OPNP Update and Batik Baby Quilt Finished!

Last night, I sewed for a while to relax. I pieced a few more blocks for my NPOP (Nine-Patch One Patch), using up scraps from the plethora of fabric from my sister. So far, so good...

I also finished the quilting on this batik baby quilt. I meandered in the cream with cream thread, then did a three-loop free form shape in each of the triangles, with a larger one in each corner.

Here is a close-up of the corner. This was washed and dried this morning, ready to be delivered in a little while.

Have a blessed day. My own heart is heavy on behalf of my son, who is having a lot of emotional turmoil right now. I pray he rests in the Lord.

~Joan

Two Baby Quilt Tops

This is my Twin Sister block quilt. I finished the top this AM with a navy plaid border. I didn't want to cut any more strips off the bolt, so I added the red and blue plaid corners and a small piece in each side border. This will go to a yet-as-unborn baby boy at my church.

I also finished the second batik baby quilt top. I am saving this one for a baby girl. I thought I could give it to a boy, but it still reads "girly" to me, in spite of the green camouflage triangles and border.

Remember all my batik pinwheels that were left over? I decided to make something for myself. Since there are not nearly enough for a quilt of any size except baby size, I think I'll make a tote bag.

~Joan

Pictures Forthcoming

Just an update on our all-night sew. There were only two other ladies sewing besides the shop owner, Ann, Susie, and me. We got there at the same time as the Domino's Pizza delivery man...good timing!!

The evening had its ups and downs. We learned what to bring or leave home next time (for example, I should have brought ALL the pieces for my quilt...grrr...). A caffeinated diet beverage would have added to my evening. All in all it was great.

Susie completely pieced a twin-bed sized charm Thimbleberries quilt top except for the outer two borders. It was a pattern she could sew w/o ever having to press, so she had the pedal to the metal and sewed, sewed, sewed. She was fun and we had a great time together, especially the trip home, the contents thereof which are sworn to secrecy.

I nearly completed my fall quilt top. I have saved the pattern for...TWELVE years. Susie was 3 when I saw it and filed it. I will be spending some time in OH this summer and will be glad to have some hand-quilting projects to work on.

After I finished all I could on that quilt, I sewed nearly all the subunits for batik baby quilt #2, including more HSTs for pinwheels.

My only purchase of the evening was binding for a surprise quilt for someone. Pictures of that after delivery...in a couple of months.

We nearly went to the end of the evening. We stopped sewing and packed up about 11:30. The other ladies left way earlier than that. We didn't want to wear out our welcome.

As a side note, I've been going to the YMCA and doing deep water aerobics. There was no class when I was there today. Two men were doing freestyle laps for the whole 45 minutes I was there. As in Energizer Bunny men. They never even stopped for a breather, to look around, to stand up. I think they might have been Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps. I couldn't say, because I only saw the back 1/10 of them...ever.

~Mermaid Joan

Maddie's Baby Quilt - Finished!

Here is Maddie's baby quilt...bound and washed! I love the way it turned out. I have enough batik strips to make a second one. I will start that soon. It will be for a boy, so I got a camo-colored green for the triangles and border.

Here it is lying on the floor. I originally put on the light purple outer border. I thought it was too light. I got some dark purple batik and decided to just use both!

When I quilted the border, I drew a wavy line on all four sides and wanted to quilt a feather on both sides of the line. I was disappointed then elated...it looks like stacked hearts! I'll just pretend like that was my intention all along. This is a good free-motion quilt design for any child's quilt.

I am nearly finished with my Grass is Greener quilt, too. Next up will be pics of my finished spool quilt center.

~Joan

A Halo to Go with My Crown

Here is a pic from this AM. I was machine quilting away on the belated welcome-Madelynn batik quilt when I remembered my lone puchase from the quilt show last weekend...a quilt halo. The one I test-drove at the show was on a machine that had a Teflon sheet adhered to the table under it...made it fly. I'm going to see if I can get one for my machine.

Here is a close-up...as with anything new, there is a learning curve. But I think it went swimmingly for the first time.

Very busy day...having 10-12 college students here for supper (baking a pumpkin sheet cake and Chocolate Bavarian Torte for that as well as multitudinous other details). Need to get back to the kitchen!

~Joan

Wedding Bells Are Ringing

Well, not for us. We went to a wedding of a dear young lady from our church yesterday. It was such a blessing to see her united in marriage with a wonderful young man. They are both around 30 years old. I am excited for the beginning of their life together. The above picure is of my husband and me. I usually hate pics of me, but this one is decent.

