Wonky house first try

I am crazy busy at work, and facing a work event tomorrow that starts at 7am and goes through dinner, which means I won't see the kids on either end. Thinking about it has me in a bad mood, so I've been stalking around the house restlessly trying to figure out what to do with myself. I don't seem to be hooked on much TV these days, and I'm too restless to settle down and read. And another tulip block seems boring. (I have only finished one so far, and I have many to go, so it's not a good sign that block two seems boring...) So, I decided to try Tonya's house tutorial. Somehow that seemed like just the thing. It is my first try at freehand piecing. I messed up the roof -- it's offset terribly. Looks pretty funny, but it was a good first try. There is a cat in the doorway, and a mouse in the window, in case you can't tell what those are. Hee hee hee! I have no idea what I will use this for if anything, but it was sure fun!

Tulip blocks coming together

In an earlier post I showed 1/4 of this block, and now I have one complete block done. I am using one of the quilts in "At Home with Patrick Lose" for inspiration, but I am kind of choosing fabrics as I go. I found a great green in my stash for the sashing inbetween the four segments of the flower. Now I have to decide what color to use for the sashing inbetween blocks. I am amazed to see the difference sashing makes. In this first photo, I took a picture of the block against a white fabric:
Next I laid down my inspiration fabric (planned for the wide border) and then a sheet of the same dark green I used inbetween. Wow does it jump out so much better!

And then just for kicks I laid it on top of a sheet of purple. The purple also coordinates with the border fabric, so this is another possibility. I can't decide which I like.


The center square, by the way, is cut from the border fabric. I thought it would look interesting if each square looked slightly different. I'm cutting the squares carefully so that I get mainly the pink/orange/red shades, not the greens.

By the way, I like this digital camera. Somehow seeing the pictures seems like it gives me a different perspective than looking at it live.

Well, my progress is painfully slow (remember I have a one year old and a three year old in the house!) but at least I am quilting again!

Dianne's Quilt Finished

I have finished the quilt for Dianne, the wife of Jeff's dying partner, Ken. I had the hardest time trying to decide what to do for her, and finally decided to go for this sampler quilt, inspired by Alex Anderson's beginning quilting book. I have actually never done a sampler before, and ordinarily wouldn't think to give one as a gift, but something about the variety appealed to me for this particular quilt. This sounds sappy, I suppose, but I feel like the variety is appropriate in a quilt that celebrates a life, and is intended as a comfort to someone who shared that life. I showed it to my mom and she pointed to the single Friendship Star block (middle of the 2nd row from the top) and said "that's Ken." Made me cry. Anyway, I hope Dianne likes it, and derives some comfort from it somehow.

I try to make sure that I try something new with every quilt I make, and while none of these blocks are difficult by any means, most of them were new to me. I am also particularly proud of the fact that I found quite a few fabrics in my stash to round out this quilt. As mentioned in a previous post, I purchased several fabrics just a few weeks ago in Big Bear, envisioning that the whole quilt would come from these fabrics. But it quickly became apparent that I needed more variety, and was thrilled to find that my gradually growing stash had some gems in it that matched with the overall tone of this quilt.

It's finished now except for the label on the back. I haven't labeled most of my quilts, because I don't have a very good system worked out for labeling yet. (Any suggestions?) But I feel like I should probably label this one. But other than that, it's done. Here it is:



As I mentioned in my last post, inspiration and momentum continue to strike, and I am beginning work on my next quilt. Here is a sample of one quarter of one block I am working on for baby Katie.

Quilting momentum continues

I finally figured out what to do with the fabrics I purchased for Dianne's quilt, and it came together so quickly, once I got started. It's all done now except for the last bit of hand stitching on the binding, and the label. I will post a picture shortly.

Meanwhile, I'm very excited about my next quilt, which is more than a year overdue. I purchased these fabrics before baby Katie was born, intending them to become a quilt gift to her mom, my neighbor Ann, at the baby shower. Needless to say, I missed the deadline (and then the next deadline, Katie's 1st birthday, too!) But inspiration has finally struck and I have a rough plan for this quilt, and these lovely fabrics. More to come soon.

A sad source of inspiration

I was driven by an almost irresistable urge to find a fabric shop when I was on vacation in Big Bear a couple of weeks ago. It was upon word that Jeff's law practice partner, who has been sick for much of the past year, has taken a turn for the worse and may not make it through the month. Since hearing that I've been irrepressibly drawn to the idea of making a quilt for Dianne, his wife. I can only imagine what she must be going through. It's not like a quilt can do much at a time like this, but maybe even so small a gesture could help a little.

I pictured in my mind something with soft browns, muted pinks, and pretty greens. Fortunately for me, Big Bear has a nice fabric shop where I found the colors on the right of the photo.

I found a few other fabrics in my stash upon returning home that coordinate nicely, so I'll add those for variety (the fabrics on the left in the picture).

I've been working quickly (it's a simple design), but don't have pictures yet of my work in progress. Hopefully I will be done in a few more days and can post the finished product. I've been extremely sad and really affected by what's happening, and the quilt making process has been a nice way to channel that energy. I hope she enjoyes it, and I hope that I finish it in time for Ken to see it too.

Finally quilting again!

