Mary Cate and her quilt

Earlier, I shared a picture of the latest baby quilt I made for my niece Mary Cate before her arrival. She was born on the 24th -- so here are some pictures of her with the quilt!

Hopefully she will get lots of use out of it. Now that all 13 nieces and nephews have baby quilts but just one has a bigger kid quilt -- so need to start making more of those!

I'm now busy trying to wrap up a few projects in time for Christmas and will post some pictures after I give them, so I don't ruin any surprises beforehand!

The Boys

Here are the quilts I've made for my boys. Tyler who is almost 15 -- picked out the pattern and the fabric for his. It's a modified version of one called "Tiddlywinks" -- but without the little circles to represent the Tiddlywinks. He liked the optical illusion it creates. Thankfully he was very patient -- While I was able to piece it in a reasonable amount of time -- it took me several years to actually hand quilt it --due to a few little things like work, having his brother, making baby quilts for his cousins..... I finally finished it in the fall of 2007. He sleeps under it every night.

I began Chandler's quilt while pregnant with him -- even though I knew I wouldn't finish it for quite awhile. That's because Quiltmakers was offering a class for this specific pattern -- it's a Double Irish Chain with racing colors ( in honor of the Indianapolis 500). Since Chandler's room was going to have a racing theme -- it was perfect. I began hand quilting it after I completed Tyler's and finished in in March of 2008. I finished it while spending time with my Grandma before she died. She was the one who taught me to quilt (more on that later) -- so it was very calming to sit in her room and work on the quilt.

Before I finished Chandler's quilt -- he did have a baby quilt (also with a racing them) which was machine pieced and hand quilted and the train quilt (in the picture above). Even though it didn't require any piecing, I hand quilted it to accent the images on the fabric. It's been a nice lap quilt for him and one he can also use a track for his trains.

Newest Addition

Just completed the latest quilt for the latest addition to our family. My brother and his wife are expecting a little girl soon -- and for once, I'm actually ahead of the game on the quilt making. The brightness of the colors really don't come through in the photo, but the inspiration fabric is the pastel-colored check fabric. I fell in love with it several months ago and stashed it away -- not expecting to make another baby quilt -- but it worked out perfectly. I've now made 13 baby quilts for my nieces and nephews -- each one is different.

Halloween 2008

Even though this isn't about quilting -- thought I should post --- here is Chandler in his Halloween costume.

While I was initially nervous about it at first, it actually came together fairly easily. He wore it to Kindermusik yesterday and is so proud of it.

He can't wait until Friday!

I've made most of the boys' Halloween costumes -- a tradition passed down from my mom. She made most of the ones my brother and I wore.

Jay's quilt

Here's my most recent quilt. While not a fancy design -- it holds a lot of special memories. It was made for my step-father who recently learned his cancer had returned.

I felt helpess because I'm two hours away and can't be there in person all of the time to help my mom and step-dad, so I turned to quilting.

I collected fabrics of his favorite things -- teams, pets, beverages, etc. to include in the quilt. The backing is flannel, with University of Kentucky logos (his favorite team).

The signature tag says "So you are always surrounded by love and warmth."