More Baby Quilts

I need to stop & write more frequently. I begin and end a project and need to document it but, I don’t take the time.

Just last week I began another baby quilt for my best friend’s first grandchild. And I’m thinking about what to make for a niece that’s expecting later this year. So, I need to document my latest finishes.

My granddaughter Brinlee’s baby quilt.

I documented in December the piecing of tops and quilt backs for three Dresden Plate baby quilts at a quilt retreat. Two of the three are complete including a quilt label documenting the baby’s birth. I only need to bind & label the third quilt by the great-niece’s first birthday in April.

Meanwhile, I am in haste to finish a baby quilt by March and have set daily goals to accomplish the project. So far I have stitched, cut, pressed, and trimmed 165 HST.

Kissing Fish baby quilt pattern by Lee Heinrich of freshly pieced.

This weekend I pieced the 4-patch blocks. Most of the blocks are pressed and ready to be stitched into larger blocks.

Rainbow colored 4-patch blocks.

My mind is set on finishing this quilt in time for the upcoming baby shower. With this mindset, I’m sure to accomplish my goal.

Enjoy!

Quilt Retreat Accomplishments

Creative Passions Retreat Center in Chesaning, Michigan offers crafters solace from the everyday and adequate space to work on their craft. They cater to crop and quilt retreaters. I traveled to Chesaning for a solo retreat in early December, but spent the days with a group of four quilters from Toledo, Ohio. Another group of crop crafters, that’s craft speak for scrapbookers, worked in an adjoining room and I quickly made friendships with many of them, especially since four were from my hometown.

My mission for this retreat was to finish two baby quilts, including preparing their backing. I am pleased to say I not only met this goal, but also added borders to another WIP I worked on at last year’s retreat.

Wall display above my pressing station at Creative Passions Retreat Center.

I prepared my Dresden Plate baby quilt blocks in advance and began sewing them to the background squares with a blanket stitch. I stitched all the blocks together, then set to work stitching the blocks into rows. Then, I stitched the blocks into two, 9X9 block quilt tops. Since I finished making one of these quilts recently, the process moved along quickly.

I finished the earlier baby quilt and sent it off to the long-armer the previous week-end. My quilter left a message the quilt was finished while on the retreat. I was determined to finish these two additional baby quilts and was able to finish them by the second day.

Dresden Zoo number 1 with green centers.

Dresden Zoo quilt number 2 with yellow centers.

As you can see, I used all my scraps to piece borders. I also used the remaining fat quarters, and the remaining background, border, and backing fabrics from the first quilt to design and stitch two backings for these baby quilts.

Backing for quilt number 2 with the yellow centers.

Backing for quilt number 1 with green centers.

Between making the quilt tops and quilt backs, I added borders to another quilt top I started piecing at a Creative Passions retreat last December. I’ll save the story behind this quilt for another time.

My long-armer was able to quilt the additional two baby quilts before Christmas. I am currently adding binding to all three baby quilts. I am also cutting up the trimmed scraps into Scraptherapy size pieces to use in a future project.

The best part of this year’s retreat was meeting a group of crafting ladies from my local community. I am excited to join them next December for their group’s annual retreat. Quilters, scrapbookers, and other crafters are so welcoming and encouraging.

Enjoy!

Sewing with my Sisters

Sewing in community is an important part of quilting history. Family and friends gathered together at quilting parties to finish a quilt. Today, quilt guilds, quilt shows, retreats, and other organized events create opportunities for community.

I prefer getting together with my sisters, so today we gathered at my local church and stitched on quilts while catching up on each other’s lives. We don’t do this often enough. Interestingly, we each chose a baby quilt project to bring to the sewing day.

My older sister worked on several quilt tops made using pieces left from other projects. She already pieced the blocks and spent the day stitching the blocks together.

Yellow Brick Road pattern

Pattern made with 2-1/2 inch strips

All four quilt tops

My younger sister had two flannel baby quilts ready for machine quilting. Free-motion quilting is her favorite part of the quilting process. She used lots of flannel scraps cut and stitched into basic blocks. After pin-basting the layers together, she began stippling one of the quilts. My sister has always been creative, drawing as a young girl. She sees machine quilting like drawing with a needle and thread. Her dream, a long-arm.

Flannel baby quilt

Stipple quilting

She will donate these quilts to a program through her church which provides quilts to young mother’s in need.

