Wednesday's Walk

Another quilt to share for my Wednesday's Walk.

This was such a fun quilt to make! This was a quilt I made for Josh when he was two. He calls it his ducky quilt. He still sleeps with it. Josh has always had a soft spot for any type of creature. I saw this duck applique quilt in a quilt magazine and just had to make it for him. I love how the five little ducklings are following behind the mamma duck. Josh was my fifth born and I felt a lot like that momma duck with my five little ones waddling behind me. For some reason the applique on this quilt stayed intact unlike my Sunbonnet Sue I showed last week. Not sure what I did differently.

Wednesday's Walk

For today's Wednesday's Walk Down Memory Lane I chose my Let's Fly a Kite Sunbonnet Sue! quilt. This was my first attempt at making a Sunbonnet Sue quilt. I made this a few years ago intending to give it to an acquaintance who just had a baby girl. I thought it turned out very pretty but when I washed it quite a few of the Sunbonnet Sue appliques pulled away from the background. Argg!! I could have given it as a gift anyway, but my intention was to make an usable quilt not one she would be afraid to use. I made another quilt to give instead. I decided a log cabin pattern would be a safe bet and would not fall apart in the wash!

I still think this is a very pretty quilt so I have it out in my living room for show with my array of other oops quilts and I sure have a lot of those!

I had this great idea to have one of the bottom Sues holding a kite. I also had a few of the Sues running or looking around. I thought it was so clever.







See how the bonnet on this Sue is pulling away. This happened to a lot of the appliques on this quilt. I used applique bond and zigzagged the edges but still not sure what I did wrong. Maybe, I used the wrong size zigzag?

Wednesday's Walk Down Memory Lane

My Wednesday's Walk Down Memory Lane or should I say my Wednesday's Quilt Walk Down Memory Lane is one of the baby quilts I made for my 8 year old Josh. Josh was one of the few children with whom I made multiple baby quilts for. I look back and wonder how I had time for that because he was born just 15 months after Nolan and at that time had Elena who was six , Grant was five, and Alan who was a few months shy of Four. Those were some of my busiest years!When did I have time to sew?

Anyway, Josh fondly calls this quilt Pot-sy. How do I spell that? I know the quilt is girlish but at the time I just wanted something bright. I saw this cute group of retro wash-day fat quarters (hence the name Pot-sy). They were so adorable!

Just like my Scottie dog quilt fit Joel this cheery Pot-sy quilt fits Josh. I do not mention this much but almost everyday Josh is writing me notes, making me gifts,or picking me flowers. If I am ever feeling down Josh is there to tell me he loves me. He is a very sweet boy.

Just today I overheard Joel running after Josh saying "Josh I am going to go where ever you go,OK?" Josh being his sweet self said "Sure ,Joel.I do not mind.I like you." And off they went to hunt for whatever Josh was looking for.

My Josh. I love him to pieces!

Wednesday's Walk Down Memory Lane

I have enjoyed sharing the special quilts I have made for my Wednesday Walk Down Memory Lane. I hope those of you who visit Wednesday's Walk do not mind! If you would like to participate in Wednesday's Walk just click on the button above.

This week I thought I would show you the quilt I made as Joel's baby quilt. I did not know back when I picked out Scotties for his quilt that it was a perfect fit for Joel's personality!





I found this very fitting description of a Scottie dog personality. There is a lot of Joel in this description!

Like all terriers, the Scottie has a mind of his own. Unlike his cousins, he is reserved, quite particular in his choice of people, and steadfastly loyal. He tolerates rowdy children and many adults quite well; he is wary of strangers and is likely to become a one-man or one-woman companion, sensitive to the moods of his chosen master. He barks a lot, and he loves to dig; no fence will hold him if he's anxious to burrow his way out.

The Scottie's scrappy attitude makes him difficult to train. The new Scottie owner should immediately find an obedience school, for this bundle of energy with an attitude can dominate a household with great skill if he is not taught that the master is the boss. The training must be firm and gentle to avoid breaking his spirit, for nothing so insults a Scottie as severe treatment.



Here was our tribe of 7 children back in 2004 when Joel was born around Joel's Scottie quilt. I remember thinking 'wow we have seven children'! It seemed like so many but how our family has grown in those first three years of Joel's little life.

Wednesday's Walk

For this week's Wednesday Walk Down Memory Lane I thought I would share this quilt with you. I am thinking I made this quilt back in 1996 or so. I was expecting our third child around the time I was working on this quilt. It was just a few years after I started quilting. This was my very first real difficult quilt that I made up until then. I was SO proud of it. It had so many different pieces! Now that I have used a rotary cutter to cut my quilt squares I do not think I would ever go back to using templates and cutting each piece out separately like I did with this quilt. I am not nor have I really ever been a perfectionist and it showed as I was putting together the school houses. Not many of the pieces match.



My hand quilting has not improved since this quilt. Once I learned how to quilt with my machine I do not think I ever hand quilted a large quilt again. I am not a quilting purest by any means.



Even with all the mistakes I am still very proud of this quilt!

Wednesday's Walk Down Memory Lane

I thought it would be fun to participate in Lynnette's Wednesday's Walk Down Memory Lane. Every Wednesday Lynnette shares a special memory on her blog and encourages us to do the same.

If you have not yet visited Lynnette's blog Dancing Barefoot on Weathered Ground you should!I think you would find that you will really enjoy it!

I decided for my Wednesday Walk Down Memory lane I would start by showing all the old quilts I have made and a little history behind them. I hope it would not bore you too much!

Here is my official first quilt I made or at least what is left of it!






I made it for my oldest daughter Elena right before she was born 15 years ago! Believe it or not she still sleeps with it!

I used my mom's old Viking that my dad bought her back in the 70's before they were divorced. State of the art at the time. I was sewing on a piece of family history. I thought would my dad have ever thought way back when he bought this machine for my mom it would eventually be used to make a quilt for a granddaughter he would never meet?

Now I'm rambling a bit...I remember being in high school and my dad would bring me to the fabric store on different occasions and he would lean on an available display case while I would spend hours ( yes, hours) showing him all kinds of fabrics asking his opinions. Not many dad's would do that for their daughters! And my mom would bring me up to a local fabric store so I could spend my baby sitting money on fabric. I would take my chosen fabrics treasures home and sew all kinds of stuff on that Viking. I made some pretty interesting things. Fond memories I would think of as I sewed Elena's quilt. My mom sewed our clothes on that machine when we were little and I even sewed my wedding dress on that machine! There was so much memory sewn into Elena's quilt.

Back to the quilt. I had NO idea how to make a quilt. It was very new territory for me. I bought a quilt book called P.S. I Love You Baby Collection and picked out all this very bright pink fabric. I remember standing to get all the fabric cut and a man who was waiting for his wife to get her fabric cut looked at all the crazy fabric I picked out and said to me "That looks like Laura Ashley thew up".

Although, I was pretty devastated by his remark he was right in that I chose some crazy fabric but I loved it all. I was focused on making the most beautiful quilt for the most special baby ever. Over the years the colors have mellowed and now are almost faded beyond recognition but I think of it as the first of many journeys my daughter and I have been on together.

Just last night as I was sewing, Elena was sitting on the couch by me reading a book and we would chat here and there about her 15th birthday sleep over, music, stuff like that just enjoying the evening together. I tell her I am going to make so many quilts for all those cute children she will have someday (grand babies, imagine that!) she will be begging me to stop making quilts because there will be nowhere else to put them. She responds with a "Mom, don't tease me..." Of course, I really am not teasing her, she will see!