Treat for Little Italian Girls

My two neices, ages 4 and 6, moved to Italy in January. We had been very close to them prior to then, visiting many times a year. It's been a difficult transition for my older two kids, not getting to see them, and hearing that my mom is going there to visit next week. Sadly, at the tune of $1400 per ticket (and then we still need passports), we are not going to be visiting any time soon. That, afterall, is a huge chunk of my future kitchen-living room remodel.

I wanted to send something to them to let them know we are thinking of them. So I pulled out some of the fabric scraps I had from when I made her bed quilt last fall. It's very loud and colorful, and has fairies all over it. I'm not so fond of making little quilts for doll usage, or even ones that are so "cutesie", but I hope they will like them. They can go on their bedroom wall or keep a baby doll warm. This is Alyssa's...

And I fortunately had this pieced and quilted from another swap (partner opted to bail on the swap so I didn't have to mail it). Sorry, Rachel, it's not horses as I know you love most, but it does have some symbolism. Or it did when it was conceived. It was made for someone that had 2 girls, hence the two angels and two hearts. Luckily, it's way more appropriate for Rachel and Alyssa, as we really do love them. We may not see you right now, but angels watch over you, and you are in out hearts.
Then about 10 days ago my SIL said she'd like me to send along my remaining pieces of Alyssa's fabric to make her a dresser scarf. DOH! What scraps, I thought to myself!...I had just used most of them to do her mini quilt! After speaking to her last weekend, and getting the size dimensions she was looking for, I threw this together. Haven't done much other quilting in 3 days. It should have been simpler and would have been if I'd had bigger pieces.
It's made up of eight little hearts, one for each of us here in Maine. You can think of that, Alyssa, when you see them. That theory works at least until another of our cats croaks (which if Tiny Sally jumps to the balcony AGAIN, may be sooner than later!).
I put an extra piece of batting in the shape of a heart (basted it in) to make the puffy hearts. It's just something I'd been wanting to try. Seems with every little quilty project, I have been trying to work in my agenda for little tasks to practice. I was more scared of trying the "McTavishing", or should I call it "McMargaretting", but it really looks pretty nice. Or not too horrible anyhow.I wish I could say the same for these loops...I got the whole darn border quilted before I realized the thread tension had gone totally whacky. Spent 2 hours in front of the telly picking it out last night!
So, now I am free of these bright little wonders. GO with love!...I hope they like them. My weekly to-do's...
- finish 1st Bday block of Kate's swap
- plan a couple more of these blocks
- Buy a zipper, cut out pieces of Sophie's bday dress, and SEW
- make another heart block (only 2 more I think)
- hand sew binding of 4SQS summer quilt (Yea!...nearly finished0
- mail Ginger's swap piece to xyz quilter in somewhere, USA!!
- brainstorm about a nice traditional quilt to make for the next Booty swap (hopefully I will get a partner that likes traditional!)

I thought God heard my prayer...

I was so elated I nearly kissed my postal carrier when I saw there was a package going into my mailbox. Well I came to my senses quickly. But I was pretty darn excited (thinking it might just be that long lost DQS quilt that appears to be destined to stay lost), and even more so when I saw that the package had a return address from Finland. Finland meant one thing...Jen. Not only that, it took 3 days to get here. I'll take more Finnish mail, thank you!!
Several weeks ago, Jen asked for my address. I kind of thought little of it, as many people from the swaps ask, and I tend to only get a few little mail goodies. In all honesty, I really thought I was opening up THIS little beauty, which I truly love, for Kate's ALQS. Suprised, but equally as delighted, she sent me one of her mini quilts and a few other goodies. It has the same brilliant machine quilting and will look adorable in my almost 2-year old's bedroom. It's just her colors! Her patch quilted card is lovely too. The baby wrapper below is so cute - it used to surround chocolate :-)
I had to chuckle BIG though when I saw what Jen taped onto the package. It's a cartoon of a paper machine! Ha... she is a fellow Mainer, like myself, but lives in Finland where the pulp & paper business is like Life itself (once upon a day, it was like that here too). Anyhow, before my last 2 kids were born, I worled for Metso Paper designing, manufacturing and installing paper machine dryers - sort of a Queen of TP, I guess. I did that for nearly 10 years. My former employer, Metso, is a big name paper machine supplier in Finland. Small world.

