Life Under Quilts

Guess who showed up at my place last week?

 This is Jack.  He finally came on January 21.  9lbs, 6 oz.  He's a great eater and a great sleeper-- and I thought George was easy...
Everything went well-- labor and delivery couldn't have been better.  The timing was good (he came on C's day off), the hospital was like a spa.  And since we've been home the family has taken such good care of us. I hardly have to lift a finger.  If heaven isn't like this, I don't think I want to go..
Thank you everyone who has sent love and wishes through facebook or the NYC Mod guild blog.  We totally appreciate the kind words and feel very lucky to have so many friends that care.  I'm finding it hard to want to spend time on the internet now though, when my hands could be full of this little bundle instead.  So in case you don't hear back from me right away, or my posts aren't so regular, know that  I am reading comments and emails, and I'm thinking about you too.
xo

So I'm still pregnant, and my pile of mindless sewing is getting smaller and smaller.  I hadn't intended to finish this one before the baby came, but he's mighty comfortable in there and I had nothing to do last night so..

Here's the back.

These were orphan blocks, string pieced to phone book paper, inspired by Bonnie (same blocks are in her header, too cool!).  I threw on a dark border and 16patches to try to calm the chaos and give order, but that was almost a wasted effort-- this quilt is anything but orderly, and I love it.
On the back I wanted more fabric, more memories, more stories.. so I pulled out strings and strips from the backings of a bunch of quilts and tossed in some more string pieced orphan blocks.  Now there's so much in there that I could talk about this quilt for days. 
As I was quilting it, I'd count how many different quilts or different friends were represented in the scraps in the blocks down a single line of quilt-stitching.  The highes…

This quilt is ancient.. well, it wasn't my oldest UFO, but it had been sitting, pin basted, in my closet for over a year, and the top was completed sometime in 2007, (the center came from a guild workshop).  The fabrics came from my hubby's trip to Japan in January 2002.  Yeah, for a newly finished quilt, it's got some history already.
Around new years I tried to finish up a bunch of smallish quilts so I'd have hand sewing (binding) ready for after the baby came.. some mindless stitching to keep me connected to being a quilter.. but, the kid's still not here and I've had loads of time to sew.  So, whoops, finished it.  At least I can link up this week (TGIFF & Crazy Mom Quilts)
(old posts about this quilt can be found here, and here)

That's just about the width of a piece of yardage.. it's also the same size as the circumference of my belly..
So at 38 weeks 2 days, I'm feeling big, occasionally uncomfortable (especially when I don't get enough sleep), but generally pretty good. I'm trying to make the most of each day that I've got left. We've been spending tons of quality time just the 3 of us, I've visitied with lots of friends, and I've been quilting, quilting a LOT.

I had some orphan blocks I'd been playing with a few years ago (after this awesome retreat), and thought it was about time to make something out of them.. I thought they might become pillows, but before I knew it, I had a small quilt.
It's a bizzare size-- 51" x 40"(?)  do I stop here or keep adding? I pulled out Gwen & Freddy's book for inspiration and really, the possibilities are endless. We'll see what happens in the time I have..

ETA: I just measured the width.. it's 43.5&…