Thursday, February 13, 2014

something quilty

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Someone alert the media!  Something crazy has been going on in my sewing room, to the tune of finishing a quilt top!  I think my machine was in shock, as I'm sure it has been feeling neglected over the past few months, but it certainly felt great to get behind the wheel and stitch away.

I'm still learning how to fit everything into the day, it's certainly been an adjustment to find a balance between baby, home life, work life and finding time for recreational activities like sewing.  I had been used to having huge chunks of time to sit at the sewing machine and stitch to my hearts content, and that's just not the case anymore.  Instead its more like maybe 15 minutes here and there.  I find myself often avoiding working on a project knowing that I only have those couple of minutes, but I need to learn to take advantage of any time I can, and be okay with the fact that a quilt top may take 2 weeks to put together now instead of 2 days and thats ok.  Oh that pesky learning curve.

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Anyways, during naptime yesterday I was able to stitch the last few seams and sneak outside for a hot second to snap some pictures, and good thing I did as we are in the midst of what seems like the gazillionth snow storm of the year!  Although I guess I shouldn't complain, as the eastern part of the state is getting 10 times what we have gotten today!

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My mom asked if I could make a quilt for a work friend of hers expecting a little boy.  She gave me free reign on the design and only requested I use blues, greens and grey.  As those colors are huge chunk of my stash, it was fun digging out my favorite aqua, lime and grey prints for this baby quilt.  I really love how the lower volume grey/white prints sort of blend together with the lighter aqua and lime prints and let the bolder prints sort of pop off the background.

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This plus layout as been on my "quilts to try" list for sometime now, and I'm happy to report I only needed to unpick one seam for sewing a row together backwards!  This pattern really is timeless, and would look great in any sort of color scheme, so I'll have to keep this in mind for future baby quilts.

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If this craptastic weather keeps up and were kept inside, Nora does make a great sewing buddy while Bella makes a great "baby sitter," so perhaps we'll find some time to hole up downstairs and get this quilt finished!

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of course Bella (the dog) is 100% supervised when near the baby, but she sure does love her "little sister"!


20 comments:

  1. Oh i remember it so well... It took me a while to accept that I wasn't in charge of time, that I couldn't decide when to stop. It was the baby's call. I don't know how many times I tried JUST to finish something and then had to give up because of a baby cry. Oh well... You loose something but win something even greater :) I love your colors in the quilt.

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  2. I hope your machine can get over the shock and keep going! This is beautiful (and so is the baby girl)!

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  3. Yay for starting to work out the time to sew again, this looks fab :o)

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  4. Beautiful top! And your little girl with her 'sister' are SO CUTE!

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  5. Lovely finish. The colors are beautiful. As Nora gets a bit older you will find that she will be mesmerized by Bella. My granddaughter (5-1/2 mod) is fascinated by her two puppies and mine when she is here.

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  6. The quilt is beautiful. What is the pattern name?
    Alice



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  7. It's just gorgeous -- some of my favorite colors! And I'm glad you found time to sew again, too! It's so tricky, figuring out how to balance everything, isn't it?!
    Nora and Bella are just adorable together!

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  8. awww that picture of the dog with your baby is so sweet.

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  9. Beautiful quilt! A plus quilt is on my short list too. I have three kids, and learned to quilt shortly before my third was born. She is 4.5, and I'm only just recently getting really back into quilting. That's mostly due to having three, but also finding the balance of time and energy! What I try to do is take it in chunks, and choose & iron fabrics one day, cut everything on another day, and then I can sneak in a block or two when time allows. You have probably figured that out yourself, but thought I would share. : )

    Nora is beautiful, and how sweet that Bella is clearly watching over her.

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  10. That top looks gorgeous out there on the snow. Crisp and clean, with POPS of color ! Congrats on grabbing that precious time !

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  11. Your quilt is lovely, can you please tell me the name of it and/or where you found the pattern? Thank you.

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  12. what a great quilt! I love all the colors : )

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  13. our little girl was born the same day as your Nora and i can really relate with your trying to find time to quilt and sew, doesnt seems like it pays for a few minutes and i just keep thinking that soon shell be able to play better without so much help from me:) just love this stage tho!! and your quilt is really pretty

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  14. Love your quilt! Can you tell us the name and the source of the pattern? Jeni Baker has one like it with all squares but your "plus'" looks like it has rectangles to form the plus'. I really like that uninterrupted look.
    Thank you! Your little girl is beautiful and so is your quilt and the colors you have chosen!
    Patti

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  15. Love the colors of your plus quilt!

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  16. The quilt is so pretty Jess. Love the fresh cool colours!

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  17. Our Peewee is Very Protective of our grand daughter & did exactly as your Bella does!

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  18. I love all the colors and the quilt. What a sweet babysitter and precious baby.

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