Blog / LMP and QG

Back in 2012, my friend Kait and I set a yearlong challenge for ourselves: each month, we would make one of the projects from the book Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts---and we did! It was such a fun project, and it was a great way for me to stretch myself to sew things I might not otherwise have.


I realized recently that while I had shared photos of the Summer Breeze quilt topI made in May...

I'm very lucky to have kind friends and family members who support my craft and commission me to make things for them and for gift giving. This month, I had the chance to work on two projects: a Kindle case for an aunt and a stuffed elephant for a college roommate's new niece.


I dragged my feet for quite a while on making the Kindle case (surely I'm not the only person who tends to put projects without a due date on the back burner!), but when I spotted Karen's iPad case, I was immediately inspired and motivated to whip up that case.


I pulled bright blue and green scraps from my stash, and pieced them at random until I had slabs large enough for the case's sides. I used batting scraps to add a bit of structure to the case, and quilted it with turquoise thread.


For the elephant, I returned to the pattern I used from Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts to make Peanut, the Wee Elephant, last year.


Peanut gets easier to make each time I use the pattern, so luckily I was able to whip up this gray + pink + turquoise elephant in just a few hours.


The little tail is my favorite part! What are your go-to handmade projects for gift giving?

Not long after posting about the mini color wheel quilt top I started for September's LMP+QG challenge (which I opted to create using only shades of purple), I managed to quilt it, bind it and mail it to one of my good friends (who loves the color purple) for her October birthday.


I opted to hand quilt the piece, using purple floss in the wedges and white floss in the inner and outer borders.


For...

Each month, my friend Kait and I are making a project from the book, Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts ("LMP+QG" for short). You can see previous projects here.


For the last month of our year-long challenge, Kait and I decided to keep things simple (between holiday gift-making and Kait's craft fairs, we've both been busy!) and make one of the easier projects in the book: quilted coasters.


Pulling from my mom's stash of vintage fabrics, I selected three coordinating prints and made a trio of coasters, which I quilted with cream thread. This project was simple and quick and definitely one I'll return to when I need a last-minute gift.

And that's the final project! I have a few more finishes to share with you in the new year (like quilt tops that became actual quilts), but you can see all of the projects that Kait and I completed throughout the year here.