And They're Off . . .

From left to right - Rident (53" x 67"), Ohana (48" x 60"), and Spots and Dots (35" x 42").

Before these were packed for their journey to  Florida, I just HAD to get photos of them together.

Left to right:  Big Brother's quilt, Baby's toddler quilt, and Baby's newborn quilt.

(the baby was born safely on the 30th - he's in NICU for now to help keep his O2 and temperature up)

You can read more about any one of these three quilts by using the labels below today's quote.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Children want the same things we want.  To laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained, and delighted."

Dr. Seuss

Rident - the Quilt

Rident has also had its turn with Max . . . 

Made with the leftover Dr. Seuss fabrics from Little Man's Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz quilt, Rident measures 53" x 67" and is the Big Brother quilt for the new baby's sibling.

Quilted with rows of Baptist Fans using Affinity variegated thread in  Rainbow (top) and Glide thread in Shadow (bobbin).

This is the happy, scrappy pieced backing.  

For those who might want to know: 

On the right are Timeless Treasures hearts and Game Day by Katie Pasquani Masapust.  

On the left, from the bottom up are Swirls by Dela Payne for QT Fabrics, Big Geo by Free Spirit, polka dots (no selvage), and Kaffe Flower Dot by Free Sprit.  

The sashing strips are Bias Stripe Bold by Loralei Harris.

You can read more of Rident's back story by using the link below today's quote.

* * *

Word has it the wee baby might need to be delivered early . . . so I am very glad I now have all three of the family's gift quilts ready!

Quiltdivajulie

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"Today you are you, that's truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you."

Dr. Seuss

Progress in Fits and Jerks

The rows are sewn in one direction for the Ottoman quilt.  Hopefully I'll get the second set of seams sewn in the next couple of days.

Tygee's little quilt is finished, too.  I quilted it with rows of Baptist fans using the Glide thread already in my machine (Aquamarine) which worked out well.

Here is the reverse side.  

In real life the little quilt is square - I'm not sure why it looks skewed in the photo other than I was holding my phone at the wrong angle.

Rident, the big brother quilt for the baby due next month, is pin basted and ready to FMQ.  

I trimmed the excess backing into fifty 5" squares (upper 5 stacks) and the rest into five inch by ?? pieces that will be sewn into a long column and then sub-cut into more squares.

I don't know if I'll need to add those all around the Ottoman backing above or not - but I'll have them ready if they're needed when the top is sewn together during Little Man's stay next summer.

And because someone always asks about the silicone pieces I use when pin basting, here is a photo of my Pinmoors.  The various colors are so I have choices for easier visibility depending on the color(s) in the quilt tops.

I also pulled out the top for Ohana, which will be the baby's 48" x 60" floor quilt.  It has been pressed and rolled onto a pool noodle.  

The backing is ready for a final press before it is rolled onto a second noodle.

The batting is already cut and rolled onto the third noodle.

More pin basting ahead . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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Re-set.  Re-adjust.  Re-start.  Re-Focus.  As many times as you need to . . . 

(unknown)

Spots and Dots - the Quilt

Back in mid-2021 I put together a fabric pull with all of the polka dots in my stash.  And it sat.

In February 2022 I finally die cut a LOT of HSTs along with a bunch of 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles.

I ended up making four (!) quilt tops from those pieces and parts - 

Spots and Dots (this quilt), 

Gone Dotty (the quilt top's border has been changed since this post), 

Dot to Dot (gift quilt for a different nephew's family), 

Penelope Rose (gift quilt for that same family as above),

and the leftovers pieces and parts were used in both Ohana and the scrappy back of Rident.

Since Max's side table has been repurposed for my journaling work station, a new table is on order to go beside Max.  In the meantime I decided I could still quilt Spots and Dots (the baby's due date is getting closer).

I don't think this design has a "proper" name but I am calling it liberated waves (or fins, depending on your point of view).  

Quilted using Glide thread in Aquamarine (top and bobbin).

Here is the info on the backing's edge.  I used this eQuilter remnant which ended up being exactly the right size.

The binding was made with another well-aged stripe from the stash.

We had blue skies this weekend for first time in many days and, since there are bits of green beginning to appear (despite the fact that we'll have more freezing temps next weekend), I just HAD to take the quilt outdoors for photos.

35" wide x 42" long 

* * *

Spots and Dots will be the baby's newborn quilt.  

Ohana (WIP link above) will be his larger play quilt.

Big Brother's quilt will be Rident (WIP link above).

Time to get the next one of these pin basted . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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"The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure."

Dale Carnegie

Moving Forward

The top for Rident has been sewn together, borders added, pressed, and rolled onto a pool noodle for pin basting.   

53" x 67"

I changed the plan for Rident's backing.  Instead of the Seussical scrappy back, I chose a group of brights on black, some of which are shown here.  

The one fish-two fish strips will be used as binding.

These are the two WOF back panels (folded in half for now) with the center strip not yet sewn in place. 

Now, you may be wondering why I changed the backing plan for Rident.

It was entirely the fault of Flash, my newest studio squirrel.

(as in flash of inspiration)

Keep reading and you'll understand.

The first three panels of off cuts and leftovers sewn together measure roughly 44" wide x 55" long.  

When younger son spotted this on the design wall he exclaimed "that would be perfect as my chair quilt."

And just like that, another Dr. Seuss quilt was born.

The two long sections of strip set end cuts from Rident will make excellent full-length inserts for the back.

After a bit of pondering, the latest in what has become a series of three Seuss quilts has been named BON MOT ("a witty remark or comment; clever saying; witticism).

Moving ahead, one seam at a time. 

* * *

p.s. The birthday presents did get finished in time and were well received.  I'll share photos later this week.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."

Oscar Wilde

Rident - Question Answered

And the answer is . . . 

I was able to cut fifty-one 8.5" squares from those many four-strip strata.

They are now sorted onto five trays ready to be pieced into five columns - after I get February's placemats quilted and bound.

(Pretty in Pink is quilted with binding pending - so I hope to have a finish to share on Wednesday). 

Of course (!) I saved all the strata offcuts  - you can see them sewn together on the right side of my second design wall.  

That full-length offcuts strip is shown here folded in half.  

Once the top is pieced and I know the size, I'll use these vertical slabs to piece the backing using my notes on the clipboard in the second photo.

Rident (adj. - laughing, smiling, cheerful) is going to end up being an awesome big brother quilt.

* * * 

Hunter has arrived safely and seems quite happy in his matted frame on the wall in my sewing studio.  

And, as Megan put it, "he's definitely a bloke." 

Quiltdivajulie

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"No one looks stupid when they're having fun."

Amy Poehler

Rident Returns

You can use the RIDENT label at the end of this post to read my previous posts for this big brother quilt for the older child of our youngest nephew and his wife.  Baby No. 2 is due in April (that quilt - Ohana - is made but needs to be quilted).

Tuesday evening I pulled these strips out of the closet planning to use them for mindless evening stitching, only to discover I had less than half of what was needed for the pattern I'd chosen.

Serious OOPS.

So I had to do a bit of quick thinking, which isn't always easy in the evening when I've already used most of my daily allotment of brain cells.

I pulled the shorter pieces out of the 2.5" strips drawer and added them to the longer strips shown in the first photo.  

I then created random sets of four strips.

The general game plan is to sew the sets together to then be cut into as many 8.5" squares as possible to create either a scrappy rail fence or column-based layout.

Of course Chase had to get in the middle of things once morning arrived and I started stitching.

Now that the strip sets are all sewn (some longer, some shorter), they all need to be pressed.

The lingering question is how many squares will these strip sets actually yield?

I have also pulled out the long strata I created as a center for the backing - and that, too, is being redesigned to fit this new plan.

Once I have the final size of the quilt top, I'll cut the long strip in half lengthwise and fill in on either side (and down the center) using more of the green Jumble to make the backing wide enough.  

If it isn't long enough, I'll add more Jumble to the top and bottom.  

* * *

The good news is I'm pretty sure I'm going to like the end result of this improvised / make-it-work approach far more than I would have liked the original patterned idea.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it . . . including YOU."

Anne Lamott

Pieces of Progress

This small wall quilt made with three leftover pieces out of Lynne's stash is now quilted and finished.

I've hung it in my design studio near the doorway, where I can enjoy the bright colors every time I enter the room.

RAZZLE-DAZZLE has moved forward in that I've chosen potential border and binding fabrics from the leftovers stash, added the backing fabric to the design wall group (far right - Tula Pink's Lemur Me Alone) and added the last few pieces cut from Tula Pink's Between the Lines zebras. 

(for this quilt, I'm going to use one fabric for the side triangles around the exterior edges as shown above and I'll use the same fabric to add a narrow floater border)

The remaining side triangles are cut and waiting for me to get them laid out on the design wall.  

