Fresh Squeezed Summer

I don't know about you, but I love fall. It was here for about a week, but then we went back to the warmer weather. It did allow me to take the kids to the green belt close to my home with my newly finished quilt and spend a lazy afternoon. And they needed to get out of the house and burn off some energy.

 Truth be told I really would not have finished this quilt if I did not have the birthday that I really wanted to get quilted. This one sat on the frame forever it seemed like! But it is done and that makes me happy!

 This is a huge quilt, and presented a few problems when I was trying to fit it onto the frame to quilt. I had to leave about a foot and a half off the frame and quilt it later because it just did not fit. It did cause a little rippling on the back, but thank goodness after washing it is barely noticeable.

 Isn't this just perfect for a lazy summer afternoon - or almost fall afternoon?

 And here I am with my glorious boot - which I just got back from the Dr. and I am in the clear to start running again. I am supposed to ease into it, which will be hard for me.

 I quilted it in a simple all over pattern, because it was already pretty busy with these bright colors.

 I love the teal blue on the back - it is seriously one of my favorite colors right now.

I hope that you have the opportunity to get out and enjoy those last few days of summer weather- or however long depending on where you live. But I am excited for fall!

Sneak Peak

 Just so you all know, I am alive and well, I just don't have much time for blogging lately. Conan's schedule has changed, which mean change for everyone, so we are still trying to get into a groove.

But I have been sewing like crazy! Thing #5 had a birthday this week and so I was trying to get this project done before that special day. I did, but I have not taken all the photos to post on here, so you get just a sneak peak of it.

This is a top of the quilt I am making. I have a lot of quilts but I wanted something special for my kids when it is their birthday. I saw the pattern for this quilt (it used christmas fabric - but I did not need another christmas quilt) I instantly thought that this would be super cute as a birthday quilt. I got the fabric a couple of months ago and have been working on it here and there.

When the kids went back to school I suddenly had the desire to get this quilt done. I tried to stick to bright cheery fabrics and not a lot of flowers - since boys make up the majority of our house here, but there was a few I just could not resist!

I also decided that a birthday banner would be in store for some of the scraps from the quilt - so we are all matchy-matchy! ;)

I really busted this out earlier this week, and now it has not left Thing #5's bed - which I love. And I love how the other kids cannot wait until their birthday so that they can sleep with it. I kind of made a few rules for the quilt. They are:
-you can sleep with the quilt the night before your birthday
-you get to open presents on the quilt, and everyone else has to stay off - I don't know about you, but everyone seems to want to help the little ones open their presents.
-you can sleep with it a couple days after your birthday - I did this because I figured I would let them use it until I am ready to wash, and then just put it away for the next birthday.

I love to celebrate birthdays at my house. Do you have any fun birthday celebrations or traditions that you do for your family?

Butterfly Quilt Pattern

I don't know what is up, it seems lately that I have no time to do everything that I want to. The kids are back in school, I should have a little bit more free time, but for some reason I do not. I have been crafting and sewing - wait until you see my next quilt, I love it! But I have no time to blog about any of it. But today I have a free pattern for all of you! Yippee!!

 Do you remember about a month ago I finished up this beautiful butterfly quilt? Well I am finally getting around to posting the pattern for it! I do not know how to make a PDF pattern, so this is what you get, sorry. (If someone knows and wants to share with me how to do this I would love it! )

BUTTERFLY QUILT approx. 60 X 70

3 yds white fabric for background
2 charm packs of 42 charms each
5 yds backing
3/4 yds binding


Cut your white fabric into 10 - 10 inch strips. Sub cut those strips into 42 - 10 inch squares.

Draw a line from corner to corner on wrong side of each charm pack square.

Take one charm and one white square. Place charm on corner, wrong sides together and sew on the line you drew.

Repeat with alternating corner.

Repeat with all white squares.

Trim excess fabric and press the corners open.

Lay quilt out so that colored triangles touch corners - making your butterflies. Arrange it so that no two fabrics are next to each other. You will do 6 squares across and 7 squares down.

Sew together row by row and then sew the rows together - pressing as you go.

Piece backing so that it covers entire quilt.

Quilt as desired.

Cut binding into 2 1/2 inch strips and sew together. Bind edges of quilt as desired, machine or hand.

Add buttons to the center of the butterflies.

Wash and dry and enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: This is the first time I have ever written up a quilt pattern, so I apologize if there are any errors - because I am sure there are. I am not that good at following patterns I just seem to take the base of it and go from there. Please email me with any questions or anything about this.

I really hope you enjoy your quilt!