Thimble Blossoms and Heather Ross

It's time to make another baby quilt for a little grand daughter who is due at the end of February :)

I perused my patterns and found this old Thimble Blossoms pattern.

I thought it would be a great pattern to showcase some pretty fabric.

 My cherished Heather Ross collection came to mind!

I really love Heather's fabric, and have the entire Far, far away line in my stash.

I adore this unicorn in her lovely field of wildflowers!
Just imagine how heavenly their scent is....

I pressed Wonder Under to the circles, which is so easy to work with.

I used a blanket machine stitch to attach them to the background.
Before I did that, I had to buy some more Aurifil thread to match the unicorn circles, yay!

I disected the unicorns in half vertically, for the half squares.

One of the halves has a unicorn head and the other has the unicorn's  behind! Ha ha!!!

I didn't know how else to do it!!!
Kind of weird because they're all chasing their rear ends....
What made me think of pairing Far, far away with this pattern in the first place, was how I could place the cute Princess and the pea images.

I tried lots of different sashing colors to frame the unicorns, this bright orange stood out the best :)

I love the outside border, pink with yellow polka dots which sort of gives a hint of orange.

Now which color rick rack?

I like the pink, but needed another opinion.

My daughter Lindsay liked the pink best, so the pink won!

I hung the quilt on my tree in the backyard for the best light.

The sun was shining brightly so there was a little too much light!

Did I tell you how much I love these unicorns?

Notice the strawberry fabric at the top?

They are from Heather Ross' Briar Rose line.

Yes, I have that entire line in my stash also :)

Here's the finished quilt, bound with yellow.

It's backed with really soft pink minky, I didn't use any batting.

This method (without batting) gives the quilt a silky drape.

The quilt is so soft and pliable, that it kind of ripples a little.

This  quilt will be perfect for swaddling babies.

I machine quilted this quilt with a wavy stitch which is apparent on the minky back.

I didn't design this pattern, but I did do a lot of designing in the way that I used Heather Ross' fabric :)

I'm going to make some matching burp pads with the leftover minky and more Far, far away fabric.

Lucy Jane's quilt!

I wrote about this quilt here, and now it is machine quilted!

My friend Cindy Paulson is fabulous :)

She always makes me so happy when I see her gorgeous quilting on my quilts!

Cindy quilted baby rosebuds all over Lucy Jane's quilt :)

This pink polka dot minky is the softest fabric in the world!

Baby rosebuds and delicate leaves, Lucy Jane will love being snuggled up in it!

I chose a pastel pink fabric with baby birds to bind the quilt.

Usually I pick a contrasting color for the binding, but the border color is so soft, I didn't want to detract from it.

Isn't the quilt pretty hanging from my purple plum tree?

Lucy Jane is due to make her arrival in the middle of August.

I can hardly wait to see her :)

Maisie and Benjamin

I have been staying with my daughter Rebecca, and son in law Dave, since September 6.  They go to the hospital to be with and feed Benjamin, and I am looking after Maisie and keeping the house clean.  Benjamin weighed 4 lbs. 15 oz. at birth, and is still in the NICU.  He is healthy, he just needs to do a few things developmentally, like nursing enough to gain enough weight and go home  ♥

Maisie is 2, and Benjamin was born on September 5, 8 weeks early.

Two kids with lots of personality, who still need to meet each other.

I made Benjamin a quilt, the fabric is really cute.  I bought the kit about 4 years ago and have been waiting for a grandson to make it for, all this time :)  Benjamin is our seventh grandchild, our second grandson.  

I fussy cut the little baby heads and they are surrounded with scrappy yellow and blue prints.  The border is a soft, soft, minkie, and so is the back.  Isn't the quilting beautiful?  I didn't do it, my friend Cindy did with her long arm machine.

I made little burp pads for little Benjamin and added some ribbon loops for him to play with when he gets bigger.

On the back of the burp pads, I put some really soft minkie.  The burp pads are 9"X14" and sometimes Rebecca covers up Benjamin with the burp pad because they are so soft and the perfect size :)

This is Rebecca with Benjamin on Sept. 8, 3 days after giving birth.

I made this little pendant banner for Benjamin's crib, so that there could be something homey and colorful in the room.

The pendants are 4"X6", and I put heavy pellon in the middle so they would have some body.

It is difficult for Rebecca when Benjamin's oxygen gets low after he nurses, and the buzzer goes off and the red light blinks.  The nurse runs into the room and tells little Benjamin to breathe.....It is a little disconcerting.....

This is Dave, holding his precious little Benjamin.  

Hopefully Benjamin will come home soon and Maisie will be able to meet her baby brother :)