Blogger's Quilt Festival

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Once again it's time for Amy's blogger's quilt festival.  Twice a year Amy invites quilters all over the world to visit her blog and share one of their quilts with anyone who wants to enjoy the talents of all the other creative quilters.  Thank you, Amy, for all the hard work you put into this each time. Click over to see them all and read their stories.  http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/10/26/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2012/

This season I am sharing my line art baby quilt.  This is the third quilt I have made from the same jelly roll.  Each quilt used the same pattern just in different dimensions.  The first one was lap size, the second one was a doll quilt.  http://sewingsandy.blogspot.com/2011/04/julianne-baby-quilt.html

I really had no baby in mind when I made it, but I think it is the perfect quilt to have stashed away for a someday baby.  The fabric was a Mary Engelbreit jelly roll and some kona white.  It is approximately 29" x 36".  I hand quilted it and finished the edges with rickrack under the binding.  I would place this quilt in the baby quilt category and the hand quilted category.

 

Monsters for the Grandkids

It started off simple enough.  Make a stuffed monster for Ben.  He is our five year old grandson who started kindegarten this year.  Seems like I am often making something for the granddaughters so I thought a little something for Ben was in order.  I decided on a whimsical monster.  Something sweet, like Ben and mischievous like him, too.  I would say it was a huge succes.

Before I had a chance to give it to Ben, the granddaughters saw it.  Now, I have five granddaughters ranging in ages from 14 years old to 2 months.  And wouldn't you know, they all wanted one.  So on my day off Thursday I spent it making girl monsters.  I didn't really think the baby would care if she got one or not but her mommy said she needed one, too. 

Julianne loves hers.  I had to make hers with one blue eye and one brown because she has a blue eye and a brown eye.

Baby Lucy seems to love her mini monster, too.

This one is Kaitlyn's.  She is our 14 year old.  I didn't get a picture of her with it, but believe me, she loves it!

 

 

This one is Ava's.  She is six and in first grade.  She really likes the teeth on hers.

This one belongs to Allie, our two year old.  She was not very happy about hers.  She wanted pink!  After we explained to her that it matched her room she was fine with it.

 

We also have a 15 soon to be 16 year old grandson, Kody.  Fortunately for me, Kody is just not into plush monsters.  But don't worry; I recently made him a vest he wanted so he could wear it to school.  He's quirky that way.

An Unclaimed Baby Quilt

Do you ever make a quilt for no one, for no reason?  I had made a lap size quilt and a doll size quilt from a jelly roll I had and had enough of the fabric left over to make a baby quilt.  I had sewn the top together quite some time ago and it was just waiting to be quilted.  I picked it up a couple weeks ago and decided to get busy.  I hand quilted it with straight lines through every line.  I added the rickrack to the edge because I have been on a rickrack kick lately.  I like the bit of character it added.  So now it is finished and just waiting for the next baby girl who needs a quilt.

 

New Onesies

Since we have a new grandbaby, it is the perfect excuse to embellish some onesies.  It is so much fun to come up with ideas and create something a little different.  Onesies are relatively inexpensive and all you need to do is add something to it to make it a one of a kind.  These are newborn size onesies that little Lucy will be able to wear for a month or two.

Lucy is here!

Baby Lucy made her debut last Friday, August 3rd at 4:51 p.m., weighing a whopping 5 lbs. 11 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful! And we love Lucy.

A Stroller Quilt for Lucy

We are expecting grandbaby number seven next month and are just as excited as we were with the first one. Each grandchild has been such a blessing to our family. We are so happy to welcome this precious baby girl. And I think each baby needs their very own quilt. This is a stroller quilt I made using a charm pack of vintage modern by Bonnie and Camille. I love the red and aqua fabric together. It will go great with her red car seat.

 I made the chenille to back it with.  No batting necessary with the chenille.

                         Here's one with Misty and baby Lucy!

How to make Chenille!

I was so excited to learn how to make chenille.  And it turned out wonderfully!  First stack four layers of flannel.  I started in one corner and stitched diagonally across.  Then stitch about 1/2 an inch from that stitching line all the way across the fabric.  It is very forgiving so your stitching doesn't need to be perfect.

