The Birthing Quilt

A very dear friend of mine is about to have a baby, any minute now, really. Her husband, who is terribly sweet, asked friends and family members to write letters that he could read to her in case labor...well, labored too long. That way she could feel surrounded by the people she loves. Nice, right?

I opted for a small sized 'birthing quilt' and wrote my letter on fabric that could run through the printer. Then, I cut it up and quilted it. I got to use my new free motion quilting foot. I love, love, love the way that free motion quilting looks but it's going to take some getting used to. I'm really looking forward to using it a lot....even considering diving into a queen size quilt. But, it takes a bit of getting used to, it moves so fast and I had a hard time keeping my stitches even and orderly. But, it's a good challenge to improve and work toward something as amazing as this.

Max's Quilt.

An innocent conversation in the park, "Melissa, do you quilt?" recently transformed into my first very special quilt commission! I've gathered up all of the precious baby clothes of our friend Max and am turning them into a special memory quilt. You know these clothes, we all have them...the ones indelible in our memories...from the quintessential baby picture, from the day you held the baby all day long with a fever, the ones that made you go gooey in the shopping mall or that were bought on the first trip away. These are the clothes that you look at and every detail of your little baby comes flooding back. They are emotional and important.
Yup. Those. Well, I've gently washed them and then cut them up. Gulp.
This is truly a job that a mother could not do!
And, in the end...that whole stack of clothes boils down to this pile of quilt squares. Amazing.
I don't want to give it away so here is just a sneak peek at the quilt top:
Since, children's clothes are inevitable a mix of fabrics (including lots of jersey!), the cutting and preparation is about half of the job. I put interfacing on the back of all of the jersey knit so that it would hold stiffly and sew smoothly. Everything is cut to 5 inch squares so some images are incomplete but without that other items wouldn't be in the quilt at all so I had to. In the end, it has really come together. Now! I just have to quilt it and sew on the binding! Then, all of those baby memories won't be stowed away in a tub in the basement but will be given new life! We love you Max!

This is What Love Looks Like When Its All Sewn Together

A long, long time ago I convinced a group of my closest friends to undertake a little sewing. And they did, and together we created an amazing baby quilt for the first in our gentle gang to have a baby. We were very proud of ourselves. Then another baby came along and we did it again (Yay for us!!). But, pretty soon more and more babies came along and we got a little behind on our commitment. So, I got a little motivated and sent quilt kits--pre-cut fabric squares with some embellishments and other fun things. And, everyone got excited and organized *crafternoons* and on the same day we all worked on our quilt squares together so-to-speak (evidence below).
And, the quilt squares come trickling in after a bit more fixing and fussing here and there. And, they were LOVELY and incredible and so colorful and full of all the hopes, love, and incredible expectations that we all had for the new babies. Of course, by this time, the babies were growing up...alarmingly fast.

And, those beautiful quilt squares went directly into my plastic to-do case. And, they sat there for a looong time (but those babies kept growing!). Well, I am proud to announce that I finally sat down at the machine a few weeks ago and made THREE, yes I said THREE baby quilts for what are no-longer babies at all but toddlers for sure.

And, truly, truly, truly this is what love looks like when it is all sewn together. It is vivacious and alive with color. It is calm and serene with a slice of whimsy. It is letters and buttons and stars and umbrellas and mermaids and it is as close as you can get to a hug, a squeeze and a kiss when you live hundreds of miles apart.

A Scrappy Zig Zag

I've been meaning to make this zig zag quilt for a long time but was intimidated by the whole 'beyond beginner' quilting. So, I sort of timidly started with some scraps leftover from these napkins. And, I found it was easier than expected and I love how it looks. So, I kept digging for more scraps and even pieced some stray bits together to make it all work. It got to be a little obsessive...wanting to make this entirely out of scraps and begin emptying out the scrap basket. Of course, it had to stop somewhere so the whole thing is pretty odd-sized and I don't have any real plans for finishing the quilt or what to do with it after it is done. But, I'm suspending my goal-oriented needs for now and just enjoying the quilt top.
The whole technique is really straightforward. Squares sewn together to make triangles...so there is no need for actually sewing triangles (thankfully). That said, I did pull out my seam ripper more than I would like to admit and it will still need lots of cutting to straighten it into a true rectangle.

Sneak Peek

I've been pretty quiet lately but I have been working on stuff. This is just a sneak peek of some things to come.

