I was packing an overnight bag the other day and nonchalantly telling hubby what I was bringing in it for Jade.
I showed him one of the receiving blankets I had made and blogged about in recent months. Suddenly, he chimed in with "doesn't she have a smaller blanket that is softer as well?" Huh...didn't think of that hon! As quilters, you know what happened next;) The wheels were 'a turning. Before you know it I was upstairs, in my sewing room Sunday, creating a soft blanket for our girl!
With some "pear" minkee dot and leftover Magenta Cuddle minkee, I pieced the back. The front is a butterfly print in flannel with a ruffle trim sewn on by moi! I used Aurifil in Blossom Pink for the top stitching around the entire blanket.
Little girl will be embraced in the softest blankie ever!!!!
The weather around here has been tagging right along with how I feel these days, health wise. We have had 70's temps all the way down to 50's through the last couple of weeks. Up and down here we go! I have had a cold for the last (almost) 2 weeks and before that I was fine for a couple weeks. BUT there was a cold present before that!
I visited the doctor the other day finally as I was fed up with it all. Diagnosis: cold and sore throat. Well that is good as far as not having strep throat or a sinus infection. I have never had a sinus infection I can proudly say, but strep once or twice in my life so far. Not complaining. Mucinex and Sudafed at night for me and LOTS of water, hot tea and rest,rest,rest! Not much else for this pregnant mama.
In between this horrible raspy cough I got going,I try to block it out with some TLC of sewing!! I finished all of the receiving blankets for now. Maybe I will do a couple more later. We'll see. They are all folded up ready for our little one:):):):)
With the burp cloths, I almost bought some more flannel to back these babies. Then I got wise and remembered that I had some leftover fleece in a bin packed away.
Nothing makes for a more fun time sewing then being able to use some of those prints in my stash that have been sitting around 3-4 years waiting for the perfect project. I got all matchy, matchy here and rolled with it.
The flannel on flannel ones are quite nice too. I matched thread color too for the heck of it. Once again because it was fun and that is why I sew!!
All of the burp cloths are soooo soft and it feels really good to have made them all for pretty much free!
Metro Rings there you are! These were calling me and I was happy to oblige. I am hoping wholeheartedly to get this quilt top moving,moving,moving. The curves are very easy to ease into the white pieces cut out. Guess what? No pins required either! Yeah. That part is pretty darn cool. It's like magic! Then that other stack of Kona white I sew on next with OUT pins.
Part 2: not so easy does it...
I had to square them up with the Quick Curve Ruler and it wasn't working AT ALL. So I decided to go ahead and trim off 1/4" on each side to bring them down to the required 9 1/2" squared. Then you sew two of the halves together to make a square.
You come out with this in the pic-- minus the dotty triangles. Add in the dotty triangles and square that up which is supposed to be achieved with a 10" square ruler. No go....so I improvised with a cut out fabric 10" square with a diagonal line running through it. I lined that up on the center seam of the "football" looking block, put a pin through to the seam on the block to make sure I was hitting the seam and the diagonal line right on. Lastly, I trimmed away to make the whole thing 10" square. Seemed to have worked. I got the test block out of the way and now onto the rest!
On a side note: I emailed Jenny Pedigo which is the designer of the Metro Rings pattern, to see if she could maybe shed some light on squaring these guys up with her ruler she also designed. There was also another fellow quilter/blogger I found that did this pattern earlier this year. I emailed her as well and we have been conversing back and forth about it. She had issues with it too and plans on making another Metro Rings quilt in the beginning of next year. I'm looking forward to seeing her process.
For the time being I am going to continue to sew the white fabric on each of the pieced curves. That will keep me busy for awhile I presume;)
I have some Honey Lemon hot tea calling my name!
Hope everyone is staying healthy and taking care of themselves:)
Once in awhile I like to do some posts on other areas of my life that are very special to me. They are sort of my other passions.
Strawberries are in season and they are the yummiest! Josh loves them. Ayden LOVES them. I adore them from time to time. Specifically,once a day at least. We have a local farm down the road from us about 5 miles and they have a U-Pick kinda thing every year. I went and got my first batch a month ago. Let's just say they weren't the greatest I have had from them. I have resorted to Walmart. Yes I know not as fresh,but what can a strawberry lovin' girl do?! Gotta get that fix from somewhere. We buy strawberries at least every 2 weeks maybe less. 2 qts of them. We eat them several ways 'round here too. Sometimes in smoothies, sometimes with cream cheese,some on waffles or pancakes and some in yogurt. (I am feeling a Green Eggs and Ham moment coming on)
Recently,a friend of mine let me know that she had been to one of our local grocery stores and purchased rhubarb. Now this girl, ME has not had rhubarb in YRS and YRS. I missed it in the worst way. So as soon as the hubby got home I was off! Little costly at $4 a lb,but TOTALLY worth every penny in my eyes.
