The baby quilt

  Quilted, bound, and finished......ready to be in the mail next week.  I know the baby is not due for 6 more weeks, but it feels good to complete this one for Chad and Amber's new little one.                                                                   
  The colors speak to me of summer days,  sherbet ice cream,  and happy times.  A medium green border to hold the design and let it float across the sunshine colored background. 
 

  The blocks are large at 12 1/2'' with orange peel sections machine appliqued.  I enjoy making these using fusible interfacing.  Here's a good tutorial for this technique.  

  The quilt finished at 42''  by 54''.  A bit larger than I originally planned....I say that is some growing room for her. 
  Quilting inspiration was vague.....I resorted to my usual swirl and curl and it turned out soft.  It is what I wanted anyway. 

















  We have errands to run today, and my brother arrives tonight.  Tomorrow is cookie making day with Remy, along with other required baking.  So most else is done until they begin the un-wrapping stage.  I will wish all a Merry Christmas and send blessings to each one who stops by.  I will be back next week when the dust settles. 
Merry Christmas and happy stitching. 

Absence explained

  I have been absent, not away, with too much going on.  And I never did get cookies made.  Things I did accomplish include......a double batch of Chex mix for the nephews and Sir Old Man to munch on, shopping is finished, packages mailed, Christmas notes sent,  side dishes for Christmas dinner assembled and frozen, small amount of stitching, and birthday brunch out.  Yep, I am a year older and almost forgot about it:) 

    Sir Old Man didn't......He decided to make my life even easier and got me a Surface Pro, you know the fancy thing to replace a laptop or a tablet.    So it is learning time for me.  I called our IT friend and he will help us get all the settings right and set up sharing.  And that's all I really know to date. 

  I did catch the HQ live video on it for this month.  Feathers with Jane Hauprich was excellent!   It's an hour video and worth the watching.  She uses the HQ sit-down machine, but her techniques work even for LAs.   I loved being able to sit in my chair, feet up with  the tablet to watch it. 



  And a second video I watched today from Janome.  Anna Maria Horner shared a pattern for her Turn It Up quilt.  Lots of scraps went into this one as well as a good lesson on using value in our quilts.  You know that was right up my alley.  It's very simple, squares and HSTs .  And she offers a PDF to download. 


   My last to share today is from C and T Publishing.  Click here to get the Carolina Chain quilt pattern from Bonnie Hunter.   They are sharing full instructions for the on-point layout.  This photo is one I made with a straight set several years ago. 

  Stitching.....a bit more to do as I assemble the 16 patch blocks into two narrow foot warmers for the bed.  And I finally decided on a quilting motid for the baby quilt.  Now I just need a few hours without interruption or distraction.    Maybe today.......happy stitching.

More from the 16 patch farm!

  The baby quilt is pinned for quilting and the binding is pressed and ready for finishing.  Just the quilting needs to be done.  I am seeking inspiration on that part or I will be resigned to meandering.  But I have a few days to contemplate it all. 


  So I visited the 16 patch farm.....the blocks were sitting by the iron and needed the final pressing.  I put up a crop of the darker blocks--shade garden blocks---to the left.  To the right went the second crop of the lighter blocks that jumble together like a country garden. 
  I could see a couple of blocks that needed to be switched to the other side.  Why so  narrow, you ask?  My thought here was to make narrow throws for the foot of the bed---foot warmer style.  I sort of thought they would be more useful for us. 
  Since the blocks will finish at 6'', I need to make a few more to have enough length.

    Over the weekend I made more  blocks while watching a movie.  Then I began playing on the design wall....and everything got jumbled and moved around.   Seeing the photo now, I think I made a mistake.  I like this better on the design wall but not in the photo. 

Insight:  Remember this trick....a photo does not lie.  I need to like the photo and the design wall layout!
 
That's okay, I can take it all down and add a few more blocks to the mix.  Then I can see what the farm crop yields the next time:)

  Two small trees are decorated and a few bit of Christmas decor spread around.  A small bit of shopping is done, and list made for food items to buy and bake.  Now if the weather would cool off enough to be able to heat up the ovens for cookies.  Maybe next weekend. 
Happy stitching.