Not telling

Den 06-03-2013 06:36, Polly Esther skrev:

Chain-saw wielding ballerinas?

Or something with animals - They come in both gender :-)

Hanne in DK

For a similarly 'secret gender' baby, I made a quilt using the pieced alphabet blocks of Carol Doak (in her book that I could look up if you needed me to - I know roughly where it is >g'I Love Lucy' and Charlie Brown's Lucy. A quilt for our own

I just did one for a co-worker like that. Used turtles, frogs, cats in cowboy hats, balloons, etc. Got some "hogs on bikes" if you want it? Not a big piece. Also have some tools, ants, etc.

G> We have such a wonderful summer planned. My FL sister is expecting a

Babies supposedly like things with high contrast because their vision is not well developed, so black & white with touches of red & yellow. I did this one with Jack-in-the-box blocks for a great-nephew; in this case, I did know it was to be a boy named Jack, but it would work for a girl, too.

Neither one of my children knew the gender of any of their children, so their nurseries were done with what I called "bright pastels" -- not the bright primary colors but not pastels either. Or use one of the Eric Carle fabrics, such as the Hungry Caterpillar or Brown Bear fabrics. Here's my "Hungry Caterpillar" top.

Julia in MN

zoo animals are a favorite of mine. maybe sweet elephants? last 'nobody is telling' baby in our family got a lot of monkey stuff with much brown. Baby was a girl and it wasn't so good imo. Brown isn't terrific for a new baby. You could get wild and crazy and do a pretty pink one and a boy inspired one too and then let them use the one that works. At least then they would have one that fits the baby right away. What a wonderful thing all those new babies. Taria

We have such a wonderful summer planned. My FL sister is expecting a great-granddaughter who shall be named Lucy due May 13th. My MS sister is expecting a grand July 7 and our great grandson is to arrive July 15. Lotsa baby sugar incoming. Doing a Lucy quilt is big fun - there's 'I Love Lucy' and Charlie Brown's Lucy. A quilt for our own great-grandson opens up lots of choices but I'm thinking wheels. Where I'm stalled is the baby whose parents are being dramatic and keeping the sex of their baby secret until birth. Whatever. Since pastels are SO old-fashioned and girls can love chain-saws if they want to, I'm blank. What quilt do I do for the 'to be announced' baby? Polly

We didn't tell anyone the gender of our child before he was born... I made things in lavendar, blue and green. A nice soft palette of colours! For a summer baby, I like things with yellow. Yellow/green/white is nice for example. Or the quilt I'm making has teddies on moons, and the background is a light blue starry sky - that could work for a boy or a girl. Everyone loves teddies, right?

-- Jo in Scotland

Years ago, a lady in a karate school I was in was having a child and I made a baby quilt for her. My guess is that she would be somewhere in her teens (the child, not the mother), and I sometimes wonder if she still has it.

It was a simple fence row pattern, and I tried to describe exactly how to make a fence row pattern, as the group I was posting it to was a karate group and not a quilting group. Well, anyway I managed to make a basic pattern sound immensely complicated, but I digress.

Any way, there were 5 stripes in each square, and I think each square came out to about 6 or so inches each, making them approximately an inch wide. The colors in each followed the pattern white, yellow, green, purple then brown, and with a black frame around the outside (the colors of the belts in the school that we were in).

The quilt was "inspired" by the belts in our school, but it was not specifically "about karate". I also used bright versions of these colors, not muted "pastelly" versions of these colors.

The parents told me that their daughter liked the bright colors in it. As another digression, I told someone about this quilt once, and they were absolutely appalled that I would use black in something for a baby.

Well anyway, that story gets to my two suggestions. My first is my theory that babies like bright colors, and "pastelly" colors are an adults perception of what babies are supposed to like, but what they really like are bright colors.

My second is that a good inspiration might be a hobby of the parents, especially if that hobby can be abstracted, like in my "belt quilt," and it is even better if that hobby is shared by both parents.

Of course, other baby quilts I have made (both for other parents and for charity) have just been some random colors thrown together in whatever pattern I felt like at the time (square in a square, star, etc.). Even so, they still adhered to my theory of baby quilts using bright colors.

PS: I stood in front of the notions section at Hancock fabrics for what felt like forever trying to decide what assortment of needles to get. I even pondered getting the self threading needles "as seen on TV." Well anyway, I got size 7 sharps, I think, and finally got my favorite shirt fixed,

PSS: I didn't lose my CAMS for the sewing machine, but as they have been through probably 10 moves in the last 30 years, I am surprised I still have them. I would also have to experiment with them to figure out which one would be appropriate for making the quilt binding that was described in your earlier message.

Brian Christiansen

Happy day! so glad you found the cams. My 1st sm (well, not my first - it was grandmother's treadle with me sitting in her lap) that we bought was a Singer with cams. You can do everything with those cams; just a matter of trying this and trying that until you get the stitch that you need. Polly

I made my granddaughter a black and white high contrast quilt this year. She has vision issues resulting from a seizure when she was 5 months old and her therapist suggested lost of high contrast. It was such a hit with her day care lady that I made her an adult size one for Christmas.

Another option would be a "hide and seek" quilt or "I spy" with lots of colorful, random pictures. This would entertain a child up into their toddler years as they try to find the animals, characters, etc. on all the blocks. I'm a scrapper so I keep a bin full of this kind of thing. I recently made my grandson a strip quilt with all sports themes.

I made my niece and nephew a quilt they both loved with castles and drag>Babies supposedly like things with high contrast because their vision is

I have a great niece due this summer, so I made a fairly traditional baby t op, but I wasn't sure what I wanted on the back. Both parents are union pl umbers so I thought it might be cute to have some reference to plumbing. I had serious doubts about being able to find something like that. I actual ly found cotton material with all kinds of vintage plumbing tools all over it on eBay. I was so excited. I'm making it 60"x60" so they can drape it o ver a chair or couch with the tool side up when not using it for the baby. I made the top unisex because I wasn't sure I'd find out the sex before th e birth.

I finally have my very own grandson and I haven't even made him a quilt yet . I collect sockmonkeys but my son and daughter in law hate sockmonkeys. T hey are Irish, so I guess I could go Celtic. What I really need is sockmon keys dressed like leprechauns material.

but I wasn't sure what I wanted on the back. Both parents are union plumbers so I thought it might be cute to have some reference to plumbing. I had serious doubts about being able to find something like that. I actually found cotton material with all kinds of vintage plumbing tools all over it on eBay. I was so excited. I'm making it 60"x60" so they can drape it over a chair or couch with the tool side up when not using it for the baby. I made the top unisex because I wasn't sure I'd find out the sex before the birth.

collect sockmonkeys but my son and daughter in law hate sockmonkeys. They are Irish, so I guess I could go Celtic. What I really need is sockmonkeys dressed like leprechauns material.

I Spy--with the ABC's in the middle (Airplane/apple, Bike/banana, cat/car etc) and all different squares around..am even haveing kidlets doing assorting things in the last one I'm in the process of. Need any squares--just holler as I even have: v (vests), x (cats having xrays that another RCTQ'er shared with me--have enuf to share with you), y (yarn), and z (zebra) for the letters that are harder to find. Am working on # 7 and # 8 right now.

Butterfly (whose company finally found their way home--took the christmas wreath OFF the front door today :) :) :) Now to box up the tree. )