Quilt 32: For the Bridesmaid's Baby

I'm the very first to admit that this quilt has not turned out like I planned. The moment I heard she was expecting, I had visions of flying geese in a scrappy low volume background. I was certain it would be fairly do-able. I was... not right. Flying geese triangles aren't the easiest for me. They are do-able, but not in the amount of time I had to do it.

So, after a total rethink of the project -- after buying fabric -- I wound up with a split rail inspired top, and a very happy baby quilt.

This came together so, so quickly, but the result? I absolutely love.

Sharp eyes will catch the spot where the binding didn't quite catch the top. I've since fixed it. Yet another reason why washing and taking photos -- and processing them -- are part of the 'pre-finish' action. Sometimes I see things in the photos that I completely missed when I check every edge in person!

Have I ever been the kind of quilter to talk about texture? Because I am now. This quilt looks so ready to snuggle now that it's wrinkled up a bit more! I love it. Quilting around those pop blocks was a challenge -- nothing I'd do on a domestic machine with a larger quilt, but the result was exactly what I wanted. I'm so glad I pushed on through it.

I felt like I was taking a little bit of a risk with this amazing Cotton + Steel Wonderland backing, but with the addition of red binding, it's a perfect finish. The fabric is incredibly fun to look at, and I love the extra touch the little bit of gold gives it. Fun without being particularly 'nursery' looking.

 I'm just in love. I hope the new mom and her little one will like it half as much as I do.

The finished size is just about 40 inches square, which I think is a perfect size for those newborn months.

Now, to put a snap in a bib, take a photo of the whole package put together, and get it in the mail asap! I'm so excited to get to 'meet' this baby when she arrives. And more excited for my friend to get to be a parent (it is so not for everyone, it's hard, but it is also so much fun -- I could gush about my kid for an hour solid if I get started).

Welcome Baby Packages...

Welcome Baby C #2!!

Two of my favorite people just welcomed their second child -- a little bit ahead of schedule, but apparently fit as a fiddle. I haven't quite finished her 'welcome' package, but I've asked for a lot of help this weekend so I can wrap it up and get it in the mail as soon as possible!

I'd still like to add a thing or two... more on the book/toy scale than the hand made or hand-me-down end of things, but here's the beginning:

Recognize the quilt? My wonky star sampler seemed perfect for this little one, so I didn't bother making her a quilt all of her own.

Or... maybe I did. The other quilt/blanket isn't much to talk about, just some scraps of flannel quilted to a scrap basket piece of fleece, but experience has taught me this is a great combination (the much nicer looking quilt like this a friend gave us is a favorite). Experience has also taught me that it is handy to have a blanket or two you don't care about -- for picnics, use in strollers, or those late night baby can't stop puking trips to the ER.

Of course a hooded towel, a couple of toys, and some clothes -- some new, some hand me downs.

Not pictured, there's a sleep sack, a couple more toys, and two terry cloth backed bibs.

I had hoped to make a new quilt for this baby -- but when she turned out to be a she, I let myself take the easier way out. I'll have to make another for the planned upon baby #3 (no matter the gender), but hopefully by then I'll be able to take a little more time to work on projects!



I've been working on a couple other welcome baby packages as well. All these new babies are keeping me busy, and emptying my stash of baby quilts! I'm also making lots of bibs, including some extra large ones for my house!

Here's hoping I can get one more hooded towel done asap -- I want those other welcome baby packages in the mail before the babies arrive!

April Check In

I'm still alive -- and reading again thanks to figuring out how to get books on my cell phone -- but not much else is happening around here. 

Recently read: 

• "The Selection" Kiera Cass
• "Terrier" Tamora Pierce
• "Bloodhound" Tamora Pierce
• "Mastiff" Tamora Pierce
• "Wild Magic" Tamora Pierce
• "Because of Miss Bridgerton" Julia Quinn

and maybe a couple more I can't think of at the moment. Having them on my phone is far from ideal, but it makes it so much easier to read over the head of the sleeping baby. Unless of course I fall asleep too. Last night the baby was out by 6:35 and I was out by 7:00. And we both took a 2.5 hour nap today. I guess I thought that 'sleep while the baby sleeps' would have worn off by now, but if anything, it is more important than ever. 

