Baby Quilt - Ready for Baby

It is a rare thing, indeed, when I have something done well in advance. I am a seasoned procrastinator, and as such have worked many a late night finishing things that could very easily have been finished much earlier.

So it is with great pride that I share the baby quilt for my friend Vickie's first grandchild, scheduled to arrive in July. I have posted a few mentions of this, if you recall, (click here and here) and after checking with Erin, the mother-to-be, will share with you all the finish. She has seen the pics, and has given her approval.

Bright and cheerful - just what the expectant mother wanted. The pattern was fun to make, even though the directions were limited, and after having to make more blocks than I'd originally cut, I managed to get it together easily. I would definitely make another one. The pattern is called Kissing Fishes, and it was a freebie from some quilting website.

I also had fun collecting random bright and colorful fat quarters for this quilt. I think this is a pleasing mix of colors and patterns.

And I even was able to find an appropriate backing fabric on sale! It is called Coral Reef, I think, by Kaffe Fassett - in pink! It was meant to be!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Fishy Finish

Working diligently yesterday (Monday) resulted in a finished quilt top! I love having a finish to share.

I am quite pleased with how it turned out, but I have to admit that I wasn't so pleased with the directions for getting to this point. The pattern was a free one, from an online source, and the way they tell you to make the white outer edges is really wasteful of fabric. Additionally, those side triangles are bias edges, not straight edges. But, it has come together nicely, and I am happy for the result.

I am showing you this pic from a few days ago because I have the backing shown here. That hot pink is a Kaffe fabric that I found on sale at Old Town Fabrics. I bought it all. (Duh!)

I am going to prepare the backing and give it to Terry to quilt on Thursday. I will be binding it in no time!

I have a book to read by Thursday for my book club, so sewing will be on hold for awhile. The book we will be discussing is The Round House by Louise Erdrich.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Tidbits

I'm in a bit of a rush today, so this will be short and sweet. I have a rather fun little adventure I will be going to today, and hope to share a good deal about it tomorrow or the next day.

So, yesterday was Frankfort Girls Friday; we met at JoAnn's, and I have just 2 projects to share. Now that I think of  it, I could have taken a picture of JoAnn's WIP (work-in-progress), but I just never thought of it.

Terry had a sweet little table runner that she finished binding while we were together. Looks so easy and simple. I'm pretty sure Terry has just the spot in her house for this little gem.

Sharon O. was attempting a new technique - paper piecing. She was doing it by hand, too, since it was technically not paper, but lightweight interfacing, instead, she brought it along to work on with us. This will become a wall hanging for spring. Bright yellow and red tulips will brighten any spot.

In the bits of time I have had, I head back to my sewing machine and whittle away at those fish blocks. I just love how it is turning out. Here's a representative look at "the catch" from yesterday. These blocks with the white block will be outer blocks. WHAT??? How many times can we say "block" in one sentence?? Let me try that again...The blocks with the white square will be around the outer edge of the quilt. (That sounds so much better!)

Happy Qujilting, Friends!

Gone Fishin'

I knew at some point I would resort to that lame title while I was working on the Kissing Fish quilt. I know you'll forgive me. It was just too obviously necessary!

So I have, actually, done some more work on those fishies, and it feels like I am coming into the home stretch. When I quit work on it last Sunday, I had discovered that I had somehow goofed on the number of blocks I needed. That was somewhat disappointing, since I was geared up to begin sewing them all together!

Sometimes I just need to step away from the project. I had obligations Monday and Tuesday, spent Wednesday playing at applique, and now, since I have had time to cogitate the situation, and I got back to work on it today. Things just needed to simmer for a bit, you know?

So now the last 2 of the printed fishies are pieced.

And the last 13 of the white fishies are pieced.

So now they are ready to be laid out with the rest of the fishies, and sewing units together has commenced.

If things go well, I could be on my way to a finish this weekend!