Thanks Jen, the quilt is fantastic. Your humor is a close 2nd. And my boys are trying to behave so as to earn a chocolate, but I think I will out eat their good behavior! And for the ALQS gem, looks like it's enroute to another lucky lady!

Farewell & Good Luck!

With barely more than a week left before my son's year of kindergarten ends, we had a potluck dinner hosted by his teacher. We took this opportunity to give her the quilt I made with artwork by all of her students. She was very touched by the card (printed below) and the quilt. It seemed that many of the children were equally as interested in what was done with the picture that they had drawn for me. It was a nice and somewhat bittersweet time.

May you always remember us, as we will undoubtedly remember you.

You're kind & patient, energetic & inspirational, creative & compassionate.

Through your example, we learned so much more than our ABC's and how to count to 100. We learned to get along and to love one another.

You have kindled our imaginations for years of future learning.

You were our first teacher, and for that fact alone, you will forever be etched in our memories.

Thanks for the many great things you have brought into our lives this year.

Love,

Hayden, Isabelle, Jonah, Brian, Bella, Jack, Nolan, Emma, Aidan, Camron, Lucas, Kiera, Lauren, Abby, Stefanie and Eva

In the Midst of Safe Harbors Now

Thanks to all for the great comments and suggestions about what to do about my beach chair. In the end, I have added a towel and beach bag to cover up the place where the background showed through. I also got my mojo this morning and have added some other goodies to the scene - a light house and two sailboats. It is looking most quaint right now. I am going to do my best to hold off on pictures for a while so that suspense can build (he he). I am currently auditioning borders. This does not typically frustrate me so much, but I want the piece not to drown in blues, but also want it to look summery & beachy. I should have it ready for machine quilting by early next week. I have a couple more things I plan to add to the beach scene, but you'll have to just guess what they are for now.

I finished off the binding on my 3rd Project Linus top (for the week). This sadly only makes five for the year, but it is a great start to clearing out my finished flimsies. I currently have two more tops unsandwiched, one that is nearly ready for the binding (I tied it yesterday and am adding a little hand quilting for added reinforcement). I also pieced a package of flannel 3" x 6" bricks together into a top over the weekend. I picked them up at a recent Linus blanket event that I went to. I have officially used all of the nasty poly bat that I had in my sewing stash (YEA!!).
Other updates...
My quilt for Ginger's swap is coming along. I have one more evening of hand quilting and it will be ready for a binding & label. It's due out by the end of the month.

I have also signed on for Toni's Miniature Booty swap again (yea...remind me why I need to make another quilt??! ). It looks like there's a great bunch of ladies signed up.

I am also making a couple of little goodies for my nieces. My mom is flying to visit them in 12 days. In January, they moved to Italy.

I need to get another couple of my heart blocks done too this week.

Past the Point of No Return

In the words of one of my favorite old songs... I may be past the point of no return on this mini. I was so delighted with myself that I sketched out a good adirondak chair in my Scrapbooking software, that I didn't completely think through the application of said chair. UGGH. I knew when I fused down the chair, that I didn't have much I could do if it didn't come out right. Now I need your help!

I really need better lighting. I just noticed the damn yellow pen I used for marking. Permanent of course. That I may be able to cut off. But what is bothering me is that I can see the dark brown that is supposed to be a shadow showing underneath the white of the chair. Options...1) Pull up chair completely and carefully snip brown so there isn't any under it (I still worry that the other backgrounds will show thru too), 2) hand color the chair a color with permanent fabric pens (and if so, what color??), 3) Ditch it, 4) ignore it and hope my partner is more tollerant than I am?

Help!!!

Calling all Booties...

Toni (AKA Quilting Pirate) has posted the 2nd round of the Miniature Booty Quilt Swap here. If you are a good, conscientious & creative quilter and think you'd be interested, pay her a visit. She has about 30 spots remaining. Quilts do not need to be completed until September 1, so there should be plenty of time so that this does not interfere with Kate's ALQS and my Four Seasons Swap! Many early, personal invitations were sent out on this swap to highly recommended (& simply devine!) quilters, so there many of the spots are already taken. Don't miss your chance!...

