Olivia's Marabella Quilt

Here's my littlest girlie girl, Olivia, wrapped in her quilt--cute little SeaGal!!. They're living in NY for four or five years.
My hubby took the pictures with Olivia, Adam and Gavin, while visiting them last week. My daughter, Diannalynn (DL) took the close up above and the ones on the deck. You're seeing mainly the back of the quilt in the first picture. It's a flannel with two coin strips of mostly fabrics from the quilt, but also a lot of fabrics that were used in the comfy quilts made for the rest of my family and/or fabrics much loved by me. Which means they have ladybugs and/or hearts on them, but also one with flamingoes for a little inside joke between hubby and I that I'll explain in a future post.

On the right is my son, Adam, with big brother Gavin and little Olivia in their SeaHawks shirts they all wear on game days. Go, Hawks!!

Quilt on the deck and quilt back shown by my eldest girlie girl, Sage with her cute new hair cut (she donated her long hair to locks of love) and her sparkly sneakers!!

So glad it's in NY--would like her family to be in WA, but that'll come to pass when daddy's finished his anesthesia residency in a couple more years. I had a lot of fun and angst making the quilt. The top was not the easiest thing in the world but the directions and inspiration were great. It's Marabella by Wendy at http://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/marabella-in-the-quilter-july-2010/...go see her blog as it's got so much wonderful inspiration. Love this pattern a lot! The applique block was not my favorite to do, but happy with it...would use a brighter ribbon next time--the one I picked really doesn't show up in the picture with Olivia enjoying tummy time.

I'm very pleased with how this all finished up. My first official free motion quilt, so it's got some "interesting" places on it, but all-in-all very happy to have accomplished it. Good to stretch the old (OLD!!) gray cells. Quilting is like puzzling, which I love doing, only with quilting you have something fun and/or wonderful as a result.

Olivia's Quilt Is Done!

These are the last few inches of hand sewing the binding down. I did go over the binding with a serpentine stitch--want it to wash well! Still can't show the whole quilt--it has to be wrapped around my littlest girlie girl first. Waiting for DL to get here with her kiddos so they can see it before it flies off to their little cousin's home in New York. I'm so excited that it's done. Well...I still have to figure out what ribbons to sew on the applique blocks, but the hard work is done and what was once so daunting--the free motion quilting, is finished. Not the prettiest sight in the universe but ok with it. I finally got brave enough to try free motion quilting it from the info at A Few Scraps quilt along. (thanks to Joanne for telling me how to make that a hot link!!) Love how the label turned out, but just realized it was meant to be sewn on as a circle--oh, well!! It was the last thing done on my machine before it went in for a much needed spa treatment--the noises coming from it were startling, especially with the embroidery attachment! The right hand picture is one of what I call the owlie corners. Isn't that fabric just adorable? I have a charm pack of Love U and when I saw that fabric I knew I had to have it for this quilt.

I love how the fabric bunches up when it's washed and dried--used Warm and Natural for the batting and the backing fabric is a flannel. It and the binding fabric have ladybugs.

This is one of the fussy cut owlie blocks. It's got a weird perspective because picture was at my sewing machine and upside down!! Makes me a bit dizzy looking at it. I am in love with owlie fabrics--have them in several colors by several different designers...so cute!! And, of course, perfect for my cute, cute little granddaughter.

Westport Washington Anniversary Trip

View from the condo we stayed at in Westport Washington for a week. Celebrated our 40th anniversary there. Wow, does time fly. Westport has been a place my family started going to decades ago and we've loved taking our children and now grandchildren there. Would love to live there year round!
Haven't been there in a few years but it's always just a fun place...fishing port and wonderful beaches. Had a great time enjoying the salmon festival with my cousin and her husband who live there, a day watching the grandkiddos fly a kite--well...saw the kite from the condo deck, drove down to the beach every nite and watched and heard the waves, slept each nite to the sound of the waves, and found a lovely quilt shop where dear hubby bought some wonderful lighthouse fabric and wave fabric to match. Always hate leaving Westport, but stopped at DL's on way home to spend another day with her sweet, sweet family. Home is always nice, too.

Spent a lot of time working on my boyly boys' (grandsons) quilt bindings, getting all the applique parts for snowman and a birdy/birdhouse quilts, and cut out some Christmas presents. All the while watching and listening to those wonderful sights and sounds. Every day was beautiful, even the day it rained most of the day. Saw just glorious sunsets that we got fantastic pictures of and would like to figure out a quilt using them some how.

All in all a marvelous time that was arranged by my sweet hubby. Thanks, sweetie!! Life is good!