Around The World Blog Hop

Alli at B. Yazoo tagged me! I met Alli through this blog space and love everything she creates. She is like the Jack of all trades. She can sew, she can knit, and she makes the cutest things for her family and kiddo. Take a look at this doll she made, shorts (!!!) for herself, and the cutest kid garments.  I can never imagine sewing shorts for myself. That would be scary...

What am I working on?
I participated in a swap in 2012 and got tons of 5" x 5" novelty prints to make an I-Spy quilt. I didn't really know what an I-Spy quilt was, so I put aside this stack of fabrics. With baby A, I decided to dig out my stash and make an I-Spy quilt for her.

Look at these prints!  No duplicate. 

I decided to sash this quilt using grey and pink. 

I was tempted to have this quilt completed by "professionals," but decided to hand quilt it instead. I am about 50% done hand quilting this. I am keeping this quilt simple with diagonal lines across the top. 

How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

This is a really good question, and I think about it often. I conclude that I am a blend of modern and traditional.  I love the history behind traditional quilts and the bright colors of the modern world. I love being "stuck" in this unique space.

Take this, as an example, I love the traditional/ugly look of this scrappy quilt: 

                                        

Kit from Kathleen Tracy's civil war mini quilts, which I blogged about here. 

Then, I also really love the bright colors of this mini quilt:

                            

Why do I create what I do? 

I love the process of creation. I enjoy being able to make things with my hands that are one of a kind. It also doesn't hurt that I have cute things all over my house!  

                               

Mug rug for olive oil bottle I made for a friend.  Blogged here. 

How does my creation process work? 

This depends -- sometimes there is a need for something, but often times I just get inspired by others. I usually start with one fabric and another... they just go together and before I know it, I have an idea on how to put everything together. It's really just trial and error! 

Now I am going to tag three more people:

Marisa @ Quilt Otaku: Marisa quilts and knits. She is an amazing quilter and does everything by hand. She has the most wonderful stitches and is a certified quilt appraiser. Marisa is super into Japanese quilting. Check out her beautiful stitches, this tiny gnome she made, and a darling baby quilt she hand quilted. Oh and did I mention she spins too!? 

Kristen @ Knitionary: In addition to knitting alluring garments, Kristen has an amazing garden and hosts glamorous parties. You ought to check out her blog. She is a Rowan ambassador; you can read about her Rowan Ambassador trip in Yorkshire here. 

Karen @ Short Story Long: I met Karen at Stitches West one year and love looking at her photos.  They are just so gorgeous and real. She knits hat, mittens, socks, shawls, anything!  You name it.  

Thanks for visiting my blog and letting me participate in this blog hop! 

Baby Cardigan

I fell in love with the Wee Cardi by Big Bad Wool earlier this year at Stitches West.  I purchased the pattern and three skeins of Weepaca yarn.  This yarn is 50% merino/50% baby alpaca and machine washable.  This cardigan was so easy to make and the yarn was so soft to work with!  I finished this project in under a week.  If you choose to make this project, please make sure you review the errata for the raglan decrease.  I made the 12-month size (the largest avaialable) with six button holes, but think five would have been better.  I mean who wants to button your kid running all over the place six times?!

 How adorable is this cardigan!? 

And it fits her perfectly with some room to grow!

Tiny, Little Hexagons

Back in the days when I had a lot more "free" time, I worked on these tiny little hexagons.  They are only 3/8" -- that's pretty small.  I had enough for a small wall hanging and that's fine by me.  No way was I going to make a large quilt out of this!

The quilt was too small for me to attach onto a quilting hoop so I added some scrap fabric to all four sides temporarily.

Enlarging my quilt was a great idea -- I will try this again in the future. 

Each hexagon is smaller than a penny!

I hand quilted this piece and absolutely love the way it came out. 

These were made with 30s fabrics that I purchased from PIQF last year.  They are one inch strips, which were perfect for this tiny project.  I have more ideas on how to use these one inch strips!