Yellow Brick Road

The Yellow Brick Road pattern is one of my favorite "go to" quick quilts.  This one will join the DONE list this afternoon when I finish the binding. 

The fabrics are pretty old and all out of my stash, including the backing. I love all the different bug prints. I did buy the orange binding fabric however because I just didn't have enough of anything suitable. My LAQ used bright variegated thread and a stitching design with ants in it, although they are hard to see in this photo. 

By supper time today I hope to have that binding 100% done. I'm halfway around now so that shouldn't be too difficult of a goal to meet. Then I can cut and prep another binding for another quilt.

 

Baby chevron

It's always exciting to me to finish a quilt, even when it's a small one. This baby quilt is done except for the label. And it will be headed to Australia for baby Emmaline, the new daughter of a cousin of my girls. The backing of this grey, white and yellow quilt is a soft, velvety fabric with grey drawings of Nursery Rhymes. I just think it's perfect.

Out of the stash

How appropriate!  My "scrap and stash" baby quilt is getting a backing pulled from the leftover backing drawer.  

This swirly print was a wide backing that I used on a quilt months ago. There was just enough left to use on this baby quilt if I pieced it.  So there are 2.5 yards more GONE from the stash. And there was enough of the green print for binding, so another 1/2 yard used.  I dropped the flimsy and backing off to be quilted yesterday.

Owls in a Quick Strippee

I need a baby gift for later this summer and these Quick Strippee quilts are so quick and easy, plus they really showcase a fun novelty print.  Find the freevpattern at http://www.maryquilts.com/ . Mary has some wonderful designs that she has graciously shared.  This one has become my "go to" for a fast baby quilt.

The owl fabric has so many fun colors so I had a hard time deciding which colors to use for the coordinating stripes.  I was leaning toward the aqua but finally decided on purple. The back is a medium purple swirly fabric.  Now I just need to add a label and it's ready to gift.

Baby Quilt is ready for the new baby

My newest grandson is due in about 6 weeks and his quilt is all ready for him.  The label I've put on all of my grandchildren's quilts is a little muslin heart with a colored heart on top. I'll write his name and birth date and my name on it when he finally arrives.  It's always exciting to have a new baby in the family.

My daughter didn't want traditional blue for his quilt so we chose the lime green, aqua and brown. There are monkeys in the white print. And the quilter added monkeys on vines in the quilting. Can you see the monkey face in the last photo? And the backing is a lime green dotted Minkee. It's very soft and cuddly.

I've linked up to Design Wall Monday at: http://www.patchworktimes.com/   See what other quilters are working on this week.

Design Wall Monday - Monkey basketweave

Some Sunday sewing time allowed me to finish the quilt top for the new grandson expected in a couple of months.  It is a basketweave design using a snowball block full of monkeys, alternated with the "woven" blocks.

I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday at http://www.patchworktimes.com .

My daughter didn't want a baby-ish quilt and asked for lime green. Otherwise it was up to me to choose colors and design, so I hope she likes the end result.

The woven blocks require a partial seam during a construction but turned out to be very quick and easy to do anyway.  The first side is sewn about halfway, leaving a bit open so that the long "tail" will line up with side #4. Then block is constructed then much like a log cabin with each side added around.

Quick Strippee baby quilt

I forgot to post a photo this weekend of the finished baby quilt for a BFF of my younger daughter.

The pattern is called Quick Strippee and is from one of my favorite quilt bloggers: http://blog.maryquilts.com/ .  It's a great fast pattern that lets you showcase a fun print that you don't want to cut into little pieces.  There are 5 rows of the cute Paris print separated by the pink and black strips.  The Paris print was selected because it's pink (baby girl) and because the mom's nickname is "Frenchie".

The baby girl is due in April and this is ready for the baby shower the friends are planning. Hope she likes it.

Baby projects

There are such cute baby and kid fabrics out today. I've made a few more burp cloths as baby gifts and this one has to be my favorite. 

Check it off my UFO list

This bright baby quilt is finally DONE!  Feels good to be able to check off another UFO. This one is going to be a baby gift for a first time mom who is due is just a couple of weeks.

The stripe and the green and yellow Dr Seuss prints were purchased a couple of years ago. I even had the blocks cut and then realized I didn't have enough. So it was set aside and became a UFO.  Recently I dug it out, bought some red and blue to fill it out (good choices I think). And I even quilted it myself on my regular sewing machine.  

