Ladybird Ladybird

When my daughter Ellie was 3 years old, she developed a liking for ladybugs. We went on ladybug hunts and collected them in jars and later released them in the garden. We found some fantastic ladybug books and I began to collect bug fabric for a quilt.

This book is so cute. It's about a ladybug mom with five little ladybug children, she goes off to the shops but forgets her purse. They follow after to bring it to her. It makes a great present for little girls but my sons have enjoyed the book as well. I used to give the book and a little purse with chocolate money inside as a child's party gift. It would make a fun present for children and grandchildren too. I've made a link to it on Amazon on the sidebar.

Another good book was Ladybird Moves Home by Richard Fowler. This book has a cardboard ladybug that slips through a cut in the pages. The kids love to slip the ladybird through the openings in the pages. Again I've got a link on the sidebar.

The bug fabric collection generated three quilts. The top quilt here, is the simple machine applique with various bugs in jars. This is the quilt featured in yesterday's post that's been machine quilted with loops and daisies. The quilt underneath is a stripy quilt with a ladybug theme. Each strip was machine quilted in a different pattern. So it became a stripy machine-quilting sampler.

Lastly, there was this red, yellow and green 'traffic light' quilt, a present for a family friend. It was fun working with such bright colours featuring spots and bugs and flowers. Click the photo to see a better view of the yellow daisy and loops machine quilting pattern.

Have you ever noticed that books and quilts are like family fossils? They record the various likings and interests that we have explored over the years. Now Ellie loves horses but we still enjoy the books and quilts from the ladybug phase of her life.