Finishing the rainbow quilt

I finished the rainbow quilt by sewing some simple grid patterns in to the quilt. Mostly I just stitched in the ditch (followed the seam lines) and used the backing as the binding.

Finished quilt

Backing.

The above pictures were taken before I washed and dried the quilt, so it's a bit more comfy and puckered now. It usually highlights the quilting after you wash it, so you just have to imagine the grid pattern on the quilt.

I'm glad I finished this quilt. But as my Mother asks, "So what's your new project?" 

Onto the next project. Not sure if it will be a sewing hobby project, or something else. That's the great thing about hobbies. They exist only to please yourself. It's not for profit or to please anyone, just for you. There are no deadlines, and they never need to be finished unless you want to.

Big Brother Quilt

Now that I finished my daughter's "Care Bear Quilt" I have some fabric left over, actually, I have lot's of fabric. About 3/4 a yard of each color. So I decided I HAD TO make my son a big brother quilt.

Here's the mock up.

I'm going to use Amanda Jean's zig zag tutorial that uses no triangles.

She's the genius behind Crazy Mom Quilts blogspot.

I'm also trying to get my little corner of the garage into a more comfortable sewing room, and get other things done that involve that area. It gets hot in there, so we had removed a door and shoved a window unit into a cheap hollow door and patched it up. Well, it cooled pretty well, but the door was molding and rotting because of the rain that was diverted by the window unit. So we removed the ac unit, put it in our room, which was getting way too warm due to our failing HVAC and now I sleep in an ice cave and it's wonderful. But we got an in-room air conditioner for the garage since we don't have any windows. We put the original french door back and I got so much more LIGHT, and conversely, so much more heat. We'll see how this new arrangement works out. I wont be doing much sewing when my little girl is born, and she'll be born this fall so it will be cooler anyway. So, until then, many fans, and my ac will hum while I sew. And I'll just make sure I only sew when it's early morning or late night, when it's cooler naturally, and just never ever have the dryer working while I'm in there. I feel pretty blessed when I look back on all the years I had a sewing room (or nook) in the house. Once I went off to college I made sure of it. My roommate and I were both fashion majors so we just set up shop in the dining rooms of the very old historic homes we rented next to our campus. When I got married, we tried hiding it in nooks and finally just getting a house with an extra room just for my sewing room. When we moved here, it was just supposed to be temporary, 6 month at most. It's lasted much longer than that and I've just adjusted to having a much warmer sewing room than I had in the past. 

In the meantime though, my husband doesn't have to listen to it make so much noise when he's trying to watch tv or sleep.

So, you give and you take.

I'll post again when I have gotten further.

Ruth

Lullaby Book

Recently I had noticed that I have forgotten or never learned the lyrics to several lullabies. Which isn't much cause for alarm unless you need to sing one to a fussy child or irritable baby. Also, I had forgotten lullabies all together, constantly singing the same ones over and over. Which is fine for a child, but can be boring for a Mother.

So, after much improvisation I decided to search for the lyrics to some lullabies as well as some new ones that I couldn't remember whenever I wanted to sing.

I originally printed out a list of sweet lullabies, and then also, their corresponding lyrics. I printed them out and just kept them in a binder clip near the children's books in my son's room. Then, I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have them all bound in a book, so that the kids cant, rip, tear, chew and so forth without it falling apart?

That became the idea for the lullaby book. So now I've taken a number of old songs, and am slowly, very slowly adding illustration. Hopefully, when I am finished, I can print them out, laminate them, and bind them (crudely I suspect) and use it for bed time lullabies. I also can make more and give them as baby gifts. For those Mom's who at 4 am cannot remember a lullabies lyrics, or really any lullaby other than twinkle twinkle, I hope it would be useful.

Here's the first.

It's not necessarily a lullaby. But it's a favorite song of mine and is pretty easy to remember.

Blackbird by the Beatles.

Here's the finished piece. Well, finished until I decide to change it.

Blackbird by the Beatles, Illustration by Ruth Krueger

This was illustrated in Illustrator CS5. I'm not sure if I like the layout of the text. But tweaking is part of the process. Next maybe I'll start on Lavenders Blue.

Original Sketch

I hope to finish it soon, as my sister in law is having a baby in July. Eek. Time constraints....always a nice kick in the rear.

Ruth

Superhero alphabet

While perusing through Design Milk, I found this incredible print.

Superhero Alphabet

A is for Aquaman, C is for Cyclops. N is for Nightcrawler. I just LOVE it. I need to get this for my son's room. His 2 year birthday is coming up.

Hmn....

I must have it.

Ruth