Baby Quilt Queen - Ruling the Realm of Baby Quilt Patterns

Patterns for a dog baby quilt

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:53:00 +0000

I noticed a few people looking for dog patterns and while we've certainly talked a lot about other animals, I've never looked to see what the options are for making a dog quilt.

I did find two patterns recently, both appliqued and perfectly sized for a baby quilt.

The first is from Cabbage Rose and it's called Max. (Did you know that's one of the most common dog names?) It combines fusible applique blogs of labs with pinwheel blocks and square in a square blocks. Finishes at 48"x 56", with 8" blocks.

The other one I ran across also uses applique dogs, only this time Scottish Terriers. It's called Bitsy Button & Friends (great name for a terrier) and includes nice touches like prairie points around the inside of the border. Now, the pattern calls for accenting some of those with buttons, but that definitely makes it inappropriate for a baby quilt so don't. Finishes as a 48" square and is layer cake and fat quarter friendly.

2011 Challenge: Baby Charmers - Neutral

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Love the way this one came out. At least in the photo! Ha! Actually, this really is a nice little quilt and the neutral version. The girl was done in pink instead of green, the boy in blue. Otherwise, they're almost identical quilts done with the same novelty fabric. Sweet.

Two things I did on this quilt that were learning opportunities. First was the prairie points. Which, while they look cool, are probably not worth the extra work in my book. Yowsers. I thought the ruffle on the girl's quilt was tough. Worked very hard to make this one perfect and it came out beautifully, but I don't think I want to do them again, thank you.

I also actually marked the quilt to quilt it with a stencil I had, then used *gasp* green thread on the cream so it became almost like doing embroidery. And am realizing that if I'm going to mark, I need to be more careful about actually following the lines, otherwise, what was the point! But the extra quilting I did on this one did make the back all nice and crinkly, which I love.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission, probably enough to get a stick of gum. I generally only recommend products or services on this blog that I would use personally and believe you will find cool as well. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Embroidered blocks make these animal quilt patterns special

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:43:00 +0000

It's easy to see why animal quilt patterns make great designs for babies. So many themes for a nursery involve farm animals or jungle animals or safari animals. Oh, and don't forget Noah's Ark, which pretty much uses every animal there is!

I was poking around to find some new animal patterns for quilts and ran across some from Jack Dempsey that are a little different from what I usually feature. The blocks are provided for you and the design comes from embroidery rather than fabric. I picked out a few I liked for making an animal baby quilt either from blocks or a whole top.

The packages come with the fabric you'll need printed with the design, along with a list of the DMC colors you'll need.

Zoo Animals
12 9"x9" blocks in popular zoo animals
with the names included on the blocks.

Farm Animals
12 9"x9" blocks include sheep, dog, pig, cow,
duck, chick, cat, horse, bull, rabbit and two barns

Jungle Fun
Full quilt top with lion, frog,
monkey, elephant and giraffe

Noah's Ark
Full quilt top features Noah holding an umbrella
in his ark surrounded by a variety
of animals, some in groups of two.

Noah's Ark
12 9"x9" blocks include 10 blocks with a pair
of animals, 1 with an ark and 1 with
the caption All Creatures Great and Small

2011 Challenge: A Star is Born - Boy

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:06:00 +0000

I was drawn to this monkey fabric after the challenge started, so it didn't really help with getting my stash down! The rest did, however and this is really a cute quilt. Tons of tiny pieces around the edges, which she wants you to sew a square twice and then cut. I just cut triangles and sewed away. I wish I had used a different thread around the stars; they kind of blend in with the rest of it.

The back was also a use up stash. I have an entire bolt of the animal print thinking it would be a great backing fabric, which it is when I can find the right quilt to put it on. Doesn't really go with the brown fabric of the binding, but I was OK with that. And I used up a bunch of the monkey fabric, leaving me with very little left for my scraps. Yeah!

Quilting on this is simple wavy lines, which I did with the walking foot. They crisscross the center, then I did a few around the borders. The red version of this quilt, I did wavy lines around the triangles in the border as well, but I just didn't want to take the time this time. Yowsers.

2011 Challenge recap

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:47:00 +0000

Actually, recap sounds like it's over, doesn't it. And it's not. Psych! Well, to me anyway. I truly thought I would get this done this year, but I'm a little crazy.

