Mario, quilted!

I'm back! And settling into my new blogging digs here at Blogger. I have such a backlog of projects to share! Including that zig-zag quilt (x2!), nursery decor, and some applique onesies. Speaking of sewing for little ones, our babies arrived in mid-October, weighing in at an impressive 6 pounds, 12 ounces and 6 pounds, 14 ounces. (No wonder I wasn't moving well by fall!) I'm pretty sure they are the most adorable little boys I've ever met, and they're just getting cuter and sweeter by the day.

But, first, I want to share the other project that kept me from posting much last year. It was the most time-intensive sewing project I've ever taken on. A pixel quilt, featuring Mario!

"The Plumber" quilt

The quilt, one of the video game pixel quilt patterns from Carolina Patchworks, is made up of hundreds of one-inch-wide strips and squares. It took hours and hours of measuring and cutting and sewing and ironing and sewing and ironing... And that was just to piece the top. The quilting and binding was done (perfectly!) by a quilter at a local quilt shop.

Quilted KoopaTroopa!

I wish I had in-progress pictures to show you, or at least a photo of the back of the quilt top, because all the seams on the back of that thing are astounding, but I was trying to be super sneaky about this quilt, because it was a gift for my husband. (Being sneaky wasn't easy, either, since I didn't have space in my sewing room to neatly store all those strips of fabric!)

Quilted Goomba!

I find something fun and funny about the pairing of old school video games and quilting. It makes me smile. I hope it makes my husband smile, too, along with making snow day video game playing sessions a bit more cozy. Watching the characters emerge as I pieced the rows of fabric together was really satisfying, but I would recommend a pixel pattern only to someone with lots of time and patience, and either very exact measuring and piecing abilities or a"close is good enough" attitude, otherwise you could be ripping and resewing for ages to try to get all those tiny squares of fabric to match up exactly. (I went with the "close is good enough" route. Obviously.)

Mario's new sidekick, Peeps the cat