I love color, but I can't paint, I love needle work but I don't have that much time and only so many walls, I love fabric and sewing but you can only make so many clothes. So while we lived in Mt Vernon I found a new hobby: quilting. Well, really I only learned to tie baby quilts as part of our twice a month meetings for Project Linus; our way for our ward's Relief Society group to make a contribution to the community. Not only did I really enjoy visiting with my friends while we were tyins the baby blankets, but I learned a few things while watching and listening. Now I want to quilt every chance I get. These blankets are the perfect project: small, henceforth quick to make, and less expensive, and you can make a nice homemade present that will actually get used. I will take classes one of these days or read an easy book to actually venture beyond squares! I made a large one for Thomas many moons ago while I was expecting Nathan (over 10 years ago now) and it was such a long project and space consuming (that I finished) that I just put that out of my head thinking I would never embark in such a craft. When you live in Amish country and see what these ladies produce seemingly so easily, it's a bit of a blow to any wanna be quilter.
So as I said these small quilts are just right. I made my 1st one for my good friend Theresa's daughter Naomi. I hope I can post a picture of it soon. The colors are a bit unorthodox for a baby quilt, but I liked them and wanted to explore. Other than that, the 2 below are my most recent efforts, and I'm pretty satisfied how they turned out. having a deadline really helps to get the job done. Now if only I could tackle the rest of the wall hanging I started just before we moved to Las Vegas, that would be another one I could post about.

Thomas came up with this design variation for Cali (Philippe's daughter born June 16, 2006). I never made anything for her then, and I had some lovely fabric I was intending to use for Céleste, but I thought this would be a nice present for her to know her Tatie Claire thinks of her, even if I've never met her in real life, only through the Webcam. She is such a cute kid.

This one is for my brother Philippe's son Arthur (born Feb 14th, 2009). The bright spots are really squares of "fur", I added a satin binding for texture as well. This looks random, and a bit weird, but I promise it looks lovely with with the hints of light blue in the bigger squares. Well I hope so... I have to admit that compared to the pink picture this lacks some oomph. I hope his parents like it.