prince charming quilt and pillow

Months ago, I made a quilt for myself using my favorite fabric designer Tula Pink's Prince Charming fabric. After I sent the quilt off to be quilted in Utah, I made this awesome Cathedral Window pillow to go with it.

(you can make one too- Cathedral Window Pillow)

Isn't is gorgeous????

It was hard and painstaking. But totally worth it!

(front)

I love making quilts on point, even if it totally wastes fabric by having to fussy cut each and every square! Besides, then I have lots of scraps to make pillows with!

(back)

Tula is known for "hiding" images in her work.

The frog prince.

I love this simple silhouette. It reminds me of carefree summer days spend in the backyard.

And as always- the quilting turned out amazingly.

This might be my favorite print of the entire collection. I used to hate the colors navy and coral. Now I totally love them. I kinda wish I had used it for the back instead of the green...

Here is the label. Totally non-traditional as is typically me. (quilt labels are supposed to list the name of the quilt pattern, who made the pattern, who sewed the quilt, who quilted the quilt, and the date.)

But I just wanted to give credit to Tula- she inspires me with every new collection she makes. By now, she has 3 more collections....

How many quilts does one need in their lifetime? 

playing catch up...

Since January, I have gotten out of a lot of good habits that I used to have.

Like blogging.

And cleaning up after myself in the kitchen no, actually in general. My counters are sticky and covered in dirty dishes, there are thread and felt bits all around the house, piles of fabric and unfinished projects on my sewing room floor, and dirty clothes on the bedroom floor. I used to NEVER leave clothes on the floor. Probably since Kobe would pee on anything left on the floor, so I learned quickly not to do that. But now that she's gone...I must have forgotten.

And drinking water.

But I have gotten into a few new good habits since then as well.

Like managing my time better. Breaking up the day doing different tasks has made my projects go faster and the frustrating parts less frustrating. Like working on a sewing project for a few hours then getting housework done then going to the store then relaxing and making dinner when Danny gets home. As opposed to sewing for 8 hours straight, not cleaning, not going to the store, not making dinner and then getting a serious case of sewers block that would last forever and projects left hanging and not getting finished.

Going out by myself. Since I learned to drive stick- I am free to go wherever. It's been nice to go to Ikea and check out the other parts of town that were so hard to get to by public transportation. I found a scrapbook store in the richmond district- I called ahead to see if they had a die cutting room, and surprisingly enough- they did. I asked what their selection was like and the girl said they had tons of stuff.

I went, and I almost laughed.

They had like 30 different sheets of paper. One lonely little rack. As far as their die cut room- they had one alphabet and a bunch of tags. And by a bunch I mean like 10.

I'm used to Utah scrapbook stores- with walls full of trim and stickers, with so many racks of paper that you couldn't count if you tried. And the die cut room? Everything you can think of. Hundreds of dies.

I guess it ain't that popular here. Sigh.

So, lets see what I've been up to over the last few months. Yikes, has it really been months since I was a good blogger? Bigger sigh.

Vera doll. For sale here!

Flora doll.

Custom doll for Jasmine.

Note the fancier dress!

Custom doll for Miss D.

Custom doll for Amie.

Cathedral window pillow. For me.

I love it! And I loved making it! Anybody want one? I'd love to do it again!

Honey bear. For sale here!

Cloudy bear. For sale here!

Blue bear. For sale here!

Custom Sleepover Pals for Ruby.

Sleepover Pals in Paisley. For sale here!

Sleepover Pals in Flower Garden. For sale here!

Sleepover Pals in Spring. For sale here!

I also made a quilt. It's almost finished. My mom got it back from the quilters (yes I sent to Utah to my fav quilter) and she just sent it back on Friday so I should be getting it any time soon. As soon as I bind it- I'll post tons of photos!

I've also been really into embroidery. I made something for to give to Danny for our anniversary, and I did a little bird stitching that I need to take photos of.

