Semi-sappy intro... Finished... 2001 Spring 2001: Lucy block for LABMED quilt II Spring 2001: "Around the World Quilt in a Day" Later 2001: Mimi's crocheted blanket December 2001 - December 2002: MIDIMaze aprons Late 2001/early 2002: Miranda's nightgown Fall 2001: dalmatian latch-hook pillow for friend Benjamin for the holidays 2002 Spring 2002: Lucy memorial Friendship Star blocks for LABMED quilt III June 2002: birthday pillow for cousin Rachel July 2002: "Clifford" sleeping bag for friend Julia's birthday Summer 2002: Fourth of July quilt becomes 9/11 gift for firemen Spring/summer 2002: leotard for Tanya doll Fall 2002: silly crocheted hat for Charlotte Fall 2002: nice crocheted beret for Miranda 2003 January 2003: a "French flag" pillow with an embroidered "M" for Miranda started fall 2002/finished early February 2003: turned fancy corduroy baby bonnet into fancy doll dress July 2003: another birthday pillow for Rachel July 2003: "Clifford" tiny doll sleeping bag plus heart-shaped piggy bank for friend Julia's birthday July 2003: Lucy memorial log cabin block for LABMED quilt IV 2004 July-August 2004: "Around the World" doll quilt for Mimi to match Miranda's big one September-early October 2004: "Rubber Ducky" lap quilt for Charlotte Summer 2004-ongoing: assorted crocheted items - doll hats and scarves, mostly Fall 2004: 1st crocheted granny square ever Fall 2004: knitted hat for my dad 2005 March 2005: knitted poncho for Miranda finished spring 2005: crocheted hat for baby sister of a gymnastics friend - I neglected to take a photo and she hasn't given me one yet :-< August 2005: quick baby quilt for friend Amy's shower Just before Thanksgiving 2005: finished variegated green-white-blue crocheted hat (started a year ago!) -- possibly for me Just after Thanksgiving 2005: finished all-white baby-sized crocheted hat (started a year ago!) -- now, who to give this to? Save to sell someday? Thanksgiving week 2005: started *and finished* peach-and-white knitted scarf for C (not from the special yarn yet) Now, and for a long time, in progress... Spring 2002-: blue/white Log Cabin quilt(s) Future plans... a "French flag" doll quilt to match Miranda's pillow, from the scraps left from the firemen's quilt a Lucy pillow along the lines of the first Lucy block some things for Charlotte many more ideas... Online quilting & other craft reference materials; amazing custom-made items Quilting & other craft books, etc. available via Amazon.com (or other channels) Page last updated 11/27/05

August 2005: Quick baby quilt for friend Amy's baby shower July 2005: Invited to Amy's baby shower in early August. Had saved the cutoffs from my bridesmaid's dress (it had to be... expanded... because I was pregnant at the time). Had always intended to make a pillow or something with it for Amy. Hadn't gotten to it. !Aha! Use it in a baby quilt... but how? Start rummaging through my stash to figure out which fabrics would be good for this. Amy likes simple, traditional stuff - not too fussy, not too busy; small prints if any. Amass a huge pile of maybes; only a couple which seem very likely. August 2005: Baby shower is this week. I've set aside a number of fabrics I think Amy would like which should go with the way she's planning to do the nursery. Still not sure what sort of pattern I want. No idea how I'm going to work in the fabric from the dress - big sections? little bits? A day or two before the shower: trying to think clearly. Eliminated more than half of the fabrics. Eliminated some complicated ideas for the pattern. Washed the dress fabric (had washed the others previously)... Decide to let the fabrics speak for themselves. Draw up a sketch... Start ironing... Get the tools ready for measuring & cutting... More ironing... Even more ironing... Start cutting... Cut a lot of squares of each of the fabrics I've chosen - but not the dress fabric yet! - and lay these out all over the bed. Munchkin gives me input. Not quite enough of two fabrics for what I'd originally planned - short by a few squares. Realize these two are close enough in tone that I can oppose them - left-right vs. up-down on the quilt - and it'll look just fine. In the meantime, Miss M has used some scraps of my fabric, a star template from our art supplies, and her own sewing to make a coordinating offering for the new baby all by herself. PROUD mama! Start sewing... Bottom two rows, top two rows, then - after some more input from the munchkin about what should be in the center - the middle row. Sew the rows together. Top is *done*! Now the hard part begins... Yes, the hard part. I love doing the quilt tops; dread the rest - the borders, the backing, the binding. Add a border of the dress fabric, as planned. Not too bad, but the fabric is very slippery and unravels at the edges almost instantly. I can't find the stay-edge gunk to put on it. Should I have cut it on the bias? After much waffling, decide to use the dress fabric as the *only* border. This time, it gets into my head to sew through all the layers and quilt and *then* add the binding. Never done this before. I cut the back extra big so I can self-bind if I give up. This is of course what happens... Do some pinning. Start quilting. Forgot to start from the center. Ended up with a quilt top that looked nice and even - except at the very center. The very center square came out twisted several degrees. Ripped out a lot of stitches around the middle and tried again. Same result. Repeated. Same result. Gave up and left it. Binding gives me fits too. Despite pinning, the edges won't stay rolled under as I sew, in part because the dress fabric is so slick. Eventually get all but the corners done. Then *they* give me fits. Get the last bits done the morning of the shower, not happy with the way the corners and center turned out. It looked so neat when it was just a top! Snip the loose threads. Wrap. Manage to remember to add a card. Shower; dress; drive off in a hurry; get there late but before Amy's arrival. Phew! Thankfully, Amy was very gracious and appreciated the work enough to ignore my twisted center and mangled corners. I forgot to mention at the time that the blue fabric came from my bridesmaid's dress expansion. Had to tell her the next time I talked to her... Overall time to make the quilt: About 1/4 ironing, planning, and cutting; 1/4 sewing of the main top; 1/2 bordering-backing-binding-quilting. Ugh! That middle part is my favorite :-< Live and learn...

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