A Change of Pace

And now for a slightly different kind of quilt.

This started out as a Bucilla #40707 Stamped Quilt top.  I don't remember when I bought it but is was at least 15 years ago.  I started embroidering it and before I got very far along managed to splash something on it and it ended up with several smallish stains.  I have tried several stain removers but although they helped the stains are still there.  There are two of them about the size of a quarter.

In the early summer of 2012 I finished the tied quilt I was making for my Grandson Matthew and started to get antsy because I was left with nothing to fiddle with.  So in desperation I drug out this one out of my cedar chest where I had hidden it from myself and started working on it to fill in the time until I decided what I wanted to do next.

Then my Granddaughter came to visit and said she really loved it and didn't mind the stains.  She very kindly said that they gave the quilt character.  HA!  Anyway since she said she would love to have it I decided to work on it seriously.  I finished the embroidery last spring and have started the quilting process.  I am about 1/3 of the way along. 

My friend Rachel who owns a fancy camera and takes wonderful pictures with it took these photographs.  It's hard for me to take pictures with my camera because the hilt is so light that pictures I take look all washed out.  This is, I am sure, my fault not the fault of the camera.

My first Tied Quilt

What's Happening here 4/25/12

This is an experiment.  I took these pictures and tried to put them on a slide show the easiest way possible.

Shaun's orchids are blooming and she is thrilled.  She has been babying these orchid plants, whispering sweet nothings to them every day and religiously following some instructions on raising orchids she found on the internet.

The other pictures are the garden as it's progressing.  Except for the tomatoes and onions the rest was experimental.  Richard loves to mess with them in the evening.  I think gardening is in his DNA (that he didn't get from me) and needs to have something growing.

The other pictures is of my quilt top in all it's finished glory.  Next step is to put the backing on it and then start quilting.  I plan to quilt 1/4 " around the inside of each hexagon so it's going to be a lengthy project.  But it's pretty straightforward and since Shaun is going to be quilting it with me I wanted it to be as easy as possible so she gets some confidence.  Every single stitch in this quilt is going to be by hand.  If we are able we plan to pat ourselves on the back.

Women's Voices

 This quilt is a collaboration with a member of my Dunnett reading group.  My friend Stacey pieced the top, put the batting in and pined it to the top and then sent it to me to quilt.  It took me seven years!

I have just got started good when one of my son's was diagnosed with lung cancer.  Because he was only in his 40's and very fit before he got sick he and his Oncologist decided to go for broke.  The chemo that was used was very powerful and for quite a while we were all sure we were going to lose him.

Because I quilt with a hoop I bundled up the quilt and took it with me to work on when I sat with him in the hospital.  A miracle occurred and my son recovered to the point that his PET scans have been clear for the last six years

and he has his life back.  But somehow the quilt became soaked with unhappy associations and long after my son was better I couldn't bring myself to work on it.

Finally in January of this year the quilt started nagging me and reminding me that a) I had made a commitment and b) I was 76 years old and if I didn't get busy it would have to go back to Stacey unfinished.  Even if I was dead it would still be embarrassing.

I am attaching pictures of what a lovely quilt it turned out to be when finished and also my unconventional quilting methods.

I have been gloating over it for a little while but I really need to box it up and send it back to Stacey.

I own a lot of quilts so I don't have any particular need for this one.  For me it's all about the journey, not the destination.  It will make me happy to know that Stacey has something to remember me by when I am dead and gone.

Grandmother's Flower Garden

Shaun and I are making this quilt using the English Paper Piecing method.  It's so easy and very portable.  I can put everything I need to make one flower (cut out of course) put it in a baggie and stuff it in my handbag.  It's a nice fiddly piece of handwork that I can pass time with in the doctor's office or any other time I have to wait.  Shaun carries some to work and works on her lunch break.  It's an alternate to reading.  I hate to carry hard copy books in my handbag so if I don't have a paperback going at the time and little quilt piecing works just as well.

I've been told by Don that it's going to be a real trippy quilt.  I didn't know kids used that word anymore but he's right, it is a little trippy.  I like colors. :)

Grandmother's Flower Garden finished

Destination Rivermarket

I had my first bus adventure this morning. Kathy, you need not ever worry about me again. Shaun practically frisked me as I went out the door checking to make sure I had all contingencies covered and Richard called me to make sure I was doing OK. 

I bought four quarts of strawberries and four pounds of seedless blackberries. I spent a total of $15.50. Tuesday is definitely the day to visit theFarmers Market. It's open two days a week, Saturday and Tuesday but it's so crowded on Saturday you can hardly move. I saw some brown tomatoes and regret I did buy a couple just to see how they tasted. It's still early for real tomatoes. Even the ones they advertise as Arkansas home grow are Bradleys and taste just like the shippers. July is when the real tomatoes come in. I'm counting days.

 I went early to escape the heat but then my favorite sea food restaurant wasn't open. I really wanted to get a take out order of Catfish to take home for lunch. Oh well.

Tomorrow I am making Jam. Later today I will put some pictures up and post a link. I am also thinking about making marmalade. Not tomorrow but soon. Maybe.

PHEW, IT'S HOT!

In spite of it being 88 degrees and 61% humidity I took my one mile walk this morning but I really do need to do it earlier.  I have given up on taking Hobbs as it's just too hot for him with all his fur.  As it was a Sunday the neighborhood was even quieter than usual and the air smelled so good because of all the flowering trees and bushes.  Twice off in the distance I could hear church bellsringing.  Church bells are one of life's wonderful sounds.  Like fog horns, geese flying over in the autumn and hounds baying when they are chasing something.

Speaking of church I was stopped twice by church people out soliciting.  I guess old ladies with walkers are prime targets as they can't outrun them.  On of them was looking for deaf people to let them know her church featured services accompanied by an interpreter in.  That's nice of them but I told her I was happy to tell her that I didn't know anyone who was deaf.  Then she started to tell me that it says in the bible that the deaf would be cured or whatever.  I told her that while I didn't put much faith in the bible I did have a certain amount of faith in cochlear implants. That got rid of her. It was too hot to stand around and chit chat in the middle of the road.