Saturday, March 9, 2024

Chirps!

My son loves the Sparrow quilt that I made last year. He likes it so much that he asked if I could make him a smaller version for him to hang up in his apartment. 

He wanted the same fabric colors too. Luckily I did have some leftovers, just enough to produce this cutie for him. It will be one of his birthday gifts. 


Sunday, February 11, 2024

Son of Egg

 My son-in-law's mother owns a deli in Albany called Son of Egg. She opened it at the start of the pandemic.


Even though his mom is a talented artist, he is the one behind all the art work to the store's Merch


At Christmas, I had requested one of their shirts as a Christmas gift thinking I would wear it on hikes. I did wear it once, but then decided to make it into a pillow for my son-in-law as a collection of his artistic works, an anthology. This will be one of his Christmas gifts.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

A Pause and Peace

 My mom passed away on January 17, 2024. 

"I hear his voice. The dead whisper to us, they console us, they admonish us. Love more, love better. "-Dylan Thomas.

May she truly be at peace again with my dad, the love of her life. I love you both, thank you!

This was sung at dad's memorial: Camilla Aria from Merry Widow
Life was devoid of meaning
I wandered far and wide
Knowing not where I was going
And drifting with the tide
And then I saw your image
And all at once I knew
The reason for existence was in my love for you
The love that brought salvation
You're trying to deny
I will not let it die
I know my destination
And when our hearts combine
I'll sing in exaltation
That love has made you mine

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Snowman Missing His Cowboy Hat


 I made one like this for my daughter for her Christmas gift 2022.  Now there is a second one for my son for his Christmas gift 2024.


It's fun selecting the green fabrics to make up the tree.  My son's tree has different fabrics from my daughter's tree. The beads that represent ornaments are different too; otherwise, the other items are same. 

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Star Puzzle

 I love doing puzzles!


And this was my first puzzle of the year! I had taken a screen shot of this star...

...but forgot to make note of the site when I took the screen shot years ago. I tried a google search, but was unable to find the image or site. 


So, Math came into play-- too early in the New Year! Happily, I have some triangle rulers that were of help to figure out that puzzle.


After having fun looking through my stash of fabrics and picking out colorful motifs, I got busy with my ruler and templates that I made.


One of the templates had to be flipped to get the correct direction of right angle triangle for the points; like one does with patterns when sewing clothes. 


I have to admit the seam ripper became my life saver in getting the points to look correct and getting this mini quilt done. 


More mini quilt projects to come this year, with one or two being stars!!


Monday, December 18, 2023

Last Project of the Year!

My goal was to do one quilt per month this year. Yes, that is an ambitious goal! 


But that never happened. I did make 11 quilts! And numerous other projects, too! My son asked for me to make a pillow out of his tee-shirt as I was working on the shark quilt. 


I thought I would get to this project in the new year, but that didn't happened. The plan is to surprise him at Christmas!

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Sharks are Coming!

 My neighbor's youngest son loves sharks!!  Ever Halloween for the past two years he has been a shark.


When I saw Elizabeth Hartman's Social Sharks quilt pattern, I knew that I had to make this quilt! And I knew who would love the quilt too!


After cutting out my blocks, I did my first shark, the test shark.


All those envelopes were my method of keeping the blocks and the sequence in order for assembling the sharks. The sharks aren't difficult to do, just a lot of steps.


The most difficult part was forming the teeth. I found that if I cut the white last block larger it was easier to cut the block to proper size. 


The easiest part of this project was arranging the fabrics, which would become the sharks bodies.


I first did all the right facing sharks and followed up with the left facing sharks. The background fabric is a very light blue. 


And the back of quilt is Sharks. Lots of them, too!!


Saturday, November 18, 2023

Bookworm

 

That is what my neighbor's 8 year old son is, a bookworm. 


A couple of years ago, he had asked me to make him a quilt. Back then, I didn't know his interests. I knew he loved watching sports. 


And he loved to ride his bike, but that was it. This year I found out that he loves to read! 


So after seeing Angela Pingel's Book Nerd pattern at a local quilt store, I decided that this year I would surprise him with that quilt he had asked for.  This was a paper-piecing project, which are not one of my favorites to do. If ever I were to do this project again, I would modify her pattern: no cornerstones, just sashing strips. 

Sunday, October 15, 2023

A Different Finish

This was a first for me. 


As I was finishing up the quilt-as-you-go blocks, I realized that the border needed something too.


I thought what would be different and add to the quilt.  I researched crochet borders on quilts and came across a tutorial by Elsie Gray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM4_I1h81p0. Her crochet borders are so pretty and the tutorial easy to follow that I knew I wanted to give it a try with this quilt. 


First, I researched different types of crochet finishes. I found the linen stitch that would work great using different colors to complement the postage stamp size blocks.  The back of quilt is entirely black, also another first for me.


I haven't crochet in years; so, this took me a week to get done. I will try this again when left with an edge that needs something different from the traditional quilt borders. 

Sunday, September 17, 2023

49x49=2401

 

Working on a quilt that will have 2401 postage stamp size squares! There will be 49 large blocks with 49 small squares in the block. I have 21 blocks done!!!