Birthday Signature Quilt

When we had our first baby, it seemed like a long term quilt project was in order.

Finding the perfect pattern took some time, but I eventually came to the place where a birthday signature quilt was born.

On his first birthday, I found a cool font, printed out some numbers that were just under 5" tall and used hand applique to sew them onto background blocks.

At the birthday party all the friends and relatives signed their names to the quilt block wishing the new arrival a happy first birthday.

Every year a new block is sewn up and well wishes are shared.

Over the years, more babies came into the family and other quilts were started.  In our family alone we have 4 of them going right now.  Two for our boys and two for my nieces.  One of my best friends (who is basically family) started one for her baby daughter so I think the count is up to at least 5 quilts that I'm aware of.

Some of the usual folks who sign every year put a lot of thought into their messages.  Others draw small pictures.  Still others are just learning to print their names and at times write their letters backwards.  All of these are very treasured.  Some who have signed are no longer here with us.  Their messages touch our hearts in a unique way.

A few tips and tricks:
- Use a .05 or so sized Pigma pen, they work great.  Practice your writing on scrap fabric
- Buy enough backing fabric to make all your blocks and some extra if you want to use it in the border at all
- Remember what color Pigma pen you are using!  We mixed brown and black ink in the same quilt without realizing it
- Use painter's tape or some other light tape to mask off the area outside of the 8" block.  This will help people sign inside of the lines of where you will sew and assemble the block
- I cut out freezer paper and iron it to the top of the right side of the fabric to use as a needle turn guide.  Wax side goes onto the fabric...not the bottom of your iron (that wouldn't be good!)

Birthday Quilt - girl version

I'm making a couple more signature blocks for some 6 year olds and a 9 year old who will celebrate their birthdays in September.

By the time you are nine, you don't really want a birthday party anymore.  I find that rather sobering.  This whole growing up thing is happening at lightening speed.

The girl version is out of Liberty of London fabric and it needs to go in the mail so I always try to do that one first.  They don't take long really.  With a bit of traffic and a sweet DH behind the wheel I can finish the stitching of one on the ride to San Francisco.

One down, two to go.

2001 Nouveaux Modeles de Patchwork by Chuck Nohara

The Sarah Johnson quilt requires 172 'star' blocks such as the above and I just made just over 100 of them so far.

That puts me at the 60% mark. Time to turn on the gas pretty soon and bust the rest of these out.

I didn't to much quilting this weekend since we were on the go and had basically a kid birthday party on each of the weekend days.

My mom was visiting us last week and she gave me her recent copy of Quilt Mania Magazine. This is such a cool magazine - Originally published in French, translated to English but with a clear focus on Japanese style quilting.

There was an ad for this book: 2001 Nouveaux Modeles de Patchwork by Chuck Nohara in the issue I was reading. You can even look through it for a few pages if you check out the link.

This is a reprint of Chuck Nohara's book that she published ages ago that includes her new twist on 2001 traditional quilt blocks.

Looks like Quilt Mania sells the book and ships anywhere, so I have the feeling my copy might just arrive this week. My husband ordered it for me when he realized how excited I was about it. Really, I almost fainted when I learned it was reprinted.

Getting Out of Jail

This weekend was a holiday weekend in the U.S. but I'm not sure it was as relaxing as we were planning it to be.

Our little one decided to perform what shall hence forth be known as "The Great Escape" from his crib. The older one never figured out how to get out of his crib on his own. This baby is so clever.

This prompted us to convert his crib to a toddler bed, so he can come and go as he pleases now which presents it's own new fun and games in our house.

I did get some quilting done of my wedding signature quilt. Just cutting out all the pieces takes a little while, but working with all the pretty fabrics sure is fun. I have finished blocks to share with you as well next time.

Janet from Quilts A Lot blog gets my award for cutest blog post that I found this weekend. Her crochet flowers are adorable. I want to make some.

I also had a near-life-altering experience after reading a quilting magazine my mom gave me. I know - it's a cliff hanger....until next time!

Olympic-a-holic: a 12 step program is in order

Perhaps I should be stopped from watching the Olympics, but gosh they are pretty cool. Speed skating is by far my favorite.

In the 'going for the gold theme' that I started in my last post, above are some of the wedding signature blocks that I created with 1850's reproduction 'Chrome' colored fabric.

This project is slow, but I'm still plugging along at it. I think this new yellow is giving the overall quilt a much needed sparkle.

I recently discovered Peanut Free Planet who sells chocolate chips that are nut free so we are back to being able to making choc chip cookies.

Have you seen the trip around the world variation quilt over at Decaf, please? So stunning. I love working with solids and I love Amish style quilts. This is a quilt that falls into both of those buckets, so enjoy the photos. What a work of art.

Wedding Signature Quilt - just in time for Valentine's Day

Thanks for the comments on the Catherine Wheel Scarf.

In case one measly photo wasn't enough of it for your personal taste, perhaps you want to look at 56 more of them in my newly created flickr set...or maybe a slide show of scarf photos is in order?

I'm also working hard (again!) on my wedding signature quilt. All those signature blocks collected 6 years ago at our wedding are still waiting to become a quilt.

Each of them is so tiny that it takes me ages to make only a small set of 10 or so, but each night I'm making small amounts of progress and enjoying the process as well.

Things to fall in love with:

This Sunshine Day Baby Afgan by Posie Gets Cozy, OMG beautiful.

The Archipod: posted by design milk blog. Could I move my sewing room into the back yard? Unclear if this thing would hold my fabric collection. Oh and not to mention the yarn. Oh yeah and the fiber. Eek.

This new collection on the way from Liberty of London, as posted at True Up blog. Like I need more Liberty.

Last but not least, this awesome post about Orange County, California. Although I have spent a lot of time there, not sure I have hit everything on their recommended list. Some new ideas here. Cool.

The Stink Eye

Our little 4 yr old has perfected what I like to call The Stink Eye.

When he doesn't get exactly what he wants, he give us this look that we are starting to get very used to seeing. Since we don't give in to the demands I guess we should start to embrace it. I'm wondering if I should take more pictures of it. In certain ways it's really adorable.

Thanksgiving was huge for us this year. We drove to see my family, and I gave my mom the Chevron Scarf that I was working on for the last year. She really loved it. We also visited the happiest place on Earth, so that was a giant thrill.

On the way there I started working on some little Dear Hannah applique blocks again. Gee, it's been a while, but they sure are fun to make. Will post some pictures of them soon for you. Should be quick to square them up.

Above is a photo of a wedding signature quilt block. I'll confess that I have been trying to make some progress on that project too.

Looking forward to so many things - shopping for a Christmas tree, visiting a sick friend who recently moved to a hospital closer to me, buying an electronic portable drum set kid toy that has some serious volume control, seeing my sister again in only 2 weeks.