Nuanced Neon Mosaic

Rachel over at Stitched in Color has put together another fun mosaic contest, and I thought I'd play along. This time it's all about "Nuanced Neon," and these fun summery colors were calling to me. You can click over to her post to read more and see the other entries.

(Left to right from top) Mini Pearl Bracelets in Watermelon, Biology Structure in Citron, Sun Print Ink in Heather, Remix Dots in Lime, Cotton + Steel Basics Dottie in Bluebird, Sun Print Mercury in Ocean, Cotton + Steel Basics Netorious in Teal, Sun Print Grove in Beet Purple, and Doe Intersections in Gray.

(All pictures and links are from Mad About Patchwork.)

WIP Wednesdays: Lots of triangles

Even though my to-do list is ridiculously long (see below), it feels good to be making progress on several projects. If you've been hanging around, you probably saw the reveal post for my Fancy Fox quilt.

Since I wrapped that one up, I spent this week switching back and forth between my Birch Triangle baby quilt and my mini for the IG Cotton + Steel mini quilt swap. I finished the top of the triangle quilt, and you can see a peek of the backing I think I'm going to use in the pic below. It's big enough to not need piecing, which means I'm all ready to baste this one.

I also made good progress on the C+S mini, though I stalled out when I realized I didn't have enough of my background fabric. So I guess a trip to my LQS is in store, oh darn.

Finally, our little yard is the other WIP right now, and all these beautiful spring blooms were too lovely to not share. Love the colors of the azaleas, dogwoods, magnolia, and peonies.

The neverending (and usually growing) to do list:

Patchwork City sampler quilt
Fancy Fox quilt (STLMQG charity quilt)
Perfect quilted tote (STLMQG charity project tote)
Mini quilt and goodies for the Cotton + Steel mini quilt swap 
Birch Triangle baby quilt
Doll quilt and pouch set
Vintage Quilt Revival sampler project
Hazel Hedgehog quilt
Allie Owl quilt
The Kittens quilt
Wedding quilt
Baby boy quilt
Superhero cape for B
Sorbetto shirt 
Aviatrix Medallion quilt
Swoon quilt
Quilt for guest bed (maybe the Spiced Chai quilt from Vintage Quilt Revival?)
Sunset Tiles quilt (from Scraps Inc.)

T-shirt quilt
Sewing circle tote
Re-cover the downstairs chair

Ironing board cover
Clothing for me! (Washi dress or Sailor Top, anyone?

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Life (not so) lately: A birthday visit

It's time for one more personal update (for now). I turned 32 the weekend after Easter (that still looks weird as I type it), and we had a pretty chill weekend. I got to enjoy some extra daytime sewing time, we checked out the local sculpture park, and Matt made my favorite meal (fajitas, chips and guac, and margaritas) for dinner, which we enjoyed out on the back patio. Other than dealing with a terrible allergy attack because I forgot to take my meds that morning, it was quite lovely.

We'd had grandparents here for Easter, so when my mom asked about coming for a visit, we asked her to come the weekend after my birthday so B wasn't overwhelmed with visitors two weekends in a row. The plan worked out great because it meant I actually got two birthday weekends, as we took advantage of our free babysitter to have a nice dinner out.

B started soccer lessons the week before, so we spent Saturday morning rooting for him. What a cutie!

Then, we headed to the botanical gardens. The weather was a bit cool, but we wanted to see the start of the spring blooms, and the tulips did not disappoint.

It was raining on Sunday, so we decided to take B bowling. We'd tried it once before, but it had been quite a while, so it seemed like the time was right. He loved it. We used bumpers, of course, which might have helped everyone's scores. ;)

I love how they're hunched over the same way in the pic on the right.

Tiny toddler bowling shoes!

Feeling the wind in his hair (on the left)

We ended the day with some delicious custard from our new favorite place (they make the ice cream to order right in front of you using liquid nitrogen, which sounds super trendy and gimmicky, but it's SO good!). You can't do much better than that.

 

Fancy Fox quilt: A finish!

Here it is, Fancy Fox!

This quilt has been on my to-do list for so long, since before I made the mini fox quilts last summer. I decided the best way to tackle it sometime soon was to make it easier on myself and use the large fox blocks (these finish at 20" x 24"), which meant I could make a child-size quilt with just four blocks. This quilt came together so fast!

For the fox faces, I used four Carolyn Friedlander prints (Architextures Crosshatch in cadet and tangerine, Botanics Graph Paper Garden in blue, and Doe Droplet in carrot). I loved the blue and orange color scheme, and I didn't want the prints to read too childish. The background is Essex Yarn Dyed in Chambray. Its light blue color works so well with the fox fabrics and adds just a little something different. I used a navy dot from my stash (an old Michael Miller, maybe?) for the binding, and I pieced the backing using several more blue and orange fabrics from my stash. I quilted it in wavy, organic lines using white thread.

This quilt is part of one of the STLMQG's charity projects this year, which will be donating quilts to Project Linus. I know they are often short on quilts for boys and older kids, so I'm hoping this will help to fill one or both of those needs. I love our cute little guild labels.

I might just have to make another one of these in a few months. Perhaps try out the gigantic block for a bigger quilt?