Thursday, December 29, 2011

2011 Quilting Recap and 2012 Quilting goals

It is the end of the year, and it is now time to reflect on the old year and think about resolutions for the new year.

2011 Quilting Review

This has not been a very quilty year for me.  I have spent a great deal of time working at work, working on genealogy, and writing articles for HubPages and elsewhere.  Weaving has also taken a great deal of my time this year.    Besides the finished projects I am showing on this blog, I have also made progress on several other projects, but not to completion. I worked on the Thangles BOM, made a DJ block, and quilted my Moldy Crackers quilt.   If I continue to make that type of progress this year, there will be some completed quilts to show for it.

Here are the quilts I finished this year. There is lots of variety.

This was a little quilt for Kate's Another Little quilt Swap that I finished early in the year.







The Simply Squares quilt was finished in May, even though I forgot the quilt reveal until October. It was one of the rare projects that I worked on start to finish without letting it marinate.



Celebrate was my happiest achievement this year, because this quilt did languish for a long time while I decided what to do with it. I promised a better picture, but I'm not sure I delivered since part of it is cut off.




And don't forget the postcards I made in my last post!


2012 Quilting Goals

I don't think 2012 will be a year for quilting for me either in terms of getting a large number of quilts finished. I am not giving up quilting by any means.   I will definitely continue to work on quilting as much as possible, and try to get more done, and hopefully get a chance to get started on some of the ones that are waiting in line.  I think there should be at least three or four quilts finished this year.  I want to focus on quality, and make progress on the quilts that have applique and lots of little pieces and take longer to make.  They have already been started and I just need to keep making progress even though it feels very slow.

It will be a few weeks until the denim rug is finished, and I want to get a large portfolio of articles written on HubPages, and focus on my job.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Avatar Fabric Postcards

I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas.

I had a lovely time making these avatar fabric postcards.  I have written up directions on how to make them and posted them on HubPages: How to Make a Fabric Avatar Postcard.



She looks like she is curtsying.  "Pleased to make your acquaintance."  I know I need to be working on my BOMs, but they are so serious, and I just wanted to play.


I think they turned out pretty good.  Do you have any ideas for their names?

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Still Weaving


I am so excited that  I am finally weaving with denim!  It is a great feeling to finally be working on the denim part of the denim rug.  In quilting, you think you are done when you have made a top, but there is a lot of work still left to do to finish up a quilt.  In weaving, there is a lot more front end work, so that when you actually get to weaving, there isn't much left to do except finish off the ends.

Those raw edges sticking out are  where the strip ended, and I turned it to make a continuous strip. I think it adds character.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Quilt Related Post

Are you sitting down?  I don't want you to go into  shock that I have written a second post so close in time to my first one.  Or that I might actually have content that relates to my header and blog name.






All right, I have to admit that I didn't actually do any quilting.  I really wanted to save you from the trauma.  See how nice I am.  I simply went to the store to pick up the last of my block of the months.  And their BOM marketing ploy worked, since I did wind up buying some fabric as well while I was there.  I am going to use a star setting, and use the fabric shown to make some of the stars around the BOMs. Who knows, maybe next time, I will have some completed blocks to show you.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Finally Weaving!


I have been going to a weaving class for many weeks now, and diligently measuring threads, and putting them on the loom.  Once you put the threads on the heddles, you have to put them through the thing that looks like a comb.  I made several mistakes at the end that required some rework, and some more rework.  Yesterday - do you hear the music? - I was able to finish the last of the corrections and actually start to weave!  It is such a relief to actually get to the part that I thought weaving was all about!

Of course, this means I had better get to cutting those denim strips so I don't run out and can actually weave when I go class.

Another big accomplishment for me this week is that I received the Hub of the Day accolade on HubPages for my How to Make a Quilt Label.  I don't think it was my best work, but I will take any accolade I am given.

And the biggest news is that I have finished the 100 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge I was doing over at HubPages.  I am not going to be doing anything like that anytime soon.  For now, I am going to go back and edit some hubs to incorporate the new things I have done, and see what I can do about making each hub the best it can be.

