And Here it is July...

Knock knock...anybody still there???  Sorry it's been so long since my last post but...well...you know...LIFE!!!   I've been sewing my little heart out, but basically couldn't post anything because they've all be gifts!

The first of these items has been gifted today to my daughter who is due with a girl mid-August.  Today is her baby shower, which I couldn't attend, but I mailed her the items.  Hopefully, by the time I get this post done, she will have opened the gifts and I won't be ruining the surprise by posting on here.

She said she is planning a "Native American" themed nursery, so I saw pictures of this quilt pattern online and fell in love with it!  HOWEVER...it is paper-pieced and I had NEVER done paper-piecing before!!!  I watched a video online (isn't the internet GREAT???) and then dove right in!  This was made ENTIRELY from stash.  The pattern is called "My Tribe" and is in the book Intentional Piecing by Amy Friend.  I quilted it on my Tin Lizzie18 sit-down long-arm machine...

The original pattern didn't have the flying geese blocks at the top and the bottom, but I wanted the quilt slightly larger than the pattern.  I used my Accuquilt GO flying geese die to make a row to add to the top and bottom.  

The backing was pieced out of some yardage in my stash...

I decided to hand-write the label instead of machine embroidering it this time.  The name was left blank because they haven't settled on the final name, yet.  This way they can write the name in when the baby is named.  

As is also my tradition for new grandbabies...I made 3 double-sided flannel receiving blankets and crocheted around the edges...

I make matching double-sided burp cloths out of the leftover flannel...

Loretta

2015 Parade of Quilts...

Quote for the Day:

I have never done a "Year-In-Review" post before about my quilts, but I thought I'd do one for 2015...just because.

Please join me on this trip down 2015 Memory Lane...

My first finish was actually a finish-up of a quilt that I started in December 2014..."Vintage Embroidered Stars".  This was also the first (and only, so far) quilt that I sent out to be long-arm quilted by someone.  Machine-pieced, my own pattern...

My next project was "Mr. Chillingsworth", a gift for my chiropractor that I machine pieced and hand quilted, purchased pattern.  This quilt now hangs in one of his treatment rooms.  

By March I had a severe case of the "winter blahs" and made this Spring table runner for my dining room table.  Machine pieced and machine quilted, "Disappearing 4-Patch", free on-line tutorial...

Next up was another "Choo-choo Train" quilt...the fourth one I've made so far!  I give this quilt to each of my grandchildren on their first birthday (the fronts are the same but the backings are different for each one.  This one was for Clark who turned one in June.  Machine appliqued and machine quilted, from a purchased pattern...

In June, I made this "signature" quilt for Kate and Jon for their wedding in July where they had their guests sign it.  There was no pattern for this...I just got the idea from seeing a picture online and made up my own pattern from there, machine pieced and machine quilted.  It was also my first time working with batiks! 

In June a friend and co-worker of mine was diagnosed with cancer and I made this quilt for her...also a "signature" quilt...signed by our co-workers.  Machine pieced and machine quilted from free online "Wonky Stars" pattern.  These blocks were my "leader/ender" project from 2013 or 2014...

And the last quilt for the year was the hand-quilting project that I had been working on since April and finished in November...Erin & Dale's vintage embroidered quilt...

Along with these quilts, I also made 2 receiving blankets for new babies that arrived in 2015...Franco and Rylen!!

I know that I'm not nearly as productive as many quilters/crafters out there...but I do my craft for the joy it brings me and to spread happiness and smiles to those I love!

Loretta

Another Gift...

I was working on another gift...this time a baby gift...and was waiting till it had been gifted to post about it.  I got confirmation yesterday that it had been received, so I can blog about it now!  

My chiropractor and his wife are expecting their fourth child this month...a boy!  I made one of my double-sided flannel receiving blankets and matching burp cloths for the wee one.  I like to do the crocheting on these when we are on car trips because it helps to pass the time, so this one was crocheted two weeks ago when we went to Asheville, NC, on vacation!

Here's the very beautiful mama opening the gift...

Loretta

Baby Quilt Reveal!!!

Quote for the Day:

“Happiness doesn't result from what we get, but from what we give.” 

― Ben Carson

I've been working on some gift quilts lately, so haven't been able to post about them.  However, yesterday was the baby shower for my new grandson due in June, so now that the quilt has been gifted and received, I can reveal it to all of you!!

Unfortunately, the shower was in Tennessee on my short weekend, so I wasn't able to attend it myself.
Fortunately, the quilt arrived safely in time for the shower!  

This is the happy, soon-to-be parents of the baby...

They picked mint green and gray for the nursery colors and I used a free pattern I found online.

Close-up of the front...

The back!  

I decided it needed a "pop" of color so 
I added the orange stripe on the back!

The label...

Fondling the quilt...

you know you like to do it, too!  LOL

I know the "greens" look like they are quite different in the pictures, but in person they go well togehter.  I just have a crappy camera that takes crappy pictures!  :(

Erin and Dale seem pleased with the quilt and that makes me very happy!!!

I also made some receiving blankets and burp cloths...

The burp cloths...

Loretta

More Baby Gifts Finished...

Quote for the Day:

"A Hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child." 

~Forest Witcraft, Excerpt from an essay originally published

 in the October 1950 issue of Scouting magazine

I have a friend that is going to become a first-time grandmother in September, so I made a receiving blanket and 3 of my flannel burp cloths for the new baby.  I did the edge crocheting on the blanket as my "take along project" for the recent car trip to Georgia.  I have to say, time goes by much faster when I have a project to work on.  (It also makes the trip more pleasant for Andy because I'm not paying attention to the road and his driving!!!  LOL)

I think they are holding a baby shower for the young mom next weekend, so I dropped it off to my friend's house today.

I was a little apprehensive about giving a homemade gift to someone that I don't know very well (my friend has 2 daughters, but I've never met this one that is pregnant), but I've been assured by my friend that Tabitha does like homemade gifts.   (Some people don't, ya' know.)

To make these receiving blankets, I take 2 squares of PRE-WASHED flannel, about 40" X 40".  Placing them WRONG SIDES TOGETHER, I serge around the outside.  Then I take crochet cotton and a small crochet hook and crochet an edging directly to the blanket over the serged edge.

I would say that from the cutting of the fabric to the finishing of the crocheting, it takes about 12-15 hours/blanket, but only because the crochet thread is so small and somewhat difficult to work with, ie, keeps slipping out of the crochet hook.

The burp clothes are made with 2 pieces of flannel serged the same way...WRONG SIDES together.  I don't crochet an edging on them...only on the blankets.  I can't see spending all that time crocheting a pretty edging on something that is made specifically to be spit up on!  LOL  I have, however, been known to use my embroidery machine to embroider on the burp cloths such things as "Spit Happens"!  :)

Loretta