One more finish

"Pinwheel Star" for Rhys.  Pattern is called Solitary Stary by Maria Umhey (in Quiltmaker #192). It was a quick and easy pattern, and I got to use a bunch of fabric I already owned.

This is my great-nephew, Rhys!  He is a sweet, happy, bundle of energy! He is also 3 years old and I was overdue in making him a baby quilt.

I love the happy nature of this quilt.  Even though Rhys is no longer a baby, he can still use if for floor fun, naps, and maybe as a Batman cape.

I think he likes it!

 

Three quilts and a baby!

 When I retired from my day job a few months ago, I realized that I need to make 5 baby quilts soon!  Two of our daughters, Emily and Hannah, were expecting babies, another family member was expecting too, and I was overdue on making baby quilts for 2 others toddlers.  Time to sew!

"Starry Starry Night" for Benjamin Prindle, our grandson, born two weeks ago! I had seen this design on Pinterest years ago, sorry I could not determine the designer.  It was fun to make all of these wonky, colorful stars!  I varied the background colors, inspired by the original design and also by the awesome way that Hannah painted the nursery's ceiling!

Doesn't this room look amazing?  Hannah and Danny used 5 different dark blues and swirled them together to create the night sky.  Then they used the handle tip of a narrow paint brush, dipped in white paint, to achieve the stars.  Hannah really has a flair for decorating!

Here is our newest grandchild, Benjamin Robert, born 2 weeks ago today!  He was 7 lbs. 14 oz., 12 inches long.  And oh, those cheeks!  We think he's pretty great.

We are lucky that our kids all live close by, so we can visit often.  I think I held Ben for an hour yesterday, it felt so good! 

"Sweet Dreams" made Hannah's sister-in-law's baby, who was born two weeks ago also!  Baby Natalie Rose was born one day before Benjamin, so Natalie and Ben will be like cousin twins!  Exciting times for all! 
I made these simple stars out of some leftover Moda fabrics I had (another jelly roll, I think), so soft and sweet.  I knew that the parents had painted the nursery a very soft pale pink so I am hoping this will blend with their decor.

"Pastel Hearts" for Emma, who is already 2 years old!  Emma is big sister to new baby Natalie, whose quilt is shown above.  These floral and dot prints were from a jelly roll I purchased a few years ago and have used for a couple of other baby quilts.  I love the pinks, greens, beiges, and grays.  The simple 4-patch heart blocks go together so quickly! It's a great way to use up scraps. 

Three baby quilts done since April, and two to go!  One is in progress, and will be for my other daughter's soon-to-be-born third child!  More on that quilt later, after the quilt is done and the baby is born.  Quilt #5 has not been started yet.

Finishes - 2021!

 Wow, I had NO IDEA how many projects I finished in 2021 until I gathered them together and counted them!  I guess those little short sewing sessions added up to many completed quilts and other items! Note, some of these have not been blogged about yet, their stories will follow.  Here we go:

Oh Christmas Trees - table runner made for my niece, Collin. I drew Collin's name in our Secret Santa drawing this year.

I didn't make this awesome album quilt, but I re-bound it for my niece Collin, and her husband, Austin.  It is a well-loved quilt, made maybe in the 70s, it felt like silk working with it! I ripped off the original binding and added a fresh, new bias binding of muslin.  Ready for lots more snuggling!

I made a couple of Christmas pillow covers to add a little more Christmas fun to my holiday decor! 

One more little star pillow!

Sweet Baby Rose - made super quick for my coworker's new baby.  Rose made an early arrival so I quickly made this of saved extra equilateral triangles from another project. I love how the quilt gets so soft and crinkly after washing.

Hugs for Deb - finished quilt top, I never got a photo of the finished quilt! I tied the quilt to keep it super soft and fluffy.  This was a gift for a special friend who need a big hug. 

Rocky Mountain Love - baby quilt for little Owen (son of Cara K.) who lives in Colorado.  

Sweet Little Hearts - dolly quilt for my granddaughter, Kate, to celebrate her first birthday.  I have started a tradition of gifting each grandchild with a baby quilt when they are born, and a matching dolly quilt when they turn 1.

