Turtle, pink, and purple finish

The turtle quilt is finished, shipped, delivered, and being enjoyed!


The pillowcase inspiration that started it all!


The front

I really had a hard time letting go of this quilt. I fell in love! I told you that I love turtles too and my favorite color is purple. I just thought about how much this young lady would love this quilt, plus the fact that I have left overs and can make a similar one! So, off it went into the world to comfort someone else and that makes me happy.


The back

I quilted this with diagonal lines. I sure am enjoying the diagonal lines! I think the last few quilts have had diagonal lines. Well, anyways, I used green and purple thread to quilt it. It alternates in colors.



I am in love with this binding! I just love those two colors together. I did not think I would like them together, but they just look amazing! Also, in case you were wondering this is the green fabric that I intended to use as a border, but then decided that a purple border with this as the binding would be better. So glad that I went with that!



Plus I followed crazy mom quilts directions for binding to a T, and it turned out PERFECT! Usually I look at something, think I have done this a billion times, then do it my way with guidance, and the corner gets annoyingly strained/ pinched. This time I followed every detail. All I can say is that she really knows her stuff and ALL four corners were PERFECT! I also machine bound it using her instructions. I sure do enjoy binding better now.

I used the same green thread to bind it as I did quilting it. I was very worried that I would not have enough thread. So, I used white thread to attach the binding to the quilt then used the green thread to sew it to the front, and it JUST worked out to be enough.

It finished at 45"x65"

I would like to give a big thank you to my co-worker who held the quilt up for me. Thank you Polly!! Also, that is a tiger in the background. ;)

Linked to Crazy Mom Quilts finish it up Friday week 11

Graduation

I would love to post many pictures of graduation as promised, but my husband did not know that the camera was in the bag. You know the CAMERA BAG! OK it is not a real camera bag and it has not been in use as a camera bag very long, but still I hand him a bag to take with him to watch the graduation and it is the bag that I keep my camera in which I thought he knew. His response, "I wondered what this bag was for."

It is OK though, because my mom videoed it (I swear she broke through security to film me) and my best friend (from elementary days) took pictures. So, I will have pictures. I just can't post them NOW!! So when I get them you will see them, promise.

For the record there is security, but she did not have to break through them to get to the front to record me. I just hope she had the lens cap off and the battery charged. She filmed something once with the lens cap on and the battery died at my sister's graduation; she ran to a plug and filmed the rest of it! Memories!

I will leave you with this picture that I took when I got my metal and tassel.

Exciting Discovery

So, you may be wondering what happened to the turtle quilt. It is a little behind schedule, I admit, but it will be finished and in the mail Tuesday (the post office is closed Monday, grr).

Something amazing happened last weekend (January 7, 2012) that caused all sorts of changes of any plans that I had.

After two years of searching, I was able to locate and speak with my mother's sisters, their children, and her brother's children. This is amazing with the fact that it has been between 45 and 50 years since they have seen each other and maybe just a little less since they spoke. I am still working out details with the three of them to determine just how long it has been.

We learned last year (thorough his obituary) that my mother's brother passed away, but we were able to locate his children also. So, with new aunts and cousins, I have been a very busy girl trying to catch-up and learn names with so many people. I have/had thirteen cousins (one of my cousins passed away a couple of years ago). I have a name for all of them and a current picture (thanks to FaceBook) of most of them so that when we meet them in a couple of weeks we will be able to know who each one is.

That is right we are going to make the three-four hour trip to meet them. I was surprised to find that so many of them were so close. I had no idea where they would be. I had an idea where they could be, and it looks like they have all stayed in the same general location for the last ten years.

I am glad that we have found them, but I am sad that we have missed opportunities to meet a couple of them. I am also sad that we have missed so much time, but so happy that we can now spend time with this side of the family!

Turtle, Pink, and Purple

I bet you were wondering about the turtle quilt.



Well... I finished the top.



Yep the top is finished, and as soon as I get the backing together I will be quilting it. I plan to have it finished by Monday and mailed off the Monday after that.

Tyler's Wonky Quilt

Here it is! The wonky quilt reveal.



I finished quilting it on New Year's Eve but did not get the binding on it until New Year's Day. So, that makes this quilt the official first quilt finish of the year.



My sister-in-law is very happy to be receiving this quilt. She cannot wait to get her little boy snuggled in it. Neither can I!



Today would be a good day to snuggle up in a quilt. It is (for us) COLD!
measurements: 28 1/4"x 33 3/4" a little small but full of love

Wonky Quilting

Well...

I finished piecing the wonky quilt and got started quilting it.



What do you think?



The blue lines are my quilting lines using water soluble ink.

Xs and Os finish

I was busy with the holidays and working on the wonky quilt, and I did not post about my last finish of 2011.

I finished the Xs and Os quilt.



I finished it around Christmas and have not been able to get it to my mom's yet for her inspection (we celebrate Christmas on Winter Solstice with my mom).
The backing was my mom's choice. She gave me a flannel sheet to use, and I think it looks nice.

I was able to quilt in the corners of the X like I wanted. I changed out the needle and it worked just fine (stupid needle). Lesson learned!



I hope to get over there this week and send it soon after that.

measurements:58"x62 1/2"