Baby Boomers ... INSPIRATION NEEDED!

Not only am I way behind on my personal projects, all of a sudden, two out of three of my closest girl friends are pregnant at 35 and 38 respectively. They are first-time mums and obviously that calls for baby quilts!

I have had the material for one baby's quilt for years now, always waiting for mum to get knocked up ('scuse me!). So that's sorted. Mercifully, it's the first to arrive.

But with baby two, I'm stumped. She's a trained chef, though no longer working in that field, he's a hockey coach. I cannot make anything too complicated for lack of time! And I have zero idea! Any and all ideas are welcome!

Burning the Candle at both Ends

OK, so who stole the past six weeks? Where have they gone?

We've been away on holiday for about two of them and away for almost a week at my in-laws (how fun!). Plus the endless washing, a lot of work at my prime client's business and getting a new business together plus keeping the current one running ...

... it's no surprise I've not gotten anything done!

I have got more bag planned to hold all the mits, scarves and hats my girls need this winter. Plus one for art supplies for when Paula goes to art class.

And then there's still my Turning Twenty and a basket full of things to mend.

Bag One Done!

Taa daa!

In case you were wondering why this is such a big deal: I grew up with "leg bags", my mum turned all kinds of pant legs into all kinds of bags that were dubbed "bread pouches" ... mainly brown corduroy pants because I grew up during the 1970ies. And believe it or not, some of them are still "in action". In fact, my dad uses one every day to carry a bottle of water, some slices of rye bread and old gouda to the office for his lunchtime snack.

So there you go: history repeated!

Bag Lady

I seem to have been infected by Bag Fever:


An old pant leg, some lining from curtains that needed shortening and those seemingly rather useless strips of rose fabric ...


Stage 2 ... bag taking shape.

Stage 3 will be completed tonight. All in all a very fruitful weekend, finally!

Binding done ...

Well, sort of: I have attached it to the top to see how big the whole thing will be in order to cut the backing and wadding to size.



I'm quite pleased with the colour and pattern ... the binding is a Red Rooster fabric with just leaves and the backing will be from that same range, just in green. My hand quilting yarn is a delightfull pink to provide some contrast to the otherwise "simple" (aka boring) back.



And see, this is the reason why I will not be doing a Turning Twenty quilt again. I've taken such care to square off the blocks and sew them all precisely ... yet the points are not aligning, sigh. I'm sure it'll be fine once it's quilted. I can always apply my favorite excuse: handmade!

Assembled!

I've had to redo two blocks because of colour considerations and then assembled the whole thing while watching American Dreamz and slurping white wine. Perfect Friday night, given that hubby was out of the country.

Moving right along ...

thanks to a new quilters' group I've joined. Sadly - but mercifully - it only meets once a month - I couldn't possibly squeeze in more appointments. But it's finally a group that meets to work. All the others I've visited meet to chat. And I don't like that.

It's a diverse group of women, predominantly local with a few US Americans thrown in. All seem to be working mums, most a good ten to twenty years older than myself and much more experienced too. Some are stitchers, one owns the quilt shop where we meet - insta-supply!

And this is how I'm getting on with things.



Following Jan's advice, I popped down the road to my local DIY store and bought insulating boards. Sadly they don't come in the size I require so I bought two and taped them together. Hubby's now promised to make a frame of sorts for them.

They came as a godsent, I shuffled the blocks around and around and then around some more. Then I turned the board on its side and on its head and shuffled the blocks around some more. For the most part, the design wall resides in my laundry room so that I can stare at it while folding laundry ...


And this is my largest oeuvre to date: Carola with chocolate sauce on her face ...