Oh -- and check something off the yearly goal list: new restaurant visited. Waltzing Kangaroo in Fort Collins, CO. Delicious. Will definitely return. 

It's not on the list, but the baby has now been in 5 states (at 8 months). Still hoping for a trip up to see Baby C soon, and if we're that close, it's tempting to drive a little farther just to hit a 6th state... but I don't think we will. But, we need a bigger car (probably) before we take that trip, so I'm spending time back on the car shopping sites -- what a horrible way to spend time! 

I ordered and received the material for the backing and binding for two quilts I'm working on, which once again puts me back at facing the basting I've been procrastinating on. 

Although I could technically skip ahead and start on another top... but at some point I have to buckle down and finish something. Sooner rather than later on two of these. So, I'm trying to use that top making as a bribe... but so far I'm just accomplishing nothing instead. 

Life called on me to I skip my last quilting night, and I don't get another one until May, so I'm going to have to start getting intentional about setting aside some time to work on my own or I'm never going to keep up with all the babies coming this fall! Full count for people I know is up to about 8 -- but I'm only gifting to two or three of them, plus the one that I ought to be mailing this month (I'm going to be late, I know it). 

So, alive, but a long ways from being having anything to show off here. 

Goal for the weekend: baste. 

Goal for the month: finishing up 1-2 quilts. 

Ambitious and unlikely? Yep. But, I can dream! 

Sewing (and more) for Baby -- Update #3

My Sew/Craft/Etc. for Baby List 

• Fitted Sheets for Co-Sleeper Mattress:
• 2 Cotton -- both now have elastic and have been washed

•  2 flannel -- maybe later?? 
• Is 3 enough? Am I crazy? 

• Zipper Front Sleep Sack
• At least 2? -- Um... I'm thinking I might not get around to this one. I've got some other sleep sacks from gifts and I might see if I can make it work with those. If baby is as hot a sleeper as Greg, I'll have to come back to this one and try something lighter weight than the fleece once we got! 

• Changing Pad Cover
• 2+ 
  
• At least 3 1 quilts/blankets (mostly to use as play mats)
• Panda Quilt -- in Progress

• Minky Cat and Mouse Quilt -- Done

• Autumn Woods Patchwork/Panel -- Done

• A Quiet Book (for later, but should start as time allows)

• Bibs -- in progress!
• I've got 6 ready for snaps -- just haven't gone outside to pound on them with a hammer! 

• Wipes
• Single weight flannel
• Double weight flannel

• Wash Cloths
• Flannel/cuddle fabric
• Flannel/texture fabric
• A couple for a gift

• Burp Cloths
• I'm guessing we want quite a few of these? 

I wound up with a lot of extra flat diapers, so for now I'm going with those. Most of them are still white / untouched, but I may end up dying more of them if time allows. I love the finished look -- even when the color doesn't turn out as expected, which is more than 50% of the time --but the process is time consuming, and the 'rinse' process is especially frustrating for me. I've dyed a few over the last few months, thinking we might use them either as part of the diapering process or the burp cloth (or a general clean up whatever is happening cloth!) but I have a LOT more white ones to go -- and I can only dye about 4 at a time before the coverage turns out really spotty. 

In addition to dying some of the flat diapers, we also dyed a few onesies, tops, and two of the plain white swaddles we were given. 

The process is a little frustrating to me, but I really like the outcome... If I do end up taking some kind of maternity leave before baby is actually here, I might have enough hours to do a few more, but if I work right on through there's no way I'll have the time. So, we'll see! 

• Hooded Towels
• 2 for gifts
• 2 for us

2 hooded towels -- one with yellow trim, one with original

• Leg Warmers
• 3 made, which is a good enough start for something that may or may not work out. I'm calling this good until we see how they work out in reality. 
• 
  
• Texture 'lovie' blankets
• 3 for us

2 small 'lovies' for us, plus 2 wash cloths

• 1-2 for gifts -- 1 down, 1 smaller one to go

The larger gift texture 'lovie' blanket

Not on the 'sewing' list, but I have finished one other project for the baby too... 

