Why I Make Quilts, Part 4

I got a wonderful thank-you note from my niece Rachel, with her baby Christopher wildly enjoying his new quilt!

Here is an older picture of his cousin Naomi on her quilt from Aunt Jeanne...

And here, in a moment of silliness, the two mommies (Dr. Rachel and Dr. Amy) back when they graduated from University of North Carolina.

A Finished Baby Quilt

This is my little great-nephew Christopher, to whom I was introduced at our family beach vacation back in June.

I just finished sewing on the binding and label for his baby quilt.

I used some of the motifs from the border fabric to paint a label with Tsukineko inks.

This little guy was born in March, so I am a little late. He lives in the mountains of Tennessee, so I guess he will still be able to use this soft flannel and Minkee quilt. Rachel, I will mail it to you after I show it off at my quilt meetings. Tonight is Capital Quilters Guild, and Saturday is Carolina Longarm Association.

Baby Quilt and Artsy quilt

Yesterday I fired up my Gammill Longarm machine for the first time since January. Yikes! The first project was the long-abandoned baby quilt for my niece Rachel's baby. He was born in March. It is all flannel, Minkee, and combed cotton. Super soft! I decided to just use some of the cloud, sun, kite, and other motifs from the cute border fabric, and freehand the whole thing.

Pleased that everything worked great after the months of inactivity, I decided to do some freehand quilting on an interesting piece of oriental fabric, about the size of a fat quarter. I am thinking of adding fabric paint, beading, and/or other embellishment.

Heading out today with my friend Jean to prepare some quilt kids for one of our guild charities, Quilts on Wheels. The fabric is stored in a place called The Flower Cottage. It is on the campus of the state mental institution in Raleigh, which is actually one of the most lovely, tree-lined, grassy real estate in our capital city. Not sure how the guild got hooked up with them, but I have heard it is very nice. I'll take my camera!

Wednesday WIP- a day late!

Since I returned to teaching in February, it has been a lot harder to find time for quilting. But I do have a WIP to share, an actual traditional quilt. I am hoping to mount it on the longarm this morning.

This one is for new great-nephew Christopher, son of my niece Rachel in Tennessee. I chose soft flannels and some Minkee for a super-soft quilt. I usually stock up on baby flannels when I go to Mary Jo's Cloth Store in Gastonia, NC. It is usually only about $3.00 per yard there.

I used half-inch seam allowances instead of the usual quarter-inch to allow for the Minkee, which tends to stretch and curl along the seams. There are a couple of nice-size puckers in the top thanks to the Minkee. Oh, well, my longarm quilter will "quilt it out"- how many times have I heard that! LOL

Yesterday morning I had an appointment in Raleigh, and managed to run by Carolina Sew-N-Vac to pick up enough flannel for the backing and still make it to school on time. I chose a grassy green.

Thinking of quilting in some frogs and turtles...or maybe some suns and stars to go with the border fabric.

Tonight is the monthly meeting of the Capital Quilters Guild in Raleigh, and I am actually going to attend the meeting. My attendance has been poor this year, but the meetings are always great. It is a fairly long drive to the meeting sight from here in Wake Forest, so I don't like to go by myself at night. My friend Donna from my local bee is going with me. Our speaker will be Cathie Hoover from California.