Public Libraries of Rhode Island | a quilt for Steph

If you follow me on instagram then you probably know that I like to go to the library. All the libraries, in fact. I've always been a big reader and we made frequent trips to my local library when I was a kid. We could walk there from my house, through our neighborhood and then along a short path in the woods to avoid the busy traffic of the main road. I continued going to the library as a teenager and as an adult, always having books on hold and reading a few a week. Once I had Ezra it became part of our weekly routine, although he never really enjoyed story time, preferring instead to browse the aisles and play with whatever toys the library had in the children's room. When Finn was born the library was the first place we went. We wanted to get out of the house and the library was a comfortable, calm place to have some fun and relax a bit, so when he was just a few days old that's where we went. As a stay-at-home mom I was always looking for new activities to do with the boys, so I started visiting other libraries. We had been to Cranston Central, Oaklawn, and Knightsville because they are all pretty close to our house. We had been to the library on Sandy Lane in Warwick at the invitation of a friend, and I had met up with another friend at Mohr in Johnston. Of course we had been to Greenville because it's the one near my parents' house and it's a nice trip when we're in Smithfield visiting. As a lifelong library lover, it occurred to me that there were many other libraries in the state and I decided to visit more of them. There could be wonderful libraries just a few miles away but I would never know if I didn't visit them! I started out by visiting the rest of the libraries in Cranston and Warwick thinking that we might visit them more often if they had programs we liked since they're nearby. I told my friend Steph who is a school librarian about my recent library explorations and she told me that she had been to more than half of the libraries in the state and that she planned to go to them all. I loved the idea and immediately decided to do the same. There are seventy public libraries in Rhode Island (if you click the link you'll see if says seventy-one but one of the locations on the list is actually a community creative learning center in EP). That meant some long drives and some less than fabulous library visits, but Ezra, Finn, Rory, and I loved our little project. We even met up with Steph and her son Emmett a few times along the way! We also went to the Providence Athenauem which is private - you have to be a member in order to borrow books, but anyone can visit. And there are actually a few more libraries in the state that I'd like to visit (the RISD Fleet library, the Redwood Athenaeum in Newport, and I think there's a private on in Westerly too), but we have officially finished our tour of the public libraries in Rhode Island. 

We started in January 2017 and just finished up in June 2018 and I documented the whole thing on instagram with the hashtag #childrenslibrariesofri. Steph posted her visits with the hashtag too, and my friend Andrew joined in as well, although I don't think he plans to visit every library, he just likes to bring his daughters to their local library on a regular basis and he jumped on the hashtag (which I love). Please, use it! I like to think of it as an online library of libraries :)

Before I explain what this quilt is all about, I'm going to talk a little bit more about libraries because now that people know about my obsession I get a lot of questions about the local library system. 

Best libraries for meeting up with friends - Sandy Lane in Warwick, Cumberland, East Providence (not Weaver), Narragansett (Maury Loontjens), Lincoln, Newport, Cross Mills in Charlestown, Westerly, and North Smithfield (which also has walking trails in the back). I think these are good libraries to meet up with friends at because they have large children's sections, a good amount of toys, and the librarians don't seem to mind noise. Sandy Lane in Warwick even allows snacks! I don't know if they have an official policy but kids are always eating in there and I've never witnessed a librarian tell anyone to stop.  

Libraries that have playgrounds on the grounds or next door - Barrington, Jamestown, Newport, Pontiac in Warwick, Cumberland (also has hiking trails!), Exeter, Coventry (the main one, not Greene), Fox Point in Providence, Louttit in West Greenwich, Harmony, and Tiverton (the main one, not Union) which not only has a playground but also has a skate park next door!

My personal favorite - Clark Memorial in Richmond because it's beautiful and filled with natural light and plants and the children's section is pretty cute too. 

Misc. Library Info 

- You can return books to any library in the network, so if you are out and see a cute library or you're near a friend's house and want to visit the library or you're on vacation in RI and want to check out the library nearby you can borrow books and return them at any other library! I can't count the number of people who have expressed shock when they find this out. Apparently some people thought that I had to visit every library twice in order to bring the books back. I never would have visited them all if that was the case! Some even have drive through book drops (Sandy Lane in Warwick and Tiverton). Heck, I borrowed books on Block Island and took them home on the ferry with me last summer!  