I also now have time to have a life, which means I can get back to reading blogs and hubs and commenting.  So sorry I haven't had the time to come visit you as often as I would like.  I have missed all of you.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Stripping with Denim

make an avatar
Denim strips

I am sorry it has been so long since I wrote in here.  I entered a challenge on HubPages to write 100 articles in 30 days, and that has been very challenging. It has taken me a lot longer than I thought it would have.  You can see my articles on Millionaire Tips,Hubpages.com you are interested.

I continue to go to the weaving class, we skipped another one because my sister was going to chaperone at a camp, and I didn't want to get too ahead of her.  I have been cutting my old jeans into denim strips to weave.  Unfortunately, I made several errors in the threading process, so this week I had to re-do a bunch of it. I still have to redo some more things when I go next week. Having a loom is supposed to make things easier, but I am not sure it wouldn't have been faster to weave manually.  I am sure once I stop making the mistakes, it will go faster.

I have to cut up a lot more jeans too.  We had Thanksgiving off, and I felt I would have a lot of time to cut strips in those two weeks, but somehow time got away from me and I didn't cut any!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Time Change

When we went to London, we had to deal with a five hour time change. London is five hours ahead of Columbus. Then, while we were there, daylight savings time ended, and we switched our clocks back an hour. Actually, just the watch - I bought a cheap watch for the trip since the cell phone wouldn't work.

Then we went to the airport. It caused some confusion when we landed in the states, because the US had not changed their time, and the difference was no longer five hours.

No matter, I was able to handle all of these changes just fine, even though both my mother and sister did have jet lag when they returned.

Then daylight savings time ended here, and we had to switch our clocks an hour again. I am having the hardest time with this switch. I think part of the reason is that my dog doesn't understand the time change thing. The other part has to be my own indecision.

He wakes me at what he thinks is the usual time to wake up, which is really an hour earlier than what time I need to be getting up. But I remember Ben Franklin's adage, "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." I want to be healthy wealthy and wise, so I might as well get up an hour earlier.

So am I refusing to adjust to change, or have I smarted the system? I don't know yet. I guess I will find out the next time I have an appointment and see if I show up on time!

So what have I been doing with all my time? I have been writing more Millionaire Tips articles on Hugpages. I joined the 30 hubs in 30 days challenge, and completed that successfully. Can you believe it? I've already written 30 hubs. I mostly focus on quilting, genealogy, and finance, although a few other topics are thrown in now and then.

Now I have accepted the 100 hubs in 30 days challenge. This is obviously much more challenging, especially since I am trying to continue providing quality with the quantity, and am still learning about hub writing.  You will be seeing my hubs change frequently on the sidebar. I will be doing many quilting hubs, since they won't take me as much research. In my quilting hubs, I particularly like How to Gift a Quilt.

This week, I will also be cutting more denim strips since I will be probably be weaving this week. I also remembered that I need to pick up the November blocks of the month.  I am behind in sewing the BOMs so hopefully I can make progress on those as well.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Threading the Loom


My sister, mother and I went to London England for a week. It was a last minute decision to see the relatives. Two of my mother's sisters and her brother live there, and we managed to see all of them. We also took my daughter out for a day of sightseeing, and deliver some sweaters to her so she can keep warm this winter.It was incredible hearing her voice, my heart felt so much lighter and all felt right in the world. The return trip was difficult, going more than three thousand miles away from her.


Our sessions of the weaving class is finished, but the teacher said we could keep coming until we are finished with our first projects. All the threads have been loaded onto the drum on the loom for my denim rug. I am in the process of threading all the heddles. Luckily, the eye of these heddles is much bigger than a sewing needle. This week, I will be madly cutting denim strips to make the rug, because I believe that I will be able to actually start weaving.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Weaving Update


The first step in weaving, after choosing your colors, is to measure the yarn / cord/ thread. Instead of cutting 30 threads the same length, and tying them on, it is easier to use a mill. This keeps them all in the correct sequence and keeps them from getting tangled. I have finished this step. The photo is not my project. I used a stationary mill, this one twirls around, making it easier to handle longer threads.

The second step is to chain the threads together, and take them to the loom. This is my project, and I just finished this step.

The threads are then divided in the rattle. This preserves the spacing of the quilt, so it will be as wide as you want your project to be. I had some difficulty, and got my threads tangled up, but I think it has been worked out. The next step is to roll the threads onto the roller thingie. I haven't finished this part yet, but I will try to get the name of this for next time.

