A quickie quilt

Here is an alphabet quilt I made for a church friend's second child coming soon. The first one got an "I-Spy" quilt and I often hear from the parents how much she enjoys playing with it. I thought an alphabet quilt might be just as much fun. The blue and white letters were printed on the fabric and asking to be used. I thought it might be fun to search for pictures that match a letter, like how many B words can you find?

I rotated the alphabet with at least one picture and filled the center with extra prints. The picture blocks are just quilted with hearts and the quilting outlines the letters. I have been trying to get a better picture. Today there was sun but way too much wind. I took off the side clips and took a shot at an angle while the quilt was dancing in the breeze.

I still need to add a label. then I just have to wait for the special day.

Finally a finish

 Saturday morning I put the final stitches in the border. I had already added the binding, so was able to quilt the border without using the hoop. A little less stab-stitching made the work go faster.

I was hoping for a good picture to add to my files and tried one on the park fence after my English class, but the day was quite cloudy and not  much contrast. Sunday was sunny but I had to rush out early for choir practice before church, then stay afterwards for more practice. Luckily there was still some sun when I returned home, and with the help of a small ladder, I was able to catch a picture in a sunny spot.

Sunday evening it was able to go home to my granddaughter with her parents, who came to help move my big old doll house to the next apartment where I might be able to fix it up for future generations.

I was able to grab a picture of the backing laid out on the apartment floor.

These are all Japanese tenugui representing the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac.

I thought Leia might be able to collect signatures of her friends on their animals, as I have done on a few quilts before.

That night, Leia got to give the quilt a test drive and took this picture Monday morning.

I'm so glad she is happy with it! Now, on to the next challenge.

I will be working on an alphabet quilt for a friend's baby due in June.

Wasting time hunting for a "Z" picture of the size I need. both the zebra and the zori were too small to fill my need.

"Golden Week" will give me a bit of time for more hunting.

Next step

Well, all the blocks are finally quilted and today added the four-leaf clovers ... all the while the song, "I'm looking over a four leaf clover that I've overlooked before", going through my head. 

Now, it's on to the borders!

 

Slow progress

Saturday, the 23rd was Leia's birthday, and we had a nice visit but the quilt is still not ready to be gifted. As of now, 32 of the 58 blocks have been quilted, and there will still be borders to do. The stitching is mostly slow stabbing and not very even. My daughter, Norie, (her mom) came by the following week and finished off another block ... her stitches looking a lot better than mine!

I have another baby quilt on my "to do list" and am hoping I can get to it before the baby comes in June.