Kiddos and Quilts

In our med school grad year book, I was voted "most likely to be found knitting socks instead of studying for her Royal College exams".  Indeed, I cranked out a pair of socks and two quilts while studying for my licensing exam. What they don't know is that all of this crafty business makes me study better... read 5 pages, knit 5 rows, and it all works out in the end.

The quilts I made were for my little cousins, who have to be the cutest 2 and 4 year olds I know. These were incredibly gratifying to quilt  and give.

Happy prints for a sweet girl.

The first quilt I made was for Holly, who loves to be wrapped in blankets and cuddle after her bath. It's from this pattern. It came together quite quickly, and I was initially afraid that it wouldn't be colorful enough but that wasn't the case!

Fabric: Love U by Deb Strain, Kona white

Hidden Hearts

I free-motion quilted this one in a meandering pattern, with a few hearts hidden along the way. The binding was pieced from scraps.

Holly loved her quilt. She apparently likes to get wrapped up in it and point out all of the little critters in the fabric.

Elliotts quilt was made from this pattern. I loved the vintage feel of the Lollipop line of fabric, and decided to pair it with brown sashing for a 70's vibe. This quilt was fun to make, and a great distraction from studying:)

This kid loves handmade stuff... when I was visiting he proudly pulled out a sweater my mom had knit him and lovingly pointed out the details. He then proclaimed, "but I never eat supper in it because it's too special to get dirty!".

What could be in here?

My very own quilt!

Mmm, soft and cozy :)

It was sad to move away from these guys, especially since they're growing up and changing so quickly. It made me feel better to leave something lasting behind with them. Elliott sleeps on his quilt every night, "warm (flannel) side up".

I saved scraps from the quilts and cut them into squares so that the kids could play a matching game with the quilt blocks. It was a hit!

Getting busy with matching

There will be more quilt pictures in the coming days, and hopefully some knitting ones too!

Cross-country adventure

Hello again folks :) Lots has happened since my last post, and although I thought about the blog lots, it just hasn't been the right time to take it up again until now. In keeping with all the recent change in my life, I've given the blog a do-over too.

I finished med school and recently drove a U-Haul 1500km across the country to set up shop for the next five years of training in OBGYN. How was driving a U-Haul all that way? Never again! I decided to move all by myself, oh I don't know, to have some independent-woman-transitional kind of roadtrip. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Driving a 14-foot truck was hunky-dory on the highway, but that quickly turned into a nightmare when I reached my final destination.

I am not a city driver, no way. And suddenly here I was getting turned around on a bridge in major traffic, getting lost, trying to follow strange traffic patterns in a new city. I finally made it home, and then drove that baby all over again to the grocery store, etc, etc. After getting lost twice, I finally found the return station and barely parked the thing in the lot. The attendant proceeded to tell me that I was 1/8 of a tank short on gas, and instructed me to go fill up at the nearest station. Well, I didn't know where that was, and he directed me to one on a road I actually knew. So off I went. It turned out to be a small and very busy gas station. I pulled in and, CRUNCH! Yes, I hit a car parked at another pump. I was so embarassed, luckily the guy was nice and even helped me back the truck out when it came time to leave.

Since then, I've been learning to like this city. The people here actually stop for pedestrians and the work environment is great. We'll see what the next year brings.

In other news, the quilts have been hopping off my machine. After learning how to free-motion quilt, I've started to love the process even more as I don't feel like I'm ruining my quilts during the final steps. Here's one I finished a couple weeks ago:

Pattern: Madeline - Miss Rosie's Schnibbles

I loved making this quilt. The fabric had a wonderful feel to it, and the pattern was gratifying. The pieces were cut from fat eights, instead of using pre-cut 5" squares.

Fabric: Maison de Garance by French General

This quilt was finished while I was home visiting my parents. My mom fell in love with it so it now sits happily in her living room.

I had a lot of fun with the quilting on this one, and did a meandering vine pattern. In retrospect, however, I would have chosen a tan color instead of off white for the quilting.

And to end, I stumbled upon a nest of three baby robins under the deck. The babies have since flown off, and there are three new eggs waiting to hatch!

A surprise under our deck!