I really haven't had the heart for blogging or much else the past week. The loss of two dear quilter friends was a blow that will take some time to absorb.

I have had the beautiful baby Matthew to enjoy, and quilting that has been my sanity saver for the past 4 years.

This quilt goes back to Leslie in TX probably I will mail it after the gym tomorrow.

There are swirls in the black background, I was trying to make the stars more prominent, and Line Dancing inside the star blocks.

The thread is variegated yellow King Tut and solid gold Signature in the bobbin.

This baby quilt is a kit from Connecting Threads where the top is already pieced and the backing is Minkee.

Needing a baby boy gift in a hurry this worked nicely, quilted with a simple freehand geometric design.

Last time I used Minkee on the back of a baby quilt I used Dream Angel batting so I did the same with this-but the quilt is heavier than I like, I think this brand of Minkee is different. I have another of these quilts in stash and I will skip the batting when I make that one.

This afternoon I made the binding for the flag quilt and hope to finish that tonight. Our soldier son was in town for the weekend so the family gathered here for pizza, sushi and Boston Cream pie [courtesy Costco, my favorite fast food place!]

UFO Number 8 For 2009

We drove up to our CO. mountain home on Wednesday after I was cleared by my Mayo surgeon to leave town. There isn't much snow left around the house & the roads are mostly dry, just a patch of mud here & there.
Tuesday before we left Phx. I quilted the Old Tobacco Road scrap mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter. It is a "kitchen sink" scrap quilt & has turned out quite large, 80"x102", and it's busy so I decided to do a leaf panto because I knew I'd have problems seeing where I had quilted no matter what color thread & I also knew nothing I quilted would show up well. I used a Signature green/gold variegated .

I had to scrap the backing too, I am trying to use stash whenever possible. I bound it Thursday & it is done, done & I am pleased to have it off my list! I just counted up my UFO's finished for the year & they total 8! At this rate I will have a great year for clearing out UFO's & then I can begin on my PIGs [Projects In Grocery Sacks] I need to find another acronym for my PIGs because mine are actually all nicely organized in clear lucite boxes along with their patterns! maybe PIBs!
Just an FYI of trivia, friend Loretta informed me that Un-Finished Objects are also called COPS i.e. Creative Ongoing Projects & if you give them away or never finish then they become COPOUTS! I have a problem with that though because to my mind UFO's are mostly abandoned or forgotten projects!
I have no idea what I will do with this OTR quilt, too large for a QOV, & it is my least favorite of the mysteries so far but no doubt it will eventually find a home! I think the colors are just not me, I have almost no brown in my stash apart from a couple of CW repros I use for the HOB quilts & one or two Buggy Barn fabrics I purchased to team with double pinks for a PIG.



Yesterday evening I put together this 48" square Scrap Twist, also a Bonnie Hunter design with some leftovers from baby Matthew's crib quilt & a few more bits & pieces of B&W plus a pale green that his nursery walls are painted.
This "Twist" quilt goes together super fast from 2.5" strips, made into 8" blocks. I have more white Minkee for the back & it will be quilted as soon as we return to Phx. the end of the month.
DH saw it this morning & said "wow that is busy" and he is right, LOL! Now I am thinking I should have subbed some of the busy prints for a W on W like this beauty from Marcus Brothers .
I have a better pic on my camera which I left behind in Phx. but if anyone recognizes this fabric & knows a QS that has some PLEASE let me know & I will probably purchase the entire bolt! On the selvage is written "Faye Burgos for Marcus Fabrics", the company info is "R18 Elements, #N577-146W" & perhaps you can see from the above pic. it is a small [maybe 1/2" ] all- over gingko leaf.
I contacted Marcus & they tell me it is discontinued so my only hope is to find a store that still has some in stock. I have searched the 'net diligently without success & next I will post it on "Missing Fabrics" website.
PS: The little Koala quilt is on it's way to Pat Brammer whose name DH drew out of the basket.

Baby Matthew's quilt

I finished the binding last evening, & I'm relieved that I finished it before the hand surgery in case I am temporarily hand-icapped[pun intended,lol] by the operation later today. I can usually manage to sew anyway even with only one hand-it's pretty hard to keep me away from sewing & quilting I get so bored!

