Really Old

I started cleaning out cabinets again this week - it’s Spring! - and remembered a wood chest that’s been pushed under the pool table for years. The kids store ping pong equipment on top of it and it had become basically invisible. 

I knew there was old fabric inside 

but I’d forgotten that this was where I’d stored my mom’s quilting fabric*

and her quilt blocks from the late 1970’s, early ‘80’s, 

made waaaaaayyy before rotary cutters and quilting rulers came along. 

I’d also forgotten that each block is hand-stitched. 

Such treasure. 

Not sure what I’m going to do with them but I think their time in a cupboard is done. 

* Mom’s been gone since 1988, and I remember her working on these blocks before she moved for the last time, so this fabric is 40-ish? more? years old. My plan is to wash it - not the blocks! - and if it’s still viable, maybe use it with the blocks to make . . . something. And share them with my sisters. Gotta think about it.

Botanical Beauties, Round 3

Block #3 for the Botanical Beauties block-a-month is done 

and I felt confident enough this time to not make a practice piece first.

Got everything put together, with all the points lined up correctly on the first try(!!), 

turned it over to take a picture and . . . oops! (That’s not what I said at the time . . .)

I could have left it as-is and probably no one would have really noticed, especially after it’s quilted; could have ripped everything apart and redone that dead-center piece;

or I could make a little patch and stitch it in place over the oopsie. Wanna guess which method I chose??

Mini Greenie

Finished this Friday 

and love how it turned out. 

My goal was to have it up by March 1, so I was off by a couple of days, but there’s still plenty of time before St Pat’s day . . .

and I’ll probably leave it hanging until April anyway, when I hope plan to have a new Easter bunny mini ready to replace it.

I experimented with thicker 12 wt thread (see arrows above) to accent the N/S E/W lines on the compass, but it’s still not quite right, so I think I’ll embroider thicker lines once I take this down. 

I’m also still second guessing myself on the background (from here) 

and wishing the finished mini was bigger, so pretty sure I’ll be making another of these soon-ish. Good thing they’re fun. 

Sleepy

Tiny girl managed to fall asleep in the 15 minutes it took to get home from McDonald’s after picking Leia up from school. 

It looks so uncomfortable - I’d be limping for a week if I tried sitting like that - but she was perfectly happy. 

Hamilton

Leia finally got to see Hamilton tonight, 

her Christmas gift from us, 

so Christmas 2021 is now officially done.

We bought tickets to take her in December, but her school play ended up being the same night.

Then Covid shuttered the theatre from Christmas through January. 

So glad we got to see it with her before the LA run ended. It was definitely worth the wait. 

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!” 😳😂