Four months and ten things.....

It's been awhile--okay months--since I posted.  And no, I did not sew myself into the new machine--at least not yet.  It's just the longer I go without posting, the more difficult I find it to post again....as in where do I start.....what to say and so little seems of any real importance, but here goes my best shot.  Since my last post....

1.  We helped my daughter move to a new apartment.  Did you know that 2 flights of stairs are farther up than they were 20 years ago?  Good thing she is young.  I've already told her to seek other help if she decides to move again. Boot camp would be easier.  :)

2.  I finally finished this quilt which I gave to my mom for Mother's Day.  (Stripping Vine from the book, Material Obsession) 

 

Yvette quilted it wonderfully--hope you can see the detail. 

She went around each of the white dogwoods, invented a special design for the orange triangles that mimics the fabric pattern, and stitched each of the star centers differently in a way that coordinated with the fabrics.

A really lovely job!

This is the back. I pieced the back in stripes, hoping to give it a different, semi-Bohemian look.  I made the stripes before I decided to give it to my mom.  Definitely too modern for her, but orange and black are the local college's colors and she and my dad are very loyal boosters/fans, plus Mom's favorite color is teal.

My mom's comment on the quilt: "You should have just made the whole thing out of the border fabric--it is beautiful".  Oh well.  She isn't a quilter.

3. I finished this Bordered Diamond quilt for my sister and her husband.  They actually liked it and it looks nice in their bedroom. 

Again the quilting is by Yvette and wonderful.  She used a variegated thread and quilted each diamond differently.

The outer border fabric is the same one I used on another Bordered Diamond quilt I made for my aunt.  Even though the narrow border, binding and backing are all different, the quilts look very much alike. 

For the backing, I used an out of print fabric by Philip Jacobs.  Not sure of its name--maybe Lilac Rose?









4.  I repaired the Teal Quilt that I had given to my son and his wife for their anniversary last year.  Their dog had chewed on it along the border and had made a couple of holes farther in--my fingers are in one here.  I was pretty disheartened when they brought it back for repairs, and stuck it in a bin for several months while I thought about how to fix it.
  

  

 

Luckily, I was able to find each of the damaged fabrics on the front and back, and able to match up the pattern (I had a triangle left from the original cutting--cutting too much does have its benefits, as does having an outrageous stash).  Here are some finished photos with a couple of the patches circled.  Being able to match the fabric perfectly really helped the patches disappear.  The repairs really aren't visible unless you look closely, and if you see like me without glasses, you almost have to feel to find them.  And, I gave them the repaired quilt back for this year's anniversary. :)

 

back

front

 5.  I completed one King George III block:

 

6.  I made a table runner of some leftover blocks for my daughter's birthday.

7.  I made potholders for my sister and daughter, as a project to figure out machine quilting on the new machine (and I know I need much, much more practice and shouldn't have used such a contrasting thread color, but there is a certain freedom in sewing for people who don't sew and don't know how bad something is.) :)  


Front

Back

Unfortunately, I was trying to be efficient as I made these, so I cut them out in pairs, stacked them, and began to sew.  I finished quilting the first one, and looked around for the second.  It was nowhere to be found...I looked everywhere--twice--was very puzzled until I realized I had sewn the two potholders together, and left out the insulated batting.  Now my sister has one very thick potholder.
  

Whoops--two sewn together!

Front

9.  I made a little quilt/table topper for my daughter as a piece to practice different machine stitching styles on.  Most were very roughly done, but hey, practice is practice, and I worked on it late at night to finish it. In other words, don't be judgmental, as I know it is flawed (but it IS finished) :)

front

back

10.  And, finally, this is non-quilting and sad news.  I spent a few weeks nursing our dog, Tessa.  Sadly we lost her last month.  Rips my heart out--she was with us almost 14, or is it 15 years?  A long time, but way too short.

Tessa and her duck

Although I've never been a dog person, Tessa seemed to know that right from the start and was on her best behavior, always trying to please me.  I will always remember the time I did yoga, and she saw me laying on the floor for the first time.  Knowing it wasn't right for me to be laying flat on the floor, she ran over and laid next to my head trying to revive me.  It was quite funny and touching that she cared, and she didn't give up on trying to get me up, even as I moved through the yoga.  Later she (and her duck) did their version of yoga on my mat (below).

