We made a Baby!!!

We all made babies - from play dough.

Play Dough Babies

It was one of the fun games at the baby shower on Saturday.

The Invitation

The mom-to-be chose the winners.

The Parents-to-be

Harry and Sally (not their real names) got married in July 2014 at the gurudwara (Sikh temple) in Washington DC, followed by the Quaker wedding ceremony in a church. Harry is a Sikh and Sally is a Quaker. And they made such a lovely couple. 

Wedding in the Gurudwara

Paul and I were fortunate to attend the ceremony. And I had so much fun - dressing up for the occasion, dancing in the baraat (wedding procession), enjoying the sumptuous food and wishing all the best to the couple.
When they announced that they were going to have a baby, I immediately dived into my stash to pick out fabrics to make a baby quilt. The theme was animals and a special request from the baby's aunt (my friend Manveen) - to incorporate Snoopy. Snoopy was the favorite cartoon character of the father-to-be.

For Harry & Sally's baby

Step 1 - Choose Fabrics

I wanted to make sure that the quilt was gender-neutral, since Harry and Sally chose to not find out the sex of the baby. The colorful turtle fabric was an obvious choice, just as the tossed owls and the fire-breathing dragons. The cat fabric is rather dull and grey and not my usual style. But I chose to incorporate it because of Flower - Harry and Sally's beloved cat who passed away a few years ago.

Owls and Turtles

Monkeys are my favorite. Swinging from the branches - they sure know how to have fun.  Can you find the giraffe?

I heart monkeys

Birds and Bees too.  The sole light purple square came from the scraps leftover from an outfit of Harry's mom.  I like to think that includes grandma's blessings in the baby quilt.

Birds and the Bees

Step 2 - Choose the pattern

Since the fabric was the major attraction, I did not want to cut the squares smaller than five inches.
Therefore, I chose a simple 9-patch layout with bright green sashing.

Smiling Fish, Lounging Puppies

I made nine 9-batch blocks. Some with colorful hearts on a black background and others with a cream background with the birds/red haired girl. Since Sally has red hair, it seems to work.

Green sashing

Step 3 - Piece

This part does require some playing around on the design wall, making sure that two similar squares are not adjacent to each other.  More importantly, there should be enough contrast between adjacent squares.

Yoga Cats

Yoga cats, orange puppies and bright colors make my day.  The yellow fabric with animal frames was gift from my quilty buddy - Sylvia.

Bright Turtles

Step 4 - Layer, Quilt, Bind and Enjoy

I used the same green for sashing and binding.

A finish!!!

The backing is this adorable Snoopy fabric. 

Charlie Brown with Snoopy

I had been looking for Snoopy fabric and it came to me when I least expected it. I found it in Georgia (visiting Paul's parents), the day after Thanksgiving when I chose to go for some Black Friday shopping. And there it was :-D happily waiting for me.

No, I did not forget to label it.

Labelled

So the final step is to enjoy the compliments, take pictures of happy parents and pose for pictures with dear friends.

Harry & Sally

Love the smiles!!!

So glad they loved it!

This is my first finish of 2017 and I am very happy with it.

with Manveen 

Manveen was the gracious hostess, as usual. We had a great time and we wish Harry and Sally all the very best of luck as they welcome the new bundle of joy into their lives.

Thank you for inviting us!!!

So, we did not make that kind of a baby.  But I am glad someone did - and that gave me a reason to make another baby quilt!!!

I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties and as usual, I'd love to hear from you.

Creature Feature etc.

Paul works in the IT industry. It means that he sits at a desk looking at a computer screen (actually three screens) all day.  What do you think he does to relax?
Plays computer games!!!

Fire-Breathing Dragon

What do I do when I get frustrated while I am working on a complicated, treacherous quilt pattern?
I make a simple quilt.

Orange Octopus

Yes, we are so different!!!


Remember Sun City. When I got extremely frustrated working on tiny blocks, I put it away and made this. Meet Creature Feature.

Creature Feature

This darling quilt (42" by 42") came together so quickly, is so bright and cheerful and it lifted me outta my funk. The best part - I completed the top in one afternoon. Hurray for simple and happy quilts. It is the popsicle of quilts.

