I Spy Baby Quilts in Progress

I have several coworkers and friends expecting babies. I like to make I spy baby quilts for occasions like this. I think I spy quilts are fun. As is my way, I take things one step further. I make sure to use each fabric exactly twice in each quilt so in addition to playing I spy, the quilts can be used for a matching game as well. Extra fun! Although it does involve having an awful lot of different fabrics, but it's worth it in my opinion.

I only have the rows for one quilt assembled so far. Still lots to do.

So the Mystery Quilt of Valor will be on hold awhile as I work on all the happy baby quilts. I'm also in process of making an Ahsoka costume for my daughter that is somewhat time sensitive. Yea for fun sewing projects! Boo for everything always happening at once.

Mystery Quilt of Valor Progress

In progress quilt photo by Kara Hartz

I got a few rows put together so far. It shows how the setting blocks will look once the whole thing comes together. I'm really liking it so far. The red and blue look great. I still have a ton of setting blocks to sew before I can do much more. However, this will get set on the back burner for a little while because I have other time-sensitive projects I need to focus on right now. (Friends having babies - yea! And babies need quilts! More on this in a future post)

New Blocks Completed for the Mystery Quilt of Valor

Mystery Quilt Blocks by Kara Hartz

These are the last of the specialty blocks (focus blocks? I'm not sure of the terminology) for the Mystery Quilt I'm working on for a Quilt of Valor quilt. To shorten that name, I like what I have in the title - 'The Mystery Quilt of Valor'. Has a fun ring to it. 

That means I only have setting blocks still to make (and the borders, and the actual quilting, and the binding, but you know.) There will be a total of 25 setting blocks and I already have 11 made, so I have 14 more to do. If you need a reminder what the settings blocks looked like, I wrote about them here. 

My next update on the quilt will have a couple rows at least put together so you can see the general way it will all go together and how the setting blocks will make a kinda Irish chain type look. For a quilt I felt a little bla about going in, I'm really happy with how it's looking. I think the finished quilt will be great.

Progress on the MysteryQuilt/ Quilt of Valor

I picked the basket block to complete the remaining opening to fill out the quilt. I thought it was pretty and looked fairly simple. Constructing it wasn't quite as simple as I'd thought at first glance, but I quickly got the hang of it. Now I just have a whole bunch of setting blocks to finish. Getting excited!

photo by Kara Hartz

The Mystery Quilt Finds a Destiny

I've always wanted to make a quilt for Quilts of Valor. It occurred to me the other day that the mystery quilt I've been working on would be great for that purpose.

In researching the guidelines for a Quilt of Valor, I learned that while red, white, and blue quilts are not strictly required, they are the most requested colors. So my dilemma about the colors for the setting blocks is now solved. I've made two setting blocks so far and really like the red and blue much better than the green and grey the original pattern called for.

I will need to make one additional set of four pattern blocks as well to make the finished quilt the size I need it to be to donate, but that will be fine. Now, I need to go look at the choices to see which one I like best to add.

Doesn't the red and blue look nice?

Tree Blocks

Tree Quilt Blocks photo by Kara Hartz

These are the trees from the Mystery Quilt I wrote about a little while back. The colors look a little strange to me here, more brown in a few of the fabrics than in real life. I like them. I like trees. 

So I've been trying to decide what I'd like to do with these blocks now, and I think I'm going to go ahead and make up the same settings blocks from the pattern. Mine will end up smaller than the pattern, but that's okay. I think it will be cute. I'm pondering colors for the setting blocks, since I don't love the colors in the pattern, but I'd like to get started soon.

The quilting bug is nipping. Probably because I've been focused on NaNoWriMo and haven't done any sewing. I'm missing it. 

Quilting Shop Hop, and Bunnies

Wow, I haven't posted anything since January? Yikes. Where did the time go?

Anyway, a week or so ago (at least it feels like a week ago, but obviously my sense of time isn't working too well at present) I visited about 8 local quilt shops during their big March Shop Hop promotion. I had the kids with me for most of the shops I visited, so we didn't wander too far away, although we did get to see some shops I probably wouldn't have gone to otherwise.

