baby w

oh hey there, blog-o-sphere.
we're back with a finished project post, and january isn't even over yet!
my unposted projects of 2019 list is much longer than it should be... and given that i already have one finish for 2020 under my belt now, i've got to get things underway!
so why not kick it off with this little paper pieced cutie?
remember this guy? the lion king quilt?
well, lion king quilt had a brother!
my dear friend amy had baby number 2 in the summer of 2018, and i had high intentions to get them another coordinated quilt before he made his debut.  that didn't happen. but it's all good!
big brother got the lion king quilt when he was born, and when baby 2 was on the way, i had to figure out what my next option was.  well, the other disney character i associated amy with was tigger!
this collection of winnie the pooh characters was perfect, and i magically had just enough of the same blue and green to create the background and sashing the same way.
i decided to align the main four down the center row, and then offset the other based on the browns.  the tigger block is easily my favorite, but gopher is pretty dang adorable too.

when doing the finishings on the quilt, i kept the quilting the same as i did on the original lion king one.  i stitched only in the green, framing the characters.  for the backing, i didn't find a fitted sheet, but i found this PERFECT yardage and had to make it work.  to make it the right width and add some coordinating colors to it, i searched the scrap bin and created some blocking to the side of it.  the binding is ALSO the same as the lion king one, but this time i machine bound it.
it was fun to get this set of patterns out for amy's littlest, even though i know she STILL doesn't allow the lion king quilt to get used.
ha!  i was also able to gift this quilt in person this summer when amy came to visit, which was an added benefit (as well as the cause to create a deadline)
pattern: fandom in stitches winnie the pooh blocks
quilt count: 125

disney sweater block quilt

Here it is, the moment you've been waiting for
Here it is, you know exactly what's in store
Now's the time we laugh until our sides get sore
Now's the time we crown the King of Fools!
whoa there just a minute...
no king of fools here, just one quilt that i am SO EXCITED to be blogging!
granted, it has been done for a good while now, but when your camera card reader goes missing, that leads to delays.  anywho... this quilt has been a long time coming, and i think officially my first sew along finish... and also i think the only sew along i have participated in.  AND the first paper piecing project i actually get to keep for myself!  some reason i keep giving those to babies...
drum roll please...
back in november of 2016, lisa mentioned a sew along being hosted on instagram for kidgiddy's ugly sweater block, just in time for the holiday season.  well, i wanted to join in the fun, but i didn't want to make christmas sweaters like everyone else.  i had two thoughts.  i can make cat sweaters or i can make disney sweaters.  i decided to go with the latter, due to my nostalgia for the 90's sweatshirts i had as a kid - you can see all my posts by searching the tag disney sweater blocks on instagram.  in all, i believe i had 84 blocks by the end, and wanted a quilt big enough to become my "travel quilt" since i like to take my own quilt when i stay over places.  i went with a "plus" layout with a black and white spotted fabric to make the pluses stand out more.  my initial plan was a super cute yet simple mickey fabric that was black with little white mickey silhouettes on it.  sadly, i couldn't find any yardage of it when it came time.  while some are cut from the same fabric, no two sweaters are the same, and i was quite impressed with how many different characters i was able to find.
now since they're so small in the large photo... for the detail photo spam!
when i was planning to quilt it, i was stumped.  obviously i wanted it quilted well, and i knew i would do it on the long arm.  i was nervous about my free motion skills, and i also didn't want to quilt over the sweaters, especially with black thread.  i decided to do big bubbles/pebbles to mimic the spots in the black and white fabric and also give a sort of "hidden mickey" essence - whether i successfully did that or not, i don't know!  after i quilted it on the long arm, i decided it still need a little refinement, so i used my walking foot on my home machine and  stitched around the plus shapes to frame up the quilting when you looked at the back.  it isn't perfect, but i love it!
did i get some comments while i was quilting this?  you betcha.
"oh, this must be for a little one!"
no, it's for me!
"oh... so you like FROZEN?" (mind you, there are like 4 frozen blocks on this entire quilt...)
bah, whatever ladies.  pretty sure they were just jealous they didn't come up with the idea!
of course, now it is far too warm outside to layer up two quilts on my bed, let alone flannel ones, so now this just lays there, longing for cooler weather, much like myself.
block pattern: the original ugly christmas sweater block
total quilt count: 110