The Making of a Custom Baby Items Quilt

I received an order from an amazing lady (who wishes to remain anonymous) to create two custom baby quilts using items she used when her little boy was an infant.  I created these quilts using pieces of some of his little outfits, pieces from his crib sheets and receiving blankets, pieces from a pillow cover and pieces from the moby she used to carry her baby when he was tiny.  It even included pieces from the comforter that she used when she was pregnant.  I thought that that just made these quilts all the more special.

This was quite an undertaking.  It is very similar to putting together a jigsaw puzzle.  trying to make all of the pieces fit and make a pleasing quilt all at the same time.  My client chose Moda's Hushabye and Amy Butler's Turquoise Sandalwood as the accent fabrics.  They're both gorgeous fabrics in their own right and they really came together to set off the quilts.

Here are a few pictures of some of the blocks as I was initially putting the quilt together.

 The blue and white blocks were made with a minky blanket and after much consideration were not used in the quilt.

 I have a design wall in my studio that I lay my blocks out on to try to capture the best possible layout before I actuallly start putting the quilt together.

Here is one possible layout that I was considering before we scrapped the minky blocks.

Above is a picture of the first quilt right after I finished piecing it. I don't know if you can tell but all of the baby clothes are in the four blocks in the center.

The first quilt finished, quilted and bound.

To the right is quilt number two right after it was pieced.

This was one of his little t-shirts and it says, "My Dad Totally Rocks".  I thought this one was really cute.  I can't wait to make Mikayla, my Granddaughter, a little quilt with nothing but t-shirts that say, "My Grandma Totally Rocks".  Okay, I guess I could include one each to honor her Grandpa, Mommy and Daddy, maybe.  She is 20 months old now and she has recently started calling her Grandpa "Bompa".  I love when they are real little and say some of the craziest things.  She's also started saying, "Loves you".  Okay, let me get this train back on the track.

To the right is a picture of the second quilt finished.  I'm thrilled with the way they both turned out.                                                                                              

On Monday I'm going to start on a new t-shirt quilt for one of my girlfriends.  She is making it as a birthday present for her son who is now in college.  I will try to take pictures and share them daily as I go along.

I would like to share a picture with you of Mikayla, my favorite little person.  We took a trip about a month or so ago and I'm not sure who she was calling but she was acting like her foot was a phone.  This child keeps us thoroughly entertained.  Whenever I'm down about anything if I can spend just 10 minutes with this baby any and all cares go right out the window.

I am proud to announce that we are now up to 3 followers and I pray that Monday will find us with 5.  We'll get there!

I will let you ponder this over the weekend.

The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be. Because of all I may become, I will close my eyes and leap. - Mary Anne Radmacher

Until Monday, May the LORD bless you in every possible way!

Introduction Continued

Tonight I'm going to wrap up the introduction.  As I'd said in yesterday's post I realized that I could make extra money with my quilts.  I was making one for a coworker's daughter for a nominal charge and I had taken it with me to a Quilt Store with my Mom to purchase some batting and to look for a good backing fabric.  One of the ladie's at the quilt store said that that particular quilt would sell for about $300.00 easily on a crafting website called Etsy.

 I soon researched this platform and set up my account.  I started my online store with Etsy in Janurary of 2010 and to this day have 24 sales.  It was August of that year before I got my first sale but it slowly started picking up over the Winter months.  I started adding table runners so that I could diversify a bit and add some lower price points.  If you are interested in viewing some of my items please check out my online store at www.etsy.com/shop/crazywickedstitch.

I'm constantly trying to find new areas to improve my online store.  On New Year's Day of this past year I took over my quilter from my Mom which gave me the ability to start not only quilting my own items but also to be able to quilt quilt tops for others.  In April after participating in my first Arts & Crafts show I started offering a once a month quilting class that I refer to as Lynne's Block A Month Party as I had several requests at the show to do this.  I started out with 2 students in April and this month we will have 4.  The ladie's really seem to enjoy it.  I'm having fun sharing my passion with them.

A few months ago my husband helped me set up my very own fan page for my business on Facebook.  I soon started receiving some inquiries about t-shirt quilts which up until a couple of months ago I'd never made one.  I'd seen them before and didn't see anything special about them but I have learned to put my own spin on them.  The layout and fabric choices for the accents make all of the difference.  I'm now working on my 4th one with several other requests.  If you haven't liked my Facebook page prior to reading my blog please do so by typing: Lynne's Crazy Wicked Stitch in the search bar on Facebook.

