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:

Bubbles and Bubblettes

Doesn't it seem like I should like champagne? I'm the kind of person that's into celebrating and bubbles and funny, heartfelt toasts.  I won't drink it though. I hate the glasses - they tip over too easily, they're awkward for those of us with more substantial noses, and the flute is my least favorite instrument. Also, I'm prone to migraines, which follow a glass of champagne within the hour. I always admire those pretty yellow bubbles from afar, though.

Maybe I'll just have a sip of yours and we can toast to this quilt that I *almost* finished last summer.  I had it all tied but had not sewn up the bottom, and nothing goes on the blog until it's really finished! The last couple of weeks have been really productive for me, even if it feels like the creativity peaked a couple of weeks/months ago and now I'm just doing the menial work.  I've completed my last three niece and nephew quilts and this is one of them.  The champagne connection is that I wanted to use all these fabrics that I love from my scraps to make circles that would look like bubbles, and champagne bubbles seem more fun than the sodastream variety. I arranged the big bubbles on the bottom and the bubblettes on top.  For the circles I just traced lots of round stuff I found around the house - mugs, salad bowls, lamp shades.  This has ended up being one of my favorite quilts.  If I ever felt like doing the same thing twice I'd make myself one right now.

This is the back - the flower fabric was what I started with and worked around:

I tied it with embroidery floss in the center of each flower, how cute is that?

This niece has a birthday in April - hopefully she'll like this as much as I do!

Turtle Time

I just got back from Quilt Camp.  It was like if you were in a really nice sewing room working on a quilt and forty ladies with wine and dessert joined you to chat and sew, but didn't crowd you, and you didn't have to leave the room for 72 hours. Oh, and someone had replaced your crappy rotary cutter and slippery rulers with really good ones!

Best things about quilt camp:
1. My room was so unattractive I wasn't even tempted to lie in bed reading past 7:00a.m.

2. People change into their PJs after dinner and bring their own wine glasses ("Once you start drinking, no more cutting.  Sewing can be undone, but what's cut is cut," was a good piece of advice).

3. This table that totally demolished any self-control I came with  (I was halfway through a brownie when I realized I was actually eating a whole candy bar that had been BAKED INTO A BROWNIE).

4. But by far the best part, was the input from people who are just good at this stuff.  I managed to finish two quilt tops - one of which I'll share now because I FINISHED it today!  This is for my nephew who is really into turtles and garbage trucks.  You'll never guess which obsession I'm supporting.  Anyway, I found some turtle quilts around the internets that used a drunkard's path pattern, and I was especially enjoying this configuration where it looks like they're doing Ring Around the Rosie. I just added appliqued heads and tails to make them more obviously turtles.

I was more or less satisfied with the end result, but I wouldn't say I was excited about it until a couple of people suggested a fun border.  With a little input, the quilt changed to this, which I think is so much better:

After I sent a picture to my nephew his only question was whether the turtles had eyes, so I added a variety of those:

This is the back - I had to join two panels of fabric together.  Don't bother looking for the seam, it's so perfectly matched you won't find it.  Learned that at quilt camp too. (The trick, not the lack of modesty!)

No, seriously, can you find it?

It really makes me wonder how much better my quilts would be if I had this kind of input all the time.  It was a totally inspirational weekend.  I feel like the things that most impressed/inspired me were the color and pattern combos people were putting together (developing an eye for color and contrast is a skill I'd like to work on) and just how fast some people can quilt.  No wonder I tie everything, I'm so slow and it's impossible to mess up!  But it also inspired me to get practicing.  I'm sure it's much more enjoyable when you can whip through stuff and it looks good.

With all that productivity I'm hoping to have a couple more quilts to post about in the next couple of weeks. Until then, you can find me back in front of the sewing machine.  I missed her!

gLoved Part Deux

I've been a little absent from this space but it's not for a lack of productivity.  It's just that when you're 40, you start taking on more complex projects and the finishes are fewer and farther between! All I've completed this month is this pair of fingerless gloves for a dear friend going through a rough time.  Because when you can't say it with words, you can always say it with needles:

The pattern was free and not too hard, although it involved dk weight yarn (read: dental floss) and size 3 needles (toothpicks).  No sign of arthritis yet.

And then, because Karma works like this, my friend Kelli from a couple posts ago dropped off these lovelies, knit by her mother:

Have you ever seen anything so cute? They are toasty and beautiful and we gLove them.  So thanks Ms. Barbara!