Tag Archives: hazel hedgehog

Pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog Baby Quilt Finish

May 29, 2015 kittywilkin 21 Comments

No, I have not yet had my baby. I know I’m getting into the window where I should just automatically say, “Here, visit this site: http://haveyouhadthatbabyyet.com” and be done with it. He will come when he’s ready. I’m thinking I’m ready now, so whenever he’s ready, I’m game!

In the meantime, I can share some of my finishes with you! In these past few weeks, I have been nesting in all sorts of ways, trying to wrap up big projects before our home is graced with the presence of a newborn. One of my big finishes was the Pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog Baby Quilt I made for my sister-in-law’s first baby, Reagan. She’s due June 14th but is actually showing more progress toward that end than I am! I am excited that I finished her quilt before baby time.

As you’ve seen in a previous post, I used matchstick quilting to relief quilt the baby’s name into the heart. I used Aurifil 50wt variegated Bubblegum-3660 to match the background fabric, since I wanted the name to be subtle.

I opted for an all-over flower and swirl free motion quilting (FMQ) pattern in the background, using 50 wt Aurifil 2600 – Dove. I used matching 40wt thread (Aurifil 1100 – Red Plum) to quilt a similar but more linear flower/daisy chain type pattern in her hair. For Hazel’s face and body, I used 40 wt Aurifil 2423 – Baby Pink with a more subtle, outlining features approach with my walking foot. I’m super happy with how all of the quilting turned out!

I love the look of this quilt folded, since turquoise and magenta trimmed with black is SO aesthetically appealing to me. (One day, I really will finish this quilt for myself so that I can enjoy this color combination daily.)

I bound the quilt with Architextures Words in Black (Carolyn Friedlander for Robert Kaufman Fabrics). My thought is that the black frames the quilt really well, and the white words will help it hide dust and dirt much better than a solid black would.

I bound the quilt using Cluck Cluck Sew’s Machine Binding method, since I’m hoping that this quilt sees a LOT of action and washes in its lifetime. I love how neatly the machine binding squares up the front of the quilt, and you really can’t beat its ease.

I hand stitched the label onto the back using my first attempt at blanket stitch. Admittedly, it was a lot tougher to keep even and secure than I anticipated, but I’m hoping that with practice, that will all improve. I realized while writing this label that I will be an Aunt for the first time once baby Reagan is born! So exciting!

Pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog Baby Quilt

Completed May 2015
Pattern: Giant Hazel Hedgehog pattern by Elizabeth Hartman, speech bubble heart and layout is of my own design.
Size: 48″ x 52″
Fabric:
Front: Background: Michael Miller Stitch Circles in Aqua; Heart: Pink Star fabric, Starlet by Blank Quilting; Speech bubble: Cotton + Steel Basics by Rashida Coleman Hale; Hazel’s Face & Body: two shades of Kona pinks–I didn’t write down the names back when I bought them!; Hazel’s hair:
Back: Calypso by Ro Gregg for Paintbrush Studio
Binding: Architextures Words in Black by Carolyn Friedlander for Robert Kaufman Fabrics
Batting: 100% cotton Soft n’ Crafty batting
Thread: Aurifil 50wt 2600 – Dove for piecing, quilting background and speech bubble, and sewing down binding; Aurifil 50wt variegated 3660 – Bubblegum for matchstick quilting the heart; Aurifil 40 wt 1100 – Red Plum for quilting Hazel’s hair; and, Aurifil 50 wt 2423 – Baby Pink for quilting Hazel’s face and body.

Time:
Planning: 1 hr 30 min (includes designing speech bubble heart)
Cutting & Pressing: 3 hours
Piecing the top: 5 hours 30 min
Piecing the back: 30 minutes
Squaring, layering, and basting: 40 min
Quilting: 6 hours 20 min
Finishing (making binding, squaring quilt, burying threads): 45 min
Binding: 1 hour 45 min
Total: Approx. 20 hours

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, and hoping that another little bundle decides he’s finished and ready to make his way to the outside world before next Friday!

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.

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.

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.

I love the look of stacked fabric!

I’m hopeful that since this Hazel is ginormous, it will be quick to piece. Quilt top in a week: totally doable, right?

I’m linking up with Monday Makers, Design Wall, and Molli Sparkles’ Sunday Stash!

Quilting

April Goal {ALYoF}

April 6, 2015 kittywilkin 14 Comments

When I first decided to participate in this year’s A Lovely Year of Finishes (ALYoF), I sketched out a general plan of projects and works in progress for the year. April, being my birthday month, was designated “selfish sewing month” and I had planned to work on–or finish!–the quilt I am making just for me. But lo, as life goes, other projects have due dates and take precedence over selfish sewing. My sister-in-law is expecting her first child, a daughter, and her baby shower is at the end of April. This bumps her baby quilt to the top of the pile. So far, all I’ve done is pull fabrics from my stash to begin planning this quilt.

I’m planning to make a baby quilt using a giant pink Hazel Hedgehog with a teal background. My sister-in-law is all about pink… I mean ALL about pink… so the pink heavy Hazel will be perfect for her.
Since I have yet to even begin this project, I’m hoping to finish just the quilt top by the end of April. I’m taking it easy on myself for a change, with a hopefully easily attainable goal. She isn’t due until June, so I’m thinking a quilt top will be an acceptable gift to present at her shower, and quilting and finishing should be attainable before my baby joins us sometime in May, or maybe June.

I haven’t fully decided on pink placement for this quilt yet. I’m torn between using the light pink as the face, the grey as the body, and then a brighter pink (or combination of brighter pinks) for the hair OR using the light pink for the face, the darker pink solid for the body and an even darker pink (maybe the bottom one, or perhaps a mix of the middle two pinks) for the hair.

I like the look of the grey mixed in, but I’m not sure if that’s just my style preferences leaking in, or if it really would look better with the grey body. If you haven’t seen a Hazel Hedgehog, here are a lot of great examples made during Angie at Gnome Angel’s Hazel Hedgehog Quilt Along held last month. While the Quilt Along has ended, there is a ton of great inspiration there! What would you do with your pink Hazel?