Arting

Jac and I do art most afternoons. She’ll walk in and announce, “ok Grandma, I’m ready for crafting now.”

 One part art, three parts talking

Today most days it’s more talking than crafting but I’m ok with that too.

I won a mini!

Michelle at From Bolt To Beauty gave away three mini heart quilts for Valentine’s Day and I got this one.

Pink and brown is one of my favorite color combos. So happy to add this to my quilt collection. 

Bah Humbug, Quilter’s Edition

Decided to treat myself to a fast fun project for St Patrick’s Day

as a reward for finishing my Glitter Ball BOM homework 

 

and catching up with my 2-months-head-start classmates. 

I shoulda stayed in bed. Tore my fabric stash apart looking for 4 fabrics that played nicely together.

Reyna and I kinda liked this one; hubby didn’t. 

He liked this one; I’m a big nope, no way.

Finally tried white and . . . I think this one works? Crossing my fingers I still like it in the morning. 

Bring On The Rain!

Another UFO finished and in use. Hooray!

I decided if I waited to make this bigger it would probably never get done, so I sewed together the blocks I had and called it good.

It’s hard to see but Debbie quilted it with rain puddles and I bound it with my favorite teal. Love how bright and cheerful it is.

  “Begun March 2016 - Finished February 2022. Dancing Umbrellas”

At a month shy of 6 years, this isn’t my oldest unfinished finished project but I think it might be my favorite. 

Touch of Hawaii

The table-runner made from Carolyn’s quilt leftovers is quilted, 

bound

and Jackie approved. 

I opted for the same Hawaiian flowers in the quilting as the original quilt

 Light blue for the reverse side

and used still more of the leftover strips for the scrappy binding. 

I thought I was going to be making a third project(!) from this jelly roll but my pal Debbie loves this fabric (I do too) so I’ll gift them to her instead. 

I definitely got my money’s worth out of this jelly roll!

Matchy Matchy

Hubby brought these home (‘cause he’s awesome like that)

the same day I bought these fabrics for my next project.

Can’t go wrong using nature’s color palette.

And also? We really like our reds and oranges.

I Have An Excuse!

I *might* have signed up for another block-of-the-month quilty thing. I’ve got to stop following quilting links down late night rabbit holes. Every thing looks so interesting! and fun! But in my defense, this one covers several items on my to-learn-this-year list - sewing curves, improv curved piecing and foundation paper piecing. Plus, it looks cool, kinda Art Deco-y, which hubby and I both love. 

The BOM started in January, so I’ve spent the last few days playing catch-up: watching the intro lessons, picking colors and playing with some very cool color-to-fabric websites. Please tell me I’m not the last person to discover these?? 

PaletteBuilder 2.1 , by Play Crafts, lets you import a photo, select colors, and then tells you the name of the corresponding color in several different fabric lines, including Kona Cotton which I planned to use. How cool is that?!

QuiltInk lets you recolor quilt patterns using a fabric line’s actual colors (like Kona Cotton), so you can see what it will look like in the colors you are considering. The catch is that the designer has to input the pattern first and there aren’t a lot there yet. But Glitter Ball is!

Using my (still unfinished) flying geese as a starting point, ‘cause I love those colors, 

I played around 

until I came up with this. ⬇️

I like it, hubby likes it, so it was off to the fabric store to see what the colors really looked like.

I subbed Chili for out-of-stock Pimento and Rich Red for Cardinal but Spruce and Persimmon stayed. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea*, but I love these colors. Hoping my templates get here soon so I can start cutting and sewing this weekend. 

* Showed the color mock-up to a friend and her friend; her friend visibly recoiled and said, “oh no, no, no. That’s awful!” 😳😂 

Dinosaurs

Donovan’s dinosaur quilt is finished, complete with blue dino’s in the quilting.

 He liked the “lava bombs” in the border fabric

I thought he’d be pleased, 

and he was, 

right up until he figured out this was a replacement for his beloved, outgrown, nap blanket. 

Then he wanted nothing to do with it. 

Even a promise that he could sleep with *both* blankets made no difference. 

I might be offended but it’s such a typical kid move, it just makes me laugh. Hopefully he’ll change his mind before he outgrows this blanket too.

On A Roll

Making a list of projects I want to finish is working a treat. 

When I go pick up Donovan’s dino quilt tomorrow, I’ll be dropping off the table-runner made from the leftovers of Carolyn’s quilt, 

and the Dancing Umbrellas quilt-hanging. It looks unfinished to me without an outer border but the pattern didn’t have one . . and most modern quilts don’t have them . . . so I’m going to leave it alone and hope I don’t regret it. So happy this on is done - love these umbrellas! 

Birthday At Sea

One of our birthday gifts to Leanne was a whale watching cruise out to the Channel Islands. 

The crew said they hadn’t seen much whale-wise this season,

so it might be a bit early yet . . . 

and then proceeded to find a humpback whale;

a pod of gray whales with moms and babies;

and a giant fin whale. 

Plus a huge pod of dolphins 

playing around the boat

and joining one of the biggest flocks of pelicans that have been seen in years,

feasting on fresh sushi.

Not a bad way to celebrate turning 11.

Happy birthday, Leanne!