Gabby's Fish Quilt-FINISHED AT LAST!

I am beyond thrilled to finally be finished with this quilt. Gabby was born last October and is now 9 1/2 months old. It's way past time for her to have her baby quilt!

I had the pattern printed out and had purchased all the fabrics. I had finished another project I was working on and was ready to start Gabby's quilt. It was six weeks until she was due. That was plenty of time to get it finished before she was born. But the night before I was going to start working on Gabby's quilt I broke my arm. I had surgery and spent eight weeks in a cast, recuperating. When I finally got the cast off and had the strength back in my hand and arm, I was anxious to start working on it!

The blocks were fun to make! I loved the subtle fish. But, these blocks were on point....AND I decided to make the quilt just a tiny bit bigger and add one more fish all the way around the outside. This got me into trouble because now I had no idea how to finish the quilt. I needed to add rectangles or triangles or something to make this odd shaped top into a rectangle. Since I had only made one other quilt on-point I was stumped. It sat on my design wall for ages. I thought I could figure it out on my own. I tried two different solutions-and neither worked. Lots of ripping going on. I finally had a quilting friend over for a visit and we put our heads together, discussed it at length and figured out how I needed to finish it. 

It was the hardest quilt top I EVER finished!! It felt so good that I met this challenge and be able to get it done. I was even inspired to make the back of the quilt special too. When the front was finished I had extra fish left over and decided to add them to the back. This was a first for me.

I am so tickled with how it turned out, though it did make it thicker to quilt through, with all those seams.  My next hurdle was the rickrack. I thought it would be cute in the binding, but had never added rickrack to a quilt top before, so this was just one more "first" for this quilt!  

After the fish quilt was finished I had some scraps left and decided to make a smaller quilt with them. I even had three more fish I could throw in. Simple four patch blocks went together quickly. I made this quilt, start to finish, in just four days. It's 36X40"-just the right size for Gabby to nap with.  My son and daughter-in-law were surprised when I had not one, but two, quilts for Gabby. I figured they had waited so long a little bonus quilt was in order. 

I'm so glad Gabby finally has her quilts and can start making memories with them!

Gabby's Fish Quilt Update

A week has passed and it was not the slow, empty-calendar week of nothing-but-sewing that I thought (hoped) it would be. But, in spite of a busy life, I have made progress on Gabby's quilt. The top is completed and the backing has been pieced and is ready to go. 

Of course, today I am headed out the door. A much needed haircut and a perm are on my to-do list. But tonight I am going to TRY to get the quilt sandwiched, so that tomorrow I can start quilting. My deadline to have this fishy quilt DONE and in mom's hands is Mother's Day. I think I can do it!! I know I can do it!

Gabby's Fish Quilt

When my son and daughter-in-law announced they were having a baby the whole family was thrilled! It's their first and that always brings lots of added excitement for the new parents.

I started thinking about a baby quilt, but wanted to wait until we knew if the baby was going to be a girl or a boy before I picked a pattern or fabric. 

They announced a little girl and that her room was going to have a fish theme. This is because they have a GIANT aquarium in that room and it wasn't going anywhere! So, they decided to work with it. What a great idea. They painted cute fish on the wall and found adorable bedding. I have always thought that the sight and sounds of an aquarium are very relaxing and soothing and that it would be wonderful to have one in a baby's room.

I started looking at quilt patterns and found this one on Craftsy. It was a free download and perfect for the nursery. It's called Kissing Fish.

I picked a cute backing fabric that looked like bubbles and 11 fabrics that would coordinate with the nursery and bedding they had picked out. 

I cut lots of little squares to make all of the fish.

And then I broke my arm. And had surgery on it. And was in a cast for seven weeks. And I couldn't sew at all. Even after I got my cast off I couldn't use a rotary cutter. Even scissors were challenging. Then it was Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I made a quick quilt for my sister in law for Christmas and a quilt for another granddaughter for her birthday in January. I needed to get Gabby's made.

So, I started sewing fish. But this was a little more complicated than I thought it would be. I have only made one other quilt on point and it was hard for me too. I guess my brain prefers my squares to be in a traditional setting! But this one has the blocks turned going in two different directions. I was trying to keep my prints and colors spread out evenly. Then, to make matters worse, I decided to add one more fish all the way around the outside to make the quilt just a little bigger! So now I needed to figure out how to finish the outside edges of the quilt so they weren't on the bias! What had I gotten myself into? This is supposed to be a simple baby quilt!!!!

This "puzzle" sat on my design wall for over a month while I contemplated how to finish it. I cut triangles, but that was going to end up cutting the noses off my outside fish, and that just would not do! And what to do with the corners? 

I finally consulted with my local quilting partner-in-crime, Judy, and we came up with a solution to sew large rectangles onto the outside edges, trim them, leaving about 1" of white fabric beyond the noses and then sew a white border on. Once it is quilted the seams will not be noticeable. (I hope.)

Still this quilt occupied my design wall. I just couldn't get myself to finish it. I had hit a wall. And I haven't been quilting because I know that this is WAY OVERDUE!!! (Like my granddaughter was born in October and turned 6 months old this month!!!!!) If I was going to be working on anything at all, it was going to be this quilt. And this wasn't something I could work on for 10 minutes or even 30 minutes a day. I needed to get in there with several days in a row devoted to this quilt and this quilt alone.

Last week I spent a day with Gabby and her mommy and I was so embarrassed that Gabby was playing on the floor, sitting on the quilt I made for her mom. Shame on me for not finishing her quilt! 

So, I cleared my calendar for this week and have decided that this is THE WEEK Gabby's quilt will be finished!! Today I worked for hours on it. I now have all the the rows sewn together. That is a HUGE major accomplishment. Tomorrow I will be trimming the outside edges, sewing triangles on the four corners and adding the borders. I hope to get that all done in the morning so that I can make the backing tomorrow afternoon. I'm so optimistic that I have already taken my batting out of the package so it can relax before I start to sandwich it. 

This little sweetheart is getting her quilt very soon. I sure hope it will be worth the wait!

Meet Gabrielle

Wow! It's now been more than four months since my last post. And it's been a very busy four months too. 

About three weeks after I broke my arm, my son, Matthew fell from a ladder and broke his arm too! He also had two hairline fractures in his pelvis and one on his tailbone. He was in a LOT of pain. We posed for a picture together-we tried to find a little humor in the situation.

When this pic was taken Matthew and his wife, Elise, were expecting a baby---any day now! Matthew couldn't walk at all and when they went to the hospital exactly one week after his accident he was the one that needed to be pushed down the hall in a wheelchair. But babies have their own timelines and agendas and they don't care if it's convenient for you or not-they arrive when they are good and ready. With that said........

Meet Gabrielle. She was born October 12, 2014 (That's 10/12/14!) and is the latest bit of perfection and joy in our lives. She is grandbaby #8 and granddaughter #7 and she is a bundle of deliciousness. :) 

Gabby is just a few minutes old 

She looks so happy to be here

I was so happy to get to the hospital and meet her!

Sooo sweet!

She started growing up way too fast-

and look at all that hair!!

Before I knew it Christmas was upon us. I'm so glad that Gabby and her parents were here to spend it with us.

At three months those smiles are melting hearts every where she goes.

Hugs and Kisses, Gabby. I love you!

Grammy