Shirred Baby Romper - Baby Soft Woven Gingham!

I am thrilled to share what I've made with Riley Blake Designs' new line of basics: Woven Gingham!

This is new gingham, manufactured the old-fashioned way where each fiber is dyed before it's woven so the color is true on both sides.  And as Julia at RBD says, and I have to agree, "it feels like a nice, cotton lawn" (see the link to Julia's blog post below).  

It's lightweight and has a finer, softer feel than regular cotton, making it perfect for clothing,  perfect for summer or warm climates, 😉 and soft enough for a newborn baby!

Like this little cherub!

Awww.  I think this sweet little lady is the cutest thing ever!  Aaaand, I'm pretty sure every grandmother feels this way about their first grandchild!

~~~

It only takes a few supplies to make this sweet baby romper.

• 3/8 to 1/2 yard Woven Gingham - I used the 1/4" grid size.
• Elastic thread for shirring
• 1/2 yard Elastic ribbon for straps (optional)
• 3 small snap sets or you can purchase 1/8 yard of 3/4" sew-in snap tape

I based the romper on this free baby Sunsuit Tutorial from Made by Rae, and made sure to prewash the fabric to pre-shrink and ensure color fastness.

After finishing the top edge of the fabric with a narrow seam, I stitched five rows of shirring every 1/2 inch.  This technique of shirring uses elastic thread in the bobbin and regular thread in the needle plus a longer stitch length.  Very easy to do, especially with the woven gingham where you can trust the fabric to be on grain and just follow the lines.  See my TUTORIAL.  I used a bit of elastic lace ribbon for the shoulder straps.

Two rows of shirring at the legs gives a lacey effect, and the bottom closes with little decorative snaps.

This little cherub is my new granddaughter!  Born just in time for Valentine's Day.  My heart is full of Love, Love, Love! 

♥♥♥

Oh, my goodness!  Gramma D is in Paradise.  Literally.

And as for Riley Blake Designs' Woven Gingham, ask for it at your local quilt shop, or shop online.  I hope you'll try it. Then be sure to stop by these blogs to see more gingham inspiration!

2/5 Julia @ Riley Blake Designs
2/12 Carol @ Just Let Me Quilt
2/19 Deonn @ Quiltscapes <
2/26 Tami @ Sew Sophie Lynn

Take me to Hawaii! + New Pattern

Woohoo!  I'm a GRANDMA!!

The little lady came a week early and is a little over 3,000 miles away in Hawaii.  Ten little fingers and toes, a sweet little mouth and chubby little cheeks, lots of dark hair, so precious!  Oh, I can't wait to see her and spend a couple of weeks with my daughter and her darling husband.  They are going to be such cute parents!

In celebration, I've finally gotten around to writing up the pattern for this fun little quilt.  Here's a cute example of the mini version, made by my friend, Moana.  Adorable!  Love her newsprint background fabric.

You can find the pattern at my Etsy shop HERE!  I figure if I can't be in Hawaii all the time, I'll wrap up in the lap-size quilt and dream about it instead.

Aloha, little one.  Gramma D is on her way!

Garden of Quilts - Coming in September!

Did you see this announcement?

Riley Blake Designs and Thanksgiving Point are pairing up for a phenomenal quilt show in Lehi, Utah, USA next September 12-14, 2019.  This is going to be amazing!  I'm marking my calendar right now!  Tickets are on sale now, and registration will be open February 1st.

Click HERE ↓ for TICKETS

Thanksgiving Point is so beautiful, and I think this Quilt Show will really be special.  Hope to see you next September!  

Black & White

Welcome to my stop on my friend  Carla@Creatin'InTheSticks'  Black & White Blog Hop!

Kaleido-Medallion Quilt by Deonn Stott, 42" x 42" Wall Hanging

It's been a fun week to see everyone's black & white creations on this hop!  A big THANKS to Carla for thinking of this subject - I have been inspired!

My Kaleido-Medallion quilt is not strictly black and white, in fact, I can see from the photo that I used two different dye lots in the background print...one white is a little bit "whiter" than the other.  I was hoping it would not be so noticeable!  But the quilt does have just the right splash of red, my favorite!  It reminds me of these little vintage photo cards that were popular some years back.  Awwwww, such cuteness.

"First Kiss" by Kim Anderson

Here's a quilting closeup.

A little Faux-Piped Binding

Maybe I'll couch a bit of trim along the seamline between the whites...?  Or I could trim it off.  Or, I could just live with it.  Maybe.  At any rate, it makes a great sample when it teach paper-piecing at an upcoming Quilty Friends retreat.  

GIVEAWAY!!  I'll be giving away a digital copy of the Kaleido-Medallion pattern; you can enter in via Rafflecopter below.  I'll draw the winner next Monday.  Both the hard copy and digital versions are also available on my Etsy Store.  ↓

