Back Home Again

Here is the little quilt I made for my granddaughter who is expecting her first baby, a little boy, on my 83rd birthday this coming August.  I saw a picture of this quilt on line and was so taken with it - my husband worked for the Santa Fe Railroad for 41 years and had an HO train layout that grew to be quite large over the years. 

When our daughter was pregnant for Norah, Sherry gave her dad this little kit for "Grandma's House" for him to build and add to his layout.  As Norah got older, she and grandpa would be in the basement playing train

and he would let her throw switches and both of them enjoyed that time together so much.

Here she is at the end of the layout where there is a little town.  Ray loved building the buildings which were all kits.  The little church has a little graveyard with it and there was also a junkyard on the layout.   So you can see why I thought the little quilt was perfect. 

There was no pattern - I knew that it had come from a magazine called Baby Quilts by Fons and Porter but it was published a couple of years ago.  The train was simple pieces and I was able to draft up a pretty good pattern on my own that would have come really close.  However, at our recent quilt show while setting up for the bazaar (we all bring magazines, fabric, items we make, etc., and have a very successful bazaar!!) someone brought me this

I was meant to make this little quilt!  There were the pattern and instructions - for 25 cents which is what we charge for magazines.   How nice is that?

An engine on the rickrack track.

I thought the engines needed some smoke coming out of their smokestacks so I added that little feature.

Being kind of worried that the rickrack might curl with being laundered, I stitched on both sides of it with the invisible thread which I also used to go around all the faces, wheels, etc.  It was really fun to make. 

This weekend, my daughter and I flew to Kansas City for a shower for Norah hosted by Chad's mom and sisters.  Norah, Chad, Sherry and I all stayed with Bill and Ann.  It was a really fun weekend despite the fact that it turned really chilly.  Here is my granddaughter opening the little quilt - the picture itself is not in the best focus but you can still see that it has brought a smile to her  face.   (Click to enlarge)