Cuddle quilt made from scraps..or getting the red and white out of my system

I am humming along in the quilting room with my wonderful daughter Emily. I am trying not to count the few days left and enjoying the moment!  She is making bibs for gifts.  She is a perfectionist.  She does not care if the bib will soon be covered with mashed green peas, she wants every bit of the bibs to be like a piece for competition.  I love to be with her and hear the hum of her machine in the same room as mine.  I have been working on the birthday quilt of the last post. Then it occurred to me that this Wednesday is Guild and I do not have a cuddle quilt for the month of May done yet.  I pulled out scraps from my stash and put together this tonight.  The little center red squares have been cut at least 10 years.  I found them in a pile in some box and decided that if I was keeping them for some reason, I should just use them up.  Since I am all about the red and white from the recent NYC exhibit, I decided to use those colors tonight.  From the scraps in my stash comes this top just finished for my cuddle quilt donation on Wednesday.  When my daughter goes out with her friends tomorrow, I will have time to quilt it.  Tonight life is especially sweet.  I am grateful.

OMG!!!  I am looking at this in the light of day and I see a  mistake made in the rush of night!!

Too bad I am not a perfectionist like my daughter cause this is going out just this way, I am just surprised to notice this now after taking the pix for the post, etc..ha ha ha

OMG!!!  I see two mistakes...jeeze louize, I guess I am a mess!

Next edit:)  Now I think that this quilt is like life...you start out doing one thing, and then all of a sudden it ends up something else.  And, it is ok.  The "mistakes" add a randomness that gives character..I am just fine with it.  Good thing!

Monkey Quilt top

A birthday surprise for a special girl ...

For friends and family...please let this be known that I have used favorite new fabric here...like the polkadots, and the orange flowers and the wellies....so I didn't just keep them and pat them and love them, I have used them.  It was  hard but I did it!  So to my husband who says that when I die, he will call the Goodwill and tell them to come and get my BEST fabric that I could never use....see, I am improving:)  LOL

Quilting soothes the crabby day....St.Paddy's Day process

Today I was the crab of all crabs...grrr...My husband hurt his back and has spent all Easter with severe pain in the bed.  Yesterday we went to the spine doctor..me on my cane and him on me...Jeeze Louize..the nurse had to walk the two of us to the car just like old folks!!  Today, my clients were tough and the paperwork was annoying and on top of all that, my mother's bills were due..and due now, so I had to just sit down and pay them.  The highlight of the day was that my daughter in from Europe, cut our grass!!! So, finally what did I do that always works...sat down to my awesome Janome 6600 and quilted my St.Paddy's Day quilt...ooooo does that crabbiness just melt away....lucky me (and lucky those around me too:)

A Ruth-a-thon!!

My girl is home from England for Easter!!!  My cup runneth over.  So a quick Ruth-a-thon was held.

 Ruth and Emily

 Their projects

How I love being in my quilting room and hearing their laughter and their sewing machines humming along.  How can I be so very lucky!

St. Paddy's Day quilt process..or why can't I do things the easy way...

My St. Paddy's Day quilt could have used a lovely, soft, one fabric back to steady it and calm it, but...Oh, no...not me...instead I have pieced with scraps a much more complicated backing.

You know those antique quilts with lettering right up front? Like "Annabelle  1843".. I saw one in the red and white exhibit pictures from NYC.  Well, I decided that my backing for this quilt would be just like that...However, nothing calming about it.  More like a jungle me thinks.  Anyway, it has taken me forever to just get this far...keep tuned in.

Faded Fireball from the Alabama barn

This snowball quilt (rather faded fireball) is from Great Aunt Carl and the Alabama barn!  She gave it to my sister.  I replaced the binding.  There is question on its age.  Great Aunt Carl insists that her mother made it, but Great Aunt Carl is 86 and her mother died 70 years ago or so...so I do not know.  Seems to me that the back is feedsack, but again I am not sure.  Aunt Carl liked to keep old things in the barn which is where she went for this when my sister and I visited and showed an interest in family quilts.

