Showered

Zizza and I attended a baby shower last night.
My good friend Suzi in expecting a granddaughter, or two.
Suzi was my employer back in the day, and for a long time, the best friend I had in this strange hot new place I found myself living. Her daughter and her daughter's best friend are the mommies to be.
When the invitation for the shower came I was thrilled. Suzi is the kind who is always giving, alway doing for others.
She bought me lunch everyday when I worked for her. The crib where my babies sleep is thanks to Suzi.
If she has something and you need it she'll give it to you.
A baby shower for Suzi's girls, here was a chance for me to do a little something (in a round about way) for her.
I didn't know right off what exactly they would be, but I knew the gifts must be handmade. The best baby gifts my fingers could produce.
This past week we spent quite a few dinner times with family. My sister in law has a fantastic quilted bib for her little one. The Mr. referred to it as "The overcoat bib" I decided to duplicate (triplicate?) it for the shower gifts. The main difference between my bibs and the one I copied is that I used a button closure at the neck rather than a tie. I do not like tying bibs especially for girls. It is no fun to have the hair at the nape of your neck tied into a knot with your bib strings. I remember this form my own early childhood.

The shower was Saturday night, come Friday morning I hadn't so much as bought fabric for the project.

I didn't want to waste time shopping so I called ahead to the fabric stores to plan my attack. If I could find what I needed at Joann that would be ideal as it is the closest to me.

So I called and asked if they had a good selection of pre-quilted fabrics. I was told that yes, they do have quite a selection and all are patterned on both sides. You know how sometimes the back is plain? That wouldn't do here.

Thinking of how pleased I've lately been with the prints available in their quilting cotton I decided to trust that there would surely be some attractive quilt-ed cotton available.
I was wrong.
There was only one option in the quilted fabrics that didn't look like an old lady purse. This wouldn't do at all.

So I selected fabrics to quilt myself. 3 of the 4 prints I chose were Alexander Henry. The cream, brown and pink hexagon/bumblebee print is generic Joann.

The quilting doubled, or maybe tripled, the time requirement for the project but it also enabled me to match the bias binding to the lining.

Do I even have to tell you how much I love binding? Taking a frayed messy seam (doubly so when there's batting involved) and fixing it all up, nice and neatly bound, Sigh. It's a beautiful thing.
Speaking of beautiful things...I won a drawing at the shower so I got to bring one of the centerpieces home with me.

I love the bright pink hydrangeas and the green hypericum berries

The just pink tulips are so sweet

with a few white roses and pinker tulips to round things out.

I am a lucky duck.