Scrappy Robot Lap Quilt

I finished up the lap quilt for my son's birthday.  I had to mix up the blocks I had.  I made quite a few scrappy log cabin blocks and one Happy Hour block left over from the big quilt.  I only had enough scraps to make 20 blocks.  I wanted a 5 by 5 block quilt and thought I'd put the Happy hour in the middle.  I had to come up with 4 more.  I just made a four 3 stripe blocks to fill out the number I needed.

 I added more of the yellow stripe from the backing of the big quilt as sashing between the blocks.  This got me up to the size I wanted and disguised some corners that didn't line up very well.  Sashing is new to me, but I think I like it.

 

I ended up tying this one just like the zig zag quilt.  I was in a big hurry and again I used I piece of minky for the back and just didn't feel like messing with the stretch factor.  I used yellow embroidery floss in the sashing and little blue in the center of the blocks.

 Isn't the minky back perfect?  It's so soft and cozy and the color is perfect.

I bound the quilt in more of the yellow stripe.  I had meant to add a border of the yellow, but forgot and cut the batting.  The border was already cut to 2.5 inches, which is the size of binding I use, so there wasn't any waste.

Blizzard results and activities

You might have heard, in the midwest we had a blizzard last night.  School was obviously canceled, but surprisingly so was Hubby's work.  Once we got outside, we understood why.  There were drifts that were more than 2 feet high.  Hubby tried to get the ancient snowblower working, but it refused to start.  We both headed outside to see what kind of head way we could make.  We had barely started when a pick up truck with a snowplow asked if we would like some help.  Heck yeah!  The plow got all big drifts and even pushed the big piles of snow lining the driveway back so there's more room to toss more snow.  Hubby cleaned up the driveway and I tackled the front walk.  When we met at the big pile where the walk and driveway meet, it was like when the English and French crews met in the middle of the Chunnel.  We got it all done so quickly I didn't even have time to get before pictures.

I did get some neat pictures of the drifts in the backyard.  It looks like a wave, doesn't it?

With all this time on my hands, I took some pictures of Baby Girl's bedroom.  I posted about her big girl bed a few weeks ago, but didn't have any pictures because she was napping.  The Big Girl Bed post.

Here is her headboard, the pink gingham curtains and the 3 shades of green focal wall.

This is a detail of the chinoiserie toile bedding.  I bought crib sheets and matching full size sheets at the same time, so I'd be sure I got the sheets I love.  I found a bundle of shabby chic Tanya Whelan fabric on etsy, that picks up the pink, green and blue in the sheets.  I might spring for the bundle and then figure out what pattern I want to use.  I'd love to do some sort of sampler with many of the blocks being different, but still using the toile sheeting as fussy cut focals.  Fat Quarterly had a good looking pattern in a recent issue, I might have to think about that.

I want to use the two different toile crib sheets and the bumpers in a quilt for Baby Girl's big girl bed.

 I've got a variety of different pieces, all in silver frames, on the wall opposite the focal striped wall.  From left to right is a collage of wee monsieur when he was a baby, a postcard from the Surf Diva surf shop in San Diego (where Baby Girl was born), a piece of toile scrapbook paper and letters cut from scrapbook paper spelling her name.  I made the name piece the day before she was born.  I couldn't find a silver frame with the right number of holes cut in the matting so I got a black frame and rub-on silver leaf.  It turned out great and was so much cheaper than going the custom route.

Where the water meets the land

This is the bargello quilt I just picked up from my quilter.  I finished piecing the top in June or July.  I can't quite remember.  This a perfect example of why I need this blog.  To be honest, I was reasonably proud of the way the quilt turned out, but after I saw the quilting, I'm blown away.  This is a perfect example of how quilting can take a project to the next level.  I really wish I was better at quilting.  I guess I just need to practice.  

I got the pattern for this quilt from a book.  I wish I could find the book so I could give proper credit to the designer.  Maybe it's hanging out with my copy of Happy Hour Quilts?  If you see them, tell them I love them and I just want them to come home safely.  Bargellos are easier than they look, but it's hard to improvise them.  I'm usually all about the improvising, but not when it comes to a bargello.  I've tried doing a bargello off the cuff and it never turned out well.  Just get the pattern, you'll be happier.

I still have to do the binding, so this quilt is still a work in progress.  Can't get any head pats from Hubby yet.

Before quilting

After quilting

Details of quilting- feathers and ferns

Zig Zag Quilt completed

I think we have all the kinks worked out of the new computer set up.  I can now blog from the comfort of anywhere, while still accessing the pictures on the office computer.  Hubby had to get a new external drive to hold all the photos.  Apparently, we were one upload of kid or quilt pictures away from filling up the hard drive.  I didn't think I took that many pictures.  Who knew!

