Middle Man's Quilt finished

I have been puttering away with the hand-sewing on this quilt's binding for a few weeks now. It's mundane & boring, and uninspiring or else it may have been finished sooner. It's for my 3 year old's new twin bed. The above picture is the quilt's back, which is mostly the polar bear fabric, and a few diesel train squares. These fabrics (ie., trains & polar bears) were his choice. The challenge was for me to make them into a semi-cohesive quilt.
I really hate the machine quilting. I had someone do it for me. She didn't really say that there'd be stars EVERYWHERE, which bugs me. I also had hoped that the antique trains on the front that I painstakingly framed out would be quilted nicer - like perhaps to show them off better, and not just have those stupid stars all over them. Frusterating!...
The quilt will work; my son does like it. So I cannot complain too much. It is a project that is DONE.
It was hard to get a picture of the entire quilt - poor lighting, the bed is not in his room yet & the little sister really wanted to be on it!! Over on my other family blog are a couple other pictures of the back of the quilt - they include pictures of our family's newest addition(s) - go see!! We got 2 cats this week -

I have been Missing

I know, I know. I have been missing. Not posting. Absent. sorry...

Truth is, life got a little hectic. I went back to work after having nearly a month off. That is my excuse anyways.

Reality is different. I have not had the attention span to sew for 6-8 weeks. I have had good intentions, but I haven't followed through. I spent as much time with my seam ripper than I did on the machine. I have so many projects started I can hardly decide which is least frusterating to finish. As I read recently (and laughed at it's appropriateness to me), "I have had the attention span of a gnat".

With that said, I have not been totally void of any accomplishments. I got a knitting book for Christmas. I promptly went out, bought some yarn and started knitting a sweater for my daughter (only her because the project is much smaller than if it was for me, who really needs a sweater). I quickly discovered I did not like knitting the pattern I was doing. The stitch was overly time consuming and not as attractive as I liked. Knitting is fun - it comes out way easier than rogue seams do! I resorted to the internet, looking for patterns. In the end, I discovered she had a sweater (different color) that actually had a similar gauge, so I copied this pattern. It is 99% completed - lacks the last 3 rows to complete the buttonhole placket. There will be a picture soon, promise.

Before this sweater got nearly finished, I vowed I wanted to learn to do fair isle knitting (cables will be next). So last weekend I got some colorful balls to make her another sweater, for next fall - a little larger. The back of the sweater is knitting up nicely. IT is about 6" now. UNfortunately it is smaller than the other and thus may not work next fall. UGHH... Do I start over?? the quandries... Further, the yarn is a rather slippery micrifiber. It has a lovely sheen, but doesn't grip the needles well. One of my needles fell out a few days ago, and as I fumpled to get stitches reloaded, several rows un raveled. Setbacks...

Back in December I did do more on my intricate star quilt. I made one mistake that needs taking out and it's been sitting at the end of the ironing board ever since. My son's twin quilt has had progress too (though like an inch worm progresses). I have added a 2" inner border around what is shown in that link that looks like train tracks. I have also pieced almost 90% of the back. It is, again 90% done. That last small % kills me! Part of me is hesitant to complete it because it will open another door of "Need to do's" - Namely, completing his new bedroom, painting, buying a bed, etc. He's something of a napping beast right now. I have not resolved to him in a normal bed where he can get up as he chooses.

I have pieced 90% of the tops of a couple scrappy Project Linus quilts. I have not been much in any mood to actually sandwich and complete them though. Right now, I think there are 6 tops ready to be finished. I have been a good girl, not buying fabric this past month except what was so desperately needed. Anything I am making except for the 2 big quilts is from stash.

My partner Luisa has received her 4-Seasons Quilt from me. She does like the color and design. The piecing is very precise. It is really prettier (I think) than the pictures show. Snow in Maine, I think, can often look shades of soft lavendar. I am glad she likes it. I wanted to send her something as an appreciation of the lovely one she sent me last fall.

Here's the inspiration fabric for a small project(s) I am starting... The camera/computer does not do it justice. It has happy sage-apple colors of green in the leaves. It's the epitomy of spring, and coordinates awesomely with the pattern I am doing...
And lastly, of course I have another project started (above). For me, the joy is in the starting, not the finishing. I am making a mini quilt that may end up being for the spring quilt swap or it may be made for me and a duplicate/similar one made for the swap. It is the Tea Leaf pattern that comes from this book. I have looked on the internet, and there are many interpretative designs called Tea Leaf. This is a very old, hand appliqued pattern. I can do them in front of the TV (ie out of the basement). I'm making it in shades of purple and green. This one I love thus far. Oh, and if you don't have the Quiltmaker books (there are 2), they are gorgeous! They are based on 2 children's books. My kids have the books, which have amazing graphics and nice quilt patterns throughout. Joanne Larsen Line adapted the books to quilting books, based on the patterns in the children's books. These are dreamy. I highly recommend them.

Check back soon - I am going to add some more pictures to this blog entry later.

Middle-Man's Train & Polar Bear Quilt

It's quite a juxtiposition there: trains & polar bears. I suppose if you are thinking about The Polar Express (which he frequently is), then these two things do go together. Initially, I was skeptical how I'd use these fabrics together, but I think the quilt top is coming together well. The back is also pieced, but is predominantly the polar bear fabric. Hopefully next week I can show the completed top. It needs a 6" medium-blue border & an inner border of train tracks. I think that I will have the winding train track motif quilted into the blue border too.

My Son's new quilt-to-be

I am starting a new quilt for my middle kid. He's 3 and a half and is ready to be out of a crib. I have designed the quilt using scrapbook software, as I do many other quilt projects. The wide blue border is really a pieced assemby of diesel train fabric squares. The boy (and why do I allow a 3 year old select his bedding???) wants his room to be with trains. Though a couple months before that he thought he loved polar bears. So because I had already purchased several yards of this adorable polar bear material, we settled on using both. The back of the quilt will be mostly polars, and the bed skirt will be the dark blue, something he won't outgrow in 15 years I hope.

And here's the square that is repeated 24 times... It's rotated to make the pinwheel patterns. The trains and bears are individually cut so as to frame out the patterns.
Thoughts?...