New quilt

I finally had time to get my granddaughter's quilt top done. It will be quilted later this summer. Life just kept getting in the way.

This pattern is called Giraffe Family by Sew Fresh Quilts. I have several of her patterns but this is the first time I have made one.

First of all, my granddaughter likes giraffes - just like her mom. The original quilt is suppose to depict a mom, dad and baby giraffe but I made it to depict my granddaughter and her two older twin sisters. One twin likes blue, the other one has pink as her favourite colour and it just so happens that if you combine the colours, you get purple or mauve and that's her favourite colour.

On a side note, my trusty, faithful, circa 1980s Kenmore sewing machine stopped working and gave me an 'Er' status when I tried to sew. Luckily, I have a couple of back-up machines. I made some burp cloths for my youngest daughter and as I was sewing the flannel corners on my Singer, I bent and broke the neede because it didn't like going through 8 layers. I changed the needle and bang, another bent needle. Change again and the same thing happened. I then gave up on that machine and took the needle out. No sooner did I do that and I put the needle back in. I wanted to take the machine in for repair and this way, I could more easily describe what was wrong with it. My Jenome Jem then finished the job and I am now reading instead of sewing. I know I need a new machine but I have to find a cabinet model and a machine that doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles - features and stitches I won't use much, if at all.

Updated frame

I finally went to the frame shop and got a new frame for the old needlepoint. It's not far from where I live and I have never used their services before. It took less than two weeks and the whole experience was not stressful at all. My daughter came with me to help choose the frame. I wasn't sure if I wanted gray or brown but in the end, the brown looked a lot better.

This is the 'before' shot.

And this is the 'after' with the new frame.

I tried to get a shot without glare. Both my daughter and I liked the wood grain that showed in the frame.

A new baby quilt and baby knits

I belong to two quilt guilds and during the pandemic, the meetings have been online. Both guilds have kits that members can take and make into quilts which are then given to various charities. The quilts vary in size. Even though I had my own quilts to make, I decided to take on a baby quilt. The fabrics in the kit were all bright and it was fun thinking about what pattern I could use for the fabrics.

I quilted it in my new kitchen since I had the room and knew that it wouldn't take too long.

There was enough of the yellow fabric to bind the quilt.

I happened to have some fabric that was perfect for the backing.

This is a little hat that I managed to knit. It didn't turn out as I had hoped.

Here's the latest rainbow blanket. I used a light gray for the background this time and I think it's quite delicate looking.