jennifer, Author at Hopeful Homemaker

Picnic in the Canyon

October 7, 2010 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

We drove up the canyon recently to enjoy the beauty of early fall. As parents, this meant both enjoying the beauty of nature and enjoying the sight of our family together in a tranquil setting. This post is people; the leaves will come next.

On outings such as this, I find myself falling to the back of the line. I enjoy watching my children from behind as they walk, observe and interact with one another.

The little one, who slammed her head on a piece of furniture as we were walking out the door. When I heard the thud, I was sure she needed stitches, but somehow it didn’t split her forehead open.

While we were eating, she helped herself to an uncut grape (prior to this I had always sliced them in pieces for her) and when we learned she could chew them up well, we permitted her to help herself. She camped out by the grape bowl for the evening.

I think this little guy was ready to go conquer someone when I snapped the picture.

These people are my favorite people in the world. Spending time like this with them means everything to me. In a season of craziness with all their sports activities, homework, church activities and lessons, a night like this speaks peace to my heart. I love them all so much!

Note to myself:

I went home that evening feeling great about the time we spent together enjoying such beauty. Yet when I reviewed the pictures, I realized that once again my oldest three did a REALLY good job of evading the camera. They’re all in a picture, but I’ve got to find a way to take more pictures of them when they’re unaware.

Jennifer

Punctuation Baby Quilt

October 6, 2010 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

It’s late but it’s done! I think it’s also really cute.

This half square triangle quilt was made using the Punctuation collection by American Jane for Moda. I really like the happy colors in this line, and think that it lends itself well to a baby boy quilt. Paired with a beautiful blue solid, I made this quilt with one charm pack. The quilt measures approximately 42 inches wide by 46 inches long.

I used straight line quilting on this, carrying the horizontal and vertical lines across the green border to the edges of the quilt. I then quilted on the diagonal, going opposite the line of the half square triangle squares, but kept the diagonal quilting in the center of the quilt only. I’m very pleased with how the quilting went. I feel that I’m getting better at it, but I’m also aware that this is a very small quilt.

If there was one thing about the quilt that I struggled with, it’s the fact that the charm pack came with so many squares of the pinstripe fabric, two of each color. I didn’t realize when I bought it how little it had of the more graphic designs. In spite of this, however, I think that the quilt came together nicely and, on the whole, is colorful and interesting to look at even with an overabundance of that particular print.

For the back I used the alphabet print in red, which I like a lot. It seemed fitting for a little boy born at the beginning of the school year, the sixth child in his (quite amazing) family.

And for the binding I went with the same blue solid. I like the way it works with the blue quilting lines that go through the green border and meet the binding. I feel like it pulls the whole quilt together. The binding was machine stitched. I’m getting faster at it, and think that I may have found a way to sew it on that I like. I need to bind one more quilt to see if I’m right.

And lastly, my favorite part of the whole quilt:

That’s his footprint! When he was a couple of days old I had his grandma trace his foot so I could make this little tag . I simply embroidered it and then stitched it to the corner of the quilt back. I really like it.

Because of the tag I decided to simply wrap it with a ribbon. Now it’s wrapped around an adorable little boy, and I hope they love it.

Hopeful Homemaker

2 comments fabric, quilting

Personalized Tags for Baby Quilts

October 5, 2010 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

Years ago I began embroidering my child’s name in the corner of the baby quilt I made for them. Last year it occurred to me that I could add a hand or foot print to the tag.

I traced her hand on a piece of paper, transferred it to the fabric and wrote the name and birth date nearby. An hour or so of embroidery and it was done. On this quilt, I ironed the edges under, then stitched twice around using my machine. This meant that I was sewing through all layers of the quilt, making a rectangle of quilting lines on the back.

Because it’s a rag quilt and has a scrappy feel to it, I felt that the additional quilting lines wouldn’t detract from the overall look or feel of the quilt, and I also felt that the tag fit well on the front of the quilt for the same reasons. It’s a wonderful reminder of how small she was, and I love to watch her touch the embroidered lines.

I recently finished another baby quilt, a gift for a friend. I decided to put a tag on it as well.

This tag was placed on the back of the quilt, as I felt it would look awkward on the front. Because I didn’t want inconsistent quilting lines showing on the front of the quilt, I stitched this tag on by hand, being careful to stitch only through the backing and the batting without piercing the quilt top.

To get the tiny footprint, I called my friend’s mother while she was staying with them to help. She traced the footprint when he was just a few days old, and her teenaged son smuggled it to my car when I stopped by for a soccer carpool. Thus, the little tag was a complete surprise to my friend.

While it takes a bit of extra effort, I thought I’d share the idea. It adds an extra touch of sweetness and thoughtfulness to a handmade gift. After all, they’re only little once!

Hopeful Homemaker