Christmas Stockings

When I was a kid, my Christmas stocking was one of my dad's socks that was safety pinned to an arm chair.  We started that same tradition when my son was born in the '70's.  But at some point, I decided my first two children needed a proper stocking.  I bought a McCall's pattern from the neighborhood Avon representative and a tradition began.

Since I was really into counted cross-stitch at the time, I decided to modify the Avon pattern and cross-stitch the kids' names on the cuffs using ideas from this book.  I used 22 hardanger cloth to make the letters fit.

  Here are my first two stockings...

Then along came our last child.

And we hung three stockings for many years.  Then fast forward a few years...

I continued with the 22 Hardanger for the children-in-laws but my eyes were not so keen working on the last one of those.  The blurriness of the closeup is appropriate for how I was seeing this as I worked on it!

So I switched to 18 Aida with the first grandchild and modified the alphabet and little charm pictures a bit to fit seven letter names on the cuff.

I am now working on little Marina's stocking here.  I am wishing this was 14 Aida but somehow I will manage!

 Next year there will be another stocking on the mantel too.  Life is good!

New York

I had a great trip to NYC a week ago.  I accompanied my older daughter and my newest granddaughter to a conference...granny nanny gig!  It was so fun to spend time with them.  A big bonus was to get to visit my younger daughter (and sweet hubby!) who I hadn't seen for 10 months.  It's been the longest stretch we ever had and I was more than ready to hug her.  We had all had the BEST time and there was a lot of laughing.  Here are the four of them as we wait for the subway.

Our hotel was right in garment district but I soon discovered that caring for a  super sweet 7 week old baby and delivering her to her mommy for feedings took up a lot of time.  I did get to do a little window shopping while pushing the stroller which I enjoyed.  And then I got to go to my two favorite NYC quilt shops.

And I got to add some City Quilter NYC fabric to my stash compliments of my younger daughter...who quilts.

:o)

Happy Halloween!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2010

I am happy to participate for the second time in the Blogger's Quilt Festival !  I thought the last event was so much fun...lots of new friends and lots of new inspiration.  A big thank you goes to Amy for hosting the festival again!!

This year I am entering a quilt I made for my new granddaughter, Marina.  My daughter requested a quilt with red and yellow...but not a McDonald's quilt.  I wanted to make PINK.  I am so traditional.  So I luckily found (just in the nick of time before the availablity disappeared) the Old New Collection 30's by Lecien that filled the bill perfectly.  It was girly, red, yellow with some PINK and some green.

I went outside my usual comfort zone of the square patches that I had used in my previous baby quilts. It was really fun to try new colors and a new block or two.  It was still very simple constuction.

I added a pieced dimension to the backing too and was really pleased with how that turned out.

Be sure to visit Amy's blog  for the list of participants.  Make a pot of tea and be ready for fun!

 :o)

Making Progress

I am now pin basting my grandsons' quilts.  I will be forced to take a break, however, as I am going to NYC with our older daughter and new granddaughter.  I will see our younger daughter for the first time since Christmas and can't wait.  And then there is City Quilter and Purl Soho and the garment district...

:o)

Did You See This Message from Blogger?

Image Uploads will be disabled for about two hours while we perform routine maintenance on Wednesday, October 20th at 5:00PM PDT.  Learn more here...

Maybe this will be more than 'routine.'  Maybe they are going to fix the BIG PROBLEM!

Border Love

I have the borders ready to sew on for my current quilt projects.

    :o)    

Blogger Pictures

Can I just say...not being able to get pictures on my posts the way I want them is driving me CRAZY!!!

More I-Spy Love

The quilts for my grandson's are coming along quite nicely.  I am having a lot of fun with it!  Here are some more favorite fabrics that I especially love.


dragon love



from our family trip to NYC

 



 

more NYC



Argh.

 

4th of July tradition

music, music, music





we live in the land of horses



Preschool



Elementary School



G'ma, can I have one more?



...and sports, of course!

    :o)    

A Little Progress

Here are the boys' quilts on the design board.  I plan to use a border for these quilts...something I seldom do.

There are some subtle differences.  Example:

Quilt #1



Quilt #2



                             :o)

A New Christmas Project

I  am beginning the process of making two simple square quilts for my grandsons for Christmas…novelty fabrics.  I never ever imagined myself using novelty fabrics.  Generally, they are a turn off for me.  But these two little guys have some favorite things and favorite memories.  They will love this kind of quilt to curl up in while watching cartoons or a movie.  Some day I will make a quilt just for me that doesn't have to match something or have a theme for someone else.   But for now, I am having too much fun!

Baby Quilts from the Past #7 Quilts for Friends

This will be the final post for Baby Quilts from the Past!  I just wanted to include a couple of quilts I particularly liked that I have made for friends.  Yes, you will recognize some of the fabric.  I am a firm believer in using those scraps!  Once again, these are simple squares, but I just have this draw to the simplicity of the look and having fun with fabric.

Baby Quilts from the Past #6 Charity Quilts

The thing that renewed my interest in quilting in the 1990's was a challenge from my niece.  Her dad was hosting our national family reunion, and my niece challenged the quilters in our family to bring a donation quilt for Binky Patrol.  She would display them at the reunion.  Here are my first ever baby quilts.  Yes, they are tied.  I had no clue how to machine quilt at the time.  I loved these quilts...true scrap quilts even before I had ever heard that term. 

 I have continued to make baby quilts for donations to various places that can use them.  I have pictures of some of my favorites, but I wasn't blogging at the time most of the photos were taken.  These were taken for my use only.  Please excuse the wrinkles!  I hope these pictures inspire you to make charity quilts or to post about ones you have made to throw new ideas out there into quiltblog land for those who love to make baby quilts.

  

  

Baby Quilts from the Past #5

You have seen granddaughter #2's finished quilt recently.  I am just reposting as part of the series and an example of my continuing to experiment with new ideas for baby quilts.  Grandchild #6 will make its debut at the end of February 2011.  We should soon know if this little punkin will be one of four brothers or will be a little girl with three brothers!  And, of course, you will know as you endure my endless postings about baby quilts!

***NEWS FLASH***  Little punkin is a GIRL!