Stocking Stuffer?

 

I did indeed get that last quilt pin-basted, and I need to cut out another quilt, but today we had several errands to run, and I just couldn't get into cutting with so many interruptions. When I was cutting out all those 30's repro Dresden Plates a while back, I ended up with odd shapes at the end of my strips that weren't big enough to get another petal. I sewed them together into three strips, and figured I could make my oldest granddaughter a doll quilt for Christmas. 

 

 

In my short time in the sewing room today, I put those three strips of 30's repro into a doll quilt top. This is approximately 20" square. I wasn't aiming for a square quilt, it just ended up that way. Now I have another quilt to quilt when I get back home, but this one shouldn't take long. I've been having a hard time coming up with things to put in my granddaughter's stocking this year, so I may stuff this in it!

 

 

It's funny, I was taking to a woman at JoAnn's a couple days ago, and she was struggling to find some fabrics to use in her grandson's quilt. I laughed, and said I must be wired for boys, because I find boys quilts easy and fun. Most of the time, for boys or men, I just start with great novelty fabric, and the quilt practically makes itself. Really girly things I can do, but it's harder for me. I am not a big fan of florals, so right there the girly stuff is harder for me.

 

Goodness knows I have a ton of florals, mostly given to me. If I am doing my own shopping for fabric, I really love geometrics, and anything with a vine or scroll on it. I can't keep stripes in my stash, because I use them so quickly. I love plaids too. Paisleys are great, and although they normally include flowers, I don't think of them as a floral. Every once in a while, a floral will entice me, like this one from Connecting Threads

 

 

I've been wanting to try making a One Block Wonder, and I chose this fabric to do it. It looks better in person, the colors are so rich and vibrant!

 

Tomorrow I will be cutting, mostly 1.5" strips that will finish at an inch. I will purposely overcut, because I'm planning both a pineapple and a log cabin from the same colors, and since the size of strips is the same for both, may as well cut them both at once. Now, if I have more fat quarters than I think I do, who knows, I may end up with more than two quilts, but that's ok too. At the rate people I know are getting married and having babies, it would be great to get ahead a couple of quilts!

 

If anyone has any great ideas of what to put in an almost four year old girl's Christmas stocking, let me know. Her twin brother is easy, anything car related. She is much harder, and so far we've avoided the Barbie thing, which makes me happy. I always preferred my brother's Tonka trucks over the girls toys, so even though I had three daughters of my own, I always had an easier time shopping for my two boys. I had forgotten how hard it was for me, until this year. Last year it was still little kid stuff, now its real kid stuff, and the twins will turn four in January, so I'll have to do it again then. I think I must still be a tomboy at heart.