~Red Letter Day baby quilt~

What feeling is so nice as a child’s hand in yours? So small, so soft and warm, like a kitten huddling in the shelter of your clasp.
~Marjorie Holmes

So, I think I’ve mentioned my cousin really liked her quilt I made for her new baby..

She wanted me to make a quilt for her friend in Canada daughter Xyla Rose (beautiful name!).

For the main fabric she picked a Lizzy House line the Red Day Letter and had it shipped to me. It is the cutest line!!

This is what I came up with-

~sorry for the cloudy day weather pics..

 ~back (kind of blurry)

 ~I think this little area is my favorite!

So, I used linen for the sashing.  I have been wanting to try wool for the batting.  After all this quilt is going to Canada.  I love, love, love cotton batting, but I just feel like it is so thin sometimes.  The wool is thin, it makes it a little transparent, just a bit.  But, it is warm, really warm and very, very soft.   I think it will be good.  So? We’ll see. Have you ever used wool? What did you think?

Can I just say I finally got the corner thing figured out??  I have read many, many tutorials but I was always a little off.  No more! I got it . Yay me!

So, now that I compare the 2 quits, obviously I did not exactly replicate the design, but I hope she loves it anyway!

 

Updated:  I recieved a lovely comment from Lizzy’s mom! I asked her how she happened to come upon this name for her collection.  She was kind enough to send me back to where Lizzy explains the name…and it is perfect! It really makes this quilt that much more perfect! We should all be so smart as to have a Red Letter Day, everyday!!

~Reflection on thankfulness day 3~

~I am so thankful my workday went by quickly and smoothly! One more day and then I will be off for a while!

and I will be so grateful for the quiet time to finish so many project’s I have hanging over my head!

~this is the beginnings of quilt I am making for my cousin’s best friend’s baby! ~or something like that!   I struggled for a moment to get my mojo going but finally thank the Lord, it hit me and I’ve been working feverishly to get it done.  Should not be too much longer.. and then there is this…

~my scraps to treasure quilt front that must be finished ASAP.. I am so late! Please excuse the wrinkles I should not even tell you how that happened..

~it partly involves this cat cuddling up on it, then being ambushed by his brother, and then a whole big rigmarole ensues.. goodness!

All in all I am so thankful I have a mind that won’t rest and hands that must be kept busy.  It just makes me feel more complete..

~ Quilt for Silent Auction check it !!~

~Love love love !!

~ So I got it together this past week and came up with this little quilt ..

I am so happy with this quilt.  I have really wanted to make a solid quilt. My inspiration came to me from One Shabby Chick’s Quilting Festival entry.. I loved that quilt from the first moment I saw it.

I used all Kona cotton fabrics. I improved each color block, and after seeing all of them and studying them it came to me that they all appear to me as wonky crazy doors.. Which I love, this being a quilt for my daughter’s school Silent Auction, it fit.

  ~front of quilt.. light is very difficult today… I was chasing it…

  ~ back of quilt.. love that big block!

  ~ okay, maybe this is too out there, but this phrase was in my mind.. when I think of her school, the children, the faculty, the parents… their mission this is what comes to mind…

~I fought with this blanket stitch, my cranky bobbin and I was down to the last bits of thread…. but I am letting it go~

Here are af few of the “doors” ~

  ~the color is a bit off here, the block is not red, it is more magenta?!

ok, you get the point…

I quilted each color block in a different pattern, but I have to say my hat is off to all of  ya’ll who straight line quilt, that is no easy task! It looks so simple, but it is as hard as the dickens.. Seriously not easy..

I had to back to my first love, stippling  for the main body and I love the overall effect. It works for me.

Matching sham check…

one happy little helper… check check~

We’re good!

Enjoy your weekend!

~Oh my gosh I won!~

Seriously, this is my first time ever to win anything.. it just never happens for me!

 NEVER!!

Remember  Amy’s Quilt Festival?
I posted about my Nie Nie quilt.. well, as I was reading her post listing all of the winners, I almost fell out of my chair!
I saw my name!

Turns out I won a few goodies from  Quilternity  I am so excited!!!
Like this little helpful tool… wait until you see what I am working on… I really could have used this! Also, a set of 5 hand dyed fat quarters!!  