So, I was supposed to do three versions of the nine quilts in the book. So that's 27 quilts total. And how'd I do?

Quilts completed: 8
Tops completed: 25
Tops to finish: 2

The big thing I learned this year is that I tend to work in fits and starts. I get really obsessive for a while, then don't do any sewing for a month. You have to be steady all year to get a project of this size done by deadline. So not my style, apparently.

The whole thing has been fun and I'm looking forward to finishing everything up. But I'm also looking forward to going back to a more random way of working. The hope is I can keep the discipline of finishing the project while I do random quilts. It's easy to get caught up in the next one when you don't have a deadline to work against, leaving tons of UFOs sitting in bins around the room.

My plan for this year is to finish the quilts from this book, then focus on the UFOs (not necessarily quilts) sitting in shoeboxes. And to do a quilt to enter at the state fair - my first competition attempt.

How'd you do on your 2011 goals and what's in the plans for 2012?

2011 Challenge: A Star is Born - Neutral

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:39:00 +0000

I can't believe I did this. Well, OK, I can. As I was updating my challenge list with the latest finish, I realized I hadn't done a post on this quilt. Which then led to realizing I never took pictures of it. Argh!!

I had decided to give this one to my chorus for an auction in a basket with several baby toys I made to coordinate. And in the rush to get it done, apparently forgot to take any pictures other than the in-progress one above. Sigh. I am so annoyed because it was one of my best finishes to date, the quilting actually being quite well executed. And it was adorable overall. The red and white fabrics were ones I found in my mom's "stash" after she died last year. They aren't cottons, but were just too cute to pass up using. Until I started cursing them in triangle form. Didn't handle bias well, shall we say. And triangles are already curse-worthy in my book so it got doubly bad at times.

2011 Challenge: Baby Squares Jamboree - Boy

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:22:00 +0000

Yeah! One more down. You'll notice I didn't do the scalloped border this time. All those curves just didn't seem right for a boy quilt. (And yes, I wanted to get it done and a curvy border takes a lot of time.)

This one started with some bird fabric I found and was easily paired with the various colors of the bird. Looking at it now, I think it would have been better with the darker green as the inner border than the lighter, but oh well. I quilted it with a large version of the same pattern I used on the girl version, working with the nine-patches rather than doing it within each square.

The back fabric was something out of my stash I had bought with the purpose of using it for a back someday. Loved how the colors just worked so well with this one.

Challenge progress

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:52:00 +0000

Less than a month to go and it's my busiest month for work. Which means I'm going to have to admit I'm not going to make my challenge goal. Sigh. At least not to have completed quilts.

I've kind of revamped my goal to just be to finish the quilt tops at this point. Almost. I think I can get that done with the exception of two of the hand applique ones. And I have all the batting I need to finish everything off as soon as I find some time to get them basted. I'm sitting here with 10 or so completed tops, three more almost done and three others to be sewn. So it's entirely possible to make it at least this far to the goal by the end of the year.

A stack of completed quilt tops and shots of them in progress. My design wall has been getting quite crowded of late with at least three quilts going at any one time.

Vintage-style baby quilt pattern for a boy

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 18:30:00 +0000

Forget redwork. How about a little greenwork?

Check out this cute boy's quilt pattern that combines vintage-inspired images to embroider with a energetic zig-zag border. The images are of a boy and his dog at play - outside even! - and you could actually work them up in any color. But I do like the green in the picture.

The three designs include the boy climbing a tree, riding in a wagon and fishing down at the pond, complete with the surrounding landscapes. Finishes up at 41"x50", although you could add or remove borders to change that up.

Clear out your bins with the scrap baby quilt patterns

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:30:00 +0000

I've never kept it a secret how much I love scrap quilts. I have drawers and drawers and drawers of fabric all chopped up into small pieces waiting to go into one. (Just as soon as I finish my challenge!)

So I was really drawn to some new patterns I ran across recently. Most aren't billed as being baby quilts, but they're certainly sized appropriately. Which makes them baby quilts in my book!

Marti Michell Rolling Star Quilt Pattern

Jelly Roll friendly. Finished size 41 1/2"x 56 1/2".

