sniff, sniff

Well, Red is turning four on Monday. FOUR. I don't know how that could possibly be right but it is. DH and I just loaded up all of our infant things (bumbo seat, baby clothes, toys) to give to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. I couldn't bear to go with him-I've had at least four crying jags already-but I hope these things will bless someone else as they blessed us.

We've been blessed with two beautiful boyos and DH said that he could not imagine life more full or more empty than what we have now. I know he's right but it's hard not to want just one more little one.

And then I got my serger out. . .

Red's birthday is coming up and he is seriously into firetrucks right now so I wanted to make him a pillowcase. I decided to use my serger, just to try it out, on a pillowcase.

So I made three. ;-)

The alphabet one and number one will be for when we get the loft beds for the boyos. I will give Red the firetruck one on his birthday. I should have cut the fabric so that the trucks ran across the pillowcase but I was trying to do this quickly. I edged this one in some read minkee I bought at JoAnns. It's not the softest minkee but it will do.

The serger made it a very quick construction. I used Mary Quilts' pillowcase instructions again from http://maryquilts.com/pillowcase . Love that pattern!

Have you seen this?

I was reading The Farm Chicks Blog (clicked over from PamKittyMorning) and then saw this give away from Pixie Dust. I had never seen this fabric line before but it sure is nice. Here's the link: http://www.pixiedustdecor.com/fabric.shtml I love the Chateau Charlotte and the Aqua pagoda. Actually I like it all! You can enter the give-away on The Farm Chicks blog.

You *must* go look at the poufs and tuffets. Too Cute.

Table Runner for Gma

I quilted the table runner for Gma on Sunday. I had brought all my supplies over to my mother's as my brother was there with his kids and I wanted to see them and let my boyos play with them. It didn't go well. My mom's sewing set up is different than mine and I didnt use enough basting spray so after I quilted two lines I had to rip it out. *sigh*

We made two trips to JoAnns. The first to get some more serger thread-guess who is going to hem her summer dresses? And then DH and my kayak-obsessed brother wanted us to meet them there so they could pick out some nylon. They want me to make a splash skirt, a tonneau cover and an ill-advised sail for the kayak. Does the Coast Guard answer 911? I need to find out before they try out the sail.

After the boyos and I got home I pulled out my machine and quilted the table runner. The boyos are obsessed with the machine so I kept bribing them with cookies to let me finish. I was able to get it quilted and the binding sewn on. Then DH and brother came home and started working on building what they called a flower box and I called a pram. So I was able to finish hand-sewing the binding.

The table runner looked a little bare so I made two yo-yos and sewed them on with buttons. The shape of it makes me think it looks like a baby quilt! The measurements are 22 by 30.5 inches .But it will look nice on Gma's kitchen island. I used polyester batting on this quilt and I will never use it again. It is tooooooo lofty. I'll stick to warm n' natural from here on out. It isn't that expensive, especially with the generous coupons from JoAnns.

I put the runner in the mail Tuesday. I hope Gma gets it before Easter. She's out of the hospital now and I know she's upset that she won't be able to come to visit. I'm hoping she can come this summer. We're kind of in a catch-22: it's getting harder for her to travel and it's harder for me and the boyos to visit her house. Her home is lovely but full of breakable things that fascinate the boyos.

Gma

This is the beginning of a table runner for my Gma. The pattern is available on the Moda Bake shop blog.

I found out last night that Gma was hospitalized for severe bronchitis. I'm worried that it will turn into pneumonia. She's 84 and is not in the best health.

Penguins, penguins

Finished quilt top for Red. I used the pattern (mostly) from Andover. However, it had some serious errors in it. I had extra fabric, thankfully, so I could re-cut the pieces that were wrong. I bought the backing Monday-more penguins-and I will piece that with some of the leftovers from the top. He says he likes it but I don't think he realizes it will be a snuggly quilt for him.

I have another pattern and fabric from the Duck, Duck, Goose line. When I start that one I will sample before I cut all of my fabric up-just in case.

Testing an idea

Recently I have been using my serger a great deal. My mom wanted me to roll hem some of her dresses (I lost count at 20!). Since I am rather new to serging I checked out several books from the library. One of them had a project that was a quilt made by SERGING. I was intrigued by it and then in this issue of Quilts and more there was a giant, wonky log cabin quilt. I wondered if I could do that on my serger. Well, here is my sample. It is not tidy-I didnt iron my fabric before cutting or between logs as Tig was up and v. clingy and I was afraid he'd get burned.

You can see the serging here. To get started you layer the first square (top fabric, batting, backing) and serge all four sides. Then you place the next log of fabric right sides together and the batting and backing against the back. Serge the seam. Then flip the pieces together, iron, trim if needed and move on to the next log.

Here's the back of my sample. I used some minkee scraps-which were hard to serge through because it ends up being six layers thick, some red flannel and some blue gingham flannel. I think I will make this into a little doll quilt for DNiece#3.

I'd like to do another of these but with time (and freedom) to iron and cut accurately.