This and that...

I forgot to tell you I got this book for Christmas!  I don't have a big library of quilt books.  I hope every quilter gets a chance to read Victoria Findlay Wolfe's 15 Minutes of Play.  This is a book to be savored.  It's like walking into an art museum.  You get on overload fairly quickly as this book just exudes inspiration.  It's yummy!  Victoria has a couple of blogs.  The one I follow is Bumble Beans.

I have been working on the pieced backing for my Asian quilt.

And I just finished this for my littlest grandson.  I crocheted a blanket for him when he was first born.  It eventually became his 'go to' comfort item and has seen some pretty heavy use!  It has been caught in the stroller wheels and repaired.  It has spent many hours mopping the floor as he drags it along from here to there.  It's been washed a hundred times. The little guy is three now and desperately needs a replacement.  He has been watching me crochet this one these past few weeks and lovingly fingers it from time to time.  'Is it ready yet, Grandma?'  Well, now it is and tomorrow it's his!

:o)

Fluffy

I've been writing many blog posts in my head these past few days.  But I have not been getting those words to my computer.  Argh.  Anyway, I had no one fooled on what I was doing with this!  I made very simple tutu's for my two of granddaughters for Christmas.  Here is the youngest of them in action:

And her big brother had to give it a whirl, too:

I have done a lot of sewing this past weekend.  I used my walking foot with the seam guide to quilt the ocean-themed baby quilt I have been making.  The quilting is 1 inch apart and the needle is set to 3.7 on my Bernina machine.  I often wonder what stitch lengths other people use.  No one ever seems to write about that.  I am very anxious to see how the quilting looks after the quilt is all washed and crinkly.  (The baby boy arrived in Bermuda this past weekend...9 1/2 pounds!)

And the quilt below is ready for the final thread trimming and pressing of the back.  I have the binding ready, but there is still the back to put together.

:o)

Back to sewing...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  Hope you all had great holidays and are back to sewing.  We had our entire family here for Christmas and 13 of the 14 of us were fighting something ranging from a cough and sniffle to full blown influenza.  It was still nice to be together.  Misery loves company, right?

Here is a little something I was working on before Christmas.  Can you guess what it is?

I have also been working a little bit on this:

And I have started the baby quilt for some friends who are expecting a new child any day.  They live in Bermuda and the baby is a boy.  Can't wait to see his picture!  Here are the fabrics I am using.  It is unusual for me to work with ocean related fabrics since I am a Midwest girl.  I love fun fabrics.

My plan was to lay out the simple squares and then add white corners for a snowball kind of block.

But once I saw this on the design wall, I liked the look of the simple squares and am going with it. I can envisions this quilt on the sand at the beach with the beautiful blue ocean in the background.

:o)