Baby Quilts!

My sewing / quilting time has been greatly diminished the past few months. For a short while I was working 2 jobs.. both part-time but they added up to full-time together. Then one of the 2 asked me to go full-time and so I have been settling in to that position since the first of October.. and settling into balancing life working full-time (I came home when we had a newborn and 4 year old who are now 21 and 25).. add to that normal life stuff. and oh yes.. a wedding.. our baby boy is getting married Jan. 4, 2014 and so we are in wedding mode here.

So I accepted that some things would have to wait.. like my Granny Square Christmas quilt... and instead finished up the have-to stuff and now sewing central is packed away for the year. Sewing Central is setup in our dining room and any time we need to use it for holidays or such, it has to be moved. That will change this spring!  We will have 2 extra bed rooms with our empty nest and one is going to be a sewing room! I am thrilled!

The Have-tos were 2 baby quilts. Our soon to be daughter-in-law had put together a top for a cousin's baby but had not had time to quilt it.  She also had fabrics for another cousin's baby, but had not made a top. I had a top for my latest great-nephew just waiting for his arrival in Oct.

So... I whipped up a top with the fabrics she had chosen.. hubs and I sandwiched everything and he put on his mad quilter hat and went to town. Got them quilted and bound.  I think they all turned out too cute!

This first one is the one our soon to be DIL made.  Her cousin (the baby's dad) is a big Mississippi State University fan and so she decided his son needed a Bulldog quilt. I love the companion shirting fabrics we found at Stitch N Frame (This is a LQS for me, but you can also order online. Sign up for their Thursday deals. Great selection and prices!)

 Next is her other new little cousin.  Future DIL and I went to Stitch N Frame and browsed their fabrics. She picked these out and brought them home. I decided to do a simple patchwork pattern to highlight their cuteness.  I really like how it turned out. This is (I think) my first borderless quilt. I love love love the biding fabric.  Really sets everything off.

And last is the top by I had made earlier for my great-nephew (born in Oct.)  This is absolutely one of my favorite quilts ever!  I love the pattern... love the fabrics... love hubs quilting.. it is just precious, I think.

And now we are settling in.. not for a long winter's nap (which we need!) but for a busier than normal holiday season as we move towards the Big Day! I'll be back in January.. there's a Granny Square Christmas to finish up... another baby coming in February who will need a quilt... a rag-t-shirt quilt I have been trying to make for 2 years... and a Wedding Quilt to make for the happy couple (the goal is to have it done by their first anniversary!)... oh and a sewing room to create!!!!

"Belle"

Changing Seasons

Big changes coming our way.. the nest will be empty after January 4, 2014.  And so when the hubs and I decided to create a Fall Wallhanging it seemed appropriate to name it "Changing Seasons."  My sweetie loves batiks and has been buying up scrap bags of them from our LQS (Stitch N Frame).

I found a maple leaf block.. he pulled out those batiks.. we looked at various layouts and came up with one we think like and off we went. The results is a lovely collaboration between 2 creative people with different tastes and preferences.  It is hanging proudly in our breakfast area for now. Soon it will be put to rest until next fall. Can't wait to see what that change of season brings!