Grands!

My mom now has 13 Great Grand Children, with three added in the last two years. The little one on the left, a real live girl with my maiden name as her last, the first female in 62 years after a LONG line of boys! My son did manage two daughters (with hubby's last name), but none of my four brothers, nor any of their sons produced girls until now. That is also the youngest great, but from her oldest grand son. Little tid bits of trivia. The little boys are gifts from mother's who cared enough about their boys to give them to families who had the resources to love, nurture and raise them in a safe environment with opportunities that they might not otherwise have. Astonishing! We are one lucky and blessed family.

This panel will be an addition to one I made back in 2008 when Baby D was just an infant. Heading to mom's soon and will attach this to the original wall hanging. If I ever find a picture I will come back and post it.

Happy Birthday JR

Our no longer youngest grandson turned 2 last week. I have made quilts for the older two and hope to eventually have a quilt for all of them. This one was so fun. Most of the shirts I have made for the men in my life are represented here. Been doing it for a number of years. It was a bit of a spontaneous, not too planned quilt. I just started cutting squares, them putting shapes on some of them, then his initials. After it was together I realized it needed to be a bit bigger. Since Grandfather is an original Bow Tie Guy, I decided to add that all around to add size. Not a specific size, just a little quilt for a little boy. Comfy and fun. Wasn't sure it would get done, as lately the sewing room seems to have taken a back seat to all the other things going on. But I did it! 

 I tied this one. 

And here is the handsome 2 year old. 

What a great idea to get one eating the cookies I made.

Can't wait to see him. 

Bags, towels and closets

A short trip (for me) was cancelled this week due to hubby being sick, so I decided to take a little retreat and finish some projects while he was gone. The first was Valentine goodie bags for our latest additions. JR and the G-man. Ready for next year.

Next, I purchased toweling. I always buy whatever they have at my local fabric store. Son is coming and they make a nice gift for the kids to add to their kitchen. A great tool to have. I make mine BIG and I make them out of diaper material, nice and absorbent.

I also cleaned out a couple of closets and cabinets while hubby was gone, as he still had to go to his conference. Did some mending that needed done and finished the top of JR's quilt. I decided to make it bigger by adding bow tie squares. No picture until it is done. Hopefully for his second birthday.

Missed hubby, but it was a good few days of catching up after a number of weeks with almost no sewing at all. I still have quite a list, two dress shirts for hubby and son, plus want to start on my summer Chanel suit. Always something!

Prayer Quilts

This little prayer quilt is made from "left overs" of various projects. The lady bugs are from an outfit for my Lulu, the black from another prayer quilt and the polka dot is some fabric I hadn't used yet. No recipient yet, but will donate it to the church's Prayer Quilt group if they want it. 

This one is for a neighbor with a serious cancer that struck quite suddenly.

Baltimore Album #4 Crown of Ruched Roses

I finished this square last night. Took a while as there was lots of other stuff going on, but it also did take a fair bit of time. I am pleased, nice. Now to set up number five.

Baltimore Album #4

I am going to try again on B.A. #4. I tossed the last effort, it was just not going well, and there was no reason to keep going on it. Why frustrate myself for a little time and a very small cost of fabric? So this is my new effort and so far so good.



The pattern was the one presented at my Saturday class at the Quilt Fest taught by Elly Sienkiewicz from her book Beloved Baltimore Album Quilts. The pattern is called Crown of Ruched Roses. I did learn a few new little bits from the class, but find I do pretty well with the books, especially when they are books that are meant to teach. Elly's books are mostly like that. I have another of her Baltimore Album books and that was the one I started with. I don't believe I would need to actually have her teach me in the future, her books are great. She was a delightful lady, though and I enjoyed her class.

The ruched roses are really cool and it took the experts a while to figure out how our grandmothers did them. Glad they shared them with the rest of us. The ones I am making are from fabric, but you can also use a French wired ribbon. I thought I would try to master from regular fabric first before I used the much more expensive ribbon.


This is many hours of work so far, so these types of blocks (any Baltimore Album block) is pretty labor intensive. But time well spent in my book. The only down side of quilting is it takes time from sewing for my family. This quilt does have a home already in my guest room, so I will persist. I don't have any quilts in the house right now that don't have a specific use.

Real or Fake

I recently did a t-shirt quilt for a friend, then my neighbor asked for my help to make a t-shirt quilt for her husband. I have been wanting to make one for years! So why not NOW!

My son literally lived in Hard Rock t-shirts and sweatshirts when he was in Junior High and part of High School. Some parents actually thought he wore the same thing every day! I guess they didn't notice the cities changing. They were a big deal in our family and with our travel, extra fun to actually GET one at the source or find an interesting fake.

I think it started when we visited Chicago just before moving overseas. We all bought Hard Rock Chicago sweat shirts, and ended up in Norway in August with NO shipment for six weeks. It was August, we came from Texas, we had NO warm clothing and it is kinda chilly in Norway in August, who knew? We LIVED in our Hard Rock Chicago sweatshirts. I guess with my son, it started something.

Can you tell which group are real and which are fake??






I have enjoyed the process of dreaming up how I will put these together and what embellishing and patterns I will use to build it. I have some really GOOD ideas! I will have to shop before I can proceed. Yesterday I ironed on the tricot backing and cut the squares to prep for constructing what I think will be a fabulous memory.



One year I let them wear their Hard Rock shirts for the annual "my great kids" photo. My son's is a fake, the youngest's was a gift (never been to Vegas) and the oldest's was bought ON SITE! Rock ON!!!

Baltimore Album square #3 and #4a

I finished up the third square and here it is! What a lot of stitching.



Detail of square. This was done from one piece of fabric.




The next square is prepped and took forEVER!! It is reverse applique and will be done in the red color.



I had a friend let me know she is coming to the quilt fest in November and I invited her to stay with me. She came years ago and we went together. I am hoping there will be some sort of Baltimore Album class I can take to get even more inspired!

Baltimore Album square #3a

This one is going to take a while. It already has and I am still prepping!

Baltimore Album square #2

Love these squares. Not sure what my next will be.

Baltimore Album square #1

I have been facinated with Baltimore Albums Quilts ever since I first saw them. Not sure why, but have dreamed of making one of my own. Recently I found a great book that had simple and very detailed lessons and have begun at the beginning. This is square number 1. I love it.