Zee's "Bright & Cheery Quilt" Photos

Well, my daughter finally took photos of Zee's quilt for me! Yay!!!

Thank you so much, Bunny! :-)


This one measures approximately 64" x 70".
It's a nice cozy-up-on-the-couch size, I think. (And maybe even with a friend!)

Bunny took the overall picture from upstairs in order to get the whole thing in one nice picture. :-)



Here's the front:








And the back:








And the binding from the heart material:

And now I think I have to wait until June 24th to give it to her!!!

'Cause that's when her birthday is!

I don't know if I can wait that long!!

We'll see...

What do you think, Suzanne?!?

Now I just have to make the label. I think I'm going to have this one professionally embroidered. Zee's just too particular to make a hand written label for her. :-)

I hope you enjoy this one. I think it's really cute.

But now my daughters are each asking for one like it! Oh no! ::rolling eyes::

Not gonna happen, I'm afraid.

But I do have something in mind for a quilt for Bunny. It's an appliqued (sp?) artsy type of quilt, and it's gonna be B-I-G!

Hmmm... I need a design wall... And I have no idea where I could possibly put one...

I'll have to ponder that.

By the way, I've started a small baby quilt for Bunny's friend who's expecting. It's made of flannel. :-) But...

I forgot to take pictures of the fabric before-hand!

And I have it pieced together and have NO pictures of the process or anything!

...can't believe I was in such a rush to start that I didn't take even ONE picture.

Oh well. You'll just have to look at the "finished results " pictures and be satisfied with that.

Glad I wasn't wanting to make a tutorial or anything!

-W

It's

Done!!!

I just finished Zee's quilt!!

...But I'm too exhausted to take pictures tonight. I'll get Bunny to take them, and then I'll post them tomorrow... *If* she gets out of bed before I have to go drive the afternoon route, that is. ('Cause she has friends over right now, so she won't do it right this minute. And I doubt she will take them tonight anyway.)


But It's Finished!!! :-)

And I think I'm happy with it.
Yes, I wish I could have figured out how to do some sort of fancy stitching on it.
Yes, I'm not entirely thrilled with the back.
But I'm happy enough with the rest of it that all of that doesn't make me dislike it. :-)

And I am thrilled it's done!

Mama's Quilt

I went to my Mother's this past weekend, and I finally got to give her the quilt. I was so excited! And, as you might guess, she loves it. :-) Here's a pic of her sitting on her white leather couch (with the black cushions), holding her new quilt:




You can't really even see her, but I'm sure that's how she would prefer the picture to be since it's "spread all over the internet!" :-)

When she showed it to her husband, he said, "I know where you can put this. You want me to tell you where to put it?"
I said, "If you *want* to hang it, I can make a sleeve for it. But I really made it to be used. I could just picture Mama sitting on that white couch with this wrapped around her. But if you *really* want to hang it... " (or something like that.)
I make quilts to be used. I tried to be as polite as possible. He just hushed.
Which is as it should be. (mean grin) I made it for my Mama. If *she* wants to hang it or if *she* wants to use it, it's totally up to *her*. Know what I mean?

I guess next time I go down there, I'll see where it ends up.

Anyway, here's a pic of my Mommy and me (with a silly, proud grin), with her showing off her new quilt:



And she liked the label too, though she didn't say a lot about it. But I did swell up a bit when her neighbors came over and she started bragging about the quilt almost right away. :-)

Okay. So I'm vain. So are most humans. :-)

Anyway, that's officially Quilt #1 for this year.

I'm working on #2. I just have to put the binding on and it'll be done also! :-)

I'll post pictures as soon as it's finished. I promise! :-)

And I already have the fabric for #3!! It's a baby quilt for my daughter's friend. It's flannel and it's gonna be sooo nice. :-) I'm dying to tell her about it, but I really want it to be a total surprise. So I'm practicing restraint. That's supposed to be good for my character... or something...

-W

Yes, I'm still working on it...

