Sunshine and Moonbeam

My BEST FRIEND in the WHOLE WORLD had a birthday in July, so naturally I put a little something together for her two weeks late. Now that she's received her giftie, I can share it with you, too.

When we were kids, my friend's dad nick-named our inseparable duo "Sunshine and Moonbeam." She was super outgoing, with a shiny mane of blonde hair; I was bookish, in dark braids. This wonderful woman has certainly brought a lot of light, fun, and love into my life. I picked out one of my improv blocks to make into a wall-hanging for her. I hope she likes it!

Ever since trying it out on the receiving blankets, I'm all over these rounded corners. I just use a dinner plate to cut around. The puzzle here was number of spokes quilted out of the little O. I was going for texture, but didn't want to over-do. I like the final result. This quilt finished at about 26x30". I added a hanging sleeve in the back in case she wants to put it up on a wall.

And another finish this week! All this progress is so unlike me!

I made this improv block a while ago, but recently quilted it to hang in the nursery.

In trying to step out of my comfort zone, I did some non-linear free-motion quilting. I drew the clouds on first with a water-soluble fabric pen (love those) and did my best to stay on track with the needle. I committed to not ripping out any stitches - "que sew-ra, sera," and all that. I also branched out by using colored thread.

Whenever improv quilting, the hardest part is knowing when it's done. For example, I love the texture of The Silly Boodilly's quilts. Nearly every inch of the fabric is covered in stitches. They appear layered; there is a depth and weight to them (they beg to be touched), yet I never feel that the piecing is "covered." What makes her quilting and piecing are so harmonious?

I didn't use a paper piecing method for either of these wall-hangings. Instead, I practiced my favorite method of sewing first and cutting later. I find cutting out paper, having to rip it off later, and even working with an outcome in mind are unnecessary for me and make the process less enjoyable. Of course, the downside is doing more math as I go.

Progress on Projects for the Babies:
1. Wall-hanging Finished! I'm so glad to hang this up in my little guys' room.
2. Ball - I finally started sewing some of the pieces together! Yay!

Not Started:
3. Books

New Schemes:
4. Gobbi Mobile
5. Montessori fabric balls (2)


The babies will be here in 3-7 weeks. Approximately. Yikes!! Baby B (the one on top) is perfecting his gymnastics skills by flipping every which way. While Baby A remains head down, B has turned breech - which means he has now been caught in every possible configuration. Transverse, oblique, vertex, breech...this guy can't make up his mind.

My latest panic (besides the stretch marks...oh, the many stretch marks...) is that I only made one play mat for the babies to share, and now it's not working in the space we had planned for it. I know we don't need two of EVERYTHING, but...only one quilt? I might need to whip up another tout suite - but how different should they be? Do I have time for all this??

Thanks for visiting, quilt friends! See more progress at Lee's: