hailey's quilt - the last of the Christmas quilts

I don't have much to share this week.  I haven't sewn much, but what I have done is top secret, so it's time I finally posted the last of the quilts I gave away at Christmas.

Early last year, my brother-in-law's girlfriend gave me a stack of owl print squares that her sister had cut with the intention of making a quilt for my niece, Hailey.  That's as far as it got, so she asked me to step in...

(I guess I don't have a photo of just the owl print...)

So I went shopping and bought a few more prints to go with the owls - girly girly!

And then I planned and changed my mind and planned again...

And then I sewed and sewed.  I finished the top at my guild's quilt show in March, but the quilt was due to be either birthday or Christmas present, so I knew I could procrastinate a while.

We bought a bike for her slightly older cousin's 2nd birthday in May and once Alexis was willing to get off and share, Hailey wasn't.  So we ended up buying Hailey her birthday present 6 months early - she got a bike the next weekend.  Which meant the quilt would be a Christmas present.

So I put off quilting it a little longer...

Finally it needed to be done and I looked and thought and doodled, trying to figure out how to quilt this.  I didn't want to do something that was just an all-over pattern, but didn't want to go too far over the top either, since I expected her to use this.  Time got the better of me and I ended up going with an all-over pattern.

(You can see the owls here, too.)

And then I whipped the binding on (a mix of the yellow and orange) and labelled it, all in time for gift-giving on Christmas day.

I don't think it was as big of a hit as the dinosaur quilts, but there was a lot going on that day and most 2-year-olds don't get it for something like this.  Mom liked it and I hope now that they're in a house of their own, it's on her bed, seeing some use.

(Funny, though, this quilt seemed so ORANGE hanging over the longarm here, waiting for gifting, but it seems rather pink in the photo - I'm glad for that because I wanted it to be more pink!)

And I will share a couple of sneak peak photos of the row-by-row...

I had fun with her blocks.  They're not quite sewn into a row yet, but that will happen today.  I think.  Yesterday should have been a very productive day, but it wasn't.  I'm hoping today will be better, but knowing it's -12 outside, with a predicted high of 4, snuggled up under a quilt with a pile of kitties and a book sounds a little better!  At least it's not very windy so the furnace can keep up!

Happy quilting,

Katie

Hailey's quilt

Let's see if I can do this before the internet goes out again or the computer comes to a dead halt...at least I got the photos transferred...after 4 tries...

Today I gave away Hailey's quilt.  Finished with about an hour to spare...

It all started with a pattern called "Serendipity" in the August 2002 issue of American Patchwork and quilting.  Perfect size, pretty colors...

A trip for fabric and I was excited to start.

Of course there was some procrastinating and other-quilt-finishing first...

And then I started making blocks...with 49 pieces each.  What was I thinking?  Yeah, I should have counted first, but it was so PRETTY!

11 more blocks to go.

A couple of applique panels, too.

And then some measuring.

Oh, look, my blocks, on average, are 1/4" too big.

I can kinda trim that.  And ease a little.

Refigure the sashing between blocks.  Okay, now they're about 3/4" finished.  Sew straight!

Oh, I have to trim the applique panels, too.  Okay.

Deep breath.

Cut.

OH CRAP!

The instructions tell me to cut it 31 1/16".

But the inside portion should be 32".

WHO WROTE THAT?

Okay, okay.  I can ease that.

Cut #2 correctly.

Now for the green borders.

Oh wait, the quilt is going to be too big with those borders.

I think.

Refigure.

Recut.

Sew, sew, sew.

(You know I dislike borders.)

Lay it on the floor with the pieced borders because I want to make sure they're going the right direction and what's this?

The pieced borders are about 1 1/2" too long.

TOO LONG.

If I hadn't cut down the stupid green borders, it would have fit.

And I have no more green so I can't make new ones.

Okay, calm down.

You've been quilting 16 or so years.

You can figure this out.

Do a second border in red.

But I don't want a second border, never mind what color.

But you don't have a choice.

Okay, okay, cut the darn border that will finish something like 1/2".

Sew slowly.

Because that skinny you have to be right.

Sew on the pieced border and sigh with relief.

Take it to show off at your quilt group on Thursday.

Friday evening, decide to take the night off from the quilt and finish it Saturday.

Get up Saturday and realize you still have to sew on two more flowers (they overlapped into the border that wasn't on earlier) and the back isn't washed.  Or pieced.

But you know how you're going to quilt it.
At least you have that.

And then the hubby says "Oh, hey, we're babysitting my brother's kids Saturday."

Yay.

An 8-year-old who thinks she has to be literally touching me every second she's here.

This should be fun.

But first I have to go to the store and buy food to cook to feed the kids.

Because they won't eat my leftover spicy sausage and rice casserole.

(Neither will the hubby, for that matter.)

But they don't want my lunch.

They want Chinese.

From a restaurant 30 minutes away.

And they won't bring me food.

I have to go along.

So I go.

And then we have to stop at the store to buy fake blood so my hubby and nephew can pretend that my niece has killed them.

And some diapers for the baby shower.

(That fake blood looks pretty real, though.)
(At least when it's all over my kitchen floor.)

Finally home and load the quilt.

Well, first mark the quilt.

With a soapstone marker because apparently no one sells chalk markers any more.

Then the stupid bobbin is giving me fits so my tension is AWFUL.

Fix, fix, fix.

Is it done yet?

No.

Sew, sew, sew.

Break for dinner.

(We ordered pizza instead of roasting chicken.  The kids were okay with that, thankfully.)

Sew, sew, sew.

DONE!

Trim.

Binding is made.

I'm putting up my feet.

5 hours of longarming.

Yeah.

Get up this morning, sew on binding.

Fire up Netflix and hand-sew the other half of binding.

(After fixing the internet for about the 10th time.)

Sew down a label.

Shower.

Eat lunch.

Leave for shower.

Nothing like last-minute sewing, right?

Anyways, you've been patient with me, so here's the photos!

I should have taken more photos of the quilting, but if you click on the whole quilt, you can zoom in.  I think.

I didn't measure the final product, but the magazine says it should be 52 x42 and it's probably close.  Assuming they didn't mess that up, too.

So you can see why this took forever.

But it was so worth it.

I love how it came out.

(Except for that one line where I marked it 1.25" instead of 1"...but it was too late and you don't really see it now.)

The shower was nice.  She got lots of cute stuff.

Her mom is a quilter, but she got three hunks of uncut fabric for that quilt, so I guess I win.

Not that it was a competition.  :)

And now it's time to go baste my roasting chicken and start the mashed potatoes.

I think the hubby earned them, since he really did a good job with the kids yesterday.

He even made witch hat cookies with them.

Because I was STILL quilting.

Next up?

Another baby quilt.

Here's to hoping that one goes better.

But I do have a bit more confidence with my longarming skills, so there's a silver lining here!

Happy quilting

(and pardon the snark)

Katie