No Brain Cells Left

Boy, whadda mind! I totally forgot I still had to quilt my new holiday shower curtain before being able to hang it. (I seem to remember saying I wanted to get it up right after Thanksgiving, didn't I?)

Yesterday I put it up on my design wall to roughly fit the muslin backing for size.

Oooops. Guess who doesn't have enough muslin left on her bolt? Dang. And did I purchase another bolt to have on hand as a back-up? Nope.

Well, no problem. There's a plastic liner on the shower side of the curtain so it's not like the backing is ever going to even be seen. So who cares what the backing looks like? I scrounged up extra pieces of beige colored fabric and made this ugly backing.

(I know you come here for the really pretty pictures you can ooh and ahh over.)

Now I'll stitch the two big pieces together, right sides facing, like a pillowcase, leaving just enough of a space open to turn it. Then I'll press it well and pin it all together with quilting pins. (No batting in this one.) Then I can quilt it . . . which is gonna take some time. Oh, well. I don't have anything else to do this time of year. (Cough, choke, sputter, gasp . . . )

Featured Quilt of the Week

Good Morning and Happy Monday! Each Monday I'm going to be featuring one of the baby quilts I have for sale on my website. You might also want to check the website for the new December "seasonal blurb" in the right hand column of the Home Page. I know we still have one more day of November left but with the Thanksgiving Weekend finally over, it SEEMS like it should be December today!

Okay, on to the Featured Quilt of the Week:

DREAM IN COLOR

When I first started working on this quilt, it was to be for the expected first child of a dear friend. They didn't know the sex of the baby so I decided I'd just make it bright and colorful which would be suitable for either a little boy or girl.


Then as the quilt top grew on my design wall, I realized I had to make it longer than I had planned in order for the pattern to look good. But that was fine, it would just be a little larger than I had originally intended. About the time I was finishing the top, the little babe was born . . . a beautiful girl.

Hmmm. Okay, these colors would be fine for a toddler, boy OR girl, but for a newborn, little girl baby? Darn. Now I found myself wishing for something a little softer and more feminine in color.

But all was well because I was very happy with the way the quilt top looked and knew I still wanted to finish it. So I kept working on it.


Since the measurements of the top now indicated that it would be big enough for a toddler, I decided to use batting that would be poofy and more like a comforter. Just the perfect quilt to snuggle under on the couch for an afternoon nap. I doubled high-loft polyester batting . . . and then wondered (uh-oh) if I would have trouble quilting it because of the volume. But (whew!) it quilted like a dream and turned out really well.


Finished size of this baby quilt is 38-1/2" x 55-1/4" and will be a complete cover in a crib and yet ample on a toddler's bed. All my quilts are completely washable and dry-able lending them to years of loving use.

Little baby girl mentioned above? Of course, she got her quilt, too. A modified Irish Chain done in pastel 30s reproduction fabrics. I think she liked it.

The Little Things In Life

Good thing I'm not a shopper because I'm not sure I would have the energy or stamina to gird my loins and join the masses searching out the best buys today.

I was so tired when I got into bed last night that it didn't even feel good to finally stretch out and relax. Ever feel that way? It wasn't that Thanksgiving Day wasn't a pleasant one with family and friends, it's just that there seems to be so much advance preparation involved for days (and days and days) beforehand. (Heck, I even dusted baseboards!)

There were just six of us here yesterday. Well, six people and four dogs. Fortunately, none of the dogs are used to being fed from the table (ba-a-a-a-d habit to start) so they were well-behaved. (There were periods when one could hardly navigate across the room because of sprawled dog bodies on the floor, however.) Anyway, there was an hour or so before the turkey came out of the oven that we were all sitting chatting. The guys got onto the topic of hunting (deer season ended here last weekend) and didn't even seem to notice the presence of females in the room, so we started our own good conversation.

But the thing that I liked best was the fact that all three of us women are handworkers. Very Pregnant Lady (so pregnant we didn't know if we might be taking her dinner up to her in the hospital) was well into crocheting a beautiful afghan. Chicken Mama (our daughter) was putting the finishing touches on little hats she's crocheting for a friend's children's Christmas picture. I was doing the quilting on little, tiny "quilts" I'll tie on Christmas packages and then that could be used for tree ornaments.

When I got the idea to do these a month or so ago . . . who knows, it could have been three months ago the way time goes by so fast . . . I made the one up to see if it was going to work. Pleased with the results, I cut and pieced these few more.

Each one measures 2-1/2" to 3" square.

I'm doing just a minimal amount of quilting on each one.

I have one more to quilt after the one I'm working on. Then binding on all of them, adding the cord hanging loop, and I'll be done.

In the past I've knitted miniature stockings, caps, and bells to use in the same way and I've gotta say these are going MUCH faster. Or maybe it just seems that way because I love quilting so much?

