Weekend organizing and fun!

Easily the weekend's highlight was attending a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert!  It was a special treat, attending with daughters Emily and Hannah.   The entire program was fabulous, and the guest artist Lisa Batiashvili and guest conductor, James Gaffigan, were excellent!  My favorites were the Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saens, and Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky. 

Scott helped me out by installing my new pegboard (from IKEA) in my sewing studio. Work in progress in the background, more on that later.

It looks great!  

Before the CSO concert, we went out for dinner at Gia Mia.  Everything was delicious!  We had zucchini fries, meatballs with polenta, gnocchi, and pizza.  

Girls night!  We decided we definitely need to do this more often, next time with Genevieve too. 

Saturday I got to do a little fabric shopping/therapy and get a few boxes checked on my Shop Hop passport.  Most of the fabrics are Moda, except for the blue and green prints which are Northcott.  The two gray prints are for the backs of baby quilts, the dog prints are for dog bandanas, and the others are just for my stash.

Our lab, Dora, just LOVES being outside in the summertime.  That is her happy place, for sure!

We love being outside too, and have been eating most meals outside this summer.  I just noticed that you can see both dogs in this photo - Buddy is under the table.  This delicious dinner was mostly from IKEA, Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes.  Yum!

 

Playing with Solids - #mfaQAL

 Hello and happy new year! I am optimistic for the coming year, as I have a new grandbaby on the way (in August), plus some new and exciting things for me personally in the wings.  More on that later.

I am starting with the Museum of Fine Arts Boston Quilt along! #mfaQAL.  Check out the many Insta posts and also their website!  https://www.broadclothstudio.com/mfa-qal  Their website has this fantastic Digital Coloring Page where you get to try LOTS of different colors and combinations for the quilt! 

The quilt is fairly simple, just 9 blocks, each designed by a different designer, and all with a modern edge. I have always loved quilts made with solids, but haven't sewn with them for years!

My fabrics - all Kona solids.

First block - Water Lily

Web page showing full quilt with 9 blocks.

Quilt top finished, Hannah's birthday

Quilt top finished!  Simple design, 6" squares, in a streak of lightning setting.  All those Kaffe fabrics in the quilt are so gorgeous.

I got inspired when it came time to make Hannah's birthday cake this year!  I had seen Molly Yeh on Girl Meets Farm make a Barbie cake, and this is my version.  The cake and frosting were both delicious - lots of butter and cream cheese, what's not to like?  But it was difficult to frost the cut edges of the cake.  Oh well, the sprinkles helped, and Hannah loved it!

Happy birthday, Hannah!

Hannah and her little man, Henry, so handsome!

 

'Tis the Season for New Christmas Stockings!

We were not able to have a house full of family this Christmas, but we still decorated - including a stocking for each family member!  This meant that I needed to sew some NEW stockings!

These two new stockings are for our daughter, Genevieve (GVG for short, an it fits nicely on a stocking!), and her darling daughter, our granddaughter, Lily, who turned 3 on Christmas Day.  I did have other stockings for them, but I decided I needed to make them nice, new ones, to better blend with our Christmas color scheme. 

These stockings are for our two NEW family members, born in 2020!  Two new grandchildren (total is now 4, we are blessed!), Henry - first born child to Hannah and Danny and Kate - second child to Emily and Matthew and sister to Ella.  We can't wait for NEXT Christmas, when (hopefully) all of the family will be here for Christmas morning!  We will be crowded, and it will be chaotic - and I cannot wait!

These are the stockings at Emily and Matt's house.  The one on the right is Emily's (she attended Indiana University), and the one on the left is for Ella.  I made Ella's this year.

The one on the left is Matthew's (he attended Notre Dame), and the one on the right is for Kate.  I made Kate's this year. 

Good tidings of comfort and joy, from our house to yours!

 

Happy New Year 2021!

Happy new year, 2021! I wish all of you a year filled with love, good health, and happiness!

We took a drive yesterday so I could visit a couple quilt shops! I had depleted much of my Christmas fabrics, especially reds, while sewing several new Christmas stockings for new family members.  I had fun doing some stash building! 
I also had this panel that I purchased a couple of years ago, that I plan to incorporate into a Christmas quilt.  Plan for that quilt is tbd.

New year's eve dinner was surf and turf!  Scott made the entrees, I made the sides, and we both enjoyed!  My birthday is January 1st, so this was also my birthday dinner.  

I got this puzzle for Christmas from my Secret Santa, my nephew, Austin.  It was lots of fun!  So much fun, that we just broke it up, and started it again!

 

Finish - Erica's baby girl surprise quilt!

Wow I was pretty quick on this finish! Bought the fabric on vacation in Winterset, Iowa early July, and had quilt finished for a baby shower mid-August. That’s warp speed for me!
Six simple stars, with fussy-cut sheep centers. The quilt coordinates nicely with the nursery, and the mom-to-be loved it!
Sorry these photos are out of order, I’m posting from my phone bc our laptop is in the shop.
Happy quilting!

