Breanna is Having a Baby!

My great niece, Breanna, is having a baby! Her mom, my sister and sister-in-law all got together and made her this adorable quilt! I had the honor of quilting it.

Below are some close-ups of the critters.  Aren't they adorable?? After a million thread changes for color matching and some linework in the background, they turned out pretty cute!

The backing allowed the quilting to show up nicely. It gives you a better idea of the quilting that went into each block.

Breanna's shower was this past Saturday. Her mom took a video of her opening the quilt--I can't wait to see it. Apparently, the quilt was a hit!!  Now we just have to wait for the baby to be born to enjoy it.

Dory

Milly's Ponies

So after hours of "building fence" and then way too much quilting for a kid's quilt, Milly's ponies were finally finished and delivered last week.

This is a Buggy Barn pattern and I just fell in love with it. The eyes were supposed to be buttons, but since Milly is not yet a year old, I felt that having Dennis embroider eyes was the better option.

The horse in the middle was a bad horse! He had no contrast and just faded into the background. However, some extra quilting and a Pigma pen and he magically reappeared!

I chose a green flannel for the backing.  

A close-up (reverse-style) of the quilting. As you can see, I went a touch overboard. This pic shows the true color of the green; I'm not sure why its so dark in the photo above.

Thanks for having a look!

Dory

Guess Why I'm Making All This Stuff!

Your first clue:

Isn't it cute? I used a flannel print with these goofy animals (who can resist a horse with buck teeth??) and one of the BQ patterns...BQ4, I think.

This is the back. I wish blogs were textile--it is minke and boy is it soft!!  It gives the quilt such a nice feel.

Your second clue:

This cute little elephant wall hanging.

Look closely...the side has little lines that measure inches.  Are you figuring it out???

And the last clue:

A fabric book with nursery (big clue) rhymes!!

So???  Can you guess what I'm going to be????

Dory

Puget Sounder's First Voyage

Puget Sounder is the name of our new-to-us boat. It has a raised salon, which just means that rather than being like a normal sailboat, the area down below has big windows and lots of natural light.  We may change the name of the boat, but so far, we haven't come up with anything.

Friday morning we took off with another couple on their boat and motored to Port Townsend. There was good wind and we could have sailed, however, the other couple just wanted to motor. By car, Port Townsend is a 40 minute drive. By boat, its three hours...go figure.

Dash was the first mate. He thought sailing was great.

Port Townsend was sunny and beautiful when we got there. We walked around like tourists, checked out shops and had a great dinner at Sirens. Saturday was more of the same, but this time the boys got to go with us. It was great exposure for Dash and Moose made friends with everyone.

The plan on Sunday was to have a leisurely breakfast and then head back. The weather had other ideas though, so we were up early and sailing back by 7:30. The seas were rough, but not as rough as they were predicted to be later in the day.  This is Dennis at the helm on the way home. It was cold, windy and rainy--not the best weather.

Fun trip! Now I'm in the car heading for the airport to sew with my sister for a few days. Life is busy!!

Dory

Happy Birthday Mom!!

If my mom were still alive, she'd be 90 years old today. That's a hard thing for me to imagine. This photo of her was taken during WWII. She was a Marine, although at that point I think all women were allowed to do was cook. I remember her telling me about peeling potatoes!! Lots and lots of potatoes. *grin*

I was 31 when she died and hadn't even met Dennis yet. I like to think if she were still alive, there are many things in my life that would make her happy: being married to my best friend (for 12 years next month); having horses (I used to make her NUTS when I was little); turning my passion for quilting into a profession; and my dogs. My mom always loved animals (I think that's where I get it from), and she's always loved my dogs. 

Happy birthday mom...I still miss you.

A Family Affair -- Completed

If you haven't read my original post with the history of this quilt, you can click here. If you have (or don't care about the history) keep on reading!

My sister Barbara came up to visit in May and we finished Corrie's quilt.  Okay, we didn't totally finish it, but I did finish my part.  I quilted the easy bits, the border and sashing. Barb and I had been having a debate to determine how to quilt the blocks, themselves. I wanted to be whimsical, Barb wanted to be traditional. So we compromised and she quilted all the cross-hatching.  Let's see...how fair is that??  Hmmm...took me about two hours total to do my part; took her about 20 hours for hers! Plus, she made the quilt and then did all the embellishing. I skated!!!

