Lots of baby quilts! New techniques! Rachel's Sunshine

Well, I'm making progress on my quilting. For Christmas I finished 2 sets of placemats - one for mom and one for sissy.

I also made 3 game sets - one was a checkerboard panel, the other 2 I designed myself. One was a tic-tac-toe and the other was a checkerboard. For the tic-tac-toe, I used rickrack to make a 3 X 3 grid. I then made a sandwich of the backing/batting/front of the playing pieces, quilted them, and cut apart. I made the backing as a little bag to store the pieces between the playing board and the backing. It Velcro closed. The checkerboard was made of grosgrain ribbon woven to make a 8 X 8 checkerboard pattern. I constructed the backing and the playing pieces in the same fashion as the tic-tac-toe game. Actually, I used the construction method of the backing and playing pieces from the panel checkerboard game.

As far as projects I've completed since August ....
July baby boy got his quilt back in the fall. A friend hosted a post-baby baby shower for him and I was able to finish the quilt in time for the party.
September baby girl (very end of Sep - was one of the Oct ones) got her quilt last night. Hers is pastels with a Christian print.
Other Oct baby girl is still on the frame - being hand quilted - it's purple and white.
Nov baby girl (was end of October) - still waiting to be bound! I made it from a table topper pattern I learned at quilt camp!

Oh that's right, I went to quilt camp. It was in the fall at Camp Horseshoe YMCA Camp in West Virginia. I loved it! I had so much fun. I've already got in on my calendar for next time :-D.

We have had two baby girls born at church recently - one last wee and one about 3 weeks ago. The one last week I'm making a hot pink & green quilt. I'm going to do a pink/yellow/green/white YBR quilt for the one 3 weeks ago.

Two more babies are due - an unknown at the end of the month and I believe a girl in February?? but I'm not sure. It could be a boy in March. We're having too many babies for me to keep straight. As far as I know, that's it for awhile :-). Hallelujah!

For the one in January I'm working one a cowboy themed quilt. The dad works at our Bible Camp and is way into cowboy stuff.

For the other one, I will do a blue/yellow/pink/green quilt (if it's a girl!)

I'm also working on a quilt I'm calling "Rachel's Sunshine". I designed the pattern myself. It's made up of a yellow, sherbert orange, lime green, pink, and blue. The backing is a yellow background with pink, orange, and blue flowers and green leaves. I'm calling it "Rachel's Sunshine" because my friend notice the orange and yellow star in the middle first and said it reminded her of the sun. It is for a little girl at church (15 months) who has just been diagnosed with hip dysplasia. She meets with the specialists this week. Possible treatment could include, according to her pediatrician, surgery, spica casts, and braces. According a quick Internet search, treatment can last for months or years. I wanted to make her a quilt to bring comfort during the treatment. Since my friend thinks the design looked like a sun, I thought "Rachel's Sunshine" would be a perfect name - playing on both the design and the purpose. I need to finish making the piano-key borders (I've got 1 completed, need to do the other 3) and then attached the borders, baste, quilt, bind, label :-).

I taught myself a new technique with the cowboy quilt (for the unknown baby at the end of the month) . I am using my darning foot to do a meandering border! It is so easy and works up real quick. I really like being able to meander rather than straight lines using my walking foot. It's nice to be able to add a new technique.

I also used the darning foot to do hearts on the border for my preacher's new baby girl. It worked out okay. I'll need more practice following the lines, but I've got the basics down.

For "Rachel's Sunshine" I plan doing some sort of meander, hopefully to emphasis the center star.

All for now,
QB29