Clarisse's Wedding Quilt

Hello friend,

How are you? I hope you're enjoying being back to the routine of the school year. Another three weeks for us here before Ben starts KINDERGARTEN! I'm so excited and nervous -- just like he is. I am going to miss him so much, but he loves school and I know he will enjoy it tremendously.

Before our Christmas in July series, I teased about being done with the Wedding Quilt for my cousin Clarisse and her new husband. Here, finally, are photos of the finished quilt!



Photo by the 5-year-old

Let's hear it for a finished (massive) project! Yay!

WIP: Milk and Cookie Table Runner

Hi Angel!

Well, I had grand plans for this year's Christmas in July, but life took over with a series of most unfortunate events -- family illness and injuries, toddler molars ruining sleep for everyone, and to top it all off, a car wreck.

Thank goodness everyone's okay (though the car isn't, but that's why we have insurance), but a week later I'm still a bit shaken and distracted by the whole thing, in particular the incessant calls to and from the insurance, the crash shop, and concerned family and friends. Mini-PSA: please check your blind spot, friends. Some guy didn't and cut me off on the highway (I-5!!), causing me to bump into the car to my left. It could have been much, much worse and I'm so grateful it wasn't.

Moving on... Aside from my little tree ornaments (tutorial here), the only thing I've been able to complete for Christmas in July is the first few steps in making a new table runner. I really liked John Adams' Milk and Cookie Mat design (free pattern download here) and decided to triple the basic patchwork shape and turn it into a Christmas runner!

Wedding Quilt: Almost There!

Hi Angel!

Do you remember the wedding quilt on which I was working for my cousin Clarisse? She got married last July, nearly a year ago! I finally finished it about a month ago and sent it on its way to France. She was supposed to pick it up at the post office today (I'm on pins and needles waiting to hear from her!).

Before I show you the finished quilt, I thought I would share some of the steps and progress I made since my last update on this project. (If you need a refresher, you can see my previous posts about this quilt here: Inspiration, Work in Progress, and More Progress.)

Let's see...

- At some point in the Spring, I enlarged the wording from their wedding invite and transferred it to some of the cream cotton I used in the quilt. Got it in the hoop, planning to embroider it with some coordinating colors.




- Meanwhile, I continued piecing my blocks until I ended up with 47!! I've said it before and I will say it again: making quilts is not for sissies. Whew.

4 blocks to a square. 3 squares to a row. 4 rows. Minus 1 block which would include the above-mentioned embroidery.




- Little by little the embroidery progressed.




- I laid out my blocks on the floor and played with my quilt top design. Finally took a photo of this one.




- Shortly thereafter, I needed to incorporate the last block into the quilt top despite the embroidery not being finished. I framed it in a wonky frame of Clarisse and Emeric's wedding fabric. This is the 48th block.




- I assembled the quilt top but didn't take a photo before I moved on to basting, woops! I followed the steps in Elizabeth Hartman's awesome book The Practical Guide to Patchwork.




Here's the finished embroidery, by the way.




I got to work immediately after putting Henry down for nap, but of course he chose that day to cut his regular 3 hour nap down to 45 minutes. Snacks to the rescue!




Big brother comes by to steal snacks...




And soon I am dealing with a lovely little assistant. "Hep, Mommy. Hep." Sure, you're helping, buddy.






Oh it's a good thing he's cute!

- I finished basting the quilt, got it off the floor and rolled up carefully. Ready for quilting! I'll share more photos and the finished project in the next few days, stay tuned.





How do you get your quilts and other large scale projects done with kids around? Do you make do, fending them off with snacks and movies, or do you wait for another adult to be around and whisk them away? I'm so envious of you guys with studio space. *Sigh* some day!!

Please come by for a visit tomorrow, we're having a super duper giveaway! And in case you didn't see, we're having Christmas in July again, starting next week. To get us rolling on holiday gifting and decorating ahead of time, there will be lots of neat projects, inspiration, free downloads and awesome giveaways. Swing by through July to get in the Christmas spirit!

Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts: Book Review and Giveaway

Dear readers, today I'm excited to share my thoughts on the book Pretty in Patchwork: Doll Quilts which Lark Crafts sent me for review a couple of months ago. Lark Crafts is generously giving away a copy of the book to a lucky reader, and Angel and I are throwing in some fabric to make your own patchwork projects, so read on!