I finally finished the binding.  See how neat it is?  No visible stitches!  Doesn't the lavender minky play nicely with top?  See how the binding coordinates with the other lavenders, but isn't matchy, matchy.

And here is the whole quilt.  All completed.

Hubby isn't big on the process.  He prefers if I show him the finished product.  I used to show him my knitting and proclaim victory when I was done knitting, but hadn't yet finished it- sewed seams, wove tails etc.  He started calling me on it, because I'd never get around to the fiddly icky stuff like weaving tails.  I had projects sit around for years 99% done.  He refused to give any kudos until it was COMPLETELY finished.  At first I was majorly annoyed, being deprived of my expected head pats was hard.  But, you know what, I started finishing projects completely because I didn't get any acknowledgement until they were done.  Now that the system has been in place for a while, it's a good thing.  Now I finish something completely before I mentally move on to the next project.  I'm even learning that the fiddly finishing details aren't as bad as I thought they were and don't take nearly as much time as I thought.  I'm EVEN learning to to enjoy the meditative process of sewing a binding by hand.  Now when I finish a project and show it to Hubby, I get kudos and satisfaction that there are no fiddly finishing details still left to be done.

Lets take another look at that binding.  She's a beaut and totally, completely, utterly finished!

 

Zig Zag Quilt continued

I technically finished the zig zag quilt for my sister in law a week ago, but as I mentioned things have been crazy.  I got the mistakes corrected.  Remember how I stayed up too late and sewed past the point of competence.  It was easy to fix, but I'm glad I caught it before I sewed the long strips together.

 After you get all the diagonals sewn together, then you trim the points off.  I picked up a great piece of lavender minky with blue dots for the backing and got to basting.  I like to work on the living room rug.  It's flat, but soft on the knees and the friction provided by the rug keeps everything from shifting.

 Once I got everything pinned I started to tie.  I wimped out.  I'm a coward.  I was too afraid to trying quilting the minky.  My story, and I'll stick to it, is that I wanted a really soft drapey quilt and I thought quilting it would make it stiff.

 I used embroidery thread in colors that matched the colored zig zags.

 Then I got to the binding.  I used a two tone lavender feather on white.  I used to hate doing the binding, now I look forward to it.  The delightful woman who does quilting for me, convinced me that I should try hand sewing the binding.  I was skeptical, hand sewing seemed like a pain.  However, the finished product is so perfect, and hand sewing turns out to be so meditative, that now I'm thinking about going back and redoing, my old quilts.  Ok, maybe not redoing the old quilts, but it really is lovely.  I use an invisible stich that I learned in a doll making class.  It's called the zipper stitch, but I've also seen it called the ladder stitch.  Whatever you call it, it completely disappears, unlike a whip stitch.

 This is a pretty big quilt, more than 50 inches on a side, so sewing the binding took me a few nights in front of the TV.

 

crazy busy

I'm still here, I've been so busy quilting and doing family things I haven't had time to post.  My grandmother's funeral was wonderful.  It sounds strange to say that, but it was so wonderful to reconnect with family members that I hadn't seen in many years.  Then, it was the wee monsieur's birthday and I was working every spare moment to get ready for his party and get his quilt finished in time.  Well, I missed the deadline on the quilt and didn't get it finished until late last night.  I laid it out where he would see it first thing this morning, but he ignored it and then wasn't terribly impressed.  Sigh!  I wasn't expecting a huge reaction, after all it's a quilt, not a transformer, but a little something would be nice.  He'll appreciate it later.

  After we got home from running errands this morning, the woman who does my quilting called to say she was done with the quilt she was working on for me.  I had to run off and get it.  I'm just blown away.  I'll post pictures as soon as I can.  I have to to the binding, but I think I'll post pictures anyway, because the quilting she did, just elevates the whole piece.

In other news, my husband has been hard at work rewiring all the electronics and updating everything that needs updating.  I asked him if he could figure out a way for me to access the office computer, where we keep all the data like pictures, from the laptop.  This is important because it would be nice to be able to blog from the laptop, as I'm doing now, but still be able to use pictures located on the office computer.  He thinks he's got it figured out, but as he's currently backing up the hard drive on the office computer, I can't test it out.  So hopefully soon I'll be able to blog from the laptop but also post pictures.  Won't we all enjoy that?

Today is my baby boy's birthday.  The wee monsieur is 5.  I can't believe how time has flown.  Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!!

I've been working on a cuddle quilt for his birthday, but it's not even close to being done.  I guess that's what happens when you don't work on anything for a week.  Remember the random log cabin squares? Well, I'm working on a bunch more, but I don't think i'm going to have quite enough scraps, so I might have to improvise.  In the mean time, I have cupcakes to make for him to bring to preschool tomorrow.