Are you kidding me?     

Thank you Quilternity and thank you to  Amy for hosting the Fall Quilt Festival, it was so much fun!

Remember it is never too late to learn a new task or to develop a new interest. If you think you want to learn to quilt, just go for it! It is easy, rewarding, forgiving and in the end you will create something beautiful.. what’s not to love?

 

Ps, doesn’t that coffee look super great???

It is not just a latte, no it is a a Pumpkin Pie Spiced latte from The Yellow Door Paperie oh my stars.. heaven in a cup and that is for real!!

So good!

   ~ and I made this recipe from the Soup Swap

So good! By the way, that is parmesan and steam on the picture.. I don’t know why, but lately I have been putting parmesan on everything.. what’s up with that?

~ Dinner ideas and thoughts of many quilts ~

“There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on 
the feelings, as now in October.” 
-  Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

I am loving this October!! We are on a two week fall break which so far has been lovely even though the grey and drizzle.   Fall is my most favorite of seasons.  Soup is always on my mind and yesterday was no different. I made a vegetable soup that was awesome!  If anyone is interested I can write more about it, but just know that is a powerhouse of goodness!

 

 

I am always in search of dinner ideas.. you know it is hard to come up with something good every single night..

I have made this pizza before  and it is easy and really good.  Last night I made another one and I basically used leftover baked chicken, basil from the garden, olive oil and cheese along with a mix of whole wheat and white flour.

 

So easy and so delicious, even Miss Picky Pants ate it!

I am working on my Scraps to Treasure project. I am slowly working on it.   The project was due October 1st.  Needless to say I have been delayed in a horrible horrible way. It is slow going at times but I am hoping to get into a groove very soon.

I have been commissioned  for a baby quilt by my cousin. She reports that she has really enjoyed her Sand and Sea quilt that I made for her baby Elio, (he is gorgeous!) so much that she would like me to make one just like it from  these fabrics!  Aren’t they cute?? Yay!! I am so happy to do this…!!

I am contemplating trying to put together a quilt for a Silent Auction for my daughter’s school… however I am so undecided on ideas. I am a little unsure if anyone would be interested in such a thing.  I am kind of leaning towards an all solid Kona cotton quilt if I decided to do it, but I am still thinking on this idea.  I also don’t have much time….

Also,  Jade from Craft Hope has project 5, and this is a really good one!  This project not only helps little children, but also children that are here close to us all.  I am excited about this one!

I have lots more to chat about but it will have to wait. I hope your day is blessed!

~Baby Shower check!~

So, I spent all week in suspense.  We had the shower for my sister… yay! Now I can show what I have been working on.

I made a decision to change from my hexagonquilt, to a string quilt.  I honestly was feeling uninspired for some reason. I also was seeing some flaws with my handsewing that was beginning to make me crazy.  Plus it has been a while since I made my last quilt so I was itching to get back to what I know I can do. For the fabric selection… it is a mix of  fabrics. My sister picked out her main fabric.. the lindley yellow check and a blue floral “Lucinda” from Covington. Originally to work off of the colors, I chose Tanya Whelan prints from the Darla collection. I love that line. It is very soft and girly. However, I felt like I needed some zip. That is where the Good Folk fabric came in. I just love the colors and the way they all seem to work off of each other. I was inpsired by this and thisquilt. I used a 2 inch white kona cotton strip in each block. I chose a large block to show the fabrics off. To finish the quilt I used this tutorial I like the idea of a handwritten label for my niece’s first quilt.

To finish it all off I made a little coordinating envelope quilted pillow. Love the back!

 

I will still complete the hexagon quilt, I just have to be inspired again..  I encourage you to make a string quilt.  It is kind of magical when you trim down your block. The whole thing just transforms.

  ~ love love love this itty bitty dress pattern!

 

I also made the itty bitty baby dress from Made by Rae  Omg!!  I love love love this pattern. I love it because it reminds me of when I first learned to sew, my daughter was just a few months old. I really wanted to be able to make her clothes. I signed up for a class at our local college. My husband bought me a little Viking and it was a workhorse. We got to pick out a pattern and we worked our way through it. I picked a dress and it was a lined bodice with a gathered skirt. This pattern just brought me back to the beginning. It made me so happy!

