Central Park Squares Baby Quilt

There's a new baby in my world...

one of my friends has waited for a very long time

for the safe arrival of little Samuel.

I just had to make a quilt for this special little boy!

{ALL babies are very special, but Samuel is truly a miracle.}

Samuel's nursery is filled with animals,

so I started with an animal print

from Kate Spain's Central Park line for Moda.

I found most of these coordinating fabrics at Rose Room Quilts.

I had recently stocked up on polka dots,

and they were fun to use in this quilt.

I love the Ta Dots in Sea...

 the small cream dot in orange from Riley Blake...

and the solid olive green.

My favorite print, though,

was the Random Pencil Check in Linen,
which I used instead of a plain background solid.

I labored {hee hee} over what pattern or design to use,

and in the end, I decided to use colorful squares,

set off by the neutral pencil-check blocks.

Before I knew it, I was ready for the quilting step.

I kept the quilting very simple, 
just stitching 1/4" on each side of the seams.

{I wanted to give this quilt to baby Samuel before he is ready for kindergarten.}

This quilting looks so cool on the back, too!

For the binding,

I chose those happy orange polka dots.

I finished the binding by hand-stitching,

and that is a process I really enjoy.

{Do you like that part, too?}

So there we have it...

just 5 different fabrics, made into a finished quilt, 

ready for a bundle of joy!

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Signature Pillow

If I could sew whatever I wanted to sew, what would I make?

This is my favorite question to ask myself!
So often, I'm making a project for someone or for some reason.

There was the Zakka Style Sew Along...

And there were gifts to be made...

And orders for custom sewing.

All of those are great reasons for sewing, right?

I just LOVE it when someone asks me to make something special, 

just for them! 

{You betcha!}

But, what if I could make something special, just for me?

What if I could sew something

that says "Hi, I'm Amy, and I made that!"

What, exactly, would I choose to make???

{I think I've just solved my identity crisis, while making a pillow!}

The colors are turquoise and lime...

Bits of Paula Prass's Flights of Fancy, Sis Boom's Pretty Please, and Patty Young's Flora and Fauna

the prints include lots of polka dots...

the quilting is modern...

and the textures are smooth, mixed with stitchy and cushy.
When it was done, I knew it was MINE!

Here's how it all came together:
I've been admiring the Lone Starburst
paper pieced block by Six White Horses for quite a while.

{Anna has been so generous, offering a free templates for this awesome block!}

Lone Starburst block by Six White Horses

I've "favorited" a whole bunch of them on Flickr.
Finally, when I saw Cindy's Terrain star, I knew it was time to give it a try!

{I love every version of this block I've ever seen!}

Lone Starburst by Adventures of the Singing Quilter - Cindy

I got busy with my own block...ahem...for a few hours...

and eventually
I finished 8 of the sections, each with 8 pieces of fabric.
Keep the seam ripper close, people!

{It's just a good thing I don't swear on a regular basis, 
because some bad words threatened to pop out more than a few times.  
Mothers: work in private on this block!}

Next I auditioned some borders...and the Ta Dots by Michael Miller
won the beauty contest.

{The runners-up were featured on the back...lime Mints from Paula Prass's Summer Soiree, paired with Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market print.}

Once my borders were added, I fused the back of my entire block
with Pellon 987F fusible fleece, then added a backing of muslin.  
This gave me a really smooth finish for the pillow top, 
and it was so easy to sew all the straight lines
with my walking foot.

For the back of the pillow,
I used Pellon ShapeFlex 101 fusible interfacing, to add some body
to the quilting cotton.  Perfect!!!
I used a decorative flap to hide the zipper closure.

 {A little peek under there...cool,huh?}

I stitched it all together,
and it was like magic to reveal the finished pillow!

I hope someday that people who know eamylove

will be able to look at what I made and know,

"Amy Made That!"

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