The "Last Moment" Welcome Baby Package

I hesitate to blog this one, as it is going to one of my two regular readers  (hi mom! ). It isn't about sharing something my readers already know so much as potentially over-sharing a little. 

But this blog is for me, more than it is for anyone else, and this is something I need to 'say' as best I can. 

I had planned a very different quilt to go with this package,  though making a quilt for another quilter is intimidating to say the least. And maybe I let myself be too intimidated, because I never went beyond a secret Pinterest board of pattern variations and fabric shopping. 

So, I decided not to make one. 

I gathered up a few other things. I made the usual towel and a very simple coordinating bib. I picked up only a couple books.

Then, someone else announced their pregnancy.

And in wandering through my finished but waiting pile, I rediscovered Happy Go Lucky, and I suddenly knew where 'she' belonged. 

Not languishing in my cedar chest. Out, getting used, getting stained, giving off a bit of the love that went into each stitch. 

You see, Happy Go Lucky was the first quilt I made for my hope chest, for my hoped for child. Only, when that child arrived a couple years later, Happy Go Lucky wasn't right for him (though he loves the backing fabric as much as I do). So, she has continued to wait. 

The time for waiting is over. 

This quilt, like the first 18 months of gently used clothing, needs to be used. Sitting here waiting, taking up physical and emotional space isn't doing any good to anyone. 

Unlike some of my friends, I don't look around the dinner table or at the back seat and see a shadow where a child not yet conceived should be sitting. I am happy with my family of three plus cat. Yes, I wonder all the "what ifs" and yes, I do suddenly see some siblings potential in my kid.  But I can no longer justify holding onto things "just in case" -- especially when I know people who could put those things to use (whether they need them or I need to give them something). 

As always, this quilt comes with all the best wishes I can give. It turns out, it was never mine to keep, and I'm so glad to know it is going to the right place at last. I am so happy for you and your growing family, and I cannot wait to see what the future brings for you all. 

Welcome (soon but not too soon) Baby!

Progress Update March 2017

Our Bedroom Quilts (2) -- No recent work

Recent Progress: Top 1 is finished, Top 2 is finished
Yet to do: Make 1 back, baste, quilt, bind,

Half-Square Triangle Quilts (Muted/Brown)

Recent Progress: Test layout made, now to actually sew together


Selfish Sewing: Raspberry Kisses Blocks -- No recent work

Recent Progress: began cutting
Yet to Do: um... let's talk about that later...

Quilted Sleeping Bag

Recent Progress:
Yet to Do: baste

(Inherited) Scrappy Crow Quilt

Recent Progress: top finished, scrappy back made, binding made
Yet to Do: baste, quilt, bind,

(Inherited) Dresden Plate Quilt

Recent Progress: Partial sash success, partial sash failure...
Yet to Do: Fix sash issue

CGQ Dresden Plate Quilt (Jan 2017 - top complete March 2017)

Recent Progress: Basted
Yet to Do: It's off to be quilted by another group member, I'll see it again when it's ready for binding.

CQG Spiderweb Quilt (April 2017 - )
(No images yet)
Recent Progress: Blocks and strips are cut, directions are corrected and re-printed, ready for April meetings!

The Prayer Quilt (Jan 2017 - ) 
(no images yet)
Recent Progress: mailed out blocks -- anticipating a slow trickle back between now and mid-July.
Yet to do: wait

Ombre Jelly Roll Quilt (Nov 2016 - )

Recent Progress: Reassembling blocks.

Scrap Blast (Dec 31 2016 - ) 

I'm not going to track this one. It's just for fun.


Waiting to Start:

• Possibly: confetti quilt 
• Bridesmaid's Baby's Quilt

CQG Dresden Days -- Day 4

How can it be possible that we've only worked on this quilt as a group for FOUR days!?

We've worked together on quilts for four months and not made this much progress!

That is a completed quilt top! And there's a completed back!

In fact, three of the gals were beginning to pin together this quilt sandwich when I had to leave.

Group, we've done amazing work -- and fast!

It looks like one long, skinny quilt -- but by the math it's about 55 inches wide (a full size quilt is suggested to be 54 inches wide). It should also be around 87-90 inches long -- which is a little longer than it should be (a full should be around 75 - 90 depending on your preference).

For quilting, this one is going home with one of the other quilters to await some attention. I suspect waiting for this one to get to the top of her 'to quilt' pile might be the most time consuming part of the entire project.

Once it is quilted, I think it is headed back to me for binding and washing. And I'd like to get some photos of it in a better setting... Anyone have a full-sized bed I can borrow? Then again, depending on the time of year, this one might look nice draped out a barn window...