Silver Thimble How Does Your Garden Grow Pattern

Quick stack-and-slash quilt with floral applique border

Finished size 54"x 60"

Swirly Girls Design Megabits Pattern

Finishes large, but easy enough to adapt to baby size

CW Designs Cupcake Cafe Pattern

Finished size 48"x 58". Fat Quarter friendly.

G.E.Designs On The Move Pattern

Uses Quilt-As-You Go technique. Prairie points create dimension and textural interest.

Fat Quarter friendly. Measure about 35.5"x 45.5".

Two Peas In A Pod Quilting Twirl Pattern

Fat Quarter friendly. Finished size 52.5"x 65.5".

Needlings Hanky Panky Pattern

Fat quarter friendly. Baby size finishes at 42"x 42".

Yummy baby quilt patterns from Modern Relish

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:55:00 +0000

The guild I'm a member of is focused on modern quilts. (Which I love but don't do exclusively. In it for other reasons.) The style in recent years has definitely moved toward modern, which I do think is a good thing for baby quilts since the pattern designs tend to be much simpler than some traditional patterns.

So I really do like this line of quilt patterns I found from Modern Quilt Relish, all with a modern bent and sized for a baby or child's quilt. And all would work well with scraps whether you go for a monochromatic look or a wild and bright color scheme.

Modern Quilt Relish Supper Club Pattern

Modern Quilt Relish Leftovers Pattern

Modern Quilt Relish Modern Pickle Relish Pattern

Modern Quilt Relish Brioche & Baguette Pattern

Baby quilt projects moving right along

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:19:00 +0000

Madly working on getting blocks together and I'm making quite a bit of progress. On the left, blocks waiting to be sewn together. In the middle all the danged pieces of the borders for the dog flower quilt going together. These things have a billion triangles and tons of pieces so it's taking forever to get the blocks together. The picture on the right has blocks for two more quilts coming together. (I messed up the sashings on the black and red one because I thought I didn't need to review the directions first. Boo.)

I've ended up in the middle of several tops at the same time because I'm chain piecing like mad. Some of these quilts have so many pieces to the different blocks that it takes quite a while to actually get one block done. So I'm running lots of things through at once. Not sure if that's making it go faster, but I certainly feel a bit more productive because there's always something progressing.

I've done some reading lately about the Frixon gel pens with ink that disappears with heat. (And returns with cold!)

Some people are leery of the pens because the ink does come back in the cold, which implies it never leaves. But in many of those cases, these are quilts that never got washed. So I'm not sure if it's something to be truly concerned about.

But I do have one great use for them - marking templates. Sometimes pencils and pens just don't want to show up. The bright colors of these pens work quite nicely for that job. Yea!

2011 Challenge: Trip to Bali - Girl

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:30:00 +0000

This is the first pattern where I've completed two versions, so there is definitely a comparison to be made between fabric choices. And while I didn't use batiks, the fabric packs I used had more of a tropical feel, giving them more of the Bali look of the original.

I goofed up on my elephants on this one. Not that the casual observer could tell. They're supposed to rotate as they go around the top and I did them all straight up and down. Which means the top has a distinct "top" to it. Not a biggie.

Closer view of the fabrics and the straight-line quilting I did in the center. I also did the inner squares of the blocks in a contrast (as called for in the pattern) something I didn't do in the boy version. Interesting to see that difference.

I did a version of an edge to center design from Leah Day called Spiral Illusion. Since the center was all squares and empty spaces, I was able to follow the edges to complete the design. You can kind of see it in this picture. The borders - ugh. I tried a free motion version of straight lines that I ended up not liking much. Wishing I could combine the center design here with the border design on the boy quilt.

A bit better view of the quilting design from the back. You can see the lines that go across and around as well as the lines that go at the angles. Really a great way to fill that center.

And this wouldn't be complete without mentioning the back fabric. It's a flannel I found on the red tag rack at Joann's during one of those times when they put the rack on sale for another 50% off. My favorite time to shop! I've picked up all kinds of yummy goodies that way, including this flannel that happened to be a perfect color match for the fabrics I had. One of the best color combos I've had in a while. And flannel is such a nice backing fabric. (Even when you have to piece a stripe and it's now going in two directions.)