One of the first shops we went to was Main Street Quilts in Martinez. The folks there are so friendly (like just about every shop we visited), but were particularly kind to the kids. As we were checking out, they let the girls each pick a fabric scrap from a jar of "fabric candy" they have by the register. These were just small pieces of fabrics, I measured them at 3 inches by 17 or so when we got them home. The little one happily picked out a bright red piece and tried to eat it. Guess she took the 'candy' name a little too literally. The older girl was very thoughtful in her selection, which surprised me since she isn't into fabric, or crafts at all. She even picked out a white piece, when there were all kinds of flashy beautiful colorful choices.


As we walked out to the car, I understood what was in her mind though. "Mama! You can make me a bunny!" She announced, holding her fabric in the air with glee.

I was not all that confident I could make diddly squat out of the small scrap, but agreed to try.

TA DA!
Since I don't normally make plush critters, and I didn't have a pattern, I'm happy with these results. I'd never tried to embroider before either. I'm sure someone who knows what they're doing could find flaws with these, but phooie on them. My kid still thinks I can make anything.

She'll learn better eventually.

I could not find a website for Main Stree Quilts, so the best I can do to plug them is give their address and phone number:

533 MAIN STREET, MARTINEZ, CA 94553, USA
Ph: (925) 372-3700

If anyone from Main Street Quilts is reading this, and there is a website, will you let me know? If there isn't one - you should start one. I like to look at class offerings online. It's 2009 guys. Just sayin.

A pocket quilt

This is a project that I'd wanted to make for a long time and never seemed to get around to. I decided to make it a Christmas gift to force myself into a deadline. Luckily the kiddo loves it.

For awhile we were spending every morning searching for some tiny lost plastic animal. I'm not a morning person, so moving furniture is not what I'm hoping to do as soon as I roll out of bed. So I made the rule that only stuffed animals are allowed in bed at night. Then we started a ritual of carefully lining the "hard critters" as they are affectionately called up on the dresser at bedtime where they could be seen from bed.

The pocket quilt has saved the day!

Now it hags next to the bed. Each critter gets happily tucked into their own pocket at bedtime, and they are still there in the morning. No searching through blankets. No dragging the bed far enough from the wall to get an arm down there. Yea!

Plus, it's cute - if I do say so myself. Decoration and storage all in one. Maybe I need one for my room now. . .

It's super simple. I did it without a pattern, but I could probably write instructions up if anyone is interested. I just figured out how big I wanted it to be and worked backward from there for the size of each block and pocket. I know I've seen more elaborate versions out there too.

More on Making a Quilt from Baby Clothes

The friendly quilters over at TheQuiltShow.com gave me wonderful advice about how to begin my quilt made from baby clothes. I was concerned because almost all the baby clothes are knits, and will be easy to stretch during sewing. Their advice: Use a fusible interfacing as a stabilizer to prevent stretching.

It's worked wonderfully so far. Here's the first block I made:



I wanted the quilt to use a variety of traditional star blocks. I picked this block to start with because it had a nice big center square where I could fit one of the cute applique embellishments from a toddler shirt. A lot of the clothing has appliques like this that I want to include, and I can this way. The fusible interfacing worked great. I bought the lightest weight interfacing I could find. The clothes are already a heaver fabric than the normal 100% quilting cotton I normally use, so I didn't want to add any more weight than necessary.

I bet this will be a very nice soft, warm quilt by the time it's done. I still can't quite close the drawer that I'm storing old baby clothes in, plus the little one is about ready to go up a clothing size again, so I'd better get going on this project!

Have you ever made a quilt from baby clothes? If so, share your tip in the comments. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Making scrap quilts out of old baby clothes

I've been saving old baby clothes for years now, with the plan to turn them into a quilt someday. I decided to only save clothes that were torn or stained so I couldn't give them away for someone else to use, or if an item had a lot of sentimental value.

I now have a drawer full of clothes, so I think it's time to get serious about making that baby clothes quilt!

I've seen a lot of scrap quilts that I like the look of. The problem is that most that I like have small pieces that are all the same size. Small pieces are good for small baby clothes, but many of the clothes I saved have cute applique or other images on them that aren't all that small. I was looking for a quilt pattern that would let me use mostly small pieces, and some larger ones.

Today I found this website:
http://www.ufo-rphanage.com/scrap_quilts.shtml

So many quilt pattern sites have old, out-dated, non-functioning links that it can get very frustrating to search for quilt patterns. One or two on the UFO website were dead links, but the rest were a gold mine!

