Category Archives: Quilting

Bloggers Quilt Festival – Spring 2015 {ROYGBIV Entry}

May 20, 2015 kittywilkin 13 Comments

Twice a year, Amy from Amy’s Creative Side hosts a Bloggers Quilt Festival, an online quilt show where peers vote for their favorite quilt in each category. It should come as no surprise that I am entering a quilt into the ROYGBIV category, given my penchant for rainbows. As my first-ever entry into the Bloggers Quilt Festival, I’m entering my Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion mini quilt. Yes, this quilt will soon be mailed off to my swap partner, but that’s one of the huge benefits of this Quilt Festival–you don’t need the quilt in hand to enter!

Without further ado, I give you Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion:

I finished binding this quilt earlier this week. It’s created with primarily Alison Glass fabrics, most of which come from her newest 2015 Sun Prints Mercury and Grove. The pattern is the Prismatic Medallion pattern offered for free on the Robert Kaufman website.

Alison’s Sun Prints offer such a gorgeously saturated and bright color palette, perfect for ROYGBIV quilting creations. I decided to quilt this mini in coordinating Aurifil thread, both 40 and 50wts, depending on what weight I had in my stash. I used a fun prismatic quilting pattern, which really brings out the angularity of the design.

alison glass prismatic medallion roygbiv mini quillting detail — Quilting detail

alison glass prismatic medallion roygbiv mini quilt finish — Nice crisp corners!

The quilt is bound in Yarn Dyed Essex linen blend in Charcoal by Robert Kaufman. Here are the final quilt stats:

Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion Mini Quilt

Completed May 2015
Pattern: Prismatic Medallions by Robert Kaufman Fabrics
Size: 23″ x 20″
Fabric: Assorted fabric from Alison Glass’s 2015 Sun Prints, Mercury and Grove (Andover Fabrics), with other Alison Glass fabrics: Feathers in Dahlia and Black, Bike Path, Handcrafted, and some others, including but not limited to Carolyn Friedlander Architextures Crosshatch in Tangerine, Cotton + Steel basics in yellow, magenta, and green, and some Timeless Treasures Sketch.
Binding is Yarn Dyed Essex Linen blend in Charcoal (Robert Kaufman Fabrics).
Quilting: Prismatic straight line quilting with my walking foot
Thread: Aurifil 50wt 2600 – Dove for piecing
Assorted color coordinating Aurifil for quilting:

40 wt 2230 Medium Peony
50wt 1154 Dusty Orange
40wt 1135 Pale Yellow
50wt 2886 Light Avocado
40wt 1114 Grass Green
50wt 2810 Turquoise
50wt 1125 Medium Teal
40wt 2730 Delft Blue
40wt 2520 Violet
40wt 1100 Red Plum
50wt 1246 Grey
50wt 2021 Natural White

Quilting, Tutorials

Relief Quilting Words in Negative Space {Tutorial}

May 19, 2015 kittywilkin 25 Comments

I don’t write on my quilts. I have yet to find a pen or pencil that I trust enough, so I just avoid it as much as possible. I use a Clover Hera Marker* for marking straight lines, which is fabulous since it creases the fabric without actually leaving a mark. (*Affiliate link) But when it comes to complex designs or words, I either have to eye it or just wing it.

When I thought of the idea to write baby Reagan’s name in the heart speech bubble of her Pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog quilt, I knew there must be a way to get her name to show up accurately but subtly among the matchstick quilting I had planned within the heart. Enter: Freezer Paper. I’ve had freezer paper in my sewing space for over a year, since Grammy June told me it was a must have for paper piecing back when I was first learning. Since I really enjoy foundation paper piecing using plain old copy paper, I have yet to touch the freezer paper. Until today.

Here’s a quick little tutorial on how I used freezer paper to help quilt words in negative space.

