They Just Grow

Remember this girl?

It's hard to believe it's already been a year since she came into this world.  There wasn't much warning with this little one, so there was no baby quilt to lay out on the floor for her.  I've had a year to make up for it though, and when I took Mimi Kirchner's Swaddled Baby class at the Lowell Quilt Museum last fall I immediately knew who I was making for.

Sorry, there is just nothing, and I mean NOTHING cuter than babies holding babies.

This was my second MK class - I did that fox of hers at Gather Here awhile back too.
I was happy with how this came out, and I think it's kind of fun that I started this in bulb planting season and finished it just as the tulips were coming up in my garden.

And just in case she ever forgets her name or birthdate:

Happy 1st, little mama!

For Pleat's Sake - Take Two

You may remember these pretty purses I made last fall - free pattern here:

It was a lovely, springy patterned purse just in time for the snow.  In December, I set aside the perfect fabric to make a more winter-appropriate version of this bag, but never got around to it.  I gave away the original with red handles but had ordered an extra set for the next version of this purse, and last week they fell off the table, so I knew it was time.

In keeping with the tradition of sewing seasonally inappropriate things, I made a bag with snow-covered trees on it. It's still 42 degrees here on some days, so I think I can get another month out of it.  Or call them Magnolias.

I love the way this one came out - true to the notes I made last time, this is 2/3 the original size, but still fits my laptop perfectly.  I also used a lining that matched the handles and sewed them on with a denim needle, sooo much easier and more professional looking than what happened before. I also thought I wanted a pocket, and I don't really know how to do pockets, so I just sewed two pieces of fabric together, turned it inside out, and sewed it to the lining.  I don't think that's really right, but it was fast, and as it turns out, I don't use it anyway. If you happen to know of a good pocket tutorial, feel free to leave a link in comments!

Very happy with this one:

The Hills Are Alive

I've always had a thing for dressing twinsies.  It wasn't like my mom purposely dressed me like my sister, but I think I kind of wanted her to, and if there happened to be identical swimsuits on sale...  I remember the year my mom got all four of us the same pair of blue Nikes with yellow swooshes and I repeatedly pointed out to strangers that we had matching shoes. I'm sure my brothers really appreciated that.  I was the youngest, and very shy, so I felt proud when people associated me with my super-athletic brothers and my overachieving sister.

Or maybe I'm overanalyzing and everyone raised in the '70s on The Sound of Music wanted to dress like their siblings after seeing the play clothes Fraulein Maria made from old curtains:

Speaking of which, I was shocked and saddened to learn from an Austrian friend that not only has no one in Austria ever heard of this movie, but there is not a traditional folk song called Eidelweiss that brings grown men to tears and fomented Austrian resistance against the Nazis.

And before you make fun of my ignorance, according to the internet, I'm not alone (and look! I learned to take a screenshot!):

I have to admit, I have an urge to push this dress-alike thing on my daughter even though I KNOW it's lame to dress your baby like you.  And yes, I indulge occasionally, though I try to limit myself to footwear.

That said, I'm sorry J doesn't have a sibling (although after looking through this post, I bet she's not) and I try to make up for it with cousin connections. She'll wear anything if you tell her Daria has one too.

I have a lot of this leftover from Daria's quilt:

So I made her a little nightgown to go with it:

Box pleats, very curtain-y. Once Josie saw it and learned it was a Daria nightgown, she needed one too.

Now if I can just get her to sing "The sun has gone to bed and so must I."

The Last Niece

At least, I assume she's the last one.  All the siblings have sworn off having more kids, so I think this is the last niece/nephew quilt I have to make until they go to college or get married or have their own babies.

This was for Daria, the sister of the Turtle Quilt Recipient, so I wanted them to kind of match. Continuing with the animal theme (their room is covered in a rainforest mural), I went with cats. An obvious rainforest animal choice, I know.  I had this great Japanese watercolor print with about six different cute cats on it from back in 2011 (you can't find it online anymore) and with just a quarter yard it was hard to get enough cats to fussy-cut.  If I'd had just a few more I might've made this quilt a tiny bit bigger. I centered the three inch cats in economy blocks:

and interspersed with the same blue as DJ's quilt:

Then added the same border as DJ's:

Finally, for the back, I had a scant three yards of this fabric that I fell in LOVE with - but I bought out the bolt and didn't have quite enough:

At quilt camp we headed to Marden's a super-discount fabric place, and I found bolt upon bolt of this stuff for $2.99 a yard, so I got four more yards.   A little overkill maybe, but I finished the back with no problems:

I also had left over solids and borders, so I added some pillowcases for both the Ds. Gotta keep that fabric stash under control.

All in all, it seems to be going over very well: