Hint, Hint... it's a boy...

A few years ago a co-worker of my husband's became grandmother to a sweet little boy.  I whipped up a quilt top and hubby quilted it. Here is a picture of that top without the final border etc. I somehow forgot to take a photo of it all finished!  http://thequiltingbelle.blogspot.com/2010/06/snips-and-snails-and-puppy-dog-tails.html

Well she has another grandbaby on the way.. due any day now.. and once again it's a boy!  So hubby pulled fabrics this weekend and whipped up a top.  I love that he used some of the same fabrics as the first quilt and the pattern is similar, but not the same. Here is a hint of what's to come...

There will be a photo of the final product once finished.

"Belle"

Swappin'

My online quilt buddies and I had a little Christmas Swap. You sent your partner something to do with quilting... something to do with Faith.. something to do with Christmas.. and something just for her.. and 1 item had to be homemade / handmade.

Here is what I received:

Here is what I sent: (I added a tin of Pirouette Cookies after I took the picture)

Love sending and getting goodies!

"Belle"

Here a Nose... There a Nose...

I am a huge fan of anything "Snow"... maybe because I live in a part of the world where snow is a rare treat.  I recently saw a photo of the cutest quilt and immediately knew I had to make it.  It quickly became a project for my hubby (a.k.a. the Mad Quilter) and me.  The face shapes are there... and the flying geese (Hubs did those.. first time to make them... he did a great job!)... and there are "carrot noses" everywhere going in all directions!  I had a blast adding.

Now I am adding a border of embroidery.  Once that is done, Hubs will do some quilting in the ditch and then I am going to add black button eyes and mouths.  The buttons will add some tacking through the entire quilt.

This will be a nice big wall hanging for our breakfast room through the Winter season. What fun!  This Mississippi Girl will have quilty snow this year!

"Belle"

3 Little Bibs... all in a row...

I have been having a long reprieve from quilting... actually from sewing of any kind.  And sadly I am just not motivated to get going again. Ever had a quilting funk?  I have a baby quilt top begging to be quilted... Christmas projects I need to make... but just cannot get my inner quilter up and going. In the midst of the funk, my daughter said "Mom, I need some baby things for a shower gift. Can you make some burp cloths?"  Of course I said yes.  And I decided to make bibs too. I have actually never made a bib.

I perused the web and found tons of how-tos and tutorials and templates for bibs.  Decided on a very basic one.  Printed out the template and went to town.  It was so easy and quick and fun!  Instant Creative Gratification! After making the first "practice" bib, I decided to whip up 2 more along with 3 matching burp cloths.

Here is the result:

Miss Harper will be a well bibbed baby!

"Belle"

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is my sweet Mother's 80th birthday. She is a sassy Southern gal who is still going strong despite bouts with 3 separate cancers... arthritis in her hips and knees from chemotherapy.... damage to her heart and eyes due to an undiagnosed Thyroid disease... the woman will not slow down!  Active in her church.. busy with her friends... checking on others .... taking meals to them... does her crossword puzzle, cryptogram and jumble each day... reads... rarely watches TV... talks on the phone as much or more than any 13 year old girl... she is a hoot and I adore her and am thankful to still have her in my life!

A few years ago a group of quilty friends made a 1930s repro churn dash as a love quilt for a dear friend going through a tough time.  I had the privilege of putting all the blocks into a top and finishing up the quilt.  Mother saw it and thought it was for her!  She was very disappointed to learn I was mailing it off to someone else.  Well she has her own now and I think it looks great on her bed!

I whipped up the blocks... the mad quilter did the rest... quilting and binding (gotta love a man who will bind a quilt for you!)... we also made 2 throw pillows from some left over blocks (I got carried away and made a few more than I needed!)

We snuck over to Mom's recently and laid the top (without borders) on her bed to see how much drop we needed.  I think we did a great job with the size! I just love it.

Tonight we slipped over to Mom's while she was at church and got everything set up... we went back to drop off a mum for her (hubs heard her say she wanted one).  She was just getting home, so we stayed a bit. She never left the kitchen! LOL!  Couldn't think of a reason to send her to the bedroom. So we came on home. About an hour later the phone rang... she loves it!  I have no doubt she has been on the phone telling her friends about her birthday present.  LOL!