2008 Project Linus Quilts #3 and #4

Admittedly, I have been lax this year at actually finishing my Linus quilts. Only 2 had been actually completed, compared to 24 this time last year. I have made several scrappy tops, but I decided it was good to get some of the tops actually turned into quilts rather than start anything new. This week I have completed 2 of them, and have a 3rd awaiting it's binding. They are simple, scrappy colors pieced with white-on-white that was repurposed from my son's nursery curtains.

The first quilt (below) was my first attempt at machine quilting ever. I was not completely thrilled with how it turned out, but that I largely blame on the heavy polyester batting used. I asked my mom to pick up batting at Mardens last year, and didn't realize that this is what they had (60" wide for a mere $1 a yard.) Now I feel compelled to finish using what I have. It is a little hard to machine quilt due to it's thickness, but it's robust!
Two of the quilts are a scrappy spools pattern with the spools turned in the same direction rather than alternating, as the pattern is often done. They're about 42" square with borders. The picture below shows the full (unfinished top before borders). This one I did machine quilting on this morning.
My other one is all done from floral scraps done in strips. It's about 40"x60". It's shown here... It turned out lovely for a little girl I think.
My goal is to complete the 3rd one I have started this weekend, and get another top ready to machine quilt next week. I have at least one top nearly completed that I can think of, and some squares for another too in some stage of completion.

I need some advice or suggesitons. I plan to make a quilt for my Linus chapter's Book-Blanket challenge this fall. I need a suggestion for a children's book that might be good to use. A quilt must be designed around this book. Last year I did the Hungry Caterpillar and actually won. I want something perhaps for a slightly older child - age 4-8. Leave me your ideas please!!

A little non-Quilty Fun...

I have come across these on several blogs lately. It's kind of fun and rather unexpected. Can you guess the questions (& answers from the pictures) without going to the link??!

1. Untitled, 2. coffee and chocolate mousse cake, 3. 10*(10+x) = 100+10x things about me., 4. Purple fingers, 5. Harrison Ford as Indy, 6. vino metropolitano, 7. Floating in paradise, 8. homemade berry ice cream, 9. Baby at Rest, 10. ..., 11. he loves me/he loves me not., 12. Supermom

The questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. What is your favorite drink?

7. What is your dream vacation?

8. What is your favorite dessert?

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. What is one word that describes you?

12. What is your flickr name?

Leave me a note if you do this, so I can check out your mosaic, too!

More Blue Hearts & Weekly Dreams...

Here are 18" heart blocks #7, 8 and 9 to go along with the first six already finished. Only three more to do (I think!). I got another package of more pretty scrap blues late last week from Solidia. Many thanks - they will be put to good use! Once I get the last three finished, I will add the scrappy yellow borders to the blocks. At that point I will need to rethink the design a little, as I'm not sure what will happen on the part of the quilt that drops down on the sides of the mattress. The hearts are only on the top of the bed. I have a couple of nice asian-ish blue prints in decent yardage that may encompass a wide border though.

Other quilty projects going on...

~I am hand quilting my piece shown in the last posting for Ginger's swap. It turned out cute, but the blocks have a lot of bias and I hope that there will be enough to hold them smooth. At this point I waffle between continuing and believing all will look fine and ripping out the quilting threads and rebasting the top. Neither option leave me feeling 100% confident!

~I am gearing up for Kate's About.com birthday block swap which is set to start in a couple weeks. I have signed up for 2 groups which means I have to make 3 blocks a month. I am trying to clear several of the other projects I have so I can jump right into that. In the advanced group, I will be receiving a dozen 8" New York Beauty blocks. Maybe I will also make a few. They will be in purple, red and orange batiks. In the other group, I will receive 24 of the Broken Heart blocks (from http://www.quilterscache.com/) in 1930's prints. I am excited to see what blocks the others will be requesting that I will have to make. I just wonder how long I will have to wait until it is "my birthday"??

~Thelast stages of the Spring Fling Round Robin are winding down. 6-8 of the 24 quilts have been finished & mailed. They are so lovely - go have a look (though most of my readers are probably in that swap!). This is such a tremendously talented group of quilters and it has been a fun honor to work with them. I will undoubtedly run another round robin once all quilts are at their end-destinations. Look for a posting sometime next month. This has been a sticking point with me lately, as I learned that one of the other popular swaps started up another session recently with over 15% of their members STILL not having a quilt in their hand. I just don't think that is a very courteous way to run a swap.

