A Special Request

When someone asks you to make a quilt because the last quilt you made for her is completely worn out, it is easy to say, "Yes!"  I love it when people actually use the quilts I make for them.   I had made a Double Pinwheel quilt for my sister, Dee Dee,  back in 2000.  It was one of the first quilts I made once I got back into quilting after putting it on old to home-school my sons for over 20 years.  

It may look pretty, but it wasn't well made.  I learned from my mother and grandmother back in the 60's so I used inexpensive fabrics leftover from garment sewing to piece the top, a bed sheet for the backing, and store bought bias tape for binding.  It's no wonder it started falling apart after only 11 years!  Not to mention I never told Dee Dee to wash in cold water with a small amount of mild soap and not to wash it too often.  I've learned a lot since I made this one!


I had some Pineapple Blossom blocks from a group block swap I was involved in last year.  I only had 24 blocks from the swap and I needed 121 to make a king size quilt.  (I know.  I should have made a baby quilt with these!)  

This is another one of those quilts made from stash and scraps that "didn't cost anything" to make.  (I still haven't convinced Hubby of this logic.)  


The money I saved on fabric (ahem...) I spent on having my friend Angela from Quilted Joy do the quilting for me.  She always does a gorgeous job.

400 inches of binding takes  awhile to sew on.

But, it looks pretty all stitched down.


I don't have a design wall (or design floor either!) large enough to get a good photo of a king size quilt, so I threw it on my guest room bed to take a picture.  

It turned out well and I hope it lasts Dee Dee a long time.  Really!  I hope you are listening, Dee Dee!!

Wordless Wednesday

Design Wall Monday

This is what is on my design wall today.  I started it at Jeanne's 50th Birthday Party Quilt Retreat in January of 2011 and only completed four blocks that week.  This is definitely a UFO I want to finish this year.  

The pattern is Root Beer Float by Hyacinth Quilt Designs.   Here are some of the fabrics in the running for putting it together.  We'll see how it all turns out.  Now that I look at them, though, I think I need to throw in some more blues and greens!

Love Seeing Baby Quilts Being Used

I was so happy to see this photo on FaceBook this morning!  

I told you about the quilt I made for Naomi in this post.  I am happy to report that Naomi's daughter, Katelyn Anne, has arrived.  She went home from the hospital covered in her quilt.  I am so glad I didn't wait until she was born before mailing it.  How special that she is using it her very first day out of the hospital.  Quilters love to see people using quilts instead of "saving" them!

An I Spy Finish!

I know two very happy boys.  My 3 year old great-nephew Phenyx.....

  






















......and my 1 year old great-nephew Kingston.

They got their I Spy quilts in the mail last week from their very awesome Great Aunt Sandy (that would be me!)

There are so many fun novelty fabrics available these days.  Everything from bumble bees to candy corn to cupcakes and balloon dogs. Even lobsters!

I used the backing fabric to make some matching pillowcases.  I love this fabric designed by Wendy Bentley for Timeless Treasures. 

Paula Hughes' Over - Under Pattern came in handy again for this quilt, and I got two entirely different looks because of the background fabrics.  The dark blue fabric created a woven look, but the blocks on the green background look like they're floating.  Fun!

Phenyx is already playing games with his quilt and finding all kinds of fun things ---- even when he is supposed to be sleeping!

So, two well-loved boys have their I Spy quilts that I know will also be well-loved.  And that makes this quilter very happy.

It's Official . . . . I'm a Doofus

When my friend's daughter, Naomi, was a little girl I made a lot of her clothes.  Because I thought that someday I would make a wedding quilt for her I set aside a 12" square of fabric from a lot of the garments I had made for her.  

When she got married several years ago I made a 4-Patch Posie quilt for her instead......

......and I set aside the fabric squares for a "someday" baby quilt.  When I learned that she is expecting I got out the scraps and started on her quilt.  I looked through my stash to see if I had any larger pieces of those fabrics I had saved and kept finding more and more fabrics that I just knew I had used for her little dresses.  

This is the finished quilt.  I wasn't able to use enough of the fabrics on the front because there were so many, so I used them on the back and also in the binding.  This is the most special quilt ever!  Naomi's baby dress fabrics in her baby girl's quilt!  I even hand-quilted it.

I thought it would be fun to include in this post some photos of Naomi wearing the dresses I made for her.  But when I looked through all my photos, I could only find pics of her little sister, Joanna in dresses out of most of these fabrics.  Hmmmm, I know kids wear hand-me-downs, but why are there so many photos of Joanna opening gifts from me - gifts of little home-made dresses?  Little home-made dresses made from these fabrics?

Yup, I'm a doofus.  Some of the fabrics in this quilt actually are from Naomi's clothes, but a lot of them are from Joanna's clothes.  I didn't figure it out until I had already named the quilt "Memories of Naomi" and mailed it to her, just in time for the baby to arrive in a few weeks.  She was really happy when she received it and thinks it's just beautiful.  But, for some strange reason she didn't mention my great idea of only using fabrics from the clothes I made for her.  (Silly Me!)