Three hours before the shower . . .

I finished this!  I must say I love, love, love it!  

I might even love the back more than the front.  I am pretty sure some more quilts with lots of white will be in my future.  I just love the look.  Clean.  Simple.  Courtney at KC Custom Fabrics did the quilting for me and the intersecting circle pattern matches the peony print perfectly.  In the past I have used colored thread, but on this chose white and again Loving It!

My friend Lauren is a very fun and hip mom.  I knew she wouldn't like anything too babyish.  I think she really loved it.  

Another thing I did on this, that I will be doing again is using solid color for the binding with a strip of a print mixed in.  It came out so fun.  The bulk of the fabric for this was the Anna Marie Horner Good Folks.  The green print is Meadow, the pink intersecting circles are Peony and the wonderful floral print is Azalea.  The solids are Kona and the other two prints are Alexander Henry prints.  

I think that does it for showers for awhile, but I do need to come up with something fabulous for my own children.  They got my first quilts and Max hasn't even got one yet, which he continues to remind me.  So finishing his baseball quilt is next on my list and then something lovely like this for my own little princess!

Why do I wait until the very last minute?

Why? Why? Why, did I wait until a week before the shower to make a quilt?  I have known my friend is pregnant for quite awhile . . . but yet panic has to set in before I get busy.  Chasing after my toddlers yesterday at Max's baseball game I did the math.  If you want to get the quilt on the long-arm to be quilted, it should have been on the list for at least a week.  Okay the pattern I had in mind for this one, not happening.  I opted for a strip quilt with fabric I have been hoarding, Anna Marie Horner's Good Folks.  My friend loves pink and green and I think the colors will be a lovely contemporary take on traditional baby quilt.  I love how the top and back have come out.  So off I will rush to my local quilt shop today to see if it can be put into the schedule, if not I will be machine quilting this one myself.  Stay tuned.

Love the three Good Folk prints mixed with Alexander Henry's woodgrain and pears.

I have always loved the look of a back with a strip of the piecing from the top, can't wait to see the finished product.  I thought it would be so hard, but really after trimming everything square, I just had to add a piece to the top and bottom to make the back big enough for the quilt sandwich.

I really hope the long-arm schedule can work for me!  The girls at KC Fabric right here in Saratoga do such a nice job and it really makes the quilt.  Also having to fit in the quilting of the quilt would set me over the edge.  I still want to make a pair of shoes, a diaper and wipe envelope and some bibs.  After making so much for my sister I can't just stop at a quilt, but maybe this time I will have to!

More thin leather arrived so more of our favorite necklace in shop

Mother's Two Initial Necklace on thin leather

Three Initial Mother's Necklace on Leather

Good shot of freshwater pearl dangle

Single Initial Mother's Necklace on leather

Two Initial Mother's Necklace on leather

With less than two weeks until Mother's Day we were starting to get worried that we were waiting on our favorite thin leather and eco-friendly freshwater pearls.  It all arrived!

Mom's and Grandma's alike love this simple design with the hand stamped sterling silver disc with children or grandchildren's initial.  Mother's Necklaces are very popular right now and make a great gift.  

Package in Mail - So glad it is on its way!

Okay, I am pretty sure that I went a little crazy making things for my sister's baby shower.  It started out from feeling bad that we live so far away and that I wouldn't be in Seattle for the delivery, the days after, etc.  She lived in Boston when Max was born in Hartford and it was great to have her with us.  

So I felt the need to make up for not being there by sewing and knitting up a storm for her.  I made the quilt for my mom to open at the shower given by her friends, she and Karyn will have to decide where the quilt will reside.  I thought it would be a fun thing to have for the baby to play on at mom's . . . but it came out so cute, I am guessing Karyn will claim it for their house.  I will get ready to make another fun quilt for whomever gives in on this one!  The package includes all the items in the previous posts (diaper clutch like Diapees and Wipees, diaper bag, matching quilted changing pad, cute little bunny, minky blanket, bibs and soft little shoes)  I also threw in some of my favorite items from when Ellie and Sam were babies - a wonderful sleep sack, footed dwell sleeper, haba pacifier clip and Dr. Brown's bottles.  I really wish I could find a way to be in Seattle this weekend . . .   maybe I will have time to sew some things that got thrown on the back burner for "shower fest '09"

Vacation Over - Yeah for School!

