Monday, April 29, 2013

Bath Time

It is that time in my daughter's life when she and many of her friends have babies or small children. Such a magical time. And with those babies come baby showers. We thought of the hooded towels that I last made when my granddaughters were babies (they are now 9 and 6 years old).

So I tried to remember how I made them, and the first one was for my new little grandson.

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Pretty unadorned, right? You are seeing the inside of the towel and the front of the hood.

Next up was the baby shower for this same little guy.


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You are seeing the towel back this time. Conclusion: hood too big, letters a bit small.

Then I made one for my DD to take for her high school BFF who is expecting a boy.


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I thought this one was successful, a better hood, better letters. It's really more teal than in the picture.

Then we went to a little boy's birthday, so I made one for him.

I'm sorry it's such a poor picture. It's a lovely royal blue with a cute print for the letters.
Conclusion: the hood is much too big. Wonder if I can ask for it back to fix it?

Lastly, another baby shower. This towel is microfibre, not cotton toweling.
Pros: beautiful colour, lovely soft feel, doesn't snag
Cons: I'm not sure how well it will dry the baby, we'll have to try one. My sewing machine didn't like it and the applique was more difficult to handle.



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I've improved with the font for the letters, and I really like the look of the lower case letters.

As with all things, I improved with practice. If there are more babies, bring it on! I'm on a roll!

Till next time,

Sue

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Perennial Pleasures

Hi everyone!

Today is a gorgeous day and I've been out for a walk in the sunshine. Spring may be here at last!

This brings me to the subject of my Whisper Quilt blocks. This was an activity put on by my quilt guild, and it lasts the whole year. Did you ever play that children's game where a message is whispered person to person round a circle, and the last message is so different from the first? Well, the whisper quilt is like that. You get a look at what the person before you has made, and you interpret it in your own way and then show it to the next person on the list.

March was my month. The image I saw was of a bird, a tree and a bird's nest.

It got me thinking of spring and summer days on the deck, and what I like to see and do there.

After a lot of searching I found the Garden Party Blog Hop  hosted last year by Jennifer Ofenstein of Sewhooked.   Jen is such a talented artist of paper pieced blocks, and my Harry Potter Bookshelf is her design.

I found three great blocks among the garden party images, including Jen's own post, Perennial Pleasures, a pot of tulips with a glass of wine. Since my enjoyment of a summer day includes a book, I combined two of Jen's patterns to make the fourth block.

Whisper blocks for Sew Together


I plan to border the four blocks to make a cushion cover of about 22-24 inches square.



Linking to

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Till next time,

Sue

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

T-shirt Quilt

I can't believe it's a month since I posted. I've certainly been quilting, but there was less time to share about that with the adjustment of having a new baby in the house. Now we're settling down, so back on track.

I've got two main projects on the go right now.

First up is the Harry Potter Bookshelf. Here are a few favourite blocks:

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Actually, I love ALL the blocks! Paper pieced, and great experience. There are only 5 blocks to go, and then I start putting them together.

My other WIP is my son's concert T shirt quilt.

 I admit, I was nervous to cut into these. Some of them are 20 years old, and worn very thin.
 In preparation I read every tutorial I could find.

The center of the quilt is put together now. This was the hard, worrying part, constructing the different shapes and sizes into a large rectangle. Sigh of relief, it worked!  Now it's easier, all the rest of the logos are in 12 1/2 inch blocks surrounding the center. I'm going to sash them in different colours of Sketch. Hope I like the result!


                             T shirt quilt WIP

Linking to

WIP Wednesday at Freshly PiecedFresh Poppy Design

Till next time,

Sue