Casual stars

I must say ... I am REALLY happy with how this came out!  First, I must share my inspiration quilts ... here and here.  And then when I was near completion of the blocks, I saw this awesome star ... and of course had to add a couple of those as well!

This quilt is for my friend, Nichole, who helped me get my current job ... my little way of saying thanks!

The back is fairly simple solids ... with a very little bit of piecing.

The quilt by the numbers:

• 12 1/4" star blocks (there are 24 of them)
• 12 1/4" solid blocks (there are 6 of them)
• It's quilted in a tight meandering pattern with a light gray thread
• There is a mix of designer fabrics, the gray is Kona Ash and the darker gray is Kona Coal.
• It's bound with a mixture of the the prints used in the quilt.

Nichole is actually in the hospital tonight ... her water broke this afternoon and there is a baby on the way had a 7lb 8oz little boy named Wyatt last week ... while this quilt isn't a baby present (and she still hasn't seen it), I did get a chance to deliver the baby and sibling presents this past weekend that I blogged about here.

I spent the first half of it at a trade show in San Francisco -- a 13 hour day standing at a trade show booth on Monday and 11 hours on Tuesday ... collapsed when I landed back in the room at the end of the day ... so I am looking forward to getting a chance to peruse all of YOUR productivity sometime this weekend!

Hope you've had a great week.

All the best

Lisa

The baby package

I have always embraced the thought of giving a present to siblings when babies are born ... the question for me is always ... what's a good sibling present?

Then this month I hit on it ... 

Pillows

I was able to finish up the remainder of the hedgehog fabric that I have and create a couple of sibling gifts!

Oh ... and then there's the baby quilt ...

HST neutral baby quilt front

HST with straight-line quilting

Pieced backing 

Now I just need to finish up momma's quilt ... 

Not much quilting got done this weekend ... instead I got to spend some quality time out at the cabin with my mom, her sister and 2 of my of cousins ... it was good ... really good.  And a wonderful way to spend the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 ... with my family and a chance to be thankful for all that I have in my life.

I trust you had a good weekend.

All the best

Lisa 

Making a little progress ...

This one has been in the works for a couple of months ... only 7 blocks to go ... or maybe a little white space is needed ... hmmm ...

WIP

This quilt is for Nichole, a friend of mine who introduced me to my current boss and helped me get my current job.

She's also expecting a new baby in October ... the baby quilt is completed ... but this one's for momma ... to say thank you.  The new baby has a big sister who is 4 and a big brother who will 3 be later this year, and I'm working on a pillow for each of them ...

So it looks like everyone but daddy will be getting a quilted gift!

My favorite block

We had a fabulous time at the cabin this weekend -- I took Tuesday off as and made it a 4-day weekend.  The simple beauty of the place really helped erase the challenges over the past month.  And look at the show the garden gave us!  John's found some fabulous new spray that really does keep the deer off.

The bloomin' cabin garden

Hope you're having a good week!

All the best
Lisa

Color mix

It really didn't matter how many times I ran her off ... she was convinced that this was here for HER!

I did finish all the piecing tonight and now have a quilt top that is 83" x 91" ... perfect for the murphy bed in the den at the cabin.

I realized when I was looking at the back tonight, just how much piecing was actually involved with this baby ;-).  And it really did make a dent in the solid scrap bin as well!

As I was finishing up the top this evening, I got carried away, fantacizing about sandwiching this tomorrow and then quilting it on Monday ... until I remembered that I haven't even thought of what I want to do on the back yet, and the nearest fabric store to the cabin is 45 minutes away ...

Umm ... guess I will work on another quilt tomorrow ;-).

Hope you're having a great long weekend where ever you are!

All the best
Lisa