Wednesday, August 21, 2019

I May Have a Scrap Problem... But Not A Stash Problem!

Hi, all!

It occurred to me this week that (a) it is only slightly more than four months until Christmas (!!!!) and (b) I had not yet thought about what I was doing for my grandkids' annual quilts this year (!!!!!!!!).  For those of you who may not know, I make each of my three grandkids a quilt for Christmas that reflects in some way what they were like or what they liked that year, with a fun label that tells a little bit about them, their likes, and sometimes something funny they did that year.  It serves as kind of a yearbook for them, and I love the thought of their own kids reading the labels someday and learning about their parents when they were little. 

So - time to get to work!  Emmy was the easiest - at seven, she is a total drama queen this year.  


I had seen Wendy's wonderful "drama llama" and knew that it would make a wonderful quilt!  Off to Sew Fresh Quilts with her fabulous selection of pieced animal quilts, and I picked up the pattern.  Then I went to the stash, and pulled these fabrics...


...which are ever so much prettier and "dramatic" in person!  This is going to be a fun quilt to make, once I get through the detailed cutting instructions.  

Nathanael's quilt took a bit more research.  He always loves the color green, but he has several green quilts, so I wanted to do something a little bit different.  Then I remembered Penguin...


...Nathanael's best buddy!  He carries Penguin with him almost everywhere, and I've had to sew his flippers on several times.  So I started looking for a pieced penguin pattern.  As luck would have it, Elizabeth Hartman had an adorable version, and my stash yielded loads of cute penguin body fabrics!


I guess it pays to hoard black and white fabrics for years and years!

Lilli was a little bit more of a conundrum.  She's in her moody tween stage and doesn't seem to like much of anything lately - this picture is pretty indicative of her mood lately....


But - - - she still likes the color blue, and I still like to make her quilts, so I started looking for a pattern that would work with fabrics I had on hand.  I looked through my Pinterest boards, and didn't see anything that sparked my fancy - and then I remembered my Wedge Play Workshop book by Christina Cameli!  There are a bunch of quilts I want to make in that book, and while I didn't settle on the one I remembered when I thought of the book, I did find one that I loved....



...AND I found beautiful fabrics (after many many changes in the pull) to make it with!  I had originally settled on a slightly different array, but when my daughter realized it was for Lilli, she suggested removing the purples (apparently Lilli is NOT fond of purple these days) and adding back in a couple of prints I had pulled out.  I'm happy with this pull and think it will be a fun and beautiful quilt!


So - no scrappy sewing, but I am at least playing in my stash and preparing to use up fabric!  What have you been working on this week?  Are you also getting into Christmas mode?

Hugs!

Sarah

23 comments:

  1. I'm so glad Lucille played a bit of instigator, prompting you to make a drama llama quilt for your granddaughter! What fun -- and penguins too! That beautiful fabric for Lilli's quilt will be treasured by her (even if she doesn't admit it right now). Will be fun to see the progress on these quilts!

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  2. Wow! Three quilts in a matter of months. I just bought the penguin pattern. It's on my someday quilt list.

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  3. How big do you make your annual quilts? Throw size? What do the kids do with their old quilts?

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    1. Usually lap size (around 60" square) unless my daughter tells me that one or more of them need a new bed quilt. And they keep them! Last year we gave each a cabinet to keep their quilts in their bedrooms, which helps some. They use them all the time!

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  4. those quilts you decided on will be perfect!! Personally I don't do the animal quilts and they aren't my thing but I can see them being for kids and it should go over really well. I pity you all the "tween" stage thankfully it usually doesn't last more than a couple years and then they are back to the friendship/love stage

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  5. I love that you are personalizing the quilts for your granddaughters - each quilt choice looks really good from afar and I can imagine how beautiful they will each look with your fabric pulls!

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  6. These look like such fun and beautiful quilts for your crew! Your creativity abounds :-)

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  7. I love that you do this. I have the Penguin pattern. And maybe even fabric pulled LOL Guess it's time to find it.....

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  8. I can't believe you've made them quilts every year! My nephew is almost 3 and I haven't finished his first quilt yet!

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  9. This is such a wonderful tradition. The quilts you've chosen for this years gifts are going to be awesome. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

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  10. Not just a quilt,but a specially design quilt for each one, they are treasures, and those blues, the colours there would lift any mood to the top.

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  11. Sounds like you've got a good plan in place, Sarah. Best of luck in working through the plan for each grand!!

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  12. I think Lilli's input in the fabric pull for her quilt is great. Love those first two on the left especially. They're all going to be so cool!

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  13. I love seeing what you are making your grandkids. I need to get busy and make Thing #2 a panda quilt - that boy is WILD about pandas and says he going to be a panda doctor when he grows up!! His twin brother Thing #1 is into dogs and tigers. Their tween older sister loves her owls and unicorns! So they would be pretty easy to do. I did buy a couple of Capn Jack panels for the boys and hope to get those made for Christmas or their birthday which is five days after Christmas!! I've been working on a collage owl for M for two years now. Maybe I'll have it ready before her birthday in February! LOL I have a log cabin and star quilt in the works right now, and two customer quilts to complete! FUN!!

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  14. I love all your pulls and patterns. Those will be some super special quilts for your super special young people. Lucky kids!

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  15. Hi Sarah! It seems that Wendy has inspired quite a few llamas lately, as I'm working on one as well. I just found out I need to make a penguin quilt so your share of the pattern just made my life a lot easier! All great projects and I can't wait to see them advance. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  16. This is an awesome Christmas tradition--I have 4 quilts from my Gram--she sewed each of her 20 grands a birth quilt, a starting school quilt, a going to high school quilt and a marriage quilt! I love the choices you made this year!!!!

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  17. I love this tradition of yours! This year's quilts are going to be so fun :)

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  18. Love your ideas for the quilts. I guess I would still call the llama and penguin quilts scrappy because of the variety of fabrics you have chosen. Both of those quilts are on my bucket list. I have made each of our 10 grandchildren a baby quilt and a twin sized quilt. I don't see making each of them a queen sized quilt, but I thought that after I get some UFOs finished, I will start making baby quilts for the next generation. I would like to make a big pile for future gifts. I am 77 years old, so if I die before all the great grandchildren are born, our daughter can keep gifting the quilts. Nancy A: SewingGranda@gmail.com

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  19. These quilts are going to be hits. Your pulls are really perfect for the first two. As for the tween, there's no way to say! She could love it, hate it, not care one whit, or care a great deal and just not let anyone know her business. Yes, tweens are... well, your picture is the epitome of a tween. Go with it and have fun and say a prayer every time you pick up the fabric. That's really all the advice I've got: pray. (Still, it's not so bad in the way of advice. :)

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  20. They all will be fabulous! But making one each Christmas.. just the idea wears me out.

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  21. Ohh - I love watching these develop. They will be great quilts and so much fun to see.

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