Quilting Class Re-Cap

Went into the city for my free motion quilting class this past weekend and it was so fantastic! I have always been a little on the overly-excited side. Like, as in some people are really cool and don't get crazy excited and they have lots of mystique and mystery. I am the opposite, which is why I will always land in the bit-of-a-geek category. (Don't make me talk about middle school, which was years of unsucessfully trying to rein this in.) I was alot like that middle school girl in the quilting class. Just so thrilled to be there with my nice, nice coffee from the cutest coffee shop. I'm not even kidding that I would just yell out "This is so cool! Look what I can do!" while sewing. And, part of that is my personality but a huge part of that is this technique.
Seriously folks. Free motion quilting is a game-changer. For real, game changer. I love it. You can do so much and there is so much less worry about the fabric folding over on you and leaving a pucker. It is great. You can move in all directions and literally draw with your sewing needle. Check out my swirly!

The only problem is that I do not have a free motion quilting (or darning) foot for my machine. So, I have to wait (Oh good god this is so hard!) and figure out how to get the right one for my machine. Then, I have to practice doing it alot because it can be a bit tricky but I'm so excited. I used to say that I really only enjoyed making the quilt top. I like the design component and the sewing together and seeing it all come together component. But, I can honestly say I am now thrilled to actually do the quilting (you know, after I get the proper foot). This was my first ever sewing class and I'm already hoping that I get the same thing for Christmas next year, 'cause I'm all over classes now.

Also, I learned something new. Never sew without first lotioning your hands, gives you a better grip on what you are sewing. Or, you can buy the grippy gloves but everyone has lotion around, right?

inspiration and new horizons

I was a lucky gal this Christmas, (I vow to stop talking holiday in February) in the best ways possible. As a complete surprise I got a beautiful book as a gift from my mom. Having just learned about Lisbeth Zwerger, I shared with her how amazing her children's books are. Lo and behold, Christmas morning the book "The Art of Lisbeth Zwerger" was waiting under the tree. I have been pouring over this beautiful, thin book since then. My husband also surprised me with a gift certificate and a vow of baby-free time for quilting classes at the City Quilter in New York. So, next weekend I've booked the free motion quilting class. That's right! I'm upping my quilting game. Wish me luck.

It's a little late to still be talking about christmas...

but, I did manage to finish the quilt for my oldest. I did stitch in the ditch quilting style for the whole thing so they squares puff up a bit, which is nice. He likes it, too, though only as much as he likes all of his blanket (he sleeps under seriously 8 blankets at night).
Funny how, the extra effort and love of handmaking is sometimes lost on the recipient, which is perfectly ok and to be expected. One can't reasonably expect that a 2 year old with jump with joy because mama made something. I do like that he frequently asks me "did you make this mama" of anything he owns--including his industrial strength, kid style cd player. He has great ideas about my capabilities. The other night as I was placing every single blanket over him he did say, "don't forget my star blanket" before I had a chance to get the quilt over him, which is nice...to know it has a special name.

Quilt Top

Sewing and sewing away on the oldest's quilt for Christmas. It's simple, just lots and lots of squares. There is something I like about the itty bitty squares, each one a little snippet of a bigger picture. I think it bends the imagination a bit. Hope to finish this (and a million more sewing projects) in the next few weeks. Yikes! It sure sneaks up fast.

The Details

As requested, some details on the baby's baby quilt from my lovely gammas. Ok, all the details that are possible to give. I've been thinking of this as the underwater square, love all the buttons!

The picture doesn't do this one justice. These three little perched birdies on vintage fabric are sumptuous.
This was an 'extra' sewn by my friend's friend, who also pulled the quilt together. (There were seven friends with quilt squares and eight needed to make a rectangular quilt) She apparently grew up in a household with lots of artwork and remembers having a wall quilt with a puffy bit on it so she added a puffy piece (with the D) so my kids could have the same experience...I know. Ahh.
This one is called 'peekaboo' and has little panels that move back and forth. I love thinking about how fun this will be when the baby is old enough to play with it. Love how the balls bounce right out at you.
Don't you love the green on green with this one?! What is hard to see in this one is the delicate hand sewing around each heart. Four hearts for the four members of our family. I'm starting to get choked up over here.
The umbrella. It's for protection she said. *gulp*
And yes, mermaids and fish swim by a sunrise and under the radar of a big wave. It's Heather Ross at her best, I swear. Made, incidentally, by a Heather, go figure.
This one is from the friend that is out everyday fighting for organic, local, and sustainable food both at her local farmer's market and in her entire region. So, a food basket is stunningly appropriate.
And, here they are all coming together in one amazing quilt. It celebrates my son's new little life and mine as well, as a mother of two boys. I am so inspired by the creative and unique ways that others view fabric. None of these women would say "I'm a sewer" and I think that is part of why this quilt is so incredible. It's just a gut level reaction to beautiful fabric with heart leading the way toward beauty. Thank you ladies. I am now officially all mushy inside.

Group Projects

The title of this post would be more sentimental if I weren't already on the edge of emotional overload. Had an exceptional weekend this last one. Took a solo trip to Michigan for a friend's wedding, my first solo trip since becoming a parent. And, it wasn't just a friend's wedding it was one of my dear gamma girls' wedding. Gamma being the pretend sorority that formed around like-minded, strong-willed women friends from college. Nothing against real sororities, we just happen to be a fake one. We've a love for each other that spans breakdowns and loose ends, life shattering events and life affirming ones.

