The Three Year Quilt

How do you decide who receives a handmade gift?  Since my sewing time is limited, and my own sew-for-me list is long, I only give handmade gifts to very special people in my life.  My college roommate married in 2011.  I was very pregnant with the Bug at the time.  We lived together for four years, and we lived close by during the even more exciting post-college years.  She was there on my first date with my husband and I was there the weekend after she met her now husband.  Some people miss the college years.  I miss those years right after college.  

But I digress.  She's a special person in my life.  They wed on a beautiful winter night in their new hometown of Charleston, SC.  What a great town.  

I started this quilt with my friend in mind when I was on maternity leave with the Bug.  It was the first project I picked up after having a baby.  I needed something to do with my hands that didn't involve nursing or changing diapers.  I remember putting on nursery rhymes and placing June in her bouncer.  She was content to watch me sew in those early days.  Oh, only for a few minutes (what is this I hear about newborns liking sleep?  Mine never did.)  But still, those few minutes were therapeutic.   The quilt top is the stacked coins quilt in the book, Last Minute Patchwork and Gifts.  This is the second one I made (I wrote about the first one I made, also a wedding gift, here).  It's a quick quilt top to sew, and even with a small baby, I finished the top pretty quickly.  But then it sat for a year until I was motivated to baste it, and then it sat another year and a half waiting to be quilted; another baby later.  The Bee was sitting up at this point.  I sat him down on a quilt near my sewing machine and just quilted, line by line.  Three years later, this quilt is finally done and living with my friend.  

Pattern: Stacked Coins Quilt in Last Minute Patchwork and Gifts

Fabrics: Fabric scraps leftover from this quilt.  Sashing is Kona Cotton Aqua.  Green cotton for backing, with strip of fabrics from front. 

Sunday Stash: Fort Firefly

 When I look at this fabric, I hear a steady whisper.  Shhhh, listen.  

"Summer, summer, summer."  

Do you hear it too?  

Barefoot running in the grass, firefly catching, warm water splashing, s'mores eating, oh-I-look forward to you summer.  

Crud

Why am I such a sucker for sweet little girl fabric designs???

First there was Briar Rose by Heather Ross.  I bought a fat quarter bundle with the intention of making a quilt for the Bug.  With hope, she will like it and it will live on her bed (must include lots of pink for this to be successful).

Then I found, fell in love, and bought Fort Firefly.  Yes I did.  This will become a throw-size summer quilt.  This fabric screams to me, summer summer summer and takes me back to those barefoot, green, magical days.

And now.  Now I cannot get over Sarah Jane's new collection, Wee Wander.  I have fallen in love yet again.  Seriously people, I die over the cuteness.  I want it.  I *need* it.  But I'm not sure what to do with it!  Perhaps I should use this for the Bug's big girl bed, it does feature a lot of pink afterall.  But then what should I do with Briar Rose?

The question is, how many quilts does a little girl really need?  I need to start making things other than quilts, but in ways that I, I mean my children of course, can enjoy and treasure the fabrics.  Pillows? Bags?  Yes, but what else?

Weekending

This weekend I:

Caught up on some reading,

(If only I had time to make every single project in these books!)

Found more enjoyment rummaging through my scrap bin than I had anticipated,

And began to work on a little valentine present.

Overall, a very good weekend.

2014

Hiyo 2014!  Let's kick butt this year, ok?  To keep me on track, here's my 2014 creative to-do list, in no particular order:

1. Bind, wash, and enjoy my Good Folks HST quilt

2. Finish and gift the Uptown charm square quilt 

 

3. Make and gift another belated wedding quilt 

5. Paint the Bug's big girl bed pink (everything needs to be pink at her request)

 

6. Make a quilt for the Bug's big kid bed 

 

6. Paint and hang pictures for the Bug's room

 

7. Makeover the kid's bathroom -shower curtain, window shade, pictures

 

8. Make a baby quilt for a friend's spring baby

 

9. Finally make quilts from my wedding napkins

10. Make a queen-size Single Girl quilt (gasp!)

 

11. Make Olive and Archie dolls for the Bug's birthday

 

12. Finish this alphabet sampler

Let's do this!

 

2013

Oh 2013, you kicked my butt.  This was a wonderful but tough year for my little family. Despite getting adjusted to a family of four, I still somehow managed to sew some stuff.  Sometimes sewing is what kept me sane through some stressful, sleep deprived times.  Some projects I started and actually finished this year, others were projects I started in previous years.  

I don't have pictures of all of my 2013 finishes yet.  Taking timely pictures and sharing them here is a 2014 resolution of mine.  I want to document the things I make so I can look back and remember the time I put into a project, what was going through my head when I was making it, etc.  Life gets busy and it's so easy to forget the things that at one time consumed large amounts of you (physical time making it as well as the time spent thinking about it!).  This blog is a great sewing journal and I want to keep it up.

So here is a list of things I finished in 2013:

1. Swoon (started in 2012)
2. Ironing board cover
3. Stars and squares

4. Nora's baby quilt (details coming)

5. Teddy's baby quilt (details coming)

6. Baby bibs

7. Doll quilt 

8. Scrappy Trip Around the World (details coming)

9. Elsa's baby quilt (details coming)

10. Stacked coins quilt (details coming)
 

Not bad for a working mom with two kids under two! 

Quick Quilt Recommedation?

Recent Favorites, a photo by CreativeReveries on Flickr.

1. Fig & Plum Quilt, 2. "You Plus Me" Quilt, 3. Glam Clam front, 4. striped chevron quilt, 5. Log Cabin Wall Quilt, 6. fall tabler runner, 7. Maple Leaf Rag Quilt, 8. my fair lady quilt, 9. flying geese mini, 10. Untitled, 11. XandO quilt, 12. PTS7 all finished!, 13. It's hip to be square, 14. HST BOM - January, 15. DIamond Quilt, 16. bee blocks

I'm trying to catch up on some very overdue wedding quilts. If over a year has gone by since the wedding, I really have no choice but to make a quilt, right? I mean, I can't just show up with a gift card and say "Congratulations on your marriage of two and a half years!"

So I have two weddings quilts at the top of my list of things to make. I want a quick project, you know, so I can move on to the quilts in the queue I want to keep for myself (selfish sewer?  Absolutely!). I love how quickly the stacked coins quilt sews up from "Last Minute Patchwork and Quilting," but I've made it twice now (here and a preview of one here) and I want to try something different. Anyone have any recommendations for a quick quilt project?