Welcome, Baby Braden!!!

A little over a week ago, our new little nephew was welcomed into the world. He is such a cutie (even though, when I got to hold him, he cried a "hungry and you're not my mommy" cry)!

This little guy gave me the opportunity to make another quilt. I am so excited about this one, because I absolutely fell in love with the fabric line "Chirp" by Robert Kaufman and I really wanted to try the Disappearing 9 Patch over at Cluck Cluck Sew (it's a super easy tutorial for Free!!!)

This is the final result. I used a soft fabric for my lining and a very thin batting. It ended up being very snuggly, which was what I wanted. I also tied it with yarn every so many squares just to hold the middle together.

Here's a close up of how awesome the fabric is!

To match, I made her some burpies, a bib, and a giraffe rattle. So much fun!

In the mail. . .

Several weeks ago, the mailman brought me a package filled with all sorts of fun stuff from my sister. She lives 24 hours away (by car) and it's always fun to get something from her. This time it was filled with Ethan's belated birthday present, fabric, and this framed creation.

My sister found a stash of fabric from my great grandma, who died a year and half ago, that happened to be the same fabric from a quilt that she had made me when I was 8. Needless to say, the quilt is faded and worn (from many uses!) and I feel so lucky that she found it and made me a mini-quilt out of it. It amazed me to see the colors as they were when I got the quilt. . . so vibrant and alive compared to the comfortable, worn-out quilt I know and love.

This mini quilt is hand stitched and hand quilted. I can't wait until we move so I can hang it up in the office/craft room, where I can treasure if always. A special thanks to my sister!

Finally!

My senior year of college, I decided to try my hand at quilting and loved it! I was also really into the colors red, white, and blue. . . it was how I was going to decorate my house! Needless to say, my house is not red, white, and blue. But, I digress. Let me get back on track here. . . oh yes, the quilt. I started it sometime during my senior year (back in 2001!). I got the actually squares cut out, sewed my quilt blocks and then the whole thing together. At this point, I knew absolutely nothing about quilting. . . just what I had seen from my sister, who was learning to quilt in her home-ec class. When the top was finished, it got packed away and unfortunately, it never got made into an actual blanket, until this past weekend. . . almost 10 years later. But it is finished and I am proud. It has lots of character since my lines are probably not the straightest, but it's my first quilt and I am proud. I think it will be a great picnic quilt.