The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

Babies and bubbles

It’s not surprising that I have Baby on my mind. I’ve kinda gone overboard on this, you’ll see what I mean. It started so innocently….

I got this panel at Meissner Folsom, cute huh? It’s for taking photos as Baby grows. You put Baby down in the lower left-hand corner and put something around the proper words or numbers like 4th week or 36 days or 3 months, etc. I was so intent squaring it up that I cut off the “3” but I will drop back in with a marker and make it look like “I meant to do that”! It’s cute and if Mom and Dad don’t want to do photos on it, it can function as a simple quilt.

I resolved NOT to make something super intense or over-the-top cute. I got some of those with my babies and I never used them! I want Baby to do all the things that babies do on quilts, offerings from all of the orifices. I want them to be worn to shreds.

I am having a lot of trouble sleeping….for like the last 9 months. Last week I did something unprecedented – I pulled an all-nighter. Allllll night. I wasn’t worried, or hyped or anything, just not sleepy. At 2AM I gave up and pulled out my Shannon fabrics Cuddle kit and finished it before sunrise:

Predictably, I made some errors in cutting and that binding is structurally sound, but oh, it’s a mess! It’s still cute and cuddly though. I didn’t think and put batting in it, probably unnecessary for a Bay-area Baby. Oh well.

I confess, not a fan of sewing Cuddle or Minky. It’s a pain. I know all the tricks but it’s still a bit fiddly. It’s soooo soft that it is worth it!

And I’m not done:

I got this cute panel from Cloth Carousel in Vallejo, CA; isn’t it cuuuuute? And of course, there is a lion in there, tee hee. The solid will be the binding and the cute elephant print on the right may be the backing or, I may get more Cuddle for the back, to be determined.

Oh, but I’m still not done:

I saw this panel last year at the Houston Market and loved it! You can’t tell in the photo but it’s full of chenille strips and it’s so stinkin’ cute.

I found a kit online and bingo, ordered it. I love having this one kitted. I call it the epidural – sell me a kit and just let me sew! I really look forward to sewing this one up.

So far, the completed count is 2, with 2 more waiting in the wings:

As an Experienced Gramma friend recently told me, they need at least 4 quilts anyway: one to poop on, one to spit up on, one to drop food on and one to hug and love. I’m working on it….

I’ve not just been working on baby quilts, I finally got the gumption up to commit to a plan and get going on the Modern Whole Cloth. It will get a better name, that is it’s temporary name.

After my plans went through all kinds of changes, I ended up back where I started: fun pieced inserts into the white dupioni and fabulous trapunto dots scattered over the quilt’s surface. I will have a blast quilting the dickens out of this one. I can’t wait!

In the meantime, the Lyon Drought Tolerant Test Gardens have turned to fall:

I love it when the olives can’t figure out whether they should rippen or not.

I know some consider Pampas Grass to be a weed…well deserved. But if put into an irrigated landscape it becomes a magnificent very large scale grass. Those plumes are 10′ tall and when backlit in the mornings, it is spectacular!

The berries on the Pepper Tree (Schinus Molle) are ripening and they are delicious. Goggle says they are edible even though some say no. I love eating fresh pink pepper berries right off of the tree – it is a unique taste when the berry still has some moisture in it.

I caught this guy with sunlight hitting it directly – oh so pretty! My backyard is feeling very fall. We don’t get spectacular fall leaves here, we have our own brand of fall.

I’ll link up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday.  I’m trying a new one this week, Alycia Quilts’ Finished or Not Friday!

 

Comments

  1. Jenny, I was wondering if you drink regular coffee? I am 60 and found out that one cup of coffee early in the morning can affect your sleep at night. I wouldn’t have thought that. I switched to decaf and added a decaf shot and now I sleep soooo much better. Just a thought. I love all your your baby quilts. I have made a bunch of those kinky blankets and they are a huge pain. They do get a little easier the more you do, if that is any comfort, lol. Probably not.?

    • Hi Valerie; The only beverage I drink is water, how boring! I wish there were a quick fix for this. I have done a number of reasonable things to help my sleep but it eludes me.

      • Jenny: I’m so glad to hear you talk about not sleeping. And was fascinated with the all nighter. You’re not the only one, just sayin.’ When I get back up, I tend to do quieter things, hoping to get back to sleep in an hour or two, but often wonder if I should just head for the studio and go for it.

      • I think there is no one answer to this insomnia. Sometimes it’s best to try to sleep and sometimes it is obvious that sleep is not coming. I sure hope this is short-lived for you Rose.

  2. I’m with you on baby quilts being loved to pieces! I remember one of my bee friends complaining about her grandson dragging his quilt every where. My reaction: what did you make it for if not to love!

  3. Wow you have been busy with quite a number of unique and pretty quilts. I do really like both of the panels, especially the chenille one. My neighbor has Fountain Grass. My dog loves it so I get to really admire it. I too like the way the light filters through the grass.

  4. Oh, the excitement of a new life on the way! Your grandma quilts are coming along nicely. Although it’s a lot less fun for the quilter, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make four IDENTICAL quilts, because if one gets picked as The Special, Chosen, Life-Giving Blanky, it’s nice to have a few imposters to swap out when poop/spitup/food spills happens to the Main Squeeze. You know, like how they have several planes in rotation that can all be Air Force One.

  5. As I scanned through your blog, at first glance your trapunto dots seemed to be receding into the quilt. I thought, How did she do that? Then my eyes refocused and I thought, Oh, that makes more sense. :) Grandbabies are wonderful and they keep growing so you can make quilts for every stage of their lives. As for sleeping, I routinely wake at 3AM no matter when I went to bed. Some things that sometimes work are reading and tuning into a really boring YouTube video. Things that never work are sorting scraps, reading quilt patterns or selecting fabric for a new quilt project. Thanks for the smiles.

    • Oh it’s not just you Donna, I see that too – in a photo online, the fabric seems to recede, not advance like it actually does with trapunto. I’m giggling over your 3AM suggested activities!

  6. Jenny, do you have Pink Mulley Grass? I know you are a fan of grasses and I keep seeing it around and thinking of you. I’d have some if I had more sun. My lot is very shady (like me).

    • Oh Alycia, I can’t imagine what non-sewers do in times like that! Anyone who has a quiet hobby can indulge in their hobby if they can’t sleep (knit, sew, quilt, embroider, etc) but those that don’t have a quiet hobby, what do they do?

  8. You are one busy Grandma-to-be! And brave to take on that slippery Minky or Cuddle fabric. I stay far away from that — my machines would rebel! ;-)

    Your garden looks great in its autumn colours…but grass that’s 10 *feet* tall?! That’s a shrub — and then some! Wow!

    • Yes, we have our own version of fall Margaret, not the sweeping blocks of outrageous color you have! I do miss that but I’m content with a “micro-fall”. I had the kit, I couldn’t sleep, there seemed to be no choice but to plow ahead!

  9. fun quilts! (for a deservedly excited gramma-to-be!) and lovely landscape pics. i wish you sleep!