baby forest animals

I was asked to quilt this beauty of a quilt
from a grandma to a new grand daughter,
and I just LOVE it!
Elaine has carried on her family tradition of
making an applique quilt for each new grand baby...
She says she's not very good at hand-applique,
but I very strongly disagree!!!
She's even drawn her own animals and made her own layout!

I wanted to share a few close-ups of the baby forest animals:

And how she wanted it signed:

I don't recall the exact size, but it was about 40 by 60 inches.
Such a pleasure to quilt this beauty!

baby quilt gifted

Isn't that the greatest quilt picture, ever ?!?!?!
I didn't get a picture of the quilt I made
with the new baby when I gifted it, 
so I requested a picture from the new parents, 
and THAT ^^ is the picture I received!
I just adore it!
A much better picture than the ones that I took. :)
The pictures I took pale by comparison - 
Front:

Back:

This quilt is the one that I pieced together last month at retreat.
I used my favorite block layout
of the X block and 16-patch block,
(aka: Good Night Irene).
I had about 50 different prints of fabric,
cut at 2.5 inches wide.
Makes it nice and scrappy, I think - a good 'Eye Spy' !
But since it's all strip-pieced, it really goes together
much quicker than it looks like it would.
And, yes, I did stitch in her name and mine in the quilting:

 Another good finish,
and great memories made! 

forget-me-nots and gardening time

My gardening time lately has been limited
to some stitching time on my Gardener's Alphabet block -

Forget-Me-not:

It was a whole lotta'  cast-on-stitch flowers
and even more french knots:

But I love how it turned out!!!
It's not pressed or trimmed down,
and I don't even have the basting threads out,
but I'm counting it DONE!
I have the last two blocks already colored and heat set, 
just need some stitching time. lol
My last two blocks are the
Dicentra, aka Bleeding Heart:

 and the English Daisy:

How about you?  Are you getting some stitching time in?

digging through scraps; the swap quilt I sent

I keep trying and trying
to use up my seemingly never-ending fabric scraps...
so when Lori, of Humble Quilts blog,
announced she was again hosting a swap
of small doll quilts,
I jumped at the chance!

I had some red and cream half square triangles
already made, so decided to use them along with some
1 1/2 inch strips from the scrap bag.

I did the binding in red that matched the color of the pinwheels, and added one of my favorite of all time fabrics for the backing.  After hand-quilting, I even remembered to add the corner hanging pockets - one of them the label.
I packaged it up, put it into a mailing envelope, added some Ohio-made chocolate Buckeye candies, and sent it off to Sharon (Grass Roots Quilting blog).

 Since everything was from scraps, I don't even know what the finished measurements were!

I usually try to add a Ladybug to each quilt that I make, 
as Ladybugs are said to represent LUCK, 
AND they are also the state insect of Ohio.
Since I didn't have a repro-fabric with ladybugs, 
I added a hand-drawn one to the label.  
I've heard from Sharon, and she said that this little quilt looks like something she would have made herself, so it was perfect for her.

I love my scraps... 
Lots and lots of small scraps!

The little doll quilt I received in the Swap

I LOVE participating in doll quilt swaps!!!

When I read that Lori of Humble Quilts blog 
decided to host her THIRD swap this past middle of March,
I immediately signed myself up!!
Just a few simple rules: 
finished little quilts to be in the mail by May 1st, 
reproduction fabrics from the 1775-1910 time period,
and under 24 inches.   
Within the week (I believe) there were NINETY participants signed up!!
So exciting!!!

On April 8th, I received an email from Lori, the swap host,
asking if I'd received my little quilt in the mail.
And I hadn't... but thought it was nice that she was checking.

Just the next day, the 9th - a package was here!!!
And my little quilt was from Lori, herself!!!!
It. Is. Just. Adorable!!! 

I absolutely love EVERYTHING about it!!! - fabrics, colors, workmanship. 
It was even hand quilted, and it still arrived way before the deadline!!! 
(: can you tell that the hand-quilting-part-but-early-arrival impressed me? :)
What an awesome little quilt from the swap!!!
Thank you, thank you, Lori!!!  
(Humble Quilts blog)
It's going on my vintage treadle machine next to my stitching chair!!
(ps - I'd even seen a picture of my little quilt on Lori's blog before she sent it, but didn't connect it with her call asking if I'd received my quilt in the mail. )

The little quilt that I sent, went off to the state
of Washington, and should arrive tomorrow, Monday.

I'm so glad I was able to participate again this year!!!
Making new quilty-friends across the miles!!