Quilts are for cuddling

This blog is in response to the many questions I've received (both as comments to the last post and in real life) regarding why on earth I would hang a quilt on a wall – I assume, as opposed to using it in the crib.

First I must mention that I'm a very firm believer that quilts are for cuddling. That's why all the quilts I've ever made are completely machine washable, and plenty large enough for cuddling (except for this one).

But ... baby quilts are a whole different story. From what I've read, babies should not sleep with blankets, pillows, crib bumpers, or quilts due to an increased risk of SIDS (due to suffocation). As the paranoid first-timer that I am, I'm definitely going to follow the "no blanket in the crib" recommendation. So using it in the crib is out.

I could use the quilt as a play mat ... but I already made one of those. And since I've been a quilter for about 14 years, we have plenty of other quilts in the house to use for play mats.

I hope to take the quilt off the wall and let our baby use it when she gets a bit older (and can use the quilt as a quilt). But until then, I think it makes for some nice wall art.

Finally up

The nursery quilt is finally quilted. And I got the binding sewn on. And it's washed and crinkly.

I secured it to the wall (just used a few small nails).

Not that that isn't exciting enough, but after I got the quilt up, I could (finally) get the flag pennant garland up.

I love it.

If I could fit in the crib, I think I'd sleep in it.

Hmmm ... now what can I make?

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P.S. Go Vikings!

Ready to quilt!

Last night I finished the top of the nursery quilt. I was debating adding a border, but once I hung it on the wall, I decided it was great as-is. I absolutely love this quilt – and not just because it's for the baby!

It coordinates really well with the playmat and the flag garland and ... (I've got more projects in the works).

Time to get quilting ...

The crib quilt

This quilt has been a work in progress for longer than I care to mention (ahem ... I fist blogged about it last April). Luckily it now has more significance than I even intended – it will be our baby's first quilt! It will hang above the crib.

All the blocks are done, now I am working on sewing on the white sashing. The finished quilt will be somewhere between 40x40 and 50x50 inches, depending on if I decide to do for a border, or not.

I love how the red/pink blocks remind me of the Strawberry Shortcake (the doll, not the food), and the orange/yellow blocks make me think of baby chickens, and the green/aqua squares ...

I have high hopes for some major progress this week, so stay tuned.

A Christmas Quilt

It started in April as a one-a-day nine-patch quilt-along project. I chose to do all red and green - a Christmas quilt!

It was finished and washed over Thanksgiving weekend. I'm very happy to report that my slacker method of not pre-washing was again a no-bleed success (even with all those saturated reds!), thanks to Shout Color Catchers.

I paid to have the quilt professionally long-arm quilted.

It's plenty big enough for a twin-size bed. I think I might have to make another one of these some day soon - a quilt with this style but different colors would sure look cute on the twin bed in the baby's room.

Check out the quilt-along gallery on Flickr.

Construction zone

Today I made these three scrap log cabin squares. Yes, it's a Christmas project. I'm not sure what they will become (maybe a table runner or card holder thingamajig) but they coordinate perfectly with the tree skirt I made last year.

These are so fun to make - and they're super fast. A great use for scraps.

This quilt has been a work in progress for a long time. When we found out that we have a baby on the way I changed it into a nursery project. I still need to add red blocks but I think I might wait with those until I know if I can add pink or not. I'll sash the blocks in white (the black shown is just my felt board).

I'd like to hang the finished quilt above the crib. (the lighting was horrible - I swear the blocks look better in real life).

Thankfully, these are not a work in progress! Two more bibs - finished today.

Christmas in August

This weekend I finished the nine-patch (one-a-day quilt-along) top. If you recall from a while back, I chose mine to be red and green - a Christmas quilt.

It's much larger than I imagined it would be ... 66x90 inches ... about twin-size. It's also much more appealing than I imagined - I really do like the red/green combination - and all the white!

I'm still deciding what to do about the back and quilting. To send to a long-arm quilter or attempt this myself?

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Sorry for the crummy photos - today I learned the hard way that hanging a quilt top on a clothesline, in the wind, is a sure way to severely fay the quilt's edges. All while not get any decent photos. Darn.

Sashing the one-a-day blocks

Just when you thought I abandoned the one-a-day, quilt-along, nine-patch, red and green Christmas quilt, I make some major progress.

This weekend I sewed all the short sashing pieces to the blocks and sewed the blocks into rows. I'm still working on sewing the sashed rows together.

At this pace, I think I'll manage to have it done by Christmas.

One-a-day x 10 weeks = 70 blocks = all done!

Now that I have all 70 of these block finished it's time for the tedious work ... the sashing.

We've been so busy lately this may be a project for another day or week ... or month.

Here are all 70 hanging out together. What a nice looking bunch.

Check out the one-a-day nine-patch quilt-along group.

Nine down, one to go

I can hardly believe we only have one week left in the one-a-day nine-patch quilt-along.

Here are my week nine blocks:

Week eight

More red and green for the one-a-day quilt-along.

The blocks look so merry and bright.

And then there were 49

Somehow I finished another seven blocks this week, bringing my total to 49. So if I wanted to, I could stop now and have a 7 blocks by 7 blocks, square quilt. 

Hmm. 

Nope, I think I'll stick with the group and keep going. I want a big, snugly, cozy Christmas quilt.

...