Ellie is finally starting to fight back with the boys.  Sam and Max both would sit on her and she would just laugh - now she has figure out how to sit on them!  They both had a lot of fun this weekend coloring.  Really the first time it held their interest for more than a couple minutes.  We have a lovely poster with scribbles now on display!

The highlight of the weekend is Max's new smile.  He finally lost one of the top middle teeth.  His smile has quite a few gaps now and it is so CUTE!

I have officially thrown in the towel and decided I have made everything I can for the showers for my sister.  I will now be packaging it up and sending it out on Tuesday.  I will post pictures of the main gift - the quilt in the next day or so.  It is almost done and I LOVE IT!  I can't wait to get back to some projects that I want to do for me.  Isn't the little bunny peaking out cute?  So fun and so easy to make.  I will take more photos with details of how fun and easy this was.

How did I not know how to sew when my three were infants?  These bibs are so easy and fun to make.  They will for sure go with any baby gift I give from now on.  They maybe took 10 minutes total to make and now that I know how to do snaps I could probably do them faster!  For sure I will make at least a dozen each time I make them and just have some on hand.

Circus Quilt Pinks/Purple Top and Back done!

Can't wait to finish this one.  I really wish I would have waited to make my own kids quilts until I had been sewing a little more.  I am loving the recent quilts and it is so hard to give them up, when the quilts I wrap my own children in shout "learning curve"!  This is either for my mother to open at my sister's shower or for my sister.  One way or another my soon to be niece will be rolling and playing on it.

This is the back.  I love doing stripped backs, but really thought the circus fabric was too fun to just show a little of.  Also LOVE the purple polka dots!

Really enjoyed doing this block and the fussy cuts, I think I will try and create the baseball quilt my oldest wants using lots of white space, red, blue and the occasional baseball print.  I really don't want to use novelty fabric, but have the long arm quilting with a baseball theme, hope for it to be subtle.  Anyway this type of block will appear for sure.

Any thoughts on which fabric to use as the binding?  Maybe a combo of a few?  Will probably wait until the quilting is done and then hopefully it will come to me and I will have enough to actually create binding with!  Just now as I look at the photo I am throwing out my first thoughts of the multi-colored stripe, or the pink batik dots for the white fabric with the multi-colored polka dots.  It is an awful lot of color and perhaps the white might give your eye a rest.  hmmmm . . . 

I am just happy that it will probably be done and mailed in time for the shower.  I feel bad that we live so far away and I can't be with my sister and family in Seattle to share this event.  She was with my husband and mom for my delivery of our oldest (and came right after the adoptions of both babies), it is just so hard to travel with three kids and then take care of them while traveling and waiting for Taylor to arrive.  We have to figure a way to Seattle this summer, or I think I will lose it - I miss family and the Northwest way too much!

Off to a neighbors for a beer and a bonfire!

Another Quilt Finished and on its way

Have had this all but finished for the better part of two months! Love, love, love it! It is so bright, lively and fun. A perfect place for my cousin's fifth child and first boy to play! It has quite a few "oops" moments in the quilt, but I am guessing that little baby Knox who is a few months old will not mind. My cousin and his family split their time between their home in Livingston, Montana and L.A. Ellwood is a writer and is currently writing for the CBS show Cold Case. I was trying to pick fun colors that seemed Californian to me. I picked out fabric today for a version of this quilt in pinks for my sister who is expecting a little girl on my birthday in June. Stay tuned . . .