Finished! Tropical Colors Baby Quilt

Click to see larger picture

This is a quick shot my son took last night of my fabulous Tropical Colors Baby quilt. Last night was the gift-giving moment (of course I had just finished it a mere two hours before show time, a new record for me.)
It's my very own design, backed with lime green Minkee and so soft and cuddly I didn't want to give it away.
The sherbet-y pastels are from the Fairy Frost collection, and the center squares are fussy cut 6 inches squares of various tropically themed fabrics. No two blocks are alike, because I get bored making blocks that are alike. I like how my design worked so much I might even make another one (not exactly alike, because that would be boring), but enough so I can write down the process, make a pattern and save it so I can remember what I did.
Now that my "Obligation Sewing" is finished, I can do something fun. Not that this wasn't fun., but I hate deadlines and I am a perfectionist, so the stress of trying to be perfect can be a little wearing.
Have you ever made something you hated to give away? Did you keep it? Or give it away?

Transportation Baby Quilt

Finished: Transportation Baby Quilt
Finished size - about 48" square

Here's a close up of the baby announcement, added to the quilt by scanning and printing on Transfer Artist Paper

I've been working all week to finish this baby quilt in time to take to a party, and I finished at least four hours before the party- I'm getting rusty, because usually I finish things and the situation is: Mr. Hunting Creek has the car running already, we're running late, and everyone in poised for takeoff. I even had time to wrap it nicely, watch the Preakness with a glass of cold iced tea, and write a nice note in the card.

The quilt is my own design, if a square in a square log cabin can even be said to be original. I was inspired by a quilt in Modern Log Cabin Quilting, but mine is made differently. Let's say it's my own interpretation. If you'd like to make something similar, here's a run down of what I did.
We went to the Variety Store nearby; they have a large selection of quilting fabric, and I had a specific theme in mind. I bought half yards of the green road fabric, the black and white airport, the yellow train print, one yard of the plain blue, and two yards for the back of a pretty yellow train themed stripe (I didn't need all two yards, but it is nice to have some extra in case the quilt grows.)
The blue road map and classic car print was from stash, as were the red and white dot fabrics and everything else. It's nice to have options. My rule was - no two blocks exactly alike, but everything will go together, and one block will have the baby announcement.
I chose 15 4 1/2 inches squares for the centers (and one saved for the baby picture. So there are 16 centers. I framed those squares with the blue, cut 1 1/2 inches wide. The second round was the same prints as the squares, cut 2 1/2 inches wide, with a few calming blender prints thrown in for a place for the eyes to rest. Then I used the red and white dots as sashing, cut one and one half inches wide - I wanted it the same width as the blue. I quilted it very simply to frame the blocks. There's a lot going on here. so no fancy stitching needed. I love how it turned out and when I was done, I imagined it all soft and faded and dragged around all over as little kids do, as a treasured wooby blankie.
If you've never worked with the Transfer Artist Paper, here's what I did to transfer the inage. First I scanned the baby announcement, and then in my HP Image Manager (the software that came with my All In One Printer) I reversed the image and crapped it as necessary. Then I printed a couple on paper to make sure I had made it the right size. Then I printed it on the Transfer Artist Paper, and transferred the image to plain white cotton using the instructions included in the package.I was glad that I had made two copies (one for practice) because I learned that the iron has to be HOT. My first one wasn't perfect, but my second one was. Save the trimmed parts of the TAP, you can also paint or draw on it and transfer those as well, so I save my scraps for a future project.
The new parents loved the quilt so everyone is happy. Now to clean up my sewing area and plan my next project.

I feel a quilt coming on...

There's a new baby on the way in my daughter's boyfriend's family. My daughter has asked me to make a simple baby quilt. (She does not sew...yet. Give her time. She is already tracing Burda patterns.) I've made many a baby quilt in my day; they are the crack cocaine of quilting. You make one, it's small, you finish quickly and you think, "I can so handle this quilting stuff! Piece of cake! Next project King Size bed quilt!", which of course, takes seven years to finish if ever. Almost every sewista I know has unfinished bed quilt pieces hidden away somewhere that they inherited from their grandmother/aunt/mom. There might be more unfinished quilts in the world than finished ones.


I only have three unfinished quilts in various stages of unfinishedness. No wait - four. Two need only the binding, and one needs the final quilting. The last is in quilt top only phase. I am at peace with this situation; UFOs no longer haunt my sleepless nights. I have limited sewing time, and it's the law of the jungle in here.



So starting a new quilt might seem like folly, right? If you were OCD, you'd say - NO - STOP! finish those other quilts first! But then there would be no baby quilts ever, if we finished all of our other work first.
So this weekend, Ms. Hunting Creek will bring me the fabrics she has selected. It seems to be a requirement when persons other than myself desire baby quilts that they are pink and blue and Winnie the Pooh. I have given up on suggesting that science shows that babies prefer bright colors and high contrast. No one listens.

The top quilt shown is a wall hanging called Batik Cabin, made and quilted by me when I was in my batik period (like Picasso's Blue Period, but not as remunerative). It is finished. I took it out recently from storage and it has fold marks, so I will dampen it and hang them out. Also pressing helps too.
The second one down is Some Blue Thing, a raw applique bullseye quilt, that needs final squaring and then binding. I think I'll do a raw edge binding too. I like the frayed edges. The last is a Halloween quilt, Witchy Woman, done just to be silly. The black spider web fabric glows in the dark! This one just needs the binding finished. These are shown draped over the couch; when they are hung up officially, they look much nicer of course. But I knew you wouldn't mind.
Are you interested in my lazy, slacker quick and dirty, speedy baby quilt construction methods? Stay tuned, I'll ask Ms. Hunting Creek to be photojournalist.

p.s. don't forget to sign up as a follower and comment if you want to be in the drawing for the Amy Butler Velma bag pattern, seen yesterday.
Happy sewing!

My First Quilt

I've been reorganizing my sewing spaces this month. I may have a thousand patterns, so my daughter bought a nice cabinet from IKEA for me to store them in. While I was sorting through them all, I found this pattern from my first quilt, pictured above.
I was only 22, just recently married and there was a new baby in the family. I had been sewing since Barbie days, so I decided to make a quilt. I used McCalls pattern7810 copyright 1981, but made a few design changes. I remember cutting it out on the kitchen floor, because I didn't have a table as large as my cutting board. It was dark wine,rose pink and pale pink, and I didn't use the bear applique but designed my own. 22 year olds are fearless, yes? I decided that I would put the baby's name in applique diagonally down the center. I drew letters and cut them out of paper to get the right arrangement and size, and played around until I had a pleasing design. Then I cut them out of fabric and used a fusible to apply them to the medallion center. Then I satin stitched around them. Very pretty! Everything came out beautifully and the new mom was very impressed. Not too long ago she mentioned that my niece still had the quilt. [This niece just sent us a note saying she was getting married next summer! Talk about feeling OLD. ]
My second quilt I used the same pattern, but this time I made the bear applique. It also came out great and everyone was impressed. So if you ever need a great easy pattern for a beginner, keep your eyes open for one of these. McCalls should re-issue these; they were so easy and looked so cute when finished.
An experienced quilter will recognize that it is just a medallion center with a log cabin border. Nothing could be easier. Why not pick a pretty conversation print for the center, use two complimentary fabrics and applique the name on there? The baby will love it forever.
Happy sewing!