Another NICU Quilt

I found this remnant of a Silly Safari fabric by Moda at my favorite quilt shop and thought it would make a nice bright NICU quilt. The large patches are quick to cut and piece. I liked it so much, I went online to find more of this discontinued fabric and bought 4 yards. The blue and red dots are from Moda's All About Color line. This quilt will also go to the NICU at Phoenix Children's Hospital. This was machine pieced and quilted. This one measures 36.5" square. The colors in these pictures are not quite right. The reds appear too orange.

Counted Cross Stitch Weathervane Horse

I stitched this in 1986. It looks very easy, but it wasn't, mostly because there are 18 cross stitches to the inch. The stitching/bare areas are opposite in the base. The second close up view is where I stitched my name and the date in thread that's the same color as the fabric. You can see it if you look, but it doesn't spoil the overall "picture." It's actually a medium federal blue on off-white fabric, but the color didn't come out well. I didn't want to take it out from under the glass to take the pictures.

Knitted Quilt Block Dishcloths

Quilting is my current passion, but I also love other types of needlework. I designed these two dishcloths myself, in the Nine Patch and Puss in the Corner traditional quilt block designs. I can knit one of these up in 3 or 4 hours, faster than the ones I've made from various leaflets, although I enjoy the more complicated knit and crochet patterns. When I took the beginning quilt class last spring, which was 7 classes over a 4-month period, I knitted up about a dozen of the Nine Patches for my classmates and teacher. I don't like to sew in the car, but I knit or crochet when we travel. If I don't have any hand quilting or binding to stitch, I do other types of needlework while watching television with my husband. If you request it via e-mail, I'd be happy to share the patterns.

Block of the Month

This block of the month started in June. I won't post the other blocks just yet, because I'm going to actually do each block 3 times. The block on the left is as I get the fabrics from the shop, and the block on the right is my second version. I'm going to do the third version in teal using Blank Quilting Company's Inspirations I, II, and III collections. Blank donates part of the proceeds from these fabrics, all in teal, to ovarian cancer research. My DGD loves the color combination of teal and brown, so the background on this will be a brown fusions fabric. I'm going to make an extra block in the blue and yellow/orange, and then turn those 25 blocks into throws and a pillow for each of my 5 grandsons, each one having a different combination of blocks. The teal and brown quilt for my granddaughter will be twin size. The blocks won't be done until next summer, so these will be for Christmas 2009. I'll post pictures of the 3 versions of each block as I finish the brown and teal blocks. This is block #5. The 12" blocks get put together with a sashing of the blue fabric with setting squares of yellow/orange squares sent on point with the corners of the blue.

Blue and White Table Runner

This was a class I took last spring. I collect blue and white china, so it's perfect on my dining room table with the 15 different blue and white plates in the china cabinet. This is machine pieced and machine quilted, and measures 13" by 35."

Pillow Panels

Pillow panels, craft panels, cheater cloth, whatever you want to call them, I enjoy hand quilting these printed panels, then turning them into sofa pillow shams. All during the years I worked, I could manage to to do this handwork when I didn't have time for piecing. I do this sort of thing while watching TV with my husband. The winter birds have very little quilting - just around the border and around the birds. But -- the birds are stuffed from the back making them 3-dimensional. These are 16" pillows. I like to switch out the shams in the living room either with the seasons or at my whim. The shams are also much easier to store and wash than pillows. I have several amongst my many UFOs that are quilted but not yet made into shams.

Sewing Room Warning Sign

None of my daughters have any inclination to do any sort of needlework, so I'm pleased that my granddaughter wants to try her hand at it. Last year, she came to visit the week after Christmas, and we spent most of that time taking turns at my sewing machine. She made a couple of messenger bags and small bags for herself and a friend while I made pillow shams for them using the Bachelor's Puzzle pattern in black and red because they're big UGA fans. (She was 13 at the time). One afternoon, I headed back to the sewing room and found these sticky notes stuck to the door. She hasn't been to visit since, so she doesn't know that I framed them and hung it over the sewing machine.

A NICU Quilt from 6 Fat Quarters

I won these 6 fat quarters at my quilt guild meeting in September. The fabric collection is called "Pueblo Traditions." Two of my grandchildren were cared for by the NICU of Phoenix Children's Hospital, so this fabric seemed perfect for a quilt to be donated to them. This quilt is machine pieced and machine quilted. The quilting design shows up better on the back. This quilt measures 34.5 inches square.