Baby Quilt "Friday!": Watch Me Grow

Welcome back to Baby Quilt "Friday!" A house full of sick little ones and big ones have slowed down the home stretch of finishing this project--posting about all twenty quilts in The Little Box of Baby Quilts. But I'm back. And feeling mighty fine at 80% healthy. It'll do.

This "Friday" features the quilt "Watch Me Grow," a wall-quilt-slash-growth-chart for little ones.

 
From The Little Box of Baby Quilts, copyright 2007 Jenny Wilding Cardon/That Patchwork Place. Machine quilted by Cheryl Brown.

For our family, this quilt was a keeper. Meaning that although I made the quilt specifically for the "little box," I always meant for it to end up with us. I've had three paper growth charts and they've all been ripped, torn, or drawn upon. No keep-through-the-years quality to them. This fabric version of a growth chart hangs in the boys' playroom now. And they know better than to rip, tear, or draw upon one of mama's quilts. (Cutting mama's quilts? An entirely different story.)

The quilt is quite simple to make. Whole-cloth background, strip-pieced border, easily appliqued stems, and fuse-and-cut flowers and leaves. There's even a handy little built-in pocket to hold a fabric-friendly pen. The quilt measures children up to five feet in height. I'm doing my best to remember to chart our boys' growth every six months. Should be a lot of writing on this quilt before either of them reach five feet.

I think this would make a great gift quilt for an expecting mom and dad who already have small children. That way, all the kids in the family can have their turn touching their heels to the wall. Ah, yes, that reminds me...

Growth charted.

You can see more quilts from the "little box" here, watch a video about it here, and read more about each quilt here.

Just two more "Fridays" of baby quilts to go. Next week I'll showcase a very simple quilt I named "Flotton!" Hope to see you back here next "Friday" for the very simple (and silly) explanation of the name.

The story about the quilt in the banner. Up there at the top of this page.

Yes, I'm talking about the sailboat quilt I'm featuring in my blog banner this month. What do you think of it? I really like a lot of things about it. Except for just one little thing. It's that fabric that makes up the background. Let's be nice and call it, um, challenging.

Well, why the hooey did you use it then, Jenny?

If you're asking, I'm telling. There's a story there.

I started attending a monthly humanitarian meeting here in town. We make things for people in far-away countries who need them. Mostly, items for children and for schools. When the leader of the group heard I was a quilter, she asked if I would like to add a little applique to a sailboat-themed panel of fabric she had to make a wall quilt. I said, "Sure!" I envisioned sailboats in calm waves that I could embellish with happy birds and clouds and suns. So I really wasn't expecting this kind of challenge...

This is the panel the very kind leader of the humanitarian group brought to me. Sailboat? Yes.

Upon closer inspection, I realized the image was of a military sailboat. With soldiers. Sailing in a sea of blood. (Is there really a such thing as a military sailboat?)

The group leader gave me a month to work with the panel. I tried to incorporate the sailboat image in a number of ways. Eventually, my solution was to stick with the sailboat theme, but cover up the original sailboat completely. Try and happy it up as best I could.

Sailboats, numbers, waves, stars, moon. Happier.

Happier quilted stars, seen from the back of the quilt.

Happier quilted waves.

Gratuitous close-up. Happier.

I was a little nervous taking the finished quilt to the group leader. When I shyly mentioned that I wasn't sure the military sailboat was quite right for a schoolroom setting, she breathed a sigh of relief. "I hadn't realized those were soldiers on the sailboat!" she said. "We aren't supposed to send anything that has to do with war, or the military, or anything like that. I'm glad you noticed!"

Then I breathed a sigh of relief. Because I (albeit unknowingly) chose the right path for the design, yes. But mostly because she has three more panels of the same fabric. I'm now nearing completion of sailboat wall quilt number two.

Quilters make do. The quilt I came up with may not be heirloom quality, or something anyone would want to replicate. But it might help a child in a far-away country learn to count to five. Learn their colors. I made do, like quilters do. And I'm happier for it.

ALERT: Jackspeak

Time. It is such an important part of our lives. Seconds, minutes, hours. Days, weeks, months, years. Past, present, future. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. I had no idea how much we all rely on time to get through our days. Then I tried to teach the concepts of time to a four-year old. It is not easy.

Jack: "Mom, Luke invited me to his birthday party!"

Me: "Oooh, that sounds like fun. Do you know when it is?"

"Yes. It's the day before . . . no, it's the day after and before this day."

"Huh?"

"And then it's after that day. No, wait. It's the day after the middle day. Look mom, LOOK."

Jack holds up three fingers on his right hand. He points to his middle finger with his left hand.

"It's on THIS day, this day."

"Oh. I see."

"Yep. That's the day! I can't wait."

