Stitching for Sisters

Following my own advice in this post to not neglect the siblings, I went ahead and finished up some projects for Charlotte's sisters, Elyse and Marian.  First up: I sewed a little wrap skirt for the eldest.

It was over a year ago now that I ran across this blog post, describing how Amy, the author of  Kati Cupcake Patterns, had developed several brain tumors.  So Melanie and the good ladies at Lola Pink Fabrics put together some kits with this pattern and some lovely fabric, with half the proceeds going to Amy to help with any needs she had at the time.

Call me a softy, but combine fabric, brain tumors, and do-gooding, and I click "add to cart" faster than the Feds are printing money.

And then I do nothing.  For over a year.

Finally, time to make sister a skirt... if only because the size 6 pattern requires more fabric than I originally ordered, so I can't wait another year!  I had to make it while this pretty little thing still wears a size 5.

But doesn't she look cute?!  It's just a really simple wrap skirt (pattern for sale here) made with Ooh La La fabrics by Pillow & Maxfield for Michael Miller.

I broke out the serger and took it for a spin and then remembered why I like quilting so much... because it's so EASY!  At least the type of quilting that I do...

Now don't be alarmed... The pony tat on her left shin is only temporary.

Really, I have to sew for this sweet girl more often.  Elyse is my most grateful recipient.  She thinks that all my quilts are take-her-breath-away "Beautiful!"  And when I sewed this skirt for her, she said, "Wow!  You're making me sooo many skirts, Mama!"  (In reality, this is just the second one in recent memory.)

Oh, and from what I can tell, Amy is doing just fine.  Instead of writing about brain tumors, her most recent blog posts are about Quilt Market - fun!- and giveaways.

Next up: a baby quilt for Charlotte's baby sister, Marian.  I was really dragging my feet on this one.  Let's see... where to start the story.  I first started using this fabric, "Children at Play" by Sarah Jane, in order to make twin-size quilts for Elyse and Henry's beds.  Then I used the leftover fabric from Elyse's quilt to make Charlotte's quilt.  And then what was left from that went to making this quilt for Marian.  Poor, fourth child.

In any case, I just made up this quilt design based on what I had.  So I fussy-cut some center pieces (little girls playing with dollies - how sweet!), then framed them with half-square triangles to make stars.  Oh, and I threw in two pinwheels in the middle row, too.  In fact, I have mostly forgotten how this came about because the quilt top was completed back in January.

I named it "Stars and Scraps" because I was "feeling" that little play on words as I completed the quilt top on Inauguration Day.  But my goodness - don't I know how to use up every last bit of my beloved Sarah Jane fabric?!  The stars are outlined with a scrappy strip that measures two inches wide.  Some of the scraps that make it up are only a half inch long!

While Marian may be getting the "leftovers" in her quilt, I did not skimp on the quilting.  This is the most intense quilting that I've ever done!  It's 30-degree diamonds.  (I used painter's tape as a guide, based on this tutorial.)

The most difficult thing was just making sure I didn't stitch through the foreheads of any of the sweet, little girls.  That would have been a disaster.  This block (above) did have a close call, though, and as Anne had called the blond girl her own "Kate," I did panic a bit as I watched the needle pass through "Kate's" neck.  And then I panicked even more as the needle stopped for a moment so that I could readjust my grip.  "Ah!  Keep going, keep going!" I told myself.  Yeah, I'm a bit of a nut sometimes...

At any rate, after I finished the quilt top, it must have taken me another month before I could get in to my local quilt shop and pick out this gorgeous piece for the backing.  The fabric is from the Cuzco line by Kate Spain.

I spray-basted the quilt in March, and I'm not quite sure what happened, but you're not getting picture of the back of the quilt because it was the worst basting job of my life!  Puckers galore as I quilted!  Well, thank heavens this was not an auction quilt...

It turned out a bit on the small side, only 32 x 37.5 inches Why?  Because I had to chop off about two inches from either side due to my poor basting job... sigh.

Ah, well, my sweet baby doesn't seem to mind.  She took to it the second she saw the quilt and I handed it over...

Isn't she just the sweetest?!


I'm linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.  Their uncle has a brain tumor diagnosis and needs our votes to get to the Kona Ironman.  Click here to watch his video and to vote.

Also linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.