Quilt #30 -- Purple and Black Modern Baby Quilt

Okay, so I think of this one as the "Motor-cross Princess" quilt. Because if all goes as planned, it is intended for a child whose parents once called her that. Then again, because of the size of the planet, by the time I have a chance to give it to her, she might be far, far too big for a baby quilt!

 It's not a very large size for the toddler she will probably be before I get to meet her -- or a chance to mail this overseas -- so there's a chance this will end up going to someone else between now and then. Life is tricky that way sometimes.

It's really too bright outside to get good photos of this one. The colors are so much more powerful than this photo makes them look -- though not too loud for a nursery with all the grays and neutrals in there. It certainly isn't what I'd call a typical 'baby girl' quilt, and that was exactly the point. The colors are a little unusual for 'baby girl' (purple, grey, black, and yellow) and the prints are all quite neutral and sophisticated. 

I quilted it quite simply with mostly echo or in the ditch quilting. To add a little bit of jazz, I did swap over to some dark purple thread for some extra quilting in the black fields. You can kind of see that in the photo of the backing and binding -- but it turned out much more subtle than I expected.

Now to sit back and see if I get a chance to give it to the motor cross princess before she's far too old to appreciate it!

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!

Dresden / Butterfly top preview

Thanks to the quilt group time (in June), I managed not only to finish the fourth butterfly needed to round out the Dresden quilt, but I even pieced them into the larger blocks I needed -- and placed things together for a preview of the top!

I had just enough background fabric to piece the approximately 5 inch butterfly blocks into two 12 inch blocks.

The two butterflies closest to the Dresden plate are made from fabric pulled directly from the plates / scraps that came with the quilt. The two farther removed butterflies are partly (orange) or all (green/black) pulled from my scrap stash.

Since I had a little bit of extra time -- and not much desire to start on another project in that little bit of time -- I started practicing my planned layout:

I had thought to put the butterfly sets in the center (as shown above) but all the feedback I've gotten says to move it to the top row. I have a while to think about it, but I'm leaning towards not listening. I like it how it is now.

Right now, finished size is on goal to be around 40 - 42 inch square. I like it, but it feels just a little small. Then again, not all babies are the size of mine! Still, I'm debating adding a thin brown then a thick yellow border just to add 3 - 5 inches before the dark brown trim. I think the best option is to finish the top as designed above, then I can make the determination on adding extra borders once I see the real top.

On the other hand, I love the way it looks right now, and I really don't want to mess with it further.

Do I always end up in these kinds of situations? I think I usually do. Must be one of the reasons most people who quilt plan first and piece later...

I'm so nervous about adding those 4 little brown blocks. The quilt needs them, but those kinds of elements are exactly where my accuracy (or lack of) usually becomes incredibly obvious. But there's only 4 of them. Surely I can keep it together for that long!

July Check-In

Wow. It's July again.

In a few days, I'll have a one year old.

Wow.

I'm so not ready. And yet, every day is more fun than the last. So maybe I am.

Meanwhile, sometime soon -- when I never know -- I'll be going to the post office. Hopefully Monday or Tuesday, as these are quite overdue in the mail!

Blocks headed out, birthday presents headed out, and hand-me-on clothes headed out. And three more packages to wrap up and for sending or delivering.

And yes, I got to quilt a little today too. But I can't show you any progress.

Because the noticeable parts are all currently under a fluffy bottom that has no interest in moving from his lovely new spot.

Binding is ready to go on, but I guess that will wait until next weekend! There's no rush on this one, unless I want to ship it overseas... But I keep being told there will be a stateside visit at some point, so that's my target date for finishing. It's just my closest to a finish, and I had high hopes for getting one crossed off the ever growing list of unfinished / works in progress!

Outgoing, and Soon-to-be-Outgoing

I'm usually quite content to be sitting at home interacting with no one. But there's a big difference between having nice, quiet, introvert time alone and being wonderful, busy, Mama all the time. I'm not really alone anymore, and while my little 'co-worker' is a lot of fun these days, it's just not the same as any introvert time. Since there simply isn't more time to turn into introvert time, I'm looking for new ways to feel like I'm rebuilding myself, new ways to find a little more energy.