~The Miniature Booty swap has ended and I am anxious to see what is coming my way there. Despite my partner announcing accidentally that she is my partner early in the swap, there has been no action on her blog to indicate what she is making. So I wait anxiously...

~I will get back to my 4SQS beach quilt very soon. I've been busy designing this with my scrapbook software so I can add it (somehow!).

Ginger's About Forum's Quilt Swap

A great big thanks to Ginger , who allowed me into her swap at About.com a day late (I was apparently too dense to notice I'd sent my information the day it actually closed!). Anyhow, I spent a few days this week futzing with some really neat kaleidoscope hexagons I made a month or 2 ago, thinking I'd use these to finish off my partner's quilt. I made 18 paper-pieced diamonds & triangles to help finish the piece. And then it hit me as I started putting it all together. I HATE WORKING WITH SET IN SEAMS! It's not that I don't know how. It's that I hate doing it! So I rationalized that maybe I'd like that quilt better than my partner, stashed it into a bag, and went off to find concept/design #2. I have some information about my partner's likes and preferences, but I'm not divulging that for fear of revealing her identity!

And without further ado...
I have pulled out several sunny and summery 1930's prints and searched Quilterscache.com for a great 1930's pattern. The one I chose is called dogtooth violet. It took about 5-6 hours to make 4 of those blocks. They are partially pieced, and partially foundation pieced. BTW...does anyone have a cure for excessive fabric waste while paper piecing?? I did the block corners using foundation piecing. It took nearly a quarter of a yard! Anyhow, in my usual weekend early morning peace (as the entire house is still asleep at 6am!), I hand mitered the corners of the border to complete the top. I plan to hand quilt this one so that it has a more vintage look. Nothing says well-finished & old-fashioned (as all 1930's pieces would be) than miters & hand work!
I also have this sweet butterfly fabric that Maria sent me with my winter 4SQS quilt which may get used on the border too.

Well, today is my middle kiddo's 4th birthday so I must go get my self into gear and figure out what needs to be done to repair his cake (Why, oh why did we think it was OK to let his father make the cake this year???!).

Spring Fling Has Come Home

Many thanks to Julie (center square), Tami (1st border), Jeanette (2nd border), and Marisa (quilting & finishing) for this absolutely fabulous mini. I believe I am actually perhaps the first person to receive a quilt in the Spring Fling Round Robin, and I do feel a small bit of guilt for that! Nevertheless, this creation is amazing.

(double click and look closely!)

It is immensely cheerful and very summery (or springy!). The colors are so fat out of my crayola box, in that I wouldn't put red , orange, yellow & blue together, but that is what makes this swap so fun. I have received something in colors that I never would have made for myself, and I LOVE it.

Unlike the other round robinettes, I did have the anticipation of seeing the quilts being made, and getting to oogle earlier on since I knew when I saw this one, that it was coming to me eventually. It does become a little bit anticlimactic. I am here to tell you though that the photos that have been blogged on this quilt's progress in no way show how lovely the finished piece truly is. The colors are vibrant. It is all done in batiks that I have seen nowhere in stores around here. Tami's little tiny applique stitches are unbelievable. I really ought to get some silk thread for my appliques too; it's highly effective in that it doesn't show whatsoever.
The quilting thread on the top is a pretty and soft pastel variagated thread. I would be interested to know if it is Italian as I looked earlier this week for an oceany variagated and saw nothing like this. How do quilters dream up where to take their free-motioning stitches?? This is where I hit a stumbling block and the quilt's creativity suffers. Bellisimo!

Here's a shot of the back so that you can see the pretty free-motion quilting Marisa did. She has so much more control than I do. It makes me want to go practice!
A close-up of the pretty lotus-like flowers. A few of the orange pieces have a touch of metallic spotting which really catches the sunlight.

I can't say thanks (grazie!!!...sorry my Finnish is rusty since I quit working for Valmet - Metso 4 years ago!) enough! I only hope all of you that worked on this receive something you love as much.