Pretty in Patchwork is a new series by Lark Crafts. In this book, Cathy Gaubert leads a group of 20 top designers who contribute an array of patterns for doll quilts featuring applique, piecing, embroidery and more. Doll quilts are the perfect size to try out new techniques and quilt designs without the commitment of a full size quilt. The quilts featured in this book would look great as works of art on a wall.

Wedding Quilt Inspiration

This past July, my cousin Clarisse -- who happens to be one of my dearest friends -- got married in France. Our little family was unfortunately unable to make the international trip for this occasion and we missed out on a beautiful ceremony and fabulous party from what I hear and see in the pictures. Instead of wallowing in how sad I am about missing this special day in her life, I decided to make something that would celebrate her marriage for years to come: a quilt.


Clarisse sent me the fabric that they used as a theme in their decorations including bunting, and for the outfits of the little ones in the wedding party. It is a lovely, modern, flowery print with aquas and browns on an off-white background. I have been gathering coordinating prints and solids (not sure about those bold brown dots), as well as embroidery floss to add a little personal something. But now I need your help in figuring out a quilt design!

Tutorial: Charming Baby Quilt

I got several requests to share the pattern for the Charming Baby Quilt I finished recently, so I put together a little tutorial. This quilt is very beginner-friendly: straight lines and simple piecing. It is also quite wallet-friendly as it only uses a charm pack (hence the name!) and minimal yardage for the quilt top.

The frames created by the solid fabric around the groups of 4 charm squares are perfect for showcasing a super cute fabric collection (like Sherbet Pips!). The finished size of this quilt is 44.5" x 44.5" so it's fairly small and makes a great baby quilt or small lap quilt. It would be very easy to adapt this quilt to a bigger size as well.


I am no quilt expert: this is only my 4th quilt, and the 3rd baby quilt I've made -- I've learned a lot with each one and still have mountains to climb. I hope this tutorial makes sense. Please let me know if you have any questions in the comment section, or feel free to email me at stumblesstitches (at) ymail (dot) com.

I drew some sketches to go along with my instructions. I should warn you that I was down on the floor, sketchbook and pencils in hand, while the baby was playing in front of me and the 3-year-old was running in circles around me, hence the messiness of certain images! I am hoping they help you visualize the process.

Charming Baby Quilt: Done!

It's done! Well, technically, *almost* done. But, done enough to post!!


I apologize in advance for the crummy pictures. It's rainy and very gray out, I have a to-do list 3 miles long and a 3-year-old who has traded his nap for a thousand interruptions. So, I didn't get a chance to iron the quilt or wait for nice light. But, this'll have to do because I really want to share!

Charming Baby Quilt: So Close!

Poor Angel, I'm so sorry you're out for the count with a nasty virus! Having just been sick as a dog for the first time since becoming a mom, I sympathize wholeheartedly. I hope you're getting a break or a little help somehow. May you feel better soon soon soon!

As you know, I was planning on sharing my finished Charming Baby Quilt today. And, as predicted on our Facebook page, I jinxed myself by saying I was almost done!

Progress on my Charming Baby Quilt

Hello there! Still under the weather in our casa, but I'm using this indoor time productively: to make progress on my latest baby gift, a quilt using the adorable Sherbet Pips fabric line.

I'm calling this one "Charming Baby Quilt" because it's my first time using a Charm Pack, and this fabric is just too, too cute. I've come up with a super simple pattern, which I can share when the quilt is done if you or our dear readers are interested (let me know in the comments, if you don't mind!).

So far, I've got the quilt top finished! Here it is.


It came together super easy and fast (if you don't count the 3-year-old and 4-month-old doing their best to interrupt my efforts!). I just sewed 4 charm squares together, 9 times.

WIP: Another Baby Quilt

Scrappy Squares Quilt: FINISHED!

It's done! My Scrappy Squares Quilt is FINALLY done!



When I last posted about it, I had found a nice flannel for the back, assembled my layers and begun quilting. The quilting process took quite some time: the quilt was big and bulky, hard to maneuver around my basic sewing machine.