In comes this recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars. I cut down the sugar by half and the butter by at least a 1/3. Try it if you like fruit bars and you will not regret it!
I froze some too in apple juice using this reference. Don't you love the name rhubarb? It could make a really good quilt name hey?? I digress.
This next food that I am going to submit you to is not a favorite of the boys in my house. I,on the other hand will eat it just about every day. They are good for you too ya know?!
Avocado in sandwiches, in smoothies(yes siree!), in salads and on top of Mexican food. Yum,yum,yum!!! I eat half of a whole one a day.
I put the other half in an empty container like this one. It must be a white one. You can add a piece of onion too,but I usually don't. This will keep your avocado fresh for the next day or the next. You will have a slight brown discoloration,but I will skim that off the top with a knife. Avocados are a staple in my diet!
Now this next favorite of mine is a given if you read my blog,but I have some more to show off so here we are!
Some purple lilies from Ayden's garden in our back yard.
Today I decided I was going to cut some hydrangeas from my bush out front. The hubby wanted me to leave them alone. I won! lol They are sooo pretty that I had to bring some of their prettiness indoors.
I watched this video for some guidance. Listen for this lady's great accent!
While on the subject of our back yard.....
Meet our mama killdeer that has taken up residence in our yard and will probably be there for 24-48 days until her babies come out of their temporary home. I discovered her by accident when Ayden and I were playing tag one day. I almost walked right into her! Then I got an earful! I read that they will actually sound out K-I-L-L-D-E-E-R in their squawks. To protect their babies,they will fake a "broken: wing too which I have seen a few times to date.
I have been told that the babies are really cute and comical! We are anticipating some upcoming good times:) No I cannot tell you how I got this pic *whistling and putting my head down in an attempt to hide*
Besides snapping pics of eggs, I ordered some more flannel for the other top that hopefully will come by Wed.
For the quilting,I finished those inner squares and then did straight lines with the walking foot in both directions in the sashing. This is one soft quilt!! Maybe I will use this idea in a future quilt and use it as backing.
Pluses:
~makes it SO soft
~at the starting position , no need to pull the threads up to the top as they will be covered by the other quilt top in the end--get me?
~the soft flannel makes it a smooth,easy ride while quilting
~if you match the thread to the flannel,it's all good!! no boo boos showing;)
~ also,no matching the two quilt tops so all those blocks are in the same position on both sides which is the real reason why I did this in the first place
Today, I printed off the templates for the Lucky Stars June BOM,picked out my fabrics to include a Kona solid and new pink print. All of the templates have been cut out while watching and LOL during this movie . Melissa McCarthy is a RIOT!!!!!!
I would really like to show off the quilt for my niece. Yes I would love to tell you all about it. It is traveling to WI as we speak. Hoping, oh so hoping it will arrive tomorrow at my brother's house. I wish I could be there to see his girlfriend's face when she opens the box! Being in another state is no picnic sometimes. At least 1/2 of the time it's the pits.
Before the magic. I had to hand baste stitches throughout the whole back. Never hand basted in my life. I told my friend,Pam (the one who came up with the pattern) hand basting is for the birds! Honest. Once that is outta the way, you stitch in your lines by machine 5/8" apart. With chenille scissors in hand, I then cut in between all the stitched lines.
Added my favorite new binding print, gingham and popped it in the washing machine and then the dryer.
I WANT a second one. Thanks Pam!!!!
4 layers of flannel. I wanted the bottom layer to stand out on its own. Blue was the perfect color for that with the pinks as the top layers.
You saw the patchwork backing here on my design wall. Tons of pink lovin' and I like it! For once, I actually had to make a baby girl quilt and I went crazy with it! She is my niece!!
I had a little squabble with the flannel being too short and having to make a second trip to Joann Fabrics. I don't know what happened there,but thinking it had something to do with the width of the flannel JF carries. Other than that, a little time consuming here and there,but in all totally worth it! I have been wanting and wanting to make this chenille blanket for a long time. Every time I saw it on Pam's blog I thought about how much I wanted to make it in fact!
soooooo soft to the touch and luxurious! It looks like a million bucks. ShHHHH don't tell anyone it isn't......they will never know.
Can't wait to see baby girl, N on it soon!!
Hope ya'll are able to sew something you love today;)
