Dresses and a birthday bag

 It's that time of year for making back to school dresses. Again, I used a pattern from Little Lizard King. It uses ruffle fabric and was SO easy. I decided to use some of the scraps to make a matching one for Ashlyn's doll. I didn't have a pattern for that one, so it isn't quite as nice. Ashlyn loves it, though. 

I also made a new bag for my sister's birthday. She loved the one that I made for her last year, so I decided to make another one. This time, I used fabric that our brother had brought back from Africa. I used this pattern. I was very happy with the pattern and will probably make another one for me.

Another Seuss Quilt

My cousin had a baby boy in AUGUST, and I am just now completing a baby quilt for him. Within the first year is acceptable, right? The Dr. Seuss fabric is from a set of sheets that I bought a couple of years ago for another quilt. Second quilt that has used a large amount of the fabric.

Enough fabric for the whole back.

90th Birthday Quilt

My grandfather turned 90 at the end of last month. I decided I needed to make him a quilt, a quilt with a family tree. I didn't get the greatest photo, but I also didn't finish the quilt until about 1 am the day of the birthday party. If you click on the photo to enlarge you can sort of see the quilting.

Originally, I had planned to make a whole cloth quilt, but then decided that I would just make it very simple. I like the simple quilt design. I then used photos of my grandparents, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for the quilting design. These all became the main parts of the tree. I defined the tree around the faces, then used straightish lines in the background to distinguish it from the tree.

I think it turned out nicely, but there are many things that I would change if I were to do this again. First, I would start with a completely different top, not sure what type of piecing goes with a tree quilt. I also would use different thread. I wanted the quilting to show, but not too much. After I was finished, I decided that the quilting was the big deal here, so I should have used thread that created more of a contrast. I also used variegated thread and it looks kind of weird on some of the faces. 

And this is my cute grandparents with the quilt. My grandma turned 85, so it was a double birthday party!

Oh, yes!

The Ryan Gosling memes crack me up! Had to share!