There was more excitement than just the wedding yesterday. Two other exciting happenings. Susanna and I went to a quilt show over an hour away. Just as we were leaving the parking lot, my son was seen running across the parking lot towards us. I had Susanna stop the car because I knew something serious had happened. My friend, Molly, was having a little medical emergency. She is due in 5 weeks (I am making the batik quilt for her...better hurry, huh?). I'll just say some maternity issues were at hand. My hubby and kids took her 4- and 2-year-olds home, and she went straight to the hospital. Her baby, Madelynn Grace, was born at 10:30 last night. Five weeks early, but 6 pounds 9 ounces. She is in NICU for a couple days until her breathing and suck are strong enough for her to go home. Mom is doing well.

Susanna and I still went to the quilt show. I got to test drive a Handi Quilter. Ahhh...perfection. I might be getting one, but that remains to be seen. Susanna took lots of pictures (her camera was dead), and I'll be sharing some of those with you soon.

~Joan

Schmall Shavings

Here is all I have as "waste" from the batik fabrics I have purchased to make the 3 batik baby quilts. I didn't want to start another fabric type collection. Doesn't look like that will be a problem. One creative daughter suggested I could somehow bind these shavings together and make a pompom for the quilt center?? Nope. Not gonna happen.




Here is the layout I'm going to use for the small pinwheels. That way I can use up all the pinwheels for one appropriately-sized baby quilt.

I will need to buy the fabric for the setting squares/triangles. I am thinking a boy color...maybe green or blue. Aren't they cute??

Up next...my latest spools.

~Joan

Baby Quilt Half Pieced

Here is the layout of the batik baby blocks. They don't seem to have as much red as they did when I was at the fabric store!! But once I get the outer border on, it will look better...I hope.



Here I have about half sewn together. I usually have much smaller units. There is not much size lost after the units are sewn together on this one, so it will be fairly large (for a baby quilt). The top left corner is sewn together and the bottom right is not. Not much difference in size, is there?

The unsewn pieces on the right have little papers with the row numbers. I love setting quilt blocks on point, but it does make sewing the rows together a little more complicated. Having the rows numbered help me keep things in order.

I am taking a break from working on this...not feeling 100% today.

~Joan

Baby Quilt Progress

Here is what I meant in the last post by double sewing the diagonal seams. When the block units are sewn, usually one would cut 1/4" away from the seam and throw away the extra (yikes!). I simply sew another seam before cutting so that I have an extra (very small) half square triangle set. I am trimming them down to 1-3/4" square after ironing, and they will make some very cute little pinwheels. I think I'm going to make a third baby quilt from all the pinwheels. No sense throwing them away, right?

I use my presser foot as a guide, sewing a scant amount away from the left edge of the foot. No, this is not the standard 1/4" seam allowance, but it is sufficient.
Here I am showing the measurement of the seam before cutting. You can see that ideally it would be 1/2", yielding a 1/4" seam on both sides. This slightly smaller measurement has never been a problem in the past. I just might get one of these out of all my small meant-to-be-discards.

Here is my small pile of double sewn units ready to be cut and ironed.

Last, but not least, is the progress on this top so far. My children were doing part of their yearly achievement tests this morning, so I sewed while they were racking their brains for the correct answers. I know they are going to do just swimmingly like every other year!

You can see the red setting triangles in the picture here. They bring out the red in the fabrics. There are ten different batik fabrics in the blocks. This is about half of the quilt. The outer border will be PURPLE!!

~Joan

Beautiful Batiks

I have had one more quilter ask me to trade a set of 25 blocks for my spool quilt. We both sewed them yesterday, and in about two weeks, we will get to see each other's work. My new b-friend lives in New Zealand. So eager to see Leeanne's work!! Her blog is "quilt me kiwi".

In the meantime, I have been wanting to sew a small quilt with batik fabrics for some time. I was curious how they would sew up. I wanted a variety for a baby quilt and found a jelly roll on eBay for a very low price. Yesterday I went to Mary Jo's and got the background fabric (which is a light tan batik...hardly stands out from my design wall fabric). The setting triangles are going to be a mostly-solid-looking red batik. The little pinwheel in the bottom right corner is made from double sewing the diagonal seam when putting the units together. I think I'll incorporate those into the back of the quilt. Aren't they cute? The little pinwheel measures 3" square. The two-piece units from the larger pattern (called "Kitchen Sink") measure 4-1/2 " square.

Now I'm sending this pic to my friend to see if she's up for this type of fabric or if she wants something more traditional. I make all my friends I Spy quilts when they have babies, but she got one two years ago. Time for something new.

~Joan