A new grandson!

This morning at 4:11 a.m. a new grandson was born in our family :-).  His name is Jack William and he weighed in at 10 lbs. 4 oz!  That makes 13 grandchildren - 6 boys and 7 girls.  Fortunately the giraffe building was finished on time and all I had to do was fill in the label.  Love this pattern from Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts. 

Aren't these the cutest little giraffe's?

The backing that inspired the colours for the giraffes

Building giraffes......

Working on a baby quilt for grandbaby #13 due in February.  This is Lorna McMahon from Sew Fresh's, Giraffe quilt....lots of fun!

parts department

Lava Lamp scrap quilt

In October, I finished another quilt that was in the works for a number of years.  This quit was cut from scraps from my Diamond Quilt and Indian Orange Peel.  I got the tiny little EZ quilting ruler called Fat Cats from a quilt shop a few years ago (no affiliation...just so you can see what it looks like :-).  These little rulers are designed to use with 2 1/2" strips.  I cut lots of scraps up and divided them into cool colours and warm colours and sewed them together alternately as leaders/enders.  This produced an effect which remind me of those lava lamps which were the rage in the 1970's.  So, I'm calling this one my Lava Lamp quilt. (Click on the photos to enlarge.)

The finished quilt....sorry for the quality of this photo...the border is green (see next photo for better colours).

I just quilted straight lines in the ditch and halfway through each row

liking the lines across...I debated quilting in between each row, but decided to declare it finished :-)

Once all the rows were sewn, I arranged them on the wall and tried to work it out so no same fabrics touched

A very old UFO Finished - Hearts and Hands block exchange

I just put the last stitches on the label of a very old UFO!  In 2003 (yes, you read that correctly!!), we did a block exchange with our Hearts and Hands small quilting group.  We all got a piece of the sewing themed blue fabric featured in the quilt.  We made 12 blocks and then exchanged one with each participant.  We all signed a 4" signature block with the name of the block and our name.  We were one block short so someone drew out a heart and hands block with a needle in it.  I had half the block embroidered and of course couldn't find the exact colour of yellow to finish it!  Hence the quilting right through the center block LOL...covers it up :-). 

Recently the discussion about those blocks came up at one of our meetings and I confessed that I hadn't put them together yet. When I got home, I got them out, put them up on the wall and made myself finish it before it could go back in the drawer! Interesting how my tastes have totally changed since then!!   I just did a small lap quilt with a simple sashing and cornerstones of the blue fabric.  I had enough fabric to use that for the back as well.  My friend, Chris, just got a long arm this summer and has been diligently practising.  She quilted it for me with a heart motif which is perfect.  

I can't believe it's actually finished!  Sorry for the colours on the photos...lots of sun today which is a good thing when it's -19C outside!  The very bottom photo shows the colours accurately.

Edit (March 2021):  A year ago one of the seniors in our Church lost her husband and I asked her if she'd like this quilt.  She loved it and is enjoying it very much :-).

the finished quilt

We were one block short to make a 3 by 4 block layout so someone drew up a hearts and hand block and I embroidered it

lovely heart quilting by my friend Chris who got a long arm machine this summer

I put the signature labels around the center block

this is what the colours really look like :-)

Jolly Little Christmas

In January 2017, Lorna, of Sew Fresh quilts started up a sew along featuring Christmas blocks. Every two weeks a block was released. I have posted several times about my progress on sewing these blocks and I got a little carried away :-).  In early December, I got caught up on the blocks and then put some up on the design wall to make myself a lap quilt for Christmas.  I ended up sewing a few more blocks to make the colours work.  The Sinterklaas I had made earlier, was too dark for these blocks and I also had to make another ornament block so I could put them all along the top.  It just didn't look right putting another block in the middle.  Here is a photo of the lap quilt.  It is not quilted yet, but I hope to pin baste it very soon and get it quilted so it's ready for next year's Christmas.

lap quilt for myself

I had lots of blocks left!  I had made two more Sinterklaas blocks but one was too busy.  So, with these two squares I made pillows for two of my kids that still do the Dutch tradition with their kids :-).  

Ben's Sinterklaas pillow

Amanda's Sinterklaas pillow

 I then laid out 16 more blocks on the wall and got another lap quilt out of it for my daughter in law, Becky:

I made two more blocks, Santa and Sinterklaas to reflect Eric's Dutch heritage and Becky's Canadian heritage :-).

Here are a few close ups of the quilt.  I quilted it with wavy lines as Lorna quilts the vast majority of her quilts...quick, effective and doesn't take away from the lovely blocks.

The back of Becky's quilt

I still had a lot of blocks left so I made some pillows.  The first two pillows were for Becky and Eric:

I used two stocking blocks and added a couple of white strips around to make them large enough to fit the 16" x 26" pillow forms from IKEA.

Mittens

I finally found a great use for the Charlie Brown Christmas fabric I bought a few years ago. It was perfect for the back of Becky and Eric's pillows :-)

I then made two pillows for myself to change around the fall covers for my livingroom pillows.

my pillows

back of my pillows

I still have four poinsettia blocks left to make a table runner, but I ran out of time...they will be for next Christmas :-).  This was such an enjoyable quilt along. Thanks so much Lorna for a very fun year preparing for Christmas!

I'm going to attempt to link up at Sew Fresh Quilts'  Let's Be Social :-).  

Aiden's JK quilt

This summer, I had another grandchild over for an afternoon to choose I spy squares for his JK quilt.  Aiden started JK in September.  He had a lot of fun putting the squares up on the wall and he knew exactly which backing and sashing colour to go with it...this kid has an eye for colour and confidence to go with it :-).  A fun afternoon.

Getting the blocks up on the design wall

Filling in the gaps once we got the colours organized

The finished quilt

I tried out my new Westalee ruler foot and straight edged ruler for quilting the random boxes - worked slick!

Aiden's awesome choice of backing.

John and Allison's wedding quilt

We had two weddings on the same weekend in September.  John and Allison were married on a Friday night and I also missed the shower for her wedding which was held in August.  So, I made a pillow to match the wedding quilt for her and gifted it with the quilt.   I found some quilt blocks in a drawer which I had started a few years ago and never had occasion to finish.  So another UFO was completed :-).  It's so long ago I started this quilt I have no idea where I found the pattern....I think in a magazine.  So I cannot credit the pattern.  But, I used this tutorial once again for putting the zipper into the back of the pillow.

Back of pillow

Front of pillow quilted with wavy lines and stuffed with the 16" x 26" IKEA pillow form.

Finished quilt

I quilted it all over with a King Tut variegated thread and large funky flowers.