Sunday, August 12, 2007

Michael's quilt


There's a new little fellow in our family who's now two weeks old and doing great (and his parents will be, too, as soon as they can get some more sleep!) This quilt is on its way to Chicago right now, and I hope little Michael James will have some happy hours snuggling with it.


This was great fun to put together. I saw a similiar one made up at my local quilt shop, and loved the combination of scrappy brights and one unifying background of blue and white polka dots. As I cut and pieced this version for Michael, I added in a lot of scraps from quilts I've made for his cousins over the past couple of years. It brought back so many warm memories of all these sweet little great-nieces and nephews. I hope it'll somehow transfer the love a big, warm extended family to this newest little guy in our fold.


There are only two little blocks that go into the making of this quilt - a four-patch and a half-snowball. I can't believe the versatility of this combination. So after I finished Michael's gift, I started experimenting with another version, using a warm antique-y tan as the background color. I like it so much that I think it will become one of my donations for this year's United Way silent auction at my office.


A few of these....




Make a few of these....


Which, in turn, make a few of these....

I'm very excited to see how this one turns out. The scraps seem to sparkle and become almost jewel-like in this starry setting. However, over the next week, I'll be doing knitting instead of sewing -- Dan and I are taking off for a much-needed week of vacation. We'll be taking our first RV trip and camping at Lake Champlain on the New York/Vermont border.

I've been sorely tempted to take my sewing machine along -- I have idyllic notions of setting up a workspace on a picnic table at the campground, and sewing happily away in the great outdoors. However, for this trip, I think I'll stick to the more portable knitting needles and churning out a few more hats. I'm restricting myself to one medium-sized plastic bin of craft materials, but you can bet I'll be cramming as much into it as humanly possible!

7 comments:

Marge said...

Michael and his parents will love this quilt, Anne. It looks like a pattern that even I might be able to put together. Your examples of "this turns into this, and into this..." are very helpful. Do you think your old sister can learn some new tricks? Let's hope so.

Love,
M.

Karen said...

This is lovely Anne and will look fantastic in his freshly painted blue room. I'll bet that once he understands how comforting a quilt it, he'll be sleeping a bit more!

Michael's Grandma E.

Tracy Batchelder said...

It's beautiful! Have a great time on your trip. I'd love to be camping on Lake Champlain. That's the area my husband is from.

Anonymous said...

How very nice! What a great gift!

Unknown said...

Your quilt turned out beautiful. I love how a lot of different fabrics can all work together to turn into a wonderful creation! I am sure Michael and his family will love it! Hope you are enjoying your vacation :-)

Pieces said...

Wow, I love the way those blocks go together. So simple and yet the results are stunning. I love that blue polka-dotted fabric that you chose.

kate said...

I LOVE that quilt pattern! Must try it now...