This is my fourth try with this pattern from Marsha McCloskey's Quilts for Katie Rose.  The first was for Em, the second for baby Darcy, the third for Matthew and this one is for Emilio.  This one might be my favorite.  

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Now I just have to finish something for his sister before she is ready for college.  

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Here's another one.  Somehow it didn't make the Joy in the New Year list.  It is based on a pattern in Rosemary Wilkinson's Quick Quilts to Make in a Weekend.  Actually, this is the second time I've made this pattern.  The first version was for Kevin's mom, back in the pre-digital camera days.  I took a couple of photos of it last time we were visiting.  This go round I forgot the border cornerstones and quilted it entirely by machine.  There aren't many (any?) fabrics in common between these quilts.  

New:

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I remember purchasing a bunch of blue 30s prints at the New England Quilt Museum for the newer quilt. 

Old:

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Kevin planned a lovely day trip to the Sacramento area and even included a fabric shop on the itinerary.  The plan was to go to Meissners Sewing in Rocklin.  It has a ton of machines, threads and a limited selection of quilting cottons.  Lots of tone-on-tones and batiks and a small collection of fat quarters.

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Finished my first Christmas quilt.  (Actually, it is the second - the first was a gift for a friend back in the pre-digital camera days.)  I started back in the fall of 2008 with a charm pack of a Mary Englebreit Christmas line and made half-square triangles and quickly settled on a streak of lightning-setting and then put it away when I lost direction after Christmas.  I found a jelly roll on sale sometime in 2009 but didn't have much of a plan beyond thinking I might use it for borders or binding.  Joy in the New Year inspired me to just finish it already in Fall 2009 and a year later, here we are.  Finished is better than perfect, but I'd like this to be a little closer to perfect. It looked like it would lie flat but once I hung it on the wall it is kind of wonky.  Oh well.  Made from a charm pack and a couple of strips from a jelly roll, original pattern, machine pieced and quilted.

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I still need to take some photos but this is from the night I sewed on the binding.  Of course, the bobbin thread ran out with about a foot to go.  

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Matthew is almost two and still didn't have a quilt.  I've been working on this since before he was born and still don't like it much.  I love the pattern (Building Blocks Quilt from Marsha McCloskey's Quilts for Katie Rose) and have made it twice before, but don't really like the green in the nine-patch and rail fence border. But, I wasn't going to arrive empty-handed so I just finished it and will make him something better when he's older.  This isn't a very good photo - the gold carpet kind of messes up the color.

Updated to add photos of the two other versions I've made.

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I'm making progress on my Joy in the New Year list. This is a mix of hand- and machine-quilting.  I did stitch-in-the-ditch in the blocks and sashing and then a square-in-a-square motif in the stars but couldn't find a stencil I liked for the sashing so I put it away for another six months until I found a cable stencil I liked which also fit.  It was better suited to hand quilting and so I broke out my thimble.  I'd forgotten how much I enjoy hand quilting.  

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Susan Orlean published a list of recommended books for kids on her New Yorker blog this morning.  She notes books that had multiple recommendations are in bold.  I've marked the ones I've read with strikethrough and the ones Emma and I have read with italics. This list will be helpful during the school year as we pick books for read and respond homework.  I'm kind of embarrassed by some of the books I missed in childhood.  I loved Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown and then kind of migrated to Agatha Christie and never made it back to the YA section of the library.  

“The Phantom Tollbooth,” by Norton Juster

“Matilda,” by Roald Dahl 

“The Borrowers,” by Mary Norton 

“Charlotte’s Web,” by E. B. White

“The Chronicles of Narnia” series, by C. S. Lewis 

“The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman

“The Paper Bag Princess,” by Robert Munsch

“Abel’s Island,” by William Steig

“Love that Dog,” by Sharon Creech 

“Island of the Blue Dolphins,” by Scott O’Dell

“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” by Judy Blume - wasn't really all that into Judy Blume

“From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” by E. L. Konigsburg - Loved it.  Read it with Emma in 2nd grade but she kind of lost interest at the end.

