Collaborative Party Quilting

I know I shared some photos yesterday of the day I have been waiting for to share the love.  It was the day where I could show my love for my DIL and how grateful I am that she is carrying my grandson. This will be my first grandchild.  I have been sewing for weeks getting ready for the baby shower and that explains my lack of quilting blog posts.  I feel like I have been vamping, but I didn't want to show too much because I wanted Olivia to have some surprises. 

 

Now that I have had some time to rest and recoup I can share a few more details. 3 of Olivia's friends, my other DIL and I made the shower together. It was a book theme and we asked for children's books instead of a card.  It was the start of quite a library.   I took responsibility for the party favors and I volunteered to do a "craft" instead of playing baby shower games. 

Can you tell that games are not my thing?

Party favors using Mother Goose themed fabric made with a little help from my friends
 

The craft - I wanted to make a collaborative quilt with everyone's participation for the new baby. This meant that all the guests were to create a block and then sign it.  So I had to come up with a theme.  Several danced through my brain.  Olivia's sister actually came up with the one I used - FISH!  My son loves to fish and had many fish tanks growing up. 

This would acknowledge his presence in the process!

 

I designed fish body parts that were interchangeable so each fish would be unique. 

 

 Think Mr. Potato Head.

I prepped a bunch of different fabric to be fusible, cut them out, removed the release paper and organized them by body type.

 

I made a sample and  a direction list for the guests to follow.  I wanted it to be fun, friendly and fool-proof. A few of the women were my quilting friends and they were great helpers.   It turned out that it was not that hard to get everyone to participate and I heard very little whining.

 Creativity was in the air.  

 

I had labels to be filled out for each block.  I wanted the signature to stand out instead of blending into the background. Although I have used Pigma pens for years, I think they are a little hard for non-quilters to use for writing on fabric.  There just isn't a good flow.  So I did some experimentation, which included a trip through the washing machine and dryer and settled on using Gel pens.  Heat setting with a dry iron made them permanent.  The writing flows smoothly and they come in a bunch of colors.

 

I provided some fabric for practicing and had lots of extra labels for any mistakes.  I left the release paper on for stability while writing.

 

As the blocks went up on my design wall, excitement grew.  Each fish was cuter than the next. 

 

 And I even saw some of the women rearranging the blocks. That made me feel good.

 

And most importantly, the mother to be just loved it

and created her own block with her hubby, my son. 

 

I can't wait to start blanket stitching these fishy blocks. I have 2 months to finish before the arrival of Baby Lynch and machine applique is one of my favorite things to do. It's certainly  a lot more fun than playing baby shower games.

 

In the next few days, I'll share some of my gifts that I made, with some tutorials. 

 Then I'll get back to my quilts.

 

 

 

 

Baby Shower

Here's a quick overview of today's baby shower for my DIL, Olivia.  I wanted to share some photos, but am pretty exhausted after spending 4 weeks working up to this day. I'll share more photos as the days go by, but suffice it to say that the weather co-operated and my DIL that is usually the one doing for others, was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from her friends, our family and my friends.

 

You deserve it!! 



And Baby Makes Three



We were so lucky that it was a beautiful day.

Dining "al fresco"

Milk and cookies!

Opening gifts.  Thank you everyone.

Drinks with a label



Loren, ME, Olivia

 

 

Seasonal bibs, by Auntie Hattie!

 

Tag pillow from Kelly

 I didn't get a photo of all the handmade gifts, but there were others,

including knitted hats and even booties.  I overheard one of  Olivia's friends saying that she wished her Mom had quilters as friends!  That made me giggle to myself.

And Bailey chooses June to cuddle with.

Exhaustion prevails.  Tomorrow I will share more.
Good night.