Then the threads will have to be threaded into these thingies. After that, we will finally be finished with setting up the loom. The actual weaving part goes much faster. It is setting up the loom that is very slow.

It is a lot of fun, and we are still enjoying the progress.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

List of Quilting Magazines





As I said in an earlier post, I have been madly writing articles.  Since most of the articles are ghost written, I can't share them with you, I have also created a space where I can write articles on my own.  I thought you might be interested in the most recent one I wrote - it is a listing of quilting magazines. I will be writing additional quilting articles in the future.  Most of them will start with the basics - like the ones I recently posted on this blog. I think that my readers are experienced quilters, though, and hub pages will be a better home for them. I will let you know when I write others that might interest you. But in the meantime, you might want to keep an eye on the listing of recent hub pages I have written in the sidebar. You may be interested in the other topics I write about as well.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Writing

Columbus, Ohio

I promised myself that I would write more frequent posts on this blog, and I broke that promise almost as soon as I made it. Oh well, you will have to put up with sporadic posts as usual. At least, it will save you from boring posts!

I have been writing articles that will be written under someone else's pen name. I think most of them are filler articles that will be published online, to keep people on their website, with hyperlinks to those things that will bring them money. They tell us the topics, and the approximate size of the article. The people who completed the optional review have been happy with the articles I have written. I have always dreamed about being a published author, and now that dream is coming true, even if someone else is getting credit for it. It is a great start, and is giving me some confidence and practice in writing. I am learning what topics are popular, and since some articles require research, I am learning quite a bit. Hopefully, I can venture forth and eventually become published in my own (pen) name.

All that writing makes it hard to stay on the computer to write blog posts.


There were many people who were ready to start setting up their looms for weaving this week, so I watched as they set up, and helped my sister do some of her set up. Some of it is really difficult for one person to do by herself. We were talking about how wonderful it is to simply look at the room. All the beautiful threads lined up on the shelf, the wonderful finished projects displayed on the walls and from the ceilings, and the many works in process on the many looms provide a great deal of eye candy. It is crowded and cluttered but that just adds to the atmosphere.

I have decided to keep my denim rug simple, and use light and dark blue threads for the warp. The warp is the lengthwise threads that hold the tension. I have started measuring it and preparing it for the loom by using on the mill. This is apparently an important first step in the process. The weft, that will be going under and over the warp will be the denim strips, which I have been cutting at home. I promise to show you as I go along.


My brother-in-law and nephew joined us this week while we walked along the river. It is a pleasant walk, a great place to ride a bike, and we even walked by the Mayor. I think they need to have places to eat along the walk though. There is one restaurant, but it is expensive, and we were hoping for something quicker and more appropriate for our walking attire.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Simply Squares

how to make gif

Why are you seeing photos of a quilt that you thought was finished way back in May?  Well, it is a long story.  When I finished the Celebrate quilt, I updated my spreadsheet to mark the finish date, but I also tried to add a column to figure out the average amount of time each quilt takes.  It didn't work out - since there are estimates of dates and ranges in there.  Then, I tried to sort the spreadsheet, but used the wrong range, so the sort was all wrong.  I didn't save the spreadsheet and just quit.  I didn't remember that I hadn't saved the updates.


Anyway, yesterday, I was looking at the spreadsheet to see how I was doing, what I wanted to work on, and I noticed that the Celebrate and Simply Squares quilt did not have finish dates on them.  I looked on the blog for the finish date for Simply Squares, and all I found was a note that I was working on the binding in May.  No quilt reveal!  I know the weather was bad and I wasn't able to get a good picture, but we've had good weather days since then!


I decided to remedy the situation by providing a belated quilt reveal.  I took the quilt along for our daily walk.

Which photo do you like the best? I added a poll in the sidebar for fun.  Please leave a comment to let me know what appealed to you about the photo(s). This will help me take better photos of other quilts.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Weaving


At our weaving class, I continued to work on the abandoned piece. A previous student had abandoned it, so I could just play without guilt. I added some gold because I thought the gold would make the red and black look Christmasy, but it made it look African, so I went with the African theme and added random amounts of other colors.(The color is off in the picture - that is red, not orange).   I started making random patterns, but since this was supposed to be my training piece, I forced myself to get practice on following patterns.  Instead of winding bobbins, I tried to use up bobbins other students had left, although I did add other colors as it pleased me. I really like this piece, it was fun to play with it.  I might add some other colors and use it as a table runner or wall hanging.


