Two Hello Kitties

I finally finished quilting and binding the second Hello Kitty quilt for Miss N for Christmas. I took it up to the soccer park this afternoon to take pictures of it with the large, older sister quilt.  That is where I took the pictures of her as well.

 This is little miss with here purple border. She is 1296 tiny one inch finished squares.

 Here she is with her big sister. Big sister was made up of 1296 2 inch finished squares. Yes, I am a little bit crazy.

                           I love seeing them side by side.

                             Little Hello Kitty

                              Big Hello Kitty.

 Here is the back of Little Hello Kitty. I used a Heather Ross print for the back.

              Well, the light is starting to fade. It gets dark so early these days.

Bye, bye Kitties. You sure are cute together. Talk to you all again soon.

Itty Bitty Hello Kitty

It's not finished yet, I am quilting it now. But I wanted to show you something I have been working on for a few months now. When I made the Hello Kitty quilt for my daughter, my oldest daughter had just had a baby girl after two boys. She loved the Hello Kitty quilt and wanted one for baby N, but not a big one and she asked me if I could do a small one to use as a wall hanging.

Now, I liked the quilt, but I never thought I wanted to make another one, especially a smaller one. But...I began to think about it. After awhile I decided to try it and not tell her until I saw if I could follow it through.

 N's signature color, according to my daughter, is purple. So the same quilt, with a purple border this time. The other difference is that instead of cutting 2.5 inch squares that finish at 2 inches, I cut 1.5 inch squares that finish at 1 inch. Itty bitty squares...1,296 itty bitty squares actually.

 And then I added another border around it to frame it, and also because I have special quilting planned for the border.

The most fun in making this is finding scraps to use for all these squares. Many are left over from the larger quilt, and many are cut from scraps, charm squares and the last bits and bobs of very old fabrics, particularly the purple ones. This quilt will finish at about 40 inches square. I will be back with more photos when it is done. Have a lovely weekend and talk to you soon. Linking up to Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Hello...Kitty

Hello Kitty is done! This was a QAL I participated in with Amy from Suki Don't You Know. This was the most fun I have had in a QAL. I saw pictures of the one Amy made, but nothing beats putting your own together. Each block added to my design wall was like watching a Poloroid picture develop.

 I took Kitty up to the park to clip her onto the fence. I really wanted to get a shot of the whole quilt.

 It was me and seven clothespins against the wind. Isn't she cute? She is all 2 1/2 inch squares, finishing at 2 inches each. Before you get scared, this is totally manageable. It is broken down into 6 rows of six blocks. Each block is six rows of six squares.

 We did four blocks each week and it was pretty easy to keep up. It also easily lends itself to chain piecing. I took my time and only had to rip out two rows.

 After I got the main quilt top together, I decided to extend it with 4 inch strips along each side, rather than doing more small squares. I like the way it frames the quilt.

 I tried not to put like squares next to each other, but sometimes it happened from one block to the next. I decided not to stress over it. Gives it character.

 I didn't fussy cut the squares at all, but there were many happy coincidences like this sweet little girl on a swing.

 And there is this puppy chasing a ball. I did make sure the text prints were right side up so you could read them. It helped me to keep the blocks oriented correctly too. A bonus.

 Some newer fabrics and some very old fabrics are in here. Up close, it is a feast for the eyes.

 From a distance, it is awesome. This is my first pixilated quilt ever and I love the technique.

 This sweet quilt is a belated birthday gift for my youngest daughter. I'm pretty sure she squealed when I sent her an in-progress picture of it(she's 28).

                                                    Breezy Kitty

 I quilted in the ditch, every other row along both the horizontal and the vertical. I want it to hold up well to washing and every day use.

 For the borders, I was inspired to write Hello Kitty in cursive all around the edges of the quilt. It is subtle, but you can see it.

 Oh, Kitty, I wish I could be there when she sees you for the first time. I know you will be loved.

 I am trying to use fabrics from my stash this year as much as possible. Here is the pieced back. I did not buy a single fabric for this quilt.

 I am so very pleased with this and I am going to make another one. I know a certain little girl who would love one, as soon as she is old enough to know who Hello Kitty is.

 The binding is a Quilter's Candy stripe from Connecting Threads. I love the way it makes the edges look. It also matches the pinks in the quilt. See the hearts there? All my love going out with this.

This was a very happy project. See you soon.
Going to link up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Friday.

A Wonderful Day

Such great progress made yesterday, for a Monday no less. I had to work, but when I got home, I decided I needed to make some sewing progress too. I have lots of tops that need to be pin basted and quilted, so I started on that. Pin basting is so much harder for me now because my knees can't quite take the crawling around on the floor like they used to.

 Remember this? It is the final quilt top made in my Sunday Morning Quilts Bee. It has been pressed and on a hanger on my door for a loooong time.

 And I recently assembled this sweet top made from Allison at Cluck Cluck Sew's pattern Suburbs. This was the second one I made from that pattern.

This Christmas version is the first. So now, all three of these have backs and are pin basted. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks, they will get quilted and bound and off to their new homes. The X Plus quilt stays here with me, to remind me of all the wonderful women who were in my bee for three years.

 In between quilting, I am assembling a couple of quilts. I am doing the HKQAL with Amy at Sukie Don't You Know. The quilt top is a little further along than this, but this is the only photo I have so far. I am caught up as of today. Only 12 more blocks to go!

And I am also working on another quilt for baby N, using these great organic fabrics by Rae Hoekstra mixed with some sea prints from Monaluna. I am loving this one for sure.
Talk to you soon.