Memories

I have been completing some projects. I just haven't blogged about it.  Trying to get back in the groove. My eldest favorite child and her family came for a 3-week visit. They flew from Heathrow to Las Vegas. We picked them up there and brought them to our home in Southwestern Utah. We spent the week at home and then went to the family cabin in Northern Utah. They flew out of SLC and are now home safe in jolly old England.

While they were visiting, we had several good friends show up in town. It was wonderful to see everyone! Reminiscing over old times. The last couple of years we have had limited visitors and so this was such a treat. 

Wedding Signature Quilt

Since my daughter was here in person, I decided to make her finish the signature quilt for her wedding. I made the wedding quilt and the pizza quilt. We had rail fence blocks at the wedding for the guests to sign.  It was nice to get that UFO off my list. Later this year my daughter-in-law will get to sew their blocks into a quilt. My daughter and her husband will celebrate their 15th Anniversary in October. My son and his wife will celebrate their 15th next June.  The delay in the wedding signature quilts will be an upcoming blog post. Kinda like the Graduation Quilts story.

Along the memories theme of this post. I lost a former sister-in-law last week. Back in the day, when we were young and married to brothers, we were good friends. As happens when there is a divorce, we lost touch. We had tried to keep in touch, but it was tricky and awkward. The last time I saw her was 9 years ago at her son's wedding. We did not get a chance to chat more than a casual greeting. I have been very sad since I heard the news. She was a bright star in the world. Her death was tragic. Her sons and family are devastated. She took her own life.  I am linking to my nephew's youtube video of his thoughts on losing his mother. He is a fast car guy and does videos about his passion. Wonderful young man with a lovely wife and two adorable daughters. It is hard to watch, but if anyone needs to know how suicide affects those left behind, a worthwhile watch.  And if you need help, please call the new hotline.  988  

I wish that Jessica had made that call. RIP dear friend.

A lily for Jessica

Linking to:

Alycia

Leanne

Nina-Marie

Two Boys

The end of January we had some wonderful news! Two boys, born two days apart on two different sides of the family! Some much needed good news in times like these. I didn't get the baby quilts finished in time to send off before their arrivals.  But I did finally get them in the mail on Monday. I used fabrics from a specific line from a few years ago. 

Granddaughter's quilt

In 2016 I made a quilt for our then new granddaughter!  Above is a photograph of her quilt as it is now. Here is a blog post of when I made the quilt. It seems to have held up wonderfully over the last 6 years. She was born on my father's 84th birthday! His best birthday gift ever! Another Great Grandchild. 

The leftover pile

Since the two boys don't live in the same part of the country, I figured it was okay to make similar quilts using the leftovers of my granddaughter's quilt.  I had really bought a lot of that collection. I believe I used the yellow for the backing on her quilt.  There was enough fabric to make both quilts, including the backing and binding.

My pattern

Yes I have Electric Quilt. And yes I do use it. Sometimes. I was going simple squares for these two quilts, so my drawing was a quick sketch on a piece of scrap paper to do a quick calculation on how many squares I needed for each quilt.

Green

Since I had used mostly the yellow on my granddaughter's quilt there was a lot more of the other coordinates available. I don't remember exactly why, but I had an extra chunk of the lime green.

Teal

I did not use the teal on the first quilt. But I do like how it looks with the focus print. It is a very cute print. And even though it is from 6 years ago, I still think it makes a good baby gift. 

Green finished

Quilting 

Teal finished

Quilting

 I quilted these myself. I sewed two wavy lines through each square. I then crossed them. Simple wiggle quilting that makes a fun design.

It really felt good to get 2 projects finished!  Even though they were very simple, quick sews.

Oh, and one other coincidence.  One boy was born on the date the day before my granddaughter's birthdate and the other on the day after! So we have 3 birthdays in a row!

Sunrise

 Our house faces east. We have wonderful sunrises.  Peace.

Linking to:

Beth

Judy

TGIFF

Alycia

Nina-Marie

The Wave!

I finally cut flannel for the two baby quilts I need to sew.  I hope to have those finished by next week. I have one top sewn, the other ready to go. Just six-inch squares in a checkerboard pattern.