- There is no limit on how many books you can borrow. I have had eighty-six out at one time and while part of me thought it was great another part of me was slightly overwhelmed, and I doubt many of you want to take out that many at one time anyway, but we regularly have between 30-40 at home. The point is - take out as many as you like! Back when it was just me and Ezra I used to limit him to five books. I look back and laugh at my former self. We have two library bags that are always literally (yes, literally) bursting at the seams and the two older kids are often carrying books to the car too. We just can't help ourselves!

- Your child can have his or her own library card. Yes, even your baby or toddler. I know this because one time before Rory was born I was at the circulation desk at the Cranston Central branch and I realized I didn't have my wallet, so I didn't have my card or Ezra's card or my license (most librarians will let you borrow books with your license if you forget your card. And I recently found out about a few apps that let you store your card info so I'm going to download one and see how it works! But I digress-). The librarian asked if Finn, who was probably only seven or eight months old at the tine, had a card and when I said he didn't she said he could get one and I could borrow our books using his new card so that's what we did! 

- If your library doesn't have the book you want in their collection you can request it from another library, either in person or online, and pick it up when it comes in. Recently there was a book I wanted to read but the only library in RI that had it was the one on Block Island so I requested it and picked it up in Cranston in less than a week.   

- You can ask the librarian to purchase a book that you wish they had in the collection. I have not actually done this before but Steph has. 

Okay! Now that I've given my thoughts on libraries in Rhode Island, I shall explain the quilt featured in these photos. I took a class on making map quilts and initially decided to make a quilt of the Rhode Island coast. When I arrived at the class I learned that we had to pick from two maps rather than any map we wanted, so I ended up with a map of the state rather than just the coast. I enjoyed learning the process but I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish the quilt. I put it away for a few months, waiting to be inspired, and eventually I was struck by the most perfect idea. Steph was going to be finishing up her tour of libraries soon, and I decided to commemorate the occasion with the quilt. I would embroider the location of all seventy libraries on the quilt and give it to her, thinking she might like to display it in her library at Park View Middle School in Cranston where she is the librarian. I worked on it throughout the spring of this year so I could give it to her before the school year was over. We met up at Knighstville in Cranston so I could present the quilt to her and I made her take a picture with it. The next day she sent me a picture of it hanging above the doorway in her school library. I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out! Hooray for libraries and quilts and Rhode Island, three of my favorite things. The only thing that would make this better would be if I had involved chocolate peanut butter ice cream somehow. If you visit Tiverton Union Library (only open on Tuesdays from 10a-5p!) you can walk down the street to Gray's... maybe I'll do that this summer! 

a quilt for Anias

I recently realized I never blogged about my friend Karissa's son Anias's quilt, and he's two! I don't remember if she gave me any ideas for the quilt, but I think there may have been a discussion about bicycles... Anyway, I used some in his quilt (wheels on the front and in the binding and a big piece on the back) and love the back just as much as the front because of it! There are some guitars on the front too, because Stan, Karissa's husband and Anias's dad, plays guitar. I was inspired by these pillows from She Can Quilt and really like the simplicity of the front. It really shows off the fabrics and differences in value. I have to thank my mom for the back because I'm 99% sure that the Echino fabric came from her stash. I don't remember how I quilted it and I can't tell from the pictures, oops! Karissa, any input? :) 

I took this sideways picture (oops again) of rascally Finn at a meeting of my guild, the RI MQG. I hadn't sewed the binding to the front yet but still wanted to bring it for show and tell :)

Lastly, here's the label I hand stitched on. I don't usually do that and don't remember why I did, but I think it gives the quilt a nice touch. Just goes to show why I should really stay on top of blogging! The whole point is so I can remember the quilts I make and the things that make them special. I'm ever so slowly catching up, and I'm much less productive lately with a new baby to care for so maybe I'll be back on schedule soon.