It's not quite as lovely as the examples I've been drooling over on Pinterest... but it'll work for now and I can always dress it up later if need be.

Keys in Trees

I don't know what it is about the winter holidays that gets me in the mood to do something crafty, but it seems like I'm always more interested in little diy projects during November and December.

This year, one of the two major projects I wanted to accomplish was something a little like this:

I've been collecting interesting looking keys for about 5 years now, and I finally felt like I had enough keys to start on this project.

It doesn't look it from very far away, but there's a lot of variety going on. Fortunately, everything blends together into a fairly cohesive look, but it's still possible to glance through and pick out a few favorites.

Ugh, pardon the extreme blur, but this one shows some of the variety -- cut out scraps of lace detail in the center, metal wings on either edge.

Right now, they're doing a test hang on our little tree from last year, but if all goes as planned, there's a good chance they'll be moving over to our new and improved (larger) tree for the Christmas House this year. I'm looking forward to it -- I hope it works out in reality as well as it has in my mind.



The Christmas House isn't anything official (though I know there are groups that do official things under that name). For us, it's the place where my in-laws and we will be having Christmas. Right now, we're unofficially in charge -- being the ones nearest and most involved in the planning -- so we've been stocking up on decorations and other supplies for what I hope will be a magical holiday. Thanks to a little borrowing, a little scavenging, a little diy, and a little shopping, I think we've got an artificial tree for every room. We've also picked up a couple Bath and Bodyworks candles that will make up for the loss of real tree smell, some stocking stuffers, and a few treats to welcome everyone 'home' for the holiday.

Finishing up getting ready for the Christmas House is going to take up about a week of December, so I'm sure I'll be back with more -- and I'll be sharing photos of these flying keys in action with everything else.

It's the busiest, and happiest, time of the year!

Quilt #24 : S'more Love Quilt

As expected, my snack size (37 x 25) S'more Love quilt came through the wash with absolutely no issues. No shrinking. No problems with the binding pulling off. Nothing. After my bad luck recently, that was a relief.

Technically speaking, this was an incredibly simple quilt to make, but that doesn't make me love the outcome any less. The fabrics are adorable -- something I wanted to work with from the moment I saw it -- and once I had them in hand, I wanted to go with something that really let the pieces shine instead of chopping them into smaller pieces. This was an easy way to do that - and I think the little pieces of white solid area  good contrast to all the bold, kind of retro colors in the fabric line.

Quilting wise, I went with my favorite chevron inspired quilting. I hadn't wanted to quilt it too heavily, but now that it's been washed, I think I could have done about twice as much. It doesn't need it - it's quite securely quilted - but I certainly could have done more without distracting from the fabrics.

Backing material and binding material both came from stash - one truly from the depths of my stash, the other purchased for another quilt I worked on at the same time. Happily, both fabrics seem just about perfect and really work with the rest of the quilt.

I think it's just about perfect, which might be part of why I've got such a long list of families I am considering sending it to upon the arrival of a new baby. I hope to have a decision on that soon, but I'm also in no rush to part with it. I don't mind staring at it for a few months while I wait and decide!

Quick Update

A busy weekend in the middle of a very busy month, but I had to share a couple photos today and hopefully I'll carve out a few minutes to get some photos off the camera later, and a few more even later so I can share a little of what I've been up to.

I think this was called 'Subway' but I didn't get the creator's info

I did make it to the quilt show this weekend, though I didn't stay very long. This year's quilts on display were much more to my taste than last year, so we did have a good time looking at the various quilts and shops. I didn't find any fabric I just had to have, though I did come home with a few other purchases.

Again, didn't get the artist's info

My husband even found one quilt he liked -- something he is considering trying his hand at. I never thought the day would come - as he's quite anti sewing machines thanks to a bad experience in high school home ec class - but he was quite taken by the quilting.

