Friday Night Sew In: The Morning After

I arrived home from work at about 3:45 (yes, I left shortly after the students departed) and I was raring to go. Got the mail, kicked off my shoes, got something to drink… and dove right in! I needed to get moving early as I am working today… snow make-up day, don’t you know.



Lest we forget what the snow & ice was like…

First, I laid out the Lilac Hill charm squares on the bed in the “auxiliary sewing room”… aka: the guest room next to my sewing *slash* computer room.


Second, I opened up the luscious Lilac Hill jelly roll and cut the 5” and 9” strips.

Then came the sorting of the strips with coordinating charm squares. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be… divvying up the lights/darks, solids/prints, large prints/small prints, plaids/florals, etc.

I just want to know why Moda puts FORTY-TWO charms squares in a pack and FORTY strips of the SAME line in the jelly roll.
Oh well, I can take care of those two orphan charm squares with a bit of the two different pieces of coordinating fabric for the two borders.

Next, I fired up the iron and got to sewing. By 5:00, I had ten blocks sewn and pressed and it was time for a break!
(Note to self: Surfing the net during a sewing break = too long of a break!)

By 8:30, I had 40 blocks sewn together, stacked up on the bed…

…and, then, I just had to spread them out!





Not bad for a Friday Night Sew In!

This afternoon… or tomorrow… whenever, I’ll sew the leftover sections of the jelly roll strips together, as per the tutorial… then cut those into strips to make a pieced border. All that’s left is to decide how big a border and which fabrics. I won't sew the blocks together until I rescue the two orphan charm squares by making them blocks too.

Grandbaby Quilt #3

Henry is a charmer.  The only member of his nuclear family with blue eyes, Henry has clearly inherited a lot from my side of the family… including the hyperactivity/impulsivity.   “Sits still” is not something one would ever say about Henry and it’s clear his mind is going 100 mph every single moment he’s awake.  This is a child who, as a preschooler, used a screwdriver to remove hinges from doors in his house.  Scaling kitchen cabinets as well as climbing out windows were “sports” for Henry from an early age and he is an accomplished escape artist.  His mother will become a rich and famous author when she publishes a book about rearing Henry!  (If you run into my DIL Claire, do ask her to share some of her Henry stories… including the story about Henry and the mounted police officers!)

Today’s digression:  The kids recently added a darling Goldendoodle to the family. Gussie is the sweetest dog ever with the biggest feet.  I have the feeling she is gonna be a BIG puppy when she finishes growing!  Henry and Gussie have become fast friends… there was a match made in heaven!

Unsure about a quilt pattern for my little Houdini, I knew I had found THE answer when I found the H-block quilt pattern on About.com.  

What could be more perfect?  I loved all the H’s and, as a co-worker pointed out to me… the H’s and the (H lying on its side) I’s could stand for hyperactive/impulsive!   Perfect… I only wish I had thought of that myself.    My psych buddies are the best!

I love the way Henry’s quilt turned out… and Cathy, my long-arm quilter loved it as well… so much that she’s going to make an H-block quilt for her next project!

Again the late November sun did a number on the true fabric colors but you can get the idea.   And, yes… that’s a big “H” on the quilt back!  

After completing three different quilts for boys, it was time to turn to quilts for little girls!  What a difference…  pinks and flowers and butterflies and all sorts of girlie stuff… what fun that was!