Baby Quilt for a Little Mermaid

I finished this baby quilt several months ago, but I don't think I ever blogged about it.  I got it done in time for a shower for my daughter-in-law Emily's sister Ellen, back in September.

Kai's Quilt, by Jeanne Turner McBrayer, 2014

This is basically the same pattern as the quilt I made for my granddaughter, Charlie.  On this one I used all novelty fabrics for the center squares.  A game could be made of finding the two matching center squares when the baby gets older.

I did a curvy freehand quilting on my Gammill long arm, which adds softness to all the squares and lines.

The purple mermaid fabric was the main theme fabric for Charlie's mermaid quilt.

I have neither met Baby Kai yet or seen her nursery, since they live in Florida, but it looks like the quilt was a perfect match for the mermaid-themed baby's room.

Back in the Saddle

On Tuesday I spent the day in Clayton, NC, exercising my "visitation rights" to use my Gammill longarm quilting machine.  I got both of my baby quilts done!  Well, almost!

I did my granddaughter's first.  Her nursery is a mermaid's paradise!  I quilted in some wavy water, seaweed, a few fish, and a few hearts and other motifs that were in the theme fabric in the border.

 

The quilting shows up better on the back.

 

 

In my attempt to do some stash-busting, I have been piecing my quilt backs from whatever fabrics might coordinate with the quilt top.

 

 

I actually made the bias stripe binding and applied it yesterday, and it is about three-fourths sewn to the back by hand.

The next quilt was for my great-nephew, Lucas.  His top is a riot of bright colors and jungle animals.  I decided to do some balloon-type round shapes, with some sunbursts and other shapes thrown in when I got bored.

 

 

 

All was going well until I got to the last four or five inches from the bottom.  I was getting ready to baste the bottom edge to the batting and backing and take out the pins. 

 

Uh-oh!

 

I ran out of backing fabric.  If I kept on quilting, I would be sewing right into the canvas leaders!

 

I just took the quilt off the machine and brought it home to add some more fabric.  Of course I did not have any more of the blue fabric.  Notice I had already added some pieced fabrics from the top to extend the blue fabric a bit.

 

 

When I trimmed the extra fabric from the other sides, I had enough left to add a narrow strip to the bottom.  Then I had to quilt the last few inches on my home sewing machine.  Oh, my!  Not easy to make nice circles and loops.

 

But it's done!  I have cut the pieces for his bias striped binding.  I love the way bias stripes make a candy-cane effect around the edge of the quilt.  Will show the bindings next time.

We are leaving for a long weekend in the mountains for Easter weekend.  It should be cold, but not rainy.  I am ready for spring!

 

 

A Finished Quilt Top...and a Special Afternoon

 

Here is my finished quilt top for my grand-baby!  The borders are on.  I just need to piece the backing, and make arrangements to visit my Gammill one day to get it quilted.  (It is at a Foster Mother's house while my home is on the market.)

 

It has been a busy week.  I had to get a temporary crown on a molar, and spent three and a half hours in the dentist's chair on Monday.  Then it came off on Wednesday and I had to go back on Thursday to get it cemented back on.

 

On Saturday my family had a Celebration of Life in honor of my late father, Pete Turner.  It was a wonderful day.  I saw cousins and friends I have not seen in decades.  A special surprise was one of my childhood friends who flew down from New Jersey.  My two surviving aunts and my last surviving uncle were there, along with my father's cousin.  I had a PowerPoint running on the wall screen with scanned images of my father's artwork.  We brought in some of his paintings, and had display tables with lots of his newspaper clippings, commercial art, and published artwork.

 

 

All seven siblings, and many others took turns sharing stories about my father and mother. 

 

 

 

At the end, my brother Tim played guitar and sang  "Someone to Watch Over Me," which was my parents' song during their time of separation during World War II.  I put the lyrics on a PowerPoint slide show and we all sang along.  It was very moving.

 

 

 

Dave and Emily brought little Charlie to meet her cousins, aunts and uncles.  She was a good little girl the whole time. 

