February!

 This quilt was sewn last autumn for my goddaughter, Sophia.   You can view pics of the quilt in action here, if you desire... If there's anything that makes a quilter happy, it's seeing your handiwork being used, loved and cherished.  Maybe that is selfish...?  :)

It's a log cabin quilt.  I put a lot of thought into the color scheme, because I wanted it to fit in with the beautiful surroundings of her lovely home (Sophia's elegant mama, Arielle, has excellent taste). 

I have my characteristic "flaws", and characteristically chose to ignore them.  As I said, I put a lot of time into choosing, squinting at and scrutinizing different fabric choices.  But then I make up for lost time by avoiding altogether the process of adding a proper binding to the edges.  I just do my "sew rights sides together, turn inside out and topstich the edges" method. 

Let's just say, I will properly bind my quilts when I am a grown-up.  :) 

Close up, with my decidedly un-classy background

This one below was for my other goddaughter, Y, on her very first birthday, which was last week.  I should say, my "spankin', brand-new" goddaughter, because LITERALLY, today Y was baptized!  Job and I are quite humbled and honored to be her godparents. Needless to say... what a day-- I'm pooped!  That's why I'm blogging instead of actually sewing.  

The quilt is a zig-zag, which is remarkable easy to put together.  The hardest part is, for me, again, choosing the fabrics and color-scheme.  But I like making this quilt because it doesn't leave you with tons of odd-shaped scraps-- it's no-waste.  So I felt okay cutting into some fresh yardage, and then used scraps for the piecing above and below.  The back is cozy flannel-- my signature :)  

You zig, I zag. 

I love using up scraps in such a resourceful and pretty way! 

Flannel backing

 

Hello doll-face!

Cabins and scraps

Scraptastic

Strawberry flannel

I had a week free of self-imposed deadlines, so I rather spontaneously decided to work on this quilt for a friend's baby, G, who was born on Theophany!  I was a little more "free-spirited" with this quilt, and didn't agonize over the colors quite as much, resulting in a funkier vibe.  I probably should have put more effort into it, to add just a bit more "polish."  But it was the best I could do in four days. 

I wasn't planning on making G. a quilt, mainly because I have a rather loose rule of "One baby quilt per family" (hey, we've got a LOT of kids in our parish, and I've gotta set some limits).  But... G's big brother was the FIRST baby I ever made a quilt for, back in January of 2009.  Remember this? 

First quilt!

So it was really fun to come full-circle, so to speak, and gift another quilt to this sweet family. 

I can't say I've really improved much in the past 5 years, but at least I've tried some different techniques and learned a lot!  My first quilt was pretty tiny, and more of a "tummy time" quilt.  I still don't make my quilts terribly big, just big enough to be useful, but I love the process and selfishly (again) love to give them as gifts and to see them enjoyed. 

"MOM!  Stop sewing and FEED US!" Oh yeah, I have 4 kids...

Now, you might be wondering how I did my "No Fabric Purchasing in January" rule!  Well, somehow I managed to see it through!  No new fabric here!  Not even a remnant from Joanns!  Not even some odd 70s cotton from Value Village!  It felt very good to exercise my incredibly weak muscle of restraint.  I even "unsubscribed" from coupon e-mail from several fabric retailers.  Honestly, I think that really helped. Out of sight, out of mind.

Just don't ask me if I bought any new patterns.  Ahem.  

I know it was only 31 days, but it definitely opened up my eyes to just how much fabric I HAVE and don't USE.  Making quilts was a fun way to make a very tiny dent in the stash.  Now I'm inspired to see if I can make it through February without purchasing any new fabric OR patterns!  Let's see if it can happen!  Woot! 

Now, friends, I'm off to bed.  January was much, much busier than either Job or I had anticipated.  I can't believe February is already here!  You can bet I'll be indulging in some selfish-sewing this week.  ;)  Well... a girl can hope, at least!

I hope you are well!