New baby

We will soon be welcoming another new baby girl to our family.  My nephew and his wife are expecting in November.  They live 1200 miles away so I couldn't attend the shower, but I did make a few receiving blankets for her.  I usually make these blankets for all new babies in the family, they are quick and easy and new moms say they can never have enough.  I couldn't find any really sweet baby girl flannel, but I think they turned out pretty nice.

I just sew two pieces of flannel right sides together, leave a space to turn them right sides out and sew around the perimeter to close the gap and to give them a more finished look.  I do the same for the fleece blankets.

I sent this for the new big brother.  He and his dad are big Chicago Bears fans.  I think he will like it.

I need to quit taking pictures this way as they won't upload correctly.  Oh well, you get the idea.

Both these types of blankets are so quick and easy, and very warm!  I think I may be using fleece for Christmas gifts this year.  I thought maybe some hats or something.  

Next up-prayer squares for my grieving family.

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts finish it up Friday.

Tough couple of weeks

My nephew suffered a head trauma a few weeks ago.  It went from his being released in a couple of days, to  needing surgery and perhaps some rehab, to his passing away.  It has been quite a blow to all of us, especially his parents and sisters.

When we thought it might 'just' be surgery and some rehab I threw together this fleece blanket.  He is (was) quite a Vikings fan.  I backed it with purple fleece.  Jo-Ann's was having a great sale, and I had a coupon so I was able to get the purple backing that I wanted rather than the wrong color that was on sale.

Adam was 6'5" tall so I used 3 1/2 yards front and back so it would be big enough to cover all of him.  I'm so sorry he isn't here to use it.  RIP sweet boy.

Triplet Quilts!

I finally finished quilts for three very special young ladies. Last November I took each girl for lunch and shopping and they each picked out the fabric and pattern they wanted.  I think they turned out pretty nice.  This is the one I just finished yesterday.  Each girl wanted their first initial-this is Tasha's.

She chose all zebra stripes, then a "pop" of color overlapping.  Her description was vague and I had a hard time figuring out a pattern-I created it myself in an Excel spreadsheet!   hmmmm it uploaded it sideways????

Here's the back, of course Josie has to help.  Again, it's sideways, not sure why.

Here's all three-delivered Thursday!

Due to being out of town for three months, too much work for 2 months, machine in the shop for 1 month, and a month of doing alterations & sewing projects for other people, oh yeah, I also made a quilt for charity last summer, it took me TEN months to finish these.  Not too bad when you think of it that way.  Many hints were dropped about how cold it was getting at night and they sure wished they had warmer blankets.  

Now that I updated my browser I can upload pictures of the the other two.

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts "Finish it up Friday"-so glad to have this back!

Playing Hookey!

I have taken 2 days off over the last few weeks-to pick huckleberries! I picked about gallon each time-woo hoo. It's a good thing because those are the only 2 days I got to pick this year. These ought to hold me for while.

Aren't they beautiful!

Day 1 haul

Day 2-Yum

I'm even going to share some this year-I normally hoard them.  My jam was awful last year so I don't think I'm going to try that again-I tried to make some without all that sugar-it didn't turn out well.

Easy Birthday Gifts

Recently I wanted to send a few friends/family a small gift-something quick, inexpensive and easy to send through the mail-I decided a plastic bag holder is perfect. I love mine. I've made several over the last few months, but this week I made one for my sis who has a birthday coming up.

I just use 2 fat quarters, sandwich them with low-loft batting, quilt and sew up the long side. I then add elastic to the top and bottom and add a little loop to hang it. I've given several as gifts the last few months and everyone says "I've always wanted one but never get around to buying or making one". Of course now with using our own bags we probably don't have as many plastic bags, but I still seem to accumulate plenty of them.



I also made my MIL a walker bag. I made one for my sister recently and she really likes it and says she uses it all the time so I thought my MIL might like one too.

I used this tutorial from Quilting According to Annette, but sewed up the pocket to make it 2 pockets, one large enough to put a magazine and then a smaller one, maybe for glasses or something smaller. It's really easy and fast to make.

I made both of these items Sunday afternoon in just a few hours-it's taken me longer to get them wrapped and in the mail!

Edited to add I linked to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish if up Friday

Walker Bags

Another of my sisters recently had a hip replacement-she is doing great but will need to walk with a walker for a while. So, I made her this handy walker bag. She loves it and says it makes it easy to take things with her from room to room-except she can't take a glass with anything in it-hmmmmmmm maybe I should have tried to add a cup holder to it!

I used this pattern from Quilting According to Annette . My plan for today is to make another one for my MIL.

Yes, the treadmill does get used for things other than modeling sewing projects-occasionally.

This was made from fabric from my stash, I have no idea what the names are. I believe the flowered was purchased on sale at JoAnn's and the pink was purchased for a wall hanging that never got made. I used a lighter pink for the inside, I believe that was left over from the Inspiration Quilt.

Get Well Soon!

I made this quilt for my sister who recently had some health issues. My machine decided it didn't like to quilt any more and I could NOT get the bobbin tension correct, I ended up ripping out the quilting on over half the quilt and re-doing it in straight lines. Therefore, instead of receiving the quilt in October as planned, she received it in mid-December. The top turned out beautifully, but I wasn't too pleased with the quilting-but she loves it and that's what matters! I used all flannels so it would be toasty warm this winter.

I used this pattern-Shoo Fly Bed quilt, but made it smaller for a lap size and added sashing in between the columns.

I embroidered words of inspiration and also "mother" "sister" etc. in each white center piece. I love this.

Lessons learned, flannel is tough to quilt, especially when you're in a warm climate! Also, solids show all your quilting flaws. Although they also show all the great things too.

I'm happy to add that sister L is doing great and has wowed her doctors with her speedy recovery!