A dear friend, Bethany Ebling talked us into trying for the permit lottery for the Wave. The in town lottery is being discontinued. We decided to take a chance. Friday was a no go. Sweetie and I went in on Monday and won!  Yippee! Along with Beth and her friend, we did the hike on Tuesday. Perfect weather. Beautiful scenery. Wonderful time was had by all.  My pretty photographs for this post were taken by Beth. She is a photographer. See her beautiful photographs here.

Me, Sweetie, Melanie and Beth

Me and my Sweetie

Linking to:

Judy

Beth

Alycia

Anja

Nina-Marie
 

Peace

One of my favorite words is Peace.  I think the world really needs that today. That is all I can make myself talk about what is happening right now.  Peace.

Little Bowl

Bottom of little bowl

I haven't posted for a week or two since I had nothing finished to post about.  I decided I needed a little bowl for my nightstand. I had given away all my little bowls. I had started to wrap clothesline for a bowl, so I finished that one. It is my favorite color.  Of course, nothing can be easy. Especially easy stuff. My machine (who is in need of a spa treatment at the Bernina shop) was not always picking up the bobbin thread at the left of the zig.  I had to crawl under my sewing table to get old Bernie out and put the newer Bernie in his case so he can go to the shop the next time I go to the big city.  But I did finish a little bowl!

Iris

This project has been on and off the design wall many times over the years. I am going to finish him next. I did trim the sections and I have binding cut. Now to figure out how to make a hanging sleeve for the side units of the quilt. 

Snow day

For my pretty photograph here is some birds at the feeder after a snowfall.

Peace. Pass it on.

Linking to:

Design Wall Monday

Beth

Nina-Marie

Jen

 

Finished Friday!

I finished the binding that I talked about last week! Such a great feeling to have another completed project! This was a QAL by Ladybug quilts. Autumn Friends.

Autumn Friends

Monday I was reading some of the linky party blogs. Always a lot of great quilts and inspiration! I found two blogs that highlighted designs that I had made years ago. In fact, both of those quilts are on my bed right now. We are at the 3 quilts part of the season. I have a bottom quilt, bedspread quilt for pretty and then a top quilt folded at the foot of the bed so it is easy to pull up. My bedspread right now is the quilt I highlighted last week.

Bull's Eye

The bottom quilt is my version of Bull's Eye. I saw a similar project on Beth's blog, Love, Laugh Quilt!  I used a slightly different technique, I did QAYG instead of making a top and then quilting it. I used plaids for the centers and outside rings. Then used a great variety of lights for the center ring and backgrounds. It has a serpentine border using the quarter blocks. Beth's quilt is much brighter and so cheerful! 

Hourglass

And my top quilt is an hourglass that I made years ago. Well, actually both of these quilts were made in the late 90's. The hourglass I made in a class with Barbara Peterson at Gentler Times. It was a fun class! A friend took it with me. We were having so much fun that twice I had run out of bobbin and didn't notice! Both times I had run at least a dozen sets of squares through the machine before noticing. I found this project on Deb's blog, A Scrappy Quilter. I love the way she is using two colors to add more design features to the quilt. I used a color scheme of browns, golds, and oranges. With tons of different lights for the backgrounds.

I love the way simple designs can result in such a variety of interpretations. So may ways to use a quarter square triangle. So many ways to use color, value and block placement to alter the look of the basic unit.

It was fun to find other quilts using the same basic design out in the wild of blogland. Totally worth checking out as many blogs as you have time for when the linkys show up every week.

 I also finished a hat for my granddaughter's birthday. I am a bit late with the hat, but I was working on it at her house and so she knows it is for her. She loves green!  The pattern is Da Crofters Kep by Wilma Malcomson. This is the second hat I have knit with this pattern. Link to my Rav project page.

And my pretty photograph for the post. We went on an OHV ride with some friends. This area is just north of Coral Pink Sand Dunes and just outside of Zion National Park. We stopped for lunch here at this rock.

Linking to:

Design Wall Monday

Sarah

Alycia 

Sandra

Nina-Marie

A finished quilt!

Turning 20

I made this top years ago. At least 7 or 8 years. It got stuck into the quilting pile.  I am not going to be quilting large bed quilts on my domestic machine anymore. I sent this one out to be quilted. I am happy with the result. It has a coral-colored flannel on the back. Since it has been so cold this week, it really is nice and warm.

