circuit board quilt - 26 in 21 quilt 1

 the first final project from the 26 in 21 adventure is here!

for being such a big project, it actually wasn't too hard to get going and keep going throughout.
i think having the fabric purchased already was absolutely helpful to make that happen, which was kind of my hope for this first quilt.

the circuit board quilt was one that i saw at some point last year, and knew instantly it would be the perfect quilt for my older brother.
in contrast to the 4732 quilts i've made my sister (okay... like, 3...) i haven't made a single one for either of my brothers.  with markham's birthday being january 12, this was the perfect reasoning to kick off 26 in 21 with this beast.after purchasing the pattern, i had collected the various black on blacks from two places in town.  swifty stitches and cali quilt co.  the green, which is i believe "kelly" in the grunge family, also came from cali quilt co, as it was my final piece to pick up after leaving work one day in december.  i had all my fabric pulled and ready, and things were set to kick off on january 1st!while it felt like a dozen other things were happening at the same time, i still managed to set aside time to work on this quilt most nights.  i started with the traditionally pieced blocks (the straight line ones were first) and then once i moved my way through everything (even while hunkering down at my parent's for an over night car repair) and on to the paper pieced blocks.  for being straight diagonal lines, i sure found that they had their tricky moments!it was pretty fun getting all these black on blacks to look as scrappy as possible.  it turns out i had a lot of different star prints as well as polka dot prints.  keeping them from clumping sure was a challenge!  but i think i did a pretty fair job of it, even with this beast not being able to fit on my design wall.  i seriously underestimate how big 76 inches is ALL THE TIME even though i'm fully aware 72 inches is 6 feet... someday it might sink in....
someday...i quilted it after work one day on the q'nique 21 that we have at the shop, which is fully computerize and AWESOME.  i had purchased a cat themed pantograph that i felt would be perfect for this project (and let's be real... probably many more to come) and it totally was.  i also backed this quilt in shannon cuddle for the first time, and i pretty much love how it turned out.  i love the feel of a weighted blanket (hence that i currently have 5 quilts on my bed right now) and this cuddle backing adds a little extra weight to it.  plus, the pricing wasn't far off from the 108" wide backing i would have used anyways.  
i had enough of my black on black fabrics initially that i was able to do a black scrappy binding on the quilt to frame it all up without having to purchase anything additional.  which was extra nice, since i'm trying to track my fabric intake and outtake this year.  go me!
here's a peek at how the cuddle quilted up on the back.  perfect and fuzzy to replicate those black cats that always seem to reside in markham's room.

speaking of black cats...

apparently veruca has already tested out the quilt and made sure it was up to her standards.

this circuit board quilt was a fun new challenge to take on, and i totally enjoyed it being something new and exciting to kick off 2021 and my crazy plans.  don't forget, the whole journey is on my youtube channel, which you can find here:  emily's 26 in 21

pattern information: circuit board by flying parrot quilts
quilt count: 148

bright and merry juniper berry quilt

 this quilt has been a few years in the making, and now i'm super excited to say it is finally done!
and in true fashion, despite being the first christmas quilt started this year, it is the fourth and final one completed.  whoops!  but i have to say that even after all this time, it was well worth the wait.

i first saw the pattern in probably 2017 as part of a kit at fabric garden, a local quilt shop in the area.  they didn't have any patterns available solo, but they were able to eventually special order it for me.  after getting a pattern in my hands, it sat for awhile since i knew i wanted it, but didn't know what it would look like.  then, i found the backing fabric in 2018, which then set the tone for the whole quilt.

the bright colors reminded me so much of the tree lot scene in a charlie brown christmas.  i was happy to have an idea for a christmas quilt that had a traditional idea to it, but wasn't completely traditional in christmas colors.  i shop hopped around town to find a variety of colors and prints to make the trees unique, and then this project clearly sat for awhile since 2019 came and went, but still no christmas quilt.  i think this became one of my first projects for the 2020 UFO challenge, which was quite motivating early on in the year.  as you can probably guess, i fell off that wagon at some point.  i picked up the background fabric from thistle dew in january, which was after a great debate of what color to do.  i'm super glad i went with this icy blue that really helps the trees pop out.

when it came to selecting the borders, i knew i wanted them to be grunge, but also different than what was already in the trees.  i paid a visit to swifty stitches, since i knew susan had the stars which ended up being the perfect outer border.  the great debate for the inner border began, because i had just heard that glitter grunge was being released.  the green was the one color she didn't have on hand, and neither did any of the other local shops.  silver is more my vibe, but since she did have the metallic, i picked up the amount i needed just incase.  worst case scenario, i have more grunge in my stash.

while at quiltcon, i found and purchased some of the glitter grunge to audition for the inner border.
whelp.  i think you can tell the gold metallic won that battle, and now i have some glitter grunge in my stash!

i finally stayed with my plan, and quilted a wood grain free motion pattern on this quilt.

though, i couldn't bring myself to use red thread on the middle portion, or light blue thread on the borders, so i had to deal with a lot of color changes.  but it was so worth it.  

i just love the texture it brings to the quilt, and allows it to be a little more free and not exact.