This is probably one of my favorite quilts ever... partially because it looks great... partially because it was made for my sweet Mother... and mostly because it made her heart sing!  I don't think I have done that too often in the past 49 years... more heart ache and stress and frustration etc. The joys of parenthood. So if I can make hers sing... WOW!  I have accomplished a great thing!

"Belle"

Churning Away.....

My quilting has been in small spurts lately.. a block or two here.. a block or two there. I am almost done with a stack of Churn Dash blocks for a bed quilt.  My mother will be 80 next month and this will be a quilt for her bed.  It will be full size with a good bit of drop on the sides (she has an old high bed).  I used 1930s repros as she loves them!  A group of quilty friends and I made a love quilt last year (or was it the year before?) using repros and the Churn Dash pattern. Mother loved it and was disappointed that it wasn't for her.  This one will be a tad bit different. There will be white sashing and at this point the border and binding will be white (Kona Snow to be exact).  Basically her bed will be covered in a field of repro Churn Dashes!  I also want to make a couple of pillow shams with extra blocks for her bed.  And some window valances with Kona Snow and maybe some small repro squares.  I think it will all look great!

Here is a taste of what is to come....

I think the bottom one (purple gingham, peach dot print) is my favorite block so far. I just love that peach fabric!!!

Stay tuned for the finished product... (and yes, the Mad Quilter will be quilting this... he loves his mom-in-law and he is much faster than I am at quilting!)

"Belle"

Time for a Little Girl Quilt!

My sister-in-law will soon be a grandmother for the first time... and It's A Girl!!! I couldn't wait to whip up something girlie after doing several boy quilts.  What fun!  I pulled charms and made a bunch of HSTs (my sweet husband cut them all down for me... are you jealous?)  and then I put them together in a very basic patchwork layout. No fancy patterns.. just a sea of HSTs.  I love all the colors. Have NO idea how it will be quilted!  But it will be worked on soon.  Baby Lou is due in a few weeks! Of course she lives in TX, so she won't need a quilt for warmth for a while!  LOL!

Here is the finished top.. unquilted..

Saddle Up Cowboy!

I posted this quilt top already, but wanted to show you the finished product.  I did super simple quilting on it. Just in the ditch around the panels and then some fun boots in the sections with the cowboy print.  The boots are difficult to see on the front.. I used a honey colored thread.. but they show up just fine on the back.

I love drawing out the designs (tracing them!) and then following the lines with my sewing machine. One day, maybe, I will be brave enough to go it alone and do some free motion quilting!

"Belle"

A LABOR of Love....

Last January we had the threat of severe winter weather.. now let me remind you that I live in the deep deep South.. so snow flurries are severe winter weather to us!  Mention snow or ice and run home and batten down the hatches.. much like we do for hurricanes. I also live in a college town, so when this warning was released, the college sent kids home... that could go home. My son's girlfriend came to our house.. and she brought her roomie, Morgan, with her.  We all spent the next 24 or so hours curled up under quilts.. playing games.. eating fun food.. watching movies.. being silly. It was a lot of fun!

Morgan was intrigued by our quilting and some time later mentioned that she had a quilt top her grandmother had made for her back in the 90s.  But that was all she had.. the top. Could we finish it? Sure. A bit later the top arrived. I looked at the size of it, smiled at my wonderful husband (a.k.a. the mad quilter) and said "It's all yours!"  

He removed the tiny bit of quilting that was on it... removed the high loft poly-fil type batting... added a simple white border to prevent cutting the edges off the red blocks when binding... used a thin cotton batting and got it all sandwiched again (took forever!).. and off he went with the quilting. Straight-line.. in the ditch... nothing fancy... but sooo much of it!  He growled at times while working on this one. Remember.. no long-arm machine here.. not even a medium one.. a very basic Kenmore sewing machine from the 1990s... work horse of a machine.. but small throat! Once quilted, he bound it and then.. gulp.. we washed it. We had NO idea if Morgan's grandmother had prewashed the fabric.  I think we used 7 color catcher strips!  No fading at all. Yeah!

