Lena's Birthday Quilt

I did manage to make a little handmade for Lena's Birthday which followed close behind Rosemary's last month. I had my eye on this 30 square log cabin quilt from Patchwork Style for over a year now and wasn't going to let another birthday pass by without making it for her. I gave myself a good year to get it completed, but didn't get good and movitated to start it until July. That gave me a good two months to complete it.

And complete it I did, right in the nick of time - I finished up the binding, which took hours (!) the morning of her birthday.

She loves it, we all love it! It's full of the most amazing colors, all from my favorite fabrics I've been hoarding away for four years now. Each square really is a work of art! What a brilliant concept for quilting as you go. My hope is that this quilt will be with Lena for a very long time and that she will always feel the love that I poured into it for her.

:: Works in Progress ::

Today, I thought I would share my works in progress.

First up, a set of booties for a friend who just had a baby boy.

Next, a very long time favored knitting pattern from Knitting with Peace and yarn from Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton that I finally got on the needles at the beginning of May. It will be a 2^nd year birthday present for Rosemary.

and lastly, a quilt I’ve had in mind for a while now using some leftover Heather Ross' Lightning Bugs and other Mysteries collection. I think it will be the perfect way to use up the small bits and pieces that are leftover from past projects.

So there you have it. I’d love to see what you all are working on, please share!

Blanket for our babe ~

And to match this coverlet, a small rendition was in order ::



Inspired by the upcoming season of autumn, I wanted to create something with texture and warmth. I decided on a panel of leftover Anna Maria Horner Good Folks scraps and matched it up with this dotted brown corduroy. I found a worn-in organic flannel crib sheet in my linen closet, and decided to repurpose it for the back of this quilt. It was a perfect match, adding even more texture. Just like its larger counterpart, this smaller version for our new-baby-to-come is oh so soft and comfy!!!



{finished size is 27" x 34"}

a little sneak peak ~

With Santa’s workshop still going strong, I thought it would be fun to give a little sneak peak what I’ve been working on this week:





Since Friday last week, I had have several projects in mind to finish up this week. One being this Wee Wonderful’s Elf Stitchette that began as a road project when we went to the Outerbanks late August.



This quilt was something that popped in my head,





and the doll . . . that was definitely a last minute idea that came late Friday afternoon. I’ll share more on her later . . . back to work!!

getting ready for Thanksgiving ~

It was a hard decision to make, but I decided to rip out the machine quilting I had sewn on the large brown portion of my quilt. The machine quilting I did a few weeks ago didn’t turn out to my liking, the backside was all jargled up and so today I took my seam ripper and worked and worked until it was quilted no more.



I spent most of what I could today hand quilting what I had ripped out. In these photos I tried to reveal the softness hand quilting has given this quilt. I gave the thread a little tug every once in a while to make the soft puckers. I am so super thrilled with it so far. It was all worth the pain-staking decision and time it took to rip out the machine stitches.





I soon found that hand quilting was going to give it just the look and feel I was after, though it will take much more time to complete it, I know I’ll be happier in the end. {I already have one little girl making claims to it!!} The shadows and bumps reveal how incredible soft this quilt will be once its finished. I can’t stop running my hands over it. I have only quilted one row of width, lots more to go.

We’re leaving tomorrow for our Thanksgiving road trip. I have three road projects that I’m bringing along, this quilt, yarn for knitting a pair of child size legwarmers, and this project yet to be completed from the end of summer.



We went to the park this morning to burn off some energy and when we came back home I thought it would be a great time for a mock Christmas card photo session outside of our house. Judging by this photo, it isn’t going to be as easy as I thought, I see now what I'm up against - getting three little people to be happy, look at the camera, and smile at the same time!!!

I do wish everyone a safe, thoughtful, thankful, Thanksgiving Day tomorrow.

autumn crafting ~

My weekend included some of my favorite autumn crafting . . . leaf rubbings and the beginnings of hand quilting on my autumn quilt. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount of hand work that is required on this quilt. I'm resolved that it will be okay if it's not finished by autumn's end. At least it was inspired by the colors of this season and will be much loved {and used} any time of the year.

sizing issues ~

Have you ever tried things on your kids while they were sleeping? Well I have, twice this week actually. First it was slippers ordered from this company. I had to see if what I ordered fit them . . . which they turned out to be fine . . . and next I had to try this hat on Lena while she was asleep to see if it was big enough {since it will be a surprise for the first day of winter, a new family tradition this year}. The outcome . . . well . . . the hat is a little small for her. Then I tried it on Elise, I fit . . .



Then I cast on this hat for Lena on Saturday, a larger pattern I found recently, completed different style. {I'll give more details when the hat is finished}





Here is my autumn quilt, still at the quilting stage. I'm having trouble deciding whether to hand-quilt it or use my machine to quilt it. My preference would be to use a free-motion quilting technique, but I can't get the bobbin tight enough on the back side. Hopefully this week I can get all these issues resolved and come out with several projects completed!