4 Baby Quilts

So either all of my friends are PREGNANT, or just had babies. . including ME!  So, an idea popped into my head (a brilliant one I might add) - that I would make all of us a baby quilt -similar, but not totally matching.  I wanted the moms to pick out the colors, and applique the name on there.  These quilts are the perfect "tummy time" quilts too!  Soft, yet strong, and will hopefully be washed and used for years! 

I drew up this little design in paint.  (Encore wasn't named yet, but is my friends 2nd baby, her "encore" baby. . cute huh?)  I took this little design to the fabric shop to pick out fabrics.  

Lauren Grace, daughter of my friend Amy & Paul, who has yet to arrive, but we are all excited to meet her! 

Emmett Theodore, who is here, but just BRAND new.  Only a few weeks old, but I hear he is perfect and sleeping like an Angel.  When I met him, he gave me a smile, so I already like him ;c) 

Juliana Elise - I have decided that she and MY daughter are going to be BFFs!  They are only a few months apart and we live just down the street from each other!  They have already had a beautiful photo shoot together and seem to get along great! ;c) 

 (this is them)

 And then finally, my Mira's. . I started out with brand new fabrics that I LOVE, but I quilted it to death (did you know you could OVER quilt something?  yeah, me neither!)  So I made it into a rug, and started from scratch, using all scraps.  Guess what? the scrappy, quick-quilted version is 10X better!   BIG LESSON LEARNED !

 (here's the old version/rug)

 Some finished photos hanging on my dirty wet fence ;c) 

and just thought this was a cute picture.  All of my names, in different fonts, all printed in reverse, ready for the applique process!

My Quilt Guild Challenge Project

Each Year around Christmas, our Quilt guild does a challenge project. . similar to the Hoffman Challenge.  We are given two FQs of supposedly "ugly" or mismatched fabrics and we are supposed to make a quilt of them.  There are several categories and the winners receive gift certificates to our local quilt shop!  It's SO much fun and I look forward to it every year!   This year, as you know, I have a new baby girl.  I seem to always forget which Monday my guild meeting is held on.  This year, I look at my phone a couple days after the Christmas guild meeting. .and I realize I Have MISSED it!!  So dissapointing.  Oh well, I won't win anything, but I'll take my project to the next guild meeting and show it off ;c)  I'm just sad I will have missed all the other ones.  I love seeing what everyone can do with the same fabrics.

My Challenge project is titled "Home-Sweet-Home" and is inspired by a whimsical family tree.  The family tree aspect is especially meaningful to me this year with my new addition to our family.

This year the FQs matched PERFECTLY. . so it was hardly a challenge to match them haha.  The two fabrics I used for the quilt's borders, and also the large-print floral fabric I used for all of the leaves.  I embroidered "The Wiseman's" on the top, and used raw-edge fusible applique for all the pieces.  I quilted around the small areas with pebbles, and the larger areas with spirals.  There is a straight feather in the borders (which I don't like becuase I Used too light of a color of thread ugh) no way I would undo it though! LOL

Secret Christmas projects - now exposed! =cD

Over the Holidays I had several Christmas projects that were being given as gifts, that I had to keep secret.  OHHHHH it was tough!!  haha.   Well here they are:

The first quilt I'm showing you is the WVU quilt.  I've lived in Cabell County, WV my whole life, so I am a Herd Fan from wayyyyy back.  BUT, WVU is such a big part of my heritage, that I could not pass up the opportunity to make a quilt for one of my dear old friend's hubbies.  ;c)

 Started out by printing the WVU logo backwards, and tracing it onto fusible.  Then I cut that out and fuse it to the center white piece of fabric.

 This quilt is just a series of borders, applique, and quilting. .  once all the borders were complete...  I penciled in WVU WVU WVU WVU around the thin white outer border... the corners are little blue WV symbols ;c)

 With my darning foot and a wide zigzag stitch, I went around each WVU.   The center was quilted with my version of McTavishing

 In the wide outer blue border, I appliqued the words:  "Let's Go..  Mountaineers!"  In yellow fabric

 And the back is some licensed fabric with WVU print on it.  

Another shot of the finished quilt!  

 The next quilt I made was for my friends in Texas.   I feel like I know this family so well, since I've seen their pictures up close and personal ;c)  They're great people BTW!     Sharon, Raymond's daughter, had this quilt made for HER daughter. . .  when LAST Christmas, her daughter had one made forHER! haha. .  paybacks.. but the GOOD kind!  

Sharon picked out all the greens and browns for this quilt.  The white areas are Mr Kotz's shirt remnants.  The center block is called "Texas Tears". . this is a memorial quilt for Mr Kotz.  From what I can tell, Sharon and her daughter must have loved him very very much.  

And here's the back where you can see how I appliqued through all 3 layers of the quilt.  It gives an interesting effect on the back of the quilt.  

And last but not least, I made ONE more Crown Royal quilt. . BUT. . since this was the last quilt I completed before Christmas, I did NOT have a chance to get a finished photo of it before I had to get it in the mail.  But here is the TOP!  ;c)

I hope all of you had a very merry Christmas !!!