Tag Archives: baby shower

Sneaky Peeks

Baby Mary’s First Quilt

I got to meet my niece, Mary, while on vacation. Isn’t she the cutest little April-born, ruffled butt, Elmo loving, quick crawling, happy baby ever?! You don’t have to answer that. We all know it’s true. Here she is hamming it up for the camera on her quilt.

Here she is with her mama, my baby sister. Yes, that’s a Christmas tree in the background. Sheri decided to decorate for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was a happenin’ holiday place all right.

So, about this quilt. My sister had a baby shower planned for late January and a bunch of us family members flew in to surprise her. It was so fun to see her react to each new person coming. She was completely surprised and we were able to love on her all weekend. One of the things we did was make signature blocks. Mary’s name was a secret at the time so I had everybody guess what her name would be. These blocks make up the front of the quilt. The centerpiece is, of course, her actual name.

On the back are love letters to the baby. These are bigger blocks so there was room to write. I ironed freezer paper onto the back of each block for a more stable writing surface. It peels right off when you’re finished. Fabric markers in a rainbow of colors were set with a hot iron.

I Have Helpers, Don’t You?

2 Replies

Doesn’t it feel good to finish something? This time, I had a lot of help. Here are my helpers, in chronological order.

My own desire to make a quilt for my first biological niece. (I married into a family with babies, so technically this isn’t the first time I’ll be Aunt Megan.)
My Aunt suggesting that we paint the letters of my sister’s baby’s name during her shower weekend… which didn’t work out because the parents were keeping that a secret until she was born.
The flash of creativity that gave me the idea to make a signature quilt. We would write our guesses for the baby girl’s name on fabric and I’d make it into a quilt.
All of the family members who came together to celebrate my sister in January of this year… and also happened to sign blocks for the baby’s quilt.
A deadline. Yup, I’ve had this quilt in the works since January… and by “in the works” I mostly mean sitting in a drawer being ignored. I get to spend this Thanksgiving with my family and deliver the finished quilt in person. That is, if I finish it in time.
My online quilting group. We call ourselves Snowflakes. I posted photographs of the quilt and said that I was basting it… which gave me accountability and made me actually do it.
A dear friend who invited me over to sew with her on Saturday. I borrowed her marking pen and quilted the whole thing in one sitting. Straight-line quilting is much less boring to do when you’re across from a chatty friend.
My Hulu shows. I enjoy hand-stitching the binding on quilts late at night with the TV on. Unfortunately, late night TV isn’t something I enjoy watching but there’s always “Bones” and “Once Upon a Time” in my queue.

So here I am putting the last few stitches on the binding. I’ll add a label tomorrow and toss it in the wash to minimize the amount of cat hair I’m giving away. And TA-DA! Done.

What a Namesake!

1 Reply

My niece was born just a few days ago on April 2nd. Her parents chose the name Mary Constance, a name rich with meaning… which still gets me all flustered when I speak it aloud. Her first name comes from both of her grandmothers: Mary and Maria. Pictured first is her Dad’s mom, Maria. She’s Mexican, living in Boston temporarily… which means she’s around to help out. She gives very nice, soft, gentle hugs.

Here’s her Mom’s mom, my mother, Mary. She passed away years ago. I like to think that baby Mary got some love from her before she arrived. I know that my mom would just be overjoyed to have a grandchild.
Mary’s middle name is also a family name. Her great-grandmother’s late sister was named Constance. I know her only in stories as Connie, my Aunt Lisa’s mother and grandma’s sister. What a wonderful tribute to her memory.

I started a quilt for baby Mary when I came to her baby shower in January. Since Mom and Dad were keeping her name a secret, I had family members write down their guesses for her name. Some of the guesses are pretty funny, like “Top Secret” and “Hey You!” Now that her name has been announced it’s time to work that quilt. It will have Sam Hunter’s paper-pieced letters in the center with her actual name and the hand-written guesses surrounding it.

You can get Sam’s alphabet here: http://www.huntersdesignstudio.com

Time For a New ‘Do

2 Replies

I’ve been wearing my hair in a ponytail almost exclusively for over a year. What’s the use in having long hair if you can’t be bothered to take care of it? I’ll let it down with a brush and blowdry on special occasions, but most of the time it’s just easier to tie it up. Here’s what it looked like at my sister’s baby shower (she’s due any day now!). I’m the one without a tiara.

As you can tell from my recent posts, I’m in transition. New city, staying in a motel, job-hunting, all that. I’ve decided that it’s time for a new look. Something to pep me up and help me be more confident in my appearance and hopefully that confidence will trickle down to other areas as well. So here’s what I’m thinking. Something dramatically different like this:

Here’s something similar in blonde. I think I’ll stick with just the cut for now, and experiment with color later.

I’ll post a photograph of myself post-cut. Haven’t done it yet, but this is the plan.

What things do you do to increase your confidence? Eating fish reminds me of my honeymoon and makes me feel special. I’ve also found that wearing dangling earrings makes me stand a bit taller.

QUILTArtbymegan

For lovers of quilts, art, and Megan.