Oh, and I have been making Loo-loo some fantastic goodies for her birthday. She got an American Girl doll for Christmas, so I've been making doll clothes like crazy. And bedding. Yes. Anthro inspired doll bedding. (I know what you are thinking. Is this really what I do with all my time? And the answer is yes. Yes I do. Also- yes I know how incredibly lucky I am- I'm living my dream life.) I think I'm trying to make up for being gone with gifts- am I a horrible sister? Or a really, really good one? 

And terrariums. Like totally obsessed. I made a cute little one for me. It has a moss hill and a fake tree and a little teeny paper house and some red mushrooms that I made out of clay. And then Danny said he wanted to make one too- so I got him a container, and he hasn't made it yet. Need to take photos of those too! 

And I finally made a doll for me. Loo-loo asked me one day "When you make a doll for you? Hmmm?" So I took her advice. And she is lovely. Her hair is brown- and it's in a gigantic bun on the top of her head. All last week I was obsessed with drafting my own clothes patterns for her- I got one good outfit, she just needs shoes. 

I seriously stared at patterns and fabric all day last wednesday. Then finally at 8 p.m. I figured it all out and blasted out an outfit.

An outfit that I have tried to make for myself- and failed. But I did it! In miniature, at least.

I've decided that I need to take a seamstress or a tailor class. I have no idea how to draw patterns. I need some basics! 

hushabye

Here it is- my Hushabye quilt!

I'm in awe of how pretty this quilt turned out! I love staring at it, poring over the details. The only thing missing is a chunky baby rolling around on it!

Here it is in the "laying out" stage. Such an exciting stage, when all your hard work comes together!

The obsession with Tula Pink began with her "Neptune" collection that I used for Van's quilt.

It continued when my mom and I stepped into the last shop in the Shop Hop last summer, we saw this fabric on the back of a quilt hanging in the shop.

We just about died.

Aqua and brown damask, my fav? With chocolate bunnies? Oh yes. Yes!

We quickly loaded up our arms with every bolt of fabric they had left. You see, it was an out-of-print line of fabric that we had never seen. There were a few color ways- we got some of each. We decided to make matching baby quilts- one for my house, one for grandma's house- cause my mom will be a grandma someday, right?

Tula Pink is famous for "hiding" images in her designs. I absolutely love it!

When we finally found a quilt pattern that we thought was just perfect for our project, we began sorting our patchy collection of fabrics. We were each going to make a baby quilt, using everything we could. We quickly realized that it mixing what we had wouldn't work unless we bought a whole bunch more fabric. So we divvied up our stock- I picked the aqua & brown, my mom took the pink & brown.

The pattern is called "Sweet Petals" by Riley Blake. And it's free! Despite using the same fabrics, and the same pattern- my mom and I laid out or quilts differently. And at some point- I'll get some good photos of hers to share with you!

I never plan on piecing the backs of my quilts, but I always end up doing it anyway.

Making quilts "on point" or turning the squares diagonal instead of horizontal is trickier than it looks. But I love switching it up sometimes.

And in case you haven't noticed...

...we love pinwheels!

And the quilting? So gorgeous. As always. I really need to send Holly a thank you gift for all the hard work she's done on all my quilts!

That brown/blue dot has hidden ducks floating around...

Teardrops are a recurring design of Tula's- definitely a favorite of mine!

The brown lace has butterflies...

And this simple scroll has dragonflies.

We bought the fabric in June '10, found a pattern in April '11, cut, sewed, and pieced them in May '11, had them quilted in July '11.

I have the latest Tula Pink collection "Prince Charming" on it's way to me as we speak, because I was smitten with it the instant I saw it. As my mom and I have somewhat painfully learned in working with Tula Pink's collections- you cannot find any other fabric to match it. Anything. So this time, I'm not fooling around. I'm just buying the whole damn collection! I have no idea what I'll do with it- but when I do, it will be fabulous!

(and HOORAY! I had enough money to buy a new and improved lens! Hence the photos!)