The Blue Scraps

The blue scraps are going to this queen-sized bed quilt. MANY thanks to Amy and Julie for passing along some great blue pieces to my cause. I have heard that there may be a couple more packages of blues coming - and they will be most appreciated.
The top of the bed quilt will be made of 12 of these 18" heart blocks. Each block will be sashed in strips of scrappy yellows. I haven't decided what the sides of the quilt will be yet, but I have a lovely Asian-ish blue for a wide border. I have four different blue & yellow small prints for the backgrounds of the heart. I know that the picture here does not show the print very well. I am trying to make myself do 1-2 of these weekly so as to get them done! They do not take that long. In fact it takes longer to cut all the squares. But I get side-tracked and bored too quickly. So far I have six finished.

Other projects...
- preparing for this Saturday's garage sale (YUCK!) - make a little fabric $$!
- I remade the ocean for the beach quilt that I showed last post. I decided my 1st attempt could be improved upon. I am also searching for a nice sailboat picture (with spinnaker) to replicate.
-I have joined Ginger's quilt swap on the About.com forums. I stumbled upon the posting yesterday, but had my dates confused. I thought it had not closed yet since there were still 5 slots open. Turned out it closed the day before. But, many thanks to Ginger for making an exception for me! Like I really need to make one more thing!! The ideas are a-flowin'. I just need to get my partner's preferences before I start anything.
-My Spring Fling RR still needs it's label and to be packaged. It will get mailed Saturday to somebody!
-My middle man is turning 4 on Sunday so we have a little family party to prepare for. Oh Lordy...it better be sunny so we can be outside, otherwise I have to clean 30 yards of fabric pieces off of the dining room table :-O
-And for all inquiring, there is still no DQSIII quilt in my mailbox, but I have given up hoping for it. Now I am looking for that Miniature Booty quilt that should be mailed by now. Despite already knowing who my partner is (she made a goof and posted it to my blog, with her identity), I am still excited to see what was made for me. BTW, Lisa...I miss Lucky! I hope he likes his PA home.

Summer 4SQS Sneak Peek

Nothing says summer to me more than white sands and turquoise waves. I hope my partner likes the beach too. Amidst sending out all of the summer swap partners, I started on my piece this week. It is a simple beach scene with sand, sea, sky, and a few other key elements. I am currently contemplating adding a sailboat and an adirondak chair (ie, like the beaches of Long Island have). Time to do a web search.

Here's just a teensy-little looksee...

I have decided to use this swap as a time to try raw (fused) edge applique. My summer quilt uses that technique. And it is amazing the amount of detail that can be added.

An Apple for the Teacher

The quilting, binding and label are finished. We will present my son's teacher with this in a couple of weeks.


The picture makes the writing on the label appear washed out, but in reality it quite black.

Here's the finished front of the quilt.

The quilting on the shadow-drop boxes is simple straight stitching done with the walking foor in a color that matches the fabric. The same color was used in the bobbin, so the back has many colored boxes outlined. In retrospect, I wish I had done the back all black, but then.

Here are some close ups...

Some of the students did a great job!! I think the teacher will love it.
The signatures of each student were Photoshopped onto the scanned art images. I had them sign their name on a white piece of paper. I was concerned that 5 and 6 year olds might not be able to write their name small enough such that it wasn't all over the art. That was time consuming for me, but worked out well.

Round Robin Sneak Peek

My round robin quilt flimsy arrived yesterday from Kathy. Here's the before...

It's a very bright, cheerfully happy piece done from batiks. It's done with raw edge applique, which I have never done. Before I actually saw it, I thought I'd hand quilt it since that's what I usually do. But holding it in my hand I knew it needed to be machined. I don't profess to be fantastic at machine quilting, but I don't think I have killed this quilt either!! Much of it is quilted in a monofilament so as not to show quite so much.