It really turned out lovely and I know Morgan is going to love it.  Her grandmother, whom we met in May, told us it was queen size. Maybe as a bedspread that reaches to the floor!  We laid it on our Kingsize bed and it covers the top and drops down on the sides and the foot very nicely. I would like about 4 more inches in the drop, but still.. it is HUGE.  

It was definitely a lot of work... LABOR... for Hubby.  But I also know he loved doing it for Morgan.  He is a keeper!

"Belle"

Kindle.. iPad... covers to go!

A friend of mine has a Kindle and she found a cute cover for it online at the Moda Bake Shop (love that site!). She asked if I could make it... so I whipped one up for her.  The binding is the biggest booger.. it is so small and tedious to work with... but still, I think it turned out cute.

The tutorial can be found here.. Moda Bookkeeper

Here is the one I made:

When my son's girlfriend saw the cover, she said "Let's make one for an iPad!"  So we did some reconfiguring for size and she whipped up this cutie:

It is for her mom's birthday. I hope the size is right!

Both were fun and quick... I need little projects like this every so often... that instant gratification fix!

"Belle"

Ready for some Boys!

Recently whipped up 2 baby quilts for 2 little fellas.... both due in August. I have posted pix of the tops, but wanted to show them completed.

The first is for Oliver.  I pieced the top and my husband quilted it. Be sure to look at the upclose shot of the border. He had fun creating there. And there is a photo of the back.. I am hoping the quilting shows.  I have to say that the photos do not do the fabrics in this quilt justice.. they are beautiful (and were all in my stash.. bought nothing for this one but batting!)

And the other is for Reed. Reed's dad is a basketball coach.. so I went with a sports theme. I pieced and quilted this one.  Very simple disappearing nine-patch with in the ditch quilting. But I decided to try something else. In the 4 corner blocks and the very center one, I quilted the outline of a basket ball. They are not perfect by any long shot, but I think they turned out cute and I feel certain Reed's dad will like them. I had most of this in my stash. Had to purchase some fabric for the border and the batting.

Working on a quilt for a little girl now ... have another boy top done and ready to quilt... and then have another boy and a girl coming in December!  More baby quilts on the way.  I love babies and I love making baby quilts!

"Belle"

Weird & Ugly Update

A few months ago I posted a photo of some fabric... it was part of a challenge among a group of quilty friends.  One friend picked out a fabric she considered weird and ugly. She sent a bit to each of us and we then had to use it in a project.  Here is the fabric:

And here is my creation:

It is a very large tote bag that I now use for carrying groceries and such. I like using canvas or cloth bags in place of plastic ones and carry a number with me.  This one is perfect for when I am running in to pick up just a few items. It will hold them all!  (It is big!) And the handles are nice and long, so I can carry it on my shoulder even when full.

I am not sure you would know the fabric was covered with skeletons and day of the dead images if you hadn't seen the fabric whole first.

Fun challenge.. wish you could see the other creations... they were all neat and varied!

"Belle"

Too busy to blog or quilt lately....

Life is so full and busy lately... and that means less time to quilt or blog.. not fun!

There are a number of things in the works....

A baby quilt for a little girl due in September. The HSTs are done.. now I have to decide how I want to lay them out..

This way:

or This other way:

Here is where I got the colors I used for the HSTs...

This dot fabric will be used for a border for sure!

I am also going to try my hand at making a denim baby big. Saw this post (Recycled Denim Bib  ) with the how-to and just could not resist!  Pulled an old pair of jeans from my daughter and a scrap of fabric to test this out.

Hubby has a BIG project going. A sweet girl named Morgan had a quilt top her grandmother made for her years ago. She asked if we could quilt it.  We got the quilt.. it is huge!  Morgan's grandmother said she was aiming for queen size. I think she may have overshot that a bit! LOL!  Hubby added a border There was none and we didn't want the binding to cover any of the red squares... which are really a reddish pink in person than a true red-red.  Got a back and batting.. sandwiching this one was a bear!  Here is a look at the quilting, so far... I think it is going to look great when it is done and I know Morgan is going to cherish it!

