LOTS of quilt pictures!

I have lots of new pictures for you tonight! First is a photo of the fabrics that I used in a Turning Twenty Mystery Quilt that I started at a retreat several years ago. And, shhh! There's a secret! I'll tell you in a minute!

I had some of the blocks sewn together wrong from when I first worked on it years ago, so I avoided "unsewing" until this last weekend. I was finally in the mood to "redesign some seams," so I got started. This is the center before I got started on the borders. My last classes at work are Friday, so maybe I'll have some time to finish the borders this weekend and show them to you next week. By the way, please ignore the black weed blocker and rain water jugs in the background. I won't have time to tidy up outside until I get out for the summer. However, you may admire my diplendia blossoms in the background! : )

Now, are you ready for the surprise? I've finally finished my Harvest Quilt. Okay, okay, I still have one side of binding to finish. Anyway, I started both of these quilts at the same time. Why? They're both the same mystery quilt! What a difference fabric selection makes! I LOVE the rich colors of the Harvest quilt, while the pink quilt is a little too sugary for my tastes. I'll have to wait and see how it looks when it's finished.

Gratuitous Sinbad picture! He had to know what I was doing outside.

Here's a quilt you haven't seen before. Mom just quilted this little child's quilt for me last week, so I don't have it bound yet. I'm back to three quilts waiting to be bound now and another one that I just dropped off to mom this afternoon. Help!

By the way, did you recognize the leftover centers from this quilt? I hate to throw out leftovers. I just added in a bunch of coordinating colors in a simple 36 patch and sewed them together. Easy baby blanket!

My begonia half hidden by one of the diplendias.The diplendia keeps the begonia from getting too much sun. Don't you love the matching pots? Ooohh, Sinbad's getting a belly!

One of my clemetis plants in bloom. I have some mandevilla coming up beside it. Those blossoms should be open in a day or two. My, do I need to scrub my bird bath! Come on summer vacation!!! I need some outdoor time!

I bought a darling drooping tree. I want to plant it in the garden, but right now the weeds are taller than the tree! The poor thing will just have to live in a pot on my landing until it grows up some.

More quilt photos. Can you tell I'm in love with this Tonga Batik quilt? It's one of my favorites of all of my quilts, and, I hate to admit, the only quilt that I have ever made by completely following a pattern. Although I will say that it was a block of the month, but I used my own fabrics for it. It was supposed to be much darker, in rich cranberries and golds. The original was beautiful (and I've added the fabrics to my stash!), but I LOVE these cooler colors in blues and greens.

Okay, I'm all pictured out! I hope you enjoyed them.

See ya later,

Debbi

Sister Quilts

Some of you may remember the first sister quilt that I finished last year. The top had been finished for about two or three years, but I finally got around to making a backing and having Mom quilt it for me. I began making two quilts of the same design but with different focal fabrics. All of the coordinating fabrics are the same. Here is the top of Sister Quilt #1 before it was finished.  

Here is the same quilt at the Airing of the Quilts last month. The color in the first photo is the true color.

Below is the photo I took of the second sister quilt for my Unfinished To-Do Project list earlier this year. As you can see, only the middle was finished. No outside borders yet. At this time, the pattern was still identical to the quilt above.

This is a photo I took of my proposed borders when I was still in the planning stage a couple of years ago. Sinbad is posing with his rearranged pieces at his paws. He thought the rumpled look was much better!

Last weekend I got out the second Sister Quilt top and took another look at it. I'm still at a loss for how to finish this. The first quilt was easy - I had a border fabric that matched the focal fabric. This one...hmmm.

This is where I am now. I have the triangle border sewn on - you can't see it in this photo, but it is a broken border on the top left and the bottom right. I haven't decided if I want to leave an expanse of unbroken black for Mom to play with on her quilting machine or if I want to applique a flower from my focal fabric in these spaces - now that I know how to applique! I'll let you know when I decide. Any suggestions?

I just tossed these next two photos on here because I ran across them again, and this is one of my favorite quilts that I've designed and made. This was one of my first efforts. Isn't it cheery?

