Baby Quilt Fun...

I love making baby quilts.. they are without a doubt my favorite quilts to make.  2 years ago I made 2 baby quilts that I loved.. one was for a sweet little girl and is, to me, the prettiest baby quilt I have made ever.  The other was a fun cowboy quilt for a little fella.  Well this year I have made 2 more quilts.. same mommies... different genders. The little girl is now a big sister and the cowboy has a big brother.  I had as much fun making quilts for their younger siblings as I did for them.

 

When I found out the little fella was on the way, I immediately new I had to do a quilt based on his dad's alma mater.. Mississippi State University. This quilt shows how much I love this family... because I am a dyed in the wool Ole Miss fan who bleeds red and blue!  LOL!  Still I watched this little ones daddy grow up into one of the finest young men I know, so I wanted to do something he would love.  So Bulldog fabric was purchased along with some fun coordinating fabrics and this quilt was created..

Very simple strip quilt with simple straight line quilting.  I love how it turned out. I wish you could really see the fabrics up close.. that maroon and white gingham is great!

I learned that little girl's room was going to be done in gray and white and shades of pink / rose... not bright, but light and dusty.  Chevron or Zig-Zag quilts seem to be all the rage right now, so when I saw a gray and white Chevron I knew it was the quilt for this wee one. But how to add some pink into the mix?  Easy!  What little girl doesn't need a few flowers in her room. 

 I was so excited to find the polka dot fabric in my stash and there was literally enough for the flower and the border. I think it adds a great touch!

I think my favorite part is the quilting on the back!  I had a blast quilting this!  

Thought I might be done with baby quilts for 2013 but I am not. Yeah!  My niece in TX has baby #2 on the way.  Her little daughter was born 2 years ago too and yep, she is having a boy this time around! Not 100% sure what I will be doing for them. Mommy and Daddy met at University of Texas and are huge Longhorn fans.. so I thought about another team themed quilt.. but I also love the idea of a little boy quilt and his name is Wyatt.. doesn't that just scream cowboy hats and boots!?  Gonna be fun coming up with something special for this little buckaroo!

"Belle"

Summer Breeze Take 2...

Earlier this year my husband made a quilt top with batiks and very summery tropical beachy fabrics.. I dubbed it Summer Breeze.  He decided to make another top with those type fabrics.. and here it is..

We've been calling it Summer Breeze 2.. but I think it needs a name of its own. Maybe Tropical Breeze  or Island Breeze? Who knows!

He plans to sandwich these 2 (a 2 person job for sure!) soon and start quilting on them, so I need to figure out a name for the label soon!

No matter... it turned out lovely.... as always.

"Belle"

Kiddie Quilts...

I whipped together another Quilts for Kids quilt. This one was super quick and easy. I was going through a box of novelty fabrics and found a stash of nine-patch blocks.  I do not remember what I made them for or why!  I pulled out 10 that seemed to go well together.. all are bright fun fabrics that lend themselves to a girl.  I then pulled 10 coordinating fabrics. Tossed it all together and here is the result:

I am thinking I will call it ColorFilled Hope.  It is definitely bright and cheery and I love this smiling face..

Hubs has been busy working on kiddie quilts too.  A friend asked him to make a quilt for a "new" baby girl.  He came up with this...

And if you are thinking that is a big baby quilt, you are right! Hubs never does small.

He decided the wee ones big brother (age 3) needed a quilt of his own, so an I Spy quilt was born.

No doubt all of these will be loved. "Belle"

Goodies in the Mailbox!

It has been a long week... a long day... Often when I am coming home from errands, work, etc. I pull up to the mailbox and grab the mail before parking the car and heading in. Lazy I know!  I was delighted to open the box today and find 3 package.. 2 small... 1 big. I knew what they were (and there is one more on the way!).. FABRIC!!!!!

I needed a bit more variety in my granny square blocks for the Christmas quilt. I have a good bit of red and greens, but wanted some more black and cream / gold background fabrics. So here are the ones that arrived today..

I love all of these creams, although I think the middle one may be a bit too yellowy for this project. No problem... he can rest nicely in the stash until that moment when the perfect quilt for him is underway!

I adore the black background Christmas prints I have been using and these fit right in. That bit of black adds depth and richness to the blocks.

