Guthrie Wall Hanging

For my Dad's birthday I wanted to do something really cool.  I kept coming back to my maiden name and the family crest idea.  Then I came across this cool tutorial for awesome borders... plus I just figured out how to do applique properly with my Bouncing Baby Boy project and the awesome tutorial I used. ANNNND... paper piecing has gotten easier! Hooray skills coming together. =)

I had to sketch it out first to figure out the size and colors as well as where and what to put everything.

This was used as a rough outline in the end.

Letters that I had to trace on backwards... not fun in this font.

Once I started doing the cut outs of the letters, etc., to applique I realized the original orientation wouldn't work.  Lucky for me, one of the scrap fabrics from the discount bin was the PERFECT size!

I was rather proud at this point... but this is only 1/3 of the way done for the project.

Then I appliued everything on.  The 'G' and the Lion were really hard but I like how they came out.

His tongue looks so cool.  

The circle isn't so... Circular... but I like how it came out. I used red letters for the latin phrase "Sto Pro Veritate" which means I stand for truth. 

The three tartan colors are primarily green with lines of red and blue, so the red latin phrase is outlined in blue thread. Also, the letters that small were hard to embroider. 

I had fun with this one. 

Finally... the hard part... I tried actually quilting some fancy swirls on the corners.  It's hard to see here, because it's wet from be scrubbing off the blue ink, but I used this image from Google.  It's the one that looks like a corner.

This is my first time doing machine quilting. I'm rather proud of how easy it was and how well it came out all things considered.

This side looks a little better... not as wet.

I've used this pre-set border before but I really like it. Although, I should have used one less time/thread consuming...

Finished product. Can't wait to give it to him in a couple weeks!

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Bouncing Baby Boy

Tis the season to have babies, tra la la, la la, la la la la....

But seriously, I'm at the stage of life where all my friends are either getting hitched, making babies, or both. Which is great for them! So to celebrate, I decided to make some baby blankets.

I didn't want to do anything too complex because, after some research, apparently baby blankets aren't but are typically cutesy and cuddly.  Hancock had a sale on fleece, which isn't unusual, so I got enough for four blankets, two of baby blue and two of baby pink.  

I wanted to use a new appliaque process that I saw on Pinterest with circles.  After stewing in my creative juices for a couple months, I used the circles and combined the common phrase "Bouncing baby boy" on the blankets.  

It took a while to make these things... mostly the layout of them as well as cutting all the letters and circles out.

So. Many. Circles. And the batting can be seen here... but not the actual letters which were hiding on another shelf.

See all those letters? Yeah, the original plan I had for ALL those letters I cut out didn't work. ARGGHH. Frustrated that I wasted so much time and materials I walked away from this project for about a month and a half. Eventually, after nursing my crafting pride back to health, I decided to use this tutorial on appliqué to finish at least one for a friend's baby shower.

However, I scrapped the original "bouncing baby" idea because I was running short on time and went for his name instead.  Ended up cutting off some of the white space too. 

Appliquéing all those circles and letters on there took forever.  It's not a small baby blanket... it'll fit the baby until it's a toddler. (Again, it's lying on our pool table... AKA the Quilted items presentation table).  And I used batting so it's super warm.

The Momma's theme was Monsters, Inc so the Monsters U fleece I found was PERFECT.  I also used extra to make it lap over as binding too. 

Of course, it calls for Steam a Seam, which both Joann and Hancock Fabrics didn't in store.  I could only find it online at Wal-Mart or on Amazon.  Annoying. I didn't want to wait! I wanted to do it ... NOW. Figure it out, NOW. Sigh.  I really hate waiting for things.  So instead I found something that does the same thing (and was just as easy and cost much less). 

But I didn't stop there. I also decided to knit some baby booties. 

This isn't the finished product, but they are rather cute. 

These are the finished product... ta-da!

I made two sets for two different little boys. Super easy to knit and it's a free pattern from Bernat... not selling those though. Just for friends!

Thoughts?