“Anne of Green Gables,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery 

“Tuck Everlasting,” by Natalie Babbitt

“The Giving Tree,” by Shel Silverstein 

“Meet the Austins,” by Madeleine L’Engle

“Go to the Room of the Eyes,” by Betty K. Erwin 

“Peter Pan,” by J. M. Barrie 

“The Black Book of Colors,” by Menena Cottin 

“The Velveteen Rabbit,” by Margery Williams

“Peterson Field Guides,” by Roger Tory Peterson 

“The Little Prince,” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery 

“The Dark is Rising,” by Susan Cooper

“A Wrinkle in Time,” by Madeleine L’Engle

“Harriet the Spy,” by Louise Fitzhugh - Loved it!

“Call it Courage,” by Armstrong Sperry 

“One Morning in Maine,” by Robert McCloskey - Love all Robert McCloskey books

“Emily of New Moon,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery 

“Dr. De Soto,” by William Steig

“Frog and Toad,” by Arnold Lobel - Emma and I reread the Frog and Toad books so many times.

“The Wizard of Oz,” by L. Frank Baum

The “Little House on the Prairie” series, by Laura Ingles Wilder - Emma is reading these now for SFA

“The Once and Future King,” by T. H. White

“Gideon’s Trumpet,” by Anthony Lewis 

“Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” by Richard and Florence Atwater

“The BFG,” by Roald Dahl 

“The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights,” by John Steinbeck

The Bible 

The “Nancy Drew” books, by Carolyn Keene - OMG, loved them all.

The “Hardy Boys” books, by Franklin W. Dixon - Meh.  Betsy and Tom liked them a lot, though.

“Black Beauty,” by Anna Sewell 

“Misty of Chincoteague,” by Marguerite Henry 

“When We Were Very Young,” by A. A. Milne 

“Dr. Doolittle,” by Hugh Lofting

“The Hundred Dresses,” by Eleanor Estes - another favorite book

The U.S. Constitution

The “Mr. Men” books, by Roger Hargreaves

“Curious George,” by H. A. Rey 

“Little Critter” series by Mercer Mayer - I think we owned most of these when Emma was little

“Bridge to Terabithia,” by Katherine Paterson 

“The Secret Garden,” by Frances Hodgson Burnett

“Love of Seven Dolls,” by Paul Gallico 

“Gooseberry Park,” by Cynthia Rylant 

“The Saturdays,” by Elizabeth Enright

“To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee

“Danny, the Champion of the World,” by Roald Dahl 

The dictionary - I had a little kid's dictionary and would ask my dad to read it to me when he came home from school each day

“Hailstones and Halibut Bones,” by Mary O’Neil

“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain 

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” by Mark Twain 

“Alice in Wonderland,” by Lewis Carroll 

“Jacob Have I Loved,” by Katherine Paterson

“The Water-babies,” by Charles Kingsley 

The “Secret Seven” books, by Enid Blyton 

The “Famous Five” books, by Enid Blyton 

“A Little Princess,” by Frances Hodgson Burnett

“Petit Nicholas,” by J. J. Sempé 

“Mrs. Piggle Wiggle,” by Bety MacDonald - Didn't read as a kid; I liked these more than Emma did.

“The Melendy Quartet,” by Elizabeth Enright 

The “Asterix” books, by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo 

“Marjorie Morningstar,” by Herman Wouk 

“Around the World in 80 Days,” by Jules Verne 

“The Fire Cat,” by Esther Holden Averill

“The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear,” by Kin Platt

“Where the Wild Things Are,” by Maurice Sendak

“The Outsiders,” by S.E. Hinton 

“My Side of the Mountain,” by Jean Craighead George

“Watership Down,” by Richard Adams

“James and the Giant Peach,” by Roald Dahl - Emma and I started this but she wasn't into it.

The “Tintin” series, by Hergé - Love love love Tintin! My siblings and I used to go into Harvard Square to buy issues.

“The World of Pooh,” by A. A. Milne

Aesop’s Fables - Emma and I have started these, but some aren't all that appropriate for her.