I had hoped to find fabric, but there was only one yard of anything I was interested in, so I collected coupons and will pick up my next order from my local shop, or online, whichever coupon is still good when I have the time to sit down and make the order!

Oh, here's one of the two things I brought home -- an utter splurge and nothing to do with fabric really.

But it was pretty, and I think it will go well with our bedroom quilts -- which I really want to spend this coming weekend working on. I might have to lock myself in the office to do it though! Too many distractions in other projects around here. This is one of the reasons I like smaller projects, they're easier to start and stop, while our bedroom quilts seem to take so much time and space they're hard to get moving on.

If I make it to quilt group this week I think I might baste mine - simply because I have the pieces, and because I'll have to take everything with me to work that day and I'm not sure I want to haul around the machine for 12 hours prior to the meeting!

Welcome Baby W Package

Although I really wanted to go utterly overboard for the Welcome Baby W Package, I know I'm not the only one who is looking forward to pouring gifts and love all over this soon-to-expand family - so I'm trying to hold back, at least for now.

I started with the multi starburst quilt in which I tried to be whimsical, fun, and not too pink -- though I suspect I wasn't as successful on that last goal! In the hope of balancing the pinks and purples of the quilt, I went in more of a green direction with the hooded towel (despite the pink trim) and coordinating bib, as well as with the few outfits I chose from my stash to include.

Actually, although I knew I was very closely matching the colors of the greens, it didn't occur to me until just now that two of the four also feature hot air balloons. The other two are a white with grey chevron and white stars on grey. Nothing terribly loud - but I think other people will be covering the loud part of Baby W's wardrobe.

As for the books, so far I've only picked three -- though there's a good chance I'll pick up another one or two between now and the delivery date. "The Color Kittens" is one of my very favorite books, now and from my childhood, while "You are My Cupcake" is silly fluff and "My Lucky Little Dragon" isn't far behind in terms of fluffiness. Fluffy, yes, but both are adorable and full of cute colors and illustrations.

Baby W should be joining us in about a month and a half, but I'll be delivering the package to her family in a couple weeks. That gives me a few more chances to add a few bits and bobs if I find something else perfect -- but having seen glimpses of the nursery, I can't imagine I'll find a thing they still need!

New Sewing Room - In Progress

Last time I showed a picture of my work space, I think it looked something like this:

Which was colorful and fun, but honestly didn't really function as I needed it to. Any time I really needed to work on the sewing machine, I had to pull the desk into the center of the room to get enough space around it to work. This wasn't a huge problem, but it wasn't the most convenient either. Walking around the room was sometimes dangerous thanks to cords and cables all over when the machine was in the center of the room.

I'd been looking at building some storage cabinets and a little desk that would run along the wall with the window there, but I hadn't found anything both easy to build and affordable, so I was figuring on visiting Ikea for ideas (or possibly some purchases) later on this summer.

That all got set to the side when I got emailed a craigslist ad last week. A few hours later, I had the pieces to a very different office set up sitting in the back of two borrowed SUVs. It took a few hours just to get the pieces into the house, and I'm still a long ways from fully functional or staged, but check out my new situation!

The ocean painting hasn't been moved - though it will be eventually, as I figure out where everything needs to be - so that gives an idea of the differences. It looks tight between the cedar chest (under the painting) and the desk, but there's about 20 inches. The eventual goal is to have the new computer off the desk (and set up in the last cubby where the basically dead computer tower is) so that the desk top will be the sewing space. I can store my sewing machine, iron, and serger all in the center cubby right next to the table top (or leave them on the desk top as needed), and I still have a third set of drawers/shelves nearest the doorway that I'm working on filling up.

The gap between the first two units is to allow for the heat register. I would like to have set up on one of the other two walls, but for now that's not a possibility thanks to the closet door. At some point I may rearrange enough that I can move these units to the short wall, but I'm not sure that allows enough space for anything else in the rest of the room.

