The Lone Star

 

I started this quilt in April while taking care of my mom's taxes and taking care of her estate. At times I felt like the lone star, will this ever come together and be done. 

This process of assembling the quilt went faster and with less frustrations than dealing with financial institutions. I knew the quilt would get completed!

The back of the quilt is simple since I feel the front needs all the attention, like alone star.

There is a pattern to the star, just not as pronounced as some lone star patterns. For me this pattern complements the floral fabric used on the back. A field of flowers for my mom, who must have felt like a lone star after the love of her life, my father, had passed. Peace!!

Healing My Soul

 

This is a Sue Pritt kit from her Sweet Seasons collection. When I saw this kit, I knew I had to have it. For some folks, cardinals can represent a lost love one and bring comfort when they see a cardinal. And that is true for me. These cardinals represent my parents. The eyes of another bird in the birdhouse represent my brother who passed away in 2022. 

They will keep me company as I quilt to heal my soul!

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. 

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.

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

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. 

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!!

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!

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!!

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.