This Quilt Needs a Baby!

Usually I make baby quilts on an "as needed" basis.  It's not the kind of thing I normally keep on hand.  Actually, what really happens is this:  Even though I know for almost nine months that I need to make a baby quilt, I wait until the baby is here and then frantically work on nothing else until Baby has a quilt.  When Matt and Tiffany were expecting earlier this year I knew that method wouldn't work since the baby's gender would not be known ahead of time.   I made a baby boy quilt and a baby girl quilt, and little Eva got her quilt on time.  That means I have a baby boy quilt ready just in case I need one.   

Isn't this the cutest?  I liked this monkey fabric so much when I bought it for Grant's quilt a few years ago that I bought all that was left on the bolt.  I like to give credit to publishers and designers, but I can't find the magazine from which I took this pattern.  I have looked and looked, but it must be hiding somewhere in the deepest darkest recesses of my messy sewing room. Just know that it is not my design and that I'm reasonably sure it's from a QNM publication.  

Now.  This quilt needs a baby.  So.  I'm waiting......... 

Round Robin Found Its Way Home

A while back I blogged about a Round Robin group I had joined.  I had great visions of something really abstract when I sketched the semi-paisley shapes, but they ended up looking like drumsticks.  Was I ever worried about what the gals in the Round Robin would do with that!!  

Well, they behaved, although they said they were really tempted to add chickens, etc. to their borders.  Am I ever glad they restrained themselves.   This is what it looked like when I got it in the mail a few days ago.

The only thing I really hated about it was that goofy looking center block!  I had to fix it!   I borrowed some of the shapes from the last border and used them to add some appliqué to the center. 

All I can say is, "Wow!"  

Thank you SO much, Shirley, Jac and Marcia for making my Round Robin so beautiful.   I love it!  This is one project that will definitely not turn into a UFO.

Needle Troubles

I have been hand-quilting a long time, not to mention all the hand-applique' and hand-embroidery I have done throughout my life, and I have never had the problems with needles I have been dealing with lately.  Look at this......

.....my needles have been bending right at the bottom of the eye.  

It's hard to get much completed when this keeps happening!  One needle after the other in the most recent package has bent this way, and there's no way to continue using them in that condition.  (By the way, these two photos were taken with my cell phone.....impressive, right??)

Just in case you are interested in the quilt I am working on here is a sneak peak.

It's the Dutch Treat quilt I started in 2005, and it's more than half quilted.  I'm anxious to finish it so needle problems are not fitting into the schedule right now!

My Oldest UFO is Finished!

In 2003, my "Secret Sister" at church gave me homemade quilt blocks, spaced throughout the year, each one having a special significance to our family.  She made one block each for my husband and me as well as each of our sons, with our birth dates embroidered on them.

She made a block that reminds us of our 15 years of home-schooling....

.....a block for Hubby's career (I added the retirement date!).......

.......and one commemorating our first grandchild.

 Log-cabin blocks display each of our wedding anniversary dates.

You can see other blocks in the quilt  --  

--  blocks for our daughters-in-law with their birth dates --  

--  and blocks I added for our grandsons who joined our family while all the rest of the blocks were sitting in a sewing room cabinet, being a UFO, and waiting to be completed.

I didn't know until the end of the year that Anna was my "Secret Sister."   The coffee cup block and cross-stitched stove block are very special because they symbolize the many, many hours our families spent visiting over the years.

This is such a special quilt.  I am so glad it's not a UFO anymore.  And not just because I wanted to check it off the list!

Why I Haven't Been Blogging.........and Two Finishes!

The last time I posted a blog entry was the day before our movers arrived to haul all our earthly goods from St. Louis, Missouri to Huntsville, Alabama.  We have moved so we can be closer to our grandchildren, and am I ever having fun!!  But until last week this is what my new sewing room looked like...

I wanted to get the rest of the house unpacked and somewhat organized before I tackled the sewing room.  I mean, there were more than 70 boxes in there!  Believe me it wasn't easy going four weeks without playing with fabric.  And I'm sure my sewing machines were feeling neglected!


But, things are shaping up now, and even though it's not completely ready (and definitely NOT ready to show pictures of), I did get some sewing done last week. 


The first thing I finished was this Pink and Turquoise baby quilt for Eva Katherine.

                                                                                                                      






I had made quilts for each of her older sisters when they were born.  Pink and Blue for Audrey Ann...

...and Pink and Yellow for Claire Elizabeth.

And last night I finished this 15" art quilt challenge made with all solids and inspired by a Kandinsky painting. 

I like it so much that I hate to mail it off to my swap partner tomorrow.  I'm sure that I will like equally well the quilt she will be sending to me, though!

A New Round Robin

I'm trying to be brave.  I really am.  I have had some very interesting experiences with Round Robins and had to do some major re-working on some of them.  It goes with the territory.  When you sign up to be involved in any kind of block swap or round robin you are taking a risk because some of the people involved are inexperienced quilters, but it really is a lot of fun. 

I wanted to do something really different for this one and maybe a little abstract for my center block.  My first choice of fabrics did not work well at all. 


I didn't realize the print was so directional until I had it put together and took a photo of it.  Yuck!

My second attempt was much better.  

I used a plastic template to draw a pattern........

.......and cut some shapes to applique onto my center block.

Looking good, right??  Love the fabrics, love the shapes, love the colors!  However, once I got the pieces stitched down and took a picture of it I realized that they look kind of like chicken drumsticks.  Eeeek!

I will probably add some more applique and embroidery to it once the completed top comes back to me.  The big risk with this one is this -- some of the gals in this group have a real interesting sense of humor so no telling what it will look like after several rounds are added.  It may end up with chickens and barns and all kinds of strange things.  It doesn't matter, though.  I know that whatever they do to it, I will love, love, love it!!!