Sunday Sweetness

She's here

Fresh from God

Kinlee Joy

Our newest granddaughter

Welcome Kinlee.
You have already captured our hearts.
We are so blessed.

Photo taken by her Auntie

Big Red

This week is the bi-annual quilt festival hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side. 

I'm so excited to be participating for the first time.

Today I want to share Big Red.

I quilt, yet I had never made a quilt for my mom. She is very talented and has made all kinds of beautiful things, yet is always interested in what I'm making and thinks my creations are wonderful even when they are lacking. She is a wonderful support to me. And really, who quilts and doesn't make a quilt for their mom? Even though she likes everything I make,  I wanted to make something she would really love. About a year ago, after leafing through some quilt magazines she showed me a cover quilt she really liked.

Not a problem. I could make a quilt like that and in those colors. 

No, it turns out she wanted that quilt, that fabric, that exact quilt. 

I've never made a quilt exactly like the original and it was a

FALL/WINTER 2008 Quilt Sampler magazine, already two years old. 

After some online searching I was able to locate the fabric. 

 Here are some un-quilted close-ups

The quilt went together beautifully, but about half way through 

I realized (actually I always knew, but pushed the thought aside) I couldn't 

quilt it. It was too large for me and my little machine and I would have to send

it out to get quilted. It was hard to let it go. I've never sent a quilt out before and

Big Red and I had bonded.  Christie, a local Longarm quilter did a wonderful job, 

really bringing Big Red alive. The quilt turned out more beautiful than anticipated. 

My mom loves her quilt, in fact she loves it so much she won't put it on her bed. Go figure.

Please, mom, use your quilt. A quilt grows more beautiful with use. 

Quilt Label

If you love to look at quilts like I do, grab a refreshing drink, a bit of snack and head on over to Amy's Creative Side to enjoy all the beautiful quilts. You'll find everything from traditional to modern to art quilts from beginners to experts. I guarantee you'll find something you love. 

Thanks Amy for ALL you hard work putting the festival together!

Busy Bees

There is a little lull in my Quilt Bees, 

so I thought I would share some Bee blocks

This is the second block for Sew Fresh Fabrics boy charity quilt.

The first block was the "Who's Drivin?" blocks that I blogged previously.

Sew Fresh sent me a bag of scraps to use for the charity blocks.  

Not knowing what would arrive in the box made the blocks more fun.

Next was the Mod Mosaic Scrap Bee Swap

I've never done anything like these and although I love the finished blocks, 

I didn't enjoy putting all the white between the scraps. Very stressful for me!

And since this was a swap, I sent five and received these five in return.

Aren't they pretty? Each one is from a different person. 

Now, what to do with just five blocks?

Next was the spider web blocks for Simple Modern Quilt Bee 2

Now these I had a tiny bit of trouble with. The first block came out a smidge

under the 12.5 inch size it was supposed to be. So after some thought

I left block #2 untrimmed until the very end.

It worked perfectly.  I love it untrimmed. Very cool!

And here they are both together, side by side,
all trimmed as they should be. 

So beautiful! I'm sure Beth's quilt will be a beauty! 

  And last, I have just finished these two star blocks also for
Simple Modern Scrap Bee 2

The assignment was to make two star blocks,
different sizes, different stars.

One is 8.5 inches (supposed to be 8, but it's not) and the other 12 inches.

Here they are side by side. 

Well, that's it for now.   May is an extremely busy month already, 

 and more bee's should be coming in soon.

Sewing for Baby

I been neglecting my blog, which needs some major tweaking 

(which I don't know how to do) and instead been sewing for a new little angel due to arrive in a few weeks. Yes, I am Gamma and Meema to two precious little ones and about to be blessed with a third little one.  

Being Gamma and a quilter, I of coarse wanted to get right to making quilts 

for the new baby, but first she, ( yes, she is a she ) needed a few other things.  Amanda, our daughter showed me this photo of baby bedding.

Isn't it pretty?  We decided we could probably make something similar,
so we went off to the fabric store and to our surprise found very
similar fabrics.

I forgot to take a photo BEFORE I started sewing ; )
What do you think, a bit less pink, but pretty similar?



All six bumpers.

There is piping on top and zippers on the bottom just
in case a washing is needed.




