Back to Cute

 Well, surprise, surprise.  Not only do I do cute, I also free-motion quilt!  I am stunned at how fabulous this quilt turned out.  As luck would have it, the last guild meeting was all about free-motion quilting.  And it gave me the courage I needed to tackle this quilt.  

I have several wonderful nieces, and one of them, a lawyer in the Marines (yes, I know she has a title but I don't know what it is) is pregnant with her first baby, a boy.  Niece Candace is fierce, and I'm sure her baby boy will be, too.  So no delicate colors or smiling animals.  This in-your-face jungle quilt is meant to be a dragger and not a hanger.  Im eager to see her baby posed among these cute little animals.   And I'm lucky that my stash included some animals prints, like the tiger binding and the giraffe backing.  These animals are from an Elizabeth Hartman pattern.  45" x 57"

A Third Baby Quilt for a Benton Avenue Connection

I’ve known my friend Cristina for almost 20 years, since she was 12.  And this also means I’ve know her older brother Alejandro for the same amount of time.  When we popped the top of our house, I used the Second floor of their garage as my studio space for almost six months. This space was also Alejandro’s bedroom, but he was away at college.  He was more than a good sport about sharing his space with me.  Fast Forward: Ale is married, a college professor, and will soon have his third child.  Helios has his quilt and Neoma has hers. These quilts are yellow and black and green and oranges.  This quilt for #3 is from the leftovers of the fabrics from the two quilts.

Google herringbone quilts for directions.  Perfect for 2.5” strips! 

 

Announcing a Really Big Adventure for the Studio - And for us...!

 After 35 years in this stucco bungalow in LaGrange and 15 years in this lovely studio, we are moving.  We bought a condo in OakBrook (we thought it was in Westmont) and this house is on the market as of this afternoon.  The past few weeks have been busy, but of course I've been sewing with a deep appreciation of what I've had for the past years.  These final days in this studio are sweet ones.

I have always loved log cabins, and this bundle of Japanese canvas linens seems perfect for this block.  I’m making this quilt for grandson Ben.  I think I may want to hand quilt it.  Since I have no deadline with this quilt, it can just stay all basted and wait for the winter weather.  I hope our nee place is as cold as this house - perfect for winter quilting.  This is not what John is hoping for at all.

Niece Laura is having her fifth baby and her first boy this fall.  That’s who this quilt is for.  That crooked vertical line represents a the path this little guy is going to have to walk among his 4 sisters!  His oldest sister will be a sophomore in hs.  That’s the same age I was when my little brother Doug was born!  I may have to baste this one with actual thread since all my pins are in other projects.  I’d like to have this hand quilted by September, but who knows?  I think things might get busy…

Baby Quilts: Get Happy! and Two Little Koalas and Bright and Sunny

Baby quilts are one of my favorite things to do.  They are small, fairly easy to quilt, and - most importantly - keep me focused on possibilities of the future. My nephew Chris and his wife are having a little girl pretty soon.  Pink was the color of choice.  Guildmate and current Chicago Modern Quilt Guilt president Laura McDowell Hopper posted this quilt, "Get Happy!" on the We All Sew website.  There's a second Get Happy! quilt in the works for my niece who is having her baby a month later!

Two Koalas, an Elizabeth Hartman pattern, is complete.  I struggled with how to quilt this and finally took a tip from Lady Macbeth:  be bloody, bold, and resolute.  I dropped the feed dogs and free motioned the background.  And I must say it is spectacular.  The wool batting makes the quilting pop.  A word about Elizabeth Hartman patterns:  they are terrific.  I was a bit taken aback when friends with a pregnant daughter in Perth, Australia, asked for a quilt with an animal on it.  I wanted to say, "Wait, I don't do cute."  But then I found this pattern and have fallen in love with the cuteness.  So I guess I do do cute!

Evenings I am working on this beautiful log cabin.

And another baby quilt!  I'm quilting it right now - it will be for Helios's new little sibling.

I Can't Word

A little drawstring bag for Henry and a doll quilt for Eloise, my sister's grandchildren

A Tudor Tote for my travel agent client from a t-shirt

The reverse of the above tote, plus a pillow for her granddaughter.

Another Benton Avenue grandchild is coming

My doctor (whom I love) is having her first baby this spring and likes green.

 

And of course a couple of zippered totes.  Just because...

Lots o' Pictures

This cute little baby quilt is ready for gifting to a Benton Avenue grandchild.

Scraps were used for the back.  All from Zen Chic's Fragile collection.

 The Sloan Travel Bag, pattern by Sew Sweetness, is finished.  For each outer part, there is an inner part.  Pockets, straps, zippers, lining - preparation is sometimes laborious.  But I do love this pattern, and it is my travel bag of choice.

While it is a complicated bag, I do love Sara Lawson's patterns.  Her directions are thorough and illustrated with tons of pictures.  Fellow bag maker Sally said her secret is that she's good at following directions.  And that certainly has become a strength of mine.  At Patty's request I included a detachable cross-body strap.  This bag has one outer pocket, two small outer pockets on the sides with magnetic flap closures, a zippered top closure, two inner side pockets, and two inner zippered pockets. 

The finished Sloan Travel Bag

I spent a quick weekend in Santa Fe with some local quilters, and this project is what we worked on - Sugar Skull Art.  Mine turned into a self portrait at various stages of life - acne, braces, glasses, hair.  I'm still working on adding some fabric details.  I think perhaps some hand quilting before the machine quilting, too. 

My travel agent client - you'll never guess when and where she went to high school - wanted pillows from these two t-shirts.  One of for her - the other is a Christmas present for a classmate.  I used 16" pillow forms. 

