United Way

I thought I would do some little gifts for auctioning at the United Way telethon this year.  Nothing fancy -just some cuddlies.  Well finally got busy and got them done.  ( Sorry for the terrible pictures. One of these days I will have to start using my camera to get better quality photos. )

The comforter is for baby and measures approximately 40 x 55.  It has a fuzzy soft back and poly batting.  The top is a beautiful green silky material to which I added little black bows.   All washable.  

And I added a couple receiving blankets as well. 

Herringbone Quilts for twins

I finally finished the two little herringbone quilts that I did for newborn twins.  The quilts are kid size and not baby size, measuring approximately 56x62 each. The red,blue, and yellow one has 80:20 cotton batting. The other is poly.  I quilted one with nylon thread and the other with a variegated King Tut. 

I purposely quilted them differently to see what the difference was in feel and look. Although I am partial to heavy quilting, I like them both.  They are different.  Here you can see the difference! 

Here is one with binding I chose for both. 

And I forgot to take a picture of the two with binding.. Don't look too close or you will see I missed a piece that I had to go back and fix. 😒

The back is this great fuzzy fleece backing. 

Better pictures to come!

Just finished up a little project for a friend

A friend at work made two of the cutest quilts for her new twins. I quilted them up with some plain loop-d-loos and added two receiving blankets into her bundle which I am taking in to her Wednesday. 

Hope she likes them. 

40 years August 15

What else can I say...40 years together and still in love!  How lucky can you get!  

We had a quiet and romantic BBQ supper and talked most of the night.  The perfect anniversary.  

The start of a signature wedding quilt

August first came so fast but I had all the signature blocks ready for people to write their names or nice little notes to the happy couple. 

The wedding had a camouflage theme and although I was not sure how it would turn out, it came together beautifully.  And the bride looked gorgeous in her camp dress.

It took a couple weeks after the wedding for me to get the signed blocks back.  Here are a couple pieces laid out on the floor to give you an idea what it will look like. The quilt will have a similar look...camo, pink, and green. 

 I think it will look wonderful. 

A kick starter....self binding receiving blankets

Boy am I behind in my posts.  I cannot believe it.  I started this post July 20th more than a month ago.  

Seems like I have been swamped, preparing wedding quilt signature blocks, visiting, piecing several of my projects on the go, worrying about my hubby's hip, and worrying about oil prices.  At one point I felt so disjointed that I just had to do a little project to kick start me..a quick win so to speak! 

Because my girlfriend's daughter is having a baby and one of the ladies at work was also pregnant I thought I would learn how to do self binding receiving blankets for quick gifts and to increase my skills. Missouri Star Quilt company has a great little video showing how to do this with little stress.... Hey just what I needed!  

Turns out the process is easy and fun and literally takes about 1/2 hour. Here is my first try:  

Aren't they cute! I think I will do a couple more just to have on hand for small gifts. 

And the project did exactly what I wanted ... Kicked started me... Back in the grove.  

What a weekend! Dye or die! Or both...I am wiped!

 I was supposed to teach a little class on dying material.. We could not find enough participants so the class was cancelled but my daughter and I decided to have a long 4 day weekend devoted to fabric dying. She wanted to make baby wraps and I wanted to add to my knowledge of dying techniques.  So we got together...what a weekend!  She has the art background and eye and I have the fabric (sewing and quilting) knowledge.  

We used Procion and Dylon dyes on two types of fabric..cotton and Osnaburg. I have never used Dylon dye or sewn with Osnaburg material.  She wanted to try immersion dyng and I had never tried that (two methods...adding water to a dye bath or raising the material out of a dye solution an inch at a time).   I introduced her to shibori and other similar techniques.  Here are some of the beautiful pieces she produced. 

Immersion dying:  purples to orange - Dylon dyes on natural Osnaburg fabric.  

Huge chunk of Osnaburg immersed in blue dye and then shibori dyed with black/grey.   Approx 15 feet.  

A large piece twisted, tied, and dyed.. 102 inches.

By the end of the weekend she had also sewn three baby carriers.  

This little guy will be out of this before you know it..good thing she made some bigger versions. 

Over the weekend we had done immersion, shibori, tie-dye, shaving cream dying, scrunch dying and a little sun dye (Oh and a little painting and clay modelling). 

Mine seem petty compared with my daughter's as I was just doing more experiments with dying on cotton... Nothing super exciting....( I love Melody Johnsons techniques so was trying to replicate some of her vibrant colours.).  Another post maybe..