Honest I am! I've just been stuck for a little bit on the backing. I've pieced something and then taken it apart, and then tried something else and taken that apart...
Right now I'm working on yet another version, and I think I may stick with this one... We'll see once it's put together whether I like it or not. :-)

But as soon as I get the back put together, the three layers basted and begin on the quilting, I'll let you know... And maybe even post pictures! Yay!

'Til then...

-W

Arghhh...

Some days I just don't want to get out of bed!!!

Today, I'd much rather stay in it and sleeeeeeep allll day..... ...zzz...




Blink. Blink.
I'm awake, I'm awake! I swear it.
Blink.

Vegetables and Berries and Flowers and More!

That's what I want in this new garden I'm starting! :-)

But if you know me, you know that all of that is waaaay too ambitious! ;-)

I'm *trying* to stay rooted in reality, but my hopes and dreams keep pushing my imagination forward...

Anyway, yesterday driving around on my bus route, I noticed bags of leaves at the street in front of one house. That got me thinking about the garden. So between routes, I stopped and picked up two bags and came home and started working on the new garden.

Let me back up...

Last Fall (October, I think), I paced off an area in the back yard and I laid down a heavy plastic tarp. I secured it with tent stakes and some large rocks. All this because I refused to kill the grass with harmful chemicals! Boyfriend thinks I'm slightly nutty, and he may be right, but I just don't want to go the chemical route. He pointed out that it would be way faster and much less trouble.

Blah, blah, blah. Whatever.

You know which one I did. :-)

Here's a picture of the 16' x 8' section that I put the tarp on:

The stuff on top is just a bit of fencing Boyfriend took down shortly after the tarp was placed, and he didn't know what else to do with it.

Well, yesterday, it was *sooo* gorgeous (weather-wise) that I decided to take up the tarp and start to prep the earth. I laid the fencing stuff up against Boyfriend's shop 'cause I didn't really know what else to do with it. :-P

(I may leave it there forever.)

Here's the strip with the tarp taken off, and note the fencing up against the shop:

(Also note my lovely assistant.) :-)

I couldn't believe how bad it smelled under that tarp! It was worse than musty!

Anyway, here are the bags of mostly pin oak leaves.

(Again, my lovely assistant.) :-)

Okay, these next couple of pictures may not be too good. I just hope my explanations help. lol

A long while back, I read about this technique for turning the dirt. It went something like this:

Dig a hole that's about 12 inches square. Put that dirt aside.

Dig a hole directly beside the first hole that's also 12 inches square, putting that dirt in the first hole.

Repeat, putting the dirt from the hole into the hole you just previously dug, until you get to the last hole. Then take the dirt from the very first hole and put it into the very last hole. This way, you have turned all of the dirt without requiring a wheelbarrow or tarp to lug around a bunch of dirt.

So that's what I started doing, since I do *not* have a tiller.

Here's the first hole:

Before I put the dirt from the next hole into the first hole, I added the leaves:

Then I put dirt from hole #2 into hole #1:

Then prepared hole #3, put that dirt into hole #2:

And etcetera... Until I had two columns done!

Pitiful "farmer" that I am (not), this took me almost an hour!

Then I had to go take a shower and wash my hair in preparation for the evening bus run.

I didn't have the time nor inclination to get back out there today.

...maybe tomorrow...?

But I did go to the grocery store and picked up a few things, so I'm not totally useless today! :-)

Pause

It's like my quilt has been on pause a lot lately...

My sister "invited" me to be on FaceBook, and then...
Well, if you're on FB, you know what happened next: I got caught in the vortex that is "friends and old acquaintances"! Now I'm checking it allll the time! It's like I can't help myself! I'm practically obsessed!

But I did work on my backing today. All I need to do is press the seams of that last strip and I'll be ready to baste it, and then to quilt it!

But that brings the final dilemma...

How, oh how will I quilt it?!?