My light is not the best here, but you get the idea. The back reminds me of an asteroid field in color! Fun...
Once it is bound (in fuscia), I'll post the finished pic over here. It's going to be mailed to Julie or Jan or Kate ...or one of the other 23 people in the swap!! Gotta wait and see :-)

Weekly Progress

I know if there are any of you out there who were watching the progress of this quilt of mine, you probably fell asleep from the boredom of waiting for me to actually work on it! I started IT last fall. I did a little more on the blocks initially, but quickly discovered that the star blocks I loved so much, really took a very long time to make...close to 4 hours each. After the holidays, I did a bit more. That is about where I quilt blogging about it. I had it designed, and somehow lost the plans and measurements when I cleaned off my desk. So typical for me. If the desk were a heap of a mess, I'd know right where things were. I puttered along, making something like 160 of these half-square triangles (see picture below), just to add more of the colorful fabrics into the quilt. I also designed in the saw-tooth star points to add off of the center block. That took FOREVER! I endeavored that this week would be when I'd get the top of the quilt into a single piece. Here it is Friday afternoon, and an hour ago I decided it was time to stop rummaging in blue scraps and complete my week's goal...

Without further ado, here's my quilt of 1000 triangles...



The flash mutes the colors a bit, but they are soft greens, aquas, and shades similar.

The border that will most obviously miter onto this will be in large part be the background color, but it will have tone-on-tone beige starts within in, and a touch of the blue and green too somehow (as I make a funny, as though in thought, face!).

As for other weekly doings...
My Miniature Booty Swap quilt was mailed to ABC quilter on Tuesday. She ought to be getting it today or tomorrow I hope. I hope Lucky enjoys his new home.

I have also put the binding on my son's teacher's Class Quilt. It has just a touch of finish quilting still to do. I'll post it this weekend.

Four Seasons Summer Swap is about to close due to numbers reaching 100+. I'd have closed it already, but I've been lazy!

And many thanks to those of you that have been so kind as to want to raid your blue scraps for me. I do appreciate the favor!

Where my blocks have gone...

I thought I might show how two of the blocks I worked on for the Spring Fling Round Robin have evolved with the quilty greatness of two other partners...

This was my first; I did the dragonfly center. The middle border is by Carol, and Valerie did the outer border. It is all so cohesive and whimsical; I love it.
Here's another...
Here, Carol (same Carol as above actually) did the inner turquiose, Santa Fe-ish block. I did the middle border (blogged here), and Jane did the outer border. I love Jane's choice of large scale prints and corner square diamonds to carry the wild style throughout. Although this style is not for everyone, I do personally like how it all turned out.
I encourage you to come view the wonderful quilts as they enter their final stage of developement. All are at their final quilter being sandwiched & quilted & bound to send to the final recipient. One is completed, but many will post here soon. This is a phenomenal group of quilters here. The piecing and applique work is extremely good. Plus they are each challenged to create a piece that the stage was set for by a previous person - means they have to be very good at thinking outside the box (and outside of "their" comfort box). I will likely host another of these this summer -

Soliciting your scraps

I am starting a scrappy quilt that is to be made of largely dark and medium tones of blue. If anybody has scraps of these that would like to rid their stash of them, I'd be happy to take them or to bargain a trade for something I may have. If this sounds plausible to you, I need the pieces to be at least 4" x 4", and any mid-tone to deep-tone (AKA navy) blue, solids, prints, dots, stripes, etc. email of leave a comment if interested. No polyester, flannel or homespuns please.

Four Seasons QUilt Swap - Summer Session is open for signups

http://fourseasonsquiltswap.blogspot.com/2008/05/summer-quilt-swap-calling-all-quilters.html

check it out if interested

Happy Mother's Day

My Mother's Day has been just as any other day thus far. It's only 7am. The house is still quiet. And I have been at the sewing machine for an hour working on a project and mumbling, "why did I ever think I'd finish this?" to myself. I am in my zone, my happy place. I use this time to welcome the world each day. I typically use this blog to post only quilty things, but this post is completely related to quilting, or my lack of quilting...This is about my main impediment to doing more quilting! Motherhood.

I actually got my Mother's Day presents last week, so I don't expect anything like a fancy present or flowers today. They're pretty cute. Check them out...two more kids, kinda. This is over on one of my two family blogs. Here and here.

I checked in on my computer at 5:45 as usual, saw three sweet cards the hubby had the kids draw yesterday, in varying degrees of scrible (younger two). I smiled. Sometimes I still can't believe they let us take these little people home from the hospital. No manuals, no forms, no nothing. Poof - you're a mother.

