I spent the last three days having a sew-in with a local sewing buddy who lives about an hour away and comes to my place to camp out for a few days every month or so. It's been great fun building our friendship! We have more things in common and have become fast friends since we first met at a quilting retreat in August. I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and so is she. We both ended up in Kansas, living just an hour apart. We're both avid SF Giants fans and, while I'm not much of a football person in general, I do cheer for the SF 49ers who she also loves. And the list goes on. Oh, and we both quilt, crochet, have Brother embroidery sewing machines (same model!) and we both do English smocking! Crazy! So, Sharon left yesterday afternoon after a successful visit. She spent time getting borders sewn on two of her quilts, finished two toddler bed sheets for her grandson, and got a pair of fun PJ bottoms nearly finished for her daughter. I managed to get a shopping cart cozy made for my grandson that is turning out real cute! I have a second one to cut out and assemble so my daughter and I each have one so we don't have to remember to swap one back and forth. It's always going to be in the other car! With Jacob only 2 pounds under the weight limit for the baby car seat, it's time to get it done so he can sit in his cosy when we take him shopping and have to leave the new big-boy car seat in the car.
So this is the pattern I'm using-
-McCall's Crafts M5721. It's pretty straightforward and other than eliminating some of the pockets, it came together nicely. Silly me, I forgot to read the directions thoroughly and had to go back and sew around the leg holes after I had layered the top fabric on in the
sandwich. Getting all of the high-loft batting stuffed into my machine was a
little challenging, especially since I didn't do it first before
sandwiching all three layers. Did I say I hate directions? And I learned a few things that I will change when I make the second one.
Getting the casing made for the elastic went much easier once I got the steps done in order. Oh, and I should have sewn the bag onto the back before I put the elastic in. Geez... I have to remember to do things in the right order next time.
Anyway, here it is! Hanging over my sewing chair. I added some ribbon loops to hook toys onto or a binky-strap. And I love the bag that attached on the back to hold Mom's stuff while shopping and to stuff the cover into for easy storage/carrying when not in use. Now to add a handle and a velcro patch to hold the bag closed when in storage and it will be done! I LOVE the monkeys in the trees on this fabric. I think I'll keep this one and give the Toy Story version to Ali to use.
Next up on the project list is to get a baby quilt done for a sweet young friend of mine. Lizzie, who missed being born on my birthday by only a few hours, has been like a daughter to me since she was about 3 when her dad and I dated. She and I have kept in touch and I'm Momma Liz and on quick-dial on her phone still. She's married now and having a boy real soon. Her husband is an outdoorsy Marine and hunter and she's following suit by registering for everything in camo! Well, I'm not too sure about that, so I asked her if she trusted me when she asked me to make her baby's first quilt. Luckily she said yes and I'm going to have fun with it!
I've gone with nature prints and a small print that looks almost like camo for the backing. Typically I make things more complicated than they need to be and decided this time to keep it simple. So, I'm going to do 9"x36" strips with a 2" sash out of the gold print at the upper right (up close it looks like pheasant wings) and border it with the dark brown vines. There will be a blue strip at the top with part of "Home on the Range" machine embroidered onto it to tie in the buffalo and the deer and hook Lizzie back to her Kansas roots. This is what I came up with in EQ7 as a draft to get myself some dimensions to work with.
Now to find some blue for the sky that I like. I didn't think of this when I was buying the nature prints, so have been scouring my stash. I do have one dark stary night fabric that might work with light embroidered letters. I'm still auditioning and may have to make another trip to the quilt store. Oh darn!
That's it for today's additional WIP. I'm also getting ready to go back to the 2013 FMQ Challenge Embrace Your Love quilt, but am trying to decide if I want to dive into fabric painting or whether I want to do something different for this week's step. Hmmmm... More thinking and considering is in order.
For quilters who may drop by, I have a prayer request to put out there. My sister-in-law Cindy, who just turned 65 in October, has been rediagnosed with cancer. She went through chemo and radiation that ended two years ago when she lost her health insurance. Medicare kicked in and she's now covered and going to the doctor almost daily it seems. She is an incredible quilter, but with her health issues she hasn't been in her sewing room in way too long. There are so many quilts started or waiting to be started for her three kids, seven grandkids and two great-grandsons. She has Stage IV lung cancer and thoracic lymphoma, and this week's tests showed spots on her kidneys. Needless to say she is scared and has asked me to put her on any and all prayer lists. I'm grateful I got her snowflake quilt finished and sent to her at Christmas last month. I've told her she should take it with her to chemo as her comfort quilt when she starts treatments next week. Thank you to any who offer up prayers for her.
More snippets from the sewing room soon,
Liz
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