Woven Lattice Quilt

I was inspired by this flickr photo to make my own woven lattice quilt.  I had some extra Bella Butterfly fabric left over from the ruffled duvet cover I made for my daughter.  (Check that out here!  I was inspired by this awesome tutorial.)

For this woven lattice quilt, though, I'm thinking it might have been easier to just make the same design out of a pattern of squares instead of triangles.  Then set the whole quilt top at an angle.  Maybe next time.
 

Pencil Pouch

My son was in need of a new pencil case this fall and I was having a hard time finding one that looked sturdy.  He was a good sport about me trying to make him one as long as it didn't look girly.  So I shopped the remnant part of the fabric store and got some thick, rubbery, vinyl fabric that was dark blue with a cool sheen to it.  I used a few online tutorials to get the idea and it all came together very quickly.  It's rather big, but he can hold his calculator and markers and pencils and pens and then some. 

Start with the back

Here is my recently finished shoo fly lap quilt! 

I came upon this (above) fabric at Ikea.  (Sitting right next to the ever-so-popular backing fabric--the one with the black written numbers all over it.)  I was drawn to this angular, gemlike flower fabric, which became the inspiration for the colors of the shoo fly blocks.  I pulled a set of fabrics from my stash that I liked with the backing fabric and went to work.  I like how it turned out!  The bonus is that I didn't have to search out a backing fabric to go with an already-finished quilt top, which can be a bit of a puzzle for me.  I call it my shoo fl-ikea quilt!

This start-from-the-back strategy has helped me put together some of my favorite quilts that I have done.  This half square triangle zigzag quilt was done in the same way, where I picked the top fabrics to match the preplanned backing fabric.  I call this one my spring zig quilt.

Also, the pastel colors for this drip drop quilt (which I wrote about in the previous post) were picked specifically to match this fun backing fabric.

linked with Blossom Heart Quilt's Sew Cute Tuesday

crossed canoes

Earlier this year I decided to try paper piecing.  I searched the internet for an interesting and easy-seeming block.  I was delighted to find this blog where Kim posted 365 printable paper piecing blocks!  Perfect.  What an awesome resource!  The one called crossed canoes caught my eye.  Here is my finished baby quilt--I call it sunny canoes:

After I finished it I wanted to try the block again with more, smaller blocks with a white background.  So I got to work with these:

I wasn't excited when I laid out the blocks in the traditional placement so I experimented...   a lot...  and asked for advice...  and then put it away for a while. 

 

Then I thought of a new layout, which I knew was the one.  So I sewed the blocks together fast before I changed my mind!  Here's the finished baby quilt--I call it drip drop.