Lavender Blue Baby Quilt Finish

 This baby quilt has been quilted, bound, and is ready for the baby's arrival in September. I wavy stitch quilted it along the triangle edges. After washing, it measures 42 x 49 inches. Here is the free tutorial I used to make this quilt from: 

https://cluckclucksew.com/2017/05/lavender-blue.html

I used a lavender fabric from my stash and put a strip of aqua down the middle to make it wide enough. I used my Pfaff's alphabet to embroider a label. The purple binding was leftover from another project.

 Our sunflowers are still blooming and I could not resist sharing a few up close shots.

 The variety of colors is gorgeous.

 We are planning on harvesting seeds for next year's patch which will be bigger!

 One plant had fallen over, so my hubby cut the flowers and put this vase of them in our kitchen window. I am so ready for fall--I have had enough of 90+ degree weather! I am ready for football, sweaters, pumpkins, coffee all day, flannels, etc.

I could not resist getting a pumpkin spice cold brew and a pumpkin scone yesterday morning to celebrate the finishing the first week of school.

Here is a little preview of my secret sewing for the FQS---it will be featured here on September 12th! 

Enjoy your long weekend!

Sports Baby Quilt Finish

My friend Matt has a new baby. Matt is also the dad of my former student, Connor, who drowned in May...The family lives and breaths sports mostly soccer and basketball. Matt used to teach PE at one of my schools, but now runs one our town's rec facilities--so obviously sports theme seemed a good choice.

 Our town's high school colors are read and black, so I used those colors with gray as the background. I put the baby, Cooper's name on the pennant. 

I used some of the embroidery stitches on my Pfaff for all the detail stitching.

 I really think the gray background worked well. 

My patchwork squares finished 3 inches, so I used them for the grid quilting with my Pfaff's large wavy stitch.

I put the family's surname on the bat along with the year.

I used a gray plush backing which is a double-sided minky. I did go ahead and use Warm and Natural batting, so it is extra heavy. I figure this baby will be at many sports events and could use a plush, heavy quilt. After washing, this quilt measures 42 x 51 inches. I am looking forward to dropping this one off this week.

Have a great week!

Summer Sunflowers

 Our sunflower patch is in full bloom this week! A couple of the plants are over 12 feet high. 

My hubby planted several types.

 We have orange ones,

 yellow with orange,

 smaller varieties,

 heirlooms,

light yellow,

and this maroon kind that looks purplish black. We are thrilled with how they look! My hubby is already planning on a bigger patch next year. Several of our neighbors have stopped by to admire them and the funniest comment was, "Are you growing Jack's beanstalk?" That was before they had started blooming.

 I was officially back to work on Thursday, but I have been slowly working on my classroom set up for the last few weeks. I altered Lori Holt's cross stitch design "Eat. Sleep. Stitch. Repeat." to "Eat. Read. Sleep. Repeat." I have a frame ordered and will display this in my classroom. It was fun to cross stitch again especially a simple project with bigger Aida cloth--I used 11 x 11 count and DMC perle cotton  #8 color 310. You can check out everyone's Slow Sunday Stitching here:

https://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2019/08/slow-sunday-stitching_18.html

I like my classrooms to be cozy, cheerful, and comfortable for my students and me. I think we all work better in a pleasant environment. My home base classroom got moved and is getting a facelift--some fake plants, a chalkboard painted door, some burlap borders, some throw rugs, etc. I am using my sunflowers as my inspiration--black (I always like it as a neutral) with yellow.

Our daughter turned 21 years old on Friday! She is in Singapore on a research trip paid for by her university. When she returns in a week, she will start her senior year. Where has the time gone? 

I have a baby quilt to get done and some secret sewing for the Fat Quarter Shop coming. 

Have a great  week!