Lizzy House Log Cabins | my first #schnitzelandboominiquiltswap

Just some quick (terrible quality!) photos of my first ever instagram swap quilt so I don't forget I made it :) I put out a call on instagram asking for Lizzy House scraps (if any of my friends had any to spare) and @tennjenny and @euphoriajessica came through for me in a big way! I was able to include pieces of every Lizzy House collection printed up until the time this swap was held. I made wonky log cabins and pieced them together into a warm to cool gradient. The back is a piece of ikea fabric that my friend Ari once wrapped a gift in, and this was the perfect use for it. This mini is happily living with my IG friend @tvanderpol in Canada!

pink lemonade | a quilt for Caroline

Recently I was able to check another baby quilt off my list, though there are six more to finish before the end of the summer! My friend Hillary is expecting her second daughter soon so I asked her for some inspiration for a quilt. She sent me a few photos, one of the curtains she's using in the baby's room and one of a simple nine patch quilt. The curtains looked like a classic Laura Ashley or Waverly print - vintage red floral on a creamy white background, so as usual I went to my stash to find some fabrics. Unfortunately, I didn't have any red and my low volume prints were lacking, too. I ended up finding a scrap of fabric (the subtle yellow, gray, pink, and red floral - I think it's by Momo) that felt like a good jumping off point and then added a bunch of yellow polka dot scraps and some white seersucker. I still needed some red so my mom and my aunt were kind enough to let me shop their stashes. I found a red polka dot by Denyse Schmidt in my mom's stash and I got some red gingham from my aunt. The border is a print from Lizzy House's Guising collection. 

I posted the picture Hillary had sent me of the inspiration quilt to the Rhode Island Modern Quilt Guild member facebook page to ask everyone what they thought the pattern might be. The consensus was a nine patch, and since I'm a new-ish quilter and mostly self-taught/internet-taught, I wasn't familiar with the way to construct one. Lucky for me, my friend Tina from the guild helped me with the pattern - she designed the simple nine patch using EQ7 and included all the fabric measurements and cutting instructions which made it super easy to construct. She saved me so much time because if I had done it my way I would have been piecing the squares individually! Strip piecing was much quicker and more efficient. Unfortunately, I goofed when I was cutting my strips so the effect isn't quite the same as the quilt I was using as inspiration. Oh well! Since I was using scraps I couldn't cut more, so I just had to make it work. I used a large cut of one of Heather Bailey's True Colors prints and then added a bunch of scraps from the front to make the back big enough. I have a love/hate relationship with piecing quilt backs - I love to use up scraps, but I hate to spend so much time on the back! It's so much quicker to use one piece of fabric for the back, but more often than not I end up piecing. It does make it more fun to look at, and the owner of the shop where I learned how to long arm, Mad About Quilts, told me that a pieced back adds value to a quilt, which makes sense because it certainly takes more time and effort!

I quilted diagonal lines in a crosshatch pattern across the quilt and then bound it with scraps from the top. I think the red polka dot is my favorite piece :) Oh, and I have to give credit for the name of the quilt, Pink Lemonade, to an instagram friend, @tinkerellen - thanks, Cheri! I packed up the quilt along with a set of ladybug beanbags for Big Sister, popped them in the mail, and Hillary received it a couple weeks ago. I was happy to hear that she likes it, and I look forward to seeing a picture or two of the baby snuggled up in her quilt once she's born!

P.S. Here's the quilt I made for Hillary's older daughter a couple years ago - a quilt for Audrey. 