“The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,” by Kate DiCamillo 

“Hitty: Her First Hundred Years,” by Rachel Field 

“Where the Red Fern Grows,” by Wilson Rawls

“Encyclopedia Brown Saves the Day,” by Donald J. Sobol

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” by Roald Dahl 

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” by Judi Barrett

“Where the Sidewalk Ends,” by Shel Silverstein 

“The Baby-sitters Club” books by Raina Telgemeier and Ann M Martin 

“The Lorax,” by Dr. Seuss 

“Summer of My German Soldier,” by Bette Greene 

“Hannah is a Palindrome,” by Mindy Skolsky 

“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More,” by Roald Dalh

“Number the Stars,” by Lois Lowry

“The Westing Game,” by Ellen Raskin

“Five Children and It,” by E. Nesbit

“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” by Betty Smith 

“Ramona Quimby, Age 8,” by Beverly Cleary - Emma has reread most of the Ramona books already

“Trumpet of the Swan,” by E. B. White 

“Dear Mr. Henshaw,” by Beverly Cleary 

“The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier

“Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH,” by Robert C. O’Brien 

“Old Yeller,” by Fred Gipson

“The Castle in the Attic,” by Elizabeth Winthrop

“The Sea of Trolls,” by Nancy Farmer 

“Dragon Rider,” by Cornelia Funke 

“Behind the Attic Wall,” by Sylvia Cassedy 

“Pippi Longstocking,” by Astrid Lindgren

“The Boxcar Children,” by Gertrude Chandler Warner - Em's 3rd grade teacher recommended this series. Have to reserve it from the library.

“Sideways Stories From Wayside School,” by Louis Sachar

“Tatterhood,” by Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe

“Playing Beatie Bow,” by Ruth Park 

“Amy’s Eyes,” by Richard Kennedy 

“The Giver,” by Lois Lowry 

“The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes,” by Arthur Conan Doyle

“Tiger Eyes,” by Judy Blume 

“Diamond in the Window,” by Jane Langton

“The Great Brain,” by John Dennis Fitzgerald 

“The Foundation Trilogy,” by Isaac Asimov

“Professor Puffendorf’s Secret Potions,” by Robin Tzannes

“The Terrible Island,” by Beatrice Ethel Grimshaw

“Crictor,” by Tomi Ungerer

“The Talking Eggs,” by Robert D. San Souci

“Danny Dunn,” by Jay Williams 

“The Story of Ferdinand,” by Munro Leaf

“Amelia Bedelia,” by Peggy Parish - Another series we owned most or all of, thanks to Aunt Lisa.

“The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles,” by Julie Edwards

“The Enchanted Forest Chronicles,” by Patricia C. Wrede

“The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales,” by Jon Scieszka 

“The Cricket in Times Square,” by George Selden 

“Shiloh,” by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 

“The Story of My Life,” by Helen Keller 

“Sarah Plain and Tall,” by Patricia Maclachlan 

“The Shadow Guests,” by Joan Aiken 

“The Wave,” by Eric Walters

“Dune,” by Frank Herbert 

“Walk Two Moons,” by Sharon Creech 

“Pilgrim’s Progress,” by John Bunyan

“Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott

“Corduroy,” by Don Freeman

“If You’re Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow,” by Cooper Edens

“The Wolves of Willoughby Chase,” by Joan Aiken 

“Caretakers of Wonder,” by Cooper Edens

“The Boxcar Children,” by Gertrude Chandler Warner

“The Jungle Book,” by Rudyard Kipling 

“Super Diaper Baby,” by George Beard

“A Child’s Garden of Verses,” by Robert Louis Stevenson 

The “Redwall” series, by Brian Jacques 

“Voices in the Park,” by Anthony Browne 

“Swallows and Amazons,” by Arthur Ransome 

“Dancing on the Edge,” by Han Nolan 

“Ella Enchanted,” by Gail Carson Levine - Emma and I started it but she didn't get far.  I think the dead mother thing freaked her out.

“The Name of the Rose,” by Umberto Eco 

“The Neverending Story,” by Michael Ende

“The Boy from Mars,” by Daniel Pinkwater

“Solomon Snow and The Silver Spoon,” by Kaye Umansky and Scott Nash 

“The Search for Delicious,” by Nathalie Babbit 

“Go Ask Alice,” by Anonymous 

“Girl, Interrupted,” by Susanna Kaysen

“The Egypt Game,” by Zipha Keatley Snyder

“The Prydain Series,” by Lloyd Alexander

“How to Train Your Dragon,” by Cressida Cowell

“The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel),” by Ellen Raskin 

“D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths ,” by Ingri d’Aulaire and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire

“Farmer Boy” - Emma's reading this now (11/11) for school.