Tomorrow I'll show you some of my recently finished quilts. I took photos this weekend, but I'm out of time now and have to run! More photos later...

Debbi



Works in Progress

Despite having to work on resumes, references, cover letters, applications and quizzes (whew!), I got quite a lot of quilting done this weekend. I made a backing for my blue and cream quilt and have almost finished the borders on the second Sister Quilt. I intended to finish it tonight before starting on my homework, but Sinbad wanted my sewing chair. I only have one more unpieced border to sew on (unless I change my mind again). I also got a bit more of the binding done on my Harvest Time quilt.

I took photos of several of my quilts this weekend, but it's bedtime, so I don't have time to post them right now. Maybe tomorrow.

Until then,
Debbi

Misc.

Well, I went back to my owl wallhanging last night. My petals this time actually look really good, if I do say so myself! And I do.  : ) I'll get some photos this weekend and post them. I'm almost finished with binding my Harvest Time quilt. I need to bind my Black and Blue quilt next.

I also finished a girl's baby quilt and Mom quilted it for my this week. That means three quilts in need of or in the process of being bound. Whew!

Final thoughts on Bandit:

Well, I was right about Sinbad missing Bandit. Sinnie slept with me all night last night. He first curled up on my shoulder where I could pet him and reassure him. He then alternately sprawled across my chest, flopped across my throat, and wrapped himself around my knee. For the last couple of months, Sinnie has slept inside the sunroom near the window with Bandit sleeping in his catnip garden on the other side. Sinnie sat in the suroom and saw everything when I brought Bandit home and when my husband took carried him away for burial. I grieve for Bandit and feel sorry for Sinnie.

RIP Bandit - We'll miss you.

Bandit

Right now I'm very glad that I have so few followers on my blog. At a time like this, I don't really want to talk to people, but I'll share with the few of you. I'm heartbroken to say that we lost our beloved Bandit today. He came to us a few short months ago as an abandoned stray. He had only one good eye and was still a tom. We welcomed him in and spared no expense getting him inoculated up to the eyebrows against anything that could hurt him and getting him fixed so that he wouldn't roam and risk getting injured. We were determined to give this homeless boy a good, long life.

He was quite adamant about wanting to remain an outside cat, so he slept outside in a large garden pot of catnip and spent the day stretched out on the doormat in front of the house. He refused to move for anyone or any reason. Since the door swung out above his head, we learned to step over him if we wanted in or out. He learned to duck.

I checked on Bandit before I went to bed last night, and he was comfortably asleep in his catnip garden bed. This morning he wasn't by his food dish on the porch. I was very concerned because a.) Bandit NEVER missed a meal, and b.) Bandit never left the front porch except to follow us wherever we went outside. I had to leave for work, so I shrugged off my misgivings and headed out. When I got ready to turn off of our dirt road onto the old highway, I saw something in the road about a fifth of a mile from our house. Apparently, Bandit had gone for a late night walk  and was hit by a car. I'm beyond heartbroken. I would have kept him in the house (even against his will!) if I had thought for one moment that he would wander out to the road. He NEVER left the property. The only reasonable explanation that I can think of is that he may have gotten chased by the neighbor's tom cat.

My husband and I are not the only ones who are going to miss this rather crusty one-eyed Bandit. Sinbad was delighted to have another male on the premises (four sisters would drive any little boy-kitty up the wall!). He would spend hours just gazing out the window or the door at his buddy outside. The boys shared a room inside quite comfortably (the girls really didn't like Bandit) when it was too cold for Bandit to be outside. Sinbad would beg to go outside so that he could sit by his friend on the front porch (Sinbad must wear a collar and leash when he is outside because we know that likes to explore off the the property). I'm sorry Sinbad. I'm going to miss him too.