Finished quilt top on the design wall, auditioning the binding fabric. Does anyone else do that?

This cute sheep fabric was in the bundle I bought in Winterset, Iowa.  Set the tone of the whole quilt, and also harmonized nicely with Erica's decorating theme.

Quilted it myself with a simple meander. I always wash quilts before presenting them.  It looked better in person, not the best photo.  I'll have Erica take a photo with the baby, after she arrives. :)

Close up of one of the star blocks.  

Love the bunnies on the selvedge!

Ready for gifting!

Treasures from the Road

We just got home from a BIG car trip (2400+ miles, more on that later), GREAT to travel, but also GREAT to be home!  

Here are my treasures from the trip!

How fun is this lady-liberty-meets-andy-warhol panel? I could not resist it, found at Twin Cities Quilting in St. Paul - perfect for a fun wall hanging for the patriotic holidays.
And the Quiltfolk "Iowa" issue, picked up at the Iowa Quilt Museum in Winterset, Iowa.  We visited the covered bridges, too - which was great fun to do...so quiet and peaceful. 

More treasures  - found at Piece Works Quilt Shop in Winterset.  I have a baby quilt (for a girl) that I want to whip up quickly, but had no real plan, except for the mom-to-be's color scheme:  the softest pink - almost ballet pink, white, gray/beige, and the tiniest touches of a soft teal green.  Piece Works had ON SALE a baggie with (5) 1-yard pieces in coordinating colors:  the sweet lambs on a soft pink background, two tan prints to the right, and the two green prints in the background (which I am not using, as they are too bright for this project.  No worries, I will use them for something!) I added the three pink/beige prints across the top, and the store clerk found the white texture-y print underneath.  I'm set!

Another find from Twin Cities Quilting, I loved the soft, old-fashioned look of this Christmas panel - reminds me of the movie, Prancer.  I plan to make a simple pillow for the head of the bed, to coordinate with a Christmas quilt - which may of may not be done this year.  

More catch-up - Emily and Matt's baby shower, Ella's Tulip Garden quilt

We hosted a baby shower for our daughter, Emily, and her husband, Matt back in January.  We had fun decorating the house with some special family mementos, and fun shower decorations like the flag bunting. 

The quilt on the wall was made by my grandmother for my parents' wedding in 1944.  I thought the colors suited the baby shower theme.  The high chair in the background was used by me, my mom, and my grandmother!

Cutest cake ever!  Not only cute, but delish! White cake with lemon filling, and buttercream icing. (from Kirsten's Danish Bakery)

These are antique baby clothes I have. The beige one in the center was my mom's, so that dress is 100 years old! The picture in the foreground shows my mom wearing the dress. 

My lovely daughters!  Emily, Hannah, and Genevieve.  My heart is so full!

Mom and daughter.

Ella's Tulips - I had lots of fun making this.  

It looks so cute in their nursery!

Beautifully machine quilted by Sue Pawlowski.  

Baby Ella!  Born February 12, 2018. 

Ella and granddad sharing stories.  I have a feeling they will be great friends. :)

Playing catch-up - Gen and Dave's Baby Shower, Liliana's Southwest Dreams Baby Quilt

Wow, we have been living life on "fast forward" lately!  In the course of about 6 months, our family has experienced or will experience:  3 showers; 2 births: and a wedding.  Very busy, but it's all good.  We are so blessed!

This quilt is Liliana's Southwest Dreams, modeled by Liliana herself.  More on this later. 

Genevieve and Dave at their baby shower back in November. We had a nice big group of family and friends, gathered to celebrate the upcoming birth of their little girl.  

Sister moms-to-be! Genevieve on the left, Emily on the right.  My lovely daughters!  (both have since delivered, Genevieve had Liliana Noelle on Christmas morning, and Emily welcomed Ella Karen on February 12)

Emily, her husband Matt, Danny (Hannah's fiance), and Hannah. You can see the nice bright space we rented at our park district rec center. 

Love this clever gift from one of Genevieve's good friends!

The two grandmas-to-be, and shower planners, Annette and myself!  We had fun working on this together!

The rowdy table (every party has one!):  our good friends, Diane, Paul, Andrew, Molly, Cindy, and Bill. 

This stole the show!  Scott made this "watermelon baby" himself! (modeled after many found on pinterest)  I think he did an AMAZING job!

This was some of my inspiration for Genevieve's baby quilt.  She wanted something with a southwest theme, and I love this squash blossom quilt block design.  Found this quilt on pinterest, sorry I don't know the source.  I did a LOT of searching for ideas, and went through several design choices before settling on this one.  I even started sewing one of the other options, but was not happy until I found this.

Quilt in progress.  I love the off center feeling of this quilt.  

Genevieve asked me to design the quilt color scheme around this framed artwork, but with a southwest theme.

Finished quilt and Lily.  Machine quilted perfectly by Sue Pawlowski.

Hello Lily!

And back to sleep.

I LOVE how Genevieve posed Lily for this photo!  

Sweet dreams, Lily!