 

I've Gone To The Dark Side

I tease my quilting friends when they become knitters.  I tease them that they have gone to the dark side.  They have become one of "them".Why would you want to knit, when you can make it out of fabric?  There are a lot of quilters that dabble in knitting.  We love the color and texture of various fibers.  Socks are a favorite item to make.  All of us like to keep our hands occupied while watching TV or traveling or waiting for a doctor's appointment. If it's not small quilting projects, then it's knitting.  For some people, that is!

 

I have dabbled in knitting myself.  At various times over the years, I have gotten so frustrated that I have given away all of  yarn and needles.  Then I become enticed several years later and pick up needles and yarn again.  I definitely have never been any good with sweaters.  The less the project relied on size the better off I am.  On our recent trip to Florida, I began my dalliance with knitting again.  I made this seed stitch cowl. 

 

It was fast and I enjoyed the pattern, called  And it was one size fits all.

 I have never really advanced past being a beginner. 

 But now I am enticed.  I went to a baby shower this weekend for my DIL's sister.

 

The theme was woodland creatures, which is also the theme of the nursery.

 Their mother, Nan, knitted these adorable animals. 

 They are about 3" high.  This was the pattern she used:

 Click on this link if you want more info:Wee Woodland Wuzzies

 

To decorate the tables, Nan made some tablescapes.  They were magical. She is so talented.

Check out the little gnome.

 

Although I thought these adorable creatures, especially the squirrel with the bushy tail, should come home with me (yes I have lust in my heart!),

their next stop would be the baby's nursery in the form of a mobile.

Lucky boy!

 

"Green" Baby Shower Favors

I have a wonderful daughter-in-law (DIL), who I have been trying for years to get "hooked" on quilting. But, she is a practical and utilitarian sewer, who sews when necessary. I remember when her brother and his wife were pregnant with their first child. After prodding her for years about trying quilting, she came to me and said she was ready to make a baby quilt. I suggested a very quick and easy, flip and sew project. We went fabric shopping and she had so much fun picking out airplane theme fabric. I thought - aha! I hooked her.

A few years later - yes a few years, her dear friend from elementary school was pregnant, and she was ready to make another quilt. Last year we even took a free workshop at a local sewing shop during Earth Day and made a reusable shopping bag. She loves it and uses it. But it was one and done. And then her brother had twins. That time it was two rag quilts made from flannel. She still was not bitten.

Now her sister is pregnant. Time for another quilt? Yes! And what did I think of the idea of making reusable shopping bags as bridal shower favors? She even brought me a pattern. First I have to let you know that her sister is determined to reduce her carbon footprint. She has made an effort to have as little purchased new for this baby as possible. She has been trying to reuse and/or borrow or buy used what she needs. Then she will register for her baby shower. I really admire this. Sometimes I think there is just too much consumption in this country.

So I thought my DIL's idea for the shower favor was a great idea. And I had a brainstorm, thinking of too much consumption, wouldn't it be even better if we went through my fabric stash and used as much of my fabric as possible? How many bags did she need? Wow! 30, maybe 40? Decorator fabric was plentiful, so I thought, and my DIL chose a color palette. Then we picked some quilting fabric. The deal was that I would cut up the fabric for her and she would do the sewing.

I spent almost a day cutting up all of the fabric and experimenting. It looked like so much fabric before I started. It yielded enough for 27 bags. I made a few prototypes. First I changed the pattern so that the body of the bag was cut as 1 piece. I also added a bottom gusset, which is so easy to do, and really makes it a professional looking bag.

The first bag I made was the green striped bag on the right. I shortened the bag, but I thought it looked too small. So I used the dimensions from the original directions.

My favorite bag is the one on the left. I had bought that fabric a few years ago for an Autumn tablecloth. I wanted to try making a bag from it since it is a cross between an organza and a taffeta and I was concerned about its sturdiness. There was enough to cut 6 bags. The sample came out beautifully.

So now I am on a mission to not buy any fabric for this project. I just have to go through my stash one more time and then ask friends to come up with enough fabric for 13 more bags. And my DIL has a lot of sewing to do.