Almost all of my fabric stash is stored on the two shelves over the sewing machine opening - though for now my vintage sheet collection is under the old computer (because that base cabinet has doors). The open cabinet under the desk is currently holding two of my scrap bins and my notions box. I figure at some point I'll get a couple more bins, baskets, or boxes so I can make better use of the bottom shelf - but for now the open shelf is working well for Momo exploration. Over the computer opening are my books and cds (because I'm reluctant to move over to digital download, and I see no reason to get rid of the small collection I already have). The cabinet pairing nearest the door holds most of my computer desk goodies in the top (notebooks, cables, old digital cameras, and other things I don't want to see, but don't want to get rid of) while the bottom drawers (designed to be used as file cabinets) are great for holding quilts and other projects I'm working on.

It's hard to see in my photos (though somewhat noticeable on the file cabinet base above), but there is some damage to every piece. Most of the damage is minor, but I couldn't have bought or built anything better for the $100 this cost me. And honestly, a little bit of damage makes it easier to use these as a real work surface than constantly worry about babying them or keeping them from getting damaged!

The old computer desk, old sewing desk, and my lovely green china hutch have all left the room for good. If I had a larger space, I'd have worked to find a new home for the hutch, but there just wasn't a space and it wasn't worth trying to store. At the moment, this room is down to my new 7 piece desk/storage unit, the cedar chest, and the black baker's rack (visible in the 'before' picture). My goal is to eventually clear off and replace the baker's rack (which is about .25 inch too deep and keeps the closet door from opening as wide as I'd like), but it'll take a while to figure out how to make those changes. The cedar chest is probably staying put for the foreseeable future, and it looks like my old office chair will be staying as a window seat for Momo - at least for now. I still love that chair, but it needs some wood glue or something before it can be a human chair (our new flooring is slick enough it just slides apart under much weight/movement).

I do miss having my sewing machine inset in my work surface, so I'm looking at larger plates or possibly a surface I can set on top of the table top (I don't want to cut in to it), but all in all the space is significantly more functional and pleasant. I can't wait to get everything in the right place so I can concentrate on brightening things up a little more. The dark cherry tones of the new furniture does make the room feel darker than the old green hutch did, but I'm hoping that some art and hooking up another lamp or two will make up for that.


--
Woah - I thought I shared this last week. I've been working on finishing up the space. I hope to have it fully in working order by mid-August. Things are slightly more organized now than they were, but not enough to be worth a real update until I'm done. I have moved the sewing machine to the center of the desk (shoving the two computers off to under the shelves) and am attempting to remember how to sew on a machine that sits up from the work surface instead of even with it... My shoulders are so sore - I'm really feeling the difference!

2014 Goal #22

22. Do something more social with sewing/quilting: join a swap, or a bee, or a quilt along. It's time to meet some people and make friends.

Tonight I attended my first - and the first - meeting of a local quilting club. 

In utter defiance of my nerves, everything was a blast and I'm really glad I worked up the courage to get out there! It sounds like most of the other quilters there like picking fabrics, so I'm hopeful they can pass along some knowledge and help me break out of my reliance on coordinating/pre-cut bundles. Not everyone was there tonight, so I'm hopeful that more people can come to the next meeting -- and hopeful that some of them will know a few more of the things on my 'to learn' list. If not, maybe we can learn as a group or something. I don't know - but I'm excited for the possibilities ahead. 

This was a good incentive/reward for getting out of the house and meeting some people. It'll be nice to have a few more people to talk about quilts with - especially since the only other people I see socially on a regular basis are much more interested in video games, sports, and HBO than something like fabric or crafts! 

2014 Goal #27 - 1 of ?

Goal #27 for this year is to try at least two new cuisines or restaurants.

While one of my companions from this outing would argue that an ice cream shop hardly counts as a restaurant, I think it counts - especially when the ice cream in question is made in a new-to-me way: using liquid nitrogen.

My grandparents were dairy farmers, so I can be a bit of an ice cream snob. And yeah, call me old fashioned, but I think I'd rather have the traditionally made ice cream. That said, it's very nice to be able to choose a flavor combination and have it made for you right in front of you. And while that's possible the old fashioned way - it takes a lot longer! We'll be going back again, I'm sure, but it wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped.