Baby, baby, baby

Yikes! Have I not posted since January? Here's why: baby quilts. Three of them. And my sister asked me yesterday to make one for her friend who is due in June. I'm already brainstorming patterns.

Avery's quilt, 36 x 36 inches.

In the debate on whether to prewash or not, let me just say that if you prewash, it is not enough to do it you must also check the water and wash again if it bleeds. Or throw in some color catchers with the load. One of the reds, long in my stash, bled when I washed the finished quilt. I must not have been paying attention the day I washed it. Eight or nine washings later and a half box of color catchers, and the quilt was presentable again. Quilted in the ditch between blocks and between the squares of the blocks.

Detail of Avery's quilt.

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Pearl's quilt, 30.5 x 30.5 inches.

This quilt was made with two charm packs. Both from Sweetwater. Lucy's Crab Shack and Noteworthy. I didn't prewash these, so I was expecting shrinkage, but because it's the same manufacturer and designer, I thought the pieces would likely shrink at the same rate, and they did. And they didn't run.

Detail of Pearl's quilt.

Quilted in the ditch on the diagonal. I love these fabrics. Charm packs are a great way to fondle every print without too much of a hit to the pocketbook. I bought yardage of two favorites (hard to choose) for the back and binding. Didn't prewash either so they would shrink similarly to the front. Leftovers have been washed and added back to the stash. I hope I'm not the only person who keeps my washed and unwashed fabrics separate.

Back of Pearl's quilt.

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Cora's quilt, 36.5 x 46 inches.

This was made to complement the nursery bedding. Gray and yellow, although a color combo I like, was not my first choice for a baby quilt. Took me awhile to come up with a design. Applique too. It's a wonder I finished it before she graduated college given the state of my other applique projects.

Detail of Cora's quilt.

Back of Cora's quilt. Yes, that's more Noteworthy fabric.

A finish! Yeah!

I made a pillow after all. Only one strip of obviously A&M fabric going back into the scrap basket. I can deal with that!

And this top has been declared done because I've run out of pieces to make enough blocks for another row on either side. Binding and backing still to go. I try not to put the top aside until I have those done. I need to get in the habit of adding a label to that list. I'm such a bad labeler.

Top is 69 x 75, and it has been years in the making. I'm afraid to check the blog to see how many. It started out to be baby quilts for twins and they've started preschool. I switched gears so the boys got their baby quilts awhile ago, and this top languished despite the occasional four-patch and half-square triangles I made as leader-enders.

Snail's pace

I'd been working on this (again) in April and put it away. Pulled it out again when I finished the airport carpet top. Too much work travel these last two months to get much sewing done. I have managed only a few more blocks. I'm hoping to make a bigger dent this holiday weekend. Grocery shopping done, laundry done, toilets cleaned, blog reading caught up, movies borrowed from the library, and husband is off to work later today and not returning until late tomorrow night. This top will be done when I'm out of the pieces I cut two years ago (yikes!) when I started this. There's quite a pile to go!

Or maybe I should work on the flag quilt that is now eight years in progress!

Monkey Wrench in my plans

Was doing a bit of cleaning and found this UFO so started working on it again. This was my planned baby quilts for the twins, but it didn't have the right tone for two little boys. It's more an older boy quilt, don't you think?

Above is what I have finished now. Colors are better in this pic. Below is what I started with: a partially pieced section and a bunch of squares, half-square triangles and four patches. What a difference all those quarter-inch seams make!

This is the block I'd planned. It's called monkey wrench, but reminds me of Snail's Trails. The churn dash block is also called monkey wrench, I think. So many names for the same (and different) blocks in quilting.

The blocks, when put together, create alternating dark and light stars. I'd added a row to one edge of my pieced section to complete the stars. Now I'll have to work around that to finish this up. Not sure the size this will end up. I'll have to make some more four patches and half-square triangles. Can't get away from those HSTs!

This is the back of the block. I like the technique of opening the seams where four pieces come together. It helps reduce bulk, and in this block, piecing in the order I did, all the seams are going in the right direction so that they can be butt together easily with the next block. I really like a good pressing plan.