Doll Quilt Show and Tell 3

Simple, modern, and bright.

A pile of scraps and this multi-coloured sale fabric brought this quilt into being.  I pieced together the scraps into a roughly square shaped block.  Once trimmed I bordered it asymetrically with the white fabric.  Very fast, very simple.  It is an idea that could be easily adapted to a much larger quilt and I am tempted to try it, maybe ending up with a result much like this?
I kept the simple thing going with wavy lines in a variegated thread.  Nothing too fancy on a doll quilt.
The back of this one is a stripe that I bought at the same time as the front white.  I have tonnes of it left, so you may see it more than once!

Doll Quilt Show and Tell 2

How is this for an improv piece?  

I started with a pile of fabric and scraps that I thought would go together.  Of course, I couldn't resist adding a circle, and then another (can you see it?)  This one isn't photographing well, but I assure you, it's cute.  This one is for the daughter of dear friends, a little girl who is essentially a big sister to my girls.  Her birthday was a month ago.  She has the busy social life of a 7 year old, so I haven't even seen her since her birthday.  Just a belated treat.

There is a mix of old and new fabrics in this one.  More Amy Butler...  And some fabric that has also been seen more than a handful of quilts produced on the dining room table.

I stole my quilting idea from one of the fabrics, the pale pink with black outlined flowers and dots.  A few lines to anchor the batting and a scattering of flowers.  It isn't perfect, but I imagine that this one will get some rough love.  It will more than stand up to Clare's love, and hopefully her sister's!
Rather than make big labels for these doll quilts I decided to make tags.  Each tag has my name and "Naps" on one side. (More on "Naps" later).  The other side has washing instructions. Every other quilt I've given away has gone to people I know, so I can verbally pass on washing instructions.  These doll quilts are almost all going to strangers, so I had to include the instructions in an easy format - love generously, wash and dry gently.

She just couldn't resist getting her hands on it...

Doll Quilt Show and Tell 1

There has been enough whining and pining for better days on this blog.  Let's get back to some quilts, shall we?

This is the first of 7 doll quilts I am wrapping up.  Six of these are for a special order, and one for a precious little friend.  With the order the request was made for 4 modern, 2 traditional quilts.  I think this one could qualify as either.  It is a rail fence design, but I made the middle section larger than the two side ones.

Isn't that middle bar fantastic?  I'm not supposed to be buying fabric, but I fell in love and bought it in three colour ways.  This one is my favourite.

With such a busy design I went for a simple loopy swirl to quilt it.  Nothing fancy, nothing distracting.

All of the doll quilts have simple backs, no piecing on something so small.  I sadly let go of this favourite Amy Butler for the back of this one.  It's been used on more than three quilts I've made, plus one that was made for The Monster.  It's time to move on.

Over the next week or so I will share all of the doll quilts, and hopefully a few other finished pieces (if Hubby will hold up the quilts in the freezing ass cold for me).

State of the Dining Room

President Obama may be addressing US Congress, and really the world, tonight on the State of the Union, but I am currently concerned with the state of my dining room.  Or should I say, the kitchen table (since there isn't one), the office, the recycling centre, extra fabric/batting storage, obstacle course for the Smilosaurus, and landing zone for nearly everything that comes in to this house.  I love it and hate it.

While the basement is under reno, or as I like to call it, under the idea of renovation, I am stuck quilting on the dining room table.  That means I have to clean up before every meal and if Hubby needs it to look at plans.  Hence the bin of blueprints, a shredder, a sewing machine, ironing board, box of current projects, and cutting mat in the corner.  I want one of those pretty studios filled with organized thread, pretty little boxes of scraps, and an inspiration board. Damn you who have them!

Am I a little bitter?  Hell yeah.  I am so tired of the clutter, of watching that the girls don't play with my thread, and of constantly cleaning up my creativity.  Now I know why kids hate when we constantly tidy their toys and art stuff.  I'm not a messy person (seriously, can't you tell?) but I would love to keep some in progress works spread around.  Oh well, one day.

But I am not telling you the highlight of my day.  I spent almost a half hour on the phone with Mark Lipinski!  We bonded (at least I think so) over discussions about cabbage rolls and the Polish/Ukrainian border.  And I got his commitment for Quilt Canada next year.  He will be the keynote for our Professional Development conference, so mark your calendars for April 26-27, 2010.