I am Chipping away at that List

Despite doing solely non-longarm sewing (aka "that List"), and actually making decent progress (maybe I will post that at the end of the weekend), I thought I'd show a baby quilt that I sent off to it's California owner earlier this week. She does textbook perfect needle-turn applique. It's always nice to quilt her work since it's square, and neat, etc. - and very beautiful. It is one lucky baby.
I quilted another quilt similar to this for her a month or more ago, but this one is a little bit larger. I tried my hand at the ribbon candy for the sashings. I need to practice this a bit more, but it looked pretty decent (maybe because the sashings were striped and the quilting didn't show that much!).

I also pebbled only around the periphery of the appliqued hearts to make them pop out. And a little bit of curved cross-hatching on the 9-patches, done in white and pink.

...and lastly, one glimpse at the back. It is a soft flannel, and actually shows off the textural patterns nicely.

I got an email from her yesterday saying that she loved the quilt, so my work is complete :-))

Baby Quilt - "Berries-n-Blossoms"

An old friend of my husband's had a baby girl a month or so ago. I just love sewing for little girls. I do pink and purple and frilly real well (bugs and transportation and shades of blue are not really in my design portfolio!). I got that Lakehouse Dry Goods hydrangea fabric back when I was making Sophie's dress quilt, but it didn't match. It is, however, just lovely and has a sheen on it similar to the Fairy Frosts. And it coordinated well with another Lakehouse fabric - the cherries.
It's definitely only a crib size 38"46" or so, but a size I can manage to get cut, pieced, quilted and bound in about 4 weeks! It was only an hour or so to quilt. I took a floral/leafy/ribbon swirl design I saw on a website (this lady quilted for me a couple years ago!). I found a couple things she was doing in her flowers that looked better than how I did them. The quilting, though not at all dense, came out pretty, and best of all, girly.

Today it went off in the mail to its new home.

I was short about 10" of having enough of the softer colored backing (long since discontinued), hence the bolder band of dark raspberry!

I have had the luxury of time the last few days, in that quilts are coming for me to quilt, but I can afford to putter on my own quilt. I got the borders on this quilt, after removing it from the frame a week or more ago. I am pleased with how they turned out. You'll just have to wait. I have started the painful ditch quilting too around all of the swirls in the outer corners. One corner down... yikes!

One project Done

Here's baby Joshua's blanket. It's about 20" x 24", intended for a stroller or carseat.

It's not a girl!

My friend had a baby boy so I was forced to put away all of the great pieces of pink fabric that I had pulled out for her quilt. I was really looking forward to sewing for a girl...so much more frilly and fun. Maybe I just wanted her to have a girl so she could experience the sheer joy of a girl, knowing that she's not planning to have any more kids and she already has a boy. Back in April I found this awesome lamb fabric (and she LOVES sheep), and not knowing if it was a boy or girl, I got pieces of the cloth in both pink and blue. Looks like the pink is destined for another project. A long sigh, and I was off to finish her gift. It's a quilt, but it is smaller so it could either be hung on a wall, as she did with the one I made 2 years ago for her first baby, or it could be used for a carseat/stroller.
Here's an interim picture - quilting and binding are not quilt finished. It is modeled after a quilt I saw at Darcie's blog (though not sewn quite as well).

On another subject, my Hungry Caterpillar quilt is done!! It's donner than done. It's ready to go. I love it. Oh wait, I just remembered it needs antennae on one of the caterpillar, but essentially done.

Baby Fairy, Where are You?

Dear Baby Fairy,

I am not sure where you are, if you exist, or what you may look like. But I really need you right now. My good friend & former colleague is 39+ weeks pregnant and I need her to birth this kid! Yes, this post does come of selfish motives. Sure, sure...she wants the alien out of her too, but I have a legitimate concern.

This is the weekend. I get "unlimitted" (choke, ha ha) sewing time on the weekend. As any of you know, my weeks are rather hellish with chasing a nearly walking baby, my pain-in-the ass middle kid that prefers jumping in bed to sleeping, and the rigors (choke) of a new job. But, again as I said, it is about me, not the about-to-pop mother to be. I have plans for potentially making her something for the baby, but I can't until it shows us it's gender.

I can hardly fathom this still being pregnant at 39 weeks. Mine could practically crawl by that point. Actually, the 3rd one was born right at 39, but the 2 boys came out 1&2 weeks before that. They knew the meaning of "The lease is up: Come out!"

OK, so I have actually started sewing something but I can only do small parts of it without knowing more. I knew the gender of all my kids in advance. It was one of those secrets in life I saw no need in having. It was convenience being able to get clothes & the nursery ahead of time. I know that she is reusing her older child's nursery. I just really don't want to be confined to the boring blue and green again...(boo hoo!>...-just kidding LCC). The nursery is very beautiful. As a mom of a little girl, I so hope she has a girl so that I can sew with some PINK! Oh, yea...I mean so that she has the joy of a little girl & a boy!

So, baby fairy, please....and I am begging because I do not get adequate sewing time during the week...Please make her belly start contracting!!

Book Blanket Challenge

Our local Project Linus chapter is hosting a Book-Blanket Challenge this fall. The idea is to select a children's story and design a quilt around it or one of it's characters. The quilts will be given to children at Barbara Bush Children's hospital between Thanksgiving and the end of December. It's a great thing, and gives me chills every time I think about it. It makes me sad to think that it could be my kid in the hospital. It's sad to think of any child there at Christmas.

So, here's the story I have chosen. It's fun and bright and genderless. Perfect.

Several months ago I sketched this as the concept for the quilt. Very informal, could've on a cocktail napkin!

Here's a few of the panels. None are really finished, but they are coming along well.

There's nice bright sun with most of a caterpillar appliqued onto it. Hungry Caterpillar won't be too hungry until I add his head! The sun has these satiny reys that will be knotted when it is finished. I have tried to add several tactile items. Upper right is the coccoon. It's fleece, and has a little stuffing in it.

The Hungry Caterpillar ate one green leaf... He's embroidered in this scene.

Hungry caterpillar hasn't got his eyes and antennae yet, but he is big and fat! A great variagated green fleece, with looped satin ribbon. Love the lollypop material that I'm using as the border.

I have yet to start on the butterfly that will be on the central part of the quilt. It again will have tactile items, like nubbly antennae, pieces of it's wings that move/crinkle, etc, and lots of color. Here's a sneak peek at the fabrics going on the back. Anybody know where I can get cheese, pickle or sausage fabric???

Baby Quilts

The quilt top for my daughter's quilt, May 2006. It is in the process of being quilted. More pictures to follow. The colors did not photograph well.

Son, Hayden, at 3.5 weeks old laying on his baby quilt that I made and my mother hand quilted. He's now 4 and still sleeps with it! His nursery had a variety of boats in it's theme, mostly done in shades of deep green and purple.



Done for Lynn's Sheepy nursery, March 2005



Made October 2005 for Molly's shower.