Tessa was a great fashion advisor, and had a wonderful sense of style:

  

She had to wear shoes on walks due to a bad foot.  The day she got to go into the store to pick the shoes out, she was very proud,  but we were both disappointed in the color selection in her size. (She wanted red or purple)  She tried to be a good sport about wearing them, even though she hated that they made her stumble as she aged and couldn't lift her feet as well.

Tessa lived her life fully and with exuberance until the end, despite many ailments.  This photo was taken on her last trip to visit my parents, just days before she became ill.

 

Tessa, May 2013

 She was such a special sweetie.  I still look for her around the house, and I miss her everyday.  I hope she was as happy with us as we were with her.  I can't imagine a better dog.  Love you Tessa!

  

Tessa and her quilt

Couldn't let this week go by without noting that two special someones both had birthdays this past month. Happy Birthday to my two beautiful daughters!  

And while I love them both, this post is more about the furry one of them--and a quilt, of course. 

Our golden retriever, Tessa, has been part of our family for 13+ years. She tolerates us all well, keeps us in line, and manages to do it with style.

Tessa's been having health issues, has lost some hearing and eyesight, but she's still a real sweetie.  She spends most of each day "resting up" for her evening walk with the love of her life, Mr. CatsMeowTwo.   She sleeps either on the cool tile near the front door or by the back patio door where she can see out and pretend to watch squirrels and birds.  Here she is watching her man build a ramp for her so she can get in and out of the patio door more easily.

On brief occasions (if she smells me eating something yummy for lunch or thinks it's her dinner time), she'll come see me and watch me quilt and help me choose a fabric, then will get a drink, but then she usually goes back to nap by one of the doors.  Getting old requires lots of rest!

So one day this April when I went to find her and she wasn't by either door, I was surprised.  I called and called her, but she didn't come (she doesn't always hear my voice--or does somewhat selectively).  I knew she had to be in the house, so began searching all the rooms for obvious spots, calling her, and wondering if she were hurt or sick or well, worse.

After a second time through the house, I was more than a little concerned and beginning to feel that "missing child" panic.  This time searching, instead of looking through the kitchen at the patio door, I walked to the back door and started across my living room, and this is what I saw:

Tessa was sound asleep laying on the quilt I has spread out on the floor so I could decide on a back.   I hadn't been able to see her from the other direction because she was hidden by a desk.

She was happily sleeping away with total abandon, at least until the camera person woke her up.......then she was a bit grumpy.  (Or maybe she was concerned that she'd be in trouble.)  ;)

Tessa NEVER lays on my quilts.  She ordinarily walks carefully around them, although she will walk across one if I leave it out on the floor too long.  Somehow I have to think that she knows that when you don't feel well, nothing makes you feel better than to lay on a quilt--even if it isn't finished!  (and she knows there are few finished quilts at my house)

And so this is my entry to the 2012 Pets on Quilts Show.  You can see all the cute pet photos here.

And, I promise I'll blog soon and catch up about making "Tessa's quilt" and all the other goings on that have been happening here since March--can't believe I haven't posted since then--Yikes!

Sparkle Punch Scrappy Stars?

Remember these?

They were cut in the hopes of reducing my ever growing stash, with the plan to join the Sparkle Punch quiltalong by Oh Fransson!  In starting this, I didn't do any planning and just assumed that the large piece of background fabric I had (actually two pieces) would be plenty, and started stitching away.  This is what I ended up with at the end of cutting:

Then I realized I was short 13 squares--after cutting this up.  (I was making mine a tad bigger than the directions.)  I had trimmed pieces leftover from each strip--not the correct size, but just big enough to "tweak" and make them work if I crossed my fingers while sewing them.  And so the pieces are now this:

(Please forgive the moving quilt--it was breezy, but I had to take the photo in between the rain episodes).  Here's an indoor shot so you can see the fabrics a bit better.  (Any name suggestions would be appreciated.)

and a close up of my favorite blocks:

I've a few other things I've been working on to show you, but this will have to do for now, as I'm off to pick up some new medication for a very special old furry friend of mine who hasn't been herself lately--hope it helps!

And be sure to hop over to Stitched in Color and enjoy all the gorgeous scrap quilts in the Festival of Scrapiness!