Pink Deco & Herself

The idea for the Blue (and now Pink) Deco quilts came from this book:

Colorful Quilts for Fabric Lovers

There are two blocks, and each finish out at six inches square. So, the first block is three strips 2-1/2" x 6-1/2" sewn together with a 1/4" seam.  The second block has a 2-1/2" square sewn to a 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" strip and this is sewn between two 2-1/2" x 6-1/2" strips. 

The two blocks are alternated throughout the quilt. The quilt is most effective with a lot of fabrics. Blue Deco has something like 50 - 80 different fabrics.The pink version will be a smaller quilt, obviously, although I haven't decided how big (or small) yet, and I haven't counted the different fabrics.

And this is the lady herself, napping comfortably in her (other) grandmother's arms.

It's A Girl!

The wait is over!

Baby Girl Tyler (I am keeping her name private for obvious reasons) arrived at 4:43 AM Saturday morning, Pacific Time. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces.

She made a spectacularly complicated entrance and had everybody worried for a brief time, but has since recovered beautifully.

Here's the happy family.

I've spent a manic couple of days texting, emailing and talking to everybody on the phone. It's been memorable. I can't wait to see my new granddaughter the next time I visit.

Blue Topaz, Ready & Waiting

The quilt, Blue Topaz, is ready in California for Baby Tyler. The due date is August 7, and it is fast approaching. My DIL is no end of ready. We are all on standby, waiting for the News.

I have already alerted my boss that my cell phone will NOT be silenced until the Baby is here, because I don't want to risk missing out on The Big News. I don't care what meeting I'm in, if my phone rings, I'm taking the call. Of course, all my coworkers know about it, so they're waiting with me.

Believe me, when I get the news, you'll hear about it.

Blue Topaz is Finished

 The baby quilt I made for my future grandbaby, due in less than a month, is all finished.

I'm happy with it. Now I have to take some beauty shots of it, run it through the washing machine to make it soft and crinkly, and then send it to the City of Angels.

Blindstitching Again

I seem to be having a rough year. I can't seem to get out of my own way. I think hearing I am going to be a grandmother may have knocked me for a loop. My grandbaby will live 3,000 miles away on the opposite side of the country and that's going to be hard for me. I've kind of been in denial about it, trying to bury my feelings in books and busywork. I've got my tickets to visit after the baby is born, and that will be great, so I am trying to keep looking on the positive side of things.

I've been sending a stream of gifts to my son and DIL. A tote bag with pockets to use as a diaper bag and a baby sling along with a few other goodies for Mom and Dad. I have pile of stuff that I've been collecting set aside - some books, some baby onesies, a receiving blanket and a heating pad.

Now I'm working on finishing the baby quilt, Blue Topaz, above.

I'm also preparing for another Birds class at QT this coming Saturday. (It's full.) They tell me that every day at least three customers ask about the Flight of Fancy quilt.  Which is pretty cool.

Topaz Beach, Quilted

Woo Hoo! The baby quilt, Blue Topaz, is back from being quilted.

I've selected this blue batik for the binding. It's all sewn down on the back.

Over the next couple of days I will hand sew it down to the front.

Baby Update

Here is the latest photo of my DS and DIL with their dog Helo. Only nine weeks left!

Backing for Blue Topaz

I generally take a lot of care when I select the backing for my quilts, but for this one I have to thank Julie, who works at Quilted Threads in Henniker NH. As soon as she saw the flimsy she said, "Ooooh, I know just the thing..." She showed me this fabric and I agreed immediately. I think this fabric is a lot of fun and the colors are perfect. So the flimsy and backing are on their way to Chris to be quilted.

I will have two quilts in the AQS show in Syracuse NY in late July. "Too Much Chicken" and "The Black & White Crayons" will be on exhibit. I'll be visiting the show on July 27 and 28. If you'll be there, drop me a line. I love to meet quilt lovers and quilt bloggers.

Topaz Beach

I was finishing up sewing the blocks for the Baby Snaps quilt and my son & DIL sent me this photo, taken at Topaz Beach. 

They live two miles from the ocean and continue to taunt me with photos like this on a regular basis.

You know what Serendipity is, don't you?  So check this out:

This is the baby snaps quilt (for said DS and DIL). The quilt just named itself. "Topaz Beach."

Baby Snaps

The Snaps blocks go so quick it's easy to get halfway through without stopping to take pictures.

The longest thing was cutting out the pieces.

I wanted the lights to be colorful and fun. There are houses and cats, and animal prints, and confetti and scribbles.

I wanted the blues to be soft and the yellows to be warm, and I wanted some of the contrasting blocks to be bright and fun.

Here are a few of the blocks all sewn together.

Yes, that's a dragon's head in the center blue block on the left, and yes, that's a fussy cut bug on the right.

It's funny, when I sent my son photos of the blocks up on the wall, he texted back, "It doesn't really sing for me. Sorry."

I texted back, telling him the photos were taken at night when the studio's light isn't very good. He replied that it wasn't as bright as he expected, and that probably that was it.

 But I'm not worried. I know that photos never capture my quilts as well as they look in real life, and to get the whole quilt, I have to get so far away that you miss all the little details. I also know that my dear son is the one who told me he didn't like half the fabrics I selected for his Sunshine quilt, yet when it was finished, he adored it, and sleeps under it every night with his dear wife.

Sunshine indeed. I think this quilt may need to be called something that connects sun and the beach. Oh Julie... and others, any suggestions?

Baby Snaps

I've decided I liked Ola Pola so much that I would make a baby quilt using the same pattern. I'll be using lights with brighter, bigger prints. Here are the lights I've selected, all cut out. 

This is the inspiration for Ola Pola. I rejiggered the size of the blocks, and in Ola Pola I didn't like the solid blocks, so I broke them up too. 

Like this.  Since we don't know if the baby will be a boy or a girl, I will be using blue and yellow instead of the orange and the pink. And I'll definitely have accent colors too, probably purple and oranges (compliments of yellow and blue) and whatever else looks good.

The baby quilt will be a bit livelier (duh!) but I want that. Now I am really excited about this quilt. It won't be big - about five blocks across by seven high, which works out to about 30" x 42" or so, so it will go together quick once I get the pieces cut.

Can't wait!

Baby Maybe?

I have been stuck.

Part of it was having to leave my son and DIL in California 3,000 miles away. When I got home I was kinda blue.

I want to make a baby quilt, but I've been hung up on what pattern to make.

I knew I just had to get into the studio and just "Pick Up the Pencil."

So I went in there and picked some fabrics.

I have a simple pattern in mind, and these are the colors.

Now I'm excited, and I can't wait to get into the studio and start cutting and sewing.

Flashback

In August of 2014 I started making these blocks from an article in the AQ magazine about one of Gwen Marston's quilts. I stopped because I had to pack to move into this house (which I did in October 2014).  The other day, after finishing the black and white Slashed Squares, I was looking around and noticed the box full of fabrics I had set aside for this quilt. Some creams with bright colors on them, and a jelly roll of violet and green batiks, along with some other coordinating strips. 

The blocks are 6-1/2" square, and I think these will make a lovely baby quilt.

Blue Boy

Here is the little blue boy baby with his quilt. Isn't he a cutie?

~~~~~~~

 I'm almost finished adding all my word quilts to separate pages on the blog. You can find them just below the header. I am trying to organize them all by year. I got the pictures up over the weekend and am adding stories to each of them, so bear with me until I am done. If you've looked at them in the last day or so and not seen the little blurb about each one, you may want to revisit them.

Blue Boy Rail Fence

A colleague of mine and his wife are expecting a baby boy in the fall. I'm making a baby quilt.

It will be a rail fence in blues. All these fabrics came from my stash.

I've cut all the strips, cut the curves and sewn them together.

Here are the first three blocks.

More Rainbow Strips

I sewed all day yesterday and sewed all the strips together.

.

.

.
I like the way they look.

This is just the first part. Next I get to slice and dice, and move some things around.

Cutting a Rainbow

One of my co-workers and his wife are expecting their first child in February.  I will make a quilt (duh!)

I am not a fan of pastels (now there's a big surprise) so I pulled these brights.

I've cut all my strips and now will sew them together with a contrasting stripe in the middle of each group.

Box Thoughts

Hmmm...

Baby Snuggler

My friend asked if I could make one of these for the baby she is expecting. Of course I said yes. I had bought this wonderful Philip Jacobs fabric a few weeks ago and thought it would be perfect.
It's a baby snuggler, designed wrap a baby nice and snug.Placing the velcro strips was a bit tricky.I did a bit of testing first.

Exquisite

Here they are, 180 little blocks. I finished trimming them last night. Each bag holds 12. The little baby quilt I am making with these will be 14 rows of 12 blocks, so I have a dozen extra. These little squares will be 3" finished.

I shall start sewing them up tonight. Will I sew them up randomly?

Probably not.

By the way, Gwen Marston refers to this block as The Exquisite in her book, Liberated Quiltmaking.