A Quilt for MY baby!

After making lots of quilts and other projects for little kiddos, it was fun to finally make a quilt for my own little one.

It's a basic squares/rectangles in squares layout--a more random version of the Puzzle Box Quilt over at Moda Bake Shop. I quilted each of the big squares with wavy lines using matching thread color.

The backing is an adorable large scale print "A is for Apple."

And a Riley Blake yellow chevron binding finished the whole thing off!

Can't wait to snuggle our little one in this quilt! Only about a month to go!

Triple Finish

About a week before the move, I finished up a project I'd been plugging away at for the last few months: three little quilts for a set of triplets.

The quilts weren't hard, but I was slow in getting them done since I was distracted by the impending move and nervous about such a high risk pregnancy. The mom did great though! She managed to go over 36 weeks and each of three were born last week at over 5 pounds!! So without further ado here are three little quilts for Mason, Noah and Paige.

My favorite fun fact about these little ones is that their uncle (one of my husband's best friends growing up) wanted to name them Corey, Sean and Tapanga (Boy Meets World, anyone?)

Movin' along

I've been sewing, even though I haven't really been blogging...

I'm working on three little quilts for three little babies on the way (a friend is having triplets!) and I'm finally feeling urgency to get the project done since she's only a month from her due date (and is amazingly still pregnant, woohoo!) and as you can see from the boxes and my cutting table being on the floor, we're about a week and a half from moving again.

The move is really exciting. I got a job in Minneapolis, where I'm from, and I can't wait to live long-term near my family. I still don't like these kinds of transitions and major relocations, but there's some solace in knowing this will be the last one.

In celebration

After making the quilt for my PhD advisor, I still had half of the Parson Gray fabric leftover. Since I loved that quilt so much (and Jon did too), I decided to make another almost identical quilt to keep for my self to commemorate finishing my degree. Mine is just a little bit bigger than the original at about 50"x70".

I pieced, basted and quilted almost the entire thing at a weekend retreat I went to with the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild at the beginning of January. It was an awesome way to get this project down, I just hunkered down with a great group of women and no distractions (except for hilarious conversation and girly movies).

I learned all kinds of great tips too, from how to make my own spray starch, to ironing a quilt sandwich before basting so the top and back "stick" to the batting (you can use fewer pins!), to making sure that I have tables on all sides of my sewing table so the quilt glides as I quilt it. Quilting this quilt was the first time I wasn't sore from moving the quilt around!

the back

So all around, I'm loving this quilt and the label will read:

"In celebration of earning my PhD and starting the next chapter!"

antique quilt from my (other) grandma

At the first Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild meeting I went to back in August, Ginia gave a great presentation about the history of quilt dyes and patterns. She also does quilt apprasials, so I had her take a look at this quilt. It was a lot of fun to talk to her about it and I thought I'd share it here to remember the details!



This quilt is a bit of a mystery to my family. My parents found it in my grandparents' house after my father's mother pasted away. It was kept in the back of a closet without a note or label and my dad had never seen it before. You can still see markings from the original construction, so it probably has never been washed.

Ginia estimated the date of the quilt at circa 1940, which was an interesting time in my grandma's life. My grandparents were raised on farms in western Wisconsin and went to school to become teachers so they could live in town. In 1940, my grandpa was teaching at a school in Minnesota and my grandma was still in Wisconsin teaching one-room school. In 1941, they were married and my grandma moved to Minnesota as well. This quilt could have been something she did to pass the time before they got married; it could have been a going-away gift from a parent; she could have bought it; or any number of other things.

The craftsmanship on this quilt is pretty remarkable. Each Sunbonnet Sue is hand appliqued (perfectly) and embellished with embroidery. Each Sue has a solid bonnet with a cute matching print dress. The colors match beautifully and are wonderfully arranged. The hand quilted stitches are amazing. Ginia also noted that the binding is "jack-knife" binding which I've never seen before, but also adds to this particular quilt's value, as it's a more difficult and less common technique.

I can't help but think about the woman who made it and wonder who she was and why she made this quilt. There are two mystery marks in the border on the back of the quilt, one looks like a S and the other looks like a G or C next to a faint E marking. They look intentional, but it's not clear to me what they mean. I guess we'll never really know...

Since I'm the one in the family who's most interested in quilting, my parents gave it to me a few years ago. I think the sunbonnet Sue's are kind of cute and the colors are great. It's also a twin size so if I ever wanted to put it on a bed or hang it on the wall, it's a good size.

I need to be more careful about refolding it in more ways so that the fold lines aren't so prominent, but overall, I'm pretty happy that the quilt didn't get more damaged while my family's had it since none of us knew what we were doing with it.

Ann Arbor has a Modern Quilt Guild!

One of the major benefits of living in Ann Arbor this year is that I get to be a part of a Modern Quilt Guild!! I've been to two meetings so far (they happen monthly) and the women are awesome and really welcoming. They also have a monthly "sew-in" where you can bring your sewing machine and a project to work on and quilt/sew together (this is where I got the art kits done).

