Baby Quilts and Mail Day!

We just got home late Monday night from 11 days in Minnesota. It's always like the circus when we come to town because we have two dogs and lots and lots of stuff. This time around we were celebrating Thanksgiving and we were also meeting our new niece and nephew. We also had some holiday cookie decorating to do with the older nieces and nephews and so many great friends to catch up with, as well. So, our car was especially overloaded! (The load didn't get any lighter on the way back to Wisconsin, either, as I was the grateful recipient of a baby shower thrown by my sister.)

Phew! I wish I had cleaned the house before we left :) Coming home to a messy house is never fun.

This is the simple snowball quilt for my nephew. I did inverted Vs for the quilting (meeting in the middle). The blocks are 10" unfinished, to show off all of that fun fabric. I tried to do an X thru the center with the darker orange pieces and the darker blue pieces. I think I pulled a little on the binding, so that bottom right corner did curl a little bit.

I used some Children at Play flannel for the back. I just love the rich orange color! I used a slightly thinner batting this time around. A 100% cotton, something I picked up at JoAnn's. I think it was a Pellon product. I didn't have any trouble and I think it actually shrunk less in the wash than it said it would. I thought it would be nicer, in case my brother and sister-in-law actually use it as a cover, in addition to a play mat and changing mat!

This one is for my niece. It is from Elizabeth Hartman's Simple Math pattern. I was going to go wonky, like the un-sashed version in the pattern but my husband rightly pointed out that this particular family might do better with right angles! The pluses are different sizes, which is kind of hard to see. But I really like how it turned out.

I did just a simple 4" grid for the quilting.

Here's the TypeB moment: I decided to use Ivory cotton sateen on this. I usually use Kona or Bella solids, which I don't think have a particular "side." Here, unfortunately, there was a definite side. Do you know how I know - once I got it all put together, I could see the differences in sheen. It doesn't show up in the photos, but it definitely shows up in person.

Ah well, inadvertent design choice, I guess.

This is a flannel I bought from fabric.com. The colors work perfectly with Whimsy and adds a little more of a, dare I say... whimsical - element to the quilt. Babies love animals :) My brother really liked it and said he especially liked that it was an alternative to all of the pink they've been receiving.

When we got home, we had a lot of mail, mostly junk. But I also received this...

I purchased this hexie kit from the i heart tula pink shop. I rarely see the purple colorway of Full Moon Forest available for sale and I pounced on the chance to have some. Plus, as I get larger and it's harder to sit at the sewing machine for a long time, I like the idea of having some handwork to do. I haven't tried english paper piecing before but I'm excited to give it a try. The shop thru in a little flyer about the upcoming Tula prints. Very excited for Salt Water.

I have an idea of what I want to do with them once I'm finished, but I don't want to give too much a way yet :)

The Grannies Are In!

Here are my untrimmed blocks from the Not Your Granny's Bee, Group 2. I made the pink and green block - the second one from the right in the top row.

I just love them! I can't decide which is my favorite. I am going to put white sashing between the rows. I can't decide if I should make two baby quilt (lots of babies in my family) or one lap quilt.

There are only two blocks that didn't quite make the "rules." (The two in the middle of the first column on the left). We were supposed to keep the center 5 blocks the same color. But I don't think that's a big deal. You can't really tell when they are all together.

I had a very successful destash and I am so grateful to everyone who purchased some fabric. I'm so glad they all went to a good home. I have just a couple more items and I am going to put up the Flutterby today.

This past week, I was a lucky aunt times two! I had a nephew born on Wednesday and a niece born on Thursday! I actually have quilt tops finished for both of them. I haven't made a ton of baby quilts, but I Just love these small 40x40 quilts - they go together so fast! Here's a terrible photo:

The top quilt (still in blocks) was made from the Moda Whimsy fabric that I won on Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day and some ivory cotton sateen. It is for my new niece. The bottom quilt is for my new nephew and is made with Moda Lucy's Crab Shack with Kona Snow and is just a snowball quilt. It's such a simple block, but I really love it!

Can I just say, once again, how much I hate basting. Hate it, hate it, hate it. My husband had a piece of plywood or something that is about 50x50 and I was able to get the boy's quilt basted already, but man, do I hate basting (did I say that already?)! I hope to get the next one done today.

I broke my walking foot a while back. And my old trusty New Home doesn't really love quilting (not like my Juki in storage - she's the quilting bomb!), but I'm going to give it a shot with my regular sewing machine foot. Hopefully, I can finish it up before I return to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. I got a stocking to make before then, too. So much to do!