~~~

Lately I've been playing in EQ8 (Electronic Quilt software).  I give myself a daily EQ challenge to recreate designs I see into quilt blocks.  These can come from architectural details, a design on my neighbor's skirt at choir practice,  a guy's shirt at the post office, anything!  One day my honey came home with a picture of a bathoom tile floor that reminded him of a quilt.  He has definitely read the handbook, A Husband's Guide to Quilt Appreciation, *Ü*; even knows what a fat quarter is! Then I began to see "tile quilts" everywhere!  I even have friends who send me pictures for my daily challenge!  Here are some samples: 

Background on a TV Commercial

Backsplash on an HGTV episode of  Property Brothers

Note:  you may have seen something similar on

PamelaQuilt's B/W entry in this hop the other day! 

You can see her beautiful quilt and get the pattern HERE.

Washroom floor tiles in a Park City Utah Home Show property

Disappearing Hourglass II Missouri Star Tutorial 

Bathroom tiles in a Park City, Utah Home Show property

As you can see, inspiration for these "Tile Quilts" can come from anywhere!  I'm definitely going to make this one.  Though, I think I might add a little color to one of those stars. 

Here's my first block:

Oh, my goodness, I think it's going to work!!  I'm thinking of calling it "Atomic Stars.  This is paper-pieced.  I'll throw in a copy of the pattern templates for this block with the giveaway.  And a couple of other goodies.  And this is the evidence....

And I have to show that picture I shared at Christmas time when my husband surprised me with a night on the town for our 33rd Anniversary.  Both of us with our two-toned black and white hair.  Fun night.  And, my favorite black & white coat!  Hmmm, I think I have my next design challenge!

For more fun, check out the Carla's Pinterest page ↓ where you can see the entire collection of creations from this fun hop!

To see the full lineup of all 35 quilters on this hop, click HERE.  And here's today's lineup to wrap it up!  Be sure to enter the giveaway!

UPDATE!  Winner selected and notified!  Congratulations, LIZ!!

Quiltscapes< so glad you dropped by!

Seams to be Sew

Storied Quilts

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Ms P Designs USA

Den syende himmel

Melva Loves Scraps

The Joyful Quilter

Creatin' in the Sticks

Happy Quilting!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mary Elizabeth Project Tour!

Awww.  This is the sweetest material!  So glad I could have a chance to play with this new line:  
Mary Elizabeth by Christopher Thompson for Riley Blake Designs.

Look at these sweet little bunnies!  And I love these soft colors of the mint and pink together.  I paired it with tone on tone white RBD Swiss Dot for the background.  Sawtooth star blocks plus a modified churn dash creates the nestled look.  I love the secondary design those corners create.

This little baby quilt will be for my very first grandbaby, a little girl coming next month -  can't wait to meet her!

I used this same bunny motif on clothes I made for my own little girls all those years ago, and it seemed perfectly suited for this little quilt.  Blanket-stitch is my go-to for applique'.

Download my free applique' pattern HERE.

And for the quilting: free-motion echo hearts in the background, continuous curves in the star points...

...a few roses in the fussy-cut centers of the churn dash and border corners along with feather/heart motifs to fill in.  Plus a little computerized bunny border.

And the backing.  More pink bunnies.

Machine binding.

 Now, I'm working on a little stuffed toy to match the quilt.... definitely needs more work! *Ü*

 I think my daughter will love it for the new little one!

Mary Elizabeth fabrics are available now, in quilt shops and online.  Pine Needles at Gardner Village in Salt Lake carries this and every collection of Riley Blake Designs' fabrics.  I think I may just need  more!

For more inspiration, check out the other gals on this project hop, listed below.  Thanks for joining me today!

Becca @ SunflowerSeams

Deonn @ Quiltscapes <<

Elisabeth @ BrownBirdDesigns