The thunderstorm quilts

We live in the Southeastern United States where strong thunderstorms are a common occurrence in the Summer.  Unfortunately, my children have always been very afraid of the storms, and we have spent many nights huddled together in living room during the storms.  When my children realize that there is a thunderstorm, there is a chaotic rush to gather up all of their pillows, blankets, and beloved stuffed animals and make their way downstairs.  In an effort to lessen the chaos, I thought it would be a good idea to create a thunderstorm basket filled with quilts, stuffed animals, card games, flashlights, etc to be kept in the living room in the event of a storm.

I set out to create quilts for them that would give them a sense of comfort and distract them from the storm.  I also used fabrics for the quilt top that I hoped would inspire conversation during the storm. I thought that all of the cute images in Sarah Jane's Children at Play fabrics and Munki Munki fabrics would be a great inspiration for conversation.

Last night I paper pieced a girl that is to represent my middle daughter for the back of her thunderstorm quilt.  Since I am making thunderstorm quilts for each of my children, I wanted to do something to personalize each of their quilts.  I taught myself how to paper piece by following some tutorials on You Tube, so I may or may not be doing it the proper way.  Nonetheless, I like the results I was able to achieve.  I have been inspired by all of the amazing paper pieced items that I have been seeing on Flickr.  I really like paper piecing because I feel like you can create something very unique.  I have so many ideas floating around in my head for future paper pieced projects.
I was going to make this girl a test run, but I am happy with the results so I think I will use this block.  Plus it is very time intensive, so the idea of a test run is kind of a waste.  I did not have any solid yellow for her blonde hair, so I used some Joel Dewberry Heirloom Blockprint Blossom fabric scraps from my Swoon quilt.  I like the accidental highlights that the white in the printed fabric gave her hair.  My middle daughter has a lot of natural highlights in her hair, so it is cool that I achieved that look unintentionally.

This afternoon I plan on making a paper pieced boy for my son.  I hope all goes well, and that I do not need to use my seam ripper often.

Making Progress and Some Fun Mail

I am really enjoying sewing the quilt that I am making for my son.  My excitement grows with each block that I complete. He seems very excited about it as well.  Over the weekend, he checked in on me every so often and asked to see the completed blocks.   I think he is very happy that I am sewing for him this time.  I do a lot more sewing for my girls because it is not as easy to find things to make for boys...especially once they are school aged.  I have made him quite a few Oliver and S, PJ pants, and I made him a really cool, Euro sham that I am really proud of...I will save that for another post.  Other than those projects, I really haven't made many things for him, so I think he is very excited about this quilt.

The quilt pattern that I am following is comprised of 42 blocks, however I need to increase the size in order to make it a twin size quilt.  I may add a border or I may add more blocks in order to achieve a larger size.  I haven't decided yet.  I have already completed 20 blocks, so I am almost halfway there. I really like the pattern that I am following.  I am already thinking about other fabric combinations that I could use to make this quilt again. The added bonus is that the pattern is free.

My trips to the mailbox have become increasingly more exciting ever since I discovered Etsy a couple of years back.  This past week I received some more Munki Munki fabrics to add to my ever growing Heather Ross fabric stash.  I am planning on making a "thunderstorm quilt" for both of my kids using primarily Heather Ross/Munki Munki fabrics.  Both of my school aged kids are terrified of thunderstorms, which are very frequent where we live.  During the summer, the kids and my husband and I spend many nights huddled together sleeping on our living room floor.  I thought it might be nice for them to have their own "thunderstorm quilts" that we could keep downstairs, so that we do not have to bring all of their blankets from their beds downstairs.  When I told my kids that I was going to make these quilts for them, my son thought that it would be a good idea for us to have a "thunderstorm kit" complete with stuffed animals, flashlights, and the quilts.   When the quilts are complete, we will put them in the kit and maybe the quilt will help alleviate some of my children's fears about thunderstorms. 

Today was another good mailbox day.  I received my free swatch from Spoonflower.  Wow, that was quick!  I chose a cute little rain themed fabric for the kids "thunderstorm quilt".  These 8x8 swatches are a very cost effective way to build your Spoonflower stash...I will definitely be ordering some more in the near future.

A Special Quilt for My Son

The Pottery Barn Kid's quilt that I purchased for my son's "big boy" room needs to be replaced.  Mr. B's nursery was a nautical theme.  When he moved out of the crib into his "big boy bed", I continued the same nautical theme by purchasing him a sailboat quilt and matching bedding from Pottery Barn Kids.  Not only is the quilt showing signs of wear, but I think at the mature age of eight, Mr. B has outgrown his sailboat quilt.

Ever since I began quilting just a couple of months ago, I have found myself searching other quilting blogs and Flickr quilt pools for ideas.  I have been overwhelmed by all of the cool inspiration for quilts that the Internet provides.  I am amazed by all of the wonderful quilts that others have created.  When I decided to make this quilt, choosing one quilting pattern out of the multitude of amazing quilt patterns that I have come across was a difficult decision.  The final decision came down to a simple block pattern versus a more modern, square in square pattern.  I have decided to make the square in square pattern quilt because I think it will add a more modern feel to the very traditional, shirting fabrics that I am using.  I loved the beautiful, square in square quilt that I saw on Fresh Lemon's blog, and I am following the wonderful, free tutorial on her blog to make my quilt. http://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/?p=561

Finding good fabric choices for an eight year old boy has proven to be a challenge.  When I  came across some quilts made from Men's upcycled, dress shirts, I decided that shirting fabrics would be the perfect choice for a quilt for my son.  I wanted to choose fabrics that would not seem too juvenile as he gets older.  Several of the fabrics that I am using are upcycled, oxford shirts from my husband and son's closets.  However, the majority of the fabrics are Pima cotton fabrics that I purchased specifically for this project.  Mr. B helped me choose the fabrics from the store yesterday, and I have to say that I think we made some really good choices. 

I wanted the quilt to be primarily composed of blue fabrics with a few smatterings of reds in some of the smaller squares in the quilt.  I recently purchased a new lamp and curtains from Pottery Barn for him that I like, so it was important to match those existing items.  I am really excited about this quilt.  Thankfully, my wonderful husband is helping me by cutting the pieces as I write this post.