Remembering the Year 2012

In the beginning of the year I was really struggling to get anything done.  Monkey was a new baby and his older brother, Panda, was Mr. Mischief.  My mom needed me to quilt some quilts for her, so she had to come babysit just so I could do the machine quilting. 

She made several quilts for new grandbabies and one friend out of minky using the embroidery applique method.  She finished them by sewing them right sides together, turning them right side out, and top stitching around the edge.  They have a medium loft polyester batting in them.  I quilted all of these for her by using a serpentine stitch over the seams and echoing around the animals. 

Here is L's ponies.

Here is S's pond critters. 

Here is D's pandas. 

Here is T's Tigers. 

Here is A's giraffes.

And here is A's silly giraffes.  

These were all made with patterns by Anita Goodesign which my mom got in a software club at a local quilt shop. 

One of my mom's friends then asked me to machine quilt a quilt for her granddaughter. 



It was really stressful for me to quilt for someone other than my mom, and once I was finished I got a migraine. 

I wasn't able to quilt for a few months, because I was just trying to keep up with my three boys.  I was able to get a little scrapbooking done. 

Then (as I mentioned in my first post) I stumbled onto the quilting blogs.  Jennie of Porchswing Quilts made an adorable Richard Scarry quilt and I had to make one too. 



 Panda loves his cars quilt and asks for help making his bed every morning.  I don't know if he likes his pandas or the quilt better.  (I love the little puppy sleeping on the night stand and the Duplos on the floor.)

This really got me quilting again.  After I finished that quilt I was able to finish the bindings on some table runners. All that they needed done was the hand work, and they had been sitting on the shelf that way for two or three years.   





I also made my first two bags.  This black and white one is from a tutorial by Sheree Schattenmann at the Moda Bake Shop.  It was the first bag I had made since high school sewing. As I was just using what I had on hand, I didn't use any interfacing.  It compacts really well and I use it all the time to put projects in when heading to the quilt shop.  I just wish the handles were slightly larger.  (Sheree had designed them for 10 year olds.)



The next bag I made is this purple one.  (Purple is my favorite color.)  It is from a pattern by Monica at the Happy Zombie.  I made the shorter fatter bag and did not use any interfacing.  I love this bag so much that I now use it for my purse.  I just wish it had a zipper.  My cell phone fits perfectly in the outside pocket. 

I made a Monkey Stripe quilt for Monkey.  I think it is cute that he matches his quilt!



I started making a Simply Woven quilt designed by Jessica Kelly for Cheetah, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I took a break and finished machine quilting some tops already pieced. I promised Cheetah that his quilt would be the next one I pieced. (That got me off the hook for a little while.)



I quilted the Robin Hood quilt to hang up in Panda's bedroom.  It is made from snowball and nine patch blocks.  The characters are fussy cut. 



I even finished the little mini for his bear named Brownie.



Next, I finished this quilt that has blocks pieced by my Great-Grandmother Ethel.  I thought she died before I was born, but I found out that I was actually about 6 months old when she died.  It was really neat to make something out of her blocks.  I love how some of the blocks are made with two fabrics, and some are made more scrappy. 



Then I thought it would be fun to teach quilting to the youth in my ward.  I made up a sample Double Nine Patch mini quilt (given to Panda) to show them what we could make.  Green was Panda's favorite color at the time. 



I helped three girls make a double nine patch into a quilted pillow during Christmas break. 

Quilting really helped me to break out of my postpartum depression, and I am grateful for the online quilting community which gave me much inspiration. 

XX,

Jasmine