Dresden plate block layout

I continued working on the Dresden plate pattern for my granddaughter’s baby quilt. I centered the plates on the background squares and basted the centers down first. I am appliquéing the wedges using a buttonhole stitch.

Plate close-up

I had to impose my own artistic expression into the blocks. That’s another way of saying I had some challenges. The plates extended to the edges of the background squares I had pre-cut. I chose to alternate the direction of the plate on the background square before appliquéing. Tips of some wedges were stitched down after sewing the blocks together.

Center layout

Next is to fuse the center animals and buttonhole stitch the circles. Today was a good day sewing with my sisters. Enjoy!

Dresden Plate Baby Quilt

Another granddaughter arrived last April, giving me reason to make a baby quilt. I selected fabric and a pattern months earlier. I turned to Scrap Quilts magazine, Summer 2012. My sisters and I created tangerine zoo designed by Brandi Frey one other time to commemorate the birth of a great-niece. See previous quilt here.

I selected the fabrics for my granddaughter’s baby quilt on a retreat shopping trip. ABC XYZ by Moda with animals to fussy-cut for the plate centers was perfect. I purchased the entire fat quarter bundle along with enough coordinating fabric for background blocks and borders. I added Bella Solids in blue, green, and yellow to match.

ABC XYZ fat quarter bundle by Moda Fabrics

I began by tracing a circle template onto the backing of fusible interfacing. These pieces were placed over the animals on the front of the fabric, stitched on the traced line, and cut out with a seam allowance. Notches around the circle’s edge and slits in the interfacing allowed the circles to be easily turned right side out. The circles will fuse to the block center.

Fussy-cut animals for center of Dresden plate

I cut the wedges using freezer paper templates, a ruler, and rotary cutter. Following the instructions, the wedges are stitched across the top and turned right side out to create a point. Ten wedges sewn together form the plate with a finished top edge ready for stitching to the background with a blanket stitch.

Dresden plate wedges

Wedge layout

This weekend, I finally had time to stitch the wedges together. I’ve stitched together 22 plates and have 5 to finish. Yes, that sounds like a lot of blocks for a baby quilt. I am actually making three. I have a great-nephew and a great-niece born in the last year. They each will receive a baby quilt at Christmas. Rather than making three different quilts, I decided to make all of them the same with different colored centers – green, blue, or yellow.

Wedges waiting to be pressed

Block with plate center

I just need to make time to appliqué the Dresden’s to the background squares. As noted earlier, I plan to use a blanket stitch. Still plenty of time to complete the baby quilts before Christmas.

Happy Stitching!

Redwork Quilt Blocks

I started blocks for a Redwork quilt many, many years ago. I am embarrassed to say how long. Of course, we all have unfinished projects, and this is definitely one of mine. The pattern is children on the beach titled at the seashore by Marytime design.

I chose a variety of white-on-white fabrics for the backgrounds and traced all of the patterns. I began the embroidery and somewhere along the way I got interested in something else and the blocks were put away into a box. I pulled that box out in early Spring and finished a block I had started. Then moved on to another block. I decided to work on finishing the blocks over the summer.

Boy building a sand castle.

I’ve been busy with a variety of other projects, so these blocks are only being embroidered while attending my granddaughter’s softball games and while we are camping. I finished a block in April and another block in May.

Boy on the beach with a starfish.

I moved on to another block in June. I like having something with me to hand stitch while traveling. These blocks have been perfect for day long softball tournaments or sitting by the campfire enjoying the outdoors.

Girl shoveling sand into a pail.

I started a block in July, but only just finished it this weekend while camping. I like using DMC #498 for my Redwork. It is the best for an original turkey red option. I use Sew Fine thread gloss to wax my thread and keep it from tangling. Love it! And my Karen Kay Buckley serrated blade scissors are always in my stitching bag.

Two girls with seashells.

Time to start on another block. Just five more blocks to embroider. Camping season is over, so I’ll have to work on these blocks while attending softball tournaments or soccer games. The season is well underway.

Happy Stitching…

Ziggity Zaggity Baby Quilt

I started another baby quilt. I love when new babies are born because it gives me a chance to make another baby quilt. One of my nieces, I have several, had a baby in July. I plan to gift a baby quilt at Christmas. I’m using a pattern from a 2008 baby Quilts magazine by Fons & Porter. The pattern is Ziggity Zaggity by Sharon Smith. I previously made this quilt.

