Brown Star process

The beauty of a good scrap quilt is that the eye keeps moving around the quilt always finding something new to look at. That is why it takes more work than a quilt made with a pattern or with just a few colors. It is also a challenge to work with a stash only, even with a large stash like mine. I have very little dark brown left and wanted an inner border with dark brown. I settled for dark maroon which has the same value and it not only works fine, but adds more interest. I wanted to add in green and also to start making the quilt rectangular instead of square. The greens that I liked were too green, but the one I added here has black with it and works. It is put only at the top and bottom to make it larger at that end. The eye travels around to the wonky blocks in the corners and the clips at the end of the blocks in the center. I am still auditioning the next border..quilt top is on its way, but the road is still rocky....I thought you might like to see the process.

Green "X" block quilt

This quilt is the same pattern as the purple "X" seen in this post: http://oquilts.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-yummy-purple-x-quiltmmmm.html
I used up the green solid I bought 30 years ago. I do not know why I didn't toss it, but I guess it spoke to me. Once the blocks were done, they did not have enough contrast, hence the double lattice. I see that this picture doesn't show the vibrancy of the quilt. This quilt does have alot of character having been made with old and new scraps.

Process...and more process..or lack of process

Sitting on the design wall forever and forever...I decided today to avoid one and work on the other. So I finished these blocks..no measuring...done the Gwen Marston way...flying by the seat of my pants...And why did I do this today??? Because I have been avoiding this!!..My husband said that it is very dark and unattractive (ugly) and why has it been on my design wall for three months or so??? Because it requires thinking and I have been lazy. As often happens...just happens, I do something else very efficiently to avoid something harder...thus the grandchildrens's bags and potholders, cuddle quilts, etc..So now with the stars done, I will have to work on this...I have been thinking....

Also got great inspiration from this really beautiful blog and this post there http://craftjoys.blogspot.com/2010/05/blog-post.html. Be sure to watch the videos...my idea of a perfect quilt show. Thank you Una for sharing that post.

Vintage finds

Yo yo doll probably from the 40's. This is all hand stitched and so adorable. Cute as anything...flannel bib with piggy...

Cuddle quilt number 11, for the hospital

Carry all bags for the grandchildren

Good sturdy bags for Grandma's car...with little pockets inside for treasures:) Grandma had a wonderful time making them:)

Nicola and Geoff's Wedding quilt totally completed

Disappearing nine-patch. Binding is on and label is on...and done it is....Yeah!

Memorie quilts and t-shirts

I love to keep everything or use it up or give it away to a wonderful, caring, appreciative home. ( Maybe I am a hoarder??..hope not!) But now I am older and I have my grandmother's things and my mother's things and my children's things and my own things...I just have to simplify and use it up. And so the subject of T-shirts comes up. Here, from the archives of this blog is the quilt I made my daughter from her Irish dance t-shirts collected from all the competitions around the US and in Ireland. I see that it looks a bit scruffy since I made it before my machine quilting improved...but she loves it. And here, from the archives is one of the quilts I made from my father's shirts after he died. My parents lived 40 some years in Phoenix, Arizona...so lucky for this quilter that his shirts were all 100% cotton. Some people do not have family who lived in Arizona...actually many people do not...sorry....so how do they use up blended shirts or T-shirts in a meaninful way??

That brings me to the post I saw this morning from Karmen at http://aquilterawakens.blogspot.com/. She used t-shirts to crochet into a rug. This has many possibilities...memories...decluttering...using up...yup...good job Karmen!

Beautiful grandchildren

Beautiful youngest grandchildren who deserve beautiful bibs and quilts and love and more quilts.

Bibs redo

I am redoing some of these scruffy bibs...see center one....for my darling grandchildren...Will just zigzag the edges so that they can be put back into use right away!

A Heart for Others

Ok, fine...I just knew it but didn't listen to myself. We are not exercise people in my family, never have been! We are fudge folks...fudge and brownies and ice cream and donuts and puddings....That is what we have always been. My grandmother died at the age of 99 and 7 months with a Bit O' Honey candy bar and a True Detective magazine under her pillow. My mother eats ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner and she is almost 90! So why may I ask, did I listen to conventional wisdom and ride the exercise bike for 10 min...and why did I try harder in my water aerobics class....for now I have reinjured my knee. Just as I was walking better and feeling better...here it goes again. I should have made fudge! I should have listened to my inner voice! So I am irritable. I would like to whine. I cannot concentrate on my WIP's or UFO's or starting something new.

