March Review & April To-Do's (and lots of little projects)

It was about mid-March before I finally sat down to write my goals for the month.  I was sure to keep my list to the bare minimum since I knew I had other big commitments going on (like taxes - yuck).  I didn't quite get everything done but maybe that's because I snuck in a few little side projects.  See below.

I did get most of my sister, Tammy's, quilt done but I still need to bind it.  I plan on getting it done this weekend so I can take it with me to Montana next week for our annual Spring Break Sister's & Cousins Trip.  I'd love to show pictures of the quilt but I'm planning on writing up a pattern for it so you'll just have to wait and see :)

My friend Kellie is expecting a baby boy in a few months so I gave her a couple of homemade bibs at our mini shower/recipe group the other night.  

[link]

The smaller bib was inspired by one I saw on the blog, Nana Company.  It's a wonderful blog.  Amy makes beautiful things and has beautiful photography.  I could definitely spend a lot of time looking around there.  She offers a PDF pattern for the little bib (which I had to enlarge quite a bit but it works for a 1 year old.)  I used a simple template I had in my pattern stash and some raw edge applique for the larger bib.

Unfortunately I only got one Pineapple Block done.  

Have I mentioned that I really do love working on them?

You can find the over-sized paper-piecing patterns in my Etsy shop, HERE.  And don't be shy about paper-piecing, my next blog post will be a tutorial for this specific block.  It's really not that hard!

I somehow managed to squeeze in two little projects for the fabric store I work at.  First, was a Simple Squares baby quilt. I've used this pattern before.  It whips up in just a few hours and is the perfect baby size I think.  The fabric showcases the new line by Riley Blake called Rocket Age.

 [click HERE for more info on this pattern.]

 Last, but not least, I got the opportunity to make one of Camille Roskelley's new mini patterns for the store.  I chose to do the Mini Swoon pattern, since I never got around to making the big version (which I loved from the minute I saw her sample hanging at the Int'l Quilt Market back in 2011).

I loved working on it.  When I finished the first block I thought to myself, it may be the cutest block I've ever made.  I hope to make a few more of her mini's someday...  

 

Another fun aspect of making the mini quilt is that I was able to machine quilt it myself in about 30 minutes.  I love the look of straight line quilting and thankfully, it's a lot easier than free motion quilting.

Well, that's about it for March.  

As for April, my main goal is to get my three new quilt samples made for my 3 new patterns.  I've been a little distracted the last few months with random projects so now it's time to get back to work!

Happy quilting!

~ Amber