gift season

I love making and giving quilts as gifts.  I really do.

This is fortunate, given that I have now established a pattern of giving baby quilts to each new addition to my social circle-formerly-known-as-baby-group (Frida's -- she and the other "babies" are now 3 - 3 1/2 years old, and several have welcomed new babies to their families in the intervening years).  We were supposed to get together for a picnic in the park last weekend, when I was going to give new baby Ben his quilt. -- but we were rained out.

So today I am finally going to deliver this most recently completed quilt, inspired by some recent fabric finds at Len's Mill in Guelph -- most especially a froggie print (Child's Play with Nate & Kate) that combines colours I loved as little girl of the early 70s, orange, brown, and green.  The same visit to Len's Mill yielded 2 yards (end-of-bolt) of Amnerican Jane dots in orange and an unidentified brown-and-green geometric print that I really like with the frogs.

From my stash I drew some solids and then I made a very simple quilt, letting the fabric do most of the work.

I even added one of the little labels I had made last winter by etsy seller gutenTAGs.  I have been a bit shy about attaching these to quilts...until recently.  Now I'm on a roll!

A little iconic sketch first made for me by my hubby years ago is featured on the back.















I could write (and considered writing) a whole post about the thread tension and other machine-related problems I had when I set out to free-motion quilt this project (all solved after a few hours of pulling hair and stitches)...but I don't think I have it in me. Another time, perhaps....

I also have been working steadily on hand-quilting on dad's king-sized bear paw quilt, a little every night, and loving it. The process is slow-going, but it is giving me a chance to look closely at each print I used, to enjoy the sweet harmony between prints -- it is really a pleasure.

But "gift season" is almost at an end -- I should be able to get the last quilt top for a friend fully pieced today or tomorrow -- and I have to admit that I am ready to get back to projects I had put on a back burner, like my Farmer's Wife quilt (111 blocks need to be sashed and I miss seeing them) and my Swoon quilt (which is 70% pieced). And given that this final gift quilt is very sedate (it is a mocha-and-parchment coloured interpretation of Denyse Schmidt's Irish Chain quilt from her new book...with a few pops of aqua thrown in), I feel that a project full of wildly riotous COLOUR is in my future!

It can be a little tricky to strike a balance between making for others (seeing through their eyes) and making as self-expression, don't you think?  Well, onwards...!