But it is time to start my official piece.  When we went this time, she had a denim rug on display, and I have decided to use denim instead of my original chosen material.  I have lots of jeans which I acquired when I made a jeans quilt, and this will reduce some of the stash in my house as well.


After our class, we walked around some more in downtown Columbus.  Both my sister and I used to work downtown, and we both really miss the walking we did there.  And they have added more walking paths, with fountains, benches, planters, piped in jazz music, with the new Scioto Mile, so it is very pleasant to walk and hang out downtown. We saw many people jogging, many with their dogs.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Quilt Wall


Ever since I saw my first picture of a wall covered with small quilts, I have wanted a quilt wall.  I don't have big walls in my house - since I have small rooms and a lot of windows, but I designated a wall in the dining room as my quilt wall.  I made and exchanged lots of small quilts, that I have plenty for a wall.  I bought some sticky product by 3M to attach the quilts to the wall, as recommended by another blogger.  I must have bought the wrong kind, because my quilts kept falling off the wall, even little ones like ATCs.

I then went out and bought applique pins, because another blogger uses them for her design wall, but that seemed too hard for me too. I don't have the strength to push them in the wall, and using a hammer would require coordination to hold the pin and the quilt.

Then when I went to Michaels to buy the scrapbooking paper for a gift, they had this big bulletin board on sale.  I wanted to have the board up for the gathering, so I quickly added some fabric to it. It needs some help tucking the fabric in the frame, but now I have a quilt wall! At some point I will paint the frame. I made the three big quilts on the right side, the rest are exchanges.

I am really happy with it. I like that I can quickly change the stuff on the wall, and add notes, etc.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Next Project





Now that I have finished the Celebrate quilt, I am free to work on another one.  I am trying very hard not to start a new project, and stay focused on completing some old ones.  I have many projects in the works, and several kits that are ready to start.  There are several quiltalongs and other available projects that are distracting me, but I think I will be able to finish some current projects without starting anything new.

I don't have a leader and ender project ready, and there are a couple of projects that sound interesting to me - the warm/cool quilt, and the leggo quilt.  Both would work great, but it does feel like I would be starting a new project. I have fabric that would work wonderfully for the cool part of the warm/cool quilt, but they are designated for another quilt.  I'll have to think about whether I want to repurpose them, since that would also involve finding some warm fabrics as well. I might just go with the leggo quilt to start, since I can use up the leftover scraps.

I think for now, I will work on quilts that don't require the sewing machine.  I am handquilting the moldy crackers quilt.  (yes this is an old picture, there has been more progress made during the year).  This way I can have projects move forward, and after a while, I will start cutting the strips for the leggo quilt.

The other issue I have is to take my time and not rush through the current quilts so I can get on to new ones.It is so much fun to start a new project!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Downtown


When we went to the weaving class, we spent some time walking around Columbus and taking pictures.  There were many great shots, but I decided to try to narrow down one to share. Because of the river and the green space, many of the shots look like they were taken at a park instead of the middle of a city.   I really like this photo because it shows the beauty of the city, and the construction shows that it is still growing and thriving.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Rivals


We went to the airport yesterday, but unfortunately, we weren't there to see any Rivals. The world traveling daughter has gone overseas to study for her masters degree. In another country. In another continent.  Which means she will not be back to do her laundry and she doesn't plan to come back for her vacations.  She will be at Exeter University in the UK. I am really proud of her, and glad she is able to take advantage of opportunities that were almost unheard of in my day. But the house seems empty and she will be missed.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Weaving


My sister invited me to learn weaving with her at the Cultural Arts Center. We could choose our own projects. I decided to practice on a piece someone else had abandoned before starting my own. I am having fun just putting random designs and random colors on it.