2011 Challenge: Trip to Bali - Boy

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:30:00 +0000

From the first time I saw this pattern, I thought muslin and homespuns. And then discovered I never want to work with homespuns again. Argh.

That said, this really did come out lovely. From this far away, at least. I'm really rather proud of it. Just looks incredibly cosy.

Now the quilting ... half good, half not. I attempted to eyeball Baptist fans for the center. They didn't come out so very nice and even. Alas. But I wanted something different from what I did on the girl version of this quilt and that's what I came up with. Should have stuck with what I knew worked. The stippling I did around the elephants really came out nicely though. Getting much better at that stuff. And it really was the best option because working around those applique guys wasn't easy.

I know I said I wasn't going to use the homespuns to do the back, but the thought of just tossing them made me ill, so on the back they went. It actually wasn't as bad as I expected. And I just pulled the edges over to do the binding - not the best way to go, but far quicker than the alternative.

Despite the fact that my stippling and free motion in general is improving, there are still issues I can't always figure out. Like this lovely snarl on the back. It's not in a place where I would have stopped, so why the heck is there suddenly all that extra thread being pulled in from the front? One of these days I'm going to have this all figured out. I think. But right now, the mysteries still abound.

October Challenge update

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:30:00 +0000

Getting my sewing machine back meant I could get back to business with my challenge projects. I rapidly started work on a new quilt, getting all the blocks assembled and the stars appliqued. Oh - and the billions of triangles in the borders done. You know I was having fun with those. (/sarcasm)

With the machine out of commission, I started working on more hand applique, which you can see to the right of the first picture. But machine in place meant I could start assembling others and get the center of the dog version completed.

The plan for the primary colored quilt above is to donate it for an auction my women's chorus is having - our major fundraiser for the year. So I'm putting together a basket that includes that quilt and some baby toys I made that coordinate. I have two sizes of soft blocks, some fabric "blobs" that stick together with velcro and a nosy square. (The noisy part is some popcorn plastic wrap. Shhh. Don't tell.)

The last thing going at the moment is yet another quilt. These 12x12 blocks have been done Nad I'm just trying to ensure I have a pleasing pattern going here. And being annoyed because some of the colors apparently didn't get cut out to precisely the right sizes somehow, so things are already wonky. Bah. (Love the color scheme going here, though.

2011 Challenge: Amish Sparkle - Girl

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:25:00 +0000

Amish Sparkle is the name of this pattern in the book, but I've never been much of a fan of Amish style designs. So this quilt has sparkle, but absolutely no Amish to it. The turquoise floral is way more my speed. I actually have an entire bolt of that fabric bought over at one of the fabric outlets near where I live. (Kind of place where seconds and trial print runs get sent.) I was excited to see how this design would work with a patterned background rather than solid.

I certainly had enough fabric to do the back in the turquoise, but decided that would just be going overboard a bit. Not to mention boring. Or at least as boring as such a vivid print can be. Besides, as with many of the quilts in this book, the quilt is too large for a width of fabric back (sigh) so there was going to be piecing involved. The black strip had just come out of the scrap heap from another quilt I finished up and the hot pink I had sitting in my "good for backs" stack. I really liked how it turned out. Plus, you can see the quilting on the pink so much better than you would have with a completely floral back. (And that's one of the few times you will ever hear me say that as a plus.)

I used the pieced blocks as a guide for the quilting on the front, so the solid blocks were quilted in a way that kind of looks like the pieced blocks. Loved the way it came out. The borders I did with a pattern called H2O from Leah Day's free motion quilting project. I tried really hard to go slow and the back came out far better than previous free motion attempts. Well, until my machine went completely haywire halfway through and had to go to the sewing machine hospital. The pattern ended up being like Leah's but slightly different, mostly because I was sewing by memory from the picture rather than following her directions exactly. Which is totally cool.

This is probably going to be one of my favorites from this project. The fabrics, colors, quilting, construction - I think I did just about everything right this time!

Applique change makes baby quilt pattern for boy or girl

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:49:00 +0000

For many patterns, it's an easy thing to switch from boy to girl for a baby quilt. A quick change of the color scheme, the fabric design and you're good to go.

But applique throws a kink in the plan. Flowers all over the place don't easy move over to the boy side of things. I've found a couple of patterns that fix that challenge though!