Rest in peace, Bandit. I love you,

Momma

Return of the Owl Quilt

I couldn't resist sharing this photo. I was leaving work yesterday and happened to look out across the parking lot. My first impression was, "Oh my gosh, that tree sank into the ground!" All of the trees are Bradford Pears, but that one was damaged. It grew a perfect shape, but without a trunk! I'm so easily amused. ; )

Yesterday a friend of mine shamed me into taking another try at my owl quilt. I've been suffering major bursitis in my elbow due to all of the binding that I've been doing in the last few months. That has served as an excuse for me to ignore my applique. I've been less than impressed at my ability to make flower petals, but I tried again last night, and I think I've actually improved thanks to my time off! I guess I'll work on it some more until I get too dissatisfied, then I'll take another two weeks off. Of course, at that rate it'll take me years to get this wallhanging finished... Oh well, where's the hurry right? : )

See ya later,
Deb

Wraps ups and Previews

Sorry I've been a little absent yet again this week. I have another two weeks of summer classes before I'm out, so I don't have a lot of time to post or a lot of time to quilt interesting things to show you. At least not yet. And no, I'm not willing to adopt another cat just to have more pet pictures to post!   

Well, actually...okay, just a small kitten if it comes my way...  ; )

Since I'm sneaking some post time at work (I'm actually all caught up in my research - yeah!), I'm posting Mom's photos from the Airing of the Quilts last month. I know that I've missed photos of some of the last quilts, but they're on my computer at home, so...

Anyway, here is a photo of a Disappearing Nine Patch pattern that Mom taught at Quilt Congress in Rogers, AR, last year. She was getting bored of teaching and using the same pattern, so she decided to set the pattern on point. I absolutely adore the way this quilt turned out. Of course, it could just be those lovely purples that have won my heart!

Mom makes many, many kids' quilts to donate to local charities, and that's where this adorable panel quilt is going. What cute animals. I'm sure some child will love this simple, but heart-warming quilt. On the left is the itty bitty quilt that Mom made in her Itty Bitty Quilt group. The center is a sweet fawn set in a square-in-a-square pattern. Around it is tiny nine patches that I would not like to try to duplicate. Tiny! I'm sorry I didn't get a good close up of this quilt.  

This scrappy quilt is one of Mom's personal favorites. We did a scrappy star quilt as one of our Stash Buster challenge quilts last year. This one helped her use up a LOT of scraps. I think that's why she liked it so well - it diminished her scrap heap a bit.

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Cliff from Sager Creek Quilts challenged Mom with this lady bug fabric. You may have seen the Grouchy Ladybug fabric based on the children's story. Or you may not. Anyway, the ladybugs on this fabric looked so grouchy that they frightened off prospective buyers. Cliff gave Mom a panel with the challenge of using the fabric in a non-frightening way. Mom cut off the grouchy faces and replaced them with calmer visages. She then placed them on flowers and let the babies fly! Good job, Mom.

Now, a couple of previews...

Here is a preview of Mom's current project. She made these stars in a Hunter's Star class at Sager Creek. She couldn't decide what to do with them, so she decided to place some of them on point and mix them around in a scattered pattern. This will be fun to see finished. Here she is auditioning placement on the red background. This was not the final setting she chose. She's working hard, so I should have finished photos soon!

I just showed this photo last week. It's from the Airing of the Quilts. This is one of two "sister" quilts that I designed several years ago. This quilt is the first one to get finished (finally - a month or two ago).

The quilt below is its sister - the same pattern, the same coordinating fabrics, and the same window setting. There are two differences in these quilts - the focal fabric and the borders. The focal fabric above has a lot of red while the focal fabric below uses a lot of blues. Again, identical quilts and coordinating fabrics (although different green sashing fabrics), but different borders. The top quilt uses a matching border fabric that I happened to find in Pennsylvania (what luck!), the bottom quilt uses left over half-square triangles from the blocks. Here I'm auditioning possible border patterns. What do you think of this one?

This is a Get 'R Done project for this year, so I should (hopefully) have the top done soon and can show you what I decided for a finish.

I just had to show you the lovely plant I bought for Mom for Mother's Day last month. It looks lovely in her front garden. It will also be great for cut flower arrangements indoors later on!

And I felt in the mood for a kitty fix. Here's one of my favorite photos of Sinbad (stolen from my Quilt Cats page). He always has to check out any new fabric purchases. That's my boy! Sniff out that fabric!

Until later,

Deb