In weather news ... it rained all day. We got another two to three inches of rain but so far we're still dry, thank goodness. Many roads were flooded and some manhole covers were popping up - apparently that's really dangerous. I hope to never experience a popping manhole cover.

42 down

Tomorrow, Monday, April 8, marks the 42nd day of the one-a-day 9-patch quilt along.

Here are the week six blocks.

I wanted to see all 42 blocks together to see how well they all get along.

So far so go, I think. In the finished quilt, I will alternate the blocks so the primarily red/green blocks will be every-other (red, green, red, green ...). As you can see in this photo, I accidently had a few green blocks in a row. oops.

Each of the blocks will be sashed in white.

Think it has a Christmas look to it?

Speaking of Christmas, it snowed here yesterday. It never stuck to the ground, but there was definitely frozen stuff falling from the sky. A town less than an hour west of here had three inches of snow. Remind me again, is it really June?

Week five

I'm lagging behind but only by a five days. There blocks are for week five (which ended Monday) for the 9-block one-a-day quilt along hosted by crazymomquilts. This brings my grand total to 35 blocks.

Check out weeks 1-4.

Good thing I had a rainy day to catch up.

28 down

Adding to my productivity this weekend, I finished my week four one-a-day nine-patch quilt-along blocks.

Here are the previous three weeks of blocks:

Squares, squares and more squares

Here are my first nine blocks for the block-a-day nine patch quilt along. I am doing all red/green for a Christmas quilt. 

These blocks are for my 4-by-4 color quilt - I previously blogged about here. These are the first three finished blocks and I already love the quilt! As you can see, these are the green/aqua blocks. There will also be yellow/orange, red/pink, and blue/purple blocks. I found inspiration for this quilt here.

Join in the fun - it's a quilt along

As if I don't have enough quilting projects going right now, I decided to join Amanda's nine-patch quilt along (crazymomquilts). I think it will be very manageable - only one block a day!

I'm going to make this one with all red and green fabrics, with white sashing (the same color combinations as this tree skirt I made).

It will be a Christmas quilt. I've always wanted a quilt dedicated to Christmas. What could be better to snuggle under on a snowy December day?

If I stick to the plan (I'm already three blocks behind - eeek) I'll have enough blocks for the quilt top by mid summer. Yippee!

If you'd like to keep tabs on our quilt along group, visit our Flickr page.

Update @ 9:30 pm

I have my first three blocks done! yay I'm in the game!

A little trip to the fabric store and a new friend

I made a decision. Well, kinda. 

My next quilt will include these fabrics (I even started cutting them - yippee!). It'll be very colorful. I'm still deciding if I want the blocks to be composed of nine squares or 16 squares. It will roughly resemble this quilt (with blocks of nine squares) or this quilt (with blocks of 16 squares). I think will use either the Alexander Henry pears and apples or the numbers for most of the backing (I adore both fabrics too much to decide right now - maybe both?). The blocks will each be one color collection - either blue/purple, yellow/orange, aqua/green, or red/pink. Each of the little squares will be cut to 2.25 inches square and the final block will be bordered in white.

As you can see, my yellow/orange collection was very lacking so I made a quick trip to the Bismarck, ND, Quilt Haus to stock up. Thankfully, I did find a few to beef up my collection :)

While at the Quilt Haus, I met Vicki, of WillowBerry Lane. I felt like it was a celebrity sighting - a real live fabric and pattern designer! She's (one of the lucky ones) going to the Quilt Market in a few weeks and needed some help finishing a few sample quilts. I was so honored to be asked! I'm making the Baskets in Bloom wall hanging.

Sunny slacker Saturday

Today is Saturday and it is sunny. I'm happy to see the sun again because it snowed yesterday. Yes, the white cold stuff. It was kind of crazy since Thursday was sunny and 80°F, then on Friday it snowed.

In honor of the warn sunshine, today while doing laundry I rigged up a temporary clothes line by tying string between the supports of our backyard arbor. I hung our sheets to dry in the sun and hung the comforter to fluff up in the breeze. I think they'll smell great when we crawl into bed tonight.

With all the spring to-do's around the house I've been a quilting slacker. So until I finish the quilt that I'm currently quilting, I'll show off some of my past projects.

This one is definitely my (ahem) brightest creation. The pattern is from this book (one of my favorites). It's a large throw ... about 57x72 inches. The blocks are 8 inches (8.5 with seam allowance).

I think I made it in 2005. Unfortunately, I didn't label it (bad bad bad) so I'm not sure exactly when it was made. This quilt is kinda funny - some people see it and like it and others think it's rather ugly. I like that about it. 

I'm going to get back to quilting this afternoon so hopefully I'll have something new to show off soon.

Black, white and red all over

This poor quilt has been a work in progress for way too long and I have changed my plan for its finished size too many times to count.

Last time I posted about this quilt I wasn't sure if I liked the look of the blocks with or without a white border. Obviously I settled on both - some with and some without.

I also decided on a wall hanging versus a throw quilt. I made this the width of a quilt bed (approximately 58 inches), and plan to hang it above the headboard in out guest bedroom. I have quite a bit of the fabric left and decided the large print fabric might be better suited for other projects.

This is another improvisationally-pieced quilt for Project Improv - no pattern, no rules. Just lots of sewing and creativity.

Any ideas for quilting it?