However I like to whine, I was not raised that way. My mother taught me that whenever I am down, to do something for others. Mother's voice is still loud and clear. So I got down my box of already fused scraps from other projects and cut hearts out of them...hearts like in Kindergarten, just folding the scraps and cutting away...also did some leaves and circles that way.

Our Guild requests from members, 7 and 1/2 inch muslin blocks with hearts appliqued anyway you want....to later be put into quilts for sick Guild members. I decided to make some of those today. I ironed them on, did a nice machine blanket stitch in black and signed my name. Then I went to my computer where I have in a Word folder, many sayings that I like. I chose some for these hearts and wrote them on. The sayings I chose for these are:

*"Each day is a new beginning";
*"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didnt learn alot today, at least we learned a little. And, if we didnt learn a little, then at least we didnt get sick, and if we did get sick, at least we didnt die: so let us be thankful" The Buddah;
*" To love ourselves is the beginning of a lifelong romance" Oscar Wilde;
*"Once we choose hope, anything is possible" Christopher Reeve;
*"The richest man whatever his lot, is the one content with whatever he's got!".

I wanted to add my favorite saying, but I didnt since it is really just for me...posted on my desk:

"It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." John Andrew Holmes

Sherry and Joe's picnic quilt

My daughter Emily moved to England two days ago with her boyfriend, Brian. I want to whine...but, my mother ruined that one. So what is a bereft quilting mother to do????? Quilt is the right answer...yup!! Quilting is the answer.....So I took a pinned quilt from my WIP stack and got going... In just a few hours, I have now finished this quilt ....a "picnic" quilt.

The back is here:

To make it go quickly, I used the "wiggle" stitch. The Bernina has a nicer round "wiggle", but I think that my Janome does fine. It is the basting zigzag stitch. On my Janome, I have it set to 3.5 width and 3.2 length..it is number 09......and I wiggle away.

Emily did a picnic quilt here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilymuldoon/page2/

And, Ruth did a picnic quilt here:
http://ruthsloan.blogspot.com/2010/02/picnic-at-melrose-place.html

The quilt is all done and I feel so much better!!!! Happy 25th anniversary to Sherry and Joe!!

My mother's poems

My mother has Parkinson's disease. She will be ninety in May. She cannot walk, she cannot get out of bed by herself or dress herself or bathe herself.. Sometimes she cannot swallow. But she is a poet and she can wheel herself to the computer to write poetry. She is the "Queen" of Sunrise assisted living where she runs her own poetry group!! She just wrote these two poems.

Her teeth are falling out from the Parkinson's medication. There is nothing that can be done. ( Two front ones just fell out)


FRAUGHT WITH FRIGHT

Well, this is dismal, to say the least.
I look in the mirror and see a beast!
How can I feel pretty inside
and look like someone's backside?

Your have read my stories, funny but true
about teeth, the cat and some about you.
I talk about everything under the sun
often forgetting I'm not the only one.

There are many pillows in my room.
The favorite one banishes all gloom.
It says "blah, blah" all over the place
giving me courage to show this toothless,
pumpkin face!

Alice Burt 4 sept 2010

( I had made her a pillow with the Maxine...blah fabric.)


And Still the River Runs
With a rush we cannot beat
Our world turns upside down
we will not accept defeat

With brave endeavor
We shore up strength
To meet this trial together

Love conquers all, so true
Hearts beat overtime
Our devotion is to you.

Alice Burt 4 Sept 2010

My mother has ruined whining for me. She never whines and she has great reason to. Just thought I would share.

Diane

Two new cuddle quilts for the hospital

I am trying to make one donation quilt for the hospital a month. With these two scrap quilts, I am almost caught up. I have four more for the year to do.... I just love using up those scraps.

Bath Toy Bag

The bath toy bag is a tutorial from http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/02/bath-toy-mesh-bag.html. It was alot of fun to make and I should have made it long ago....so useful. Instead of buying mesh fabric, I bought an already made mesh bag from Walmart for $1.98 and cut it in half. Before cutting it in half, I anchored the mesh by doing a zigzag stitch on either side of the cutting line.

Instead of using ribbon, I used Batik fabric scraps as they do not fray. I attached the scraps with a zigzag stitch. For the top edging, I first pinked the edges and then folded Batik scraps over the edge and did a zigzag stitch in the middle of the binding.

These two bags cost $1 each to make. The awesome, strong suction cups from Walmart were $3.98 a package of two.

One is for my bathroom and one is for the bathroom at my grandchildren's house. Thank you Ashley for the tutorial and great idea.