I ended up making bloomers from a pattern I had at home. I love the fabric I used the Anna Marie Horner Good Folks collection. Wow~ what a great line! I can not say enough about the fabric. I love the weight of it. I love the way it sewed up and how it look after I pressed. It has a very rich feel to it. Love love love it.
If you notice it coordinates with the quilt ever so slightly.
Finished off with a few burp cloths using left over fabric scraps.

 One cozy blanket and that finished up the gift. I loved every minute I spent on these little gifts.. thinking about this little one who is yet to be born. Who will she be, what will she be like??   Right now it just does not matter.. I am just ready to meet her when her time comes.

 

more pics in flickr

Hexagon quilt beginnings.. piece by piece

 

 

~I have been slowly piecing my hexagon quilt together hexagon by hexagon.   I am loving this process. It is slow and there is no way to rush through the process.  This is a good lesson for me.. I am very guilty of rushing through a project to get to the end result.   I always want to get to the end and fast!

Summer is in full effect here, it is so so hot and dry. There is nothing to do except stay cool.  I have found myself working on more and more projects that I can just sit  quietly and work.  There is  a little bit of zen to be found in  sitting and focusing on one task.

~ I am not certain of my exact plan for layout of this quilt and I am not certain  how I will quilt it..

thoughts?

 This quilt is for baby Caroline  so it will be crib sized.  I can’t decide if I want to border it or not.. I am also not sure how I want to quilt it.  One thing is for sure there is enough time to decide since there is so much  work left to do.  

~WIP~ Grandmother’s Garden

We had very exciting news … I am going to be an aunt very soon!! I am so excited to finally be an aunt.

Little baby Caroline can not get here soon enough. I have been busy working on several different projects.  I will be sharing those soon enough. First though are some ideas I have had in my mind for this little sweetie~

I used this method and it is slow going. I love it though. I really enjoyed the handwork involved in creating these little hexagons. I can just imagine a little quilt made up of these. However, I do not know if I have enough time. She will be here soon (Sept). I have been playing around with a few other ideas and I am not sure which I will choose. I really like these though. One thing for sure is you need to have your thimble ready. Ouch, my fingers are sore! I am not very coordinated with mine.

  ~2 down, 100 more to go??? Oh dear….

Craft Hope project 2 ~ ready to travel!

My little doll friend is ready to go to her new home.  She is tucked in and ready to be received by a little girl who needs someone to love.

She has a little quilt to accompany her on her long journcy~

Quilt details~

and here~

back view~

I used a vintage sheet and kona cotton solids.  I love the colors of the sheet, they seem to pick up on the little doll’s fabric body. I love her big brown eyes and her cozy quilt.  I really hope a little girl over in Nicauarga loves her as much as I loved making her.  It feels good to have another project done. I had really lost my mojo for a while. Hopefully it has come back as I have lots of ideas and not so much time.  

~ please excuse the dark photos(yet another dark gray weekend)  and the bit of ick on the pink block. Not sure what that is but it is not really on the quilt…. now!

~Whirligig Quilt~

I was lucky enough to be commissioned for another baby quilt… I really enjoyed making this one.
I was not quite sure which direction to go in at first. I felt that I wanted to work with yellow and blue… after seeing this, this, this, and all of these examples here, I just new I had to make a whirligig quilt. The tutorial I used is this one. I am not exactly sure why but my blocks were slightly off kilter. I just trimmed them up so it worked out just fine in the end.
I used an eclectic mix of fabrics, my favorite being the new Anna Marie Horner Good Folk Fabric. I actually was planning on using that fabric for a quilt for my youngest daughter, but  I  had to use just a bit.
I love,love, love that fabric, a little drop of Heather Bailey, and then bits of my favorite blue fabrics from my stash.  Here is the front~

a few blocks close up…

some of the fabrics are home dec fabrics, but it all works for me..

I really love the back, it is very simple, very plain. It reminds me the matlessaie quilts that I love so much~it is a solid sunshine yellow with an embroidered design. I new when I saw this fabric exactly what I wanted to use it for.

I also love the gingham binding

I like the border with the binding right next to it, I have not done that before, and I like the look of it.  I love this quilt, it feels fresh and fun to me.

I hope new mama and baby will as well.