The teacher has to divide her attention amongst all the students (the five in our class, and the others continuing students who show up whenever they want), so we learn by watching her help others. Here the teacher on left, is helping a student front load the threads on the loom.  The room is full of looms - maybe 40+ all packed together.  I'll have to get a photo of all of them sometime.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Picasion try two

The Picasion slideshow I added yesterday seems to be going too fast.  It seems like the normal setting  might be one per second.  I changed it to three seconds; hopefully that isn't too long.  but I   I also didn't like the border that was created when I had a landscape, so I selected photos that were all going the same way.

how do you make gifs

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Picasion

I noticed on Oops-Lah that she was showing her finished quilt as a slideshow.  The link pointed to a website called Picasion.com.  I just had to try it so I would remember to do this in the future.

how do you make gifs

Friday, September 16, 2011

Celebrate 9/11


I quilted flowers around the Celebrate quilt as I showed you in a previous post, both in the body of the quilt and the border. Then the only thing that was left was the top. I attempted to stitch in the ditch around the letters using the free motion foot, which turned out probably as well as it would have with the walking foot. Then I stippled around the background to make the letters stand out. I did one letter at a time - stitch in the ditch, background, onto the next letter.

That left an inner border between the body of the quilt and the words. I wanted to quilt a quote on it, like I did the flag quilt. I found three quotes I liked:
  1. The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
    Oprah Winfrey
  2. While we are living in the present, we must celebrate life every day, knowing that we are becoming history with every word, every action, every deed.
    Mattie Spepanek
  3. We're all here at the same time and we should celebrate that.
    George Weinberg

I actually liked quote #2 the best, since it fits the genealogist in me, but it was way too long. I liked both the other two for different reasons, but decided to go with quote #3, because I thought it was more fitting for a family gathering quilt. Also the first one seemed to be more like advice - something you should do, and the third one seemed more like being happy just as you are. I think it was the word "you" in the first quote, which somehow overrode the "should" in the third quote. Anyway, I went with #3 and quilted that one. I really worked on getting the spacing right. I typed the words and used a large font and taped the words underneath the inner border, so I could follow the spacing, but the paper got in the way and kept me from making the spacing as far apart as I would have liked. It looks like I didn't try.  It's all right though and I am not redoing it.


The wonky letters aren't as wonky as a casual quilt would indicate, and the setting is very formal, but I did try to keep this a casual quilt with the raw edge applique and the casual free hand quilting, and the quote.

I have also decided to ask my family members to sign this quilt. I have been reading a book about heritage quilts - I will be posting a review soon on my reader blog, and have been wanting to make a heritage quilt for a while. When I was at the quilt show, I saw a quilt that had been signed, but it didn't use the signature quilt format - with signature blocks. This quilt does have blocks that could be signed, but they are dark, so the signatures will be on the sashing of the blocks instead of the squares.


I tried to finish the quilt on 9/10/11, because I thought that would be a fun date, but with my carpel tunnel I cannot bind the quilt all at once.  I took breaks, but some of them must have been too long, and when it was past my bedtime and I wasn't even halfway finished, I decided to call it a day.  So the quilt was finished on 9/11/11.  While it is somewhat strange to have a quilt called Celebrate to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, it is fitting because that day reminded many of us to celebrate being with our loved ones.

This quilt was made as part of a challenge.  The dot background fabric was part of the challenge, and we were to represent a poem, as well as use applique. I can't remember if the wonky letters were a requirement or not.  I missed the deadline (by more than a year!), but I did finish on a holiday, sort of, so it kinda counts.It is a wall quilt. The pattern was published in a book, but I changed it by including a center, and the applique were not part of the original pattern, nor was the wonky word border. This quilt stayed a UFO as I tried to decide on the applique - I was trying to make it fit all celebrations, and I couldn't make it go that way when thinking Christmas, graduation, birthdays throughout the year, etc.  But with my quote, I think I managed to do so without even trying.    We're all here at the same time and we should celebrate that.

I hope to have a photo taken after the signatures are on it, hopefully in better lighting for the end of the year recap!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

9/10/11

Remember when I said I wanted to finish a quilt on a special date? Today is 9/10/11 and that sounds like a special date to put on a quilt finish! The celebrate quilt just needs the binding sewn down and a label. I think I can do it! Just need to stay off the computer until then!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

My Memories

When I go to a blog post, and see a giveaway, I generally enter.  It shows support to the blogger, and gives me a potential to win something.  I haven't won anything in a while, but that doesn't dissuade me from trying.  Recently, I went to Michelle's blog, and saw that she was giving away some scrapbooking software.  So I entered.


And then I received an email and a blog post to say that I have won it! Not only does the prize include My Memories software with its standard templates, there is also another $10 to get additional templates.