okay, so FINALLY here's a look at the backing that started it all.
can you blame me??

i can't even remember how i came across it, but this alexander henry print was PERFECT in every way.

i did my usual way of breaking up a backing by including a stripe of the blue i had from the background on the front, which with that red bobbin thread really pops out that quilting. 

i also debated going for a bold binding, but with the amount of color going on in the trees, went ahead and got more of the grunge seeing stars in red to frame it up.  worked perfectly for the front of the quilt and the back!

this quilt took a lot of organization and planning when it came to the layout, but many MANY episodes of encore! on disney+ got me through it.  even though i had the top done in early spring, my procrastination (and other quilt distractions) got the best of me, making my own projects be the last ones done.  i'm SO glad that i was able to get it done before christmas and get use of it this year before putting it off for yet another year.

well, even though we're post christmas...it is still on my bed.

and while we may be rolling in to 2021 this week, i have no shame in my procrastination game right now.

honestly, i'm surprised my halloween pillowcases aren't out still...

pattern: juniper berry by antler creek design

quilt count: 146

nerdy math themed festive fir quilt

 here we are, the week of christmas, can you believe it?
a whole lot has been going on around here, but this quilt has already been in it's home and used (i hope) all month long.  i won this pattern on an instagram giveaway by the designer, sewbrainy, along with my guild president kathy and waited for awhile to see what fabric i might use for it.  once i found this math print in blue for ben's star wars gradu-mas quilt last year, i knew it would be perfect for my sister (and ben) as a holiday quilt.

this quilt sat in limbo for awhile, because i was waiting for the perfect background fabric to go with it.
while home on unemployment in march (the perfect time to buy fabric, right?) i found this white on white molecule fabric from my now place of employment, and it was the perfect science addition to this quilt.  the top was knocked out in the month of april, and then sat around forever waiting for the perfect quilt back. the shop that i bought all the math fabric was had a retirement/closing sale, which was so sad to have happen, but i was able to swoop up some of the red math fabric for the binding, which was a perfect addition to the quilt as well as it went with the backing. i just love this little star tree topper.

we have always had an angel on the top of our actual christmas tree, which would have been a little tricky to piece, but man did sewbrainy designs NAIL it with this cute little star.
no math fabric in the star, just some cute itty bitty stars on stars on stars.

originally i was going to free motion the woodgrain that i've done before on this quilt, but i kept going back to the poinsettia stitch i did on the norweigan woods quilt.  i had to refrain from doing it again and again and again... but this was PERFECT for it.  i used a white aurifil thread for the quilting, both top and bobbin, and i just love how it gave it the perfect texture from a distance and then close up, you can see the flowers and berries. this backing was EXACTLY what i needed for this quilt, and i couldn't imagine anything else going on it.  little did i know, it was on the way to our shop!  well, it came in just last weekend, so this would have been waiting awhile for it.  anyways, i did a strip of vanilla grunge to break up the prints, since i don't mind piecing backs, but also can't stand when prints don't quite line up.  these grumpy faced "not ameowsed" cats by dear stella are the best... so much so, i have four more yards of this fabric in my stash now.  whoops! this quilt went home with ben and aileen the week they were in down due to the chaotic fires in oregon as well as the ones here in california (hence all the hazey looking photos).

i had a lot of fun putting together this quilt, and since the pattern comes in a few sizes, it could make a great wall hanging or pillow for christmas next year! i can already imagine a lot of fussy cut ornaments that would be super cute.  maybe these grumpy festive cats even!

pattern: festive fir by sew brainy designs
quilt count: 145

norweigan woods christmas quilt

it's time to meet my first shop sample quilt!

working at a quilt shop has been AWESOME, and making quilts to have on display has been one of the perks of the job.  quilting for work, and then having an awesome project in the end?  don't mind if i do!

tayva showed me a handful of quilt patterns and asked if i was interested in making any of them, and when i saw this quilt with trees made out of triangles, i fell in love.  originally, i had another line of fabric in mind, but when that quickly sold out on a live show, i found the farmhouse christmas line of fabric from northcott and fell in love with the cute little candy canes and gingham prints.

i had to add some extra emily to it, by creating the star out of moda grunge as well as the entire background.  silver grunge is probably my favorite shade of gray to use.  it is perfectly perfect! 

i debated doing a white star, since i wasn't sure how the yellow would blend with the other fabrics, but after some convincing, lemon drop yellow grunge was there to stay on top of the trees

piecing the triangle trees was incredibly easy.  i actually did most of them at a sew day with the sacramento modern quilt guild.  the templates are included for all the triangle shapes as well as the stars.  there were a few pattern corrections, but it was just the labeling of pieces.  no measurement changes or anything. i just love these little trees!

i was pretty certain i was going to gift this quilt to someone (not that i had any idea who at the time) but i'm pretty sure i might keep it...  even though i still have my own planned christmas quilt to finsh up... which i finally bought thread for too!

i didn't use the red snowflakes in the trees, so i thought they would make the perfect binding.

and they did.

i have been talking about binding options with a lot of people lately, given my job, and i've come to find that i'm all for a bolder binding that really frames up the quilts.  if it is lighter or more subdued, its great and all... but boy do i love that red against the gray!

