Car Seat Quilts

My daughter and son-in-law have just had twins!  A boy and a girl.  I'm not posting pictures, as I haven't got permission from them to do so, but I do have pictures of quilts (surprise!)

I made them each a quilt to cover their carseat.  This is a Moda Bakeshop pattern, the Sophie Car Seat Cover, by Jennie Pickett.  I saved it years ago, as it was so cute - and I knew it would come in handy in the Canadian climate.

Here are my versions:

The colour is off, as I took the picture indoors, after dark.  They are actually more of a teal colour than the pictures show.

The quilts are identical, but I quilted them differently.  This one is quilted with swirls - a la Kathleen Riggins.  My daughter gave me Kathleen's "Diary of a Young Swirl" last Christmas, and I was able to put the instructions to good use!

The second one is my version of the Pop design, from Christina Cameli's "Step by Step Free Motion Quilting" book.  I say "my version" because, if you happen to have the book, you'll see it really doesn't look much like Christina's version.  But I'm happy with it!

Both quilts have made their way to my daughter's place, ready to use when the twins come home from NICU.  (They are both doing well, just having a few issues as a result of being preemies.)

And, no doubt the quilts will be needed.  Here is what it looks like today at my place!  We've got about 10 inches of snow so far, and it isn't supposed to stop until later on tonight.

Colleen

I Don't Believe It! A Finish!!

It has been such a long time since I actually finished a project!  Oh, I have lots of finished tops and partially finished projects, but this one - I actually saw through to the end!  Yippee!

This is a Carolyn Friedlander pattern, called Sunrise.  I won the pattern in a giveaway hosted by Stephanie, at the Modern Sewciety blog and podcast.

I don't normally work in one line of fabric, but this pattern indicated that you could use a jelly roll, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I bought "Hubba Hubba" by Me and My Sister Designs.  The frames are Kona Snow, and the sashing is - well, I don't know, some teal-ish kind of solid.  The colours make for a happy, girly quilt!

The sunrises are paper pieced.  I found that the pattern was not quite jelly roll friendly - one of the bands was wider than 2 1/2 inches.  So, I drew a new line on the pattern to narrow that one band, and it worked fine after that.

I quilted it more heavily than I normally do, with spirals in the white and loopy things in the teal.  In the sunrises, I used my walking foot to do a wide zig zag up each band.

For the back, I cut up a lot of the leftover jelly roll fabric into squares, and used them to add some colour.

The quilt is 48 by 48 - a good sized baby quilt.  I haven't got a baby in mind, yet, but I have no doubt I'll have need of a baby gift sooner or later!

As The Sun Slowly Sinks in the West

I frantically worked to finish and photograph this quilt:

Yes, this is my one and only finish for this quarter's Finish-A-Long.  And, it's finished just under the wire!  Good thing I live in the same time zone as Leanne.  I rushed home from work tonight, to finish sewing on the binding before the sun set.

So, this is a baby quilt for Jack, my nephew's son.  He was born last November, so I'm a tad late.  But, I'm sure he won't mind.  It's an I spy quilt, made with charm squares I collected in a swap several years ago. One of them is a saw and hammer - his daddy is a carpenter.  The sashing is actually a sage green - the colour didn't come out all that well, probably because it was twilight!

I'm linking up with the 2013 Finish-A-Long and A Stitch in Time Linky Party.

It's a Beautiful Day for... a Day Off!

It has been pretty rainy and miserable the last few weeks - which is quite normal for Calgary this time of year.  We really don't get any nice summer weather until July.

So, when I planned to take today off from work, I wasn't holding out too much hope.  But it is a pretty nice day, so far.  Rain is predicted for later on, but I will enjoy it while I can.  So far, hubby and I have made a trip to the bank and to Timmies - nice and relaxing.

I've been working on a baby quilt for my new grand-nephew.  It's an I spy quilt of sorts - I used charm squares with various pictures on them, and sashed them with a greenish fabric.

It looks grey here, but it is a sage green.  Now, I plan on trimming the sides so it is square, and quilting it up with a quick all over pattern.  I had toyed with the idea of leaving the sides all zigzag.  Then I thought about binding all of those corners - on a quilt that will be dragged around and washed 100 times - and decided that I'd leave zigzags for another project.

I'm also working on the Craftsy BOM blocks for May and June.   June's block includes Y seams.  Believe it or not  - 14 years quilting and I've never done Y seams.  Laura, the instructor, demonstrates them really well, so it's a good opportunity to try them.

If you haven't looked at the Craftsy BOM, I highly recommend it.  It is intended to be done by a new quilter, so some of the concepts she shows are pretty basic, but I have to admit that I have learned a few things over the course of the last 6 months.  And it's free!  I don't know if I'll put the quilt together using the layout that she has planned, but, for now, I'm having fun putting the blocks together, and looking at the other blocks and comments.

