My best friend has been wanting to be a mother for the past few years, and it has finally happened for her. I was so excited for her and the new addition to the family. She’s almost my sister, I’ve known her for 25-ish years, so this was super exciting for myself also. I finally get to be that crazy aunt figure in someones life.

I wanted her son to have a family heirloom of his very own, for it to bring comfort when I cannot be there to hold him. I made her a quilt for her birthday a few years ago, and I wanted there to be a tie between these two quilts. If you look closely at the fabric then you can tell its the same patterns but in blue instead of pink. It’s a little floral for a boy, but that’s alright. I’m sure in a few years he’ll get a super hero quilt too.

I also really love how I did the quilting. I had never done this type of pattern before, and while it’s simple it really gives it a great texture.

The backing is also the same color as my friend’s quilt, so I like having that symmetry also. It was really beautiful, and the bonus was that they both loved it and have used it since that little man was born.

I didn’t get an overall picture of the quilt before I had to mail it down to her, so I’m hoping I will get the chance to get more pictures of it when I see them at Christmas.

Sometimes there are those people in your life that are more than friends, more like family. Someone who has been there so long that you don’t think about them not being there. I had one of these and we lost contact for several years and recently we’ve picked up where we left off.

She’s been under a lot of stress lately and sometimes you need just a pick me up. I had planned to make this for her as a wedding present, but I decided her birthday would be better since it was sooner.

She’s a very girlie type, likes the pink colors and frilly things. So I chose pretty pink fabrics with some greens as well just to give it a little pop. I’m not sure of the dimensions, I forgot to measure before I left, but Husband (who is holding it in the pic) is almost 6′ so its taller than that since held it above his head, but wide enough to cover someone if they are laying down.

I chose a neutral backing, letting the top shine through. I wanted it to be very subtle, girlie, and traditional.

The quilting part wasn’t so bad if I do say so myself. I haven’t strayed farther than the stitch in the ditch method, but I think it really lent itself to the look of the quilt that I was going for.

She lives in a different state than me, so I shipped her a giant box of goodies to make her laugh. The quilt was wrapped at the bottom of the box, in Christmas wrapping I believe, covered in 15(?) other gifts. There were a few others that I made myself and I’ll share later, but this one was her main gift.

She loved it.

This year for Christmas presents I really didn’t have any money to spend on presents for anyone. I know the spirit of Christmas is supposed to be about giving and cherishing your family, showing people appreciation and love. To me the best way to do that is to make something for the people you care about.

I was really fortunate this year to be able to make gifts out of things I already had in my stash of stuff. Overall Christmas cost me a total of about $7. Which is really quite incredible for the gifts I did this year. Grandma’s quilt, quilted wall hangings, and some scarves. I do have to say the quilt was impressive but the wall hangings were by far my favorite finished project.

(more…)

It felt like it took me forever to finish my green quilt. It turned out the way most of my other quilts turn out. I started making it because I felt the need to make the quilt and it slowly evolved into Grandma’s Christmas present.

A lot of my projects I’m going to be posting soon are older ones from Christmas and maybe a little before. It was a rough end of last year and even rougher beginning of this year, so trying to recover from life explosions take time.

And sewing.

All of the green fabrics for the quilt top were leftovers from another quilt I had made for my sister several years ago. I’m on a kick of getting rid of my stash of stuff, and finding ways to use all the bits from other quilts while making sure they don’t look the same.

The greatest thing about this quilt is how much Grandma loved it. She’s getting older and not really wanting to collect a lot of things that she really doesn’t need, so I figured the quilt would be a great way for her to have a nice gift and have it also be useful. It was nice seeing her use the quilt one of the other nights we were staying with her, being cozy while watching TV.

I love quilts as gifts.

Sometimes when I look at a quilt or something else I’m working on that is just filled with needles or something else sharp, my inner toddler starts chanting “I’m just on pins and needles with excitement!”

Yes I have an inner toddler, I can’t help it.

I also decided that the next quilt I made would be green. More on that later.