pneumonia and baby quilts

A bit of a ditch on the road of life the last couple of weeks. I was hospitalized with pneumonia and a tummy infection and crud and stuff. Prior to spending a night in the hospital, my longest and worst night was an overnight train ride from the sticks of Romania to the capital. Pee kept gurgling up in the sink in the train car and drunk people kept crashing into our car and I spent the night willing myself to just make it to daylight without throwing up. That night was a dream compared to the first couple nights in the hospital. Really, truly scary and the deepest loneliness I have ever known. Not to make too much of it, but truly horrible.

I am a week out from getting to (finally!) come back home. And still the surreality of it all is overwhelming. My appetite is back (boo!), I can go more than a few hours without needing a nap, and all of my symptoms that sent me to and kept me in the hospital are gone. But the feeing of dread and fear and loneliness still can come back in an instant. And in my dreams I still am stuck in the room with the IVs and the beeping and the pain.

All this to say, my heart goes to those who are in the hospital now. And I am so thankful to be home and getting back to normal.

This weekend (in between marathon naps), I finished a couple of baby quilts. Baby girl quilts that are just so darn cute.

First up is a quilt where the colors of the nursery are teal and coral. Teal and coral become elusive colors – so easily becoming mint or aqua and orange or peach. I think the scrappiness covers me – so many different teals and corals and mints and oranges and peaches, that at least some of them have to be right…

The blocks are simple, but I love the secondary pattern that is created. But the best part of this quilt is the back. The stupendous Disco Kitty print by Ms. Pink…

Those little kitties are just the cutest !!!!! And this is going to a family that loves kitties, so win win win. I did my favorite cross hatch quilting that gives a little diagonal pop. And the binding is a teal (aqua? mint?) stripe that I think echoes the teal-and-white blocks well. I am really, really trying to get better at the binding. Time and practice and patience.

Next up is a frothy pink delight…

I super sized a block from 12 inches to 24 inches and off-center framed it in my most girly pink fabrics. This palette and flowery goodness is my jam. Had so much fun making this – and truly love that some people still want pink for little girls. Very un-hip of me, but I love pink. It just makes me happy. And I think the old-fashioned blue-and-white floral works well with the pinks… and the big8flower sugar centerpiece makes me squeal.

I backed this one with a peppy little floral to introduce a few more colors. And bound in a simple solid french-ish blue. And again simple cross-hatch quilting.