So far, this is the pattern I'm leaning toward:
http://www.ezquilt.com/patterns/oldfashioned/oldfashioned.htm

Although, I think I may make my blocks slightly bigger than this pattern calls for. I like that I can use a bigger piece (like the pictures I want to save) for the center of the blocks, and then use up all the tiny pieces from sleeves, etc. for the rest. You need to use a little imagination to picture a scrappy finished quilt in color, but the picture in my head looks cool.

If you have a favorite scrap quilt pattern, share it here! I can't seem to part with my scraps, so I'll always be looking for great scrap quilt patterns!

Irish Chain Doll Quilt

I've been doing some sewing for my kids to get ready for Christmas. I love how this doll quilt turned out so much I have to show it off to the cyber-world.

It's a basic Irish Chain pattern. The small squares are 1 inch each, and the full quilt is 21 inches by 27 inches. I used a layer of flannel for batting to keep it from becoming too bulky and keep a miniature quilt look to it. I think it turned out to be a good choice, and our little dollies will be so snugly under it.

It makes me wish I'd made a full sized version. Maybe someday I will. In the meanwhile, I'm considering making another one to put in my Etsy shop. I have that quilt section in my shop that has been empty for far too long. A doll quilt still counts!

Why It's Important to Prewash Fabric

Especially for Projects for Kids and For Quilts.

I use 100% cotton fabric for almost all my sewing. I just really like it. Occasionally I'll use a blend or another kind of fabric if it's something sentimental for personal use. Some fabric requires special care, or dry cleaning. I'm not talking about those fabrics in this post - I just don't know enough about them. But cotton fabrics, quilting fabrics, cute novelty prints, etc all should be washed first, and here's why:

There's lots of tips out there for quilters about the importance of pre-washing fabrics. Different fabrics may shrink at different rates, even if they're all 100% cotton. If you want your quilt that you've spent hours and weeks and months making to hold up over time, you don't want different parts to shrink and other parts not to, thus pulling or distorting the quit, even tearing it in extreme cases.

While this is an excellent reason to pre-wash all your fabrics, it isn't the most important reason, in my opinion.

When fabrics are made, all kinds of chemicals are used during production, and dying. The chemicals treat the fabrics, and help the colors stay true, and generally assist in production at many stages. However, those chemicals are still there when the finished bolt goes out to stores. The most famous of these is formaldehyde, but other chemicals are used too.

There is no way I want to snuggle under a quilt full of formaldehyde and other chemicals. And there is sure as heck no way I'm letting my child snuggle under that quilt or play with a toy that hasn't had the chemicals washed out of it.

While it may sound too easy that all you have to do to get rid of these horrible chemicals is throw the fabric in the wash, that's really all the experts say you need to do. In all my research, every authority and expert I've found says that as bad as these substances are, washing gets rid of them. It's that simple.

So while it may be a bit time consuming, and, yes, it may require a little bit of pressing if the fabric wrinkles, it's just too important a step to skip. If you are making something that a baby may possibly put in their mouth, (like everything I make) please, PLEASE, PLEASE pre-wash your fabrics.

Etsy For Animals Round Robin Quilt Project

Etsy for Animals is working on another great fund raiser. Members (including yours truly) are sewing quilt squares that will be assembled into a finished quilt and auctioned off.

Etsy for animals is a group of Etsy sellers who are passionate about helping animals. We donate a percentage of our Etsy Sales to animal charities, and find lots of other ways to help animal organizations. There's even a special Etsy for Animals Shop that sells items donated by artists and crafters, with the profits going to charity. The group was created by Michele (mvegan5), and the huge task of organizing the quilt round robin project is being tackled by Jonny of dogonwear.

I Spy Forever

I think I've made it clear by now that I love I spy quilts. I've loved them since I was a little girl snuggled under the quilt my grandma made. So I don't know why it should surprise me that my girls love them to. Maybe there is something universally appealing about all those neat pictures and patterns.

I made a twin sized I spy quilt for my first born when she moved from her baby bed to her big girl bed. My second daughter is still in her crib, and will be for quite awhile, but I'm already planning quilts for her too. I'd imagined that I'd make her something different. Couldn't decide what exactly, but just different.

Then yesterday we were playing on big sister's bed and she was just fascinated with the I spy quilt. We often play with the smaller I spy security blankets I made for her, and she just loves that. But the big bed quilt was even more amazing to her. She would point at a square and look at me waiting for me to tell her what the picture was. I was surprised how long she stayed focused and kept wanting to play (although I shouldn't have been).