Sweet Ruby Designs has taken the same pattern but worked it up in different colors and swapped the applique section. So the Poppin Posies pattern works for girls and the Cooper's Cars pattern works for boys. Both use simple piecing and fun applique for a great baby quilt. They finish at 42"x62".

Even better is this baby quilt pattern from Two Peas In A Pod Quilting. This Up In The Air pattern includes both applique options in one pattern. The basic pattern uses the same simple horizontal stripes for both. The differences come in the applique designs you can choose - birds on a rickrack branch or flying planes. The quilt finishes up at 40"x47.5" and looks like it would be a fairly quick quilt to work up.

Turtles play on this baby quilt pattern

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Turtles came up in a question recently and I started searching for a baby quilt pattern with them. Then for any pattern! Turtles are so cute that you'd think they'd show up a little more often. They aren't any more difficult to applique than other animals so I'm not entirely sure why they're discriminated against!

But I did chance on the Tuella's Day Out pattern by Quilter's Paradise that features turtles and butterflies along with some pretty flowers. They're all done by applique and embroidery and the quilt finishes at 48"x60" - perfect size!

Still - I think of turtles and frogs and lizards and ponds. Boy stuff, in other words. And this particular quilt is definitely on the girly side and not easily switched just by fabric choices. How would you make it a boy quilt?

Hot dots on this baby quilt pattern

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:09:00 +0000

Modern quilt designs are quite the rage right now. And I adore scrap quilts of all kinds. So when I saw this Dots Are Hot quilt pattern from Stitchin' Post, the two just came together for me.

Now, the pattern's finished size is way too big for a baby quilt - 64.5"x 80.5" - but given the way the design is laid out, it's one where you can just leave off a few blocks and make is smaller. (Use the extra blocks to make a diaper bag or blankie.)

Grab a net for these butterfly baby quilt patterns

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:07:00 +0000

I'm working on a memory quilt for my mom and she loved butterflies. Which of course got me poking around to see what options there are for butterfly baby quilts. Lots of patterns out there, but only a few I liked that seemed appropriate as a baby quilt pattern.

Black Mountain Fluttering Butterflies Pattern
Finished size 54"x 54"
Pieced wings, bodies are appliqued

Crazy Old Ladies Flora & Fauna Pattern
Measures 60"x 70", which might be a wee bit big. You could leave a row off the top and bottom and get a smaller and more baby quilt appropriate size. It uses 10" squares. The circles are appliqued, icons appliqued on that. It uses icons of butterflies, birds and flowers; you could just do butterflies.

Crazy Old Ladies Flutterby Pattern
Raw-edge applique butterflies. Finished size 57"x 71". Again, a little big for a baby quilt maybe, but you could just cut the body smaller and arrange the appliques to fit. Or leave off a few.

For The Love Of Thread Butterflies In The Sky Pattern
Finished size 16"x 43". It's meant as a runner, but the design is so cute that I wanted to make this work. Basically, you can repeat the runner three times, sew the runners together and you'll have the right size for a baby quilt. The butterflies are appliqued, so add in a few more to go across the runners to put them together.

Free baby quilt pattern with an interesting twist

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:00:00 +0000

There are so many free patterns out there. It's getting hard to keep track. (Which is why I like to talk about other people's rather than make my own!)

I ran across this Mother Goose one the other day over at Red Rooster Fabrics. The design was put together to feature a (surprise!) Mother Goose line of fabric, including the panel in the middle of the quilt.

One of the things I liked most about this quilt was the mismatched borders. Oh, mismatched sounds horrible. I mean, the fact that the side borders aren't the same as the top and bottom borders. So they don't match, but they go. It's a great way to add width or length when your center doesn't make for a properly proportioned quilt, and the execution here makes the entire quilt more interesting. Rather than just make the piano key strips longer, they did an extra border with the card trick block. Very clever.

Cute, colorful and a great stash buster of a baby quilt idea

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 02:30:00 +0000

Spotted this cutie over on Greenleaf Goods blog this week. It's one of her first shots at a quilt to sell on Etsy and it's just adorable. And, looking at it, a great way to cut down a scrap stash! Just pick two colors that work together, grab a bunch of them of all sizes and go to town. The mix of colors, patterns and sizes adds a lot of interest here.

