another baby!

This little quilt is for the son of a cousin, so I guess the baby is my 2nd cousin? Little one's name is not being given out to the public until his birth (I hate that when parents do that!)My cousin, his wife and their daughter live in Colorado and were in town recently and were surprised with a baby shower that I could not attend. :( Never fear, Kristine is here!! I was able to whip this little quilt up for baby #2 last week......Baby (nameless) bedding is from pottery barn. (see below) up above is what I came up with, red, white, blue and brown, all from my stash except the backing.

The back of the quilt.

up close......I love this pattern, so, so easy but so fun to put together. Can't wait to find out what the little whippersnapper's name is going to be!

Congrats to Matt and Michelle on your new addition. :)

a special gift

I have this friend Coleen. Coleen and I met a lonnnnnnnng time ago, back in the 90's ;) Coleen was the high school chum of a boyfriend of mine way back when I was 19/20. I dated that boy for a few years and over those years got to know Coleen better and better. That boy broke up with me (whatever) but Coleen and continued to be friends and hang out. Then I moved back to Spokane and Coleen and I still keep in touch......Coleen became a momma on March 9th to a little boy that she and her husband adopted. :) His name is Grayson Samuel...this is a picture of Coleen and Grayson (Mr. Grayson was very eager to meet his new momma and dad and decided to show up 5 weeks early and was in the NICU for 10 or so days)

This is the quilt I came up with for Grayson, I was really tickled with how it came out....there are 432 2.5" squares in this little blanket, the smallest patchwork I have ever done.

The theme of Grayson's room is monkey's....how lucky was I to find not only monkey flannel for the backing but monkey flannel fabric that coordinated with the quilt top.

(had to get a wee bit creative with the backing hence the strip of squares, someone (moi) was a few inches short when telling the gal at the cutting counter how much yardage was needed, oops...I think it turned out ok though.....

....I think Grayson thinks it turned out ok too! Welcome to this world Grayson, you are such a special gift!! And congrats Coleen, you are going to be such a great momma!!

A Queen sized finish

Last year (February 8th) was my parents 40th Wedding Anniversary. In 2008 I joined a block of the month club and ended up using those blocks to put together this quilt for my parents. I was at a loss of what to do to tie them all together (hmmm word to the wise, spend the money and buy the finishing kit next time, duh!) Because there were so many stars and points in the blocks I made a big ol' Ohio Star for the center, framed all the blocks, then sashed all the blocks and this is what I came up with. It still drives me crazy that after measuring, adding, subtracting, all of the things I don't like in quilting (yet another reason I don't make patterns, I buy them!) I set 2 of the rows a bit off, uhg.......

But I don't think my parents cared. :) (or noticed for that matter!)

Happy 41st Anniversary Mom and Dad, enjoy your Queen sized quilt, I am never making one that big again. :) Love your daughter :)

a gift for my Grandpa

I posted in October about a special visit from my 91 year old Grandpa (seen here meeting the youngest Great-Grandchild, Garrett). My Grandpa lives in Florida so so far away.




Even though the temperatures are usually warm in Florida I wanted to make my Grandpa a nice throw, something to put over his legs on a "chilly" Florida night.



Looking good so far?

Here is my finished product, I wanted something that was bright and cheery for him to have in his home. I sent it off to him a little early, wanted him to enjoy it as soon as possible. When he received it the weather had been unseasonably cold down there and he told me he has been putting it to good use, yeah!!

Here is my label, it turned out really cute! I joined Sweetwater's monthly label crew club and with every months project you also recieve a personalized label. December's was perfect, all I had to add was a little personalization, iron and then stich it on and I was done. I was really happy with how this special throw came together. I only wish I would have made one sooner and sent it down for my Grandmother to enjoy before she passed in August. At least I did it soon enough for my Grandpa to enjoy. Merry Christmas Grandpa!

teacher gift 2010

The school year will come to an end for Emily on Friday, summer here we come!! Once again we just loved her teacher. Last year I made her kindergarten teacher a special gift. This year it was Mrs. Brunton's turn. :) I used several Moda Sweetwater au.then.tic charm packs....instead of running to the store for one more pack I used up some of my stash....I think it turned out really well. During the school year I emailed the student teacher for her class asking her to snoop around for me and find out Mrs. Brunton's favorite color.....green.....lots of green in this quilt!

Here is a close up of the label....I even found some flannel fabric with green in it for the backing.

All wrapped up ready for a gift bag.

Here is Mrs. Brunton and Emily after opening her gift, all smiles by everyone. (Emily is wearing a crown because they celebrated her birthday at school today, it is not until August though)

quilt for "Cookie"

I have these friends....they dated FOREVER, (7+ years) got married 4 years ago and tried, tried, tried to have a baby "the old fashioned way". Didn't work :( Last year they decided to try IVF....you get 3 chances and it is a lot of $ and still no guarantee of a baby.....the first two times did not work :(



But the 3rd time did!!! Yahoo!! A baby girl is on her way early August....right now they have named her "Cookie"....they will not name her until they see her darling face on her birthday!








Here is a picture that I stole off of the momma's facebook (I can do that right?) Isn't the crib set darling? The momma and poppa of "Cookie" are VERY outdoorsy, the type of people that camp in the snow (what? who would do such a thing?) and not in a camper! I wanted to make "Cookie" something special oh say like a quilt but I did not want it to be too girlie or too feminine so I went with browns, pinks and greens to stay with the nature theme of the bedroom. This is what I came up with....what do you think?