Today, 7 of the 8 Frienzies met for dinner at Red Lobster. So much fun catching up with these girlies!! We meet monthly, yet we pick up with our conversations just like we see each other daily! Don't you just love friends like that?

Tomorrow, another group of dear friends will be meeting - the Frankfort girls will be meeting at JoAnn's for our regularly scheduled sewing session. Looking forward to that!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Kissing Fish Comes Together

In the midst of going to the quilt show in Cincinnati and getting all excited about applique, I am continuing to work on Kissing Fish. I laid out the fish units today, and discovered that I haven't made enough! It appears I have misread the directions...I am not even going to try to figure out how that happened. I will just make the rest of the fish that I need. No need to analyze it - just do it!

Here are a couple of pics of how it looks currently.

 

 

I love how bright and cheerful it looks. For whatever reason, the setting for this really confuses me, so I am having to be exceedingly cautious that I don't turn something the wrong way.

 

I will be sewing at Sherrie's tomorrow, so fishies will have to wait. I haven't forgotten that I promised some pics of the quilts at the Cincinnati show. I am getting them ready. Maybe tomorrow! Stay tuned!

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

 

 

Finally!!

We have had an unusually long winter here in southern Ohio. The weatherman I listen to says we had one of the coldest months (March) on record. So we are now enjoying a bit of warmer weather. And with warmer temps, we finally have daffodils!!

I can never see a daffodil patch without thinking of the wonderful William Wordsworth poem, which I know I shared last spring, but I feel compelled to rerun it. Celebrate Spring!

Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

As the story goes, Wordsworth wrote this poem in 1804 after taking a walk with his sister and happening upon a "long belt" of daffodils in England's beautiful Lake District. I dream of going there in April to see those daffodils. Sigh, maybe someday.

In the meantime, I will quilt! I have a bit of trimming to do. I've got my stacks of HSTs here and I am tackling them a stack at a time.

 

The colors remind me of the tropics - Key West or Florida, perhaps. Those citrus-y colors along with those ocean blues. Perfect for a quilt called Kissing Fishes, I think.

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

 

Kissing Fish

That's a cute name for a baby quilt, isn't it? I had a picture of the quilt pinned on my Pinterest board, and mom-to-be Erin (the other Erin, not my Erin) picked it out. I began gathering bright, happy fat quarters and just this morning, did a bit of cutting and stitching, to see how the blocks will go together.

Here are the bright fabrics I have yet to cut into. I pulled 3 out to play with this morning. I will try to have a lot of variety in my fishies, of which I need 110. I've made 12, so I've a bit of fishing ahead of me.

Here's my stack of printed fish, 9 so far. They go together very well, and I chain pieced them, so it was relatively fast and smooth sailing. I will need 62 printed fish.

White fish go with the printed fish. I will need 48 of these, and so far I have 3.

The blocks will go together like this. I don't think the kissing fish need to be the same color - it appears from the picure to be random placement.

The blocks are going together quite nicely, and I am guessing that it's because of the trimming that is called for. I don't see many quilt instructions that specifically say to trim. Since this one did, I figured it must be important to do, so I am, and it takes forever, but the end result is totally worth it. (There was a grumble hidden under there, but not a big one.)

Here's a purple fish block. See how the white fish serve as background for the colorful fish?  This looks like it will be fun to put together.

I guess I should add that the pattern is free. Here is the link to the website. Like I said, I had the picture saved on Pinterest. Here is that pic:

Well, the weather has finally decided that it will be Springtime after all. DH and I are off for a walk, then I hope finish the cutting. All the HSTs need a diagonal line drawn on, and I can do that while watching basketball tonight.

Since my Buckeyes are out of the tournament, I am conflicted about who to root for. Folks in these parts have a particular distaste for "that state up north," but I would like to see them do well to represent the Big 10. Oh, well, I just like watching basketball, so I won't stress about it too much!

Happy Quilting, Friends!