Baby Quilts

I have two people in my life who are having babies this spring.  One is my lovely niece, and this will be the first grand-niece or nephew in the family!  The second is a friend of my daughter's.  These two have been friends since the first grade.  (They are now both 24.)  So, a quilt is definitely in order for her as well!

It occurred to me though that these two moms-to-be don't know each other.  Bonus!  I can make the same quilt for each of them, and they will never see each other to compare notes.  ("Hey, I see that your corners match better than mine."  "Yes, but she's done a much better job of quilting mine."  I KNOW these kinds of conversations go on all the time... well, they do in my imagination.)

So, here is the start of these two quilts:

Strips of lots and lots of brights.  I cut them, then pieced them together like this:

The quilt is called "Celebration".  It is a Judy Martin quilt from her book, "Scraps".  I love Judy Martin for her precise directions.  This quilt also has a black and white checkerboard that winds through it.  It is different from your typical soft coloured baby quilt, but perfect, I think, for a play quilt.

Mail Call

Lucky, lucky me!  Heather, at Creative Confessions had a giveaway a week or two ago.  And I won!  Look what I received in the mail today!

I LOVE Jennifer Chiaverini's books and I think I have read every one!  Usually, I wait until they come out in paperback, but I won't have to for this one.

I can hardly wait to dive in!  Thanks Heather, and thanks to Penguin Group (USA) - the publishers.

Another Freebie Fifteen Finish

Actually, I finished this one a couple weeks ago, as it was due March 15th.

As you may recall, this is the block of the month program from Traditional Pastimes.  It is called Sea and Sand Glass and the colours are really muted - soft blues, greens, pinks and browns.  This photo looks like it's black and white, but the fabric is actually two shades of white and a sandy grey.  I changed the pattern a bit - they didn't have the diamond shape in the centre, but I liked the symmetry.

It's usually an adventure getting to the shop for this block.  This BOM program is like the "Saturday Sampler" programs that many quilt shops run - where you have to come in on a specific day to get the next block free.  The one difference is that it's on the fifteenth of the month.  If you check the calendar for 2012, you'll notice that the fifteenth falls on a Saturday only twice.  (It falls on Sunday a few times, but the shop is closed, so they move it to the Monday.)  I work until 4:30.  The shop is open to 5:00 during the week.  Usually, I don't leave work at 4:30 - but on the fifteenth, I have to remember to do that - then it's a mad rush to get to the shop just before closing time!  Sometimes I can do the mad rush on my lunch break, but often I don't have enough time then to make the trip.

I don't quite understand it.  With Saturday Samplers,there are two advantages for the shop owner.  One is that they get to promote their products for a few minutes.  The second is that people use the opportunity to browse and shop.  With this one, I rush in, breathless, grab my new block and rush out so that I can go home and make supper!  And there are usually other people doing the same thing.

For me, the mad rush is worth it.  I'm drawn to these kinds of BOM's as I love the idea of it being free.

I haven't even looked at this months' block yet.  And, then there are the companion blocks - I haven't done last months' companion block yet either!  Yikes!  I'd better get on those!

Bit of a Rant

You know what bugs me?  Take a look at this subscription offer:

Notice how it says "guaranteed lowest rate"?  When you click on over to the subscription page (well, you can't click it, but I did), it has the same old subscription rate that everyone else pays.  It's the same rate as on the cards in the magazine.  It's not just Quilters Newsletter / Quiltmaker that does that.  Other major quilty magazines do the same thing.  When Quilters Home started up, they offered "special charter" subscriptions - that were the same price as the regular subscription.  Do they think we are stupid?  We're going to rush right out and subscribe because we can't figure out it's not really a special rate?  I haven't subscribed to Quiltmaker, even though I like the magazine, just because I'm annoyed at their effort to dupe me.

OK, end of rant.

A Bit of Time Away

I haven't been doing a huge amount of quilting in the last couple weeks.  I did travel up to Edmonton for a few days to visit my Mom, and celebrate her 80th birthday.

The lucky lady had at least 4 birthday parties.  I guess when you're 80, you want to celebrate!   This was the third.  I notice now that her cake is sitting on a placemat that I made for her awhile ago.

No, I didn't make her a quilt for her 80th birthday.  Bad daughter!  I do like making her things - she has sewn and crafted all of her life, so she appreciates and truly enjoys handmade gifts.  But I did make her up a basket of fun food - crackers, cheese, chocolate, etc.  She lives in a senior's apartment complex now, so likes to have things like that when she has her friends over.