baby flower power

 

Yesterday, I sewed a baby dress as a gift for a baby shower I attended this morning.  I used a fabric that I had already purchased from JoAnn's Fabrics a few months ago. It is very light weight, almost a lawn, which makes it a rare find indeed!  I bought about three yards of it...which was all that was remaining on the bolt. I probably would have bought ten yards if they'd have had it!!

 

Along with the gift, I included the white hanger - one of a few that I own and have purchased from Etsy for this very purpose.

 Also from Etsy was the OOP McCall's pattern that I used, dated 1999.  While the construction process is still fresh in my mind, I think I'll make one more dress (from a different fabric) to have on hand for the next baby shower .... or granddaughter .... whichever comes first!

car carrier

 While my daughter was here visiting, she was kind enough to accompany me on a trip to my local quilt shop to pick up a few this's and that's (we sewers are always needing something!).   We spied an adorable duffle bag sitting eye-catchingly on a display table as a sample of a pattern the shop sold.

If you knew how obsessed with cars my 18 month old grandson is, you'd completely understand why during his stay with Grandma and Grandpa I had bought him 10 cars and one bus while his Auntie Nattie had bought him 8 cars.  Fortunately the quilt shop had the perfect fabrics to make the little duffle to store Evan's collection, so we came home with a few more this's and that's than originally planned!

 This morning before it was time to leave for the airport,  I stitched up Evan's little car carrier. While I was in the process, he came into my room, looked in the trash can, saw a scrap of the fabric showing a wheel, and yelled, "CAR!" He's all B-O-Y.

happy distraction

 

It was time to start a new semi-brainless knitting project now that So You Think You Can Dance will air this Thursday (*happy face*).  Working on this blanket will get me through those irritating but necessary commercials pain-free.  The free pattern from Knit Culture Studio titled Zig Zag Baby Blanket is found here.  

  

sunday sewing

My daughter has come for a week's visit.  Not only did she arrive with my precious 18 month old grandson, she came with two sewing requests:  a make-up brush roll made from a placemat (quick & easy tutorial here) and flannel pillowcases for a travel pillow that my grandson uses to sleep with.  I whipped up three.  Today was a fun service sewing day!

♥♥♥

I love Tuesdays.

text treats

While perusing the antiquated selection of quilting books at my local library, I came across one gem titled  "Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts".
Inside there was a simple sailboat wall hanging pattern which perfectly coordinated with my grandson's nautical themed nursery.  The project in the book was made up in reproduction fabrics with horizontal line stitching.  I made mine in more contemporary fabrics and added the anchor on the sail as well as the birds overhead.  I felt that  a swirly pattern to mimic wind was a better choice for the quilting...but it wasn't something I could do myself.  Once it came home from the quilters, I bound it in a red and white striped fabric.
 

This quilt, which I began last October, is the one I designed for my son, Kevin.  It is the quilt that started this new obsession of mine and was the first project I had professionally quilted.  This evening I sewed the binding to the front and will hand stitch it on the reverse side while traveling to Sacramento tomorrow.  Now that my other sons have seen it, they're all asking, "Where's mine?!"

P.S.  This post is titled "text treats" because the way J'Adore Quitling  notifies someone that their project is ready is by texting a picture of the finished project.  How fun is that?!

near disaster quilt

At first, this quilt top was just too wild.  The fabrics (Salt Air by Moda), when cut into pieces and sewn back together, made my eyes twitch.  I found myself wanting to sing "This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius, age of Aquarius..." (you know the rest).  Bubbles, fins, waves, and scales....oh, my!

But once I changed the pattern by adding a thin white strip around the outer edge and then a grey border, the whole thing calmed down...as did I!  The pattern is called Reveille and is from the book "Another Bite of Schnibbles".

Note:  The quilt looks crooked because I shot the photos at an angle AND the wind was blowing.  My stitching is straight. I promise!

bibs for babes

 My little grandson needed some bigger bibs now that he's gotten bigger himself!  Two of his favorite things are cars and dogs, so I hunted down these darling fabrics.  The dogs are from JoAnn's and the cars are from a new line by Riley Blake which I bought at my local fabric store, Quilter's Cottage.

I always use snaps when making bibs so that the little darlings can't pull the bib off themselves.  The pattern I used is a free download and found here.

Heirloom line quilt top

 I think what makes an impression with this quilt top is not the pattern but the bold fabric designs.  I just ♥ Joel Dewberry fabrics!!  Just today I dropped off a different top to be quilted which was also made with Joel Dewberry fabrics - a line named Aviary 2.  But I digress...

 This baby quilt is made from a set of 6" squares, one of each fabric from Dewberry's Heirloom line.  I actually bought the set from a seller on Etsy, a lady in Australia who cut them herself (since it's not a factory item).  Because I wanted to make a quilt that maximized the squares so that the prints could make their statement, I chose a simple disappearing nine patch.

The white background fabric is slightly hatched so it has a subtle textured look and is a little fancier than a plain Kona solid. Someday I will probably look back at this quilt and think that the prints are far too bold.  But as for today...I'm in love.

Andra's Quilt

 This is the finished quilt that I made for my son-in-law's sister.  While she was pregnant, I had her choose a pieced quilt top from those which I had posted pictures of on this blog.

The quilt took me longer to finish than anticipated because I just couldn't decide what design to quilt on the four patch blocks.  Then after a choice was made, I had to pick the thread color.  And getting advice from other quilters didn't help because each had a differing opinion!  It was funny how skiddish I became about the whole thing, but in the end, I decided on red (my own choice).

Now that the quilt is quilted and washed, I'm pleased with the result.  Hopefully little Andra will feel happy and warm wrapped in it.  The best part of making and giving a baby quilt is imagining the little darling snuggled inside!