So, in terms of trying something new... well, what's newer for an extreme introvert than getting out and doing something interactive?

In June, I sent out a message to someone about sharing hand-me-downs, joined a local caregiver/child group, and joined a facebook group: Quilting for a Cause.

To some, that might not sound like much, but for me, that was a lot of 'risk' -- and so far, I think it is paying off.

These are the two blocks I made for the first quilt I'm participating in. I really wanted to do a #QuiltsforPulse, but I know there's not time in my life to do a whole quilt myself right now, so I'm glad to be participating in a group project.

What I learned so far? I made all my paper pieced butterflies backwards (mirrored?). Since I was working with myself, it didn't matter. But the first heart I started making for this project was mirrored, so it turns out I've been doing it wrong! I was able to print off another pattern and make another heart, but I did lose the green I'd really been hoping to use. I found an alternative -- not my favorite, but most of my greens turned out to be yellow-green, which wasn't what I needed. So, it was a surprise make-do moment, but I think it turned out alright.

I'm a little nervous my background choices on the orange one might be a little bit 'out there' too, but, I like it. I think it's more fun than the background choices on the green one.

Anyway, so I'm getting ready to ship these off.

Just participating in this, it's been a lot of fun. And yes, it's helped me feel a little better.

The other two 'outgoing' things have yet to turn into anything I can do yet, but I'm still feeling a little better than I was for a while. It's not quite getting out, or having coffee with friends, or whatever moms are supposed to do to help refill their personal cups, but it's helping.

(Inherited) Scrappy Crow Quilt

Quite the name, I know, but it's sure 'scrappy' and as far as I can tell the fabric was called 'a year to crow about' -- so scrappy crow it is!

The scrappy top came together quickly, and is adorable -- if neither perfect nor my taste.

(I know, I'm supposed to find indirect sunlight without shadows of trees, but give me a break, it's over 90 degrees out there and I'm actually accomplishing stuff! If I hold out for either better photos or better weather, nothing will ever happen here again.)

I just added 2.5 inch square patchwork between each block and then all around as a border. It's really busy, but cute.

For the back, I just pushed together scraps until I had something large enough to work with. It's not nearly as cute, but it's going to work.

And by using the same fabrics, it does coordinate perfectly, which is nice.

By far the cutest detail on the back is this little corner:

which was built of more of the started but not finished pieces that came with the blocks and fabric I've used. I think it will make a natural and perfect quilt label area.

Binding is already made for this one -- scrappy as well, of course. So, it's just a matter of basting. Which is where I bog down on every project these days!

I'm hoping to get some folding tables set up outside some time and have a basting party. I do have some spray baste to test out, but I want to start with something smaller (I think). I also have a newly improved stash of pins, so hopefully I can get a couple things done while I have a good setup going -- assuming I can do such a thing!

Butterfly Charm Blocks for Dresden Plate Quilt

Slowly but surely, I'm making progress on these butterfly charm blocks!

Not including my mistakenly too bright yellow butterfly, I'm currently standing at 3 of 4 done:

Aren't they adorable?!

The green is made up of the last tiny pieces of one of my very favorite green scraps. The yellow and tan butterflies are made completely from coordinating scraps that came with the quilt.

These blocks are taking me around an hour to an hour-and-a-half a piece to finish, so it's been a challenge to squeeze them in to my day. Then again, knowing exactly what I have to do -- and how long I'll need to do it -- is helping everyone else get me the time to work on them. Which is a lot of fun.

Basting, quilting, even working on larger tops is harder to squeeze in. It often feels like I'm finally set up to start and boom! Time's up!

I'm crossing my fingers to get the orange one done yet tonight. I can't wait to see all four of them finished. I'm also crossing my fingers to have enough background fabric left to piece these 5 inch squares into 12 inch blocks!