Relief Quilting Words in Negative Space

Step 1

Gather your materials. You will need:

Freezer Paper (I’ve read high quality brands like Reynolds work better than Costo-type brands)
Pencil
Scissors
Iron
Thread for quilting (I used 50wt Aurifil variegated thread)
Your quilt!
Optional: printer paper and printer

Step 2

Print a sample of the word you want to quilt, scaled to fit in the proper space. Trace onto the dull side of the freezer paper (shiny side away from you). Alternately, you could just draw the letters onto the dull side of the freezer paper–entirely up to your desired look.

Step 3:

Cut out the letters carefully, using paper-cutting scissors (not your special fabric ones!)

Arrange on your quilt as desired.

Step 4

(Note: before ironing your letters to your actual quilt, always test the freezer paper on a scrap of the same fabric. The freezer paper should stick to the fabric, and after cooling should be easily peeled off without leaving any mark or residue.) Iron your letters to your quilt. The shiny side of the freezer paper will stick to the fabric.

Step 5

Matchstick quilt around the letters. I used Aurifil 50wt variegated Bubblegum-3660 to match the background fabric, since I wanted the name to be subtle. Use contrasting thread to make the name stand out more.

Here is a *rough* sketch of the path I took while quilting. I used my walking foot to matchstick quilt the entire background, stitching two stitches in the ditch along the outsides of the heart to travel from line to line, rather than having a *million* thread ends to bury. I actually stitched every other line backwards, holding down the “sew in reverse” button for the entire line of quilting. This was easier to me than maneuvering my entire quilt back and forth, and worked just as effectively.

Note: After using your walking foot to matchstick quilt the background (around the periphery of the letters), some of the freezer paper letters may have come unstuck.

Iron them on again, using the little indents (if your letters had any) as a guide.

Next, free motion quilt the matchstick quilting within and between the letters, since the space is so small and back and forth quilting is much easier free motion style (you don’t have to twist and turn your entire quilt like you would using a walking foot!). Be sure not to quilt onto the freezer paper.

Step 6

Peel off the freezer paper letters. Bury any threads.

Step 7

Admire your relief quilted name!

I’m linking up with Late Night Quilter’s Tips & Tutorials Tuesday. I hope you found this helpful, and let me know if you try it!

Quilting

2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop: Sign ups Open!

May 18, 2015 kittywilkin 3 Comments

Around this time last year, after blogging for a few measly months, I was fortunate enough to find the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop hosted by Beth at Plum and June, which was a program led to help new quilt bloggers learn the ropes of quilt blogging, get involved in the online quilting community, and make connections with others in the same situation. After realizing that many of my favorite “big shot” quilt bloggers had participated in previous years, I signed right up. I am SO grateful that I did. Not only did I learn a lot about the nuances and lingo related to quilt blogging, but I made some fabulous connections that have forged into strong friendships in just one year. You may remember that I even met some of them at Quilt Con!

meeting some of my new bloggers blog hop friends at quilt con — Meeting some of my new quilt blogger friends from last year’s New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop while at Quilt Con–note that Stephanie & Cheryl are not shown, but were among the many new quilt bloggers I met (or stayed with!) at QuiltCon.

A fabulous team of alumni are hosting this year’s hop, and sign-ups are officially open. I am hoping to be a resource and mentor on the sidelines, since I have a new baby arriving any day now. The talented team of mentors for this year’s hop are: Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl, Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter, Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs, and Terri Ann @ Childlike Fascination.

Here are the details on how to sign up to participate in this year’s 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog hop.

2015 New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop Sign Up

If you are interested in participating in the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop and have been blogging

mainly about modern quilting*,
for less than 2 years,
writing at least 4 posts a month,
are willing to agree to be actively involved in the blog hop through visiting and commenting on the other blogger’s hop posts,
and have or are willing to open a Facebook account to participate in the group discussions,

Please visit and fill out the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop Sign Up Form.

*Modern quilting to you is modern quilting to us.