Like I said in yesterdays post I quit my job a couple of months ago.  I'd been dreaming about really getting this business going for a while.  It was probably a mistake doing that but I pray every day that the Lord will bless my business and if He has in mind for me to find another 8 to 5 job then He will help me do that.  Right now I'm doing my best to trust in Him and let him light my path. 

So now I hope I haven't bored you too much but pretty much you are up to speed with where I'm at now.  With that said, moving forward I will share with you pictures of all of the different projects that I'm working on, what I managed to accomplish for that day and whatever trials and triumphs that I endure along the way.  Some of these items will be projects that I'm working on for clients and some of them will be personal items that I'm working on for gifts.

Today I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite scriptures:  "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Jeremiah 29:11/NIV

I hope you enjoyed today's post.  Remember that our first goal is to reach 100 followers at which time I'm holding a drawing for the Moda Morris Tapestry charm pack.  Please share with your friends and ask them to join us on our journey.  We have 2 followers as of this evening so only 98 to go, woo hoo!

Until tomorrow, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

A Journey In A Quilter's Life - Let Me Introduce Myself

Welcome to my blog!  My name is Lynne and I love to quilt so I'm going to share with you my journey in creating beautiful quilts and quilted items.  Along the way I will share pictures with you of the current projects that I'm working on, my trials and triumphs as I create some of my projects, a picture or two of my favorite little person (my 20 month old granddaughter) and a bit of humor.

Let me start by telling you a little about myself, I'm in my mid 40's, I live in a small town around Waco, TX that has a city motto of "The Friendly City".  When I moved here 7 years ago I was delightfully surprised to find that the town lives up to it's motto.  I've been happily married to my best friend for 7 years today to be exact.  I am the proud Mom of 2 beautiful young women, my oldest is in college studying Medical Administration, my youngest is married to a wonderful young man, manages a wireless phone store and is the mother of my precious granddaughter.  They are expecting my grandson in November.  Lots to be excited about.  I've worked the past 20 years primarily in accounting and recently quit my job to explore starting and running my own online quilting store, I'll tell you more about that in future posts.

I made my very first quilts when my daughters were 2 and 4.  I had a very good friend who was learning how to quilt from her mother so she taught me the very basics of quilting.  I was a single Mom back then.  I still remember being so excited about starting this first project.  I went to Wal*Mart and selected matching fabrics for both of the girls.  I made a light blue one with bunnies for my oldest daughter and a matching light pink one for the youngest.  I tied them to finish them.  I had no clue back then about the methods of stitch in the ditch or free motion quilting.  My youngest daughter actually kept her little quilt all the way up until when she graduated from High School and moved to Florida.  She accidentally left it there when she moved back.  No worries though as me and my Mom have made several for both of them.  My grandbaby even has a small collection herself.

That was about the extent of my quilting experience up until about 6 years ago when my husband got me a very basic sewing machine for Christmas.  I was so excited to try it out but didn't have anything to sew at the time so it actually sat for a few months.  Then a coworker found out she was having a baby girl so I remembered that I had this sewing machine and thought it would be neat to try my hand at quilting once more to create a baby quilt for her.  She chose pastel purple fabrics and that's where I truly started.  After that I made a quilt with Transformers fabrics for my nephew and as you've probably already figured out I started making quilts for different members of my family as gifts until pretty much everyone had at least one for themselves.  With each quilt I kept pushing myself to try more difficult patterns and my quilting continued to improve until some of my friends and family started suggesting that I could actually make some extra money with my quilts.  At about the same time my Mom began taking quilting classes and would teach me everything she learned.  It wasn't long after that that she invested in a quilter that I now own as she has upgraded to a much fancier ride and she started a business herself quilting other people's quilts.

Enough about me for today.  Please tell me a little bit about yourself and if you're a quilter what is one of your favorite quilting patterns and what is one of your favorite fabrics.  Example: I like applique quilting and I LOVE Moda fabrics.  I will be holding a drawing for a Moda Morris Tapestry charm pack when I reach my 100th follower so if you enjoyed this and would like to join me on my journey please share with all of your friends so we can make it there together.