This is the fifth baby quilt already for 2009!
The quilting doesn't really show on the front, which is to be expected with those busy fabrics, but it's sort of a Greek key, square spiral thingie which I did freehand using white thread.
It measures 50"x60" so it's a nice size to stay in the crib, & now I plan to put together a smaller cuddle quilt from the left overs though I'll have to add some other fabrics to it. Perhaps a white on white- I have a beautiful gingko W onW that would work well, in fact the label is being made on a piece of that very fabric by kind offer of an online friend who digitizes on her embroidery machine.


This close up shows the quilting a little better. It went pretty fast & was quite fun to do- so much so that I was kind of disappointed when I got to the bottom of the quilt.

The backing is white dot minkee which quilted up like a dream & the batting is Dream Angel. The quilting really shows up here on the backing doesn't it & I love the way it looks- I think Madeleine will be pleased.
I only had two full motifs out of the left over fabric from the middle, so I had to piece two more for the corners. Once I finished the quilting I really had to search for the pieced blocks, they blend in so well that you can't see where I had to join them.
I didn't know if I'd like it but after it all came together I decided that it's an elegant baby quilt for a very special little fellow.

Ninety posts, ANOTHER baby quilt & Vintage Thingies Thursday!

Ten more posts & I will be at 100 posts in just a year. I must plan a celebration & some giveaways in the next month so stay tuned!

Another baby quilt done, even labeled though I won't know gender or name until baby arrives in May so baby's first name will have to be handwritten. It was the same with my Aus. niece Brooke's first baby they don't want to know until baby arrives, good for them, we never knew in "my day" lol! I think that makes it even more exciting[IMHO]
Brooke sent me some fabric pics when I asked for colors & I worked off those designs & color ideas then had to figure out how to showcase them. I think this works for a boy or a girl, don't you? I think they are probably hoping for a boy this time, first baby, Holly, is a darling little girl.
I decided to "scrap" the binding "just because", & I like the effect & feel virtuous for using left overs! I used QD Dream Angel, genetically engineered to be flame retardant, no nasty chemicals it is the softest batting & quilts beautifully. I have some small spools of Valdani neutral variegated thread & was able to use one of them here for those wonderfully fast freehand peacock feathers.

It's Vintage Thingies Thursday & here are my offerings- in Aus. we called them "milk jug covers" but they were used to cover a multitude of other edibles. Back in "the day" fewer homes had screens on windows & doors that were almost always left open wide to get as many cool breezes through the house as possible consequently there was a problem keeping insects off the food, predominantly those ubiquitous Aussie flies!
I rescued these items from my Mum's after she died & my sisters thought they were "tacky", I think they are sweet & my siblings are the losers because I have these treasures!
Cute little tea cup & saucer crocheted on this one & little colored beads to weight it down......
this one is quite worn & has tiny beads around the edge of a densely crocheted design........
and this has sweet flowers on the top & little seashells, no doubt they used whatever was on hand.
I remember well these items in use in my parent's home so they have great sentimental value in addition to their decorative value!

Two more baby boy quilts

Last year was the year of the girls, I made 5 baby girl quilts, this year already it's the boys year & I just this evening finished baby quilts for two families at our church, one little chap is already here, Nicholas, the other baby is due the end of March.
I had cute fabrics for the quilts in stash so I decided to make them fast & easy using YBR [Yellow Brick Road pattern]. I have only ever made one quilt from this pattern several years ago, as below,
when I needed to use up a stack of yellow & blue left over from a watercolor Irish chain made for a god daughter's 21st birthday.

So this seemed like a good opportunity to pull out the pattern and give it another go & boy is it speedy! I made these both from cutting to binding this week beginning Tuesday I think & all I have left to do are the dreaded labels, it's the "L" word!

The first one is for baby Nicholas......

I posted a photo of the back too because I used yellow thread & you can't see the quilting much from the front.
The second is for as yet ??un-named baby boy!


and I quilted them both with those fast peacock feathers.

Next week I plan to make the baby quilt for our expected grandson, Matthew, then I hope to get back to my mystery quilts.
I am well satisfied with this week's work - in addition to two baby quilts all done, I have hand stitched about halfway around the edge of the KS Lover's Knot. DH had surgery at Mayo Clinic hospital Monday & I sat around for over six hours & occupied myself hand stitching.
Tomorrow I am off to Tucson for their quilt show & my friend is driving so I plan to work at finishing off the Lover's Knot quilt.
We're staying overnight at a historical hotel downtown Tucson so that should be fun and a chance to spend some time with a friend I don't see very much.