Bloom where you are planted: a birthday journal quilt

Bloom where you are planted  12" x 12"

     Where did the year go. My daughter-in-law is already having another birthday and my bead group is having Nita's and my birthday this Thursday. But my birthday is next month. Summer plans confuse things. Luckily we had bought Beth a present in NYC this past weekend; and today I made a journal quilt in her honor. I remember Kathy's sending me a card, when we moved to London, that said "Bloom where you are planted!" and that was good for me.
     Not only is it Beth's birthday, but she is moving with my son and grandchildren away from the Boston area. But there is excitement ahead for them with new beginnings. I found a fabric about NYC and its rivers and bridges to cross...and I fused blooming flowers, appliqueing them with the sewing machine. I wanted to hand-embroider the title but chickened out to free-motion-quilt the words, my initials and the date.  I did quilt more, loosely sketching over the entire piece.  The backside of the quilt picks up on the pink roses and is wide enough to come back over the sides to be ironed and sewed as a binding. I ironed, pinned, and again used the sewing machine. Thinking Beth might want to hang it near a reading chair, I sewed little ribbon hooks on the back corners into which a dowel could be inserted. Also, I thought the children could ask questions about the items in the background. They have ridden in the carriage around Central Park and Daddy's new office is pictured. Click the photo to enlarge.

Hannah's 6th: a quilted birthday card

Each year I hope to make a birthday quilt card for the grandchildren. I love the softness that one can hold in hand, and the beads to say it is special.

Erika's 4th you can find in the March 3, 2010 archive and here. Today at beading, I finished Hannah's except for the binding, which may be a bit gaudy.

Hannah picked out the Alice in Wonderland fabric from my stash and the letters/numbers novelty fabric (thinking Kindergarten) that I used on the reverse side. I toned down the loud graphics with the gold see-through stripes. These huggable cards are about 9 inches, similar to my journal quilts.

Chatalaine and Fabric Birthday Card

March madness is where I am with workshops to rearrange and dogs to groom. I missed blogging yesterday, so I must post something today: my chatalaine and the fabric birthday card.

Family birthdays/celebrations cluster this month and last. I feared I injured the sewing machine stitching a tape measure to the chatalaine grosgrain ribbon (a Valentine gift for my beaders) which is so handy to have around the neck when sewing and beading: an envelope for the thimble, needles and pins, a tape measure and snippers. But I vacuumed my asthmatic machine, changed the needle and thread, and the Baby Lock is happy again.

Curious if the machine had died on me, with a birthday Valentine party less than an hour away, I grabbed the cupcake print and quilted it randomly. Voila! It made a cute pin for the birthday girl. Perhaps I will send a quilted non-caloric postcard cupcake to my brother and son along with their Bananagrams! I always feel I must make something or it isn’t a gift, not that the recipient feels that way! :*)) Also, I can't believe the stamps stay on the postcards; but in art school, one student mailed banana skins.

(you may click on photos)