Here is the finished bumpers and skirt together. They just need a pink sheet between them.
I'm sure everything will be much prettier in the crib, instead of leaning against my purple walls.

Next was the nursing cover, and since I've made several of these
it went together pretty quickly. Amanda picked the fabric.

Then a snuggly, made with Eden by Lila Tueller, from a giveaway I won
last year.  I used the Snuggler pattern by Lotta Jonsdotter and
lined it with pale pink flannel. It turned out adorable.

Last was some contoured changing pad covers. I made three with the pink minky. I have to say I did not enjoy sewing the minky. I had a bit of trouble, but noticed that the washed minky was fine, it was the unwashed that gave me a hard time. Note to self for next time.

Well, baby is due to arrive soon and I still need to get started on hats, and shoes and dresses and bibs and toys and........oh yea, quilts.  Oh no, I'm really behind!

Bee Block

I've joined a couple of online quilt bees.  I should have focused on the long sewing list of things for the new baby coming, but I participated in an online round robin bee years ago, before blogs, and I just couldn't stop myself! So, when Sew Fresh Fabrics started their bee, I  joined in, which lead to joining two more (their sort of addicting).

I want to share this block for Beth from Sew Scrappy Sew Happy Bee because its a little different. Instead of oohing and aahing over the fabric that arrives for the month, then playing with it. The "fabric" for this block arrived in small pieces, scraps really, and I needed to make the fabric. Fun, but oh my, what if I mess up. I read the instructions, thought about it and re-read the instructions for a couple days, then cleared a working space and got right to it.

Beth asked that we all make her block based on the Simple Insanity quilt from Chawne. Basically strips of scraps are sewn together, then those are re-cut and sewn back together to make a "new fabric". I was so afraid of wasting even the smallest scrap that I played with the layout for quite a while. In the end I laid all the scraps of similar length together. 

Sewed them in long strips, then re-cut.

These strips will be sewn log cabin style to make "new fabric".

Here is the back of the "new fabric" with lots and lots of seams.

 

And here is the new fabric. It's so pretty. I love it!

This new fabric was then cut in strips to complete the requested block. Some of the pieces are really, really small. It turned out to be 10 X 12 and I had barely enough fabric, even with the six scraps I added.  Can you find them Beth?

Here is the finished block. 

It measures 13.5 X 13.5

I love how this block turned out and I so enjoyed making it, that I'd like to make several more for a quilt of my own. It was time consuming, so I'll add this quilt to my to do wish list for the future. 

For inquiring minds - an online quilt bee is a group of sewers/quilters that take turns making blocks for each other.  The person assigned to that month sends fabric, directions and specific requests of what he or she would like the block to be. The recipients complete and return the blocks to the owners.  Fun, fun!

February

The first of the year is always busy for us. 

We have five birthdays within the first two months. 

We've already celebrated three and although we don't live near each other, 

we managed to get together to celebrate which is always really nice. 

I made the littlest birthday boy a BIG breakfast.

His breakfast included 6 donuts, 2 cinnamon rolls, 

2 pop tarts, 2 waffles, 2 pancakes, 2 sausage, 2 bacon and 2 eggs.

Yes, two of everything but.... there just had to be half a dozen donuts.

A boy needs a selection!

Aren't these just adorable? So fun to make and I think he really liked them. I'll have to get started on lunch next, then dinner, then start all over again for the my granddaughter's second birthday. 

Besides birthdays and felt food, I've joined a couple of quilt bees and a swap. I can't wait to get started, but most won't start until March. One that started this month is Sew Fresh Fabrics Charity Bee using some of their scraps. A quilt for Project Linus will be made from each of the blocks created and sent back. One for a boy and one for a girl. Here is the block I made for the boy quilt.

Whooo's Drivin?

The other Bee fabrics should start arriving soon and even though the next month looks pretty busy, I'm looking forward to getting started.  February, keeping busy with family and fabrics, what could be better?

A Wee One Needs......

Look at this, isn't it sweet? 

A precious new little wee one, needs a warm head,

and we can't forget about his BIG brother.

I didn't forget about the BIG sister, 

I just forgot to take a picture, something I tend to do and need to work on.

Next time........ for sure!