Another Rag Quilt for the Boys

I finally got around to cutting out the rectangles for another rag quilt for my boys, Reid included. This one has fabrics that match the curtains I made for their pop-up camper last summer--including moose!

 

Front

 

Back
(Oops, I turned the last row upside down.  If I do it on the other half, it will look like a pattern?  That's what you love about these quilts--they are very forgiving!)

 

Half done. Twice as big as a baby quilt! And twice as much room for error--or recovery!

 

Valentine's Day Cards

I made a cute little arrangement in a red polka dot teapot for Valentine's Day. And sent these cards to my Valentines...

 



to my husband, a swinging hearts Valentine with two portraits of Lily.

to my Dad and Donna, a lot of love and hearts.  I told them they were an inspiration

and Dad replied that they were most likely an exasperation!  Never!

 

to Sara and John, the new parents, a nosegay of heart flowers.

 

and for Lily, the one in the center

with hearts and doilies and butterflies and ladybugs and ribbons, both satin and grosgrain,

and pearls and glitter and flowers and lace.

 

Well, everything girl-y I've wanted to put on a Valentine for years...

 

And the boys and Reid and Faith received Valentines too--

but William's was lost in the mail.

A first in all my mailings. Of course, it had some cash in it...

Sorry, no photos.  I had to get them in the mail in a hurry to make February 14th.

 

One More Baby Project

There is an antique Jenny Lind cradle from the Kimball family which we have used since our son was born in 1971.  His father was in it in 1947 and his father before him in the mid-1920s.  The cradle was originally my husband's grandmother's from the turn of the century.  Grandma Kimball was a proper Bostonian of the Victorian era. The cradle originally had rockers which were popular then, but we removed. My son's three sons have also been in the cradle.  It is only usable the first few months when the babies are small, but it makes a good dolls' bed in between generations and siblings.

 

In 1971, I purchased a new foam rubber mattress, bumper pads, mattress pad and woven sheets from the Sears Roebuck & Co. catalog.  For my new granddaughter in 2013, I thought it was time to replace the plastic cover which was brittle and torn.  When I ripped the old one off, the foam rubber mattress underneath was thicker and firmer than any I could currently purchase so I kept it and used it again.

 

 

I searched for a material with which to cover the foam mattress and found

Amy Butler's laminated cotton to be the perfect choice--and easy to sew!

The name of this design in Paradise Garden from the Love Collection.

 

 

 

 

Here's the finished project.  Lily may sleep in it only once

(and in view of parents or grandparents for modern safety reasons) 

but it will make a perfect doll bed for her doll and stuffed animal collection--

just like her mother!

 

 

Babies Have Arrived and Quilts Delivered

Lily arrived the day after the last post.  I quickly finished the "Sunny Days" quilt for my friend's baby who was born two days earlier. It was a good thing to do between hospital visits since it just needed to be ragged.  That means several hours of making snips around all the edges. 

 

 

Then a wash with just a little Dreft in the machine--and a second rinse.  Into the dryer. Be sure to empty the lint trap often since you'll be "ragging" the quilt and that will create quite a lot of lint!  I rinsed both Lily's and Bailey's quilts together one more time. 

Then I delivered Lily's elephant themed quilt to her and packaged Bailey's monkey themed quilt to send to Atlanta.  What fun to have first granddaughters together with a dear, old friend from high school!

 

The best part of this pattern is the "windows" created by the quilting.  Lily's windows show some elepant tails and trunks (not shown here but visible in earlier posts). Bailey's windows highlight some monkey antics from a great fabric collection by Dear Stella called "Play Date".  I hope we can get these girls together sometime for a play date!