Quilting on the Prairie

I started this blog for several reasons, but one was to record the stories behind the quilts that I make. This quilt wrote its own story!

"The attic and the cellar were full of good things once more, and Laura and Mary had started to make patchwork quilts. Everything was beginning to be snug and cozy again." Laura Ingalls Wilder

Sewing To Go

We just got back from a week-long family vacation to Nashville. The drive is about six hours for normal people, but at least eight when traveling with toddlers. I knew I would have a lot of seat time, so I wanted to pack something to do.

I always take a quilt magazine or two, but this time I wanted to try something new. I decided to try my hand at making hexies.

Cross My Heart

Thanks to Beth over at EvaPaige Quilt Designs, I've been feeling obligated to sew every day this week (twist my arm!). She's hosting an event called "Drop and Give Me Twenty." It's a challenge for the month of February to sew 20 minutes each day. There's a fun Facebook group (it's not available anymore) to share your progress and prizes to be won (again, any surprise I'm in?).

So far, I've finished three mini quilts since February 1st. However, the first two were Halloween themed, and it just seemed odd blogging about black and orange in a month supposed to be about pink and red! (So in a nutshell: two Halloween charm packs + disappearing nine patch pattern + stipple and loops quilting = two Halloween table toppers/mini quilts.)

Halloween Mini Quilts

Just before Christmas 2015, a hashtag surfaced on Instagram: #getyourquiltywishesgranted. You could wish for anything. And people would search through the posts to see if they could grant a wish. It was a fun way to connect with others in the quilting community!

One person requested a Halloween mini to be used as a table topper and another person offered Halloween fabric scraps up for grabs! I was able to get the Halloween scraps in order to make a mini quilt to grant the wish! (More on the table topper I made for that here.)

Quilts for Quads

A friend of mine from high school is having quadruplets! And they're all boys! If you want to read more about her story, you can follow her journey here.

I often make a baby quilt for expectant parents, but four!? I couldn't shake the notion that I needed to make these babies quilts though. One night, I had an "Aha!" moment: the babies will be in NICU for awhile after they're born, so they'll need little tiny quilts, not great big ones!

Round Robin - Round One

Do you have a "best quilty friend"? Someone that you love to quilt with or someone you ask for sewing advice?

Heather is my BQF! Heather and I met in college, moved to different states, and have reconnected because of quilting. However, she lives in Texas, and I live in Missouri. Since we can't get together and sew, we decided to try something fun to connect through sewing - a Round Robin quilt.

Starstruck

The quilting/sewing community hosts a lot of "swaps" - where you make something for someone and someone else makes something for you. I have been an "angel" a few times (it is better to give than receive!), but decided to actually join the Geeky Science Swap. I haven't received my package yet (official shipping date is this Friday), but I wanted to share what I'm sending!

Of all the sciences, my partner loves astronomy the most. After much thinking (and scouring the internet), I decided on a Big Dipper mini quilt. I found an image that I liked, and planned the quilt around that.