alright now this quilting...

i had planned to go in and just free motion woodgrain all over it, but once i saw this holly berry/poinsettia pantograph, i couldn't NOT use it.  it went so well with the prints in the fabric, and added a great all over texture to the quilt as well.  the way it popped out over the darker colors, but blended in with the rest... perfection.

and i loved the candy canes so much, i couldn't help but use them for the backing.

i'm not one that devours candy canes by the package during the holiday season, but they are probably one of my favorite festive prints to have in fabric.  plus the holly berries and snowflakes just make it that much cuter!

spud cat... always in the way.
with the new shop open, plus the grand opening this weekend, i was able to make a few kits of this pattern for customers to buy.  many had been asking for awhile, and since the fabric had come and (almost) gone, i was able to get 9 kits put together.  it was pretty awesome seeing people buy them, since that meant they really liked my choices!

now that this quilt kit has had such success, i cannot wait to see how well the dinosaur kits do.  which is totally on my list of things to get together soon, so stay tuned if you shop our live shows!

pattern information: norweigan woods by abbey lane quilts

quilt count: 144

boxed up beauty and the beast quilt

i'm in LOVE with this quilt!
for being a (huge) baby quilt, it couldn't have turned out any better.
and the best part?  it went to live at my best friend's house for her sweet baby girl.when erika was pregnant with jackson, figuring out the fabric for that quilt was a breeze.  (see it here!)  but when it came to this little one, i was at a complete loss of what to do.  do i do another winnie the pooh one?  do i do something simple and basic?  do i make it match her nursery?  WHAT DO I DO???
so the plan just sat.
and sat and sat and sat.  until one day, someone posted a thread in a quilting group i'm in asking what fabric lines everyone is drooling over.  then, someone in the comments shared the riley blake beauty and the beast fabric line, and as soon as i saw it, i was putting a fat quarter bundle in my cart and calling it a day. i don't think i quite had an exact plan right off the bat, except that this fabric needed to happen.

i knew cluck cluck sew had easy, awesome, fat quarter friendly patterns, so i cruised through their selection and decided on the boxed up quilt.  this pattern featured the fun prints in a great way, without chopping them up and eliminating everything that was cute about them.  once the fabric arrived, it was then time to decide on a background color.

i could have easily done white, but that would have been asking for danger with a baby quilt.  my first instinct was green, then i started to second guess it... i tried some pinks, i looked at dear stella moonscape dots, but my eyes and my heart came back to the konas.  i landed on kona asparagus, which was the perfect shade of green to go with the leaves in the rose prints.  i also decided that more fabrics needed to be featured in this quilt.  the crib size only needed 7 fat quarters, and well... i just bought a full set of 18...
so what did i do?i went ahead and made the lap size version of the quilt!
sure, she's just a tiny baby right now, but now she can use it for years and years!  i also went ahead and used 15 of the fat quarters and changed up the ratio used in the quilt (3 sets of each when it was 10, down to 2 sets of each at 15).  i took out the three brown fat quarters, since they stood out SO MUCH.  i used my design wall to figure out the layout of the large blocks, but that part was actually the hardest.

the blue/yellow/pink ratios were a little mismatched, so it was harder to create a balance of everything when creating the final layout.  i had to fussy cut some of the smaller pieces for the sashing type strips, because i knew it would drive me CRAZY to have sideways prints.

i used a day at my parents to get the little strips thrown together and then sew together the complete quilt top.  once those little bits were all laid out, things went together pretty quickly.  minus the occasional cat laying in the middle of the project, but such is life.

i quilted it using a rose garden pantograph that i used on a previous quilt, because when you're doing beauty and the beast, it OBVIOUSLY has to be roses!  the backing and binding are out of the same rose print from the line, because as soon as i saw it, i couldn't imagine anything else to frame up the quilt.  the colors were perfect.

i mean cmon, just look at how cute that little beast guy is! erika was originally due on october 6th, but after little baby gemma decided to turn herself in the wrong way, she was induced at the end of september.  

that sure kicked finishing this quilt in to high gear, and i was sewing the binding on the day that she was born.  it took a little bit longer to get mailed out to her, due to finding a package the right size to fit it in... because poly mailers are MIA right now, like no other.  but i did receive word when it arrived, and that it is already well loved!this quilt turned out better than i could have imagined!
well, given that it started off with nothing imagined, i couldn't be more thankful to have stumbled across that riley blake line by way of the facebook group.

there is a secondary pattern that was also included in this, and i cannot wait to take a look at that and give it a go.  truth be told, i have SO many patterns i have purchased, i don't even know where to begin on some things!  i really just need to pull out all the ones i've done and work my way through them, even if it is just as a charity quilt to work through my stash (which i'm sure i've mentioned is way excessive and a bit overwhelming most of the time)

so here's to winding down the rest of 2020 with wrapping up current projects before blowing the roof of with the plans i have for 2021.  but first...
i'm really just itching to meet the little one that got this quilt and snuggle her.
texas is so far away though... :(

pattern information: boxed up by cluck cluck sew

quilt count: 143