You know. This is the part (if you're using a pattern) that says, "Quilt as desired."

?!?!?!

I *want* to do it with a continuing heart, but I'm free-motion quilting by machine here people! I don't have a pattern, a template, or *any*thing!
Kitty said I could make my own template, but...
I honestly don't know if I know how to make a template. Sure, I have the material. But *now* what?!?!

I'll just have to figure something out!

And since it's for my little sister, IT'S GOTTA BE CUTE!!!
She doesn't like stuff unless it's *cute*!

Well, pictures were requested, so here's one Bunny took for me of the cut-out fabric when I was piecing strips together. (This does not include the heart fabric.) (Oh! And ignore those little pieces at the top. They're just extra.)

That's all you'll get out of me just now! :-)

I have to get in the bed! It's almost 11pm and I have to be up at 5am! Yikes!!

Wish me luck!
And inspiration!!

-W

It's Pieced!!!

Well, I've sewn mostly all day and now...

I've pieced Zee's quilt!!!

I am so tickled!

Thank you for the encouragement, and I'll post pics as soon as I can.
I haven't been feeling well today, and, actually...
I'm wanting to get it all together before I post a picture. I'm not sure why.

I've pieced it, but I think it needs something else. I laid it on the living room floor and went upstairs (on the "overlook") to put a little distance in viewing it, and I believe I'll put a black border around it. Then, once I get it quilted, I'll put the heart fabric as the binding.

And I haven't even thought about what I'll do for the backing!

But I have a goal of making four (4) quilts this year, and I'm getting a good start on that. :-) So far, one for February, and I'm well on the way with the one for March.

Suzanne, have you been thinking about colors and/or patterns??? After I finish Zee's, I'm making a baby quilt for a friend of Bunny's, but then... ? Of course, Bunny wants me to make one for her since the one I thought was hers has been snagged by Boyfriend. :-)

And, yes, that means that an 18yo friend of Bunny's is pregnant. And the thing is that she looks so much like Bunny that people have been asking Bunny if she's pregnant! She thinks it's funny. I think it's... Nevermind what I think.

We saw her friend K (the afore-mentioned teen) today, and she looks so scared. She's really not sure what to do. She knows she's not getting an abortion, though. But otherwise, she's taking it day-by-day and being scared in general. I sooo want to talk with her... I'm biding my time, though.

For now I'll console myself in my accomplishment:

I pieced the quilt today!!! :-)

I hope everyone has a peaceful ("piece-ful"?) night!

-W

Zee's "Bright & Cheery Quilt"

It began snowing Sunday evening. I woke Monday morning to a white-washed world, and an announcement that school was cancelled. I'd rather have had a two-hour delay, but I'm not running things... Now we'll have to make up that missed day.

But on the positive side, it gave me time to begin Zee's quilt! We went to the in-laws' on Saturday, and on the ride back on Sunday I had plenty of time to figure out exactly how I would do it. I'm making 11 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangles of each of the solid colors. (It'll end up being 11 x3 once it's sewn together. The extra half-inch is for the seam allowance.) I'm sewing them in the "RoyGBiv" order, and I'm putting a 2 1/2" strip of the heart fabric between each colored strip.

Yesterday I got all of the solid colors cut and sewn together. Last night I got a call that there would be a two-hour delay today, but then, this morning bright and early, I got a call that school was cancelled AGAIN.
Boo!

But it gives me all day once again to QUILT!
Yay!!! :-)
I should be able to piece the entire front of the quilt today, and perhaps begin on the backing. I haven't decided about the backing yet. I bought a couple of yards of solid black for it, and I may end up seeing what fabric is left over and using that for my large strip on the backing. We'll see...

Kitty made soup for lunch yesterday, and it was really good! I called it Baked Potato Soup. She took a couple of pix, and I think she'll blog about it. She started a cooking blog. I'll have to wait 'til she wakes up to find out the URL for it, and I'll let you know. I'll try to post a link... :-)

-W