Binding Challenge and another UFO

The binding is done on this quilt.  It has been washed and is drying on this rack.  More on this quilt beginning of next month.  This was a monster quilt to bind; but so glad it is done!

In order to keep the momentum going for dealing with old UFO's, this little baby top was pulled.  It is not very big, so borders will be added to make it slightly bigger.  I was going to gift it to one of my great nephews, but they were gifted with two baby quilts each.  Now, it will be gifted to a women's shelter in a nearby town.

Borders have been added.  Glad to tick another project off the list!

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Baby Blankets

June.  Half the year is almost gone by.  I wonder how much will get done this month?

In my aim to clear out some baby fabrics and my smaller pieces of batting scraps, three baby blankets for our local hospital NICU were made.  This time, all for boys.

In a clearing/cleaning out event, these heart blocks were found.    These blocks are probably about ten years old (perhaps even older) and never even made it onto my UFO list.  That is why they were such a surprise to find.  These blocks will find their way into more baby blankets.  These will be for girls, so more girly coloured heart blocks need to be made and these blue/green blocks can be mixed in.

Waiting in the wings are seven more blankets to be made up.  Each tray (on top of the bin) has all the parts for the blanket, except for the batting and some backings (which are ready to be cut up).  In the big bin are all small batting scraps which will be pieced and then all the blankets can be made and passed on.  I'm doing the birthing method so there are no bindings to do.  It is a bit trickier, but it works for me.  I will show how it is done when the next blanket is made.

It truly is interesting what has been found when I've been cleaning/sorting/purging lately.

Cherish your day, cherish your life!

Quilting in the Garage and Baby Blankets

We had a garage day this past Saturday and I was fine to go to this one.  The last one, I had stomach flu and had to cancel.

So, what did we all work on?  Lois finished her commission quilt and how lovely it turned out!

 Darlene worked on her La Passacalgia EPP project.

Lois was asking for help laying out a new project.  LOL .... we sure had her changing this and that, but she went home with a layout.  This is only one portion of the top.

I worked on sewing a sleeve onto another quilt, but forgot to take a photo.   My camera was out for taking a photo, but somehow I got distracted.   LOL .... that is not hard when there is so much inspiration going around the table in the garage.  Karin worked on blocks (oops, no photo of them either) that she was working on this past fall before she went to Florida for the winter.  It was a fun day.  Lots got done and we all went home happy. 

Baby blankets.  After getting labels sewn on and more machine quilting done to these blankets ..... they are done and handed in to the NICU at our local hospital.  Five blankets.  Not bad at all for a day of sewing (back in February).  These will give warmth and comfort to five babies and to their parents.  That makes my heart happy.

There is no batting in these blankets.  Flannel on the back and cotton on the front.

Have a great day!

What to do?

What to do?  What to do?  What to do?  Decisions, decisions, decisions.  I'm playing the 'what if' game again with my snowball top.  Something different has been swirling around in my brain.

This appeals to me, but maybe three loops would be better on the ends and four loops on the longer sides?

 Or what about these loops on two corners or four corners?  Oh, decisions, decisions, decisions ....

"What if' my loops were slightly smaller ..... not so much 'in your face' size?  Since I have two of these rulers, the smaller loops were drawn onto paper and my vines pinned in place.

Can you see the difference on the left border?  Smaller is better.  The 'what if' game continues ......

Despite our cold, snowy weather, sewing in the garage still continues.  Not everyone can attend, but those that do go to the garage have a fun day.  After a sewing marathon in the garage last Friday and Saturday, 11 baby blankets were made for the NICU at our local hospital.  Darlene made 6 and I did 5.  We were determined to work entirely from our stash and that is a good thing.

Have a great stitching day!

A baby quilt

We just gave this quilt to our neighbours this afternoon to welcome their new baby daughter.  Everly is her name.

The husband arranged this with me a while back and he was to keep it secret until the birth of their daughter.  Isn't that sweet.  He said that the mother loved teddy bears .... so I drew a sketch and then added the balloons spelling out her name.  I warned him that they couldn't change the baby's name once I started the process.  They didn't.  Whew!  Welcome Everly to the neighbourhood!

This quilt has some hand quilting, embroidery and machine quilting as well as appliqué.

Have a great day!

Baby Blankets

Only a few days into September and I already have two finishes.  Can we say YAY!

These baby blankets will go to the NICU at our local hospital.

The idea for the bear came from a piece of remnant fabric (see first border) that was on our Encore Table at day guild.  The bear was enlarged by 400% and appliquéd onto a piece of white fabric.  That bear is so sweet!

This one is more modern and perfect for a little guy.

With Autumn officially 3 weeks away, it was hard to resist this planter with 3 different types of Mums in it.  These will be replanted in our hill garden and hopefully they can be established before we have a hard frost.  Speaking of Autumn .... there have been sightings of some trees starting to change colour already around our city.  

Have a great day!

Baby Charlotte

While at the cottage this past week, baby Charlotte (my 3 month old grand-niece) and her mom came for a visit.  I wonder if I can make a quilter out of her one day?  She sure seemed fascinated by her quilt.  There is a way to go yet before she can snuggle into her quilt!

 This is what her quilt-to-be looks like:

 This is my favourite character:

 The back shows more of my hand quilting:

We had a few cool mornings and I was able to get a lot more hand quilting done than first anticipated.

I did work on some UFO's too!!!  :o)

Have a great day!

Baby thingies

A niece is expecting her first baby this May and I will be busy making baby stuff over the next month or so. Since they don't want to know the baby's gender beforehand .... these will be made into a girl quilt and these for a boy quilt. I have had these blocks made since July/August 2004. They were just going to be made up for any baby, but when my niece saw me working on them, she said that she wanted them for her babies. So, they have been sitting on a shelf for a very long time and it will be such a pleasure to finally get them made up.

My niece even made up an order form for me (this is how they told me a baby was coming this year).

Flannel material has been collected for a year or so now to be made into receiving blankets. My DH keeps asking me how the baby stuff is coming along. Time will run out when my sewing machine, etc. gets packed away and I want all this stuff done before we move.

Have a great day!