- Maternal instincts of the grand kind: Stitching for the newest member of the family

When we headed up to St. Louis last month for Jackson's second birthday, we returned with a list of projects for little brother Jace who is due September 4th. They have been duly completed with two whole weeks to spare!

First up was a set of four 10"x10" canvases spelling out the new baby's name, two of which were covered with cloth from the woodland crib sheets. Each canvas was padded with white flannel and cloth laced on with heavy quilting thread (which I no longer use for quilting, thanks to Jude Hill). The letters were ably painted brown by Don (aka Pop Pop), but are not yet affixed (so I guess I'm not done done).

Lacing fabric onto a backing is also a great way to make a mount for needlework

Having a fair bit of leftover crib sheet fabric, I decided to tackle my first-ever quilt. The backing was a piece of blue striped flannel (see background in the picture above) and the middle layer was a gossamer piece of harem cloth. After hand quilting meandering vertical lines of variegated green floss between the owls and trees, I zig-zagged a wavy outer border with the sewing machine and cut away the excess cloth with pinking shears. After several washes, the edges have stabilized into a soft fray. I also embroidered letters and numbers along the bottom edge of the quilt, including a run of backward ABCs (for those who haven't yet memorized them) ...

... then stitched Jace's name across the top, followed by members of his extended family tree.

And of course I had to make at least a few new burp cloths, even though there are plenty left over from Jackson. I did notice that the cloths I made the first time around kinda seized up after being run through the washer and dryer, so this time I made raw-edged cloths and washed them a few times to work out the loose threads. So far they are much less inclined to bunch up, probably since there isn't a lot of bulk from turning under the edges.

All that's left to do now (aside from gluing on letters) is wait to learn what birth day stats to stitch into the trees on the quilt and the family sampler. My prediction is that Jace will be 7 lbs 14 oz and that he'll arrive on his due date ... just like his mom.