Monkey Buisness

Oh how I love being a teacher. I have two words to say... Summer Vacation. I love my students and teaching them not just about science but how to be a responcible adult (or at least a little closer to being a responcible adult.) But one thing I love about summer, other then nap time, is the chance to finish projects that I have the best intentions to get done during the school year there just is no time to do them. This past christmas I said that I would make up some jungle themed panals for my daughter's pre-school. The panals are hanging between the two year old room and the three year old room. There is a half wall with plexie glass at the top and the teachers are good about keeping the kids busy. But when has that stopped any little kid from looking. And of course any kid (or most adults for that matter) thinks that the other room is more fun then what they are doing.

Well, I have three done and this fourth one took a really long time to finish. The panals are of an elephant, then a tiger, then a zebra and now a monkey with a lizard popping out. Well my daughter just turned three and now is in a new classroom at preschool so she won't get the chance to enjoy the monkey one but they tie the classroom togther. You need to remember that I claim very little artistic skill being that I am a SCIENCE teacher and not an artist. But I think the panels came out really well for free-handing the animals. The vine does not carry through to the zebra but with the amount of time and the skill level that I have I think they turned out OK.

Cat-Tastrophy and Winnie the Pooh

This is the quilt that was in the bottom of the basket for my niece. A big pain the the butt. The pattern is found in the book called "Season Sampler" by Cabbage Rose and the pattern is called Razzle Dazzle. I called it Cat-Tastrophy becasue I fussy- cutted in each of the diamonds there is a cat. The finished quilt is about 57" square. This quilt was a strech for my sister because she is not a fan of black and brights but that is what babies see first. My niece and siter did grow to love the quilt but it did spend some time in the bottom of her closet at first. Now it goes every where she goes on vacations and that is what she sleeps on in the hotels.

This is the next quilt that I gave A. Something that was more in my sister's color scheme. But even with being a theme and color scheme that my sister enjoyed it spent some time in the bottom of the closet. Why who knows. But it did get the "Dellos stamp of approval".

This is a very simple "Trip Around The World" pattern. There is two prints and two solids with 3 inch blocks. I did X quilting in each square and then bound it in the pink. The backing was the larger print and the fabrics where purchased at J's fabric store.

A loves both quilts and they get lots of use out of them. The Bunny quilt will go on her "Big Girl Bed" and I will post a picture of the finished product.

A's Bunnies

So here is the story of how A's Bunnies was created.

About 4 years ago when I had just moved from the mid-west (Chicagoland) to the "Rainy City" I was invited to a baby shower. My sister was pregnant with her first child, and it was going to be a girl. (She also lives near the "Rainy City" also.) Well, like most quilters I asked her what the theme of the nursery was going to be and she said that she was going to do the Ceramic Farm building Bunnies and that no-one had purchansed anything from her registry. So I went on like the internet shopper I am and purchased the crib bumper along with a great stuffed bear. Well if that was not enough (because we quilters are overachievers) I also made a quilt that went into the bottom of a basket, that I quickly sewed a liner that matched the bumper. I was going to assist in spoiling the niece even before she got here.

Well a few years later, A graduated from her crib to a "big girl bed" and my sister asked me if I could make A a quilt from the bumper. She gave me back the bumper. Well I looked and looked at the bumper and asked what it wanted to be. Elaborate plans came to mind because in the bumper there were only 10 rabbits. And I did the math and that left me with a few options. Option A: a throw size quit to have at the bottom of the bed- not acceptable. Option B: a every other block patern- possibly a irish chain of some sort- acceptable but the final quilt would have ALOT of white. And though alot of white is acceptable on a quilt it shows the dirt and this is for a 4 yr old. A is a very neat and quiet little lady, she is still 4 yr old. Option C: Go to the internet find another bumper and have then 20 bunnies and do a large border around each block. And as you can see that is what I did.--Don't tell my sister.

I have to devote a paragraph to the border. Not normally I don't really put that much into borders. They are the things that frame the center, not alot of thought or energy goes into the border. Sometimes I do a thin inner border of a co-ordinating color of a darker shade, then a thick outer border of a larger print found in the quilt. But other then that there is no real effort put into a border. This one on the other hand called for something fun and unique. And when I think about bunnies I recall the tale of Peter Rabbit. And where would the story be without a fence to crawl under. So I built a fence. The fence is not from a pattern other then one pictured in my brain. So here is how my thinking went:

1: the blocks had to be the same width as the blocks in the quilt finished 13 1/2. The center bunnie is a 8 1/2 inch square. The largest I could use from the bumper. Then the block border is 2 1/2 inches because I can get four strips across using that width on my Short Cut (my life is ruled by by rulers). Then there is a 1 inch finished yellow strip inner border. OK so that is the center of the quilt but the blocks I thought for ease needed to be the same width as the center.

2: The rales to the fence. Finished three inches wide. I cut stripes of fabric. Green (grass) Raw: 2 inches. The I needed white (2) Raw: 2 inches. Then blue Raw 2 1/2 inches. Then sew those together using a .25 seam allowence and press the heck out of it.

3: The pickets. Finished 3 3/4 (To make the block 13 1/2). Cut 4 1/4 wide white strips and then cut the length to 9 inches. Then cut 1 1/2 inch square blue fabic to make the "Dog-Ear Picket". The french picket comes to a point.

4: Then sew the blocks together.

5: The corners. One of the pickets is a normal picket the rale is a 2 1/2 inch wide section and the end post is a 9 x 4 1/4 white block followed by a strip of green and then blue.

6. sew the end post top: 2" x 5" piece of white with the same Dog ears as the pickets then sew a blue 2" wide piece to the top of the rest of the fence sewn together. This is the almost there stage.

7: PRESS

8: Hold your breath and sew it to the main part of the quilt using the continous block method.

Done.

I am going to bind this using the green to make more "grass" but I will post a picture of the final quilt when I get it back.