WIP Wednesday #41 (and I need your help!)

Hello again, Wednesday. I have a few things to show. Step right this way... 

Completed:
Last week, I showed you two sneak peeks of projects I was just starting that also happened to be gifts I couldn't reveal until this week. The first was a set of doll quilts for the daughters (one toddler and one on the way in September) of my friend Rachel.

You can read all about them in this post, and look for a tutorial coming soon right here!

The other secret gift was a mug rug for our nanny, who just finished her last week with us after being with us for almost a year. I wanted to give her a little something to remember us by at her new job.

You can read more about the mug rug in this post.

In progress:
Yet another secret gift: this one's another mug rug. I finished it Monday night, but I'm afraid I made a big mistake with the binding. My initial thought was that it would be fun to pull out the little bit of pink from the flowers, but now that the binding's on, I'm not sure it works very well (not to mention that I really should have made the binding a bit thinner).

So now I really need your help. What should I do? Stick with the pink or maybe one of these options?

Option 1: Navy 1

Option 2: Navy 2

Option 3: Aqua

Ugh, I'm dreading the thought of pulling out all of that binding. Thank goodness it's only a mug rug.

Other "in progress" projects on which I didn't make any progress this week (boo):
T-shirt quilt 
Quilt for the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild's Ohio Star Challenge quilt challenge
Kitchen Window quilt

On the "to do" list: 

Re-covering the downstairs chair

New pillows for the downstairs chairs
Christmas table runner
iPod workout strap
A mug rug for me
Ironing board cover
Another divided basket from the Noodlehead pattern 
Reusable snack bags
Living room quilt
Small zipper bag for me
Baby gifts

This week, I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced!

Summer fun series: The Magic House

Up next in the Summer Fun photo series is The Magic House, the St. Louis children's museum. It's a fabulous place, and we're so happy that we decided to get a membership there this year. B has been many times, but unfortunately I haven't taken nearly enough pictures, mainly because we're usually having too much fun chasing him around.

But don't worry, there's still plenty to enjoy. :)

B's favorite part might just be the outdoor creek area. Really, any water feature (save a real pool, unfortunately) has been B's favorite outdoor play thing this summer.

But let's not forget the fun to be had at the indoor water table. I love the little aprons they have to keep the kids dry, especially because they're huge on B.

Back to the creek! And this time, there are ducks! Oh, Magic House, you rock.

Have a cup, stay awhile

Last week was our last week with our wonderful nanny, who had been with us for almost a year. It's crazy to think how much time she'd spent with B and how he's changed in that time (he was about 10 months old when she started and is now almost 21 months).

Before she left, I wanted to make her a little something to remember us. She's going off to be a school therapist, so a mug rug for her school desk seemed appropriate.

I knew I wanted to incorporate one of my fox fabrics as a nod to B (whose middle name is Fox). The fussy cut print is Foxy Too, a personal favorite (and previously seen in other projects for B here and here).

I built out from there into an offset log cabin, following this great tutorial from Stitching by Starlight. I wanted to pull out the aqua and red from the fox print, but I didn't want to go too crazy with the colors (as Natalie's a big fan of the neutrals), so I incorporated a lot of grays, too. It was really fun to pull so many fabrics from my stash.

For the back, I strayed from the tutorial because I wanted to incorporate this great coffee print that worked so well with the mug rug idea and color scheme. This scrap was left over from the apron I made for my sister a few years ago (the print is Robert Kaufman Metro Kitchen Coffee Cups in White, but good luck finding it).

Above the coffee cups, I combined 1" strips of several of the fabrics from the front and then finished off the end with some Remix Ovals in Aqua.

For the quilting, I couldn't resist doing the diagonal straight line quilting again (because that's my modus operandi this week, apparently). I used white thread to help it blend in.

I used a gray and white chevron (from Barbara Jones's Cruzin' collection, previously used on the back of the Les Amis quilt) for the binding, and I love how it turned out. I wish I had more of this one left because I think it works great as a binding and would make the perfect impact on a big quilt — interesting but not too crazy.

I wrapped it up using a little red and white butcher's twine. Here's to coffee, cookies, and wonderful nannies that we'll never forget. We love you, Natalie!

Going small

This week, I finished up a gift for my wonderful friend Rachel, who's expecting her second little girl in September.

Her first little lady, Lucy, was the recipient of one of the first quilts I ever made, but I knew Rachel had already made a quilt for Sophie, so I decided to go a slightly different route.

I also figured with this being her second girl, she already had all the bibs, burp cloths, receiving blankets, etc. she could possibly want, so I focused on something for the girls instead.

The end result: two precious doll quilts for Lucy and Sophie. Of course, it'll be a while before Sophie will use hers, but I thought it would be fun for the sisters to have something they could play with together.

Lucy's doll quilt started with the same pink, orange, and yellow madras print that I used for the backing of her baby quilt. I matched it up with two cute pink and orange prints from my stash (Ooling in Fuchsia and Oval Elements in Papaya).

I broke it up a bit with some Kona White, and I quilted it with matching pink thread. I love how the thread shows up in the white sections.

I also used the madras print for the backing and binding, which I think pulls it all together nicely. Since it was a just a little doll quilt, I decided to try out Rae's cheater binding method, and it worked perfectly. As you can see above, the only real drawback is that the quilting extends past the binding stitching on the back of the quilt, but this seems really minor on a project like this.

I quilted it using straight lines in diagonals about 1.5 inches apart. So simple, but I love the way it looks.

Sophie's quilt shared the same design and similar colors, but I went with a pink, orange, and blue madras print and two different pink and orange prints (Ring Toss in Fuschia and Full Moon Polka Dot in Tangerine).

Interestingly, I originally bought the orange dot to use as the backing of Lucy's baby quilt, but when it arrived, it turned out to be more peach than orange and didn't work with the other oranges in the quilt. So it's been sitting in my stash ever since, just waiting for its chance to shine.

This one was also quilted with pink thread (a darker fuschia) in diagonal, straight lines and backed and bound with the madras using Rae's tutorial.

I created the design for the quilts, but it was heavily inspired by Cluck Cluck Sew's Strip and Flip Baby Quilt tutorial (I still really want to make this quilt someday) and Bijou Lovely's Modern Baby Quilt. (And in case you're interested, I'm hoping to get a quick tutorial up for this doll quilt very soon you can find a tutorial for the quilt right here!)

I particularly love how the madras worked as the binding on this one. The big, graphic stripes really stood out, and I love the pop of blue.

I mailed them off to Rachel this week, and now that they're safely in her possession, I'm so happy to show them off. They're so bright and fun, and I really hope the girls have a lot of fun with them.

Two sweet blankets for two precious sisters.