baby sleeps. i sew

The first few weeks of Barrett's life were a blur of feeding him every 2 to 3 hours - no long stretches of sleep at night and no naps over 1.5 hours.  Slowly but surely, he's eased into longer night sleeping, which makes me more clear-headed and energetic.  And then the naps came, at least an hour but usually closer to 2 hours and over.  And while I was a baby robot for those first few weeks, barely getting more accomplished in a day than unloading the dishwasher (getting out of pajamas and showering were optional, let's be real), I slowly eased into wanting to get back to quilting.

Waiting for me were three of Memaw's (Memaw was my mother-in-law's mother) quilt tops she never finished into quilts.  I've now completed all the quilts she left undone, and really, that's the way it should be.  You know from previous postings that it's a quilter's moral obligation to finish quilts that quilters before you left incomplete.  And I knew when Memaw passed that it would be up to me since I'm the quilter in the family.  Finishing these quilts was therapeutic - exactly what I needed to get back into the swing of things after the complete disconnect of having a baby.  I've since completed two additional quilts and two quilt tops.  I'm on a roll!

This was the last quilt Memaw made specifically for our Memaw, my mother-in-law.  I backed it in a queen-sized yellow sheet and straight-lined stitched the borders, with free-motion tracing of the dresden flowers.  I even found enough extra black flowered material for the binding!

This one came from Aunt Judy, and was an unfinished quilt top made by Memaw.  I straight-line stitched the borders (once that walking foot gets on my machine, I have a hard time taking it off!), and is backed in a sheet as well.

The last unfinished quilt top from Memaw.  I again (broken record here, folks) straight-line stitched the borders and found enough fabric from one of the doll's dresses in Memaw's stash to do the binding.  

One of my goals of maternity leave was to finish these three quilts, which had so patiently waited in my sewing room stacks.  Now I'm engrossed in Britton's birthday quilt, hopefully getting that finished up by next week.  More quilts to come!