I've never had a community like this before or a place to sew with other people before, so this is pretty great. Plus, it means I will definitely sew at least one day per month. :)

I'm taking part in a round robin style bee with some of the women of the guild. The starter blocks were really eclectic, but I think that's going to make it fun! My starter block was actually one from another bee I was in that didn't quite fit with the other ones I received, so I figured this would be a fun way to give it a new life.

Last month, I received this block from Cherie.



It was so beautiful and the piecing was perfect. I wanted to show it off and allow some space for others to add something more detailed later, so I just squared off the block and framed it up. I'm excited to see what becomes of it!

Quilt for My Advisor

On the eve of my dissertation defense (the final step of getting my PhD), I can't help but feel a little bit nervous and a whole lot of gratitude for all of those who have spent countless hours teaching and mentoring me to get me to this point.

The process of getting a PhD is very much an apprenticeship where one learns the art of research and scholarship from their advisor, and I have been extremely fortunate to have an amazing advisor. He has been patient and encouraging when I've struggled with my research, reminded me to celebrate when things went well and was incredibly supportive when I decided to pursue a career outside of the faculty-track.

I wanted to get him a gift, but I had no idea what to get him until I ran across this post on Greenleaf Goods. She had made a beautiful quilt for her advisor and I realized that a quilt would be perfect for mine as well. It would be personalized for him and the process of making it allowed me to reflect on my time in grad school as I sewed the strips together, quilted the top and hand stitched the binding.

And the product is my new favorite quilt. I'll be sad to have it leave, but I'm so thankful that I was able to give my advisor a gift that was made with my own hands. For me, it's the only gift that comes close to expressing how truly grateful I feel.

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Quilt details:
- Inspired by this quilt and this quilt
- 48"x 60"
- Fabric from Parson Grey's Curious Nature line with Kona O.D. Green
- All over stipple quilting with straight lines around the log cabins and along edge of stripe

Notes from some weekend sewing

Highlights from the weekend:
- It is possible for me to make a quilt in a weekend
- This is probably my favorite quilt to date
- I heart spray baste and will probably never baste a quilt with safety pins again
- I would rather sew gifts for others than sew for myself
- The Curious Nature line (from Parson Grey) is very difficult to color match

I can't wait to get the binding on this quilt, not only because I'm excited to finish, but also because I can do the hand sewing while watching the Olympics! More photos coming soon!

Weekend Plan

I have a plan for sewing this weekend. It involves:

these blocks

these strips

and this sketch

Wish me luck! I've got until Thursday to finish it up!!

p.s. Life has been particularly quiet on the sewing front for the last six weeks--I turned in my dissertation! Since then, I've been using the downtime before my defense to travel and it's been so relaxing to spend time with family and friends in all different places. My defense is on Thursday (this weekend's quilt is a gift for my advisor) and then we'll be making the big move to Ann Arbor a week later! 

Ricketts Glen State Park

Me and Best Friend in Chicago

Family Reunion Band

Home Sweet Home (Minneapolis, MN)

Lady B's Quilt

Another finish! I actually got this one done the same weekend as the Dino Quilts, but wanted to wait until the package arrived at Lady B's house. Lady B is the affectionate name the baby's parents have given her while they wait. And because Lady B is taking her time, the quilt arrived before she did (send good thoughts to her momma who is now officially overdue).

The colors were really hard to capture on this one and all of the pictures feel a little off. Trust me that it all worked together! Michael Miller's jewel tones never fail. :)



After seeing this Baby Life Quilt over on Moda Bake Shop, I knew that I wanted to use those words on a baby quilt. Lady B's nursery has a lot of words and phrases so I figured she would be the lucky gal! I appliqued them using the starch method (basically douse the applique pieces with spray starch and use spray baste to temporarily tack it to the background while you machine applique the edge). I LOVED it. The words were easy to applique and the quilt is soft as can be after washing.



The quilting is wavy lines. Two of the squares are horizontal and two are vertical.







I also included a little moleskin notebook for Mom and Dad to record the hilarious things their two and a half year old son is saying these days. I'm sure he'll have lots to say about Lady B. :)



Here's hoping everything goes smoothly with Lady B's entrance into the world. I can't wait to meet her!

Dino Baby Quilts

I think I've been working on these quilts in the background for about a month or more now. I'm super excited to have them done! Doing two almost identical quilts definitely made things easier.

Nothing too complicated, just letting that awesome dino print speak for itself. For anyone looking to get some, it's Urban Zoologie 2 Dinosaurs in Bright. The corner squares are ones I got from Kati's charm square swap.

Here's the bigger one, measuring about 36" square, with black binding, yellow loopy quilting, and trees on the back (because Dinos live in a jungle, right?):

Here's the smaller one, measuring about 32" square, with bright green Ta Dot binding, black loopy quilting, and a pieced back:

It was going to a little guy who made his appearance at 30 weeks, so this card seemed appropriate:

I love quilts all tied up, ready to be gifted!