I am working on a binding so I hope to have another finish next week.

winter cheer

And for my pretty photograph of the week, my African Violet is blooming right now.   A little bit of cheer in the new year!

Linking to:

Monday Making

Design wall Monday

Nina-Marie

Laura

 

Two weeks in a row!

Second week posting!  I am trying to finish up UFO's. I have a ton of tops. Not to mention piles of blocks everywhere. I realized that I really don't want to quilt large quilts on my Bernina anymore. I like to do my own machine quilting on art pieces and smaller quilts (baby, maybe twin) but I am done with anything larger unless I use QAYG.  I dropped off a couple of tops to the machine quilter in a nearby (well, 75 miles) bigger town and had them quilted. I am pleased. I didn't go for the fancy pants quilting, just basic stuff.

Allegra

I made this top about 7 or 8 years ago. I love blue. The blues were all from my stash and I bought several each of yellows and oranges for the squares. It is large, it hangs down both sides of my queen size bed. I have some flannel on the back. 

This was finished before the new year, so I can't count it as a 2022 finish. I am hoping to get 12 UFO's (bed size) completed in this year. Along with some smaller pieces.

Our neighbors in the Desert

We went to Arizona for a couple of weeks over the holidays.  We camped near these guys and chilled. It was nice to have some calm and some peace. I love saguaros and so this is my pretty photograph for this post.

Linking to

Off the Wall Friday

TGIFF

Making Monday

 

Back in Gear

It has been a long time since I posted. Bad second half of 2021, glad to see the end of it. Hoping that the coming year is a bit better. I think the world needs some peace and calm.

I did finish a quilt in December. I decided to get some of my huge pile of unfinished tops quilted, even if I have to send them out. My eldest grandson turned 12 on Thanksgiving day so I decided that the grands should all get a large quilt for their 12th birthday. I was a bit late with this one, the quilter I am using is 80 miles away in the big city. But he loves it and that is all that matters.

Before binding

Quilting close up

Done Done

I have another top that is similar to this one, the lime green is 4 repeats like the dark green and the purple. They were class samples from a class I taught a few years ago,

Little Eddy

This is our sweet puppy dog, Eddy. He was a rescue, so we don't know his exact birthdate.  We celebrated his birthday on the day he joined our family. The rescue estimated that he was about a year old, so that makes him 12 this month. He is a good boy. He had a bad year, health issues and losing his big brother. But the last couple months he has improved and is walking better. 

Good Morning!

For my pretty photograph here is this morning's sunrise.

Linking to:

Monday Making

Design Wall Monday

Nina-Marie

 

Frank Lloyd Wright

I have a lot of UFO's. Some dating back 20 years. Or more. Not just quilts, but some knitting projects and cross stitch as well. I ditched the cross stitch to my daughter a few years ago. I was never going to finish the set of Christmas stockings I had started.  One was 3/4 finished and none of the other 4 started. 

Basted

I believe it was 2003 (maybe 2002) that I took a class from Jackie Robinson in Sacramento at the guild. It was the Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass class.  I did get my top finished that year. But it had a pouf in the middle section so I had picked out some of the stitching and took off the two edge pieces to trim the larger pieces a smidge. Then it went into time out.  I have since moved 2 times, once across state lines back to Utah. The project would surface now and then. But one of the edge pieces I had taken off was missing. Back to time out.  Sometime in the last year I had pulled out that box and decided I would just have to make new piece.  It sat in the corner of my cutting table for a month or two. I was digging through another little project tub to see what was in there, and WaHoo! The missing piece was there with another UFO from the same era as when I had taken Frank apart all those years ago.
 

Finished

I sewed Frank back together and got it basted. Because I used a multi colored batik for the background, I really had to use invisible thread to quilt the glass sections. I have a lot of brands of invisible thread. No matter which I use, I dislike it thoroughly.  Yes, I did way loosen the tension. I just don't like working with it. But this project needed this thread. I made it through and I am happy with the result. I have a little art niche in my front room. I always have a quilt hanging there and also use it to photograph finished wall hangings (note the graduation quilt) but sometimes they are longer than the space.  It works for a finished photograph and then it either goes to storage or in this case, to its permanent location.

