Quilt #56: Branch's Carpenter Star

Since injuring my index finger, I've been banned from my sewing room. I'm trying to use this time to write posts on some of my older quilts. I've been on a pretty good streak of writing about my quilts for the last several finishes. But when I created my virtual trunk show for 2016, I realized I missed quite a few of this year's finished. So I've made a goal to write about each of this year's quilts by the end of the year. Think I can do it? We shall see. 

I'm kicking things off with my first finish of 2016: Branch's Carpenter Star. 

Branch is the name of my friend Kim's baby. Kim and I have boys who share the exact same birthdays. We met on a due date board so we've known each others since sometime in 2008. This group of mamas have become some of my best friends, and Kim especially so. Up until a few weeks ago, she lived a few hours away by Niagara Falls, so we have been able to become real life friends, too.

Last January we made an unexpected trip to Canada for a funeral. We stopped by to see Kim because I was hoping to see a brand new baby. Alas, Branch decided it was too cold to come out. But his delay gave me time to whip up a quilt for him.

In 2014, I made a quilt for Branch's big sister. When I was thinking of a quilt for him, all I knew is that I wanted to used some of my scraps for P's quilt.

I have a long list of quilt patterns I want to make. Sometimes I know I want to make a certain pattern for someone in particular. Sometimes I want to make a pattern, and then the occasion presents itself. For Branch, I started with fabric and then looked for a quick pattern because we were going to be heading back up in a few weeks again and I wanted to have the quilt ready. Hello, Carpenter Star!

This pattern comes together very quickly. Just squares and half square triangles. It went a little bit faster because I was able to use one of my Christmas gifts for the first time. I LOVE my rotating cutting mat! It's so nice to keep the unit in one place as I trim my squares! I use it all the trim for trimming now.

For quilting, I echoed inside the the squares and parallelograms to highlight the 3D effect.

I borrowed from the birth announcement to make the label. 

With some of the scraps, I made a taggy blanket. 

With more scraps, I made this doll quilt for big sister. 

Best of all, I got to deliver the quilt in person. Branch likes to cuddle with both his quilt and his sister's quilt!

One last thing that makes me smile. When I made the quilt, I didn't know that Kim was going to name her son Branch after the character on the show Longmire. But the pattern ended up being perfect for him. Carpenter Star = carpenters work with wood = a piece of wood is called a Branch. Perfect.

I finished this quilt before I joined Instagram, so I don't have any photos posted there, but you can follow me to see what I'm working on now. 

Linked to:
Needle & Thread Thursdays @  My Quilt Infatuation

Quilt #7: Luke's Baby Quilt

My year of rotten health continues. I have been diagnosed with Valley Fever, a not-so-nice souvenir from our recent trip to Arizona. I haven't been spending a lot of time on any projects other than resting, but tonight I'm finally going to tell you about a baby quilt I made last...September. 

My  neighbors had a little boy named Luke, so I liked the idea of making a quilt of little L's. I drew it up on PowerPoint. 

I used my then-new towel bars from Ikea to audition fabrics. 

I made up an instruction sheet to visualize what I needed to do. 

My main background fabric was a colorful ABC print. I cut a 2.5" strips of the ABC print as well as each of the four tone-on-tone prints and sewed them together along the long side.

Once sewn and pressed, I cut each strip into 4.5" squares. 

 I made two types of blocks: one with blue and green squares, the other with yellow and orange squares.

I sewed the L's together first.

 

 I found this red and blue polka dot print for the border.

Pinned and ready to quilt.

I went with easy straight line quilting.

Ready for binding.

I used iron on embroidery to add the baby's name.

I also made a matching tag blanket. 

I don't make quilts for hire and I don't usually tell the recipient I'm making a quilt before it's done. I'm no expert, but I love that I have found a way to give to others when my TBI has made me a taker in so many ways. I don't expect my quilts will be heirlooms, and once they are given away, it is up to the recipient to decide what to do (or not do) with them. But, nothing makes me happier than to receive a picture like this. 

Linked to:
Creative Collection link party * Creativity Unleashed * Moonlight & Mason Jars link party