“Half Magic,” by Edward Eager 

“Harry Potter,” by J. K. Rowling

“Treasure Island,” by Robert Louis Stevenson

“The Hobbit,” by J. R. R. Tolkien - only read it because it was assigned; didn't like sci fi as a teen.

“Tar Beach,” by Faith Ringgold 

“The Obsidian Dagger,” by Catherine Webb

“Just William,” by Richmal Crompton 

“Zen Shorts,” by Jon J. Muth 

“Thirteen Reasons Why,” by Jay Asher 

“The Catcher in the Rye,” by J. D. Salinger 

“The Indian in the Cupboard,” by Lynne Reaid Banks 

“The Mouse & Motorcycle,” by Beverly Cleary

“Just So Stories,” by Rudyard Kipling 

“The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck,” by Don Rosa 

“Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding - assigned

“Lydia, Queen of Palestine,” by Uri Orlev 

“The Jolly Postman,” by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg 

“In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson,” by Bette Bao Lord

“Finn Family Moomintroll,” by Tove Jansson 

“The Forgotten Door,” by Alexander Key 

“The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” by Brian Selznick

“When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit,” by Judith Kerr

“I, Keturah,” by Ruth Wolff 

“The Good Earth,” by Pearl Buck - assigned

“West with the Night,” by Beryl Markham

“The Magical Ms. Plum,” by Bonny Becker

“The Railway Children,” by E. Nesbit 

“Heidi,” by Johanna Spyri 

“The Magic Pudding,” by Norman Lindsay 

“Homer Price,” by McCloskey 

“A Series of Unfortunate Events,” by Lemony Snicket 

“UFO Diary,” by Satoshi Kitamura 

“Two Bad Ants,” by Chris Van Allsburg

“Girl Who Owned a City,” by O. T. Nelson 

“Witch Week,” by Diana Wynne Jones 

“The Reluctant Dragon,” by Kenneth Grahame 

The “Magic Treehouse” series by Mary Pope Osborne - Emma hadn't much interest in this series until another kid in second grade got her hooked and then the two of them raced to see who could read her way through the series faster.  We're waiting for the Mr. Lincoln book to be published.

“A to Z Mysteries ,” by Ron Roy 

“Green Eggs and Ham,” by Dr. Seuss

“Voyage to the Bunny Planet,” by Rosemary Wells 

“George and Martha,” by James Marshall - I loved George and Martha.

“Dominic,” by William Steig

“Haroun & the Sea of Stories,” by Salman Rushdie 

“Fairy Tales,” by Hans Christians Anderson

“How to Eat Fried Worms,” by Thomas Rockwell 

“The Wonder Clock,” by Howard Pyle 

“Bill Peet: An Autobiography,” by Bill Peet 

“Captain Underpants,” by Dav Pilkey - Another series Emma loved and Aunt Lisa subsidized.

“The Book of Everything,” by Guus Kuijer 

“Rascal,” by Sterling North 

“The Twenty-One Balloons,” by William Pene Dubois - Love this and just found a copy recently; trying to get Em to read.

“The Moccasin Trail,” by Eloise Jarvis McGraw 

“Elmer and the Dragon,” by Ruth Stiles Gannett

“Roverandom,” by J. R. R. Tolkien 

“Goodnight Moon,” by Margaret Wise Brown - Emma had a board book version of this and loved it to death. The binding is gone and there are teeth marks and drool stains, but I've saved it. 

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” by Judith Viorst - I love this; Emma not so much.

“A Tale of Peter Rabbit,” by Beatrix Potter

“I Believe in Unicorns ,” by Michael Morpurgo

“A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever,” by M. Frazee

“How I Learned Geography,” by Uri Shulevits

“A River of Words,” by Jen Bryant

“The Pushcart War,” by Jean Merrill

“The Wainscott Weasel,” by Tor Seidler 

“Fox in Socks,” by Dr. Seuss - classic

“Let’s Do Nothing!,” by Tony Fucile 

“The Book that Eats People,” by John Perry 

The “Frankie Pickle,” by Eric Wight 

“Shark vs. Train,” by Chris Barton and Tom Lichtenheld 

“Stuart Little,” by E. B. White 

“Everybody Poops,” by Taro Gomi - Emma found this hilarious when she was little.  Didn't help much with the pottying, though. 

