Full aqua hearts

 Hi everyone! How are you doing? I am getting a little better, but I still don't want to talk about it. I do appreciate the kind messages and comments, though, so thanks! I am really cheered by them, and by all the spring that is happening. We already had to cut the grass, after first getting all the sticks picked up. Danged trees! I do have some very happy news, though-- my sweet niece has had her baby! She had a cute little girl with a very old-fashioned name. I know she's very tiny, but I swear she looks just like her mama!

If you recall, my niece requested a baby quilt in 'aqua and gray and Harry Potter.' She got a lovely aqua heart full of love. Take a look:

It turned out almost exactly like it looked in my head. I feel like there is something 'off' about the heart, but I didn't have a pattern and I fussed with it enough. My niece loves it, and that's all that matters. As you can tell from all the wrinkles, I washed the quilt before I photographed it, because I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures first. Oh, well! I did iron it, but it didn't much help.

I couldn't bring myself to put gray on the back of a quilt for a baby, so instead I used these fun owls. If you know anything about Harry Potter, you'll know that owls are pretty important to the story, so I feel like they fit. And the quilt looks great on both sides, too.

But what about Harry Potter? Well, if you look very closely, you will find several things in the quilting, including:

A magic wand!

A Golden Snitch! (Which looks like baby Yoda, but oh well!)

And the part that made my poor niece cry. . .

"You are so loved."

There are several other things hidden in the quilting, but you get the idea. They aren't perfectly quilted, but they're meaningful to my niece and her husband, and that's what counts. All in all, it's a little unconventional, but the baby looks adorable on it, and she should be able to use it for quite a while, as it finished at just about 40 by 50. Can you get any better?

Hope you are having a good week! I'm getting better slowly, so I hope to see you again really soon. Take care!

Sharing at all the usual places. See sidebar for details!

Attention Baltimore quilters!

I was contacted by a lovely woman named Cindy who is the founder of Ryan's Case For Smiles, which makes and donates pillowcases for kids hospitalized for cancer. Sadly, the coordinator of the Baltimore chapter is retiring and they are looking for a new person to head this very active chapter. If you are interested, please contact dana (at) caseforsmiles (dot) org.

Thanks!

Spring is busting out

 Hi all! How are you doing today? Obviously something very big is up with me right now, as I haven't touched any fabric in weeks. Not taken one stitch. I don't want to talk about it right now, but I did want to pop in and say hello. So, hi! (waving wildly) Hope everything is going great with you!

Spring is busting out all over right now, and in addition to the pollen it has brought us some really pretty scenes. One of these is on the walk I take every day, and I just want to share it:

Forsythia, magnolia, dogwood! Don't they make a pretty picture? And do I need to mention that those would be some great quilt colors? The flowers and color are definitely raising my spirits. 

One other thing that's quite happy-- the daffodils on our hill are blooming, too:

Is there anything prettier than yellow flowers? Maybe pink, but there are no pink daffodils!

Hope everyone is enjoying spring, or whatever season you are entering. I am looking forward to warmer days, more sunshine, and longer days.

Take care, all! See you when I can.

Just a little late

Hi all! How are you doing? I have been very busy, and very tired. It's possible I'm overworked. This makes me no different from anyone else, but I am certainly feeling it right now. Also, I went to two-- two!-- big gatherings where I interacted with many people, and my introversion kicked in big time afterward. You know how you just want to curl up sometimes by yourself and read a nice book? Just me? Well, okay, then. . .

 

There has been sewing but not posting! Part of that tiredness thing, you know? I did finally finish my Stay at Home Round Robin quilt top, and I could not be happier with it. Here he is:

 

 

Yes, this quilt is a he, but isn't he handsome?  And, as usual, he turned out to be very different from what I expected. But I'm still very happy with how it turned out!

 

The Stay at Home Round Robin is a project run by Quilting Gail and friends, and you should definitely go look at the finished quilts at the linkup! Everyone gets the same prompts but they all turn out so different. I skipped the last prompt for this project, which was 'letters and numbers,' and opted for the border instead. It worked for me!

I messed up on the almost-last round with the pinwheels. The prompt was 'four,' and pinwheels have four parts, so that worked. What didn't work is that the Accuquilt die that I used was mismarked. The half-square triangles were supposed to be 1-1/2 inch finished, which would have made 3-inch finished pinwheels. Nope, they were 1-inch finished. Adjust, adjust! A little cutting and it worked out okay. Hey, maybe I can pretend those dots are really Os and then I will have gotten the last prompt, too!

This little quilt finished at just about 50 by 54 and will eventually be quilted and donated. It's just the right size for a kid quilt and I think the ships will be captivating for some young person. And do you see what else is that picture? Daffodils are coming!

I said that I went to two people-intensive gatherings, and one of them was Quiltcon. What a show! I went with Preeti and met some lovely people (Hi Emily! Hi Michelle!) and saw a mess of really great quilts that are far beyond my abilities. I have just two pictures from Quiltcon to show, and they're not of quilts! 

This was a double rainbow from our window at the hotel. I feel lucky to have seen it, and even luckier to get a photo!

 

 

And finally, a lovely camelia. Spring is on the way! 

A great big thanks to Gail and Wendy and everyone involved with the SAHRR. It was fun and a really nice quilt came out of it. And everyone have a great weekend! I'm off to finish grading some midterms, and then it's pizza for dinner. I love it when that happens!

 

Sharing at Finished or Not Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Quilting, Patchwork, Applique, and the final SAHRR linkup at Quilting Gail.

Another round for the house

 Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday! Halfway through the week, so everything after this is heading for the weekend. It is very loud here at my house right now. They are finally fixing the floor after our roof leak and there is a lot of pounding. There are four guys here and they all have hammers or nail guns. I know it will be worth it, but I really need somewhere to hide.

I have put another round on my stay at home round robin! This is a project by Quilting Gail and friends, and I think this is its third year. It's my third year, anyway. Here is the current status of my project:

Okay, it's looking better than I thought it would! I usually have no confidence in how things will turn out when I start them, other than 'that might be pretty.' This week's prompt was 'square in a square blocks,' and you can see mine right there in the corners. I started with the ships in the center and I'm pretty happy so far with how the rounds are turning out. And I'm really happy that those ships are getting used in something! I had so many ideas for them, but none actually came to pass, so I'm happy they are being used here.

Last week's prompt was triangles, but I really thought I had enough triangles in this little quilt already. Instead I added the golden yellow spacers to the top and bottom and decided to use the star fabric for whatever the next round was. The stars were left over from another backing, so so far everything here is a leftover or scrap. The blue square in a square blocks made great cornerstones and they also go nicely with that pretty yellow. 

At this point, my little quilt measures 42 inches square. Wait, what? How did that happen? I don't know, but here we are. There are two more rounds to go, so I think I will end up with a very nice toddler quilt, perfect for donation. 

Whatever the next prompt is, I'm ready! Hope your week is going well, and I hope the hammering is done soon. Then I will have a floor again!

Sharing at Songbird Designs for the SAHRR.