Sunday, October 4, 2020

Baby Quilt Finishes 2X

 

Hi! I have definitely gotten my sewing mojo back--likely only because of some baby births and feeling like I had to make their quilts. This is a Bjorn Bear Baby Quilt. All of the browns were left over from the two I made in February.
I love the one with the glasses. It measures 46x55 inches after washing. I quilted it with my wavy stitch following the seams on the bears. It is quite organic, but that is why I love to use the wavy stitch.
The back is the double sided minky fabric from Joann's--this gray has a more brown tone to it.
This quilt perplexed me--not the quilt itself, but the mom's wishes--gender neutral, but no specific colors for the nursery. I was like huh? I found this line from Moda  Zoology by Gingiber It's a Jungle Out There. Once I decided to order the fabric line, I started to look for a quick design. I decided to make a Stoplight Baby Quilt--it uses a jelly roll. The jelly roll I ordered had 40 2.5 strips, so I made my version a little wider than the free pattern. After washing, it is 46x48 inches.
I quilted it vertically every 2 inches following the seams. It is so modern and gender neutral which is what this teacher was asking for...It has a gray with a bluish tone minky backing. After three quilts in row with minky backings, my sewing/classroom needs a deep cleaning.
When I ordered the Zoology jelly roll for the Stoplight Baby Quilt, I saw they had some Bonnie & Camille yardage half price. The charcoal is six yards and the green is five yards--it will be nice to have some B&C backings on hand!
My family has really continued to stay isolated since mid-March and I really wasn't quilting very much until this last month--the few fabrics I needed I had bought online mostly. I needed to get a binding for the Zoology Stoplight Baby Quilt, so I went to a fabric store yesterday right when they opened. I called Friday and knew they had a Zoology charcoal gray print for the binding and I needed to get a binding for Bjorn Bears too. It was an in and out process with the exception of the end cap that had bolts--finish the bolt and it is 50% off. They had bolts of my fabric kryptonite on there--Bonnie & Camille. I did not even think about it and grabbed every bolt of B&C on sale plus the gray Moda. I had used that in another project and there was 4+ yards of it--can you say awesome backing? All the B&Cs were at least 2 yards--stash enhancement! I spent more than I was planning, but they were great buys and I was still out of there in like 15 minutes...
I mentioned in my last post that I signed up to make a quilt for another foster child in time for Xmas. Diego is a 16 year old that lives in a residential facility--the details so far are pretty limited. He likes football and the color red. As soon as I signed up to make his quilt, I shopped on 
They have lots of wide backings, good quality fabrics, reasonable prices, and quick shipping. There are a couple of drawbacks--they charge for shipping which I detest and all cuts are by the yard. I bought the red at the top of the picture for the backing--it is wide. I also chose the blacks to go with the reds and the brown between the row of blacks and the row of red will be the footballs.
I am making this Touchdown Quilt for Diego, but it will be wider because I am going to add another column of footballs which will make it nearly square.
I have already made two of these quilts--this Bronco version for my husband
and this Patriots version for my friend, Richard, when he was battling cancer. I think it will be a great quilt for a teenager. If you are interested in making a bed-sized quilt for a foster child, check out:

I am off to vacuum up minky fluff and get organized to start making some footballs. Have a great week and wear your mask!








Thursday, October 1, 2020

Scrappy Mountain Majesties Finish


This beauty is on its way to Alaska! I used Bonnie Hunter's free pattern for Scrappy Mountain Majesties, except I only made 48 blocks and set them sideways. You can tell that I washed it due to the crinkly goodness and it shrank a little and now measures 44 x 44.5 inches--nearly square. I made the top completely from my stash--if I ever make a bigger one, I think I would mix up the pieces of the block so it looks scrappier.
I quilted it with my favorite and forgiving wavy stitch horizontally every 2 inches following the seams.
The backing is yellow minky for the cold Alaska winters and I used Warm & White batting. I have a new roll of batting that arrived today. My only actual purchase to make this quilt was the backing...

I have two more baby quilts to hurry up and finish because I want to send my Pfaff to Denver with my parents to be dropped off for service. Service is taking five weeks and I also have to figure out how to pick it up. My sister lives in Denver, so I can probably have her get it for me. But, we are getting into weather season soon, so I will probably be without it for a couple of months. I can use my Juki for piecing and straight line quilting in the meantime.

I signed up to make another quilt for a foster child. This time I am making something for a 16 year old male who likes the color red and football. I ordered red and black fabrics to make another "Touchdown Quilt" and Rachel volunteered to quilt it up. Gwen who organizes this charity has asked that we add in something special for Xmas too--I hope to get some more information about him, so we can include some good gifts. I think this batch of kids have all been claimed, but I encourage you to follow @quiltforachild 
https://www.instagram.com/quiltforachild/on Instagram. Most of the foster kids that these donated quilts go to live in institutions and have very few possessions. They request twin size quilts for their beds--I think it is a wonderful cause!