Smiling Whales

Let me explain what I mean by Popsicle of a Quilt - Imagine, you are slaving over a three-layer chocolate cake with ganache icing (for very special guests).  But what you really want to eat is a popsicle. Get it?  It is simple and low-intensity. It hits the spot and makes you giggle like a kid. 

Puppies - Yay!!!

See this fabric with puppies.  I love this fabric. Here is a fat quarter that keeps on giving.
I used it in Homeful with great success. And also in Playschool as well as Pre-K.

Tropical Turtle

All colored strips are from Connecting Threads. Used some of them in Lickety Split.
And this orange fabric was a gift from dearest quilter buddy in Pennsylvania -  Sylvia.

from Sylvia, with love

Knowing my love for cute fabrics, she saved me two FQs of this adorable fabric.
A bunch of 5" squares and some 2.5" strips + on afternoon = Magic!!!

Jelly Fish :-)

As I was quilting this cutie patootie, I was listening to NPR and this show came up - Creature Feature.
"In this adorable rhyming game, each answer is two words: an animal, and a word that rhymes with that animal. So if we imagined a red crustacean gangster that boiled its enemies alive and served them with butter, it would be called a Lobster Mobster."

That settled it. I found the name for my little adorable quilt - Creature Feature.

Labelled!!!

Walking foot quilting using a decorative stitch that looks like Cs. Mirrored it looks like clouds.

Bright Stripes Binding

The backing is blue, cream dotty fabric.
The binding is a bright black/colorful striped fabric.  I am really loving stripes for binding. They look lovely!!!

I do not have a recipient in mind for Creature Feature but I am sure that the universe will take care of it.
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Remember my last post where I talked about Craftsy kits that were great deals etc.
Guess what? Those very kits are now FURTHER reduced.  Check them out here.


I've had my eye on this Rhoda Ruth FQ Bundle for quite some time now, but I refused to pay more than $2 per FQ. Today it is 30 FQs for just over $60. SOLD!!!

Oh, I also bought this Michael Miller Melodies FQ bundle - how rich are these colors and at $1.625 per FQ, this was impossible resist.

Do you remember the KISS tutorial? It uses 6" strips. I used Kaffe Fassett's Design Strips.  Those are now 55% off at $18.45.  That means you could make two quilt tops for just $18.45.

Pastel Strips

Jewel Strips

And if you'd rather make the KISS quilt using batiks, there is great news.  Each of these Tonga Treats 6" Strips are just $21.

Jupiter 6" Strips

Citrus Mint 6" Strips

City Lights 6" Strips

Speaking of KISS, Kat of Scrapbox Quilts made a baby bargello quilt using my tutorial. I am tickled pink!!!

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All addresses have been received from the winners of the Orphan Adoption Event. Packages going out today with the quilt top to Cindy, pens to PK, and template to Shelley.  In your packages, I have also included one small surprise item.  Exact same in each package - because I don't want any fights wherein anyone says - Why is her surprise item better than mine?
Just kidding :-D  Thank you for adopting these orphans and hope you enjoy your surprise :-)
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I made another smaller quilt.

Someone had abandoned these triangles at the free table at our Guild Meeting.

I added some green sashing, some striped border and made a small quilt top.

It is only 32" square. It will work for a newborn baby girl.  But I am going to send it to NY Sue for the Stillborn Bereavement Group.

I used this stamp fabric for backing, received with love from Jake in SC.  I am thinking of you Jake and all the wonderful things you do :-)

A muted turquoise binding completes it.

Paul: Ooh, I like that fabric with the stamps.
Preeti: I can make you another coaster from that fabric, if you want.
Paul: Can you make me a little bag?
Preeti: Like with a zipper?
Paul: Yeah.
Preeti: WHAT??? WHY???
Paul: For travel, you know, to keep little things together.
I said fine while I rolled my eyes.
I did not think that my pouch making frenzy would have a negative side effect.  Further, I did not think that guys would want a travel bag in anything other than leather or leather look-alike. Well, I stand corrected.

I guess if I am going to use him as a quilt holder upper, he needs to be compensated!!!
How do you compensate your quilt holders/models?
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Here is the fabric audition for the next project.  I need about ten fat quarters.
I am considering these Pashmina batiks from Timeless Treasures.

Pashmina Batik FQs, Grey Background

More in my next post.

I will be linking with my favorite linky parties.
I'd love to hear from you, as usual.

Hugs,
Preeti.