TGIFF! - A Banner Day for Otis

Welcome to TGIFF!, where every finish deserves a celebration!

Today, I'm sharing the quilt I made for my new nephew Otis. The last time I wrote about this baby quilt, we talked about the quilting. Lines, wishbones, loopy loos, stippling -- so many great options! I wanted the quilting to accentuate the bunting so in the end, I chose a combination of echo lines, loopy loos and stippling. The quilting was done with Aurifil 2021 (I don't even have to check the colour card or the bottom of the spool anymore to remember the number - lol!). I left the bunting unquilted. I like that the bunting puffs up, but time will tell whether that was a good call. If it doesn't wear well with washing, I'll add some quilting.

Here is the finished A Banner Day for Otis. I'm so very pleased with how it turned out!

A Banner for Otis...at African Lion Safari

The fabric for the bunting cords, the backing and the binding is Red Clown Stripe by Michael Miller:



Originally, Otis looked a little 'under-whelmed' by his welcome gift.

"Really, Tante Mich? It's 25C out!"

But he's enjoying it now!

Isn't he a cutie?! This quilt finishes at 40" by 60" so it will grow with him a bit. I can't wait until he's old enough for me to tuck him in with this quilt.

An InLinkz Link-up

Bubbles - A Work in Progress

Hi all, happy Wednesday! First two days on the job have gone well. I have a LOT to learn, but the group is great and they are easing me in nicely. Phew! Shall we talk a little quilting then?

Have you heard about the Mystery Fat Quarter Event at Fabric Spark? Until September 14th, you can get a free fat quarter with the purchase of the equivalent of a yard (or 4 fat quarters, 2 1/2 yards, etc.). The Fabric Spark gang will pick the fat quarter to work well with your purchase. Fun! Aren't you curious to see what they'd pick? More details are on the Fabric Spark site.

I'm working on a quilt for a friend's baby, who was also born on the same day as my nephew. When we first began talking quilts and my friend told me the room colours (orange-red, celery and charcoal grey furniture), this quilt by Janet McWorkman immediately came to mind. Wanting to offer her more ideas though, I pinned a number of great baby quilts to a board on Pinterest to show her and get an idea of what style she'd like. She immediately zeroed in on the one I had imagined too. Love it when that happens!

I couldn't find a pattern so I thought I decided to try to figure it out and design something similar. I showed you this palette last week.

I laid out the greys and creamy white (Kona Snow) in the approximate proportions I was looking for. Then I cut out 5 different sizes of circles on freezer paper and filled the white area until I was pleased with the layout. (The photos are off - late night designing and all)

Then I started adding the colours, pressing the freezer paper to the fabric and adding a seam allowance to turn the edges under later.

All the colours are in place, but I find the Celery colour is a little lost. 

Better. May play around with this some more.

I had originally planned on doing the circles as turned edge appliqué, topstitched down by machine. Or maybe zigzag stitch around the circles. I could do raw edge appliqué, but it is a baby quilt that will see a lot of washing. I could also fuse them down and satin stitch around the edges. I'm still mulling the next step so please feel to jump in if you have an opinion!

Stained Glass Lilies Update

Hi all, thanks for the well wishes for my thumb. I'm very happy to report that it is healing really well. I've even been able to do a little bit of sewing in the last couple of days. Woo hoo! Unfortunately, that means I've also been able to start doing some dishes too. Boo!

I don't have a finish this week to share, but Laura over at Quokka Quilts is hosting this week's TGIFF! so head on over there if you have something to share. I'll be hosting next week. :)

I have an update on my Stained Glass Lilies project. I took it with us on vacation this summer and although I didn't get it finished, I made some good progress on it that I thought I'd share here.

I got the most of the rest of the stems and leaves done. Yay!

Here's how the whole wrinkly thing is looking right now...

Heather Lair also gave me some great advice on appliqué technique, which has already improved my technique and speed. What a sweetheart! Thanks again, Heather!

I've got the toughest parts left, of course -- the flowers and stamens. Gulp! My two older kids are starting hockey next week so I'm thinking I'll have plenty of arena time to work on this over the coming months. :)

Now that I finally have a hand stitching project to share, I'm linking up with Katie of There & Back's Handmade Parade. If you have a chance, go check it out -- hand stitching goodness!

Happy Friday all!