Blogger's Quilt Festival: Baby William's Quilt

It's that time again!!!!!!

I had a hard time choosing from all of the quilts I have completed since the Fall Festival HERE.


And I know that I probably will say..oh, I wish I had picked the other one.

Baby William's quilt story won out! 


 My regular followers followed along with me as I struggled to find the most perfect quilt pattern for such a special little boy.


A very good friend of mine contacted me in early January.  A friend's daughter had just found out that their baby was diagnosed with a serious, possibly fatal condition.  For me, it hit home because I know what that journey is like HERE.  She was due any moment, and actually went into labor while I was making it.


A good friend quickly directed me to a great pattern when I hollered for some help HERE.


What do I love about this quilt?

The bright colors.  
The fact that it was made completely by all of my scraps.

The Elephant applique holding momma's heart.

Tutorial for eye stitch HERE

I sure love the blanket stitch and the hand embroidery.


My long arm machine, Ole Betsy was really good to me. 

Loops and some straight lines.

She really made using minky as a backing a breeze!!!

Scrappy binding rolled up in the classic blogger binding shot.

And a special label just for mom.  The quilt was whisked off by my friend straight to mom, who cuddled it when she was home while he was in the NICU.


Sadly, Baby William is an angel now...but her mom is so glad she has the quilt...which reminds me why I love quilting so much.


  The stories.


Linking up with Amy's Creative Side.  Please take some time and check them out. Even if you aren't a quilter, there are some wonderful works of art and amazing stories to go with it.

I am vastly worried that I will be following more blogs than I can read.  But I just can't help it!

Woven and Whipped Spider Webs Tutorial

After finishing and really enjoying the woven spider web hand embroidery technique I used for the eyes on the giraffe and hippo for Baby Connor's quilt,

  I decided it was the best technique for the elephant on Baby William's quilt.  (FULL quilts HERE).

And since I had a few questions about it, I thought I'd share the technique with anyone interested.

Woven Spider Web Embroidery 

 The foundation for this is a bunch of straight stitches.  They look like spokes of a wheel.  I liked five for the eye which when it is finished is approx. 3-4 mm diameter.  Note: The larger your design the more number of spokes you will need.

Make your straight stitches come to the same center point.

I used a second color just for instructional purposes, but you will use the same thread you started with to make the spokes!

You will start weaving the embroidery floss/thread over and under each spoke.  Pull the stitches snugly towards the center.

Keep going over and under, over and under.

It will keep building like this.

You will keep weaving until all the spokes are completely covered.

It will look different depending on how loose or compact you pulled your thread.  

Options: Any type of thread, yarn, or ribbon! 

Uses: Flowers, wheels, circles, and dots.

 

Whipped Spider Web Embroidery

(aka Ribbed or Backstitch Spider Web)

Guess what?  It starts out the SAME way as the Woven Spider Web.  The only difference is that you can do odd or even amount of spokes.  For the purpose of this tutorial, I just did five spokes.

This happens to be a bit more tricky, so I labeled each spoke with a number.  

To begin with, you will see that above you will go UNDER two spokes (1 and 2).

Then (see below) you will "backstitch" over spoke 2, 

then UNDER the next two spokes (2 and 3).

The embroidery floss SHOULD be wrapped around spoke 2 (see arrow above).

After you have gone UNDER spoke 2 and 3, you will "backstitch" over spoke 3.

Under spoke 3 and 4.  Backstitch over spoke 4. 

Under spoke 4 and 5.  Backstitch over spoke 5.

After a few rotations, you will start to see that each spoke will be covered and a nice spider web look in between each spoke.

And like the woven web, you will continue until all of your spokes are completely covered.

Options:  Any type of thread/yarn

Uses:  I contemplated this, but didn't really like it for eyes.  I think it would be better suited for flowers, spider webs, wheels, and of course circles and dots!

Just a reminder,  I used two different colors for instructional purposes, but you should use the same thread throughout!

And if you are wondering, I strictly use embroidery floss, and usually just use the basic DMC brand you can pick up from your local hobby/fabric store!   I have used it for 14 years now, and it hasn't ever bothered me!

Feel free to ask any questions!  Hope this was helpful!

WIP: Finish line!

As always, I make plans and God laughs.

Actually, I don't think he even knows I exist...small potatoes over here...but I sure make Mr. Boss laugh at my "to do" list!

What messed up the plans?  A quilt.  Actually, TWO.  So I really shouldn't complain!

Baby Boy Quilts

Two little boys took center stage on Friday.  To read about them, you are welcome to go Monday's post and find out about their stories.  Very special baby boys!!

Baby William's Elephant Quilt

I was able to fix the cut corner (also in Monday's post).  I think I successfully added a rope embroidery stitch from the elephant's trunk to the heart.  I also removed the button eye. It started to bother me that I might have made a possible choking hazard.  I am still on the fence about it's replacement!

 

And...it made it on Ole Betsy (my long arm machine) yesterday!

 Now to trim the edges and get to work on the binding!  

The biggest challenge?  I dived right in and used soft and cuddly fabric as the backing and everything I read said it would be a challenge...and it was!  Stretchy, stretchy, stretchy.  And my thread would occasionally get caught.

But I followed advice I found on some other blogs that said to just make sure you have a lot of excess fabric.  I am glad I went for it, though, it will be so soft on his skin!

Baby Connor's Giraffe and Hippo Quilt

I finished blanket stitching his name and embroidered eyes that I am really thinking would look good on the elephant now!

*Tutorial for the eyes HERE*


I was too tired to do the binding of William's quilt last night, so I loaded Connor's up on the machine and it is ready to go if I find some time today or tomorrow!

Christmas Quilt

ON HOLD for at least a week.  After I finish the babies' quilts, I am going to pack up for my scrapbook retreat!!!

Organization

Last week I said that I wanted to get three things done...and I did.  I tore out my favorite photos/inspirations and the rest of the catalogs and magazines in the trash.  My photos for the retreat are printed and sorted, and the DVDs are all organized.  I shared it HERE and there is also a really cool link to a right/left brain creativity test that a lot of quilters/sewers in my online sewing group that just loved to take it!

I am not going to pretend I will get much done this following week, so I won't make goals.  I am always too tired to get to business when I return from my three day scrapbook retreats.  And I really don't feel like having my husband NOR God laugh at me again!

I can't believe the retreat is already this weekend. 

WOOHOO!!!!

(and hoping I can get the ladies to let me take some photos of our retreat place and some of the amazing work they do!)

LINKING UP WITH LEE AT FRESHLY PIECED AGAIN!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!!