I downloaded the base software and am already loving it! I thought I should wait until I tried it before downloading the additional templates. For my trial, I grabbed some animal shots from the wilds. They could probably using some brightening up of the colors and maybe some enlarging or cropping, but I wasn't taking my time to do much of that. The software does let you crop and change sizes, and tilt the pictures.


I chose this template that has all these little boxes - it comes in four seasons, and I chose fall. This is a great template because you can leave the boxes, or put in photos in its place. You can also add embellishments - buttons, dots, etc., but I didn't do that on these pages. I did play with it a bit though. I had a hard time getting the layers right. I added a swirl, and some dots on top, then I wanted to change a picture, and I had to move the swirl and dots, and then the dots weren't in the right place on the swirl. I haven't worked with layers much, and I guess you should make sure your base is how you want it before you add the next layer, but sometimes how the layer looks makes you want to change the base. I did manage to work it out though.


The standard software comes with a pretty good amount of stuff - page templates, colors, shapes, fonts, embellishments. Of course you will want new templates and new do dads as soon as you get the software, and it comes with several free sets, and you can of course buy more!

When you are done, you can add music and create a slideshow, or print them out into a book, or create a DVD, etc.

Thanks Michelle, for the chance to win, and the win!

Shopping


I've been avoiding stores. Partly because I need to catch up with my finances from my vacations. Partly because I have been reading hoarding books and frankly, I don't need anything. I even managed to not buy any back to school supplies, even the free ones. That took a lot of will power.

But now it is birthday time, and I would like to get some gifts. I thought about buying online - even knew intuitively that it would be better to buy online while I only had birthday gifts in the cart. But I really miss the entertainment value of going to a store. So yesterday I ventured out to Michaels. Yes, I know, a dangerous place to go, but the gift recipient wanted scrapbook paper, and I had found the one I wanted online, KandCompany Que Sera Sera Designer 12-Inch by 12-Inch Paper Pad and it was available there. Isn't it so pretty, and it is two sided, which I thought would be really good so she could choose the side she likes, and since I'm not sure what she wants it for, she can make 3-D stuff with it.

Yes, I was tempted.  Since I used a coupon, I figured I could use the savings for stuff for me. I got some party supplies, which were on clearance and fit perfectly with my celebrate theme, and some beads for embellishment.  I also overspent by buying a large framed cork board, also on clearance.

The total was less than what I would usually spend, and it really felt good to get something for myself.  Now I can close the purse strings back up and tie them up tight.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Quilting Celebrate


How should I quilt the wonky letters?


Quilting to secure the fusible applique.



I added a few birds and butterflies for interest.


Quilting on the open spaces. I had some difficulty getting the free motion quilting set up, until I realized that one of my free motion / darning foot works and the other one didn't. I wonder if this has been the problem all along. I'm so glad I figured it out though!


P.S. I am adding this to the 15 minute challenge,because I do work in 15 minute increments. A lot of times 15 minutes is all I do, but sometimes I surprise myself and add another session or two.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Progress - Celebrate!


There is an upcoming birthday party that is going to be held in my home.  The cleaning and organizing is continuing, but as I said before, the WIPs/UFOs are haunting me.  I have one quilt that is especially made for celebrations, so I decided to try to finish it in time for the party.  It has been languishing long enough.  The top was made, and it languished because of some problems I had in executing the center.  Then I had a hard time figuring out what applique I wanted to add to it. I just knew that I wanted applique for the wide border.


I was hoping for applique that would work year around - for all the birthday celebrations and graduations and holidays, etc. whenever they occurred. I thought balloons would be nice, but they require pretty specific shapes, and I wasn't sure they would look like balloons when I was done with them. And balloons might be boring.


I finally realized that the flower theme that was in my mind the first time I saw the quilt was the theme I really wanted. No matter how much I tried to think of something else, this quilt needed flowers. So what if it feels more like summer than the rest of the year. I had already cut out the flower and leaf shapes so it was just a matter of pressing them down, and then moving on to quilting.  The photo was taken before pressing - some of the shapes have been rearranged.


After all, if I bring out this same quilt for every celebration, some of my family members would never see another quilt besides this one, and this one wouldn't seem so special to them.


And those flowers on the quilt go really well with my garden this year. This is the first year I have really bought annuals, and I think I need to invest in them in future years as well.