epic family house

This quilt has been a thorn in my side for what feels like FOREVER.  I try to make the kids a quilt for their seventh birthday, but this one might be finished by this boy's ninth.... sometimes things just go that way!  To be far, we moved twice while I was making this quilt and both places ended up with little to no sewing space.  So I have to be creative or we just end up not using our kitchen table for three weeks.  The quilt top was finished for a good while, but I wasn't really thrilled about quilting it myself.  I am a really bad machine quilter, so the thought of doing this was pure torture!  Finally I decided to have it professionally quilted... AMAZING!  Why haven't I done this before.  The results were gorgeous and it wasn't that expensive.  Plus I got to work with an amazing quilter who did exactly what I wanted!!!

The quilting pattern is called pick up sticks and it is a bright orange on top and a light gray for the back of the quilt.  It looks great and best of all... no puckers!  It took her only a couple of days on her super awesome quilting arm.  I have two other quilts in the works and anything bigger than a baby quilt is going to her!  Okay, the baby quilts are going to her as well.  I just don't have the inclination to do it myself.  

All this quilt needs is binding.  Which I hope to attach this weekend!  Should I wrap this qift or just put it on his bed and see if he notices?

For my children's seventh birthday, I make them a quilt.  I try to make the quilts reflective of their personalities and personal tastes.  You can see Bug's Here and Lou's Here.  You can see how very different those two kids are just by checking out their quilts.  Mr. E and I were at Joann's a couple of days ago and he brought up his quilt.  It seemed like a pretty good time to check out some fabric with him.  

It finally stopped raining here long enough to let some sunshine in!  Just in time for all those swim lessons we are signed-up for.  Soggy swim lessons make for grouchy kids.  Okay, down to business:

I have been working on decreasing my fabric scraps.  Like most avid sewers, the scraps seem to multiply no matter the organizational system and upon realizing that I had three large containers of scrap pieces, I knew it was time to do something about it.  I didn't want to devote a lot of time to make a scrap vortex quilt, that's for another day, so I turned to something more tangible and easier to manage.  Pillow covers.  

I wanted a pillow cover that would highlight some of my favorite fabrics while helping me decrease my stash of Kona Solid scraps.  I think that this pillow cover just nailed it!  The wine colored Kona cotton came from a quilting shop in Shipshewana, Indiana and the scraps were from fabric purchases through Dry Goods Design.  The front block takes less than an hour to cut and assemble.  It only takes about 3/4 of a yard if you do a double lined pocket pillow.  Less if you use a zipper closer method.  When finished, this pillow measures almost 14 x 14 inches, which is slightly smaller than a standard sized couch pillow.  The pillow form was purchased at Joann's with a coupon!