And they fit!

And they fit!  I packed up all the clothes in a shoebox and mailed them off to our wee boy.  Here he is in the hoodie and a pair of the pants.  Perfect fit with room to grow into them.  Baby toes!
Harrison is almost 9 months old and he is wall walking up a storm.  Cute as stink!

Not quilting but sewing for baby

I have been sewing up a new wardrobe for the grand boy.  Spring break sewing to be sure.  I actually had to make a list.  Daughter has very specific requests.  Did I say diva?  Just a little bit.  Love you, Emily!  Anyway, it is always a bit of a gamble with sizes when the baby lives far away but I got busy and made pants, tees, a sweatshirt and a hoodie.  And I fell in love with a "new to me" technique for finishing the hems and waists.  Oh my goodness, I am all about the twin stretch needle with woolly nylon thread in the bobbin.  Why have I never done this before?????  It works like stink.  I am even going to do this on the neck ribbing next time for that extra little bit of professional finish.

Some fabric details.  The foxes are a Robert Kaufman knit but I think it is out of stock everywhere now.  The other prints are from Spoonflower. I get the organic knit.  It is a beautiful weight.  The black and white stripe if from a t-shirt that I bought for me but never wore.  The black hoodie and black pants is french terry with a grey light weight knit for the hood lining.  The sweatshirt is a light weight woven stripe from Overseas Fabric, my local awesome shop and they carry the twin stretch needle and tons of serger thread.  FYI.

And the patterns for the hoodie, sweatshirt and the tees are Brindille and Twig.  The pants are a combination of a number of patterns and my own messing around.  I used the baggy fit tee but then did the deer print and black and white stripe with the basic tee and we preferred the basic fit tee.

My Psychedelic Baby

Name:  My Psychedelic Baby

Design:  from Sew Katie Did workshop Psychedelic Baby with my twist

Size:  52" by 66"

Fabric: Stash fabrics, Kona Snow

Quilted: by me with Aurifil ivory and 50 wt irregular straight line grid 

So Katie Pedersen came to visit out Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild.  It was pretty awesome seeing all her quilts at the trunk show and then I joined my quilting peeps for a day of work shopping Psychedelic Baby.  This is what I came up with.  I joined the blocks in a different orientation than her classic and made giant half square triangles set in some blocks of Kona Snow.  I did stitch and flip triangles with some of the off cuts.  And I still have a ton of off cuts to play with but here it is.  My Psychedelic Baby.  Quilted with Aurifil 50 wt in ivory in an irregular dense grid.  This is a nice size lap quilt.  I bound it in a grey cross weave.  And am calling it done.  On the barn and in the snow.  Yes,  Snow again and still!

All the Pretty Colours #2 a.k.a. Road Trip

    Name:  All the Pretty Colours #2 a.k.a. Road Trip

Design:  from Kaffe Fasset Glorious Patchwork: Pieced Stripes Quilt

Size:  76.5" by 82"

Fabric: Stash fabrics, backing Anna Maria Horner

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 40 and 50 wt straigh lines, 1/2" apart

So we had a bit of snow.  Just a bit.  Like over a metre.  Or in other measurements, around 40" over a few days. We don't usually have snow.  In fact there are year's when we don't see any of the white stuff but this year takes the cake.  School was closed for several days as a result and I had a chance to try to take pictures of this finish in the giant piles of snow that was our yard.  We are talking past your boots, people.  Past your boots!

I made a second one of these because Husband really liked the first one and he wanted me to give it to his sister as a gift.  I knew that I was going to use the first one in a guild challenge so I said, how about I make another one?  I had cut too much fabric the first time around and I already knew what I was doing so I cut more fabric including some wonderful Moda Grunge and got busy.  It went much faster than the first one.  Or it seemed like it and that is why this quilt has the subtitle Road Trip.  Because it always seems that when you are driving somewhere, the trip home takes so much less time.

This design is from the book by Kaffe Fasset, Glorious Patchwork and it has the very simple title, pieced stripes.  Which is what is it.  Pieced stripes of fabric in 3 colour stories with random 60 degree angle cuts.  It really is effective.  I quilted it just the same as the last one with slightly closer vertical straight lines in 3 colours of Aurifil.  Soft purple, vibrant hot pink and that lovely citron yellow.  I just love it.  I backed it in the same Anna Maria Horner fabric but because of the snow, I could not get a shot of the back. Take my word for it, it is awesome.  And it is bound in a dark burgandy Free Spirit solid.  This one is boxed up and ready for the mail tomorrow.  For Fran.

and why we need a snow blower.

So I was all ready to quilt my latest work in progress.  I had all the bobbins wound.  Bright selection of Aurifil for the top and lovely dove grey for the bobbin.  I had all of about 10 rows completed.  And the power went out.  I should back up.  Starting last Friday, we have been hammered with snowfall after snowfall.  We have had a total accumulation over the weekend of about 30-32" of snow.  So, we lost power for a good chunk of my quilting Saturday.    I was back at it on Sunday and got all the quilting completed.  All schools were closed today so I got a bonus long weekend.  With more snow forecast, who knows what will happen this week.

Work in Progress: Like a Road Trip

I started another one of these last weekend.  This is destined to be a gift.  I was so surprised how quickly I had all the strips done.  And then by the time I finished sewing on Sunday at 2:30 pm, I had the top altogether.  Somehow it seemed that the last one took way longer and I am baffled.  I guess it is like when you go on a road trip.  It seems that it takes such a long, long time to get there but the return trip is so much shorter.    Next weekend will be the back, and sandwiching and maybe, just maybe I will get it all quilted.

A little stash building

I took advantage of the no shipping a few weeks ago at Sew Sisters.  I found lots on sale and added some prints from Tula Pink's Slow and Steady line and then a few others fun prints.  I took a picute of the selvages if anyone is interested.  The Anna Maria Horner print is such a wonderful low volume option.  And there is just something wonderful about the Bear Essentials prints from P and B Textiles.

Sew Sisters has new fabrics added to their clearance section and an awesome deal on Aurifil basic threads (white, grey and natural) if you need any. 33.3% off but only in January.