Finishing up projects means I can put away patterns and pieces and various piles of fabrics.  And that's what I did.  But in between putting things away and vacuuming, this baby/napping quilt happened.  These fabrics were leftover from quilts I did for Virginia and my sister-in-law Pam.  It's going to be 55" x 70".  And despite the various unfinished hand projects, I think I want to hand quilt this one.  Just because. 

High Expectations. But...

This is what I have to show for my weekend of sewing. I had such high expectations since I spent much of last week doing the prep work for 12 purse kits. These are my only finishes - one teal Trail Tote, one Sew Powerful purse, and three key wristlets. However, I did do bits and parts of the other kits. So perhaps this week I might be productive. I'm also eager to restore some kind of order to the studio and work on my medallion quilt, too. Busy hands are happy hands!

Grandma Roberta's Final Grandchild Quilt

Guess what her youngest grandchild's name is.

But who's counting?

These 12 purses for Sew Powerful have been finished for over a week, and now I'm cutting/making kits for more.   It's a slow process because each of the 11 pattern pieces needs to be interfaced.  So to make this process a bit saner, I have established a little cutting station just for interfacing.  I'm cutting out as many as I can - hopefully another 12 - in preparation for an upcoming sewing weekend.  But who's counting?

Favorite client Roberta (the grandmother who likes to create quilt kits for each of her grandchildren but doesn't like to sew) brought over a kit for her last grandchild. Normally she brings enough fabric. While she had enough for the front, we really scrambled to create an appropriate backing out of  my white-on-white scraps, and the back of this quilt is pretty cute.  I love my work tables and their under-table storage, which make doing two baby quilts in one week easy.  But who's counting?

Quilt all ready for pin-basting

Today is the birthday of our first grandchild - Ryan Patrick Sheehan is 21 today.  I skipped parenting and went directly into grandparenting, thanks to John's kids. I have been totally taken aback by how much joy  being a grandparent has brought me.  Even better has been the geogrphical closeness we have shared with Ryan and his little brother Brandon.  The boys thought we were here for their climbing, lounging, and listening pleasure.  What precious days.  Can't believe Ry is 21.  But who's counting?

It's August for August!

Here's the back of the baby quilt for August, grandson of favorite client Roberta.  She buys the fabric, designs the layout, does the cutting, and then brings me the "kit."  She waits until her grandchildren are 2 or 3, which I think is pretty wise.  I love working with her.  Here's another quilt she designed.  There's another one, which I can't find right now.  I must get better at labelling.

I love how Roberta finds fabrics for what her grandchildren's parents want.  Waiting until the kids are a bit older makes these quilts special since they go with the child and the bedroom.  These quilts, including this one, are "draggers".  They are meant to be used and dragged around and washed a lot.

This lovely batik on the quilt back enhances the sea theme on the front of the quilt.


I don't know how Roberta found me, and she doesn't remember either.  All I know is that it's a good fit and I enjoy working with her! 

Here's a link to the first baby quilt I did for Roberta.  

Spring in the Studio!

Suddenly the snow is gone, and there's increasing sunlight daily.   Daily walks and an increase in Vitamin D.  My David Crosby playlist has just been hitting the spot.  This is a good time of year, and I am experiencing deep peace. Favorite client Grandma Roberta just had this quilt made.  She's the one who loves to design quilts, shop for fabrics, and make a quilt kit.  The one thing she doesn't want to do is sew.  This went together beautifully, and it is ready for years and years of use.  

The two hockey-esque quilts for the fathers of my great-nieces are ready for longarm quilting.  And then I will decide how to arrange the four feathers for each quilt.  Should I go symmetrical?  Should they be up?  down?  Luckily I have time to decide.  My goal is to get these done and delivered before the NHL playoffs.

  I'm all set for tomorrow's purse/bag sew-in with 10 of my guildsters.  Our common geekiness includes talking at great length about the length of purse straps, strap sturdiness, various interfacings, magnetic closures, zippered pockets, pockets wth flaps, the size of pockets, the number of pockets - you get the idea.  I have kitted a Petrillo Bag by Sara Lawson and plan on taking this bag to New Zealand in two weeks.  I did some of the fiddly bits yesterday and cannot wait to see this come together.  One of the things on my "to do" list involves fabric manipulation.  This bag has a flap with fabrics that's been gathered/pleated.  But then I remember that I had this:

So I have gone rogue from Sara's pattern and am using this products.  I think it will work.  To be determined... 

 For the rest of today, while listening to the Moth Radio Hour on PRX, I am going to pick up and organize fabrics and put on a new ironing board cover and make order out of disorder.  My dentist and his wife are coming to the studio Monday - something about a quilt using her wedding dress.  I will try to hide from them how disorganized and sloppy and I can be...

Eloise Emma has arrived!

 

My niece had her second child, little Eloise Emma, Friday.  Eloise was born in Brooklyn and will join her brother Henry, mother Jen and father Tim.   ***cue The Circle of Life  from Lion King***  Eloise was the name of my Grandmother White, nee Eloise Sheehan.  People die, babies are born, and we remember those who came before us.  

My niece requested a low-volume pink and grey baby quilt.  The magazine Quilty published a baby quilt, full of lines of pennants.  I adapted this idea for Eloise's quilt.  I know my niece loves balloons, and I think this quilt looks complete with the addition of the balloons.  See the picture at the end of this post for the quilt top without balloons.  The quilt's back is a bit higher-volume than the front and a great contrast. 

 Eloise's quilt is in the washer right now and will go in the mail Monday!  What a satisfying project.