FAL Second Quarter Goals

After my complete FAIL last quarter (when I only had two goals), I've decided to list more goals this quarter, in the hopes that something will pique my interest enough to get finished.

Goal Number One:
Of course, it has to be Sand and Sea Glass.

This one is soooo close to being done.  I've got the sashing and borders quilted, and have to figure out decide how to quilt the blocks.

Goal Number Two:
Aqua Stars

It has to be quilted - but I actually have some ideas about how I want to do it.  Surprise!

Goal Number Three
Table Runner and placemats

I dug these out from where I stashed them away when I didn't want to work on them last quarter.  They just need to be quilted.  (I think I'm detecting a pattern here!)

Goal Number Four
This is a new one.   I've had the fabric and pattern for this quilt for several years.  It is called Maple Sugar.

The pattern is by Toadusew. The photo doesn't do it justice - it is striking!  I don't know why I haven't jumped into this project before.

Goal Number Five:
No photos yet, but I've started stitching together a baby quilt using charm squares.  Weeks Ringle had a simple pattern in this month's American Patchwork and Quilting.  (You can see it here.  I don't know if it is appropriate for me to copy their photo.)  She didn't use charm squares, but it seems easy enough to modify. (Famous last words?)  I'm using brights - eye spy type charms.

So, five goals to get working on.   I'd better get on it!

Linking up to She Can Quilt for the Finish A Long.

Two...Count Em Two!

Well, it's time for the second quarter Finish-A-Long, sponsored by Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap.

I was a dismal failure at the end of the first quarter - I didn't finish the one quilt that I had submitted as a goal.  That was this quilt.  I included it as a goal for the second quarter.

Actually, this is half the quilt - I plan on doing a quilt as you go technique, then sew the two halves together.  I still have not started quilting it!  Can you tell I'm terrified?

But, I am happy to say that the other two goals that I had for this quarter were completed.  These were two almost identical baby quilts.

This is the first one.  The checkerboard blocks are done in Kona charcoal and white.  It's quilted in a free motion stars and circles design.

And here is the second one.

This one has the checkerboard done in black and white.  I quilted this with a pantograph - Sassy by Golden Threads.

And, just in case you think I'm trying to pass off the same quilt twice, here they are both together.

The pattern is called Celebration, by Judy Martin.  She had another partial border of the brights, but once I got the checkerboard all around, I decided I was done.

One of the quilts is going to my niece, who made me a Great Aunt on June 28th.  The other is going to a young woman who has been friends with my daughter since the first grade.  She is due any day, so I've completed them both in the nick of time!

Here is a close up of the bindings.  I loved the stripe!

Now, I'm off to think up goals for the third quarter. Yup, that blue quilt is going to be on the list!

Opinions Please

It's a gorgeous spring morning here - finally!  The grass is green and the trees are starting to leaf out.  Living in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains in Canada means for very short summers, but oh! what joy when they finally arrive.

I've been working on two almost identical baby quilts.  The pattern is from Judy Martin's book, Scraps.  (If you haven't heard of Judy Martin, take a look around her site.  She is a fantastic designer, and her instructions are so carefully written that you cannot go wrong.)

Here is where I'm at so far:

Here's the photo from the book:

You'll notice that there is one more partial border to attach - the multicoloured one on the top and right.  But, when I look at my quilt, I think I'm done.  I'm kind of a symmetrical, orderly girl, and that extra partial border, to me, seems to put the quilt off-kilter.  Also, it's already really quite big for a baby quilt - 45 inches wide.

Since I haven't got an artistic bone in my body, I thought I would put it out there.  Should I add those extra borders, or leave them as is?

Finish-A-Long Time Again

OK, so I didn't do all that well in the first quarter of the Finish-A-Long.  But, I'm persistent, so I'm going to set some new goals, and renew my old one in this next quarter.

First, I still want to finish up my son's quilt:

It's at this stage right now - this is half of it.  I'm going to quilt it in halves, then put them together.  I was procrastinating on this for the longest time, but a couple weeks ago, I came across this book:

Marti Michell has several methods for doing your quilting with less bulk - all of which seem like great ideas.  I had seen her demonstrating one on The Quilt Show, but having the instructions written out, with illustrations, really helped me to understand.  I don't think it will be all that difficult.  (Famous last words!)

Quilts number 2 and 3 are the same pattern, from Judy Martin's Scraps.  They are currently at this stage:

plus a bunch of these:

These two HAVE to be done by June, as the babies are due then.

Visit the Finish-A-Long at Quilter in the Gap.  Thanks Rhonda!

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.