That's the glamorous side of it that non-parents believe. The adoring parents holding their quiet sleeping baby while the new parents gaze on. With this we sometimes forgot how we got here. The perils of pregnancy, as delightful as they are for some, they are equally as unpleasant and not for the faint hearted for others.

The glamour of having kids...It's the side of motherhood we all still see when our kids are sound asleep, or playing cooperatively together, or whispering sweet "I love you's" in your ear. It's like the joy of showing off that big pregnant belly as though it is a badge of honor. Even though deep inside you need to pee again, and your legs ache. I still crave my 5 minutes of gently tickling Sophie's neck before bedtime so that she will giggle and nestle into my body. She still needs & wants Mama like the boys do not. Not nearly as much of the time anyways.

In my mind, I long for the glamour of motherhood still. I loved the attention of carrying the infant carrier, and the kind words from strangers about my baby. You don't get these with three and four year olds! I loved showing off the big prego belly, decorating the nurseries, and planning what a perfect family we would have.

Motherhood is not overly glamourous now. We are in the "real" stages of motherhood. Little to no glamour some days. That's nothing to be overly sad about, just a fact. We now have kids that throw fits, throw food. Children that smack eachother, and can be sassy. Kids that choose to listen when it suits them. They are still mine, and I do love them. And fortunately, they are relatively good natured and well behaved much of the time.

So on this Mother's Day, I chose to look back to the days when Motherhood was still on a high. In the hours just after each of my babies were born, I could have smiled for days. I probably did :-)

#1
#2
#3

And here they are now...

The Frog is Finished

(this is actually rotated 90 degrees... the red flying geese are in the lower left-hand corner)

My frog in the blender is finished mixing. Done sewing. Completed quilting. Against my better judgement I followed what the readers told me. Keep the name! So, it is official and the label on the back of the quilt has the "Frog in the Blender" name. I hope the recipient has a sense of humor. I am a little worried...
I may add a few beads for embellishment, but the quilt is basically done to send to my ALQS partner. It will probably not be mailed for a few weeks since it's not due until July 1 (let's build some anticipation - and see if the recipient can guess if it is for her ...or him!).

I opted to heavily machine quilt this piece. I have only machine quilted 3 others so I am still something of a neophyte, but I chose my thread color and fabric carefully so that machine quilting flaws are hard to see. There's meandering free-motion quilting as well as a lot of outline stitching using my walking foot. I meandered heavily so as to make the red areas in the pieced sections poof up a bit.

I love the variety of food fabrics - kiwis, apples and watermellons, plus many bits of red and blacks from my stash. The bacl of the quilt is plain black. I should have photographed it since the quilting is more evident on the back. Maybe the recipient can show this picture.
If you ignore the fact that two of my circular pieces do not match up perfectly, which I am trying to do, I think the quilt is pretty neat. It's out of my normal box a little (OK, a lot), but it's a fun melding of traditional piecing with untraditional fabrics and a touch of more contemporary layout.

Do you think that my partner will appreciate this, or will she want to put this in the blender?

A Class-y Quilt

I am making a quilt for my son's kindergarten teacher with self-portraits of each of the 16 students. The top is now finished. It is about 40" square. I got the idea from Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio, but have seen these quilts at a number of blogs. I actually bought a collection of fabric permanent pens initially thinking that the children would just draw their portraits directly onto fabric. I soon realized this would be a very messy & permanent mess which parents may not embrace. The kids drew their picture using markers on white paper, and signed their names separate from the portrait. I scanned them and added the signature to the portrait using PhotoShop. They were printed onto C.Jenkins Miracle Fabric Sheets. This is a bit pricey of a way to do this type project, but it gives me more control, keeps child cleaner. Use of PhotoShop allows me to "clean up" little messes on the art too.

Julie (aka Floribunda) showed this quilt earlier this year, which I just love. So I incorporated the concept of the shadow drop borders with the portraits. It has a totally different (& better) effect on her quilt of making them look like shadows. Since I wanted the tonal print black fabric on my quilt because it helps to make the artwork stand out, my "shadows" done in color stripes do not show off as much. Oh well. I like the look in general, and think it will be fun and appreciated once I get it quilted.

Here are a couple of closer shots. They are adorable & amusing.