I think she'll be getting her own I spy quilt one day too. Different is overrated when the good old stuff still brings in so much fun.

I'm actually working on an alphabet quilt for big sister now. It's taking a while because I got the hot idea to find fabric with pictures for each letter (apple print for A, Blue fabric for B, etc.) Turns out some letters are a bit tricky to find. So that can be my fun and different quilt to make for now. Baby sister will get a different quilt too one day. It's fun making new kinds of quilts, and no matter how careful we are, everything still needs to be washed from time to time. But the I spy is a necessity in this house.

Personalizing and Customizing

For many months in my Etsy shop, I had a note in my announcement section that I was happy to take custom orders. After one or two custom I spy blanket requests I realised that making custom orders involved a lot more work, and frequently involved buying additional supplies, like special fabric. The problem was that I felt uncomfortable asking for more money than my regular listings were priced at.

The solution I came up with was to create a special listing for a custom I-spy blanket that took into consideration the extra time and money I had to invest. Another problem, that I hadn't thought about that creating this special listing created for me was that about the timing of payment.

Because I'm a wimp about asking for money, I'd usually spend all the time corresponding with my clients about their request, gathering sample fabrics, and even making the item before asking for payment. I'd create a listing for them when the item was done. Luckily, all my buyers are wonderful and honest people, but I'm sure there was the potential for me to be left with an item that was to personalized to resell.

Now, I'll still work out the details of an order with someone, but once we're ready to start actually cutting and sewing, I can ask for them to purchase the listing from my shop. Once payment clears, I start sewing. Even timid little me can handle asking that, and so far every single client has paid for their listing the same day I asked.

Soon after making the custom I spy blanket listing, I also made a listing for a custom Soft fabric book. I'll be creating a custom soft jingle block listing soon too.

The very best things that creating special listing for my custom work has done for me is that I now get far more custom orders than I used to. I think people don't always like to ask questions. Maybe they don't want to take the time, maybe they are worried that the answer will be no, maybe they feel silly bothering someone else, I don't know what all the reasons are. I just know that now that I have custom listings, I am almost always working on a custom order.

The listing makes it easy for buyers. It tells them they type of information I need to start. It lets them know what I'll be doing for them and how long it will take me. It gives them all the information they need to decide to buy. It also gives them permission to ask for exactly what they want without feeling pushy or picky. Everyone wins!

The Quilted I-Spy Sceurity Blanket

When I was little, I remember laying in bed and studying all the different pictures, prints, and fabrics on my bed quilt. Some zigzag lines in orange and blue. Little girls in hats - there were several different versions of this same print, each with a different accent color. Then there were some solid colored squares. Even though there weren't that many different patterns, I loved to look at them over and over again.

So I blame my grandmother, who made that quilt, for instilling the love of patchwork in me. The only thing that could have made me love that quilt more would have been even more neat fabrics to look at.

When I had my own baby, I was a fairly new quilter myself. I started collecting neat prints so that I could make her a bed quilt with as many different fabrics as possible. The one I made her has literally hundreds of pictures. And she loves it.



But, I also wanted something simple we could play baby games with. Learn colors. Make animal sounds, and learn animal names. Play peekaboo. The idea for the I spy security blanket was born.

I always include one square each of the basic colors. Colors are easy to learn, and babies love to show off when they know where the red square is. I think it breaks up all the prints to throw in some solid spaces too. The other squares are full of as many different, bright, fun prints as I can find. The easiest way to cut squares is with a rotary cutter, but I just can't settle for that all the time. With larger prints, it's too easy to get only the bottom half of an animal - or just an ear. What fun is that? The extra time and effort it takes to carefully cut out specific images from fabric, so that I get a perfectly centered animal, or truck, or whatever, is what makes these so special. I really love the way they look in the end.

Because they are so small, only twenty inches square, they would be to bulky with batting in them, so they aren't true quilts. Yet two layers of thin cotton would be flimsy, so I use flannel for the backing. It's soft, and provides just the perfect weight. Then I go ahead and stitch around each block, just like it really is a quilt. Those extra stitches let my blankets stand up to all kinds of rough treatment, and wash after wash after wash.

I keep thinking I should make new blankets for my new baby, but the ones I made four years ago are still in great shape. They aren't just used for peekaboo anymore though. They're superhero capes, and baby doll blankets. Something new everyday it seems at times.

And that's why I love to make them.