Hooray!

One day when I was over at a friend's house holding her delightful baby (I'm officially a baby-grabber), I noticed that she had decorated their living room with a great banner made of fabric triangles. They were celebrating her brother-in-law's birthday, and I must say it made things very festive. Plus: reusable! And a great way to showcase some of the lovely fabrics in one's stash which haven't quite gotten used in an "official" quilt. Since Rory's birthday was coming up soon, I decided to make one for our house, to be used on all festive occasions henceforth. (I also have big plans to make seasonal ones, but let's not hold our breath on that one.) In any case: it was a super quick, easy and fun project. Neva helped me choose fabrics; I cut them into triangles using pinking shears (no sewing!); and then I stitched them on to a piece of extra-wide double-fold bias tape, in the order Neva suggested. (She enjoyed organizing the fabrics by colour and figuring out which ones should go where.) And voilà! Festive banner! The name came from Rory, who awoke on the morning of his birthday, came upstairs and saw the banner, and asked, "Mommy, is that a Hooray?" It was so adorable, and so appropriate, that now it will always be known as our "Hooray!" All day, he's been talking about "the hooray made of triangles." I think he'll be just as cute at age 3 as he's been for the previous years of his life. Hooray, indeed.
Pattern: none - just triangles sewn onto bias tape
Fabric: from my stash

Hobbiton Quilt Panel

Waaaay back in the day, when Rachel was still living in Guelph, I offered to make her a Lord of the Rings quilt. I have the plans, and I remember vividly drawing up schematics... when we were living in New Zealand, in 2004-2005. Well, here is part one: Hobbiton. It seems a little shameful that it's taken me six years to get this one, tiny bit of a quilt done, but: there it is. I'm terribly pleased with it. The technique is one of layering each curve over top of the other, which I learned from doing my mini Winter Quilt in the style of the Mother Earth Art Quilt "Genesis II." Those of you familiar with The Lord of the Rings will recognize Bag End, Sam's house, and the Party Tree; those of you unfamiliar with the story will just see a rural scene with weird circles in the hill. This quilt is noteworthy in terms of technique because it was the first time I used the free-motion sewing feature on my sewing machine (to quilt around the trees). The whole finished quilt is supposed to have five art panels and four corner medallions; at this rate, I should be done by 2035. (I'll aim for sooner, though.)
(An aside: When Hugh saw this panel, he wondered if it was a whale. "A whale?" I asked. He went on to explain how he thought the round doors were the eyes and the trees were the water spurting up out of the blowholes, which - once he explained it - I could see. Just another example of how The Dude's brain works in its own creative, unique way.)
Pattern: my own, inspired by Mother Earth Genesis II
Fabric/Yarn: fabrics from my stash; yarn for grass detail is Estelle "Shimmer"
Finished Size: 60cm x 35cm