Now the work begins.  Get your scissors out and start cutting.  Cut through the top three layers, leaving the bottom layer in tack.                                                                                                                                

Looks like this.

 And after about an hour or so of cutting, it looks like this.

Here's where it really gets interesting.  Take the fabric and wash it in the washing machine and dry it in the dryer.  It will take a little longer to dry than usual but when it comes out it should be nice and fluffy.  And it really does look like real chenille.  Here is what it looks like after it comes out of the dryer.    I actually think it would still be good if you only use three layers of flannel instead of four.                                                                                                                                                  

Stay tuned to the next day or so to see what I make with it!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I am so happy to join in Amy's blogger's quilt festival again this year.  It is such a wonderful place to go to see beautiful quilts and meet talented quilters and read their blogs.  Thank you, Amy.  I can't imagine the work that goes into this.  Just click on this link and sit back and enjoy.

http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/05/18/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2012/

I have blogged about this sweet little baby quilt before.  But I thought it would be a nice addition to the festival.  My daughter, Misty, is expecting her third baby. This will be our seventh grandbaby.  I believe no matter how many babies there are they are all special and this baby is special, too.  When I started making this quilt, we didn't know if it was a girl or boy and Misty said she wanted to wait until the baby was born to find out.

When it came down to it, she just couldn't wait to find out.  So the first oppurtunity she got she found out she was having a girl.  Maybe that is a good thing because I think this quilt is a little girly.  It is my own design.  I found this large rickrack and thought it would look adorable stitched to sollid strips of solids.  On the white strips I stitched down the two different sizes of yoyos.  I love to hand quilt, so I used coordinating colors of perle cotton to stitch around the yoyos and white perle cotton to stitch on the colored strips. 

I love this fabric I used for the backing.  It is some I have had in my stash for quite some time.  I needed the perfect baby quilt for this fabric and I think this is it.                                                    

Baby Lucy will be joining our family in August and I hope she gets lots of use out of this sweet, baby quilt.                                                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                    

Doll Quilt Swap

I joined a swap on Flickr.  It's the first one I've done on here and it has been so much fun.  I have really enjoyed seeing everyone's quilts and fabric choices.  I chose to do a churn dash and make it a bit wonky.  I just love Kona Bahama Blue and used it for the solid fabric.  The smallest block I made measured 3/4 of an inch.  I edged it in rick rack instead of a traditional binding and I thought it turned out really cute.  Hand quilted in perle cotton, it is so cute, I hated to part with it.  But my partner loved it, so everything turned out alright.

I have a new finish!

I've been stitching away on this sweet baby quilt.  It is completely hand stitched, from the yo yos to sewing the rick rack on to sewing the strips together.  I quilted it with different perle cotton to match the colors of the yo yos.  After all this hand sewing, I couldn't machine stitch the binding on, that would be wrong.  So this is another testimont to my stubborness.  After I washed it, this quilt is nice and crinkly.  And now that it is completely finished and ready for grandbaby number seven, I will soon start on another baby quilt just in case this new one is a boy!

Baby Quilt Top

Baby Quilt Top, a photo by sandyb72357 on Flickr.

I've finished the quilt top for grandbaby number 7. I have the perfect fabric, I've been saving, for the back. We don't know whether it is a girl or a boy and I'm afraid it might be too girly, so maybe I should make another quilt with no pink in it just in case. What do you think.

DQS 12 Button 150

DQS 12 Button 150, a photo by Miss Emily D on Flickr.

I joined this swap on Flickr and can't wait to get started on it. It is going to be so much fun playing with all these talented ladies.

I'm in a Slump!

After I finished the tumbler quilt from my last post, I have been in a slump.  I just can't seem to get my mojo on.  Have you ever had that happen to you?  I want to sew, I have lot's of ideas, I just can't seem to get motivated.   What do you do to snap out of it?

My First Finish for 2012!

I am so excited to have my first finished quilt for 2012. I started this one a couple months ago. I don't turn them out as quickly as a lot of quilters because I normally hand quilt. I love the red and aqua color combination and this line (bliss by Bonnie and Camille) does not disappoint. Perfect for this pattern. My dd, Misty, claimed this one for her house. The older daughter, Amy, has claimed the next one already. It will be made of the red and aqua line called sugar and spice.