Stroller Quilts for the NICU

     My sister is the vice president of the Children's Hospital here in Louisville.  I am so proud of her.  She is an amazing person and a wonderful sister.  I was trying to think of something I could do for her hospital.  Something that I thought could be a small gesture that might help a family going through a really tough time.  I decided to make a couple of stroller quilts to donate to the NICU.  The family can keep them and hopefully during the hospital stay bring a little comfort to them. 

     I decided to use flannel and chenille.  The chenille is thick enough that batting isn't necessary.  And the flannel is soft so the tiny babies can lay on them and feel comfortable.  These measure about 27" x 27".  I edged them with rick rack.  They are the perfect size for the NICU.  And later perfect for car seats or strollers.  I am happy with the way they turned out and I hope some babies love them, too. 

Julianne's Purse

    Misty asked me to make a purse for Julianne for Christmas.  Juli is only 20 months old and most purses on the market are just too big.  And the ones that aren't too big are just too expensive.  I whipped out a special fat quarter I had been saving and knew it would be the perfect fabric for this purse.  I used leftover chenille from stroller quilts to line it with.  It is the perfect size and I think it turned out really sweet.  I didn't have a pattern, I just winged it.  What do you think?

Baby Shower Gifts

 I've been pretty busy lately. There was a baby shower this past weekend for a dear girl who grew up across the street from us. Erin and Misty have been best friends since they were three years old. Erin has been like a daughter to me. I have loved her like my own. Well, I just had to make her a few goodies for the shower.

                                       A burp cloth

Onesies

The quilt

 

The label

Erin had a great time at her shower and got lots of baby gifts.  I made some over sized receiving blankets, too.  I used one of them as wrapping paper.  Quite practical and the perfect size for swaddling.

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

My Blue Ribbon Quilt
Originally uploaded by sandyb72357

http://amyscreativeside.com/2010/10/29/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2010/
I have viewed this festival the past couple of years and haven't entered until this year. I think I am a little intimidated by all that wonderful talent out there. This year I decided to take the plunge and share my quilt.

First, I wanted to let you know how I started sewing. I was about four years old and watching my mother and next door neighbor sew. Our next door neighbor was a quilter and even at the young age of four, I knew there was something special about it. They gave me scraps and I cut the fabric and sewed little shirts for my teddy bear. I have loved sewing ever since.

When I started making quilts, I made wall hangings and baby quilts and some quilts for beds. Most of them I gave away as gifts. It seemed like whenever I started one, someone would claim it as their own. So, I got the bright idea to make one for myself. My dear husband had decided the year before we needed a kingsize bed. And I settled on the grandmother's flower garden. Well, this is one quilt that needs to be hand sewn. It took me several months to piece this quilt and about a year to complete it. Every single stitch is done by hand. From the piecing to the quilting to the binding. I am so proud of this quilt. I entered in the state fair last year and won a blue ribbon. Hubby and I sleep so good under this quilt!

Baptism

What a special day we had last Sunday! Three of our granddaughters were baptized. It was such a wonderful event. The girls were so sweet and innocent in their white gowns. Ava and Julianne wore gowns I made for them. Allie wore the gown her mommy wore when she was baptized. I was so honored to have made the gowns for the girls and they were beautiful! After the party we had family and friends to our house for a party with chili, bean soup, vegetable soup and cake. We played corn hole and the kids played on the swing set. We are truly blessed!

Here are Richard and the girls outside the church after the ceremony.

I Finished my Wonky House Quilt!

This is the quilt I made using blocks I got from a swap I was in. I asked my fellow swappers to make wonky houses for me using white as the background fabric and bright colors for the houses. Everything else was up to them. I think each and every house is adorable. I like the striped fabric I used for the binding. It had lots of bright colors in it. I'm so fortunate to have so many talented quilters in this swap!

A close up of some of the quilting. I wasn't quite sure how to quilt this one. I decided to do some wonky, wavy line quilting and I think it worked out great.