When I'm Not Posting...

I'm trying to work on piecing those delicious Ombre Blocks right now, but I keep being distracted by what I call 'real life.'

The kitchen re-do is coming along. The pantry came home on Monday afternoon -- and I'm slowly working on getting the dishes out of my bedroom and back into the kitchen. It's becoming one of those annoying/wonderful projects where it seems like every piece I put into the kitchen means a little tweak of organization and a little bit more of a puzzle for later. That entertains me greatly, but it's also very time consuming.

Because I'm organizing the kitchen -- which will eventually lead to reorganizing the living room -- I'm also organizing everywhere else. It just boils over into every other room. It's not ideal -- finishing one room at a time would be better, right? -- but it's kind of fun.

Organizing is part finding the right home for things, part getting rid of things I don't actually use.

Above is a rather shady representation of most of the baby clothes my kiddo has worn from size 6 month to size 24 month. Not all -- I already sent some of the best stuff off to a friend. I ultimately donated 6 of the diaper sized boxes worth of clothes. I kept 1 of the green bins stuffed full of things in case another friend has another child. I have two much smaller piles for two other friends, and a very small pile of 'sentimental' pieces. But a whole lot of it went off to a clothing bank.

Whew -- that cleared up a whole lot of space in the kiddo's closet!

While I was digging around in there, I also started working on another project: trying to organize what's coming up in the kiddo closet. I have some hand-me-downs and some 'oh, it's on clearance!' pieces waiting for the kiddo to grow into them. Problem is, I end up shopping with no idea what else I already have in that size.

There are some digital closet organization apps (did you know that? I didn't!), but I went with a simple solution:

These quick cell phone snaps of the various piles, with tiny scribbled notes, help me keep tabs on what I've got and what I need. That 3T pile is looking pretty good -- lots of long sleeve shirts (more than fit in the photo) but no shorts and only 3 short sleeve tops. In addition to the photos, I typed up a quick memo on my phone with the numbers of long sleeve, short sleeve, pants, shorts, coats, and other items per size. So now I have a quick visual of the amounts and colors, as well as a more detailed count.

I'm pretty thrilled with this quick solution, and I think it's going to save me a lot of wondering as I'm shopping the clearance racks and sales.

My other organization steps so far aren't digital -- chalk board labels abound -- but I'm having a blast doing it, and most of it is much easier to accept kiddo style help!

Then again, kiddo style help with some sewing is beginning to work better too...

Ombre Quilt

I have no idea when I started this project. I know it's been living in 'no photo' purgatory for a long time. It's also been at the bottom of my travel case, only getting attention when it gets uncovered. 

I don't know why. 

The fabrics are incredible and I'm so excited to start layout planning. 

Oh, maybe I do know why. I've been putting the blocks together right side together -- so only seeing solid gray and the back side of the fabrics. Hmm... 

Now that they are all cut apart again, I can iron and reacquaint myself with the beauty of the project. That's way more inspiring and interesting! 

Twisting these blocks back and forth to create different options is a blast, but I quickly settled in on my two favorite outcomes. 

I love the 'diamond' blocks best, but the X style blocks are going to grow on me... I think. 

Assuming all goes as planned, I should have 8 blocks in each color set. My goal is to make all the blocks (diamonds and x's) then determine a final layout from there. Just to see how they might look, I put them out 3 across, but I'll probably do 4 across when I'm making the top. 

I am having a wonderful time working on these -- but as always, real life calls much more loudly than a sewing machine or iron. 

CQG Dresden Days -- Day 3

We had a marvelous meet last night. Although not everyone was able to make it, we were able to make a huge amount of progress on our Dresden Plate quilt.

We split up the remaining tasks last night, so while some people worked on cutting sashing, others were making the binding, working on the few remaining blocks, and beginning to piece together the top.

I finished up my last plate block -- which means we're just waiting on two more to make it back to group. I struggled more this time around than ever before -- but it eventually worked out!

By the end of the night, the back was partially made, binding ready for use, and the top is nearly completed!

How great does it look!? For fabrics that were no one's favorites, the result is looking amazing so far!

There's one more row of 3 plate blocks to attach, and there will be borders added to the two long sides of the top.

The goal for next meet up is to finish the top and get started on basting. If we're really with it, it would be idea to start quilting.

Since I was waiting to get a photo of the top at the end of the night, I even had a few minutes to work on a project of my own. Welcome first photo of my Ombre quilt project!

It's not much to see yet, but I'll be working on cutting these blocks into something prettier over the next few days and hope to be back with an update soon!

We also had a little unofficial vote and chose the next group project -- something I'm super excited to get started on too! I'd call that a great night!