Sunday, December 2, 2012

Baby Preparation


Just got in from my daughter's. Made a quick trip to take her a bookcase, stroller, and car seat with 2 bases for her, the son-in-law, and the pending addition to the family. I left Saturday morning and got back late this afternoon. I'm bushed!! However, the nursery looks great.









She purchased the stencil for the wall back in July. Since the closet door seemed dull, we thought that would be a great place for the tree stencil. Both of us think it turned out great.
I hope you notice the lamp on top of the bookcase. It's a tree branch with birds. Very cute and a great purchase from Hobby Lobby.










The high point of the nursery is the owl quilt made by moi. She picked out the McCall's pattern back in July, too. The quilt is supposed to be made from fleece, but that didn't seem quilt-like to me. So, I decided to make it out of cotton like a real quilt AND I handquilted it--a task I had never tackled before.


Since the quilt was designed for a baby, I wanted it to have a whimsical quality. I like the owls' faces--they are happily watching.

I learned so much from this experience. First, I stepped way out of my comfort zone. I have not only never quilted, I have never WANTED to. The idea of cutting yardage up into little pieces and then sewing them back together again did not interest me at all!! However, if you look close, you will see that the quilt is applique style:



Since I was handquilting, I could add to the whimsy flavor by adding little details. As a beginner, I kept the additions simple and was very selective to where I would make the details. Here, I added "feathers" to the wing. 




I added a heart to the girly owl's tummy.I [put veins in the leaves, too.



Then, I hand quilted the filler space between my appliques. Again, I made the rules



up as I went. Using red, sidewalk chalk, I made a meandering line that ran all over the quilt. Here, you can see my design. The chalk washed out with the first washing.