Clue #3 for the Bonnie Hunter mystery is in the done pile.  Okay, I do still need to cut the extra pieces she wanted us to cut.  Those include the black squares and neutral rectangles from clues 2 and 3.  I'll get them done.  I'm just waiting to see what the next clue is first.  If I have to cut from either the blacks or neutrals I'll just cut the extras at the same time.  And I've been busy making things that I really don't have time for.  Oh, that would be the mystery that I don't have time for.  The other things are Christmas presents.  And I'll post pictures of them later.

In the mean time here are pictures of clues #2 and #3.  I changed out the yellow fabrics for teals.  I ended up with quite a few of those after finding out my granddaughter Grace's favorite color had changed from pink to teal.

Clue #2

Clue #3

I love the way red and teal look together so I'm really looking forward to seeing if I made a good choice.  Some people around blog land have been posting pictures of how they think these pieces may fit together.  I just like to wait until Bonnie shows the actual layout.

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On December 3rd I posted about my sister-in-law Lisa that was diagnosed with cervical cancer in March of this year.  Unfortunately, Lisa lost her battle against the cancer yesterday, December 16th.  She leaves behind three daughters - ages 24, 12, and 10.  Please keep those three girls in your prayers. They have had to do an awful lot of growing up in the last several months. And will do a lot more growing up together in the years to come. Pray that the oldest has the strength and patience to see that her younger sisters grow up to each be a wonderful woman like their mother was.

Julie

Bonnie Hunter thank you for your yearly mystery quilts.  I really needed this one.   Once again, I'll go off in a slightly different color direction but for the first clue I'm using the constant gray and neutrals called for.

Clue #1

 Here is a picture of my constant gray.  And of a few of the neutrals I included.  I used more than 50 different neutrals.  It seems I've been amassing neutrals and didn't even know it.  Many of them came from the grab bags at Whittle's Fabrics.  It's hard for me not to get excited about getting 10 fat quarters of fabric for $12.00.  Also included are many of the neutrals that have gone into previous quilts. Now comes the long wait until the next clue comes out.  In the mean time, I'll keep working on all of the Christmas projects I've been putting off.

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On another note - it's been two months since I last posted.  I wish I could say that things are going well, but they are just going.  In my last post my mom was coming home from rehab after having a stroke.  Unfortunately she was only home for a couple of weeks. She ended up back in the hospital with symptoms of mini strokes and from there went to rehab and a long term care facility.  She did talk to me the other day about the facility being a nice one.  But that she hadn't wanted to be moved there.  Well, Mom, we didn't want that either.  Life sometimes takes some really crappy turns and this year has been full of them.  They included baby Billy passing away, my DIL's mother passed away, mom's stroke, finding out SIL has terminal cancer, financial issues, questioning my faith, and issues that I wouldn't share with anyone but my mom.  This year went to hell in a hand basket months ago.

 I would say that I'm ready for this year to end and get on to the new one.  But the new year will be full of life struggles too.  Mom is steadily going down hill and needs to have many prayers that she will regain some of her strength.  My lovely, sister-in-law Lisa was diagnosed with cervical cancer this year.  Hospice has been called in to help with her needs as her cancer progresses as she is no longer able to take chemo or radiation treatments.  I pray everyday for her and her three daughters.
So am I looking forward to the new year?  NO!!!  But I do know that each day is a gift.  Each day is a chance to make memories with people we love.

As for the morning glory quilt mom was making when she had her stroke.  Well, that's at my house now.  Wish me luck on quilting and binding it in a timely manner.

Julie

These blocks make me smile. And even though I have already posted this picture I felt like it was worth another view.  I did turn and crop it though to give it a different look.  There has been almost no sewing going on at my house.  And what little (three 6" blocks) sewing I have done I haven't bothered to take a picture of.

Four weeks ago today my sister Cathy was headed to the ER with our mom.  She just wasn't quite acting like herself.  A little slow to talk to you and her movements were slower.  Nothing extreme.  Just not the same.

In the ER her blood pressure was taken and it was 440 / 70.  Yes, that is not a typo.  I didn't even know your bp could go that high without it killing you.  Later on that evening she was admitted to the intensive care unit where she stayed for several days. We were told that she was critical and someone should be with her.  On the following Monday she had a scan that showed she had had a stroke in the middle of her brain in the small blood vessels. We were told that was a good thing.  That type of stroke doesn't do as much damage to your motor skills and ability to speak.  To make this four week story somewhat condensed - mom spent several more days in the hospital before moving to the rehab center.

Today she is headed home.  She isn't 100% but none of us expect that.  We just hope that she is able to live like she did before.  That will take some time but that's what she has is more time.

What I want, is for my mother to be able to finish the "morning glory" quilt she was working on a few weeks ago.  It is still taped to the dining room table where she was starting to pin the layers when all this happened.  I want my quilting buddy to still be able to enjoy the thrill you get when you're finally finished with a project.  I want to continue to enjoy a conversation with my mom.  Again, all with time.

Just a note - if your family member or friend isn't quite acting right and you just can't figure out what's wrong.  Take them to the doctor.  Mom didn't want to go.  As a matter of fact, she was quite put out that she was being made to go.  I'm so glad she did.

As I typed this I am thinking about how mom will feel reading it.  Hopefully, okay.  This blog is a journal of sorts.  Someday I may forget what quilt she was working on and I'll just need to read this to remember is was her morning glory quilt.  I am also using this as way to say that not all strokes present the same.  They don't all have the signs you hear about.  Mom could tell you what day it was, who the president is, and she could smile and stick out her tongue.  What she didn't do was answer as quickly.  She had trouble getting in the car.  And was slow doing things.  She was just a little off what was normal for her.  Hopefully, this will help someone else know what to pay attention to.