Inspired by Cheri's gift of an I-Spy quilt, I decided last week that it was time to get back to my quilting. Many things have kept me from it for the past year or two, not the least of which was the feeling that I didn't really have a good place to quilt in the house. So Jeff helped me set up a quilting station using an old plastic table we had in the garage. A lamp and powerstrip was all we really needed to complete the setup.

To get back in practice, I decided to start with a simple project, a gift for a neighbor girl named Emma, whose birthday party was this weekend. I used some fabrics from my stash:

Here is the finished product, which she can hang over a doorknob or on a small slice of wall somewhere.

Here is a detail of the letters, which I appliqued on with the help of a fusible web. Then I used a blanket stitch on the machine to outline the edges for readability and to keep the edges firmly attached. I like the way it turned out.
I hope she enjoys it. I know I enjoyed making it, and the feeling that I am finally back in the game!

I Spy Quilt gift from Aunt Cheri

Since it's quilt related, I will post a link here to my post on the family blog showing off a beautiful gift quilt we received today from Aunt Cheri. Click here to see it!

Kira enjoying her quilt

Here is another picture of the quilt I made for my neice Kira, that I forgot to photograph before giving it away. I finally figured out how to steal a picture off of somebody else's blog, in this case Kira's Blog. It shows Kira enjoying the quilt during a trip to the beach. Looks like she likes it! And it matches her hat.

Quilt for Baby Kira

I forgot to take a picture of this quilt before giving it to my new neice Kira, but Kira's mommy, Kim, has a blog and she posted pictures of Kira's room, where you can see the quilt draped over the back of the futon. See the picture on her blog here.

My cat Whitney helps Cheri with her quilting

My aunt Cheri and cousin Jocelyn stayed in our house last week while we were out of town, and while Jocelyn was recovering from surgery. Cheri used the time to work on her quilting, and my cat Whitney, always curious and into everything, decided to help her out. Cheri caught it on camera, and posted it to her quilting blog! To see Whitney helping Cheri quilt on my kitchen table, click here!

A gift for my new neice Hannah

I made this quilt, shown here on the wall in Hannah's room, as a gift for my new neice. I used my tried and true Slick 'N Quick pattern, but added three appliqued butterflies which I found really transformed the quilt from something ordinary into something special. At least I hope so!
 

A quilted treasure from Aunt Barb for Andrew

I can't take credit for these. My Aunt Barb Smith, an expert quilter, made this quilt and matching stuffed elephant for Andrew. They are made of the softest fabric imaginable and Andrew loves snuggling with it! What a wonderful gift!

My tiniest quilt

When I was making the heart quilt, shown in previous posts (here, here, and here), I needed to experiment and practice with my free motion quilting technique. I was lucky to have a leftover square after the piecing step of the project, so I used it as a learning piece. It turned out well, so I decided to finish it off with a binding and a hanger. Turned out to be a cute little accent for Julia's room! Here's a random picture of Jeff and Julia that happens to show it in the background, followed by a picture I took today to show it up close.

Julia likes the back better (so does Mommy)

I don't remember this quilt being part of this photo session, and in fact this was the only picture (among 50 or so taken in the session) that shows the quilt. But I include it because it shows one of my favorite things about this quilt -- the back! This is the blue and yellow quilt I've discussed before in previous posts, but here you can sort of see the back. I chose a completely unrelated, but adorable and very funny fabric for the back. It shows cats and birds, with the cats saying "Birds drool, cats rule!" (See detail picture below.)

Riley's Baby Quilt

I made this quilt for Jody's first baby, Riley. Riley has his own blog, and posted this picture there originally (click here to see his post). I got the pattern from a book called "Special Delivery Quilts" by Patrick Lose.

Happy Valentines Day!

Another example of my quilts being used as backdrops for Julia photo sessions. This photo session was done for the Valentine's Day cards we sent out. The quilt is discussed in prior posts (here, and here.)

Hopefully not a reflection on the quilt...

As I look back through my pictures of the past couple of years, I find that my quilts are a common backdrop for Julia photo sessions. Here is an outtake from a set of pictures we took of Julia at about 3 months old. Hopefully this funny face doesn't reflect how she feels about my quilt!

Quilts make good napping places

Can't resist posting this one. I've already shown and discussed this quilt in a prior blog entry, but I just love this picture of Jeff and Julia sound asleep on Julia's nursery floor -- which is covered by my heart quilt! I love to see the quilts getting good use!

Quilt, bumper, and basket! A gift for Julia from Aunt Barb

I didn't make this one: Aunt Barb Smith made it, and sent it as an absolutely incredible gift for Julia. Not only did she make this adorable rag quilt and matching bumper, but she made the basket too! Julia slept here for the first couple of months. In this picture, Julia is just a few days old. (See the green light glowing from behind Julia's head? She had a touch of Jaundice after birth, and we were instructed to place her on this green glowing spatula looking thing - a "bili blanket"- for the first few days.) The quilt is hard to see in this picture, but it's made with an adorable cowgirl fabric.

A quilt for Jeff

My next quilting challenge was to make one for Jeff. I went back to Sandy Bonsib's book for the pattern I used here, and for inspiration on the fabric colors. I got creative here and quilted Jeff's name into the border of this quilt. It's subtle, but you can read it! This quilt is the largest one I have made to date. The picture below was taken in our backyard in Redwood City, just a few days after Julia was born.