This isn't how I roll...

Some think everything I touch turns into a quilted gem.  That is so not true.  And here's a great example.  Why this baby bib?  Why not?  CMQG friend Jen has made some and suggested there were free bib patterns available.  Blog reader Zina showed me a picture of a bib she made from leftover fabrics of a baby quilt.  So, leftover baby quilt bits + bib pattern =

This isn't horrible - well, maybe it is.  But I wasn't at all happy doing this.  At least I gave it a go.

I learned at the CMQG retreat that I work large and I work dark.  No wonder I'm not happy with this bib.  At least I know why.

I'm finishing up a baby quilt with free motion quilting - it's been excellent practice - and am about to start pin basting sports quilt #1.

Baseball Jersey Quilt

One hockey jersey quilt is in pieces and in a box, ready to start whenever the mom tells me what colors to use.  The second hockey jersey quilt, the one with the camouflage background, is ready for pin-basting and quilting.  This third quilt is from baseball jerseys.  It will have a navy backing and binding.  Nothing's been sewn together yet - waiting for approval from the parents before I start sewing.  It's going to be pretty nifty though!

Baby Quilt - in process

These fabrics are quite a departure for me. So is this design. It's Fashion District from the book Quilts Made Modern  by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. Quilters are great for second guessing their fabrics choices, and of course I'm doing that with this one. If I had it to do over, perhaps I'd use fabrics for the horizontal bricks that aren't quite so - um - "look at me"-ish. Still, I think it's part of the charm of this quilt. I haven't attached the borders yet and haven't decided on a backing, but piecing this top was what I had to do this weekend. Back to sports jerseys...

A First Time for Everything

This is the first time I have ever labeled a quilt. This baby quilt is the one that's on its way to Japan via the Mission of Love quilt effort, thanks to the tipoff from equilter.com. Instructions were to label the quilt with words of hope. Fellow quilt guild member Ebony gave me the idea of just using a fabric pen and scrap of fabric. I may have to start to label my quilts!

Full Day in the Studio

At the beginning of the day, this was 24 various hockey jerseys and 2 yards of a solid green cotton. Five and a half hours later, these bits have become a quilt top, ready for batting and backing and quilting. There's a corner of the backing on the left - digital camouflage fabric. I'm thrilled to get these jerseys off the design wall - er, floor - and up onto the basting table!

Words of Wisdom

Dueling Baby Quilts

Both baby quilts are complete. One has a nice little traditional backing. The other has a funky pieced backing. That's the one Cathy chose for her new grandson-to-be. The other one is soon on its way to Japan.

Fitting End to my Starry Fabrics

I buy fabrics when they are on sale. And somehow, not by design, I accumulated several fabrics with stars. Over the years I've used these fabrics and yet still have had some left. One of these starry projects was a baby quilt for Bradley Smejkal back in 2008.

Another baby quilt was done as a scrap quilt to demonstrate reversible quilting.  Angela McMahon and her new little baby girl received this quilt last November - see my blog entry about this quilt.


Bradley Smejkal is having a baby brother this spring.  And since I made baby quilts for both him and his sister, of course I have to make one for this new little guy.  And as I was starting work on this quilt, I knew I had to do a charity quilt to go to Japan.

Here is one completed quilt.  Its backing is mostly one fabric. The backing for the second quilt is also here, even though I'm still piecing its top. I ran out of the darker blue with stars on it and had to substitute a plain blue on the front. And for the back?

Determined to not have any more starry scraps, I used as much as I could for the back. I would have never done something like this before my involvement with the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild - I love the effect this group is having on me!

I need to do another baby quilt, and I know it's for a little girl. But before I decide on fabrics and design, I will get busy on the hockey/sports jersey quilts that are on the studio design wall - er, floor - and finish the second starry baby quilt.

Organized Chaos

I know how lucky I am - I have a HUGE studio. But sometimes it's just not big enough. In the upper left corner is my red scrap quilt - it has to stay where it is because I'm auditioning different fabrics for sashing and border and still thinking about design and I just need to see it. In the middle is one of the hockey jersey quilts, the layout of which was designed by the mom. It has to stay there until I can at least connect the shirts into rows - the good news is that I have the fabric. The second pile of uncut jerseys - I need to trim them and then do the layout. Two of the rows are going to be taller than the rest, and one row will only have 3 shirts because the design is so wide. So that needs to stay as it is until I can trim them. Finally - one of the baby quilts. Each row has been made. But now I need to press and then sew the rows together. I could pick up this quilt - except I like looking at it. Tonight I'm meeting a college roommate from Saint Louis in Springfield for a visit and an overnight. Tomorrow afternoon (let's hear it for the NCAA games!) I'll get back to one of these. Probably the jersey quilt in the middle. Or the baby quilt..

And a word of appreciation for DH - he went with me to Joann's yesterday so I could get new 40-yard bolt of Warm N Natural. You can see this bolt standing in the upper left corner. I got my last bolt two years ago and could just barely lift it and fit in into my car. It was so much easier with John and his car. Phew... (and of course I used a coupon!)

Two Baby Quilts at Once

Despite the hockey jerseys being ready to go, I've got a couple of baby quilts I have to get out of my system.  The baby quilt blocks we did at the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild retreat were so quick and energizing that I've decided to do the same pattern.  Here are the four fabrics cut into 2.5" strips.  After some intense strip sewing and ironing, here's the effect I'm going for on the finished projects.

One of these is going to my friend Cathy's fifth grandchild, who has another few months of incubating to go.  The second quilt will be a charity quilt that will go to Japan.  Interested?  Here's the link through the equilter website.  Thank you, blogger friend Carol G, for planting this idea! 

The quilt for Cathy's 4th grandchild incorporated some of these same fabrics!