While the morning glory climbs

the antique fence and blooms in different colors

I work my needle to create the perfect blooms on a linen tablecloth

It only takes a glance for me to get inspiration from nature

and to then  try to interpret it from floss

and into stitch. 

 I just wish I could be as fast at making them bloom as they do in the garden!

Rock- a- bye baby quilt is finished!

and is on it's way to wait in the nursery and to welcome in the new baby!

as you remember from my last post, my niece is decorating her nursery in black and white with a "rock music " theme.

I designed the quilt with the hand embroidery and applique motifs in the middle.......

I chose a pretty black, white, and gray fabric for the back of the quilt

I looks pretty quilted........

I also quilted large blocks of my niece's favorite colors to fill up the space............

And about 2 in the early morning hours............I put in the last stitch.

No matter what it is I am stitching on...........from a cross stitch picture........embroidered table linens.......to a small quilt.........

I am always thrilled to be finished...........but always feel completely drained..........

do you fee that way when your finish a project? But by that same afternoon.......my hands feel anxious to get to work on a new project.

Besides making my own children's quilts when they wee small........this is the first baby quilt I have made in a long time.

Tell me...........how many baby quilts or blankest have you made over the years?

When my niece announced that she was having a baby,

I wanted to make a crib quilt for her. I learned that she wants a black and white nursery, but also likes the colors of  Tiffany blue, pink and light pink, and royal purple.............

but the most challenging............she wants a "rock music" theme for it all.

I started drawing off what I thought rock music instruments should be but I also wanted something a little whimsical and something that said " baby"

So for this " Rock-a-bye" quilt  I designed and hand embroidered  a colorful "song bird" in the colors that she likes

the bird sings a string of colorful embroidered  notes

that float down to a colorful embroidered bar of music

I then appliqued an electric guitar with embroidered bars and strings, as well as a cluster of flowers and leaves on the corner

I then embroidered a keyboard and appliqued the black keys

and I embroidered a set of drumsticks

I appliqued a set of drums in the blue that my niece likes with the baby's name embroidered on the center of the drum. 

My niece was very close to her grandparents who have already passed away. I however had a shirt and a dress that I had asked from them years ago to make special things for the family with.

So with that fabric, I appliqued and embroidered one butterfly from her grandfather's shirt and one butterfly from her grandmother's dress.........so in that way,  they would still be a part of this wonderful celebration of life.

All of this is the center of the quilt.  I still need to remove all of the basting stitches...........I have now to stitch some colored blocks on and then to add a lovely black and white backing.............then I have to hand quilt it all together.

I hope to have this all finished and on it's way by the end of next week...........

think I can do it??
I sure hope I can! 

I have noticed that more and more new mothers are getting very un-traditional when it comes to decorating their nurseries..........

marking their own path and fixing their own nest the way they want.

It's refreshing and delightful to hear of the many different ideas of nurseries these days.

How about you.

Have your heard of a different kind of nursery instead of baby animals and story book characters?

I would love to hear!