Final Hanging Spot

It still amazes me that I had selected these colors way back when in Sacramento and they are the colors of where I live now in Kanab, Utah!  When I had pulled the project box out I knew that this piece would work well on this wall in my hallway. It is just the right size, length and width.

Maine Quilts

A few weeks ago Sarah Ann Smith had a drawing for a new book that has some of her quilts in it. She drew my name! "Maine Quilts 250 Years of Comfort and Community" by Laureen A. La Bar. It is a wonderful collection of historic and modern quilts and their stories. I haven't read the entire book yet, just the first couple of chapters. But I love these types of books! 

Cactus flower

And my pretty photograph for this week.  This cactus blooms this time of year, but the last couple of years it has not. The first year it did.  I just adore the beautiful color and the shape of the petals. Like all cactus, the blossoms only last one day. I should get a couple more in the next week before it is done with its show.

Linking to:

Beth

Design Wall Monday with Judy

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Vasudha

Playdate with Lisa!

Capitol Reef

I went to Salt Lake earlier this week for my granddaughter's birthday party. While there I arranged to meet up with my dear friend Lisa to retrieve my National Park quilt from her. She lives near my daughter.  As we were making arrangements I mentioned that I was sad to be unable to attend the guild Dye Party that she was heading up. She said we could have our own when you pick up Capitol Reef! Oh Yeah! And so we did!

Twins!

Because so many events have been cancelled in the last year and a half, Lisa and I have not run into each other in about 2 years. Although we are in contact a lot. I drive up to her house and what do I see? A twin of my car! LOL! The last time I saw her she was driving a mini van.  These twins are the same make, model and year. The only difference is that hers is silver and mine is a gray metallic and I have a trailer hitch.

So wonderful to be together!

And since we are both fully vaccinated, we are able to hug and take a photograph with our faces next to each other!

Lisa's outdoor studio

Lisa has a wonderful outdoor covered patio that is perfect for dyeing!

Lisa mixing dyes

We had a wonderful discussion about safety around dyes.  We are both extremely cautious with the fine powders. It is important to always wear a mask when the jars of dyes are open and until the dyes are safely mixed.  We both have taken classes (from different teachers) where they poopooed the importance of masking while handling the powders. It appalls us both. Error on the side of caution. I was at least 10 feet away and upwind from her. There was a slight breeze.

Dye Spots

I had previously tore the fabric into pieces and it was in a pile next to Lisa, downwind. Notice that the dyes made their way on to the fabric. Usually when I mix dyes I put a damp soda ashed piece under where I am mixing so that it will trap any loose powders.  I use the same piece of fabric numerous times. You never know how it will turn out.

Parfaits 

Lisa was showing me some dyeing techniques that I had not used before. This was parfaits. Mine is on the left and Lisa's on the right.

Popsicle sticks

We also did some popsicle sticks and rubber banding. I don't have a photograph of my rubber banded fat quarter.

We each dyed a yard piece and then we had the various fat quarters. The parfaits used 3 fat quarters. Lisa did her yard piece  with the rubber bands.

Swirled and tied

My yard piece was swirled and then tied. 

Ready to cook!

Our bags of fun!  We needed to let them "cook" for a while. I headed back to my daughters house and had all of my baggies in a bucket to take home for rinsing.  I finally rinsed yesterday since I had a busy day Tuesday (party!) and the long drive home on Wednesday

Yard piece swirled

The results of my fabric dyeing.  I am happy with my yard piece! I may do some overdyeing on it.

Parfaits

My camera is not the best, but these are pretty accurate. Some of the dyes were old, and maybe we didn't have enough soda ash. The piece to the right was on top and the left was the bottom.

My rubber banded piece

Again, my camera does not accurately photograph purple. This piece is a deeper purple with a hint of green in the left quadrant.

Popsicle sticks

I used orange at the center and corners. This also has the purple. I am happy with the result.

Fan fold

We also did a fan fold in both directions.  The green is brighter in person. I believe I also used marigold besides the bright green and where they touched made a different green.

Crumpled in a zip lock

I am happy with the dark blue on the left. The other one is meh. So it can be over dyed or stamped or something or another. 
 

I know that Lisa will be blogging about her side of the story sometime soon. So check her blog as well.

Cactus in bloom

My pretty photograph for this post.

Linking to:

Beth

Judy

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Frédérique