This quilt pattern is fairly simple to make. It consists of 60 degree parallelograms stitched into strips. Half the parallelograms are reversed to make the zigzag design when stitched into side-by-side rows. I went searching for a cute kid’s design in a jellyroll pack and found Animal Crackers by Moda.

Jellyroll pack of Animal Crackers fabric by Moda.

I used my new Quilter’s Select mat and rulers to cut the strips into the 60-degree parallelograms. These rulers are wonderful, gripping the fabric so it doesn’t move. If the ruler slides, the fabric slides along with the ruler. I’m loving using this new ruler and mat set.

The nice thing about cutting the shapes for this pattern is getting one parallelogram and one reversed parallelogram when cutting the folded strip. With all the parallelograms cut, I am ready to begin stitching the rows together.

Sets of parallelogram ready for sewing

This pattern is a scrappy quilt. I love scrappy quilts. I purchased 3-yards of the green on white print with all the animals (top fabric in the jellyroll pack) to use for the backing. I plan to use the leftover 2-1/2 inch strips from the jellyroll pack to piece the binding strips. Progress reports to follow.

Happy Stitching…

Quilting or Blogging

Quilting is a passion of mine.  I like to share what I do with others.  But I have found blogging to be time consuming and takes away from the time I get to make quilts.  So, you will see only a few posts when I have more time in my life to visit this site and input another quilt story.

Today’s story will be short and contain few pictures.  Sorry!  Many of my quilts are for gifts.  And, in the process of finishing a gift, I often forget to take a picture before wrapping it up.  I recently made another Charm Squares Baby Quilt as a gift to my niece’s son born in October.  I also made a flannel baby blanket with that bumpy, plush fabric on the back as a gift for my nephew’s son born in November.  Now, my attention is on making a baby quilt for my soon-to-be-born grandson.  I know, I had a grandson born in July with my previous post about that quilt finish.  Now you can see why I don’t have time to blog about my quilts.

I have a great pattern picked out for this grandson’s quilt.  It has rows of elephants, which is the theme of the baby’s room.  Check out the pattern here.  I have fabrics selected with an emphasis on grays and teals.

Focus print for border on left; row sashing & charm bundles from Moda.

Fabrics for Elephant Walk quilt.

I cannot wait to get started on this quilt, but I have another Christmas project to finish first.  I am making bedroom curtains for my two granddaughters.  Mom made a special request to have them as Christmas gifts.  So, I must end this post and get to work on these curtains.  I have an entire week free of regular work to sew on them.  How great is that!

Happy Quilting!

Picture Play Baby Quilt

I’ve completed another baby quilt.  This one is for my soon-to-be-born grandson.  Big Sister, my 7-year-old granddaughter, assisted with picking out the pattern and fabrics.  The design is adapted from the pattern Tiny Treasures in Picture Play Quilts by Ami Simms.  Her pattern used 2-inch patches, but I had lots of 3-1/2 inch patches that I’ve saved using the Scraptherapy method, by Joan Ford of Hummingbird Highway.  I also completed a different border treatment than the pattern by Ami.

I found a great bargain on a dotted fabric and used it to make borders and backing.  The colors are perfect for a baby boy quilt: brown, yellow, blue & green.  And, it fit well with the patches in the quilt.  I love all the little designs fussy-cut from my collection of children’s prints.  I’ve been collecting these since my first grandson was born four years ago, but haven’t used any of them until now.  Isn’t that how it goes. We collect fabrics with good intentions to make something, but it takes forever to get that project made.  It took my daughter having a baby to give me a deadline to finish a quilt.

Speaking of deadlines, her delivery is fast approaching.  So, I took time this holiday week-end to get the outside borders onto the quilt and make the backing.  Here is a peek at the quilt top before I send it out to the longarmer.

Baby quilts are so much fun to make.  Over the last 30 years or so, I’ve created more baby quilts than I can even remember.  I really need to document all my baby quilts together.  That may be a topic for a future post.  For now, here are more close-up shots of the picture patches.

Enjoy!

Nine Patch Baby Quilt

I finished another baby quilt.  This seems to be my forte.  Thinking about it, a baby quilt is what got me started in quilting.  And I’ve made more baby quilts than any other quilted project over the last 30+ years as a quilter.  This particular quilt is for my nephew and wife, who are expecting their first child.

