Whales!

Merry Christmas Eve to those of you who celebrate and happy Wednesday everyone else. Traditionally I use today to share my holiday cards for the year (2013, 2012), but this year they fell off of my radar. My cards are store bought and are still sitting upstairs, untouched. So instead of cards, I have something better to share, Whales and a baby!

If you follow my Instagram feed, you know that I was able to spend last weekend with my nephews and sister. We had a great time at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and visited some friends on the Eastern Shore of MD. It was an exhausting and awesome weekend!

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Nephews are the best!

A post shared by Elizabeth (@andpins) on Dec 20, 2014 at 12:37pm PST

I also got to give my youngest nephew his christmas gift, a quilt. His older brother, Zachary, was the lucky recipient of my first quilt for his first Christmas. As soon as I saw the Preppy the Whale pattern by Elizabeth Hartman, I knew I had found the pattern for James.

I used three shades of blue/teal of Timeless Treasures Rain fabric to create a diagonal gradient of blues along with a splash of yellow and orange in the same print for the whales. I also used the orange Rain for the binding.

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Widescreen is my favorite! Last minute binding rush before guests arrive tomorrow. #justkeepswimming

A post shared by Elizabeth (@andpins) on Dec 18, 2014 at 4:47pm PST

I am really happy with how this quilt turned out and I know that it will be used with love.

Quilt Details

Pattern: Preppy by Elizabeth Hartman
Front: Timeless Treasures Rain, Kona Black, and Quilter’s Linen in Platinum
Back: Widescreen in Pacific by Carolyn Friedlander
Binding: Timeless Treasures Rain in Orange
Quilting: Aurifil 40WT #2600 (a pale gray)
Finished size: approx. 47×50″

PS. My 100th post!

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WIP Wednesday: The Holiday Rush

Exciting things are happening around here! Last weekend was a big weekend for my Color Block Quilt, it was featured in a Craftsy blog post by Lindsay Conner. I am in great company and am thrilled that Lindsay asked if she could include my quilt in her post. Additionally, the past two weeks have brought awesome news to my inbox that means January is shaping up to be a very fun month around here.

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That's my #andpinscolorblock quilt on the Craftsy quilting blog today along with five other awesome patterns! Thank you @lindsaysews!

A post shared by Elizabeth (@andpins) on Nov 1, 2014 at 2:51pm PDT

After last year’s self imposed Christmas rush, I am giving myself a break and only making one quilt this year. I have a few other smaller handmade projects in mind, but I am not going to attempt to churn out three quilts (remember the Beast, Plus, and Cats?). It was not good for my sanity! I am in the middle of working on my single Christmas quilt so I cannot share too much, but here is a sneak peek of the color palette I am using.

Color Block was the last quilt that I finished, a quilt with only 10 pieces so when I cut over 432 pieces for my next quilt this weekend my shoulders were not happy with me. I cannot wait to share this quilt with you in December. I only have 12 blocks pieced and I am already in love!

Each of the 27 blocks has 16 pieces to keep organized so I resorted to labeled zip top bags to keep things straight. I have A-P for my left facing blocks and a matching set for my right facing blocks.

How do you keep yourself organized which large projects?

 

Firsts!

Exciting things are happening this week, I joined my first bee – The Modern Insta Bee – that has been spreading like wildfire over on Instagram. I am a proud member of Hive 13.

The Bee was started by @brazenlisa on Instagram and has over 156 quilters participating. We will each be picking our favorite block from the Modern Bee by Lindsay Conner and once a month for a year we will make a block for that month’s “Queen Bee”. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my book and am dreaming of color palettes!

If you are interested in seeing if there are other Hives with spots, checkout out #moderninstabee2014 on Instagram.

Another first, my first finish of 2014! I started the year off easy with a small project, a throw pillow for the Philly MQG secret santa exchange that took place in January. My recipient told me that she needed throw pillows and that she liked teal, pink and orange.

I love the Spool Minis from Thimble Blossoms and I had the perfect fabrics in my stash in her color range. Bonus, she loved it!

The best part about the Philly MQG secret santa exchange is witnessing the creativity and thoughtfulness of our members. There were so many beautiful things gifted!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a second, bonus post, with the introduction of Betsy!