Sweet Little Hearts - dolly quilt for little Henry's first birthday. 

Siddhi Quilt - started in Sujata Shaw's online class from 2020, finished early in 2021.

Another project worked on this past year was going back and adding labels to all of my quilts.  I'm almost done with that.

So that's my year 2021 in review!  I know we all have busy schedules.  I work full time and also teach piano lessons to about 15 students each week.  It's important to me to fit quilting into my schedule.  I just love it, it feeds something inside me and makes me so happy!

Baby quilts are the best!

Finish!  "Rocky Mountain Love" to celebrate the birth of Owen, first born to our dear friend of the family, Cara K., who lives in Colorado.  Soft baby colors, and shapes reminiscent of mountains.

Soft stipple quilting with a simple binding.

Always add a label to your quilts! 

Packed, and on its way to meet little Owen.  Sweet dreams, Owen! 

Happy first finishes - 2021

One plus to being cooped up at home is - more time for sewing!  On the first of the year, which is also my birthday, I cleaned up and cleared out my sewing studio!  I organized everything (which involved a quick trip to the dollar store for more clear plastic boxes), and took stock of all my UFO's (unfinished objects, or projects).  I made a list of all of my UFOs, and also listed projects not yet started but planned for this year.  I won't mention how many projects are on those lists!!!

First completed quilt for 2021 - Siddhi Quilt, started in an online class with Sujata Shah a few months ago.  Sujata is an excellent quilter and teacher, and just a beautiful person, too.  Scott and I were honored to meet her about 5 years ago.  
This is a small quilt, hand stitched with perle cotton.  You start at the OUTSIDE edges, and work your way around, adding pieces as you go.  The stitching goes through all three layers - backing, thin batting, and top pieces.  You just cut your pieces with a scissors, folding under the edges with your fingers.  No iron or rotary cutter needed.  I really love how it turned out, and have another one started already. 

This is a doll quilt called Happy Little Star for my grandson, Henry's, first birthday, which is coming up in April.  This is a small version of his baby quilt.  A truly unusual feature for me is the fact that this quilt is done way before the event!  I am usually finishing projects at the last possible minute!

This quilt, Happy Little Hearts, is a doll quilt for my granddaughter's Kate first birthday, coming up in May.  Yet another quilt done ahead of schedule!  This is a smaller version of her baby quilt.  I had fun with the free-motion quilting in the borders.  

 

One shopping trip = 3 baby quilts, second finish of 2016

Meet sweet baby girl Larkin! 

Isn't she adorable? My co-worker is her mother, so I wanted to make this special girl a quilt.  I used my same group of baby quilt fabrics, purchased two years ago for one quilt, and they keep turning into one more quilt! 

Gretchen (my friend, Larkin's mom) had picked gray as her favorite color for the nursery, so I picked fabrics from my bin to complement her theme (and I did add a solid gray from my stash).  I love the butterfly fabric in the border, with just a hint of my favorite color, lime green!

I settled on a simple meander for the quilting, using a variegated pastel thread.  I topstitched the binding in lime green. 

Sorry the light isn't very good, but I snapped these early in the morning before dashing off to work.  I wanted to bring the quilt to work with me, and present it to Gretchen.

Originally thought I'd just make a dolly quilt for Larkin, but ended up adding borders to make it baby-size.

Hudson's quilt - a much larger quilt! Made for our great nephew, Hudson, who is named for us! What an honor! This is the quilt that started this string of baby quilts.  I shopped for a nice variety of bright, modern prints and made these fun tumblers. 

This is Hudson with his mother, Miranda, at our daughter's wedding.

Simple quilting completed the quilt. 

Second quilt made from my baby quilt bin - for little baby Lena! Love those butterflies in the border, too! Kristin, the baby's mother (special friend of the family), chose cute pastels like aqua, orange, and yellow for her theme, so I tried to skew the color scheme in that direction.

Kristin holding the quilt at her baby shower.  We've know Kristin since she met our daughter, Emily, when they were in the 7th grade.  Best friends ever since.

Baby Lena with her snuggle quilt.  I think she likes it.