Reflections on 2016

2016 is almost over, and one of my goals was to use more of my children's prints for baby quilts, as I had almost two boxes of fabrics for that purpose. I tried to make one baby quilt a month, and here's the results of focusing on baby quilts in 2016:

Quilt 1:

This is a simple, quick pattern - just cut 14 each of three prints, and you have a quilt.  Only trick is laying it out ahead of time, to be sure I don't get squares mixed up while sewing squares together.  It's 30 x 35 inches.  I like the simplicity of this idea, and have 14 each of three other baby prints cut out to make another one.

Quilt 2:

This one is such a soft boy quilt that has my heart.  It has feedsack ducklings, Mother Goose fabric, stripes and a big center checked star - what's not to like?  36" by 48"  The backing will be blue checked flannel.


Quilt 3:

This was a kit, and I love it.  The colonial blue squares with stars are perfect as alternate squares with the pictures of children.  I blogged about these first three quilts in February (Here) if you want more information about any of them.

Quilt 4:

This was a "fix" of a baby quilt that had problems.  I took off circles, cut the puckered fabric away underneath them, and sewed the circles back on.  It belongs to my best friend Dee, and I gave it back to her after fixing it.  Here are three pictures of it:

See the "Pouched out" fabric below a removed circle.

The backing was bought in Shipshewana, and I love the striped binding that finished it off.  I don't know if it has been gifted to a baby yet,  but I was happy with the results.

Quilt 5:

This kit was in my stash for a long time, and I'm happy it is now a quilt top.  My favorite of all the ones made in 2016.  Here's a close-up of the children print:

It's 54" X 68" and I am keeping the directions to possibly make another one.

Quilt 6:

This is what I call my "hippy dippy psychedelic rainbow" quilt.  The small checked fabric is used in pinwheels, but there is not enough contrast to show that there are pinwheels there.  Lesson learned......don't go so psychedelic for both parts of the pinwheels, so you can see the contrast.  I did practice mitered corners on it, and three out of four turned out just fine.  It's a top, and will be a charity gift, as the fabric was donated to me for that purpose.  43" X 50"

Quilt 7:

This baby blanket should be for a "Born in July" baby.  It is another favorite of mine, and is backed and partially quilted.  Backing is solid red.  36" X 42"

Quilt 8:

Love, love, love this one too.  It's so cheerful, and I can see a baby loving it.  42" X 54" and has a flannel polka dot backing with it to finish it off.  Blog post about it (Here)

Quilt 9:

This is "cheater" cloth in that the squares are printed on only one piece of fabric, and when I attached the batting and white flannel backing, I stitched in the lines between squares, so there is stitching there and it doesn't look like "cheater" cloth.  The pink rosebuds would be great for a little baby girl.

42" X 66"

Quilt 10:

I was playing around with another piece of the "cheater" cloth, and sewed seams between each change in pattern, all the vertical and horizontal lines.....so it looks just like the quilt above, but smaller squares, and more work.  This one is 38" by 60" right now, but it could be cut into something to coordinate with quilt 9.

Quilt 11:

This is a quilt top that someone else made, and I took it home to finish ......and it is still unfinished.  42" X 54"  The pattern is easy and pleasing to me.  I will take notes about it before it is donated to a charity.

Quilt 12:

This was a baby quilt made in December 2015, for my Great Grand Niece in Indiana.  She just turned one year old December 19th, and I made a doll quilt for her also.  She is such a cutie.  Doll quilt:

This quilt was made as I formed my focus for 2016, and got me started on this journey.  I like the pattern and will use it again. 

So looking back on this focus:   I find 2 quilts completed and out of my house, 10 quilts sewn into tops, and baby stash reduced considerably.  Next I will work on the above quilts by adding batting, backings, and quilt them on my home domestic machine, so they will be ready for gifts. 

I am glad I set a focus for 2016, and feel that it helped me move further along with baby quilts from my stash.  I am thinking about what my focus for 2017 will be.   Hmmmmmmmmm, fun to think about.

Merry Christmas to All

Are you ready for Christmas?  I'm not, but as they say.....Christmas is coming, whether we are ready for it or not.

Today I finished this pillow, which is now on our living room couch.  It was featured in a magazine, and there was a sample made up at The Attic Window, a local quilt shop here in Grand Rapids.  I liked the sample, bought the magazine, and made it during the year, but just finished it today.  The magazine instructions had "Happy Holidays", but I like to say "Merry Christmas" so I changed the words.  Also, I don't remember what the original pattern had as snowflakes, but the sample maker had used buttons, and I liked them.  So I used some of my teeny, tiny, baby purl buttons as the snowflalkes.

I have a whole jar of these baby buttons, and just love to look at them.  I do like teeny, tiny things, I know.

Here is a picture of the pillow:

And a close-up of the tiny button snowflakes:

Sophia Grace and Rosie wanted me to take their picture, and I wanted to tell you how easy the back of the pillow is.   Aren't they cute in their Santa hats?

Re the back:   I took two pieces of fabric, overlapped salvage edges of each piece, so I didn't need a seam on the open edges, and then sewed them to the piping and front.  Viola!   A pillow!

There isn't a need for a button or closure, the two flaps just overlap, easy-peasy.

Merry Christmas to you from me!  And a Happy New Year!

I'm linking up with Design Wall Mondays as usual.  (Here)