Made with Love

So I mentioned there have been a lot of preggers in my life here recently. Combine that with the fact that I have much more free time and a much larger house than I did in San Diego, and I have the magic combination of factors to get back into sewing! Those of you who knew me in high school know I used sewing as a way to create things like formal dresses that I couldn't find in stores. I made a few wearable things in college, but for the most part outgrew the idea of wearing homemade crafts. Last December I went to my friend Gemma's baby shower. Many special gifts were opened that night, but one that was most memorable to me was the gorgeous quilt my friend Mallory made for her. We were all just in awe of how beautiful it was. I remember Gemma saying, "This may be the most beautiful gift I have ever received." Wow, I thought. What an awesome way to make new mom friends feel important and loved, by creating something unique, original, from the heart. Mallory introduced me to a popular style quilt called a coin quilt. Do a Google image search and you'll find thousands of them.

With a baby shower in Houston coming up, I started to work on a little girl quilt for my friend Kristin. She was the first of my Texas friends to head to the "other side." I started away on the quilt and was almost finished when I got an email from her with the subject line, "We have some crazy news." I opened the email to find this: "Well you can't say the doctors are perfect.  IT'S NOT A GIRL, its a BOY!!! It is a good thing you have an ultrasound at 29 weeks!" Bye bye pink. With only a week to go until my flight to Houston, I traipsed back to the fabric store for blues and greens. I didn't quite have it finished for the shower, but given the circumstances, I was not docked any points. Her baby William used it for Tummy Time :)

Fast forward to the past few months when babies have been entering this world from all directions, and I had an awesome opportunity to get crafty again. At first I didn't think quilting would be possible out here because of the terrible fabric selection. I went to the only fabric store I knew about only to find they sold 1) solid colors 2) Hawaiian prints and 3) stretchy sequin material. Awesome. So I picked up some fabric in the States and shipped it out to myself. From that batch I made the quilt for my friend Sara, whose daughter Savanna is modeling it so beautifully :) Sara did a whole post about the quilt. A whole new special kind of thank you note :)

  The next quilt was for my friend Kate, who I went to Saipan with. Kate's daughter is due any day now and she has already moved back to the States. But before she left, I got to go to her shower and give her this. The only bad part was that she must have received like 15 other blankets at that shower. OOPS! I guess everyone on Guam thought it made sense to give a blanket to someone moving to Philadelphia.

My most recent project has been for my dear friend Huy in San Diego. With four weeks before her due date, I knew I needed to get to work. I planned to start working on it on Thursday. The day before I woke up to a photo text of Huy holding a baby. My reaction: "What?? Whose baby is that? Oooooh! Holy crap!" Jackson was ready to get this thing started and showed up mighty early. I finally finished their quilt and she got it in the mail last week. A few people asked for pictures, which is what prompted this post (which Nick calls "fluff" because it doesn't involve adventures on Guam).

I was pleasantly surprised to learn about a bigger, better (though still Guam-frustrating) craft store that has a decent selection of fabrics. So all of the fabrics are from Guam. I have since discovered an even more amazing fabric store: Ebay! Apparently I am the last sewer in America to learn you can buy fabric online. Having the confidence from making a few of these, I did a little extra craftiness on the quilt back:

 

 And I just love the way the fabrics came together.

Quilting for some of these new little miracles has been a lot of fun. But it will be even more fun to finally get to meet the rest of the little snugglers. Congrats to all the new moms in my life. And based on what I've been hearing, I'll add a "good luck" in there too :)

Guam Fabric Stores: I have had a number of people find this post by googling Guam fabric stores, so in case that's what you came here looking for, here's what I know:

The best selection on island is at Ben Franklin Craft Store in Agana, but it's a total hodge podge. And "best" is arguable by the States' standards. Directions: From the airport, take Marine Corps Dr. South past the light at the ITC building (where you would turn right to go to the GPO outlets). Continue through the next light and take a right onto Serenu Ave., the street right by Tick Tock, the clock repair place. It is a diagnoally angled road that should also have signs to the Ocean Jet Club, Agana Towers, and a sporting goods shop. Continue down this diagonal road and Ben Franklin will be on your left.

There's also Radi's fabrics, which is right on Marine Corps Dr., in Hagatna just South of Salon Paradis. They sell solids, Hawaiian prints, and sequins. And that's literally it. I only go there for notions. 

Those are the only places I know of. Your best bet is to order fabric online. I've had great luck on eBay. Find someone who does free shipping using the US Postal Service, and it will be here in 5-7 days (hopefully).