2/11/12

Saturday's Sewing

First, I want to thank all of you for your lovely comments regarding my Holly post.  I haven't dwelled on it today, but I still felt a need to acknowledge her and to share her story.  I appreciate your sensitivity and your support.

I spent most of the day sewing today.  The embroidery for the February "Promises" block is almost complete.  I'll take a picture of it when I have all the borders sewn on.  It's turning out so cute. 

Also, I took apart the last of the blocks for my Mother Goose baby quilt today.


The embroidery for these last five blocks was in good shape, so I won't have to repair any of them.  Of the 25 blocks, eight will need minor repair to some of the black embroidery thread.  I should be able to do it fairly quickly.


Once that is done, I want to trim off the ragged edges and square them up.  I have plenty of space to work with.  It's probably a good idea I decided to redo this little quilt and to make the necessary repairs before passing it along to yet another baby.  With my mother's embroidery contribution, this quilt will be the work of two grandmothers.  I've been thinking of naming it "Two Grandmother Geese".  What do you think?  Anybody have any other ideas about how to honor the two grandmothers and Mother Goose?  (Of course, I have a ways to go before I'm actually a grandmother, but I hope to be one someday in the not-too-distant future.)

Also today, I put the borders around the latest Mr. Bear block and then sewed together the top two rows of completed blocks.

There are still three blocks to go, and then I'll be able to start sewing the borders on.  This is going to be so cute when it's finished.  I'm hoping to have the quilt top complete by the end of May, and then I'll have to decide whether I'm going to quilt it or send it out.

After I finished that, I started looking at the fabrics for the fourth of the five doll quilts I'm making for my friend Lisa's granddaughters.  This next quilt will be for her granddaughter Irish.  (Isn't that a cute name?)  Irish is still a toddler, and so she hasn't really communicated what her personal preferences might be for a quilt.  With a name like Irish, however, the choice seemed obvious.  I'm going to make a traditional Double Irish Chain using these fabrics:


The bottom fabric will be for the quilt back, and if I can make it measure out right, I might use it in a border too.  The plain green in the upper left will be for the binding, and I might also make some applique shamrocks to put in the corners of the quilt.  I love it when a plan starts coming together.

But not so fast on that doll quilt.  I still need to finish quilting the two I already have finished, and so that will be my next project.  Also, I need to do my February Free Motion Quilting Challenge project.  It looks like next week will be set aside for quilting.

Oh, and I almost forgot.  A few weeks ago I won a giveaway over at Buttonmad.  The buttons came today . . . all the way from South Africa!  Aren't these adorable?

Whenever I see chickens they make me think of my friend, Sue, who would dearly love to have chickens.  I'll set these aside and think about what to do with them.  I think there might be a project in Sue's future.

8 comments:

Kate said...

Looks like a very productive Sunday. Looking forward to see how you end up setting the Mother Goose blocks. I gave the name some consideration and couldn't come up with anything more appropriate. Mr. Bear is looking gorgeous too.

WoolenSails said...

I was able to catch up today and read your post about your daughter, really touched my heart. I just love your new blocks, such beautiful work, I really need to slow down and make better blocks, but I am in a hurry and end up making a mess.

Debbie

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

I like the buttons too, how unique! The Mr. Bear quilt really looks nice. I like the pinwheels that are scattered about. My favorite is the vintage embroidery patterns. I have some transfers but they just don't capture this feel. There's something different about then that's special.

Mhairi said...

That is one lucky baby to be getting a quilt from two grandmas.
Could you call the quilt "The Grandmother Geese". I love the idea of the quilt being from two grandmothers. What a great idea and so wonderful for the child to have that history sewn into a quilt for them.

hafza said...

The Mr. Bear quilt really looks beautiful... I love the color combination and the embroidery... Thanks for sharing!

Diane Wild said...

Oh my gosh, the Mr. Bear quilt is wonderful. That would look so nice in my Bear Den, since I'm a bear maker second only to quilting.

Susan said...

A post packed with wonderful things! I like the name for the mother goose quilt. It's very appropriate. The bear quilt looks terrific - I like the pinwheels' seeming to give it motion. The Irish quilt fabrics are great! She will think the fabric was printed just for her - when she's old enough to recognize her name, at least. What a cute name!

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

If you are as slow as I am, then you can name it Three Grandmother Geese, because you just might be a grandmother by that time. I'm still taking in the story about Holly. It touched me, but, since I only had a miscarriage, not a live birth (I was only a few weeks pregnant) then I really don't know how you feel. I can only imagine how hard it would be to go thru what you have gone thru.