Fairy Tale Quilt

Too many things to blog about, too little time. That really sums up how I feel right now as time with two hands free is so hard to come by. I've got a purse pattern in the works (ack, why can't I do that faster??), a new dress for Mexico I want to show you, a baby quilt that's almost finished, and then the other day in a moment of inspiration/insanity at Fields in Holland (Michigan), I bought swim material. For a swimsuit. For me. Yes friends I have completely lost it.

And I wish so badly that these pictures weren't so grainy, but I'm just going to barrel ahead with this post anyway and not obsess about it. HURRAH HURRAH I am finally finally finished with Elliot's fairy tale quilt!!!

I figure I have about six more months before he decides he'd rather have Star Wars sheets (overheard during book reading: "Wuke faw in Jabba's twap!") than his mama's choice in bedspreads, so I'm glad I got this finished now. Not to mention how excited I am to have the real estate free in my sewing closet. Boy howdy.

He loves the fairy tale pictures (Gingerbread Man, Wizard of Oz, and Jack and the Beanstalk) and has been pointing to the various figures and animals and talking about them.

It was started last year (I posted a preview pic here, those Rocket PJ's still fit him by the way) with Superbuzzy fabric that was ordered maybe a year before that, so unfortunately as far as I know you really can't get any of this fabric anymore. The checks are Moda and the stripes are old IKEA fabric.

The pattern for this came from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing, which my dear friend Giedra also used to make a quilt for her toddler as well. I totally stole the idea from her, so now we both have BTRS quilts for our toddlers. You can see a preview of hers here, it's so cute with owls and turquoise...and we were just talking about these the other day, which is what motivated me to finally finish. So thanks, G!

Mine's slightly different than the book pattern in that I added 12" of chenille to the edges. This really explains in a nutshell why it sat in my closet for so long. The chenille was kindof a nightmare to work with, compounded by the fact that all of the fairy tale fabrics are mid-weight canvas (that's why you've seen them here and here before), making this a puckery disaster. I salvaged it...but NEVER AGAIN I TELL YOU. Just learn from my mistakes, will you? Use quilting cotton for quilts. And nothing else.

Oh and I also wanted to show off a closeup of the vintage Irmi lamp that I refurbed (cleaned up, retouched paint, rewired) and now lives in E's room:

The ferris wheel winds up and plays "Somewhere over the Rainbow." I love it.