Note that they will accept up to 100 participants for the blog hop this year. The sign up form will be available until May 31, 2015, or until 100 participants have signed up.

They are also gathering advice from any experienced bloggers who wish to share, so let them know if you are interested in adding a post to their Advice for New Bloggers link-up (look for my posts there!)

When the blog hops begin, each of the mentors will be hosting a group of blogs and I’m very much looking forward to following along and meeting the new members of our online community. Will I see you there?

Life, Quilting

The Big Push

May 13, 2015 kittywilkin 15 Comments

As much of the quilting world prepares for Quilt Market, urgently pushing to complete those finishing touches on booths, accessories, new bags, business cards, etc., I share that energy as I try to get a few last projects from my work in progress pile into the “finished” pile. My deadline is not the impending Market, however. I am entering the final week(s) before having a baby. Amazingly, I’m feeling pretty hopeful that I will be able to complete the quilting projects that need to be finished before baby arrives (let’s not even talk about the projects around the house, though–priorities, right?), and I’m trying hard not to take on more projects in the meantime.

Two of the big quilting projects are no strangers to you loyal readers, so prepare yourselves for yet another look at the Pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog baby quilt I’m working on for my sister-in-law, and the Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion mini quilt I’m finishing up for my partner in the Alison Glass Mini Quilt Swap on Instagram.

Thankfully, I’m on the final binding phase for the Prismatic Medallion mini quilt. I’m binding it with my new favorite: Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Linen blend in Charcoal, with coordinating 50wt Aurifil 1246 – Grey. I used straight-grain binding and next time will use bias binding, since I’m finding that the backs of the corners are a bit off kilter. Since the front corners line up perfectly and look nice and crisp, I’m not worrying about it, but I’m still searching for that secret tip to making perfect corners on the front and back when binding a hexagon. I’m in the process of setting up a skype date with Carla from Granny Maud’s Girl way over in Perth, Australia, since she says she knows the secret to binding hexagons–how awesome is this technological world and the quilting community within it!?

I’m hoping to have a mini finish to share soon!

I also need to finish quilting Hazel. I ordered the coordinating Aurifil from Hawthorne Threads, and now that it’s here, that can go back into my project circulation. I’m planning to do simple outline echo quilting on Hazel’s face and body with Aurifil 2423 – Baby Pink, since it is just a *little* bit pinker than her face and will add the texture without detracting from her features. The lighter pink color will be a fun addition to her bright pink legs and body. I ordered 40wt this time, since I love the added thickness that helps the quilting pop.

I’ve decided to try my very first matchstick quilting in the heart, since it’s a small enough space I don’t think it will be too crazy to complete before baby. Plus, I am going to try to quilt the baby’s name–Reagan–into the heart via negative space. For this, I’m going to use Freezer Paper for the very first time! I bought a big roll over a year ago when my late quilting Grammy said that it was an absolute must for paper piecing. I’ve never used it for paper piecing since I strongly prefer the foundation paper method, but I’m hoping to cut out freezer paper letters spelling Reagan, iron them onto the heart, and then matchstick quilt within the heart, but NOT on the letters. Is that as clear as mud? I promise I’ll take photos of the process, and fingers crossed that it works the way I envision!

I ordered my very first spool of variegated thread for the heart matchstick quilting, and I think the color is perfect–it’s Bubblegum variegated 3660! I ordered 50wt this time and very well might keep my panacea Dove thread color in the bobbin since with matchstick quilting, I’m afraid of running out of thread before I’m finished.

I also have another project, a pattern I’m developing, which I’m trying to finish before baby comes. For now, I can’t show you much, and the progress is not nearly as close to complete as these first two projects. Getting Hazel and the Prismatic Medallion into the finished pile will certainly help me focus on the new pattern, though, so little steps it is!

Finally, I thought I’d share my last and greatest work in progress, heading to the “finished” pile at an unknown impending date.

Here I am between 38 and 39 weeks pregnant with my third baby, a boy. He’s still in progress, but should be joining us on the outside world (aka finished cooking) in the coming weeks. Makers gotta make!

I’m linking up with Freshly Pieced’s Work in Progress Wednesday, and Molli Sparkles’ Sunday Stash, since I added some more Aurifil thread to my stash to finish these projects.

Hand Stitching, Stash Building

Nesting with Embroidery

May 4, 2015 kittywilkin 19 Comments

Some people experience nesting before a baby by feeling the urge to clean and reorganize everything. I wish I felt that way, honestly. It would be wonderful to have that “nesting” drive all the time and to effortlessly have a pristine and organized home. Not being the most enthusiastic cleaner, though, I have been nesting by thinking about small stitching projects I can do a tiny bit at a time for once our little bundle of joy makes his appearance.

I’ve been wanting to try embroidery and figure this may be the perfect time! I am hoping that by having some embroidery floss or thread and a ready-to-go hoop sitting on the table next to the glider, I will have a little creative outlet while nursing and rocking and nursing and rocking (with plenty of breaks to gaze in wonderment at my little boy).

Yes, I’ve been nesting. I bought the Color Wheel Sampler by Rebecca Ringquist of Dropcloth, and a couple of adorable needle minders made by Amanda from What the Bobbin (the little house is one of them!). Alex from Aurifil was kind enough to send me a collection of 12wt embroidery thread–the Splendor 1920 collection by Bari J–to get me started in my embroidery adventures. I’m already in love with the smooth, gorgeous thread and am looking forward to expanding my collection (and it just may encourage me to do some more hand quilting, or even try using 12wt thread with 50wt in the bobbin for machine quilting!).

I’ve been slowly learning the stitches and so far I’ve completed the herringbone stitch section on the color wheel. Embroidery is awfully fun, and quite relaxing.

The Bari J Splendor 1920 collection of 12wt Aurifil thread is such a gorgeous rainbow of silky thread. After using embroidery thread and perle cotton for my initial embroidery attempts, using this 12wt thread is a dream. I love that it doesn’t separate into strands, and it is silky smooth without being twisty like perle cotton. At first, I thought I might need to use two strands, but one strand ended up being ample to cover the guiding lines. I’m definitely looking forward to working 12wt thread into my quilting projects, too.

For those of you who are seasoned embroiderers, do you have any tips to share with a newbie?

I’m linking up with Monday Makers, Design Wall, and Molli Sparkles’ Sunday Stash, since these are all gorgeous additions to my stash that have not yet been shared, and it seems like this week’s stash theme is thread! As an added fun little tidbit, my baby boy has a good chance of sharing a birthday with Mr. Molli!!

Quilting

Alison Glass Prismatic Medallion Flimsy Finish

May 1, 2015 kittywilkin 16 Comments

Choosing fabrics for the Prismatic Medallion mini quilt pattern has been hands down the most difficult part of the entire process. As you read in my last progress post for this project, I have been humming and hawing over fabric choice and placement for the last few sections of the quilt for about a month. Finally, this past week, I bit the bullet, made the decision, and finished sewing together the quilt top. Verdict: I LOVE it!

I realized that I didn’t take a single photo of the flimsy without the matching Aurifil thread on top, so I apologize! Then again, I don’t really apologize, since how gorgeous is that thread circle paired with the quilt top!?

Ultimately, I opted to add some Carolyn Friedlander Architextures Crosshatch in Tangerine to balance out the yellow-orange section, and swapped out some of the more saturated magenta/red Alison Glass Sun Prints for her Feathers in Dahlia, and added in a pinky-orange Sketch section to finalize the magenta-red section. I’m really happy with the outcome.

While photographing this mini, I realized that when viewed from different perspectives, the entire look of the quilt changes. Here is the exact same photo from above, just taken upside-down (or right-side-up?):

Here they are side by side, with a wide white border so that you can view each individually.

Is it just me, or do they look completely different depending on what side you call the top? For this reason, I think I will hold off on attaching a hanging sleeve to this mini before mailing it off to my Alison Glass Mini Quilt Swap partner. That way, while it means they will need to handle hanging “hardware”, they can decide what aesthetic view they prefer.

AG Prismatic Medallion compare — Aurifil fairy circle

As you can see, I had a lot of fun going through my Aurifil thread stash to find matching thread. My penchant for rainbows paid off, since I had an exact match for most of the colors, and a reasonable match for the remaining one or two.

I decided on a prismatic-style quilting pattern, in lieu of the basic “echo quilting the seams” and I’m silly excited about it. I actually finished quilting this yesterday (shhh don’t tell), but haven’t buried any of the threads or tackled binding yet. The full finish will have to wait, but I’m getting close!

It feels good to have finally made the fabric choice decision and have this mini quilt on the fast track to “finished”. I’m also doubly excited now that I have enough fabric half-rectangle-triangles to make a duplicate of this mini. That’s a definite plus to the Prismatic Medallion pattern–two quilts with one cutting bout!

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday and TGIFF.

Life, Quilting

April Finish: {ALYoF} Pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog Quilt Top, Plus Some!

April 27, 2015 kittywilkin 19 Comments

I went easy on myself this month for A Lovely Year of Finishes (ALYoF) and set my April goal at finishing the quilt top for my sister-in-law’s baby shower yesterday. I made a totally pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog quilt featuring a giant sized hazel and a fun heart speech bubble I created just for this project. Did I meet my goal? Yes!

hazel hedgehog flimsy finish — Hazel Hedgehog “Hello, Love” baby quilt flimsy finish.

Even with the heart speech bubble addition, I was able to finish the flimsy (quilt top) before the baby shower. Since I finished this flimsy in the midst of a rare “full mommy sew day” when my mother-in-law took the kids for a play day, I decided to forge ahead and start basting and quilting little (giant) Hazel.

After a particularly late night and early morning quilting/binding session, I managed to quilt the entire background and speech bubble, AND make and attach the binding. Normally, I would complete all of the quilting before binding, but since I really wanted a presentable quilt for my sister-in-law Stephanie’s baby shower, and since the unquilted portion is completely enclosed in quilted background, I decided to get a little cheeky and bind the quilt before completely quilting.

quilt wrapped nicely — The purple bag with pink tissue and ribbon on the left contains the quilt.

With the quilt bound, I was able to roll it, wrap it nicely in tissue paper and a ribbon-bound bag, and gift the quilt with no worries of fray.

gorgeous spring baby shower gifts — Spring baby shower gift table decor–so alive!

My sister-in-law LOVED it, so mission accomplished! Even with a few basting pins still in Hazel and the heart, which will be quilted as soon as the color matched Aurifil thread arrives, it was fun to get to give this gift. Just think: hidden behind this quilt are two big baby bumps–cousins destined to be rolling around on top of this fun quilt (Stephanie is due a couple weeks after I am).

I will share more detail photos of the quilting and finishing in a later finish post once the quilt is completely finished (this will help keep the fire lit under my bum so that I actually finish it before baby time!) But for now, here’s a closer look at the speech bubble heart I’m calling “Hello, Love”. I’m planning on writing up a pattern for this block, since it’s such a perfect block to add to any of Elizabeth Hartman’s giant creatures, and I could definitely go for a speech bubble heart pillow!

I’m linking up with the ALYoF April Finishes Party, as well as Monday Makers and Design Wall.

Free Motion Quilting (FMQ), Patterns, Quilting

Twirling Star Mini Quilt Finish {Pattern Testing for Devoted Quilter}

April 24, 2015 kittywilkin 14 Comments

Visitors entering our home will now be greeted by a bright and colorful quilt (of course we will also greet any visitors in person… but, you know what I mean!). I’ve finished the Twirling Star mini quilt I was testing for Leanne at Devoted Quilter, and I’m loving it in its new home.

It was really fun to make Leanne’s pattern with a modern aesthetic. Here’s Leanne’s version:

I love how different choices of fabric and colors can completely change the look of a quilt. The mini quilt finishes at 19 1/2″ x 19 1/2″ and features both traditional piecing (the hourglass blocks) and paper piecing (the pinwheel blocks). The pattern also includes a coloring page, where you can test out different color arrangements before starting. I tried out a lot of different color possibilities before deciding on this one, and the coloring page is KEY (and so much fun). Leanne’s pattern is now available in her Etsy and Payhip shops, so if this looks like a mini you’d like hanging in your home, too, head on over and buy the pattern!

I decided to quilt this mini with one big radiating spiral, and I’m quite happy with how it turned out. I followed the tutorial on Crazy Mom Quilts and began the spiral with free motion quilting (FMQ) in the center and then switched to my walking foot for the outer spirals. Since I have yet to find an actual pen/chalk/pencil that I trust for writing ON my quilts, so I decided to just wing it and do it by eye. I’m quite happy with how it turned out, and it was a lot easier than I anticipated.

Once I quilted past the center, I switched to my walking foot, which proved to be a lot more difficult than I anticipated. Keeping a steady curve with the walking foot was tough, although I can see that I did improve as I moved outward, either the result of more practice or the less severe angle. As with any quilting, I found that I was more consistent with spacing and more accurate with the curve when I went slowly.

quilting "jump" — A little quilting “jump” as a result of less-than-smooth maneuvering with the walking foot.

There were quite a few “jumps” where I had stopped sewing to reposition the quilt under my machine and must have restarted sewing with too much torque on the quilt. Either that, or perhaps I tried to turn the curve while my machine was stopped. (You can see one of the “jumps” in the bottom of the blue triangle. Just a little wiggle.) If I were planning to submit this quilt to shows or give it to someone who would noticed the imperfections (are there such gift-quilt recipients?), I might have ripped out the quilting and tried again. But for this, a quilt meant to hang in our own entryway, I opted to just let them be. When you step back and view the quilt as a whole, the imperfections are lost.

I didn’t keep track of the time I spent making this quilt, but here are the other quilt finish stats:

Twirling Star Mini Quilt

Completed April 2015
Pattern: Twirling Star Mini Quilt pattern by Leanne at Devoted Quilter
Size: 19.5″x19.5″
Fabric: Pinwheels are pieced using rainbow fabric from Alison Glass’s 2015 Sun Prints, Mercury and Grove (Andover Fabrics), with a background of Modern Floral in Charcoal from the Botanics fabric line by Carolyn Friedlander (Robert Kaufman Fabrics).
Hourglass blocks are pieced using Scribble Notes in Black from the Architextures fabric line by Carolyn Friedlander (Robert Kaufman Fabrics) and Make and Pin fabric from the Makers fabric line (Art Gallery Fabrics).
Border is Ink in Charcoal from Alison Glass’s 2015 Sun Prints (Andover Fabrics).
Binding is Black Kona cotton (Robert Kaufman Fabrics).
Quilting: Spiral quilting using free motion quilting in the center and a walking foot for the outer spirals
Thread: Aurifil 50wt 2600 – Dove for piecing and quilting
Related blog posts: Embrace the Rainbow, Twirling Star Flimsy Finish

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.

Design, Quilting

Hazel Hedgehog Progress

April 22, 2015 kittywilkin 23 Comments

The giant version of Elizabeth Hartman’s Hazel the Hedgehog pattern goes together quickly! I thought that it might, but I’m pleasantly surprised by exactly how quickly I was able to get this adorable pinkalicious hedgehog together. I cut the fabric for this project on Monday, and after only two short nights of sewing (a total of just under 3 hours), Hazel is complete!

