My Little Liam and his Puppy inspired by this quilt at Red Pepper Quilts! I am submitting this quilt in the Fall 2011 Bloggers Quilt Festival, check it out!
When I was a little girl my fabulous mother made me a blankie, as she did with my younger brothers William and Christopher. Since I was the first child, mine was obviously the best and most unique and intricate as compared with my brothers' later models. This is/was my Puppy!
For obvious reasons Puppy was the "pet" name (no punn intended) that I gave my childhood quilt. It is the perfect size, made of cool feeling fabric and missing a lot of the original pieces (he is well loved). I say this "is" my Puppy because he still serves a very active role in my life (i.e. I still let him keep residence in my bed)!
I attribute a lot of my personality and individuality to my Puppy. He has been there in good times and in bad, through sleepless nights and home sick days, a tissue when I cried at 4 and when I cried at 24, in every place I sleep including cars, hotels, planes and even on vacation to Mexico and Hawaii (you should see the stumped look on TSAs' faces as they notice Puppy hanging out in my carry-on luggage).
Puppy has taught me that...
Some things never change, they just get older.
Home is where the heart is.
A mother's love is unconditional.
It's ok to cry or fall apart sometimes.
Everyone has something or someone they can't live without.
I always joked (although I was quite serious) that if there was a fire; Puppy was the first thing going out that window!
Since I'm quite positive my brothers always envied my Puppy and his steadfast love, they also chose to call their blankies "Puppy" as well; despite their total lack of any dog-like qualities what-so-ever!
This is William's (it went nicely with his boy doll, Dapper Dan; he loved that doll! My mother has since tried to find one for Liam to no avail):
And this one belongs to Christopher:
Liam has been very blessed to recieve a variety of blankets from all our family and friends. This one is from Jill; the mother of one of my very close friends.
Jill is also an amazing quilter and a fabulous person to be around (Liam just loved her)!
This quilt was fabric my grandmother picked up and I chose to bind in different orange fabric, I think it is very adorable!
And lastly, this afghan was made by Liam's Great Grandmother, she makes truly beautiful blankets!
Although all of these blankets are more than adorable, none of them contained those, oh so necessary "Puppy" qualities... so I set to work!
My mother enjoys pointing out that ALL of the blankies she made were completed BEFORE the child was born. Now, as I enter this exciting and beautiful chapter of my life I have decided to follow in her footsteps. (Although I will tell you that Liam's blanket was not finished before he was born. I blame it mostly on him being born four weeks early, but let's be honest; I could barely put on shoes at 7 and 8 months pregnant let alone attempt to baste a quilt!)
This is what Liam's crib looks like so I tried to make his blankie along the same theme. I love the fishies and whales, blue and green go with everything baby!
The back and center pieces of the blocks are fabric from an old Pottery Barn sheet that was given to me by Liam's Aunt Kristine.
I love using recycled fabric and scrap pieces, it makes me feel so thrify and resourceful! I feel it also helps to tell a story and stitches meaning into the seams.
I did an overall stipple pattern on the quilt and only deviated for one brief moment in this square.
Matthew: 
And Andrew:
I think they turned out great and I even had enough time to make little bags to keep them in. I've noticed that my little brother could have used something like this to keep his together!
Now I just need to get around to making them for Liam, I'm thinking either his name or the alphabet as it calls for in the original design.
The best projects are for children, they are so much more fun to make and rewarding to watch being used!
First there in this quilt I have named Pandora (the name speaks for iteself). This quilt needs to be ironed (it has sat around for WAY too long), basted, quilted and bound.
Next here is my fall quilt I started last year and never got the chance to finish, the quilt top is not fully assembled and therefore there is ALOT of work left on this one!
I recently started this quilt, inspired by 
These bean bags are a lot like the other ones I 
Here is a quickie of Liam's quilt which will absolutely have it's own post to come!
Here is a smock I made for my little brother over the summer in anticipation for the start of Kindergarten, it deserves a post of it's own as well! See what did I tell you about my posts' queue, plenty to talk about!
And lastly, since I am back to work I have also joined quilting night on Wednesday's at work. We are making a Christmas Tree skirt following this pattern. 
I really don't have much to post yet since we have only had two meetings so far. 
This is the centerpeice, and I will tell you that I was very hesitant to cut up my Christmas fabric (I absolutely love it) but I'm sure I will be very glad I did when I finally finish this adorable project. P.S. there's paper-piecing involved... not sure how I feel about that! ;-)
