Blue Finish

I still don't have a name for this quilt! I sorta like "Blue Period" or "Quilted Blues" but not sure.
Just the same here it is.





quilt flimsy

This is a layer cake friendly quilt pattern. I did not use a layer cake, choosing instead to use scraps and fat quarters. I wanted my finished blocks to be seven and one half inches (7 1/2" square), so I cut rectangles eight and one half by no less than seven and one half inches to nine inches (8 1/2x 7 1/2-9"). Then I used scraps of eight and one half by no less than one and one half (8 1/2x 1 1/2-3") to sew into the center. I cut the rectangles at different places (at least two inches from one side) and sewed the scraps in the center.

There were some matching scraps that put together were big enough to be the main square, so I just put a different scrap in the scrap sandwich and started sewing. After sewing I just squared the whole thing up to eight inches (8x 8").



This is a close up of the blocks around 1:30 in the morning after I finished the binding. I used blue thread to quilt it with. Also, I used Kona Royal for the binding, which is the only fabric I can name in this entire quilt. I picked the binding fabric out after work Friday then, after watching a movie with the hubs, got to work cutting and sewing it that night. What else is a girl to do when she cannot sleep.



My wonderful hubs picked out the location to take the pictures and held the quilt for me. Don't you just love those legs?



Then he was like "I want to take some pictures!" and got a few of me holding it up. If you look closely you can see my sandals and toes.

We got the pictures and the measurements taken before we packed it and just made it to the Post Office to mail it. I walked in and they locked the door behind me.

It measures 44x58 1/2".

Blue Quilting

I have been quilting and finishing the blue quilt. I decided to go against my need for perfection and quilt organic straight lines. I enjoyed how they turned out.

I still need a name for it. The back has NFL Colt fabric so "Blue Colt" or "Colt Blue"? Boring. Maybe "Blue State" or "The State of Blue"? hmmm... What about "That Blue Quilt I Made"? Oh, to name a quilt...

Tutu Fun!

We had a lot of fun with the tutus. Yep, I made a couple more.



I gave my nieces theirs, and they had so much fun with them.

There was a lot of twirling









and just hanging around.





It was fun watching them twirl, dance, run around, and play blocks with them on. I hear that they are wearing them at home and even to the store. How fun!



Also in case you couldn't tell, my niece LOVES Justin Beiber. So, her tutu was made to match her favorite Beiber shirt. ;)
She was twirling and singing "Baby, baby, baby OHHHHH!" How cute is that?

Tutu!

My niece really like Angelina Ballerina. She really wanted a tutu, and it is more fun to make one. So, I bought some tulle and got to work.

I decided this time to see if I could cut it faster. I wrapped the pre-cut tulle around the top of my chair and then put the tube on top of the knob to protrudes from my chair.



Then I cut it at that end, because that was where I started and stopped, I repeated with the other two colors, and started tying the strips to the elastic band that I had sewn together.

I watched some TV and tied the strips. Before long I had a new wig tutu.



I can't wait to give it to her!

I plan on making a purple one very soon. So hold on for that. I may be wearing that one around my waist instead of on my head. Oh so normal. ;)

Note: The first tutu I made I did not blog about, but you can see it in my profile picture.

Quilting Blues

For the last month I have not wanted to quilt or make anything. I do not know what happened, but I have just been so tired.

Now I feel like I want to start doing something again! I have a quilt due in mid-March for Margaret's Hope Chest sister Wrapped in Hope. The recipient has requested blue and Colts (NFL). So, two different blues will converge and hopefully I will get out of this rut!

A New Stack

I have a new stack to start on.



A friend asked me to make a T-shirt quilt using these shirts that belonged to her father. He passed away a couple of months ago, so this is a memory quilt for her.

At first I planned to make two separate quilts: one for her and one for her mother. The one for her was going to use just the images, and the one for her mother was going to be plain fabric from the rest of the shirt.

She asked me to make the quilt as big as I could. So, now I am going to make the center the images and the outside border the plain fabric.

I know she will enjoy this quilt.

Sisters

Here they are!

This is my mom (in the middle) and her sisters.

My mom, my sister, and I took the three and a half drive to meet and visit with her sisters, their children and grandchildren, and the children and grandchildren of my mom's brother. We were unable to meet everyone due to location, but we met many of them.

We all got along very well and my mom was very happy to see her sisters, and since I have not had cousins until now, I am very excited to have cousins.

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!