“Any Which Wall,” by Laurel Snyder

“Where’s Waldo,” by Martin Handford 

“Berenstain Bears,” by Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain

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I forgot to post a copy of the purple Irish chain back when I finished it. This pattern came from a book on Amish quilts, which I think I acquired at the old In the Beginning quilt shop in Seattle. My brother-in-law wanted a quilt out of that book but never got one.  He did get a mariner's compass wall-hanging, which was a much harder pattern. The purple is a Thimbleberries print from the early to mid 90s, probably purchased at Fabric Boutique in Las Vegas and the beige (also Thimbleberries) was purchased in Jackson, Wyoming in 1996 on our first trip to Yellowstone. The nine patches are quilted with stitch in the ditch, diagonal lines through the purple squares and then a wineglass design around the beige patches. The setting squares have a basic feathered star. This quilt was a couple of firsts: first bed-sized quilt and first feathered star. Oh, and to make the quilting even more difficult, I used two layers of a cotton blend (presumably, but I really don't remember) batting. As a newbie, the quilt sandwich felt sort of limp to me so I took out the basting and added a layer of batting.  

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The blue sawtooth star is all quilted.  It took me forever to decide what I wanted to do in the sashing.  I finally found a cable stencil that I liked and then it just took me a couple of weeks to do the quilting.  All that awaits is binding.

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I'd like to do the Quilt-Along with Kaffe Fassett.  Kind of depends on time.  

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I've done all the quilting in the stars, but am stumped about what to do in the sashing.  I'd long planned to do a little cable in the sashing, but can't find a stencil that would fit the space and haven't been able to make a satisfactory stencil of my own.  Maybe it is time to move on to something else.....

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I finally finished something!  Yay!  It is Emma's 100 Days Quilt from Kindergarten.  For quilting, I did straight lines 1/4 inch from each seam.  This is the world's worst binding and I should have probably ripped it out and started over, but I am trying to fight those impulses. 

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I'm kind of late to this party, but I have come to really love Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy line of fabrics.  There's a group at Flea Market Fancy Freaks who are hoping to convince the folks at Free Spirit Fabric to reissue these prints.  I'd love to get my hands on some of the seedlings print and the stripy vine (can't remember the name).  Oh, let's be real, I'd love to get something from the entire line.

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I think I'm going to join the Joy in the New Year challenge. 

Here's the list:

1. Blue Sawtooth Star quilt I started 15 years ago when we moved to Las Vegas.  Just needs quilting in the sashing and then binding.
2. Pink Aunt Sukey's Choice from 10+ years ago.  Needs hand quilting in sashing and binding. finished 9/20/10
3. Purple Irish Chain (with Thimbleberries ecru fabric purchased in Jackson Hole in 1996).  Needs hand quilting in border and binding.
4. Max's I-Spy quilt.  Needs piecing, quilting and binding.
5. Emma's 100 Days quilt.  Needs basting, quilting and binding. finished 12/7/09
6. Matthew's baby quilt.  Needs more piecing, etc.
7. Jacobs ladder from In the Beginning Quilts block-of-the-month kit.  Needs border, basting, quilting and binding.
8. Kaffe Fassett coin quilt.  Needs assembly, etc.
9. Mary Englebreit Christmas streak of lightning table runner.  Needs assembly, basting, quilting and binding. finished 12/2/10
10. Other Christmas quilt.  Needs piecing, etc.
11. Repro lemoyne stars.  Just blocks at this point. 
12. Pink H-block from Ursula Reikes design.  Needs basting, quilting and binding.
13. Scrappy strip-pieced blocks.  Still assembling blocks.
14. Blue variable star and cross-country blocks from Marsha McCloskey's Block Party book.  Still making blocks.
15. Pink batik from American Patchwork & Quilts pattern.  Can't decide if it needs borders or not.
16. Black and neon square in the square block quilt.  Still making blocks.
17. Me and My Sister charm square quilt.  Needs basting, etc.

I'm itching to start some new things so I'm sure I won't get these all finished, but a start is a start.

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Got this at Satin Moon Quilt Shop in Victoria.  Lovely store, but the fabric was really expensive.  This fat quarter was CDN $4.95.  It would probably cost $2.75 in the U.S.  (And the exchange rate was basically 1:1 when I was in Canada.)  The rest of the line (Sheri Berry's Trick or Treat Street for Northcott) is super cute - wish I had more.

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Pattern from Ami Simms' Picture Play Quilts.

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