As quilts go, I like the scrappy ones a lot.  This one is made from several 9-patch blocks I’ve made while working on other quilt projects.  I will take scraps from projects, such as jelly roll strips or other small pieces, and cut them into 2-1/2 inch squares.  Then, I use lights and darks to make a 9-patch block.  These are usually sewn together as beginners and enders while sewing other projects.

I also received several 9-patch blocks as a gift from guild members when I completed two terms as the guild president.  From this collection of nine patches, I selected several with children’s prints and flower designs.  I chose a yellow dot fabric to make alternating blocks in the center of the quilt.  Nine patches surround the center like a border.  You may notice that the blocks alternate with five dark patches in the outside corners and center patch with blocks that have four dark patches in the opposite locations.

I completed all the machine quilting on my Bernina.  The yellow dot blocks were quilted first with a meander.  The nine patches are quilted in the dark patches by stitching a curve from corner to corner.  By alternating the blocks, I was able to complete the quilting in a continuous motion from block to block.  The design also created a circle around the light patches.

More quilting.  I really enjoyed making this quilt.  And, I found out yesterday that I have a niece that is expecting her first child.  So, I’ll have to add another baby quilt to my projects for the year.

I wasn’t away so long this time and have been steadily progressing on other projects that I hope to write about.  Next up, a wedding quilt for another niece.  I’m also following The Splendid Sampler.  Have you joined?  Some pics of those blocks may show up here, as well.

Until next time…happy stitching!

Dresdan Zoo Baby Quilt

My two sisters and I collaborated on another baby quilt to commemorate the birth of our great-niece. Even though we live close to one another, it can be challenging to work on a project together. We each have our own activities and projects on which to work. But, we break the project down into manageable tasks.

I love making baby quilts and found a cute pattern, Tangerine Zoo, designed by Brandi Frey, in Fons & Porter’s Scrap Quilts Summer 2012. The quilt has nine Dresdan plate blocks with fussy cut zoo animal patches in the center. The pattern used a fabric with an orange background, thus the name “Tangerine” Zoo. I had a fabric with zoo animals in a light green color. We each contributed bright colored fat quarters from our stash to audition. After selecting fabrics, my oldest sister & I took them home to cut out and stitch up the Dresdan plates.

About every month or so, we get together to sew and used this time to work on the Dresdan Zoo quilt. Some of you may have followed the progress in previous blog posts HERE, HERE, and HERE. At this time, I was taking a class on Craftsy on how to make creative quilt backs by Elizabeth Hartman. I used this information to make the quilt back and posted about it HERE. The quilt was now ready for the final quilting stitches.

Enter my younger sister, who has recently begun quilting and taken a fancy for machine quilting. She has always been creative and enjoyed drawing. To her, free motion quilting (FMQ) is like drawing on fabric. She is the resident quilter for our collaboration quilts, but was in the process of quilting two other quilts for her grandchildren. That left the quilt in limbo for several months.

Last month, she finished the quilting and the binding was added. Today, I am adding the quilt label. The sunshine was bright and the weather beautiful, so I spent time outside snapping photographs to document our second quilt collaboration. Here are several different angles and close-ups for you to enjoy.

Dresdan Zoo Baby Quilt

A sidelong view of the quilt

Close-up of blocks

Alligator Block

Hippo Block

Pieced Back

Close-up of Quilting from Back

Dresdan Zoo on Rail

The quilt will be sent off to our niece in California, who is not expecting it. But, her brother was the recipient of our first baby quilt collaboration, so it will be a nice surprise when she receives it.

Next up…a bowtie baby quilt for my nephew, my oldest sister’s son. He has a baby son born earlier this summer. We’ve already sewn together the blocks and laid them out in a pattern. My older sister and I are going on a retreat next week-end, where we will finish stitching the blocks together. Then, off to my baby sister for the final quilting touches. And…there’s a wedding on the horizon, so we’ve been talking about collaborating on a wedding quilt.

Happy Quilting!

P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of the photography. I am not a professional, not by a long shot. But, I have been reading up on photography, took a lecture at AQS Grand Rapids, listened to a photography webinar, and had a lengthy conversation with a photographer friend at work. I have been playing around with my digital camera settings and feel that these pictures show the colors of the quilt well. I even think I implemented the rule of thirds into the shots. I’d love to hear your feedback.