Birthday Celebration for Stephanie

We just returned from a fabulous birthday celebration for our friend, Stephanie.  Stephanie's family and friends all got together at Oriole Park to wish Stephanie a very happy birthday.  130 people who love and support Stephanie and her family were gathered together and we had an awesome time.

My daughter suggested I make a quilt for all those friends to sign for Steph to remember her special day.

So I gathered up her favorite colors and made her a quilt.  I think it ended up about 36" square.  

I laid out the squares late at night and tried to decide which layout I like best.  My husband voted for the one with the white in the middle so that is what I went with (even though I was thinking the other way the whole time I was sewing).

I backed it with Kona white and quilted it with a swirly flower motif.  

I used leftovers from the front for the binding and finished sewing it about an hour before we left for the party! (Not that I am motivated by deadlines.  At all.)

We had a beautiful day!

I'm linking up to:

St. Patrick's Day Dress

My husband told my granddaughter that she needed a green dress for St. Patrick's Day.  He told her I would make her one.  Then he started picking out fabrics.  So funny!  I went upstairs and found a shamrock print (with ladybugs?  why?) and quickly made a guess at the size.  I sewed it together pretty quickly but it was a little large.  So today, I took it in and made it shorter.  I added the sash, put binding around the neck and armholes, and hemmed it.  Today's sewing was way longer!  

 Here it is on Saydee.  She is never still, so it is blurry.  Her mom was trying to bribe her.  She was so excited about the dress, she danced all over the living room.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Carylynne and Cody's Wedding Quilt

My friend's daughter is getting married in May.  She is a beautiful young woman.  I met her when she was four.  She came to Kindergarten orientation with her parents and so much enthusiasm, she gave me a big hug.  I remembered her because she has the same name (spelled differently) as one of my daughters.  I did not end up teaching her that year but I had her for social studies in first grade.  Her mom began teaching at our school a year or two later.  We meet every Thursday morning for bagels before school.

The shower was today and I gave Carylynne the little quilt I made her.

Here is a little of the process.

I checked her registry and saw she had asked for yellow plates.  I thought I could make a wall quilt to go in her kitchen.  I love yellow and gray so that is what I pulled.

I decided to make another tube quilt.  They are fun and look more involved than they are.  I picked four gray and four yellow fabrics and cut 2 1/2 inch strips the width of the fabric. 

I sewed each gray to a yellow.  Then I sewed the pairs together to make four fabrics.  Then I closed up the tube by sewing the last seam.  

I ironed the sets flat and used spray starch to help stabilize them then used my 9 inch square ruler to cut triangles from the sets.  Starting on one end, I lined up the point of the square with the top seam and used the 6 inch mark on the sides of the square ruler.  I cut out the triangle, flipped over the ruler and cut again.  I made all 16 squares this way. 

I ironed them again (lots of bias edges) and laid them flat on my lovely design floor.

They made a nice chevron but I tried the square in a square design.  

First with the gray in the middle square.

Then with the yellow in the middle.
I took pictures of both and I liked the second one best, so I sewed the squares together.  I added a white border.  The top ended up about 27 inches square.

 I backed it with more gray.  I quilted it with a curvy stipple and put feathers all the way around the white border.  I used one of the original gray fabrics for the binding (Michael Miller Dumb Dot in Gray).  I love polka dots!

 Done!

I find that I feel like I am practicing all the time when I quilt.  Each time it feels a little easier.  Even if I feel less than perfect, the people I give my quilts to have no idea.  

And when I got to the shower, I found out that yellow and gray are Carylynne's wedding colors!  Tada!

Linking up to:

Darlene's Retirement Quilt

In my other life, I am a Kindergarten teacher at a really nice elementary school.  It is a great school with a wonderful group of teachers.  Part of the reason it is such a nice school to teach at is our principal, Darlene.  She has been at our school for fourteen years and this month, she is retiring to the beach in Florida.  We are all sad to see her go.

My friend, Lesli, came to me and asked if I would help make a quilt for Darlene.

Of course I said yes.  

Lesli came over a few times and together we got it made.  The staff all signed the back.  We had to chase some of them down but most of the teachers signed it.  I added a few fish and a few crabs to spice it up a bit.   The words were from a book (She) and we printed them onto iron on printer paper (which I do not recommend!  It is not easy to work with and it cannot be ironed.  Not fun.). 

I quilted it with some waves and Lesli put the scrappy binding on.  We gave it to her at her retirement party Thursday night (which was fun!).  Darlene said she has a place in mind at her new beach house.

I used the two beige critters for our quilt label.

Best of luck to you in Florida!!!


Linking up to:

Flip and sew table runner

I took a workshop with Jacquie  Gering (Tallgrass Prairie Studio) through my guild, the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild.  Jacquie had a great trunk show and we were all in awe!  She has only been quilting for about five years but she has quite a wonderful body of work.  The quilts are fresh and colorful and a little edgy. 

 Jacquie was wonderful to work with.  The workshop was a lot of fun-everyone did different projects under her direction and a good time was had by all.  

I made mine in all black and whites with pops of red.  My daughter had requested a new table runner and this was my chance to get something done!  I got most of the squares pieced, laid out, and sewn into rows.  I finished setting the top and began quilting it at another guild sewing day. 

I quilted it with black thread in a loopy meander.  It is a little bit hard to see when you match the thread to the quilt so closely.  I guess that way no one can see my mistakes.   I got the binding on the day after Christmas.  I had some squares left over so I made her some matching coasters.

back- text fabric from Joann's with a few leftover squares pieced in.

Coasters!

I'm linking up to:

A Toasty Quilt

 I made a Christmas present for my wonderful mother-in-law, Ann.  She was without power for a few weeks last year during and after Hurricane Sandy.  I keep picturing her freezing in her own home and I knew I needed to make her a quilt!  So here it is.

I really enjoyed quilting this.  I went around with each layer of color and tried different stitches. Some swirls, some straight stitching, I even did some feathers!

The back is a rainbow with more gray.  I am still not done with the gray, I'm afraid.  It is my favorite neutral.  I just keep collecting more, too.  It's an illness.

So now Ann has her quilt to keep her warm and cozy, just in case another hurricane hits New Jersey!

Quilts of 2013

I really am amazed I was able to get anything done this year!  It was a strange year for me.  Just after New Year's, I made the neighborhood quilt from the BMQ guild row robin. I was diagnosed for a spinal tumor in January and had surgery to remove it in February.  I made it back to the sewing room in March (a little) and was back at work after Easter.  I managed to make a wedding quilt, a volunteer gift quilt,and two baby quilts in May and June.  I started a quilt for my granddaughter Saydee and my newest grandchild, her sister Aleena.  I ended up making three quilts for Aleena before I got Saydee's quilt finished.

I spent some of my free time last summer helping my daughter make and quilt a queen sized quilt for her bed.  I finished a quilt for my mother in law to keep her toasty and warm (last year she was without power for a few weeks after Hurricane Sandy).  I attended two great workshops with Malka Dubrowski and Jacquie Gering.  I made a quilt for my older daughter to use with some matching coasters (ha!).

After the baby came, I spent a lot of time babysitting for Saydee so that my daughter and son-in-law could visit the baby at the hospital (she is supposed to come home tomorrow-New Year's Eve!!).

Which brings us full circle after a full year.  May all your New Year's dreams come true!


I added myself to PlayCraft's Year in Review.  Click over to see what everyone accomplished last year.