The back of the quilt with some extra blocks.

Here's the back of the quilt. Isn't this fabric perfect for this quilt!

My Raw Edge Circle Quilt

I found the raw edge circle quilt on CluckCluckSew's blog. I think this quilt is adorable. It looks complicated but it is really easy. I had other projects I was working on when I found it, but was determined to come back to it. I had all the 1930s circa prints and found the darling fabric for the back on clearance at my local quilt shop. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

My Polka Dot Quilt

I saw a quilt similiar to this one on an online craft community. Simply adorable. I bought the background fabric at JoAnn's Fabric. What is great about it is that it's a dotted swiss that is 60 inches wide. I had collected a lot of dot fabrics and thought they would work just perfectly for this. I cut circles of different sizes using different objects around the house as templates. I hand appliqued them on in a random order. No plan, just put them anywhere I thought they looked right. I pieced the back and sandwiched them together with the batting. I hand quilted around the circles in kind of a shadow quilting design. Then I pieced the binding and added it to the quilt. I think it turned out really cute. My oldest daughter, Amy is trying to con me out of this one. Of course, Kaitlyn loves it, too. Haven't decided what I'll do with it. For now just admire it.

My Wonky House Quilt

This quilt is a collaboration of blocks from a swap I was in. All blocks except one were made by quilting friends from my Craftser.org I had asked everyone to make 12 1/2 in. wonky house blocks made from bright fabrics with white backgrounds so they would all be cohesive. I think it turned out great. Each one of them is absolutely perfect. I can't decide on a favorite. I think it is which ever one I am focused on at the moment.

My question is what is the best way to quilt this. Any ideas?

Allie's stroller quilt

Allie needed a stroller quilt. Regular quilts are just too big for the stroller or the car seat. This one is the perfect size. It's about 27 x 27, give or take an inch. I made it from a snippets charm pack and backed it with pink chenille. No need to add batting, because the chenille is just thick enough. I added rickrack to the edges. I love it!

Of course, Misty likes it so much, she wants me to make one for Julianne. I think I'll make it from Moda's Love U.

Allie

Allie with her new quilt!


Ava meets her baby sister, Allie for the first time!

We were blessed with grandbaby number six on February 2. Unlike most of the other grandbabies, Allie decided to wait til she was full term to arrive. My daughter, Amy allowed me to be in the delivery room when the baby was born. She did amazing. Amy was at the hospital less than two hours when Allie arrived. And she let me cut the cord. Allie was also Amy's biggest baby at 7 lbs. 11 oz. She is perfect!

Ticker Tape Quilt

Being modeled by my sweet husband, Richard!

After the wash.

I was looking at some of these quilts on other blogs and flicker and loved the idea of the quilt being almost finished after the scraps are stitched on. Because you sew through the top fabric, batting and backing while you apply the scraps, the only thing left to do is to bind it. It's such a girly quilt. I think I'm going to hang it in Ava and Allie's new bedroom.

Kaitlyn's Whirly Giggle Quilt

I promised Kaitlyn a new lap quilt that would look good in her new bedroom. She's getting a new bedroom so Ava and Allie can share a room and Kaitlyn can have a room of her own. So for Kaitlyn to get her new room, Kody had to have a room added in the basement. Kody moved into his new room last weekend. Now Kaitlyn's new room needs to be painted so she can move into it. She loves polka dots so all the fabric I used in this quilt have dots. I love the way it turned out and so did she. I added buttons to the middle of each "giggle".

Misty's Quilt

This is the back of the quilt. I seem to have a problem when I download pictures on here. The second picture I download always shows up first. I'll have to figure this out. But for now, here are the photos.

Here is a quilt I made for Misty's living room. It will look great in there because she has brown walls and aqua accents. It's really simple and is like the one I made for Amy. I used charm squares and 2 1/2" strips. Misty loves it.