 

 

 

Afterward most of us went to dinner together at the Hibernian Pub in Cary.  It was a good day for my family, friends, and neighbors to visit and remember my father's amazing life.

 

Big Charlie took a picture of Little Charlie, her mom, and both her grandmothers. 

 

It looks as if the baby is looking up adoringly at me, but she is looking at my father's painting of mountain wildflowers, hanging on the wall behind the couch.  She loves that painting!  I think the red flowers catch her attention.

 

 

 

My father died just a couple weeks before she was born, but maybe he is looking down on her from Heaven.

 

 

Adding a Flange to a Quilt Top

I added the striped inner border to the mermaid baby quilt today.  I decided that the stripes were getting a little lost next to the bright squares, so I added a little bold color in the form of a "flange" before sewing on the stripes. 

 

All you do is cut a 1" strip of fabric the length and width of the quilt, fold the strip in half, and lay it along the seam line of the border with the raw edge even with the outside seam.  I decided to stitch mine down near the edge so they would not slip around.

 

 

 

You don't have to miter the corners, just lay the side strips down, then the top and bottom strips.  You are creating a "flap" of color separating the borders.

 

 

Then you pin the next border right on over the flange, and sew all layers together.

 

 

And there you have it!  There is a nice separation between the blocks and the inner border.  I have not sewn the outer border yet, but this is what it will look like.

 

 

 

Now on to the Oscars.  Love to watch the outfits.  Most beautiful so far..Jennifer Lawrence!  Stunning!

 

 

But I also thought Octavia Spencer looked very confident and lovely as she presented.

 

 

 

Hope your favorites are winners tonight!

 

 

 

Auditioning a Quilt Top

I am sure that you quilters are familiar with "auditioning" fabrics for a quilt.  You know, trying different fabrics for borders, sashing, or binding? 

I finished sewing together all the square-in-a-square blocks for my granddaughter's baby quilt.  Since we went out there for a visit on Friday, I took the sewn-together squares and "auditioned" them...with the baby!

 

Well, I think she liked them...and coordinated well with them!

 

Here is the quilt in the crib.  I like!

 

 

And it looks good with the mermaid family painting on the wall.

 

 

 

Now I am motivated to add the borders and get it quilted.

 

I went out last week to help Maureen, my Gammill's "foster mother," get a quilt loaded and quilted.  She was doing great...a natural!  I may have to ask for a day when I can go out there and quilt little Charlotte's quilt.

 

Baby Quilt on the Design Wall

It's been a busy week!  Valentine's Day, babysitting for little Charlotte, a trip to the mountains, and, yes, a little sewing!

On my design wall is a quilt top for my baby granddaughter.  (Yes, I am ashamed to admit, she was born without a handmade quilt ready for her when she came home.)

 

My daughter-in-law, her mother and I made an excursion to a fabric store back in August and selected an assortment of novelty and coordinating fabrics for the mermaid-themed nursery.

 

 

My original idea was to make an underwater scene.  These fabrics were not working too well for me, even with the addition of fabrics from my stash.  After I made a few applique pieces, they stayed pinned on the design wall for months with nothing else happening.

 

I decided to go ahead and make a more traditional quilt.  I made square-in-a-square blocks using the fabrics provided plus some from my stash.  The quilt will be colorful, will match the nursery,
 

and will soon be ready for our sweet little mermaid.

Besides, she already has a pretty awesome original painting of a mermaid family, courtesy of Emily's talented sister Ellen.  Anyone recognize the mer-dog, Roo?

 

 

Here is a little project I finished in a couple hours.  It is a fabric journal cover for a sketchbook.  I used a gorgeous commercial fabric that looks like it has foiling and mixed media.  It did not need anything else!

 

 

I made it exactly like I used to make textbook covers out of brown paper grocery bags back in the day.  The only difference is that you clean-finish the inside edges, and sew a seam across the tops and bottoms of the inside pockets to keep them from coming undone.

 

 

I added a ribbon closure, and it's done!

 

The mountains were cold and a little snowy.  We took a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway on Sunday.  These icicles were covering the rocks on the side of the road.

 

 

Although our snow barely covered the ground, the distant mountain tops were covered in snow.