Bean's Quilt

While Bean is busy growing and practicing gymnastics and practicing her "Gig Em" sign, Nona is busy creating a baby quilt. Mommy and Nona went to the fabric store, The Quilter's Stash, in North Richland Hills a few weeks ago and spent two hours auditioning fabrics for this little quilt. We came home with twenty two different fabrics and a package of Quilter's Dream batting -- the most wonderful batting on the market, IMHO.




Bean's mommy has a wonderful plan for her room, I guess I would call the style "Americana Cozy" and that is all I am going to say about it. She chose a wide variety of fabrics from her inspiration wall decor and each, in it's own way, evokes memories for me as a lot of it comes from vintage or reproduction lines. The style of the quilt is very simple -- 4.5 inch squares, randomly set. The colors are wonderful and have a way of setting off each other. I arranged them in a truly random way, only making sure that I didn't put two identical squares next to one another.





I had been thinking about doing some Welsh quilting on this -- a technique I would like to explore -- but Bean's mommy wants it to be a soft, cuddly quilt and the extensive quilting found on Welsh quilts might make it a bit more stiff so it will be simple quilting. I am not sure how I am going to quilt it yet but I think, whatever I do, I will do by hand. Quilting by hand creates a softer drape and besides, I haven't done anything by hand in a long time and I have been wanting to do something so this project, not being too big, seems the perfect thing.




I had thought about finishing the edges with prairie points but, in a way, it seems too stark for a baby quilt so I will probably just choose one of the fabrics and do a simple binding -- maybe with the lovely rose fabric with the meandering flowers. I want this quilt to be used and soft and washed and dragged around -- a proper working quilt -- not something just folded and put away because Nona made it.

I will be backing it with muslin for two reasons. Muslin comes in very wide widths and I really don't like seams on the back of my quilts. Plus, muslin washes up very nicely and just gets softer with age and it needles well. So, that, coupled with my Quilters Dream batting will make a lovely little wrap for Bean!

Tomorrow will be the starting point. I hope to have it basted and in the hoop so I can sit back and be in hand quilting heaven -- the most relaxing hobby I can think of other than napping. I will post photos of the finished product when it is, in fact, the finished product.

New Territory Explored and Books, Books and More Books

My hubby and children never have a problem buying me gifts. I have a running wish list of books, quilting/needlecraft supplies, DVD's and CD'S for them to choose from as well as one of my favorite things -- gift cards.

This year I made hubby a Christmas list of reasonable items. Ok, the Nook wasn't reasonable and probably not even logical (except in My mind) but the rest of the list was quite manageable in all senses of the word.

One of the things on my list was this book.


It is the cutest book of non-traditional baby quilts. It shows examples of quilts using free forms, non-traditional piecing, embroidery, gorgeous fabrics and many examples of "why didn't I think of that". It supplies patterns and templates and tutorials by the quiltmakers themselves.

The neatest thing it contains is websites, blogsites and etsy sites for all the contributors. I spent last evening visiting each of the websites, completely enjoying myself and have every intention of adding them to my blogroll. Such talent is a joy to look at. Linda Kopp did an outstanding job with this book -- it is full of information of all sorts and is a delight to read. For me, it makes me want to be brave and just cut into that piece of fabric and do something daring!

Then, right after Christmas we ventured from our familiar area and took a long ride to Frisco to visit Stonebriar Center.
Stonebriar Center is a very large mall with every store imaginable. There is a movie theater, a Cheesecake Factory, Restoration Hardware, Nordstroms, a Lego store -- you name it, it is there. So, where was the first place hubby and I went? Yep, you guessed it -- Barnes and Noble. This particular B&N wasn't any larger than the two I frequent in our area of town but it had a number of different things. It had Nook accessories. Of course, they didn't have any left since it was right after Christmas but they DID have them, unlike our B&N which barely has a display of the pamphlets for product itself. They also had a huge selection of craft books from woodworking to quilting and everything in between. Of course, I needed a sourvenir of my visit to this monumental mall so I chose this--
This is a lovely little book by Susan Briscoe showing examples of blocks done in the Asian inspiration. They look so complicated but when they are broken down, they are so basic! The fabrics are gorgeous, the instructions easy to follow and the end results for the quilts are just outstanding. I am thinking of making one for myself even though I had sworn off large quilts -- I might have to rescind that notion.

It was a fun day in Frisco. Now, my next trip is to North Richland Hills to one of my favorite quilt stores -- The Quilter's Stash.
I love this quilt store for lots of reasons. In the first place, it is bright! I have a couple of other favorites but they are so dark inside you want to take the fabric outside to see the colors well. Not at Quilters Stash, however. Another reason I love this store is that the people who work there are knowledgable and are more than willing to help you. I have learned a lot from them just talking to them while they cut my fabric. Also, it is a very well stocked store -- they have everything you need and they are the only store that I know of in the area that carries Quilter's Dream batting which is the very best batting in the entire world. I feel a visit coming on soon -- like maybe tomorrow!

So, all this talking about quilting has me inspired. I am off to work on my three projects and, hopefully, I will have something to show you before too long.