It's baby time

A friend is expecting her first baby in a few weeks. Although I've know the baby is coming for many months, I've postponed making the quilt until it was crunch time. I'm not really a baby quilt kind of person so I've been casting about for an idea. In the mid-1990s I found a patchwork book in a clearance bin. It was jam packed with ideas and so I bought the book. The projects inside the book are the designs of Chuck Nohara and the instructions were translated from Japanese.

I used one of the patterns in the book to make a quilt for a friend who was expecting her first child in 1997 and really enjoyed making the quilt although I modified the pattern by eliminating the pieced border and instead used a solid subtle neutral plaid for the border. This time I decided I would piece the border (more about that in a moment).

The instructions for making the quilt are "scant". In fact they fit on a single page! They are accurate but you need to be an experience quilt maker to understand them,

The quilt is made up of 20 blocks twelve of which are numbers 0 to 9 (some of the numbers are duplicated) and eight of the blocks are stylized birds. I decided to make the number blocks without repeats so there were ten of them and I made ten bird blocks.

I embroidered the plumes on top of the bird's head and topped each one with a colonial knot. The eyes were cut from a dotted fabric and appliqued to the face. I used a marker to make the dark pupil in the eye.

The feet were outlined with a stem stitch. I though they were dull and didn't stand out enough so I used a Sakura Pigma pen to add some shading to the legs.

The blocks were sewn together with sashing and cornerstones in a soft grey-green print. I made the pieced triangle borders and added the side borders to the quilt. I stepped back to have a look and realized that the border on the right was attached the wrong way! Argh. I little reverse sewing (i.e. ripping out) and it was ready to be reattached.

Much better, don't you agree?

The last step was to make the corner patchwork units and attach them to the top and bottom borders. TA DUM! The finished quilt top. It measures 44" x 54".

I wasted no tine in making the quilt sandwich and pin basting it. This one will be hand quilted with a larger stitch. I think it will make for a nice soft baby quilt. There is a baby shower next weekend and my goal is to have it finished in time for the party. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Meanwhile Jinx has found himself an nice place to sleep out in the solarium ..... he is curled up in a flower pot with a Mandevilla vine! Silly little boy!

Time to get back to hand quilting. Until I post again, happy sewing!

Karen H

One thing leads to another

Isn't it funny how sometimes one thing leads to another?  Let me give you some examples of what I mean!

I continue to work on testing the Gardens of a King pattern for Missie of Traditional Primitives. The original quilt that inspired Missie's pattern has some blocks with sun or moon faces and I really like them. I drafted a large block but it isn't part of Missie's pattern so I won't include it in my quilt.This block finishes at about 10" across and I used my Sakura Pigma pens to draw the face.

I really like my face block so I thought about ways that I might include this design element in my quilt while still staying true to Missie's pattern. And that is my first "one thing leads to another" moment! There are four pieced blocks in the corners of the outer border so I thought that would be the perfect place to sneak a face into the quilt. I drew the face and used one of the block patterns to frame it! This is what it looks like! The edges are rough but will finish nice and round!

This is the block in my quilt on which I based my face block. I like the dark frame around both blocks because it focuses the attention on the centre design!

That leads me to my next (and final) two blocks for the centre panel of my quilt. These two were perhaps the most challenging although they look relatively simple. I think if I were to make them again I would use a single fabric for the background (or piece a four patch of four fabrics) and then applique the petals to the background using the back basting applique method that I wrote about.

The last "one thing leads to another" moment involves the fluffernutters, Gump and Jinx. Gump is an older guy who is partial to sleeping or at least relaxing. He is getting much better at posing for picture taking so we were having a nice moment together.  He is such a super model!

And then along comes Baby Jinx who promptly begins to nibble on Gump's toes! Not a good idea.

And that just leads to a good clobbering! Lesson learned for now but it never lasts!

Finally on a totally unrelated subject, it is Sew Sisters Quilt Shop's Blogathon Canada time.

It is an opportunity to find new blogs and win prizes. Yesterday we met bloggers from British Columbia and today we are off to the Maritimes. Tomorrow we are off to Alberta which is wild rose country! Good luck and have fun checking out all of the lovely blogs! One blog that I found particularly interesting is Judy Cooper's blog. Check out her fabric boxes. They are something else!

That's it for me for today! Just a reminder that I reply to every comment so you don't hear back from me it means you are a no-reply blogger so I have no way to contact you unless you include your email address! Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

Blocks times three and Jinxie

I continue to piece blocks while I ponder my options for the border fabric in the Gardens of a King quilt pattern. I've only got four more pieced blocks to go before I can sew together the middle of quilt. I'm sew excited to see how it looks when it's stitched together.

The next two Gardens of a King quilt pieced blocks are reading for sharing. I love the effect of the bold striped red fabric that frames the small brown star. I think it is very dramatic!

The blue looks quite bright on my computer screen but it is actually much softer. I had used two different gold fabrics for the star in the middle. I wish I had used golds with a stronger contrast. Oh well, it is what it is and it is staying the way it is!

I also managed to get one Lozagons block stitched! Busy fingers, n'est ce pas? The purple floral print is a very old piece of fabric from the bag of scraps I bought at a church jumble sale and the yellow print and the green print with orange flowers are both older fabrics from my 1930s fabric stash. I quite like this block and think that once it is surrounded with turquoise stars it will sparkle! I'm working on these blocks slowly but the pile of completed blocks is growing! Guess I'll have to start thinking about the next hexagon quilt soon!

This Friday and Saturday there is a quilt show in Toronto, Celebration of Quilts XII hosted by York Heritage Quilters' Guild. It should be a wonderful show. I'm looking forward to this one! Heck I look forward to all quilt shows because they are great places to be inspired and to socialize with friends old and new! If photography is permitted I hope to take some pictures to share with you! If you are in the area why not plan on attending the show? There will be quilts galore and more than twenty vendors in the Merchant's Mall!

I had mentioned that I've switched to a new computer and had some issues with my camera and software but all is sorted and I'm taking pictures like crazy. I thought I would leave you with a picture of baby Jinx! He is a cutie-pie for sure but I just wish he would spend more time sleeping and less time on my sewing table stealing my sewing tools!

Time for me to make a cuppa and get some work done. Until I post again, happy sewing!

Karen H