Warning: Blog Reading can be costly! LOL!  I was reading some quilting blogs and saw in one where the blogger was selling off some of her stash. I zipped to her etsy shop and found I was a tad late.. most everything was gone.. but there was a bundle of fabric designed by Sandi Henderson left. I LOVE Sandi Henderson's designs, so I snatched it up!  Don't have a clue what they will inspire, but I know I love looking at them!

I posted awhile back where my son's girlfriend and I did some crafting and she created a cute little applique tree pillow. We had another crafty day earlier this summer. She wanted to make another pillow. This one is larger and coordinates with the small one. Turned out great!

There are 2 completed baby quilts I need to photograph and post... soon!

In the meantime... here's to hoping we all get more time to create!

"Belle"

Catching Up in Blogville -- Part 4 ... All Caught Up!

One quilt got completed over the past 2 months. I made the top earlier in March and the Mad Quilter (a.k.a. my sweet hubby) quilted it and finished it, binding and all. He is a keeper! :-)  This is a graduation gift for a sweet girl in our church.  She will be getting it as soon as she gets home from FL!  Cannot wait to see how she likes it.

I finished up a top for Friendship House in New Orleans (a transitional shelter for women).  I saw a picture of this quilt online, but had no idea the pattern... so I winged it!  I think it turned out well. I love the final border... I really love pieced borders!  

And as I mentioned in Part 2 of Catching Up in Blogville, I put together some baby quilt tops.. which will soon be quilted. This one is the most unbaby quilt I think I have made... and I love it!  My daughter has friends expecting baby #1.. a boy (lots of boys this year!). She asked me to make something using warm earthy tones. I pulled greens and golds and browns and I found a big scrap of fabric that has frogs all over it. I really love this fabric. She saw it and said "Use that!" So I added more colors that coordinated with the froggy print.  Here is the result:

And here is a close up of some of the frog fabric:

The last baby quilt top I made this weekend.  Another couple in our church expecting baby #1 and yes, another boy.  I was digging through the stash and came across some cowboy fabric I had used in another baby quilt. I really love this fabric.  An idea formed in my mind and off I went.  I love braids... have made a number of braided borders, but I have never used them in a quilt this way. I like it:

That little red strip defining the braids looks great to me, but it was not the easiest thing to add. Soooo small! But worth it, I think.

Here is a close up of the inspiration fabric:

One more thing. All 4 of these were made from fabric in the stash.. no purchases necessary!  I love it! I am doing my best to use from the stash and save some money!

And now I am finally caught up in Blogville!

"Belle"

Catching Up in Blogville -- Part 3

Some of my time playing with fabric over the last couple of months has not involved a sewing machine. I have bought a bit.. not much actually... received some from a friend... and cut some things for a swap.

Hubs and I found this pretty fabric on clearance at Hancocks:

I have no idea where it will be used, but I am sure it will turn up somewhere.

We also found this amazingly gorgeous fabric:

It has been used to create napkins!  Yes, napkins. I grew up using cloth napkins.  I don't consider them for special occasions only or "fancy". I am not one who believes in saving the good stuff for company.  My family deserves the good stuff! Plus using cloth napkins is environmentally friendly. :-) Hubs  made these. I love them!

My friend, Jules, who knows me sooo well, sent me some dachshund fabric.  She knows how much I love dachies and anything dachie! Isn't this too cute?

Then when I was at Hancocks, purchasing the fabrics above, I saw this...

Dachies and Pink!  Could it be more me!? LOL!

And lastly, I am participating in an online swap... 2 1/2" x 21" strips of fabric. Pinks!  Here are the ones I sent:

Cannot wait to see what I receive.

Oh yes, 1 more fabric came into my life over the past 2 months. This one:

I am sure someone loves it, but most will think it is Weird and ugly. That is why I have it. Some friends and I are participating in a Weird and Ugly challenge. I have to make something using most of this fabric. I have an idea... just need to get started as the challenge deadline is June 30. I will most definitely post the result!

"Belle"