I also didn't make it easy on myself, choosing to quilt 3 squares for each block (1 square on the inside of each block's layer). In order to fit the quilt through my machine, that meant I had to stitch 2 L-shapes per square, then tie the threads together at the corners on the front and back of the quilt. (Does that make sense?) Bottom line: it was time consuming. There is a lot of puckering and it is by no means perfect, but it is DONE!

The next step was to make some bias tape. I had a couple of yards of Alexander Henry's Mocca in red. I love that fabric but it is so bold that I didn't know if I would ever be able to use it in a large project. Since it includes so many colors that are in the quilt's scrappy blocks, I decided to use it for the binding.




I followed a tip I saw on Cluck Cluck Sew a while back and zigzag-stitched the edges of the quilt. This secured all my layers together and made attaching the binding way easier.





As I mentioned in my post about the baby quilt, I also figured out a better way to pin the binding in order to properly stitch in the ditch. It worked much better this time around.




And here it is, finished!




Here's the back:



Here are some more detailed shots. This project has been in the works long enough, it deserves some gratuitous attention!






I'm happy to report the quilt has gotten a lot of use already. I routinely find Cali taking her nap on it. I've snuggled under it for TV-watching and knitting in our brisk fall evenings. And Ben includes it almost every day in his tent-, fort- and boat-building games in the living room. He also used it as a "dance floor" to give us a dancing, singing and juggling performance the other day, he he.

I am so happy to finally have this quilt as part of our regularly used family items!




If you're new to the blog, or simply wanting to revisit the progress on this project, here are some links:
- Just Do It
- Scrappy Squares
- Scrappy and Rainbow
- Progress
- Quilt Top
- More Progress!

Jenny, it is wonderful!  I am so inspired to start a quilt of my own now!  Do you think it's best to start with a small one?

"Welcome Baby" Quilt: Done!

Hi Angel, and happy Monday! As you know since I announced it to all my friends a couple of days ago, my Welcome Baby quilt is done!!! I am so excited and relieved. I feel just a tiny, but significant, bit more ready to have this baby now... Now, to finish the other 150 things on my to-do list...

Here it is:


In my last post about this project, I had just completed my quilt top. Shortly after that, I added my border pieces. I don't necessarily think a border is essential on this type of pattern, but I had cut the fabric for it so I decided to sew it on. I think I goofed on the measurements somewhere in the process again, since some of the blocks on the edge look all uneven in width now. Oy.



I put in a double layer of batting so this quilt would be warm and substantial enough to play on. I backed it with that snuggly flannel, and pinned the whole thing together with safety pins. I quilted straight lines 1/8 inch along both sides of the seams between the squares, both horizontally and vertically. And I quilted 1/8 inch on the inside of the center squares, which was quite tedious. You can see the resulting grid on the back of the quilt, I like it!




Once the quilt was quilted, I made a few yards of bias tape with some Kona Cotton in Chocolate and pinned it along the edges. (Notice on the pic how I had JUST enough flannel for the backing? In some places the selvedge is slightly visible -- but was of course covered up with the binding.)

I then sewed on the binding and that was NOT a fun process. I thought I had mastered this somewhat after making my Baby Stripes quilt for Kristina, but I had a very difficult time getting the stitching-in-the-ditch to catch the opposite side of the binding in the right spot. It was either not enough or too much. So frustrating! (I have since tried another method of pinning the binding and I think I have figured it out!)



And here it is, all done front and back:





After I put the last stitch on that binding, I jubilantly exclaimed "I'm done! The baby quilt is done!". Only crickets in response, so I headed to the living room where I stood between my husband and his football game, holding up my precious project for him to admire. "What do you think?" I asked. "It's nice", he said. "It's very brown". Ah, men.

Yay for finished objects! I'll bet it feels great to get this out of the way. The colors and prints are so "you", and it is very cool that you also learned something new (when you sewed on the binding) along the way!

Were you tempted to throw the quit over the husband's head while hitting him around the face and ears? Or, you could have draped the quilt over the TELEVISION to get his attention. If you can feign interest in sports, he can feign interest in your quilt, dammit! (Love to Mister B., you know I love ya......)

Still working on the video sync issue, but I'll have a video message up for you this week!