winter woodland | quilt 01 of 2015, for Chase

Here's my first quilt finish of 2015! It feels like a great way to start off the year. This quilt is for a little boy who hasn't been born yet, the baby brother to the little girl who owns this quilt! Jen is expecting her third baby and asked me to make a quilt for him about three months ago and we picked fabrics very quickly. Jen knows just what she wants and also trusts me to choose fabrics and designs that I think will work together, which is a great feeling. She wanted something with woodland animals and a combination of orange, minty green, and gray colors. I seriously loved shopping for this quilt, but then putting fabrics together is always one of my favorite parts of the process :) From top to bottom, the fabrics are orange chevron by Riley Blake, Joel Dewberry's wood grain, elk family by Birch Fabrics, Lizzy House's leaf tails, bear hike in shroom by Birch Fanrics, and Joel Dewberry's herringbone. The feature print running vertically down the length of the quilt is bear hike again, but obviously multicolored. That last print was so hard to find that I had to order it from Australia! Although I just looked for it again and found it easily in the US. Oh well! The pattern I used is a favorite for baby quilts, Bijou Lovely's Color Block quilt. I've made it three times so far and have another one in the queue!

The back is a bunch of fabrics left over from the front of the quilt plus a couple others - squared elements from Art Gallery in carbon and dottie by Cotton + Steel in bandana. I have to say that my favorite print is bear hike, and rightfully so! The quilt was designed around it, after all. I had one little scrap left and made a mug rug out of it. It was sold just before Christmas and will hopefully enjoy a long life underneath steaming mugs of coffee :)

I quilted organic straight lines, starting out very close together somewhere around the center near the bears and gradually getting farther and farther apart as the lines get closer to the edges. The pattern created by the lines reminds me just a bit of tree bark or wood grain which is a nice design element to add to this quilt that I've called "winter woodland." It's bound in more orange chevron with a small strip of Kona coral left over from my Michael Miller challenge quilt. I love scrappy bindings so much! They're my favorite kind of binding. Jen is coming to pick up the quilt this afternoon and is just about ready to welcome her baby boy into the family! He's due in March and I hope this quilt provides just the right welcome for him.

P.S. Special thanks to Matt who took these photos for me after finishing up a shoot in Providence, and to my mom who offered to watch the boys so I could tag along. As a bonus we got lunch at The Grange after! It was the perfect spot for my quilt mini shoot, and as always, the perfect spot to eat lunch.

a quilt for Liam | elephants and stripes (of course)

This simple baby quilt is the last from my backlog of unblogged quilts! I made it for a friend's son (who happens to have just turned one on Sunday - happy birthday, Liam!) and chose the prints after spying some elephants on one of her baby related pinterest boards :) I had the perfect gray elephant fabric in my stash and then chose lots of blue and gray fabrics to go with it. I didn't follow a patten, just cut large squares and then used a slice and insert technique to make a few of the blocks a little more interesting.

Navy sashing to give all the prints some breathing room...

and green polka dot binding for fun :)

As usual, the back is a large cut (this one is a gray circle/dot print by Denyse Schmidt for Joann) plus leftover fabrics from the front. I quilted it with simple straight lines on either side of all the seams.

Also, wasn't the light just perfect on the day I took these photos? Sometimes I love our living room :) Anyway, thanks for hanging in there with all these quilts! Now brace yourselves, because I have a list of quilts to make as long as my forearm and this time I intend to keep up with them here!

two plus one equals three | a quilt for Parker

Plus quilts are pretty trendy right now and I had been wanting to make one of my own for a while. I decided to make this particular plus quilt (since I do think I'll be making another some day!) for my friend Jill's baby boy, Parker. He's their third baby which is why I named the quilt "two plus one equals three" - two children plus one baby equals three kids for Eric and Jill :) The pluses seemed like a great pattern to show off some fun fabrics, and since the blocks were on the large side I knew that it would come together pretty quickly. I used a combination of Michael Miller fabrics, seersucker, some Lizzy House, and a few random fabrics that were given to me by a friend who doesn't sew. The background is Kona silver which is my new favorite neutral. 

The back is made up of some large cuts of fabric - gray polka dots that my mom gave me (left over from the back of Ezra's I spy quilt), blue and white chevron, some airplanes left over from the quilt I made for my friend Keri's son Will, red polka dots, and some scraps left over from the front.

I did straight line quilting on either side of each seam to frame each block and bound it in Art Gallery squared elements. There's one little scrappy bit of binding in there though - a small piece of Lizzy House jewels.

A simple handwritten label finishes it off. 

And of course I had some assistance with the photos :)