Completed baby quilt--Lemonaid

Best wishes for 2008

There's good news, the turquoise fabric arrived. I ordered 5 yards, and it's now threatening to engulf my sewing area with a turquoise tide. I'd better fold it up! Anyhow, I'm sewing a binding on the baby quilt now. It's for no particular baby, but I'm sure one will arrive one of these days and need a quilt present. I used to be a Girl Guide (that translates to Girl Scout in American) so I believe in the motto: "Be Prepared." And I've made all the turquoise blocks and squared them up. I hope to assemble the quilt this week, the Lord willing.
I want to wish all my blog friends a Very Happy New Year. May this be a good year for all. And may we all finish at least a few of our projects.

What happened to the lemonade

This is a sample of what can be made with those wild and crazy blocks. I put together six of them (9 1/2 inch) into a baby quilt. I like to make easy quilts for babies using lots of colors. Babies love these quilts and usually use the ones I give them until they shred. As any of you who have read my blog know, none of my quilts is going to win a ribbon at any quilt show or fair. But they keep loved ones warm. I generally put flannel on the back of these baby quilts. I put an assortment of my baby quilts on my flickr. You can view them by clicking the flickr block on my blog.
Happy New Year, and may you make some satisfying quilt projects in 2008.

Star quilt

Well, of course I'm still waiting for my order of turquoise fabric to arrive. You might think, why doesn't she just go to the fabric store instead? But it's too far for me to drive there. I have to wait for a special lift to the store. Besides, they give free shipping! Meanwhile, I thought that I would post a couple of photos of my method for putting the quilt together. I made a diagram on graph paper. Then I letter the blocks across, and number them down the side. As I sew each row together, I make a label for the row on a bit of paper and safety pin the label to the corner. that's how I keep the pattern straight while joining blocks together.

Embarking on a new quilt

I'm happy today. I found a quilt pattern I really like. It's sort of an enlarged version of the old pattern "Aunt Sukey's Choice." I got out my graph paper and made a chart for it. The quilt requires one bright, solid color. I chose turquoise. I ordered that fabric yesterday, so it will take a few days to get here. Meanwhile I'm making the non-turquoise parts. My daughter "E" always says: "Mom, you can't have too much turquoise!" Anyhow, this quilt pattern is one big star in the middle. I always wanted to make a quilt that has one big star. But I can't hassle with diamond shapes. And besides, I like to make quilts that I can divide in the middle until after I quilt them. This pattern meets those criteria. And it uses up lots of different scraps. I pieced a bunch of triangle squares today. I may name the quilt "Fourth Day."
On another topic, Lazy Gal in her blog recommended the book "Color A Natural History of the Palette'" by Victoria Finlay. I'm in the middle of reading it, and it's fascinating. It tells about all the dyes we use for painting and for fabric. For instance, in our American history books, how many times have you seen the British Army referred to as "The Red Coats?" Yep, find out all about it.

Bird of Paradise flower

Growing near my home.

When Life Gives You Lemons

Make Lemonade

I used to have a small erasable board hanging in my dining room and write sayings on it. The "lemonade" one was one of my favorites. Right now, that saying applies both to my life and my quilting. I can't really create anything original when I have a lot of worries. So I just get out a bunch of scraps (I have a whole laundry basketful) and make some machine crazy squares with no foundations. I sew 'em, iron 'em, and square 'em up. These particular ones are squared up to 6 1/2 inches. When I'm back to feeling creative these crazy squares will become a quilt (any size) with some sort of set. Or I can use them for a border on a quilt. Meanwhile, the things I'm worried about are improving a bit.

not much news

Well, it's holiday time, as you know. I haven't been doing much quilting. And just a bit of knitting. I made this sweater for my oldest granddaughter. I designed it myself. And the best news is that it fits--and she likes it! You may notice a tiny red spot on the inside of the back collar. I always mark the back inside of the neck with a tiny bit of embroidery thread. That makes it easy for the wearer to put on the sweater.

The purloined letter--no--the purloined place mat

On Nov. 25th I blogged about losing my place mat. It has now been found--in another state! Talk about people misplacing their socks! My place mat was purloined by Edgar Allen Poe. Well no, I made that up. What happened is really not that complicated. No, that's a lie, it is complicated. Picture this, my darling son, who lives in Nevada, was visiting me here in California. And it seems that he accidentally packed one of my place mats in with his things when he left. He called me today and said (among other more important things, actually) that my daughter-in-law read my blog and she realized where the strange place mat was from, the one that mysteriously appeared in her laundry. I graciously gave them permission to keep the place mat, and use it. So if a strange place mat happens to appear in your laundry--you know where it probably came from.

movie--Reign Over Me

I've got a sore arm today, so no sewing for me today. It's ice pack time. I hope to feel better in a couple of days. By then, maybe I'll have made up my mind about my next project. Anyhow, while I'm resting I watched a good movie. It's about grief. Reign Over Me with Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle.