Quilted Baby Vest

The weather has gotten a lot cooler here in the Bay Area.  I was inspired to make a light little vest for my little one.  I love vests because they go on and off so easily!  I used Quilters Dream Wool batting instead of my usual batting.  I did some research and apparently this light wool can keep you very warm. 

I made this vest with no patterns or instructions!  I am quite proud :) 

I attached a few snaps to the front.  Loving this ABC fabric my husband picked up for me from Japan. 

While I was taking photos of this new vest, I took some good photos of the i-spy quilt to show you again!

 Can you see the quilting?  Looks pretty good to me! 

 I even made a mini version for my little one's doll.  Each square measures 2"x2".

Have a great Halloween, everyone!

Kleenex, Anyone?

I have several Japanese books that are translated to Chinese, which I can read.  One of which, "35 Bag 20 Daily Goods & Interior," has tons of cute things you can make for your house.  I fell in love with the quilted Kleenex box cover and started working on this project years ago.  Not sure why it took me so long, but it's finally completed!  I love all the Japanese taupe fabrics I selected for this.   The hand quilting really makes this piece "pop" and if you only could feel the texture.  Oh I am in love!

The pattern calls for Velcro for the closure on top, but I decided to use snaps instead.

 The other side of the cover.  The red checkerboard print is my favorite. 

Each side also has these flowers.  They were so tiny and difficult to make, but totally worth the time. 

The hardest part of this project was finding the world's smallest Kleenex box!  This is probably the standard size in Japan, but not here!  I ended up purchasing these small Kleenex box from Staples.  Who would have thought!  

Alright sneezing season.  We are ready for you!  Kleenex, anyone?! 

By the way, I stopped by PIQF today, and it was awesome.  I visited my usual booths, but purchased a lot more children related books, patterns, and fabrics.  More on that next time.

Hand Quilted i-Spy Quilt

I mentioned in my previous post that I have been working on an i-spy quilt for my daughter.  This quilt was super fun and easy to put together.  Instead of adding sashing to each block, it was done with the disappearing nine-patch method following "Self-Sashing Disappearing 9-Patch" pattern by "Quilter by Night Designs." 

Grey and pink were the two colors I decided to use, and I think it was a good decision.  I usually spray baste and needle baste my quilts before hand quilting them.  I made the mistake of not thread batting it "enough" this time so it was a bit hard to quilt at times.  I used "Quilters Dream Cotton" 100% pure cotton batting.  It's great to hand quilt with it.  I broke at least ten quilting needles working on this project.  I don't recommend Roxanne's in-between needles.  I also had a hard time with my go-to thimble -- I wonder why?  Does anyone have a good thimble you would recommend?

 Love pigs, so had to use this piggy fabric for the back.

This quilt is all washed, dried and being used by the little one as we speak :)