And, gammas are pretty big on group projects and rituals, I must say. This being our latest, the collective cookbook. We all pulled together great recipes, decorated the 'snot' out of them (as has been said), slipped them into plastic sleeves and into a three-ring binder that I then created a fabric cover for. We also tucked in some extra sleeves so it can grow as her life as a married woman grows.
(Yes, I stole the decoration from the Joy of Cooking. I used freezer paper for the writing.
And, this apron was thrown in to boot. EVERYONE, except me, immediately saw the vintage apron and went in a naughty direction. (Not sure what that says about me.)) The gifts were given in moments stolen from the wedding reception. And with hands held in a circle we also bestowed wedding blessings. In full, a recipe for soulful living.
And, not just that! I was surprised to find that there was a gift awaiting me! The quilt kits that I sent out had been oh-so-creatively used to perfection. The resulting 8 quilt squares made up a vibrant and positively artistic baby quilt for my youngest son. This pictures doesn't do it justice whatsoever. But, there are birds and peekaboos and umbrellas and puffy letters and sunrises and hearts and as much loving as a sewing machine can stitch up.

You Must Be Mistaken...

that's not a tear, ok, maybe it is. After one and half years with the same amazing caregivers, and from bottlefeeding all the way to drinking from a sippy cup my son had his final day at his daycare. Next week he starts at "Big Kid School" and we all take a deep breath. (I mean I know he is ready but there are five year olds there. What?!). To commemorate and thank the staff we made a wall hanging for them.

I stitched a little house emanating hearts using a straight stitch and flannel fabric onto white fabric and then stuck it to freezer paper to make it solid. Then my son painted on it, regular kid paint in case he ate it. After that I sewed scraps around it in a hodgepodge style..I wasn't all that concerned with exactitude and wanted a kind of kid-like look anyway. Then I quilted it sewing a hanging loop onto the top. It turned out crazy and chaotic and well just right in my book.

At Least Things Ended Amicably

I've been thinking about making a table runner since last November when Spool featured theirs as a Thanksgiving idea. And, I figured I would make ours for spring, as all the kids and the husband have birthdays in spring and it is, by far, my favorite season anyway. Then, I got really excited and thought it could be fun to have one for each season. And, this is how the ill-fated love affair began. I started in on earnest with my fabric from Mineymo. It didn't take too long for the whole thing to fall apart. While these three fabrics looked distinct enough when separate, as soon as I sewed them into a disappearing nine patch, they just melded together and looked jumbled. Plus, I didn't properly square my fabric so everything was slightly on the bias cut and going wonky. Then, I set it aside and...it started to haunt me. I would literally see it and think "ah! that damn project. Why did I need a table runner anyway. What a stupid project." The same way a bad boyfriend quickly becomes annoying. Finally, I decided I was just going to finish it so that it was finished. And, honestly, I was cursing it as I was sewing. "This is so dumb, it is such a mess we aren't even going to use it when it's done I'll bet." Then, I decided to try a basting stitch for the quilting part and things really feel apart. The basting stitch just managed to make everything more wonky and distracted me from the original design and I was really cursing it. But, I just kept working on it...the bad boyfriend that you just can't break up with. I just felt this crazy commitment to the fabric because it was nice fabric it should have been a nice project. You see where this is going...the nice guy that you just feel like it SHOULD be working with and it just isn't. So, you keep trying and trying.
In the end I added a border and well, finished the darn thing. It is over! And, I will probably pull it out for birthdays and think, "well, that wasn't so bad really, and at least it ended well."

But, I can say I'm really happy it is no longer haunting my "to do" basket. So, the lessons learned from this whole emotional upheaval....always square the fabric and use non-directional fabric for the disappearing nine patch AND figure out how to keep the fabric design more distinct. All of this thinking did get me thinking about color and making my color wheel so I guess that is the silver lining.

A Heart Swoons in a Crafternoon

My most lovely and amazing friends, of the famed fake sorority The Gammas, through an unbelievable feat of technology (skype and cell phones, etc.), took the quilt kits I had sent them and held one simultaneous Crafternoon. It spanned from San Diego to various points in Oregon all the way to Wisconsin! I have to confess I had no hand in organizing this event and its occurence truly makes my heart swoon.

Now this is, no doubt, a beautifully creative group of women---creative with witty, whipping words, with boundary-leaping intelligence to tie you in knots, with universe-wide ideas that leave you spinning and so much more. They write books, television shows, heal the planet, change minds, write music, and read like there is no tomorrow. But, they don't really sew. So, it was with tears in my eyes that I heard of THREE (Yes, THREE!) sewing machines that were dusted off and USED. Why did this incredible event take place? Well, for the babies of course. All this effort will mean lots and lots of quilt squares that will become baby quilts for four new(ish) babies joining the world. Little bundles of warmth and love for the littlest bundles.

