A Different Kind of Baby Quilt

This quilt is not quite finished - I finished quilting it yesterday, and still have to get it bound.  That should tame down the wrinkly edges.  This one is for Suzanne's new son-to-be.  I made a very baby-like quilt for the first son with Peter Rabbit fabric.  The second one got a cute quilt with critters of all kinds dancing.   The two older boys have proved to have a profound interest in trucks, tractors, etc. - in other words, all kinds of machines that make noisy sounds, so when I found this Buggy Barn pattern, it seemed like the most logical quilt to make for the third baby boy.

Quilting This 'n That

 Remember the friendship quilt blocks, where 15 of us make a block with the same pattern, take it to guild, and draw names for it (I won the shamrocks - still don't know what to do with them.)  This month was a fun one - sailboats.  Time for summer.

 And this quilt is a take off from a known pattern.  We built three-part flowers, cut them in 1/4s, and then exchanged.  I chose to sew my four flowers together, and then centered another flower in the middle.  Makes a fun, (although unfinished) table topper.  Picture dark blue binding, and you'll get the complete picture.  I didn't realize until Ilooked at this picture that the leaves look like wings.  They are a violation of the law of design that says that odds are better than evens.  Oh, well, another time when I feel a little more fussy.  This project was fun - didn't worry about precision work.

Spring Flowers - At Last!

The daffydowndillies have come into town, in their yellow petticoat and white  gown....Remember the old nursery rhyme?  At last we have some spring, and the tulips are either blooming or beginning.  To my sorrow, though, tulips that I planted 16 years ago are getting smaller and smaller - does that mean I need to dig up and replant this fall?  Does sound like a lot of work, doesn't it?  The glories of spring overcome the labors of fall, right?  Except 16 years ago, it was much easier to get up and down.  It takes me ever so much longer to get things done, so it's just as well gardens have shrunk through time. Perennials are beginning to take over where annuals had to be planted.   Life is a trade-off - we gain knowledge and experience, but trade it for less mobility.  Perhaps that's because there is so much time spent sitting while absorbing that knowledge and forgetting about fostering the mobility?

The Importance of Grandma in Our Lives

I was able to get some photos from Sonja when she visited us recently.  This one of her and her granddaughter, Rylee (Brittany's) is reminiscent of photos I have of Mother with some of my children.  The trust and sweetness in this picture are an evidence of the two-way love between grandparent and child.   Even though children don't see grandparents as often as we would like in this time of scattered families, I would like to think that children hold grandparents in a special place - I know that, as a grandma, I certainly do wish the best for my grandchildren - even if it's been a long time since I've seen some of them. We still greet them with joy and a special feeling when we do get to see them.

Family Visitors

We were glad to have Arrilla, Bethany, Benjamin, and Sonja here for a couple of nights and a pleasant day. Bethany will be graduating from high school this spring, and plans to go to BYU-Idaho in the fall. Such a good idea to go look over the campus so that it won't be so strange when she comes next fall. Of course, brother Denton and his wife, Taylor, are already students there, so she won't feel all alone. Going to college at 18 was one of the biggest adventures of my life, and I expect it to be the same for my grandchildren.

Quote for April 1st

Turning the calendar over for a new month always gives me a new perspective. I try to find a Mary Englebreit calendar for each year, because I find her drawings enchanting, and the quotes she finds to enhance them are wonderful. The encouraging quote for April, "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, ANYONE can start from NOW and make a brand new ending." Attributed to someone named Carl Bard. That saying fits in perfectly with some of the General Conference messages we heard this Sunday morning. It's never too late to begin!

Posies Quilt

The finished Buggy Barn quilt top - Fun to make. Two women created this method of construction, where you stack ten fat quarters of fabric, and cut them out according to a pattern. Then you shuffle some of the colors, so that you use up all of the pieces, but create vastly different blocks. This technique is so much fun to do, because you don't have to worry so much about matching points, etc. Loved doing this quilt. The bottom three blocks are possibilities for a child's quilt. What a nice way to use up some fabrics I didn't know what to do with. The accent is on frogs, bugs, but no puppy dog's tails. Be sure to enlarge the pictures

Aline (a-leen'-uh) The newest member of the Family

Mandy and John's little family enlarged by one last Saturday night, and her uncle Phillip is already taking pictures! Named Aline Kathryn, and weighing 7 lbs, 13 ozs, she looks very angelic, and will probably never cry or kick up a fuss. I understand that Mandy had some meditation training, so that should probably help keep the peace in the house. I still love Wordsworth's poem paraphrased to say that we come from afar, trailing clouds of glory. It is so with each new baby. Enjoy the sweetness - children do grow up to become teen-agers. That time has it's own special joys, too.