An up close shot, it is raw edge appliqued. I bought the pattern from Quilt Taffy (love these ladies) it is called Vintage Circle quilt by yoyomama designs. I don't know why I was so anxious about doing this....after it was all finished I loved it, at first I was FREAKED out it was going to look like crap.....you zig and zag all over the place and I was concerned that the back would be just a mess.....but smart me went with a very busy flannel backing and you hardly notice the stitching at all. No pins are used basting this quilt, you use spray on adhesive (dining room floor was a bit sticky) and glue sticks to paste the fabric pieces down then sew, sew, sew.



I think it turned out well, still a nice quilt but a bit more casual, no need to worry about getting it dirty, I want this to be used and loved and snuggled with.....I hope "Cookie" likes it....I sure liked making it for her and can't wait to meet her soon!

You can click here to see upclose pictures of the quilt :)

she liked it!

My BFF Cheyenne opening her birthday present I made her. :)

She loved it!

I finished another quilt top yesterday, this one is a special gift for a special someone in May. I am going to meet up with Christina while in Portland this week and she is going to quilt it for me. I know it will be a hard one to give away but I can't wait!

Flea Market Fancy top ready to quilt

Well here it is!!!! I have my FMF quilt ready to go to the quilter later this week! I can't wait to have it in my hot little hands after it has been on the long arm....now....what to do, what to do?? How would you quilt it? I am thinking an all over feather stitch but am up for suggestions..... Here are a few of my favorite blocks.....

And here is the back!

We had 2 of our bedroom walls painted this past weekend, we had a DARK red/merlot color before....now we have this darkish robin egg blue....I l.o.v.e. it, love it, love it, love it!!!!! Did I mention I LOVE IT?

what would you do?

I finally cut into ALL of my Flea Market Fancy stash and I must say it feels good....I have been collecting this collection for over a year now and last month I realized that I just needed to DO SOMETHING with it....just sitting in a drawer for me to open every once in a while is silly, so cutting I did!! This is where I need a little help...I am 99% sure of which design I am going to use but wanted a few opinions....I have 42 blocks, they measure 11" x 11". I have a queen sized bed...with this option I had 7 blocks left over that I would use on the back with the fabric at the end of this post (that I got a KILLER deal on!) and a solid color, same as the blue/aqua in this line of the blue seeds/aqua bouquet. (those of you that know about this line know what color I am talking about, if you don't know about this line...read on!)
So here is the first option, white sashing around each block.
Here is an idea of the 2nd option, group them all together then have a large white border/sashing around all of the blocks (I would use all 42 blocks on this top, none on the back)
Here is the fabric I got a killer deal on, I just love it, click on it to see up close. :)

Like I mentioned above I am 99% sure of which choice I will go with but just wanted to find out any more opinions, likes, dislikes, ideas. Whatever I decide I will be working on this quilt this weekend and get it off to my quilter in the next week or so, I want this baby on my bed by early spring!!!

a few of my favorite things

I have not done a "favorite things" post in awhile.  This is a picture of TWO of my favorite people, Emily and Jack...I had them hold up the quilt top that I made for my nephew who will be making his debut next month, February 26th to be exact.  I used a few Amy Butler dot fabrics and a few of the Robots line from David  Walker, I just love how it turned out so far, so bright and cheery....

The kids are bright and cheery too!

 

autumn mini quilt

I subscribe to the Sew Mama Sew blog....this month they are having a "scrap busters" theme....there are some great ideas on there....the other day I came across this entry....decided I needed another throw pillow like I need a hole in my head so I came up with a mini quilt for my kitchen. I l.o.v.e. this.....

Quilt Festival entry

This is my entry for the online quilt festival hosted by Amy. I don't know really anything about this quilt top other than it was inherited through a few deaths on my mom's side of the family, isn't that sad? My mom is not even sure how she got it....I guess when you have several Aunts that pass and then your mom (my Grandma) gets their things....well when my Grandmother passed several years ago my mom got this quilt top. I just loved it so I stole it! I don't even know what the name of the block is, anyone? I did repair about 3 little areas on this quilt before I took it to my quilter, not sure what they will do with it but I can't wait!

I was going to post a few pictures of one of my quilts but H1N1 has been making a run through our house this week, I decided to pick this quilt because I already had these photos on my computer and decided to join in the fun of the quilt festival...most fun I have had all week with two sick kids and a hubbie out of town! :)

a few finished things

I have been working my buns off the past year or so getting a lot of WIP's finished and here are a few of them....I just got these quilts back from the quilter, I am really happy with them....This large aqua/blue/red/pink quilt is for Emily, she just loves it, says it is real cozy. I used the tutorial from this blog.

This pinwheel quilt is for our family room...I used the tutorial from this blog.

And this quilt was from my own little pea brain....it was originally going to be for my daughter but after I made it I realized it was not big enough for her bed so I started the coin quilt....I am giving this one to my niece for her room/bed...she will be 7 at the end of the month...she will love it I'm sure...she thinks Auntie can make anything....the quilting on this one just screams little girl....hot pink and butterflies.