This little crafter was one of the first recipients of a quilt herself, and here she is old enough to explore the world of buttons. I have to admit that when I focused on making the quilt kits, I was a bit nervous. Ooh, will they like this fabric? Is this enough to complete a quilt square? I don't want them to have to go the fabric store, that is so annoying. Do I have enough variety? And on an on. In the end, it seems everyone liked their fabric and found inspiration within their packages and with all the things they already had at home. I've even received some completed squares already!

Ever since we started making these quilt squares I've been so impressed with how eagerly everyone jumps in! I mean I would be frozen stiff if one of them said, "Hey, write a book/song/play/legal brief/video game/children's story and send it to me in three weeks." No way.

So, thanks Gammas. You make a crafty Mama happy.

In other tigerlily news, Emily over at The Handmade Experiment include me(!) in her Must See Monday feature this week. I know, how nice. Do check out her blog, she is on a quest to handmake all her gifts this year and is amassing great tips and projects as she goes.

Crafternooning Time

Finally, the quilt kits have all been sent to my fake sorority sisters, the gammas. It truly did take me forever, which is why I say this with a bit of humility...TIME TO GET CRAFTING LADIES!! Oh yes, you know how it goes...13 X 13 inch fabric squares with an 1/2 inch on all sides that will be sewn into the quilt so don't decorate right to the edge. Send me pictures of all crafternooning (thank you Drea for my favorite new term). All quilts intended for J, H, and K are sent to me and you all have to designate someone to receive those meant for me. And, drumroll....they are due by August 21st because that is my birthday and I think it will be really fun to get them then, like a brilliant birthday gift. And, it's not too close to R's wedding and gives me a bit of time before I head back to work. But mostly, and I say this as a mother, because I said so.

Getting Kitted.

A group of my closest friends from college have all managed to stay very close. We try to have occiasional reunions, but many times life and kids interfere in our best plans. But, we email alot and do our best to share in eachothers' challenges and triumphs. Oh yeah, and we call ourselves "The Gammas". It's a long story but, yes, we are a fake sorority. It sort of started as a joke. We now use it as a dead-serious term.

Anyway, one piece of our ongoing connection has been creating baby quilts for each child born to one of the group. Each individual, except the one having the baby, decorates a 13 inch X 13 inch fabric square and then the whole thing is quilted together. It is a tradition taken from a great community of people I know in Madison, Wisconsin. Well, as it so happens, all of our first children have gorgeous, meaningful quilts to their name. But, it's been more difficult to get to the second children. There is only one (so far) but she is already a one-year old and we still don't have hers off to her. And, then, wouldn't you know it...three of us are also currently pregnant. So, with visions of our second children (also known as gambinos) growing up asking "Where is my gamma quilt?" I decided it was within my crafting range (under current restrictions) to create Quilt Kits.

I'm trudging through it slowly between endless research trips related to our house project and the good-old third trimester, but, it's coming along. I initially sent an email with pictures so everyone could pick a few patterns they like and I'm trying to match some solids with other prints and then throwing in a few other things to help the process along. So, take heart little ones and little ones-to-be you will not live quilt free.

For Me? Or You?

These pictures are of my entire gift to my mother's mother, my maternal grandma. She has had alot of change in her life since last Christmas and alot of it has been difficult. She has, however, had a chance to come out of her shell a bit and show off more of her adventurous and funny side.
I thought about this alot while making her lap quilt and tote. I picked out bright, flowering colors and retro designs because I knew she would enjoy the throw-back. I realized that this is what makes handmade holidays so wonderful. I get to spend hours thinking about her rhubarb jam and her jokes about big-breasted women and gossip about neighbors. I thought about how she always had Twizzlers stocked in her pantry that she would sneak to the grandkids when we visit. I thought about her applesauce and how I got the recipe once and it was equal parts apples to sugar so I decided not to make it and just eat hers and not think about it. I thought about her life and what she gave her kids and what she held back from them. I got this chance to spend time implanting in my mind a cohesive picture of her and it made me realize how much I care about her and how amazing she is. Handmade is what gave me this gift, after all these years of buying her cute sweaters and utilitarian kitchen stuffs at the mall. And, I really can't decide what is a better gift, what I'm giving her or what I got.

Might be that I'm the one with the best gift. (Especially since I'm only half-happy with how the quilt turned out, but that is kind of beside the point.)

This little artsy clutch I am happy with and I'm filling it with etsy goodies that I hope will make her smile as much as I am, thinking about my lovely grandmother. Am I lost in a sea of pregnancy hormones? Is anyone else having this kind of handmade holiday gush-of-love feeling?