She finishes at 24″x27″ since I have not yet put the borders on. She’s huge! Here are a few photos of Hazel with my kiddos for scale. Don’t mind my sword-bearing super hero son; he’s harmless, really!

I want to use a single giant hazel, but have the baby quilt finish a bit larger than the 34″x37″ baby quilt version in the pattern. Since I’ve pieced Hazel so quickly, of course my brain immediately came up with a lovely idea of how to make it super adorable (and not as quick to finish).

sketchbook plans for hazel layout — Glimpse into my sketchbook.

Originally, I was planning to add borders to have Hazel in the bottom right of a 48″x52″ baby quilt, with simple negative space/background around her. Easy peasy. There is actually a good chance I could have the quilt entirely finished by the baby shower on Sunday if this plan is chosen. Then, as I was sketching it out to calculate how big the borders should be, I thought an appliquéd heart in the top left would be a cute touch, which then progressed to a pieced speech bubble heart. How adorable would that be, though!? This is how my brain works, folks. If something is easy, I will immediately find a too-cute-to-ignore way to make it more complex (but awesome).

What would you do? Stick with the original, adorable, but super simple and easily completable-ahead-of-schedule plan? or try out the speech bubble heart idea? Only time will tell which I will choose!

I’m linking up with Work in Progress Wednesday hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced .

Quilting, Stash Building

Pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog Baby Quilt Beginnings

April 20, 2015 kittywilkin 10 Comments

My pink-loving sister-in-law is having a baby girl in June. When I say she’s pink-loving, note that that is a dire understatement. I mean, she loves pink. Pink on pink on pink with an accent of pink is her signature style. As a long-time pink avoider who is just recently embracing the joy that pink conveys, I am planning to work a *little* out of my comfort zone for the sake of making a quilt for her baby girl that she will love. I’m making a pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog baby quilt, with one giant sized super-pink Hazel.

Hazel will be completely pink, with the lightest pink for her face, the bright pink her body, and the swirly magenta-pink as hair. The majority of you who commented on my last blog post about this project voted for the grey face and body and pink hair. As much as I think the grey face and body would look awesome, too, I just didn’t feel like the resulting giant grey-bodied Hazel would be pinkalicious enough for my sister-in-law. So pink it is. The turquoise Stitch Circle by Michael Miller will be the background, and my aesthetic anchor. I have to admit, I’m quite excited!

My sister-in-law’s baby shower is this coming weekend, which means I’m giving myself a typical time-squeeze goal of completing the quilt top before her shower. This is also my ALYoF goal for April, so it’s a good thing I’m finally getting started on it!

So far I’ve finished cutting for Hazel and her immediate background, which finally gave me a great opportunity to use the numbered pins my husband got for me for Christmas. They are called Marilee’s Numbered Q-Pins (*Amazon affiliate link) and are super useful. They can also be purchased from the Quilting Pins website, and you can visit them on Facebook. (Tell them Kitty aka Night Quilter sent you!) I took the advice of the little sticker on the back of the pins that suggested customizing the backs with letters, colors, etc. if more than numbers were needed. Elizabeth Hartman’s Hazel Hedgehog pattern clearly lays out the cutting and piecing instructions with letters, so the pins were perfect for keeping track of pieces.

With 20 numbered pins, I was able to create letters enough for all the Hazel pieces, while letting the letters correspond to the numbers (1 = A, 2 = B, etc.). This lets my OCD side rest easy knowing that my letters will be as easily organized and found as the numbers.

I also did a TINY bit of fabric buying for this project, so I’ll show you another addition to my stash. While auditioning fabrics, nothing worked better for the background than the little scrap of this Michael Miller Stitch Circle I had remaining from a previous project. I scoured local shops and the internet and finally found some at FreshStash on Etsy. I ordered the 1.5 yards needed for this project, and added in 1 yard of Essex Linen Blend in Smoke.