Charmaine's quilts from the flea market

My sister Charmaine has some quilts that I thought were part of the family history.  Evidently these are not those, but I posted them anyway since all quilts are lovable.  She said that she found these at the flea markets.

 

 

 

 

I think that the top one is some sort of bow tie, it is machine quilted. It is clearly a 30's or 40's quilt.  The second one may be a Virginia star, but really tonight I am way too lazy to be sure.  I also am not too sure of the age, but the stuffing is coming out.

Sherry and her Jams and Jellies quilt in process

We basted Sherry's "Jams and Jellie's quilt last night.   Great job Sherry!!!

 

  She found the idea in this 1995 issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine.

Barry's quilt from the past!

This was my nephew, Barry's baby quilt. 1983! It is also hand quilted.  I see that I was into baskets back then.  Not a bad idea since I still love baskets.

 

Quilts from the past, Alexis' baby quilt

I have decided to put on my blog all the quilts I have made that I can find. This is mostly for me to see how far I have come and how differently I look at things now.  This quilt was made in 1986 for my niece, Alexis when she was born.  I see that it was still in my hand quilting days.  When I asked my sister to bring them to quilting last night so I could post the pictures, I didn't realize that I would still like them.  I do.  I still like the color choices and the hand quilting.  Guess a quilt like this is timeless.  I also see that I was a scrap quilter even then.

St. Paddy's Day in April..process

How does one avoid finishing quilts??  Well, just start a new one instead:)  I decided that I need a St. Paddy's Day quilt...so I started one. Never mind that that holiday is way gone... I chose a number of Irish fabrics and greens and golds.  It is only with distance that I see pieces of my son's old boxers with oriental symbols!!  In my Irish quilt..ha ha...  So I started that ubiquitous disappearing nine patch and ended up putting a nine patch back together...Lordy....I also see that the color is not true tonight in my sewing room.

 

 

 Process is a tough thing...trying to get it right.

 I can see that my old cat Milito likes it just fine!  He tells me not to fret and pet him instead.

Putting in the one inch black batik for definition...Better pix in the yard tomorrow.  And, as for the other WIP's/UFO's......well....what can I say???

My patience....or lack thereof...

I have been so excited today for the electrician and tile guys have been here all day working on my kitchen.  But, now they have left until Wednesday and the grout is all over the beautiful green glass tiles and I have to wait till Wednesday...I guess I am still a baby at heart:)  The tile doesn't glisten and shine with the grout all over it.

 Whining aside..I am so delighted to have a nice new kitchen.

Disappearing nine patch for Margaret's granddaughter..group quilt.

Done! Turquoise 16 patch/divided

D.O.N.E.  All quilted, snipped, photographed and blogged.

 Front..

 Back..

I even decided to use the lettering on my Janome 6600 to sign my quilt...

Just love D.O.N.E.  Thanks to my retreat...

Gifted to Jason and Tania for their wedding

Irish Society raffle quilt...done!!

Hoping to make big bucks for our Irish society with this raffle quilt!! Thx to Terri and Jean.

Back from retreat 3

Four days gone and look what marvel Mother Nature brought to my backyard!

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Retreat 3, friends

Retreat 2, Fabric

Going to a retreat with friends means laughing and sewing, not shopping??? Not shopping...so why did my car go directly to these stores, both on the way up to Lake Lure, and on the way home?  I tried to swerve, but I couldn't!  My cars fault??  My friends fault??  NOT my fault...

Not my fault that Schoolhouse Fabrics in Forest City had so many civil war prints!!!

http://www.schoolhousequiltsnc.com/

Not my fault that the Asheville Cotton Company had a sale table with some 70% off fabric! AND 20% off all the rest of the fabric!!

www.ashevillecottonco.com/

Not my fault that this awesome new funky store, Kitsch,  had the last day of its 20% off sale while we happened to be there!

 www.kitschfabrics.com/

And not my fault that Foam and Fabric in Fletcher had my favorite bug fabric at 50% off!

http://www.fabrics4you.com/

But it is my fault and that of my friends that we had so much fun!!!!!

My fabric, all washed and folded and touched and loved already.