A Baby Quilt for a Daughter's Friend

This is the beginning of yet another baby quilt but this one with a specific "baby to be" in mind.  My daughter picked out the main fabrics for the front and back - the beachie fish and crabs and a really cute fabric for the back which also features even more beach creatures -- very apropos  for coming from where we live!  I found this pattern on Pinterest of course but am probably making the blocks bigger than the original.  If I hadn't made them larger, then the focus fabric wouldn't have shown up at all.  As it was, I "fussy cut" all the 6 1/2 inch squares to maximize the images.  The squares were each 3 1/2 inches square.  I did 7 across and 8 down so it would be a decent sized quilt.  Initially I had some other fabrics as well in the focal fabric spots but they just didn't work.  I incorporated one of them in the back putting a 8 inch strip down the middle which then made the fabric wide enough for backing instead of just being a clever design idea!!

The top is done here.  I had to audition several fabrics for the border and decided on the pink as the baby is a girl!  

Here the quilting is done.  I quilted in the ditch every three inches both horizontally and vertically.  I then added the hearts in the white pieces.  I made them pretty uniform by cutting out a piece of interfacing that was a little tacky and outlining the outside of the heart with a Sharpie so you could see the edge against the white.  I then just put one pin to hold it while I free hand quilted around it.  After circling it the first time, I removed the heart and then went around two more times, not trying to be exact.  

Here it is all done with lavender binding which I added using the machine method rather than hand sewing it down.  I am getting so I actually prefer that and will always use it for baby quilts.

The art quilt group down here met to do beaded bracelets on Saturday, something I have never done before and I didn't have many beads down here.  What I hadn't realized was that they were going to use a Japanese "loom" (Kumihimo loom) which I also have at home!!  These are two examples of what the bracelets look l like done.

Here is my bracelet which I won't blow up as there are lots of threads showing but it looks pretty good from about a foot away so nobody had better kiss my hand!  I used mostly darkish beads (the only ones I had) and a gold bead every fifth bead (this was how I kept count of how many beads I had threaded!!).  We used these cool needles which were basically just a very thin piece of wire which was a loop.  I used nylon onto which I threaded the beads.  It does look better in person than in this picture.  

Anyway, we started by cutting 4 45 inch pieces of cording, stringing about 80 beads on each using a large bead knotted at the ends to hold the beads on.  Then we tied on a plastic bag full of pennies in the middle of the 4 strings which we pulled through the middle of the loom and then untangled the strings, added the small plastic spools and placed two each next to each other in the N/S/E/W positions on the loom.  You did the weaving by taking the upper right string and placing it next to the lower right hand string.  Then take the lower left hand string and move it next to the upper left hand string.  Then turn once counterclockwise so that the next set of strings is in front of you.  Repeat until the bracelet is the size you want and then knot it off as close to the beads as you can get.  Apply drop of special glue and stuff into the closures and hold tightly for a minute.  Now to just get some findings and maybe try this when I get home!  There are tons of online directions like this - Kumihimo round braid