OK I said I had reds and greens, but I really liked this one.. and it was a great deal through Thousands of Bolts

And here is the final fabric...

Not very Christmassy is it!?  That is because it is NOT for the granny square quilt... it is for another project.. a joint venture between the hubster and me!  It is going to be a fun one! Wait and see...

"Belle"

Chugging along....

Sewing Central has been chugging along..... Hubs has finished a top for a friend's new granddaughter...

and is working on an I spy quilt for the baby's big brother...

I whipped together another top for Quilts for Kids...

and the Christmas Granny Squares production line continues...

A run for some batting is needed soon so these tops can become quilts!

Photos of finished products will be forthcoming.

Belle

It's all in the planning....

I don't always have chunks of time to sew... between being a full-time wife, working part-time, normal house stuff, 2 young adult kids (young moms it does not get easier!), my 81 year old mother, church activity and life in general, I have to find the time and energy sometimes to work on a project.

So when I can, I like to set things up for those times when I have 15 or 20 minutes to play with fabric.

Here is how I have sewing central set up now....

I sew on our dining room table. Normally I use a task chair, but I haven't taken the time to roll it from the computer in the other room to the dining table this morning. I have 2 Granny Square Blocks set up and ready to sew.. as well as piles of fabric cut and ready to set up more. I have to add a BIG advantage is a husband who cuts fabric for me! Of course I am often cooking supper or doing laundry while he cuts, so it is a win-win.  :-)

I may only get these 2 blocks sewn together today.. but that is ok!  It will be 2 more to add to this small, but growing collection...

And once the 2 are sewn today, I will lay 2 more out for the next bit of sewing time.

If you struggle with finding time to sew and if you are able to leave things set up, I encourage you to try something like this. Get fabrics cut.. layout a block or two.. have machine ready (correct thread, plenty of bobbins, fresh needle if needed) and then when you have a few minutes to breath, do it at the sewing machine!  You will accomplish more than you think!

Granny Square Block

Last year I was reading through some quilt blogs and discovered a group of bloggers making Granny Square Quilt Blocks. I fell in love with this block!  It is a great way to use up scraps (I am a true scrap quilt fanatic!) and it connected me to my grandmother.  My dad's mom has a great deal to do with my love of quilts.  She made one for each of her grandchildren... my was her last and the only one for a girl and she made it several years before I was born.  My folks were told about a year before I came along that they could have no more children.. 1 in a million chance. My grandmother was certain that her granddaughter would have the lovely dutch doll quilt she made. (She did everything by hand... never touched a machine).  Sure enough, a year later I came along.

BUT I did not get the beloved quilt then.. in fact, I was 18 before I got it!  I would often get her to pull it out of the Cedar Chiffarobe and let me look at it.  It was a great treasure to me.  My grandmother came from a time where you didn't use "fine" things and this was a fine thing.

I still have it. It adorned the bed in my daughter's room for many years. It needs a bit of repairing, but is still lovely and usable and, Lord willing, will one day be treasured by a granddaughter.

So what does this have to do with Granny Squares? Well I never saw my grandmother quilt. She was done with that by the time I came along, but I watched her crochet.  She tried to teach me but my fingers would not cooperate at all! I remember when she started working on the granny square afghan.  The squares are made of bright colors (she loves bright colors.. must be where I get it!) and they are put together with navy yarn. It is a large bed-size afghan with bright multicolored fringe. I love it!  And she made it for me.  As far as I know I am the only grandchild who has anything she crocheted and the only one who had something made especially for her.  Makes it more special!

Quilts and Granny Squares both hold a special place in my heart because of my sweet Mama Rush... Bessie Case Lea Rushing... and this block combines those 2 and stirs memories of days with her.

I knew I wanted to make a Christmas quilt this year and while looking online for inspiration, I ran across a pin on Pinterest of a Christmas Granny Square Quilt.  This was it!  So I pulled up the Granny Square Tutorial.. pulled some fabrics.. and whipped up a practice block.

It takes a bit of time and focus to keep things order, but it is a fairly easy block and I think it turned out lovely! I will be pulling more fabrics this week and start cutting lots and lots of 2.5" squares.  My plan is to have a box full of squares, so I can make blocks in between other projects when I just need something different to do.  The blocks are essentially 9" blocks and I want to make a pretty decent size quilt, so I have a bunch to piece!