The 17" wide insert column for the back of Rident is sewn together.  I won't add the side sections using the green until the top is complete and I know how wide the backing needs to be.

To clarify an earlier comment about needing to make a big brother quilt - RIDENT will be for one of my sister's grands who will (if all goes well) have a new baby brother or sister next April.

The borders have been added to the baby girl quilt  intended for my sister's fifth grandchild (second girl) who is expected to arrive in early October.

I've also pieced the backing, gotten the layers for Penelope Rose (aka Ferhoodle) pin basted, and chosen the thread.

* * *

Progress on several fronts - now I can settle in and get to quilting.

Quiltdivajulie

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"In our life there is a single color, as on an artist's palette, which provides the meaning of life and art.  It is the color of love."

Mark Chagall

Decisions

For a long time I've been planning to use the leftover 2.5" strips and bindings to make a very scrappy utility/comfort quilt.

Earlier this week I decided that the color mash-mash was just TOO scrappy since I love controlled chaos but despise the "pull it out of the brown paper bag and sew it no matter what" approach.

SO . . . I am going to use this group of strips, bindings, and short bits from the resource boxes to make a set of six "beachy" placemats.

I'll use the pieces of Marcia Derse blues (left) for their reverse sides and I'll use a narrow turquoise stripe from the stash for binding.

Ideally these would become a Christmas gift come December but realistically they may not be ready by then.  Time will tell.

These strips and more short pieces from the brown and gold resource boxes will become a second set of six placemats to be used here during the autumn season - beginning in 2023.

The group in the foreground will be used for backing / binding while the upper group will be used to piece the tops.

There are still plenty of strips still in the drawers, but I am relieved to remove the worry about finding a way to have so many different and unrelated colors play together nicely.

I mentioned a while back needing to make another "new big brother" quilt for next Spring so . . . I pulled out the leftover Seuss fabrics from Little Man's Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz quilt plus the remaining pieced bits from Ohana to assess what I had to work with.  

The photo above shows a mock up for the pieced insert I'll add to the backing (under the name tag).

(Rident means "laughing, smiling, cheerful")

These are the two newly-pieced side columns (they're each twice as long as what shows here).  I added the 2.5" strips of black and white stripe to the mock up above as a nod to the planned clown stripe binding.  

The other leftover pieces of Seuss yardage have been cut into 2.5" strips for Rident's top so I could see what was available to lengthen the backing's scrappy coin-style column (more than enough).  

Yet another situation where I can stop wondering how to make the pile of scraps into a coherent quilt.

I'd like to get that coin column pieced and the three columns attached to each other before Rident is set aside so I can work (without so many wandering worries) on things with a more pressing deadline.  

We shall see how that goes.

Another major decision was to set aside Spots and Dots and use Ferhoodle for October's baby girl newborn quilt.  I plan to add a 2.5" outer border from the pink/black polka dot before this one gets pin basted for quilting.

I really do need to get on this one soon.

And Ferhoodle's name is also changing to Penelope Rose, which seems much more fitting than a word that means "to confuse or mix up."

Quiltdivajulie

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"A good artist has less time than ideas."

Martin Kippenberger

More Shopping of the Stash

Planning ahead, I have spent some time generating two more fabric pulls for comfort quilts to be donated in 2023.  

This is one grouping of paired fabrics (one darker, one brighter) that will become 6" finished HSTs.  

As time and energy permit, I'll get these die cut and into their project box.  It helps so much to have some pre-cut projects that allow me to just start stitching.

I have also set aside and labeled backing fabric for this project I've named SHAGGY (the backing fabric's name) so it will be ready to go when the time comes.

This is another color palette that has been cut into paired sets of 2.5" strips for a zig zag rail fence.  

They are already in a labeled project box with their chosen backing fabric labeled and waiting.

I've named this one TAKMEEL (which means "completion")

I like these combinations so much that a second quilt of a different design will be cut out before any remaining yardage returns to the stash. I chose several smaller pieces of complementary yardage to create a pieced backing (again, set aside and labeled).

I've heard a rumor that there may well be another baby in 2023 within my sister's family.  So Ferhoodle (shown here prior to the blocks being assembled) will have a destination, if indeed the rumor proves to be valid.

Again, if that rumor is true, the scrappy leftovers from Little Man's Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz (Dr. Seuss) quilt will be combined with the leftover pieced strips from Ohana to become a quilt for the baby's big brother.  I've named this quilt project RIDENT (which means "laughing, cheerful, smiling")

Quiltdivajulie

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"There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."

Vincent Van Gogh