It's the Shamrock!

I did not take time to color correct these pictures - the backgrounds are mostly white, but everything looks pink. Sorry about that. As I've written before, my local quilt guild (The Preston Piecers) have a block drawing each month. We're working on seasonal blocks this year, and if you commit to this group, everyone makes a specific block in colors of choice, and bring the signed block to the monthly meeting. Then a name is drawn from the group, and that person gets all of the blocks. There are about 17 participating, so you should end up with 17 blocks - eventually. I received the shamrock blocks this month, and haven't the slightest idea what to do with them. You can all help me by making constructive suggestions. (Non-constructive not appreciated.) Again, imagine most of the backgrounds as white, except for one that is yellow. And one that is green.........If I were Irish, this would be more appropriate, right?

Empty Nesters

Actually, I can't let this day go by without talking a little bit about a group of women from our church who get together at someone's house once a month to present our culinary skills for lunch, and sit together and eat and talk. The only requirement is that you do not bring children. Sometimes we have as few as 8 and sometimes as many as 20. We enjoy each other's company immensely, and tell stories about happenings in our lives. Some of the more seasoned members initiate the others into the life of hauling water, and having outdoor plumbing. We have yet to run out of topics. No gossip allowed, but we do have a good time, and go home convinced that the calorie gremlins who live in our closets and eat away at our clothes so that they no longer fit so well will be hard at work tonight. This get-together does require that the hostess for the month has to move a bit of furniture (or get her husband to help), and find enough chairs for all to have a seat, but the effort is worth the reward. We find that meeting together on Sunday does not give us a chance to really get to know each other better, and we find we are becoming a very close-knit group of women who can support each other through thick and thin. We've seen some through cancer, through MS, through broken bones, through surgeries, and on and on. The support system gets stronger for the association.

Newest Addition to our Family

Aline (pronounced a-leen'uh, which we are assured is a Celtic name) Kathryn, born Saturday late evening at the door of the birthing hospital. Obviously, this little one was in a hurry, and should be a joy to her parents and brother and sister. Congratulations and love to Mandy and John on this happy occasionl

March and April quilt blocks for the Friendship Quilt

A shamrock for March And a tulip, also. Did I really get my borders so crooked, or does the "keystoning" that poor photography does make all these look lopsided. Oh, well. Nobody's perfect - are they? A famous quilter said, "Better finished than perfect."

A Quilt for a New Baby

The lady bug baby quilt. This is the center - cute bug. The little quilt is all flannel - I practiced my quilting on this one, and ended up with a little too much quilting, so the quilt will make a good pad, and maybe a cover, too. I hope so. Doing free motion quilting without a pattern is fun, but I'm not good enough to really place things well. Some of the stitches look okay, but there is an occasional glitch - or two - or three.

If you really want to see the glitches, or admire my quilting ;-), click to enlarge. This quilt is for Mandy and John's baby, who is to be born this month. I'm not too worried about them seeing it, because they are so busy that they don't visit this spot too often. Fun to make, though, and successful or not, neat to have made with love for the new baby.

More Seasonal Quilt Blocks

Easter comes in April, but our friendship quilters will get an Easter block, and another one, as well. The kite will come in April - I decided the center of the block - the kite should be bigger, so all of the other blocks will be vey large. Once again, there will be a drawing, and the winnter will get about 17 blocks of the same theme, but different colors, etc. More later.

Friendship Quilt Blocks

Some of the members of my local quilt guild decided to make a Friendship quilt exchange. There are many ways to do this, but this is what we are doing. The quilt coordinator gives us a new block to make for each month. The mitten block below was for January. If we each make two blocks, then we have one to keep and one to give away. Then a drawing is held of those who committed to make blocks, and one person wins all of the blocks. That person can not win again, but is committed to make all of the blocks remaining. Since we all sew just a little different, there is a slight challenge of putting the quilt together, but it would be fun to get a lot of blocks that you could put into a small quilt. Whoever wins the February block, appropriately a heart, will have a nice little baby quilt. However, several of us found that block to be a little off in the cutting instructions, so we all made interesting modifications to the pattern. (The first one I sewed was more perfect than this one, but because I followed the original instructions carefully, I lost the bottom point on the star. Oh, well, better finished than perfect, as a famous quilter once said.