Baby Quilt

I made a baby quilt for my friend Theresa's new baby boy Henry. A while back I bought a fat quarters kit with these awesome orange and blue and green fabrics. I loved the colors and knew it had to be mine.

I just started with a basic log cabin design using some of the fat quarters and my inspiration took flight from there! I headed out for some solid colors to tone it down and make it more "boy appropriate".

I am thrilled with the results!







I finished it just in time for my visit with Theresa on Sunday. We had a lovely visit and she even made cake! Yum! I was a spoiled guest :)

Here is Theresa and Henry looking lovely in their sunroom...



I don't know about you - but I think Henry loves his new quilt!

Hi from vacation!!

Hi all! I'm writing from Sarah's house in Rhode Island! Believe it or not this is my 300th post! It's a big one too - so that's appropriate :)

I am going to try to catch up on all the amazing things I've been up to.

I drove up with Sarah on Thursday night. After getting stuck in some wicked traffic we finally got there around midnight. Friday we drove up to the Cape to go to the beach! I LOOOOOOOOVE Silver beach in Falmouth. It is just so awesome in every way. The water is warm and the beach has lots of shells and things to explore. Sarah and her mom and I sat on the beach, knit and swam all day - it was heaven.





Part of me wished I could be a kid again and collect crabs, minnows and other sea life from the rocks!



After the beach - we went back to Sarah's parents house and sat outside in the backyard:


Isn't it just heavely?

Sarah got us lobsters!


and The Murph and I played ball



Saturday - I got to see Stacey and her sister Naomi and finally met her doggies!



I got to see her HUGE batch of agility trial ribbons


and her newly finshed Phyllo pullover! Go to Stacey's blog to see the pics we took at Sarah's!


After picking up Stacey and Naomi we headed for the Knitting Mecca - WEBS!!! We ate a yummy (if slow) lunch at The Northampton Brewery


Drank some Freaky dog


and then headed for the shop.

Oh My God. There are no words to describe the massive size and selection of this place!

There is a huge shop in front:



and I got to see one of my favorite yoke sweater designs in person:



and then in the back - there is a warehouse stuffed FULL of discounted yarn!



row after row of yarn and cones! What could be better! I got a bunch of cool stuff - pictures later!

Here we are after our shopping - with bags full of goodies...



Did you know there is also a bead store there?




Oh and the highlight of my trip so far?!

Sarah made me a quilt!!


On the way to The Cape, she told me we were going to pick up something for her mom. So we drive like half an hour in the wrong direction and when we get there - I tell her I'll just wait in the car. Why should I go in I think? She goes to the front door and calls out for me to come in, she says the lady needs a minute to get the stuff ready. So I go in and Sarah says - surprise - this is my secret project! I made you a quilt!

I was so surprised!! I love the quilt and she had it machined quilted for me! That is why we had to go pick it up at this woman's house. I love Sarah!!

There is so much more to tell you - but this post is already way too long. So next time there will be more photos of the quilt, pics of our day of dyeing yarn and more beachy photos and who knows what else.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Baby Doll Quilts!

Just a quick one today...

I scratched the itch to quilt something today by making two little baby doll quilts:



These are for Jolene's little girls, S and E. Their mom told me they used to use washclothes as blankets for their baby dolls, so I decided they needed real quilts.

They are very similar - but with different middle squares - and of course both have girly pinks and purples.





I machine quilted them - and it made a cool little spiral pattern that you can see on the back.



Have a great weekend!!

A Birthday Quilt

Thursday was Coleen's birthday! I'm a little late posting about it - but I made her a quilt for her big 4-0!

She doesn't looks a day over 21 though :)




I gave it to her on Friday at her birthday bash thrown by her lovely sister and one of her oldest friends.




I am so happy with how the quilt came out.



Stats:

Pattern: The "Stacked Coins" Quilt from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.
Fabric: Variety of Amy Butler and solid quilting cotton






OK - so who says you can't model a quilt?




Not me!

John's Quilt

The day after we found out John had cancer, I decided to make him a quilt to use during his treatment and stay at the hospital.

I had big plans to give it to him on his first day of chemo and radiation.... well... it ended up taking me a little longer than I thought to complete it. John is now on his 4th week of radiation - but it's finally done!

I started by stitching together about 40 squares and mailing them off around the country to his family and friends. I had everything planned... except I didn't plan on how long it would take to get them all back!

I finally had to give up on some people and I ended up with 32 squares. 32 squares of personal messages, prayers, drawings and signatures for John keep near him and to help him through his cancer treatment. I gave it to him for his birthday on Friday.

When he opened the package - his first words were, "It's a blanket. Thanks."
I had folded it wrong side up - so he couldn't immediately see that it was a quilt. So I said, "why don't you open the blanket."

When he finally gets the clue... he opens it and finds the quilt.




I was so nervous! I wasn't sure if he would like it... he doesn't really like quilts - but he loved it!



He was so touched by everything his friends and family wrote. It is such a wonderful expression of love.

Here's the entire piece:



(A little head kept getting in my way while I was trying to take this photo!)




Here's the square I made:




and a few of my favorites:




I tied the quilt instead of hand or machine sewing (deadlines!) and I used a technique where the ties are on the back of the quilt and the front looks like x's. I really like the way it came out. Here's the back - showing all the little ties.



Thanks to everyone who contributed to this and special thanks to Jolene and my mother in law for helping me finish the sewing! It's definitely going to be well used and well loved.