I think it turned out great and the recipient, my other sister, Donna, Corrie's mom, was thrilled when she got it in the mail! That was the best part.

Here are the photos. They are worth clicking on for an up-close view, not only for the quilting (which my sister does at a domestic sit-down machine with her hopping foot! *crazy*), but for the embellishments! This really was a labor of love!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program!

Dory

A Quilt for Baby Dylan

My niece, Ashley, and her husband Ben are having their first baby. Dylan is supposed to be born some time in July...at least that's what the docs say.  I made him a quilt and tried a few new tools and techniques as well.

I purchased a panel, some matching fabrics and this is what I ended up with.

 I cc'd the four-patch blocks and then practiced "dwirling" in the center over the panel. That was one of the new techniques. It turned out nice and didn't distract from the panel at all, IMHO.

The back...

Then, new technique #2, I made bias binding. I found several "how to's" on You Tube and just went for it. Seemed to work out okay.  New technique #3, I attached the binding while it was on the machine. I've never done that before and won't ever do it for a show quilt; however, for an everyday quilt, it worked great.  I plan to get lots more use from it!

I used this tool from Anilee that I purchased ages ago. Its nice to finally give it a go.

Finally, technique #4 and another ruler. This one is called "The Binding Tool," and gives you the exact measurements for cutting your binding so that it can be pieced together. No more big lump where the ends meet!

Now to have Dennis embroider a label for me and it will be off in the mail!

Dory

Port Gamble, WA

My sister, Barbara, was here for a week during May. One of the things she wanted to do was visit a quilt shop she'd seen in Quilt Sampler magazine. It was on Vashon Island, a place I'd never been to. We set out early one morning for our self-guided shop hop, en route to Island Quilter on Vashon. After a two hour drive and a very short ferry ride, we were there. You travel for approximately four miles on the main road before you get to "town" proper and Island Quilter is on that main drag.

It was a beautiful store with a ton of fabric. I would highly recommend visiting this store if you get the chance. They also have a gorgeous class room with mostly contemporary quilts hung all around. They had the quilt hanging that was in the issue of Quilt Sampler that featured them; it was beautiful. The staff at Island Quilter were terrific and even gave us a coupon to have lunch at the Hardware Store; excellent food and nary a tool in sight! <wink>

From there we headed to Bainbridge Island and Pine Needles quilt shop, the home McKenna Ryan Quilt Designs. That is the most beautiful store with McKenna's quilts all around. They offer classes and kits for sale. One kit was hanging that Barb had even done herself.

Last stop was Port Gamble and Quilted Strait. I'd been to Quilted Strait when it was located in Port Angeles, but this was my first visit to Port Gamble and Quilted Strait in its new location. I fell in love with Port Gamble; the town is very historic and they take great pride in that. We walked around the town cameras in hand, it was that cute.

Quilted Strait:

A fun quilt in their shop:

The shop used to be a stable!

We loved this church. Barb got some great pics of it; I only had my phone so this doesn't even do it justice.

It was such a fun day traveling all over western Washington with my sister. Initially I had planned to drive, but then Barb ended up having to chauffeur us around. She was a good sport about it even though that meant hours of driving just two days before her long trip home to Carson City. I think she's convinced to fly up next time and I love that there will be a next time. We sewed/quilted almost every day and threw in a few fun outings. Next trip, I'll have even more fun things to show her.

A Family Affair

 In 1979, my neice, Corrie Rae, died at the age of four. She was a very special little girl and we all still miss her.  She was the daughter of my sister, Donna.  Donna has kept a box of Corrie's clothes all this time not wanting to get rid of them, yet not knowing what to do with them.

Several years ago it was decided to make a memory quilt with the clothes. Corrie's older sister, Christy, took the clothes apart. My other sister, Barbara, pieced this beautiful Sun Bonnet Sue quilt with the clothes, adding fabric (like the background) where necessary. Barb will bring the quilt to me when she visits in May and I'll quilt it. I think we'll have Dennis embroider a label for the back.

Not only has this project been a family affair, but it is such a great tribute to a wonderful little girl that will forever be four in our hearts.

Dory