Dr Seuss quilt is a flimsy

I got the top all done for the Dr Seuss baby quilt on Saturday morning at our quilter's guild "sew-in" day.

This was a UFO that I set aside when I realized that the green fabric, yellow fabric, and striped fabrics were not going to make a top large enough for a baby quilt. So on Friday during my lunch break I bought some red and some blue to cut the rest of the squares for this top.

Now - I need to find some backing and get it quilted and bound.

Check it off the list

I can check this UFO off the list finally. This baby quilt was begun many years ago and then sat as a flimsy (a top) in a drawer for a long time.  But it now has a soft apricot colored Minkee backing and a bright pink binding.  Hugs 'n Kisses is the name and it is ready to be gifted.

Fat quarter friendly project

I'm working on some baby gifts and they are fat quarter friendly.  These burp cloths use a 12 x 16 rectangle backed with organic hemp fleece. And the binding is done just like a quilt.  I can get the binding for 2 cloths from one fat quarter.  I'm using some of the fun fat quarters I bought on the recent shop hop trip.  From the left overs I'm cutting "bricks" to use in a future kid's quilt.

My girls have loved these for themselves and for giving as gifts.  So I need to replenish my stash.

Names on my labels

I finally have names and birthdates to put on the labels for my twin grandbabies. They arrived early this morning and proved the theory about low pressure weather systems triggering birth. Worked on the livestock and apparently worked on my daughter too.

Olivia Jane showed up first and weighs in at 5 # 6 oz. She was followed 20 minutes later by Jonah David at 6 # 8 oz. They are beautiful and healthy and we are so excited. However, even though they only live an hour away, we are in the midst of a really nasty winter/spring storm that is burying us deep under ice and snow. So we'll have to wait a couple of days to meet in person.

Thank goodness for Face Time. We've already connected once and will probably do Face Time again later today once mom and dad are most rested.

A finish for March

I finished putting the binding on the baby quilt this morning. So, except for removing excess fuzz, and adding a label, this quilt is ready for the new baby as soon as he and his sister arrive.

Oh - and Happy Easter to all.

Love-Hate relationship

I love the feel of these fuzzy backing fabrics especially for kids' quilts. But I HATE binding a quilt with the longer fuzzy fibers! This one is turning into a pain in the butt today. The fuzzy fibers keep balling up on my thread, causing knots. As I trim the excess away everything near me is covered with black and white fuzz. I may never buy a long fibered backing again. I'm sure the end result will be great, but getting there is painful.

Scraps put to use

This short 60 degree runner was made using the scraps from the baby quilt. I will do some simple hand quilting on this and bind it with the same cheddar I used on the quilt.  Maybe it will be useful in the nursery.

Now I'll have some hand work to do when I am staying at my daughter's house after the babies come.

A little peek

Just a little peek at the baby boy quilt I've been making for one of the twins due very soon.

The jungle print is full of bright animals and the jungle strips are separated by cheddar and black strips.  Carly quilted it with a simple geometric design in a red, brown, gold thread. Very cute. And the backing  is a black and white hounds tooth that feels like a soft bunny.

The binding is sewn on and needs to be hand stitched down. My deadline is fast approaching!

Ready for quilting

This morning I put the rest of the rows together for the Jungle Strippie quilt. So early this next week I'll pick out some soft backing and drop it off to be quilted. It might be a race to finish this before those twins arrive.

I like progress, even in small steps.

Jungle Quick Strippie

I have a couple of rows put together for this version of the Quick Strippie. This one is for one of the twins due in the coming weeks. I can picture quilting this with a variegated thread with lots of red in it. I should have a chance tomorrow afternoon to finish this top so I can drop it off for quilting on Monday or Tuesday.

Fabric choices

This is the fabric we finally purchased for the quilt for the twin boy due in a few weeks.  It just arrived in the mail.  The twin girl quilt is already made, but this one was more difficult to choose fabric that seemed just right.

This is a Timeless Treasure print. I will cut the jungle print strips to make the Quick Strippie pattern just like the owl quilt I made about a month ago. Yesterday I stopped at The Pin Cushion and picked up a black and a cheddar for the strips that will separate the critter strips.

Maybe I'll even cut this out tonight.

The Quick Strippie pattern is a simple design created by Mary and can be found at this link.  This will be a slight variation because the wide strips will be narrower than the pattern, so I will need more rows. But it comes out so cute and so fast.
http://www.maryquilts.com/quick-strippie/