Bloggers Quilt Festival - Spring 2010

With a few nudges from (virtual) friends I have decided to join in the Bloggers Quilt Festival fun at the very last second.

This is the quilt I recently made for my son, Ray.  I gave it to him on his 2nd birthday and he loves it (and all things elephants!).

This quilt is special to me for several reasons.  Obviously, the occasion of Rays birthday and his love for elephants makes it special.  Another thing that stands out in my mind is that this is really the first quilt that I "designed".  Even though it is simple, I drew out several sketches on scrap paper of what I would like the quilt to look like (playful, toddler-ish, a little bit modern, not too babyish).  I also calculated how much fabric I would need, found the perfect elephant to use as an applique template, etc.  I'm happy with the way it turned out and I know that my little guy is too (he's sleeping under it right now)!

Ray is 2!

Yesterday, was our little guys birthday!  Here are some highlights:

He sang "Happy Birthday" to himself and blew out the candles in one try!:

I'm pretty sure he loves his elephant birthday quilt:

Sam and Daddy made him this cool Birthday sign.  Sam even wrote, "Ray" on it!

We had a great day hanging out with family and celebrating Ray! 

Hard to believe this was already two years ago:

WIP Challenge (Week 6)

Every Tuesday for the past few weeks I have been showing my WIPs (Works in progress).  Here is what I have done this past week:

FINISHED Ray's Birthday quilt!  I decided on some blue on blue polka dots that I had in my stash for the binding.

Finally sewed together all the 5in squares for an "I Spy" quilt.  I plan to add a border or two to finish off the top.

Cut up fabric for the Dresden Plate party (this was not on my original to do list) and sewed one together.

I also wrote a guest post with a craft tutorial for My Four Monkeys that will be posted tomorrow (along with my 300th post)!

There are more photos on my Flickr stream (see side bar) if you are interested.

Link up or leave comments with your WIP!

** Edit:  How did I collect all those novelty fabrics for the I Spy Quilt?  1) A generous stranger on Flickr sent me a large mailer envelope full of them!  2) I did this swap which is still going on: http://fabricstashclub.com/page.php?page=swap

WIP Challenge (Week 5)

This was a short week for me since my husband and I were off celebrating our 5 year anniversary all weekend.  I did manage to get the Elephant quilt quilted.

What have you gotten done this week?

I also shared this quilt progress here, where another one of my projects is featured!

WIP Challenge (Week 4)

This week I made some headway on Ray's 2nd birthday quilt.  Just like last week, pictures are worth a thousand words.

Appliqued elephants.   Played with layout.  Started quilting.  I am using straight line quilting for this one.

If you would like to link up on my WIP challenge you can do so below!  If you don't have a blog you can share what you have been up to in the comments.

Want to see what I have been up to the past few weeks?  Check out these posts:
WIP Challenge Week 1
WIP Challenge Week 2
WIP Challenge Week 3

Sharing here.

Elephants on Parade Quilt (Part 1)

Me and my box of 96 Crayolas got crafty tonight in hopes of an elephant quilt for Ray.  Here is what I have come up with so far.  An early birthday present for little man is in the works...