Blankets

I did it!

I finished my first quilt from start to finish. Piecing...quilting...binding...everything.

It was a pretty simple strip quilt design and don't look too close at the stitching. But I am proud of my self-taught work. I learned a bit this round about piecing, squaring off, basting, mitered corners and what a walking foot is. The Internet is an amazing tool. Whenever I'd have a question or needed to dive into the next step, I could just jump on and learn how.

There is a little background and story to this quilt. Over a year ago, when I was pregnant, I decided I wanted to make matching quilts for each of my boys. I found the pattern and headed to the fabric store. I fell in love with the star fabric and bought a bunch. Thinking I had 3-4 months to work on it and finish it up before they were born I started working on it and cutting the pieces out. I had worked on it the night before I went into labor and had everything laid out on our family room floor for the first quilt, just the way I wanted it. But then...the boys were born unexpectedly early the next morning. When Stephen went home from the hospital to get a few things, I gave him strict instructions to take a picture before cleaning it up, so I could remember how all the pieces went together. He did...and it stayed in my sewing box for almost a year. This February I was determined to finish it up for Andrew's birthday. So I went to work and was able to finish it in time!

I learned how to machine quilt...super easy and lots of fun!

I pieced together my own binding and it wasn't hard at all.

The Finish Product

After finishing this, I guess I caught the blanket making bug. I decided since I didn't get to make a quilt for my little Ethan like I had planned to before they were born, I wanted to do something. The past 6 weeks have been a bit hard around our house emotionally on both Stephen and I. We're fine, just missing our Ethan like crazy. We remember the events our little family went through  last year so vividly and it's hard not to play the...."a year ago today..." game in our heads.  I'm usually one who likes to stay busy and find lots of things to fill my time, but when I'm struggling like this. I seem to go overboard  with the keeping busy part. So for my next project, I decided to make some small baby blankets...(one for each week we were able to spend with our angel)....for a total of TEN baby blankets. Then donate them to the local children's hospital. We sure are grateful for Children's Memorial Hospital out here. They have a wonderful team of doctors and nurses and we have been well taken care of by them.

Finished and ready to go!

This was a great project to channel my energy. Andrew had another MRI last week downtown at the main hospital and so my goal was to finish them up and take them in with us so we didn't have to make another trip to the city before we move. With making ten blankets in 5 weeks, I got pretty good at whipping them out pretty fast.  I miss my Ethan and this was a great way to remember how blessed we were to spend 10 whole weeks with our little boy! Oh yeah, and Andrew got in on a little of the blanket sewing action too. Sometimes, I think he knew he wasn't getting my full attention. He'd roll right over to where I was cutting fabric or pinning a blanket together and giggle and laugh. What a character! 

Ethan was our little monkey boy. I had to
include some monkey printed fabrics for a few of the blankets.

Happy as long as he was on mommy's lap!

Rolling right over to help!

Full of giggles as he grabbed the blanket away.