In this past month I've finished projects, ripped apart projects, adjusted projects and was away a few days to attend my daughters baby shower in California. The intensity to finish baby shower quilts really ramped up earlier this month! The shower was well attended by family, co-workers and friends. My daughters worked along with Daddy-To-Be's family to decorate and provide a really yummy shower luncheon. The Spanish Fortress style clubhouse in their subdivision was the setting, complete with rock walls, forged hinges and huge paintings of Spanish Galleons!
My 2 local daughters and I went and had our nails done for the Monsters Inc. themed celebration prior to leaving.
Meanwhile back in the sewing room, I was spending way to much time trying to achieve
purr-fection with this goofy little flannel cat quilt.
I love that the majority of these kittens are little boys, as my Veterinarian SIL is fond of cats, and that with the brown and blue plaid makes it more gender neutral, since we don't know if we're having a boy or girl.
I had purchased this as a kit and held onto it for several years waiting for THIS baby. It reaffirmed my feelings about buying kits. The amount of yardage to be able to match plaids and be able to adjust the directions and make the same width border all the way around was lacking. The amount of backing needed to extend the width to be able to load it on the long arm was also lacking, so those sides were extended with unrelated flannel that was later removed when I trimmed it for binding.
This flannel in the top piecing just wanted to pucker and stretch...in retrospect, I should've just starched the heck out of it and saved myself a bunch of time and frustration.
Then, Horrors upon Horrors! A little cluster of holes was found in the backing fabric! This weren't very visible from the right side, but from the back were blackened almost like little cigarette burns. Since the kit had been carefully stored and sealed, I know this wasn't moth damage.
Upon further inspection, I discovered the damage was located just about where one traditionally applies their quilt label...problem solved!
This is Lyra, Vet Girl adopted her as a rescue while in Vet School.
I'm not sure they've told her she's going to have a younger, less furry sibling yet.
We spent a lovely day re-bonding and watching Olympics together!
"What do you mean, "No! It's for the baby?!"
I AM the baby!"
They've been instructed to enjoy this quilt, use it up and wear it out, and they are complying, there was a photo of their little niece and their itty bitty dog playing on it together on FB the other day!
Then there's the Apple Quilt.
My daughter was nicknamed "Apple" by the Newborn Nursery staff when she was born,
then she went to school "Up North" and became addicted to their delectable northern raised Honey Crisp apples, and then she moved "Down South" and lives near an area of Placerville, CA called Apple Hill that is a delight to visit. There are many fruit stands along the scenic drive as well as picnic spots, tree farms, vineyards and crafters & yummy pies and other treats to enjoy.
Given all that, I decided the time had come to make this Eleanor Burns design.
I went stash busting and pulled everything from what I had on hand for this one.
The border print is really old, but so appropriate for my critter loving kids. There was only so much of it and it's directional to boot, so I had to do some creative reconfiguring and decided to add some tumbler shaped keystones to the border. I tried the red plaid, but that was simply horrible.
So...I added brown apple tree trunks instead to match all the little brown apple tree limbs in the print.
In the process of making this quilt, you wind up with an extra apple block, so I slapped some scraps on around it, played with the different decorative stitches on my machine and quilted it. I used the template from Thimble Blossoms Charming Bibs pattern then strayed from the directions!
Yes, it's a BIG bib!
My daughter popped open the Velcro closure and had my SIL model it briefly at the shower.
It fit quite well actually!
This is supposed to be a quilt it, THEN back it and turn it right side out project. I backed it then quilted and bound it! Don't look too closely at the puckers on the neckline. The leftover scraps weren't large enough to allow me to cut the binding on the bias!
When I had it all together I was surprised that I had fussy cut those bottom corners without even attempting to! Look how that little dog and kitty are placed, looking right at each other!
It was stuffed in my carry on with all the little clippys on it and Lyra Kitty helped me finish it during our day of Olympics watching together!
The other little project that traveled with me was my N block for Let It Snow. Upon reviewing the photo I had posted in my last post, I realized that I'd forgotten to add the fringe to the snowman's muffler! Oops! That has now been rectified with two contrasting strands of Valdani and a series of little Colonial Knots with long clipped off ends!
The current project under construction is still the Mermaid quilt.
We've had a meeting of the minds regarding nice "Pointy Bits"
and nice straight Concave Bits too!
It's further along than this now but here's where it was at the point when I shifted gears and made some adjustments, in addition to having already changed it from a 9 mermaid quilt to a 12 mermaid quilt.
I've changed the sashing to accommodate another flying goose "wave" to the ocean!
The original sashing leaves a gap between sets of waves & I wanted my ocean to flow a little more smoothly.
Maecee is snugged in her usual spot, in the chair, napping behind me as and is recovering from one of her rounds of stomach upset, that includes a hard tummy, burping, rumbling, no sleep and most distressing, anorexia.
It got bad enough for an office visit this time, as it was accompanied by a cough that sounded like she was trying to clear something out of her throat.
Bless her nervous little gut, at least she ate almost all of her kibble this morning, with the exception of the new sensitive stomach stuff that we collectively decided to try.
All I could get down her yesterday was her burger and rice and some cottage cheese.
She spent a couple of days snubbing me after Dad got home, she's been mad at me about the famotidine and cough syrup!
So with my miniature assistant at my (back)side and some luck, the mermaids should be a finished flimsy this evening!
Have a Great Tuesday!
~Nancie Anne
The mermaids....cute as can be.
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