Gift Quilts, Round 2

The second round of gifts for Jama’s grandkids includes this pinwheel dragon for Abby, 13, who requested blues in her quilt. 

I think that dragon panel is fantastic (hope she does too). 

The backing is blue 70s-style flowers 

with dragons for the quilting. 

Abby’s getting a new sister in January, and she needs a quilt too, right? 

The center panel was from Jama’s stash and I added the matching border and Tula Pink ladybug blocks from my stash. 

The backing is one of my favorite kid prints - so bright and fun - with little cottontail bunnies for the quilting. 

For Abby’s mom, I decided on this coneflower quilt, 

with quilted hummingbirds. 

One quilt to go, for daughter Lacey. It’s being quilted now, so this project is almost done. 

Teach One

 Pop spent the day with his new mixer (tiny but mighty!)

while teaching Leo the finer points of working with cement. 

Their reaction? “My feet hurt.” 😂 (Leo hung in to the end and was a big help.)

Making progress on the bathroom remodel!

Gift Quilts, Round 1

Back in August I offered to make quilts for my late sister Jama’s grandkids, incorporating her stash of fabrics, as a remembrance of her. 

He likes it!

I thought it would take until December to get all 7 quilts done (her daughters needed quilts too, right??j but thanks to the super fast work of my long-arm quilting pal, the first 6 went out this week.  

This is 6-year-old Spencer’s quilt, with the dogs and rainbow colors he requested,

quilted with dog bones. 

The dragon backing was from his grandma’s stash. (I may have given it to her since I have the same in my stash…)

Marshall, 12, got a colorful galaxy

with a variety of dragons on the back

and dragon quilting ordered especially for this project. 

The boys’ mom, Mandy, loves the outdoors and goes foraging for mushrooms, so this fabric seemed perfect for her …

Bird quilting

especially since it matched the colors for her favorite team on the back. 

Next up, Round 2 …

Done!

Done! This is the same idea as the green Starburst (here) but it took me an extra day to finish since there are more pieces and the layout is more complicated.

Not bad for a 2-day quilt! This one is going to be hard to give away. . . 

I can’t get a good pic of the colors. They’re much more vibrant in real life.

One To Go

The gift quilts are shipped - due to arrive Saturday - so today I started on the last quilt I need to make before I begin Christmas quilting. 

This is one of my all time favorite fabrics, that I’ve hoarded for years, waiting for the perfect project. 

Beautiful fall colors, with a luscious teal blue - so perfect.

With the girls home sick, and Donovan on vacation, I got to spend the entire day playing with fabric. 

All 96 pieces are pressed, cut and trimmed, ready for layout tomorrow. Sure hope this works how I think it will…

Mom Quilts

The last two gift quilts are done.

Tomorrow I’ll get good pics - in between all the Halloween shenanigans - then wash, dry and package these up to mail Wednesday … or Thursday. So excited to get them on their way. 

Bindarama

While the boys took Donovan to his first car museum,

I spent the day putting bindings and labels on a bunch of quilts

using my second favorite ‘sew it to the front,

flip and glue it to the back,

then stitch in the ditch all the way around’ method. 

It’s not as pretty as hand stitching it to the back but it is fast!

Four down, six to go. I was hoping to get the gift quilts out by Thanksgiving but they *might* go out this week instead.

Bats R Us

Batman, Batgirl, a game character and a typical teenager - we are ready for Halloween!

Jac and Donovan had a lot of fun showing off their super hero moves.

Galaxy Quilt

The last of the grandnephew quilts is finished and headed to the long-armer tomorrow.

Jac’s reaction? “Where’s Pluto??” (Also Jac: “Alexa, is Pluto a planet?”) (Alexa says it’s a dwarf planet. Which led to more discussion and questions for Alexa. I love how curious Jac is and that she’s learning how to find answers for herself.)

I don’t usually make fancy quilt backings but I wanted something special for this one. Dragons, anyone? 

The backing for yesterday’s Starburst is also done. Can you guess her favorite team??

I decided to add a row to the top and bottom of the Starburst to make it 48 x 60”. No new pictures but I like the rectangular shape better. 

My not-so-little quilt holder who, at 12, is now taller than me. She’s a good sport about helping me, even when it’s breezy.

One Day Quilt

Decided last night that I couldn’t send quilts to Jama’s grandkids without sending something to their moms too. 

I’ve always wanted to make a starburst quilt . . . And the pattern looked pretty straightforward . . . 

So I spent the day starching, pressing, cutting, stitching, 

cutting some more, 

trimming (love this ruler!),

pressing (again!),

sewing, organizing,

a tiny bit of ripping, 

and finally - done!

At 48” square I think it’s a bit small, so tomorrow I’ll either add another row to the top and bottom (I much prefer rectangular quilts) or put borders in the green fabric all the way round. So technically this isn’t quite finished in a day but I’m calling it close enough. 🤩 (Note: I added another row to the top and bottom. Much happier.)

Backing fabric.