Urban Life Quilt for a Baby Girl

Quilt back

Photos are not the best because they were taken inside on a stormy day.  My haircutter, Emily, who no longer works, still comes to my home and cuts my hair, whenever I need a haircut.  She and her husband are adding to their family; they have two great boys and the new baby is a girl!  I used some of my precious Central Park fabric for this baby quilt.  I love the pantograph called Jungle Animals.

The quilt measures 46 x 48 inches.

May your bobbins always be full,

Quilt Back for the Urban Life Baby Quilt

After making the Urban Life quilt top from Central Park fabric, I had 20 - 1" x 10" fabric strips left over.  I spent yesterday afternoon making these four blocks.  I'm calling them "Pick Up Sticks" quilt blocks.

Today I decided to separate them by a 3.5" strip and put them half way on the quilt back.

The quilt top is below.

I'm taking a wee sewing break.  Believe it or not, I need to clean the garage and get rid of some things.  I think February is the perfect month for that task.  I still have plenty of Bob's things to make decisions about.  Boxes and boxes of "stuff"!  I need to clean my closets, too!  Imagine that.

May your bobbins always be full,

Urban Life Quilt Top for a Baby Girl

We're having a gusty, blustery day, here in Murrieta.

There's just too much wind to get a decent photo, so I took it inside!

The quilt top for Emily's baby girl is finished.  It measures 48" x 48", and I can't decide which way I like it best.  On a square quilt, I guess it doesn't matter.  Now I need to decide on the quilt back, I have an idea, we'll see if it works!

May your bobbins always be full,

Frustrating...Warning ~ I'm not happy!

I've wanted a design wall for ages.  I thought it'd make my quilting life easier and it should.  My new portable design wall and I have gotten off to a rough start.

On the recommendation of two quilty friends, one on FB and one on IG, I purchased "Cheryl Ann's Portable, Free Standing Design Wall".  I got the large size, 72" x 72".  In theory, this should be just what I need.  I have no wall space to dedicate to a design wall, so one that can be put up and taken down, as needed, sounded divine.

My first problem when I attempted assembly yesterday was the Brace Clips did not easily snap on; they were a bear to get on, and one actually broke, rendering the use of that pole mute.

The top photo shows the printed rows of this quilt top before adding the half blocks to the ends of half the rows.  The photo above shows the rows rearranged after the rows were complete, and the design wall had tipped over, dumping the blocks on the floor.  After this photo was taken, it tipped over again!

 I gave up yesterday afternoon, I had to go teach Tai Chi.  Before I left, I moved the design wall to the guest room, and wedged it in front of the mirrored closet.  This morning I worked with the strips, placing them again, but this really isn't satisfactory, either.  The design wall is meant to be used at an angle,  The angle helps keep the blocks on the flannel better.  I'm not giving up, but I just had to vent!

May your bobbins always be full,

Central Park baby quilt

Just because I haven't been posting, doesn't mean I haven't been busy.  My wonderful haircutter, Emily, spoils me by coming to my home to cut my hair.  She has two handsome boys, and this Spring she will add a little girl to her family.  This quilt is for the new baby.

I've been saving a layer cake of Central Park by Kate Spain, for a long time.  This project will use half of the layer cake; I'll save the rest for future inspiration.

I normally don't use patterns, but I'm using the Quilt 2 pattern, from Urban Life by Crazy Old Ladies.  I'm eliminating the top and bottom borders to give it a modern look.  It's a very simple pattern but very time-consuming.

May your bobbins always be full,

Bouncing Baby Boy Quilts

 

Although these two quilts are made using the same pattern and the same fabrics, they are different, as you can easily see.  Plus, one is bound in gold and the other in gray.

The stitch pattern is called Bear, Moose and Pine, I think it's a great choice for these Boy Quilts.  It goes with the fabric, so well.

This is me trying to get a photo of the two quilts, together.  I finally got an acceptable one.

These quilts are going to two young couples that are each expecting their second sons.  Even though they are all from this area, I don't think they know each other!  One Mom is my fantastic hair-cutter, who worked at Barnes and Noble with me, and the other is the daughter in law of my daughters' best friend.  They'll be receiving these, shortly.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday.

May your bobbins always be full,

Bouncing Baby Boy Quilts

In the past month I've gotten word that two of the young women in my life, non-relatives, are both expecting their second baby boy, early next year.  One is my haircutter; I met Emily when we both worked at Barnes and Noble.  The other is my youngest daughters' best friends' daughter-in-law, Shauna.  The girls don't know each other, Emily lives in Lake Elsinore and Shauna lives in Iowa, so I thought I'd make my life easier and make them duplicate quilts.  

This is the fabric I'm going to use, Camp Sur by Jay-Cyn Designs for Birch Fabrics.  I purchased this stack of half yard cuts, a while ago, just in case!  I'm going to make a mini, about 40x40", of this quilt.

I debated a bit about which "white" to use for the background strips; I think I'll use the top jelly roll, of "natural".

I've been busy cutting away.  I cut a 5" strip WOF from each fabric, and sub-cut 3 5x5" blocks; then cut the remainder of each strip in half, for the two reflection quilts.

I have a couple of ideas about what I'll do with the 5x5" charms, so as long as I was cutting away, I thought why not cut them all at once.

May your bobbins always be full,