P.S. Over on my personal blog I posted about a hand knit shawl I just received as a gift. It's pretty unique as the knitted pattern resembles quilt blocks. You might want to take a peek at it.

Mama Pea Quilts Website Is Finally Here!

One of the reasons I started this quilting blog was to connect with other online quilters to get a broader view of what was happening out there in the quilting world, and another was as an adjunct to the website I hoped to get up and running in order to sell my one-of-a-kind handmade baby quilts on the Internet.

Well, it took a long time, but with my computer savvy/website designer daughter coaxing, educating, pushing and pulling me the whole way, the Mama Pea Quilts website is officially up and running!

I am super-excited, a little shakey, and very happy. If a person is able to make a little money doing what they love to do, what can be better? To spend time each day in my quilt studio creating a quilt that will keep a little one warm or become a well-loved "security blankie" . . . that brings me a lot of enjoyment.

I've said before that quilting energizes me. Seeing the quilt take form from a concept of vague shapes, colors, pieces of fabric to a finished product that you can be proud to have for your own little baby or to give as a gift . . . I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing. (Well, perhaps purchasing more fabric comes in a close second.)

Where will this little, fledgling Internet business take me? I don't know. But I'm anxious for the ride, and because of the pure pleasure I get from making baby quilts and the satisfaction of making them available to you, the struggle that it's taken to get this far will be worth it.

I hope you can find time to visit Mama Pea Quilts. Please feel free to leave a comment with any question or suggestion you may have by clicking here. If you'd like to be on our mailing list for notification of specials, new quilts, give-a-ways, etc. from
Mama Pea Quilts, just leave your name and e-mail address on our Mailing List page.

I look forward to getting to know all of you better through our Mama Pea Quilts website. Your visits there are always welcomed!

Sunshine and Lilacs

Ooof! Talk about a busy day! Because our temperatures are hanging in there on the mild side (unbelievable for this time of year where we live), I've admittedly been pushing it trying to get windows washed inside and out. I didn't think it was going to happen this year but Mother Nature is almost taunting me NOT to get them done with this gift of unseasonably warmish days.

So rather than being in my quilt studio (where I full well expected to be by now), I spent the better part of the day on a ladder stretching my garters (as my grandpa used to say) to reach all those dirty little upper corners on the outside of windows.

I finished the last windows I planned on doing today about 2:30 and came in just in time to finish the binding on this latest baby quilt and get pictures outside (best light for showing true colors) before the light waned for the day. (Anybody else still having trouble getting used to it getting dark so early?)

Sunshine and Lilacs. At least I think that's what I'm naming this quilt. The layout and piecing have produced a design that has a little more of a "modern" slant to it than I usually come up with.

The colors say "spring" to me, but that's fine because a baby to be born next spring is well on its way already. Anybody need a lovely baby quilt as a gift for a wee one being born this coming spring?

This quilt measures 39-1/2" x 51" so it would be ample in a crib.

I quilted it in an all-over meandering design.

The backing reminds me of a field of wild flowers.

The quilt will be eventually listed and offered on my website. How's the website coming, you ask? Well, as sometimes happens, you think you're very close to finishing a project when a small glitch turns up or life throws in a curve that requires that you put your attention elsewhere. But it's still foremost in our minds and WILL be happening. Since the unveiling didn't come about this week, I'm now wondering if it might be better to wait until after Thanksgiving. We'll see. And whenever it happens, I'm sure will be for the best.

Wanted: Quilt Needs Quilter

This yellow and purple baby quilt is all ready to be quilted. All that is needed is someone to sit at the machine and go for it.

I got this far this past weekend, thought I might get in a few hours yesterday, but didn't. Maybe today?

Yesterday's hours flew (I mean FLEW) by. I spent a bit of time working with my web designer daughter putting the finishing touches (you know, those last minute 526 little tweaks) on my website that we hope to go live with this week. The site will offer my one-of-a-kind handmade baby quilts for sale. It's something I've wanted to do for a looonng time, and with the help of my daughter, it's very, very close to becoming a reality. (Feel jittery excitement here.)

Stay tuned for the announcement of details soon.

"Swedish" Baby Quilt

I haven't decided on a name for this little baby quilt yet so I've been thinking of it as my "Swedish" baby quilt. (Blue and yellow? Sweden's colors?)

This was the one I was waiting to quilt after I got my machine fixed. I quilted it using the machine blanket stitch (in the ditch) and it worked out well.

It's hard to see the blanket stitching on these pictures, especially on some of the printed fabrics.

A very square, grid effect shows up on the backing which is pale yellow with a light, white dot on it.

This quilt is 40" x 44" and would be a super gift for a little baby boy, dontcha think?