Friday, May 24, 2013

Design Wall Friday :)


Ready for borders.


 I know, I know, it's not the official Design Wall day and this is a Design Floor, but we work with what we have, right?

P.S. My couch is covered with quilts because one of my cats loves to use it as a scratching post if it's left uncovered. With quilts over it he leaves it alone. 



Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Confirmation Quilt & What I'm Reading

Sunday was #2 Granddaughter's confirmation.  Here she is with the quilt I made for her to match her room.  I've never quite warmed up to that color combination but she seemed pleased with it. Anyway she was telling everyone she liked it and that it matched her room.


Little brother (there in the lower left corner) wanted to know when he gets his quilt. When I told him in four years for confirmation he was disappointed. His room has been recently redone so maybe he'll have to get his sooner.  The girls didn't get their rooms redone to their specifications until 8th grade so that's when they got their quilts.

Currently, I'm reading The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather. After she was divorced and lost her job she moved to rural Michigan and learned how to live on a $40 a week food budget and still eat well by using more locally grown foods. I've only read a few chapters so far and am enjoying it.  She admits that keeping the price down meant not going organic and that some things, like coffee and sugar, can't be produced locally but she goes out of her way to find the most natural products and buys "fair trade" coffee produced by coffee farmers who are paid a fair price for their product.


I'm making good progress on the next quilt....all the blocks are sewed.


Now to get them all laid out to suit me and get them sewn together.  The next part....borders... is where I lose steam. I did find a nice brown w/lavender flowers on it for the outer border. Inner border is still to be decided.  Maybe just a rather plain cream tone-on-tone to set it off from the cream print used as the background. We will see. I think the binding will be strips of the various lavenders sewn together. Backing will be the cream print, same as the background.



Thursday, May 16, 2013

Cuttin' Up


Most of the day yesterday was spent cutting out the blocks for the next quilt and getting them all kitted up, ready to sew.


I think I'm going to have to go fabric shopping.....imagine that!!!!  My "good" browns are pretty much used up after making several quilts with brown in them.  I ordered some backing fabric for this quilt and now I need to get some for the outer border.  I know I saw a collection online of chocolate browns and purples. Now I just need to find it again.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

I Told You......


...there was some quilting going on at my house!


 I call this one "Scrappy Stars".  It is being donated for the silent auction at my brother-in-law's benefit in Brunswick on June 1 at the auditorium. Fabrics are cotton, batting is Hobbs Polydown, 80" X 98", machine pieced, machine quilted.
 

This one is for my #2  Granddaughter for her confirmation. Orange & a teal blue with lime green binding. She will either love it or hate it. Haven't measured it since I finished it, but it should be a more-than-generous double-bed size.  I'm just calling it "Framed Nine-Patch", though I have called it "the monstrosity."   I must say I like it better with the lime green binding on than I did without it.

Now I'm on to the next one using the BQ Quilt pattern redrafted to a 12" size in dusty purple, chocolate brown and a light print with a cream background and some purple, brown & a little green. I wouldn't have thought to put purple & brown together, but that is what was requested. I think it will look fine in the bedroom it's destined for.


Sunday, May 12, 2013

Happy Mother's Day


.....to all the Mom's out there

Yesterday was #1 Granddaughter's high school graduation. I just made like a grandma and enjoyed.  Didn't even take my camera.  Told my daughter she was the mom and could take the pictures. :)  Their ceremony was really nice and done in under an hour and a half; they had it all planned to move quickly.  The party was at their house and I love the colors they decorated with....purple, pink, orange and lime green.  Food and company were good too.

There's been some quilting going on but no pictures yet. #2 Granddaughter's quilt for her confirmation is finished and the one for the silent auction at my brother-in-law's benefit just needs binding.  I tell you, standing on a cement floor for a few hours at the quilting machine just makes my whole body ache.  Am I getting old?????


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

What I've Been Reading

A while back JudyL started a What Are You Reading? segment on Tuesdays. It's made a kind of irregular appearance on her blog but others have continued sharing what they read and it's kind of fun.  Here's a couple of books I'm currently reading:


Health at Gunpoint: The FDA's Silent War Against Health Freedom by James J. Gormley tells the story of how the Food & Drug Administration has, at the behest of the food processors and the medical & pharmaceutical industries, fallen down on it's original job of protecting the health  of American citizens.  It's allowed all sorts of unhealthy additives and chemicals to be put into processed foods and it's done it's best to prevent consumers from buying vitamins, minerals, herbs and other supplements to enhance their health without prescriptions.  If you have found a supplement that helps you with your diabetes, cholesterol, cancer, arthritis or other condition, the medical and pharmaceutical industry doesn't want you to have it. Certainly not without continual doctors visits or prescriptions so they can all continue to make their unrealistic profits.  

Picture Perfect Corpse by Joanna Campbell Slan is the latest installment in the Kiki Lowenstein mystery series. I've enjoyed all the previous ones and fully expect this one to be just as good. (Haven't finished the first chapter yet :) )  One thing I will say about this series is that you DO need to read the books in order as the characters and the story develop a little more in each book.