Naptime

I'm still working on my homespun Lucky Star quilt. I actually ran out of one of the threads I've been using to quilt the top (YLI Sticks and Stones--just lovely), so I moved on to another part of the quilting and then ran out of cream backing thread. I had no idea it would take this much thread. I'm stippling around the stars in YLI Pastels, which I have a bunch of, so as soon as I can zip to the store tomorrow to pick up some cream, I can keep on with that. Our local quilt store closed several months back (not a terrible loss, sadly) so I no longer have a place to pick up thread quickly. That was really all I bought there--my taste did not map to their buyer's.

So, whilst waiting, I thought I'd post another picture of some already-done quilts. These are the third and second versions--respectively--of my daughter's and son's nap quilts. You likely can guess which child belongs to which quilt. My daughter's first quilt was a small pinwheel; her second, a Lucky Star. My son's first was a Lucky Star. When you send these to school, you wash/dry them every week, which makes them very soft but also adds to the wear and tear.



My daughter's all pink quilt arose because I had made her a twin-size quilt in bright colors, following on the heels of two bright nap quilts, and her response was--"Someday, mommy, can you make me a pink quilt--with just pink." So, I did. Since I was about to make her third nap quilt, I didn't want to devote my life to it, so I simply pulled some pinks and bought a nice pink ballerina novelty print. I cut strips of various widths selvedge to selvedge, sewed them with consideration to pattern and size placement, evened the edges, and bordered the quilt only on the sides to get a nice width to length ratio. It's quilted with variegated pink thread and backed with another pink print. She loves it.

My son's quilt is made from the first iteration of the Sock Monkey fabric, which I think is just outrageously cute and funny. (I've bought some of the follow-up version, too.) Plus, I call him my little monkey, so it's quite appropriate. His quilt is made exactly the same way and bordered with the Sock Monkey face fabric, which also backs the quilt. I once made the mistake of asking him if he had his monkey blanket, and he looked at me very seriously and said, "Mom, it's a monkey quilt."

I know some folks sell patterns for quilts like this, but let's be real--how hard is it to find fun fabric, cut a bunch of strips, and sew them together? Throw caution to the wind, people!

And, that's my dog sleeping contentedly next to the quilts. We have a stack of cozy, cuddle quilts under the coffee table that tend--after use--to end up on the floor until I restack them. If I don't get them quickly enough, she claims them as her roost.