"I bet. I hope we can make it."

Mornings with Mama: Cooking

It began with the styrofoam packaging that came with Bretty's new computer tower (underneath the pot and pan). When he saw it, Jack imagined a stove. Just like that, a chef was born.

A little of this and a little of that.

A quick change into a chef's uniform. (Uniforms always being made from jammies.) The concoction moves from bowl, to pan, to pot.

A sprinkle of something special into a serving bowl.

A drink is offered to cleanse the palate.

And, with a variety of side dishes to accompany the main dish, I sit down to breakfast for one.

The result of another creative day in the kitchen.

For our Cookie Monster

Just one more Valentine's Day story. The story isn't actually about Valentine's Day at all. But the story inspired Jack and I to make these for the man of our house:

Jack was instrumental to the dough making, dough testing, dough rolling, dough testing, dough cutting, and dough testing. And cookie frosting. And frosting testing.

The story was told to me by Brett's dad, Dean. It's the gosh-darn-it cutest story I've ever heard about my husband. Goes like this:

Dean went into four-year-old Brett's room one evening for the nightly tuck-in. He noticed that little Brett, already in pajamas and under covers, was staring off into nowhere, lost in thought. Dean sat on the bed next to little Brett. He quietly asked, "Brett, what'cha thinking about?"

Little Brett said, "I'm thinkin' about cookies."

Little Brett is all grown-up now, of course. A wife. Two children. A job. A mortgage. A 401(k). A really, really high-end computer for incredibly lifelike gaming. But every night, in the middle of the night, that grown-up Brett will still steal into a dark kitchen, open the pantry door, and grab two cookies. He'll gobble them down with secret sips directly from the milk carton. (He thinks they're secret sips, anyway.)

That's our Cookie Monster. We love him so.

Happy Balemtimes Day!

Another preschool party, another challenge--find the perfect valentine for Jack to make for his classmates. Like last year, we used lollipops as our muse.  But this year, Jack cut the hearts, dotted the dots, and stuck the stickers. (This year's project idea came from Martha Stewart Kids magazine.)

 

He was even moved to write a little note on the back of each valentine:

So, from our family to yours, happy Valentine's Day. Jack would wish you a happy Balemtimes Day. Said it that way last year. Says it that way this year. (It's just too darn cute to correct. I'm keeping my mouth shut.)

Baby Quilt "Friday!": Long-Tailed Lions

Here she is--quilt number 17 out of 20 from The Little Box of Baby Quilts. My favorite. She's simple, she's colorful, and she has a bit of flouncy flair (in the form of tulle trim). I named this quilt "Long-Tailed Lions." See why below:

From The Little Box of Baby Quilts, copyright 2007 Jenny Wilding Cardon/That Patchwork Place. Machine quilted by Cheryl Brown.

This quilt is my favorite quilt in the "little box" for many reasons. I like the simplicity of the Log-Cabin style blocks. I love the polka-dot fabrics (all generously given to me by Moda). I am really happy with how the lion faces turned out. I was going for the look of a plush toy, and kind of invented a way to come close. And I love the tulle trim on the manes and tails. Looks like it might be a little scratchy to the touch, but it's sooo soft and feathery. And it moves when you touch it! Fun for little hands.

But the thing I like most about this quilt is that I actually FINISHED it. I created eight drafts of it on paper before I even sewed one stitch. Here are a few of those drawings that prove it:

Each time I drafted the design I either didn't like the layout, decided it was too much sewing for the end-user, or I just screwed up the math (fairly common for me). Once I finally decided on a design, the sewing became the mystery. I started, stopped, and scrapped the quilt three times. Ouch. Goodbye, perfectly good fabric. (And with it, my confidence.) There were also yards upon yards of perfectly good threads, yarns, and trims I experimented with, and then tossed aside in frustration. But I kept with the design, and things finally came together.

Like any creative undertaking, you never quite know what the end result will be. Sometimes things come together flawlessly, easily. Sometimes there are a few snags but things pretty much go along according to plan. And sometimes you feel like you're in the midst of a disaster. Those times when something in your gut tells you "RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!" My gut told me that time and time again with this little quilt. And you know what I told my gut? SHUSH. Just SHUSH. I'm gonna try one more time.

Sometimes shushing pays off. Sometimes not. My completely unsolicited advice? When it's a tornado, or a tsunami, or you see someone coming at you with a kitchen knife with a not-so-nice look on their face, listen to your gut. But when it comes to quilts? Try again. Your persistence--and perhaps even your end result--will make you proud.

You can see more quilts from the "little box" here, watch a video about it here, and read more about each quilt here.

Next "Friday" I'll spotlight a quilt that's absolutely perfect for little ones who grow. (And that's every little one, isn't it?) Hope to see you back here next "Friday!"