I Spy Quilt for Baby Oster

I Spy Baby Quilt

30" x 42"

Finished just in time for Amanda's baby.  My second cousin, Stuart Oster and Amanda were married in a beautiful, touching ceremony April 30, 2010.  This is the first grandchild for my cousin Tom and his wonderful wife, Carla.  This baby is coming into a large circle of LOVE.  I'm in the process of making a small wall quilt out of the scans done at 20 weeks.  When Amanda and Stuart came for a quick visit last fall, I was totally amazed at these scans.  I wanted to make this quilt first as the baby is due in early February.

This is my second baby quilt.  The first one was for Morgandy.  Not knowing what I was suppose to do, this quilt was also an "I Spy".  I can't remember exactly how big it was.  However, it was too big to drag around.  I wanted this new quilt to be small enough so that the child could drag it around for play.  Like my first quilt, I wanted it to be interesting for a child.

The baby's room is yellow like the back of the quilt.  The crib is one of the most beautiful pieces of furniture I've ever seen. It is wood stained a soft gray.  The grain shows through.  It will become a headboard in later years.  Because of the gray, I used all different gray fabrics to boarder my groups of six .  I think this will allow the quilt to be interesting to the child, yet fit the bedroom decor.

All fabrics and batting were washed before cutting.  I wash everything that comes into my house. I've also learned to test ribbons and trims.  While making my first baby quilt, one of the pieces of grosgrain bleed.  Luckily I found it immediately because I was using a steam iron to press the pieces over. Because this hopefully will be used for a newborn, I washed it again after quilting and binding. It is lightly quilted to keep it soft and cuddly.

The batting is "Warm & Safe" by the Warm Company.  It is naturally fire retardant.  It is also non toxic, non allergenic, and free from chemicals.  Luckily I had some on hand, because I can not find this anymore.  When I used it for Morgandy's quilt, I bought an extra bag to keep on-hand.  

We are having a blizzard at the moment, so it gives me a chance for quiet quilting and posting this quilt.  It will go in the mail Thursday when the roads are hopefully cleared.  Hope it is loved.

Detail 1

Detail 2

Detail 3

First baby quilt is here
http://designerann.blogspot.com/2009/11/crazy-quilt-for-baby.html

Quilt Photo Year 7 in Review

This is a really late post.

My quilting year goes from the first of October to the end of September.  I usually post in October. This is because of when I started to blog. Obligations and necessities took over + Festival.    I knew I had 5 months of personal business that occupied all of my time.  However, I could not figure out why I had such a little bit of output for the other 7 months.  Then, as I was looking at last years calendar to update to 2015, I found the reason.  I remembered that I put a LOT of time into this quilt.  Did not realize how much until I looked at my calendar notes. My calendar notes revealed the whole story.  I started sketching this quilt on 24 January; finished piecing 21 March; just made the photo deadline on 2 May.  I know that later I had to do all of the back finishing, including putting on the sleeve.  I also know that my hands were in too much pain from arthritis to even think about doing hand work.  Therefore, following advice from my very supportive Quiltart group, I did all of my finishing with glue, namely 'liquid stitch'.  It worked wonderfully.  

Blue Rose

Blue Rose center

Chair Bag for Festival 2013

This worked GREAT!  A few folks did notice that I was from quiltart.  However, the biggest use was for storing stuff collected/purchased during the show.  Big stuff of course was shipped.

Butterflies for mobile

This was a Fast Friday Fabric Challenge.

Mobile in Motion

Chemo Quilt

Chemo Quilt

Chemo Quilt

Quilt of Honor

Drone Quilt block

This has become part of a quilt protesting drones.

Star for Houston

too small

Star for Houston

too small

Star for Houston

Frustrated with my pieced stars ending up too small, I used a large piece of yellow linen as the backdrop for this GLITZy star.  What FUN to find it in one of the quilts in Houston commemorating time in the space station with astronaut Karen Nyberg.

Fun Wear

I received the bath robe and a  long night gown as a gift from my cousin Carla.  Not one to wear long gowns, I did a major remake.  I added/revamped the robe belt with a quilted one.  After making a shorty top [with added fabric to trim the bottom] from the night gown, I used the fabric to make PJ shorts, mini top for really HOT weather [that did not get much use] plus made some coordinating short pants and added trim to a Salvation Army collared knit top to complete my night wear ensemble.

This review is NOT in any special order.  The photos are in the order that my program uploaded them.  However, basically, it is what I created during this slice of time.

Quilt of Honor = Stars

This is my second star quilt for a veteran.  I liked the first one.  However, I think the larger size of the stars, make this one much  bolder.  These quilts are always needed to bring a little comfort to our recovering veterans.

Quilt of Honor, 40x60

Pattern

Please feel free to use this.  For the stars I drew a star on paper then paper pieced it.  Sorry, I can not find my drawings.  If you make squares the size of the squares + half inch, draw the star, and then paper piece, it should work.