Lucky Stars Blocks, January - March

Hello! How's everyone doing with their Lucky Stars BOM? Falling behind? Tsk, tsk! I kid. I'm actually behind, too. I had planned to do both the 12" and the 6" versions, but I haven't even printed out my 12" templates yep (well, I tried, but then my printer ran out of toner...) Don't worry. It's only March, so it shouldn't take that long to catch up, right? Anyway, since I only started blogging in the month of March, I have all my mini 6" blocks to share today.

Holy crap - making those seams match up isn't easy! I LOVE paper piecing and I'm not new at it, but as you can see, my blocks aren't perfect. A year ago I probably would have ripped them out, but now I go by two mottos: "close enough is good enough" (borrowed from Angela Walters) and "finished is better than perfect".

I have no idea what I'm going to do with these mini blocks. I plan to make the 12" ones using s fat quarter bundle of Kona cotton solids in the Slate Rock colourway (which will go to my dad to match the denim quilt my aunt gave him years ago). Or maybe I'll just hold on to them, and create an 'orphan block' quilt some months or years down the line.

Linking up with Lee from Freshly Pieced!

Keep on crafting, ladies!

Bree

I'm Hoping for Some April Showers, Because it's Still the Middle of Winter Here

Hello out there, blogging abyss! I don't know where you are, but if it's the midwest or even, like me, eastern Canada, you know you haven't seen this much snow in years. It isn't all bad though, of course I've used those bonus snow days to SEW! But I am ready for some warmer weather. There's an ice cream shop opening up across the street from us (and I do mean literally right outside our front door), and I can't wait to get some peanut butter chocolate ice cream and sit in the park and enjoy the summertime!

But in the meantime, what's a girl to do? I think we all know the answer to that. What am I working on today, you ask? Well, let me just show you the goodies I have in front of me...

Yes! That is some gorgeous April Showers fabric. If you haven't snatched this stuff up yet, I suggest you do so! This lovely fabric line is by Bonnie and Camille, and has got to be my favourite since Happy Go Lucky (who am I kidding... this might be my all time favourite!) I actually have some more of this line on it's way. I just couldn't resist. Also, I highly recommend Camille Roskelley's Craftsy classes, Pre-Cut Piecing Made Simple and Playful Piecing Techniques. These are great classes for beginners, since Camille walks you through the steps of making each of the quilt patterns.

Anyway! What am I doing with this lovely fabric? Drumroll please... jelly roll race! Yes! Jelly rolls are my favourite pre-cuts. Seriously. I think they're extremely versatile, and they're a great, affordable way to get all the fabrics from a line you really love. More info and a great video tutorial on the jelly roll race can be found in this video from the Missouri Star Quilt Company:

Ready, set, go!

Chain piecing the strips together...

Still chain piecing those strips together... phew! Done!

Now time for cutting. I cut my first strip at 56", because I wanted to have a quilt that was going to be as square as possible while creating as little waste as possible.

This is what it looked like after I finished cutting all those strips to the same length and sewing them together.

That's it for today! I think I'm going to add a couple borders to this, but I'm still waiting for the rest of my April Showers yardage to arrive. I'm debating how I'm going to quilt this, but I know it's going to get a lot of use so it's going to be a simple, allover design for sure.

Catch you later, and keep on crafting!

Bree

Two Finishes! One Old, One New

Hello again, quilty people. It's still winter. It's still cold. So I guess it's good that I have not one but two quilty finishes to share today, because I'll be needing a lot of quilts to stay warm. I'm actually cheating a bit, because one of these finishes was completed last summer - but I haven't blogged about it, so it still counts, right? I'm tossing these both into one post because they're both Happy Quilting QAL quilts. If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about (who am I kidding, of course you are), Melissa has hosted several super fun and creative quilt-alongs at her blog, Happy Quilting. I finished the Star Surround quilt last year and gifted it to my mother (where it has been hanging over her headboard because she doesn't want it to get used, lest it gets ruined - argh). So I've just now managed to take pictures of it, after I commandeered her house for the sake of taking pictures. Okay, way too much talk and not enough pictures. Here we go, starting with the most recent finish, my Star Surround quilt (featuring what I had left of my Happy Go Lucky fabric):

I quilted this quilt with a medium density design, using straight lines in the focus block and pebbles in the secondary block.

My best little brother helped me take these shots, but before long we had a visitor - Diesel the Newfoundland dog.

And, of course, what happens when you leave your quilts unattended in a house full of animals? They become a free-for-all at naptime, naturally.

That's it for the debut of this quilt, now onto one more: Star Surround, a 2013 finish.

This quilt was actually my first real go at FMQ, so I went all out. I used one of Leah Day's designs, called wagon wheel, as a background filler, and used straight lines and a flower motif in the block itself. If I had to guess, I'd say there's at least 20 hours quilting time that was put into this small quilt.

That's all I have to share for today - I'm still learning this whole photography thing, so bear with me if these pictures aren't the best. I can't wait for the parade over at Happy Quilting next week. Excited to see everybody's finishes!!!

My Humble Introduction

Hi there, and thanks for visiting my blog. If you stumbled upon me by accident, thanks for visiting anyway! My name is Bree and this blog is, obviously, called Dollhouse quilts, and it is a crafty/sewing blog primarily dedicated to quilty goodness, but with some other craft and DIY related content as well. I'm starting this blog with no goal in mind other than to participate in the amazing and talented online quilting community and get to know some of you wonderful quilters in the process.

A little bit about me: I'm a 21 (and a half!) year old from Toronto, Canada. I try and squeeze in as much sewing time as I can, but I'm also a full-time student studying to be a nurse and work part-time and have a wonderful little family to take care of, as well (consisting of one handsome man and two fur-babies). In fact my crafty adventures started when I learned to knit so I could make my dog (a little miniature dachshund) sweaters to tackle the crazy Canadian winters. I quickly discovered sewing, and sewed my first quilt... again, for my dog. And the rest is history.

I consider myself a modern-traditional quilter: I love the use of bright, bold colours; I love solids, but I also love the quintessential quilt block and shy away from too much negative space. Nonetheless, I appreciate and admire all types of quilting and love to learn about the history of this art form and think there are always opportunities to learn new things.

Also, my quilting space is a small fraction of the 400-square foot apartment I live in. As jealous as I am of all you quilters who have your own dedicated sewing rooms (I'm working on it...) I gotta work with what's available to me. One of my main missions within this blog is to provide tips and tricks for working in a small space. I know I'm not the only one!

I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet and come to a conclusion here. I'd like to part ways with a picture of the adorable little dog that started this all, and my first (ever!) quilt:

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