New John Deere nursery fabric line

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:00:00 +0000

When you think farm, you automatically think John Deere - right? Ok, maybe you thought cows and chickens first, but John Deere tractors are right behind for most people when you talk farm.

I've talked about making your own John Deere quilt before and I still really like that line, but I found a new one over at Fabric.com that I just love. The panel is just too darned cute! You have the tractor, of course, but the cartoony animals and their sounds are just perfect for a baby quilt.

The panel measures 36"x44" and you can pair it up with the other three fabrics in the line. I like the middle one for an inner border and the third one for an outer border. The first - definitely for the back.

Oh - and, they're on sale until Sept. 12, an extra 15% or so off. And Fabric.com has free shipping on orders over $35 and they give you a 37" yard. Awesome.

Cute farm animal fabric - on sale now!

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:26:00 +0000

I love when I stumble on a deal I wasn't expecting. Always fun!

And I stumbled on a nice one here that's only good until Sept. 12. I was looking for some new farm animal fabrics for baby quilts and Fabric.com has them on sale. They're already a couple of dollars less than the normal price, and now they're another 15% off. (Or so. Don't get too picky with my math, OK?)

Anyway, there are several lines out there with farm animal fabrics, some as the main focus of the line, some as just one or two random fabric choices. One of the lines includes a panel, which is a great way to get a baby quilt done quickly and easily. Check them out and definitely move quickly before the deal ends. (Oh - and free shipping for orders over $35 and they have a 37" yard! I love Fabric.com.)

A few of the choices I found:

What to do when you can't sew ...

noreply@blogger.com (lewister) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:05:00 +0000

My sewing machine started spazzing out on me. Then I twisted a screw and made things, well, not worse, but certainly not better. So off to the shop she's gone for a well-overdue cleaning and tuning and hopefully restoration, leaving a gap in my craft room that's huge!!

Eight to 10 days, they said. Nice vacation for her. Bit of a challenge for me.

What do you do when you have 20 quilts to work on and no sewing machine to work with?

Cut, Cut, Cut

Let's see. I started by finally making decisions on the last few quilts in this challenge. I'd been dithering and dithering over what fabrics to use and what others to pair them with and was I using up enough of my stash pieces that I couldn't figure out a use for otherwise and ... so on. I seemed like I kept buying new fabric rather than forcing myself to work with what I had, so I buckled down in making these last choices and managed to use up a few things that have been hanging around for years. All of which to say, I got the final seven quilts all cut out and packaged for sewing. That's all 27 quilts cut! Hooray!

Also - great time for focusing on cutting down all those scraps. I might get to the bottom of the first bucket at this rate.

Baste, Baste, Baste
Now that I had all those quilts cut out, I could finally see at least one of my tables, which means I could use it to do some other work. Wow. Amazing how much space you have when your fabric is in the closet rather than all over the room.

So on to basting the two tops I had finished and that had their backs complete. I had two other quilts waiting for basting (not part of the challenge) and discovered their backs weren't pieced yet. Thwarted! But I had these two elephant quilts ready to go, so now they're all basted and waiting their turn under the machine. (I have no clue how I'm going to quilt them. Those applique elephants in the borders are cute, but in the way!)

Stitch, Stitch, Stitch
Since I've finished the handwork for the one applique flower quilt, I moved on to the petals for the next two. Going steadily, but not quickly at this point. But, no doubt, I am able to focus on completing these much better without the machine calling to me to take care of some work back there.

I have four blocks per flower and nine flowers for two quilts, so that's 72 of these three-petal blocks to get done. Yikes! Glad I had all the petals sewn together and ready for stitching. Which means when the machine comes home, they'll be in the queue for sewing together and moving ahead with those. Whew!!

Plan, Plan, Plan
The quilts for this challenge are really all done in terms of planning. The fabrics are cut, decisions are made. So I'm looking at other items around my room that need some work to get them to the next stage. Top of that list is the box of t-shirts I'm going to turn into a memorial quilt for my mom. If I can get a design figured out, I can start adding the interfacing and cut them to size. I'm trying to not think too much beyond that though. I still have a long way to go in the next four months with this challenge.

What would you do if you didn't have your sewing machine for a few days?