I'm a Craftster.org Best of 2011 Winner

I'm a Craftster Best of 2011 Winner!  
My octopus amigurumi was chosen as one of the most popular projects on Craftster.org for 2011! Thanks to all of the people who commented on and 'Rocked' my project!

WIP: More Baby Quilt

The top is finished! Yay!

I added the wide panels of blue to each side, then, the narrow purple border. It measures 64.25"x49.25". It should be perfect for snuggling and then for a toddler bed when our peanut gets a little older.

I need to get batting before I can start on the quilting. I plan on doing the free-motion quilting myself. I hope I don't screw it up...I have a lot of hours into this top. I've quilted large panels of fabric on my machine before, though. When I do large panels, I like to set my machine up on my living room floor. That way, the weight of the fabric doesn't pull it away from the needle (if I quilt at my desk, the fabric slips over the sides and can screw up my stitching).

WIP: Quilt For Baby

When I found out that I was expecting, I decided I wanted to make something special for the baby. To me, a quilt says 'I Love You' better than almost anything else. It's warm, cuddly, and a butt-load of work. I went to the fabric store and picked out a bunch of fabrics that I thought would go well together - batiks, all. I love batiks, and I've wanted to make an all-batik quilt ever since I finished my mostly-batik quilt. Here are all of the fabrics:

I was chatting with the lady cutting my fabrics about my intended project, and I mentioned that I'd probably just be doing a simple layout as I'd never before done anything intricate for a quilt top. She said that she thought I'd manage just fine if I decided to do something elaborate. I thought to myself, 'maybe I could use a good challenge.' I went to the library and checked out a few books with quilting patterns. I decided to go with a less-than-traditional pattern by Karla Alexander (from this book: http://www.amazon.com/New-Cuts-Quilts-More-Stack/dp/1564776778). I fell in love with the quilt on the cover, and, luckily, Ms. Alexander shares my love of batiks. The pattern was a near-perfect fit for the fabrics that I had already purchased.

I learned a lot about cutting and piecing through making this pattern (mostly that I'm rubbish at cutting). I also found out how expensive acrylic rulers are...wow! But, they are almost indispensable.

After many, many hours of cutting, shuffling, cutting, sewing, did I mention cutting, and more sewing, I have the quilt top mostly finished. All it's missing is a border to make it a bit wider. I wanted a twin-size quilt...babies outgrow baby-size quilts so quickly, and I had a ton of fabric. Our nursery is blue, and I was going for a water theme for the quilt.

Bonus: I went to another fabric store to get batting and a backing fabric... Well, the store is moving, and while they didn't have any batting left on the shelves, they did have their (limited selection) batiks on sale for half-off! I scored a beautiful print for the back of the quilt at the price of a solid cotton! It's not the same color-way as the front, it's blue and brown and green...more 'river and lakes' than 'tropical beaches.' But, I think that's awesome as it'll be unique from each side. I'll be quilting in royal blue thread with a bubble motif...appropriate for both sides!