Baby Boy Quilt

Oh sweet babies...

My cousin had a boy in October and I'm finally getting around to making a quilt for him.

Though a bit dark, I do really like these two fabrics together.

I made it two sided. In my 'no buy 2010' I made an exception for this fabric. I had to Frankenstein the batting together - I have been using all the bits and scraps and was down to next to nothing.

So I did something I've always promised myself - I ordered batting.

And it makes me giddy:

My very own box of batting - all 40 yards of it...

Fleece

My favorite fluffy backing for a quilt is fleece. I love not only the softness, but that batting is not required. The fleece has a certain 'grab' to the fabric - though basting is still necessary, it can be done much farther apart. It does have quite a bit of give - it wants to stretch, so I don't tape the it down before basting.

Finished - for Addison's 10th birthday. Just a little late.

She knew it was coming though.

Baby Quilts

These were put in the mail Tuesday for my mom. She hosted a baby shower for two of her friend's daughters - one had a girl and the other is expecting a boy next month.

I had all the fabric in my stash for this one: Easy-peasy. It was a simple four square. I used a bit bigger border on the top and bottom to achieve a more pleasing length to width ratio. The binding is the same dark pink found in the centers of the flowers.

Just needed two of the blues* - otherwise it was all from my stash. I love the blue and brown together. The creams are three different prints. It quilted wide meandering style and this time I added a bit more border to the with to improve the ratio. Also, the backing for this is the same as the border - blue with white stars.

Both quilts got rave reviews - the baby girl's mom said that her room was painted the same gold (yellow) that was in the quilt. The baby boy's mom said his room was blue and brown. Given I just used (mostly) what I had and only knowing "girl" and "boy", I was pretty pleased with that.

Not only were the new moms pleased as punch with the quilts, the new grandmas loved them as well. That's all I could ask for.

*I am claiming exception to the '2010 no new fabric' rule - Mom bought the quilts from me.

Block Swap

Awhile back I signed up for a block swap. Every month one (or two) members send fabric out with instructions and we all make a block (or two) and send it back. Simple enough. I've discovered some fabrics I really like and have stretched my ability as well.

January is my month and I decided to send solids. I have a ton (yes, you could nearly weight them) and have wanted an Amish style quilt for awhile.

Here are the solids. With 16 members (including me), every member received two fabrics and a fat quarter of black. I told them think "Old School" - baskets, bow tie, robbing peter to pay paul, monkey wrench, shoo-fly, bear paw... you get the idea. I can't wait to see what these talented quilters come up with!

My belated block for November:

Until next time - Happy sewing!

2010

Here I sit, surrounded by my mess.

My 2010 goal is to not buy any more fabric.

Except...

1. Projects for pay
2. Specific gifts

I have too many quilt kits that I've put together and projects in various stages of finish.

9x9 - until I think if a better name

It's been awhile!

Here's my lastest project...



I'm calling it 9x9 for now. This is something I started almost a year ago. High time to finish it.


The squares will be a finished 8". I'm going to use narrow white sashing and a inner white border. I'd like to do some sort of outer border, but not quite sure what that will be.

Until next time - Happy sewing!