Have a blessed day.

Julie

My, my, my.  I'm sure not doing very well at writing blog posts this summer.  Who knows why?  I've been sewing.  Just not making very much progress.

I see Lori Holt's posts every Friday about her Farm Girl sew-along and it just makes me want to play with some light and bright fabrics.  Truth be told, just about every light and bright project I've started I haven't finished.  White backgrounds just haven't been my thing.  But in this case I just couldn't help it.  So I bought the book Farm Girl Vintage and even though I'm not actually working on her sew-along I did start playing with some of the blocks.

The first block I made was this tractor.  With her great directions it went together in no time at all.  Since the tractor needed something to harvest I decided to make some sunflower blocks.

Looking good so far.  But they need some stems.  So I used Lori's "crops" block for a stem.

Lori gives directions to make a 12" or a 6" block.  So far I've been working with the 12" size.  But looking at how that "sunflower" towers over the tractor I think I'll start playing with the 6" size and see if that will work better.  These have been super fun to make and I can't wait to get back to it.

Along with these blocks I've also been working on a back for Grace's "I Am" quilt.  Since she changed her favorite color from pink to teal I decided to make the back of it teal.

This is one of the two oversize blocks I plan to put on the back.  This block measures 36" x 36".

The background is a pink floral and I hope will tie it together with the front.

So I have been sewing.  I just haven't been blogging about it.

Have a great day.

Julie

In my last post I showed a picture of my new Brother sewing machine and talked about how I was going to get it out of the box and do some sewing with it.  Pshaw.  That really didn't happen.  Not very much sewing anyway.  We had Sit and Sew on Saturday so I took my new machine with me and had planned to get it set up for piecing.  But the only thing I sewed on it was a bee keeper suit.  Yep, I sewed the helmet netting (which really isn't netting but some kind of metal mesh) onto the suit and that was the extent of my sewing over the weekend.  The rest of my sewing time I spent cutting fabric for a border.  It's going to be a pieced border so there was quite a bit of cutting.  But as anyone who has read my blog knows - I create as I sew.  And what I figured out after cutting lots and lots of 2" x 6 1/2" strips was that the border I planned wasn't going to fit the way I had envisioned.  So a new plan is forming and that new plan is going to take some additional fabric.

And look what came in the mail today.

These won't all go in my current project but most of them will.  There are some Marcus and Jo Morton along with others.  And I can't wait to get them home and washed.  Most of these are 1/2 yard cuts but there are two or three that have a yard or more.  Pretty.

These fat quarters were a "Brown Bag" special.  The offer was 10 Civil War background fat quarters for $12.00.  What a great deal.  And I'm very happy with the surprise fabrics they sent.  These will work their way into several different quilts, I'm sure.

All of the fabrics came from Whittle's Fabrics.  So far I've been very pleased with everything I've ordered from them.

Time to get back to my real job.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Something is sitting across from my desk that makes me want to be home sewing.  My new sewing machine was delivered today!

Finally, an extra machine that I can take for Sit and Sew. This will be so much easier to pack and carry than my Janome.

It is a small machine but appears to have all the features I don't want to do without.  Things like an auto threader and a top loading visible bobbin.  As long as I can sew a quarter inch with it I should be a happy girl.

I'll admit - the second picture was taken close up so that the damage to the box showed.  YES, UPS it really is a sewing machine in the box.  NO, you shouldn't throw it around.  Hopefully, when I plug it in it all runs smoothly.  I'm sure it will.  But it sure would be another thing on this Monday that has me wishing it was Tuesday.

My morning started with me getting about four miles out of town and remembering that I needed something at home.  So back I went.  Then when I got to work my co-worker came in and told me I had a flat tire.  Really?!  She very nicely called AAA who was right down the street.  A little air and I was off to Walmart.  At Walmart I was told I needed a new tire.  Lucky for me, I bought the road hazard.  Unlucky for me, the paperwork wasn't in the glove box and they were having trouble finding the purchase in their computer.  Another employee who was a little more computer savvy found the December transaction and I didn't have to pay for the new tire.  Just another charge for road hazard for the tire.  2 1/2 hours later and I was back at work.  Yes, 2 1/2 and mine was the second car in line for service.  Monday, Monday go away.

On a brighter note - it's a short week for the holiday so there will be a three day weekend to get lots of sewing done.  

Hope every one else is having a great Monday.

Julie

It's Back

My basket quilt finally came back to me.  Actually, I kind of thought Quiltmaker would have it until after they are done with the block of the month which will be February or March of next year.  I realized after mailing it to Quiltmaker that I had never taken a picture of the finished quilt.  Guess I was in to much of a hurry to send it off.  Today my co-worker and I took a couple of pictures here at the office so they aren't great but they do show the colors of the quilt well.  Can you see where the red bled in the top middle block.  I have looked very carefully at every picture and video I've seen of it on the "Quilty Pleasures" blog and have yet been able to tell that the block bled red in not one but two places.  Quiltmaker must have done some careful editing or used photoshop like they said they could and would.  Whew!

"My Mother's Baskets" aka "Quilty Baskets"

This quilt was designed for my mom.  She has collected glass and pottery baskets for many years so I thought of her basket collection when I was trying to come up with a quilt pattern to make for her. She has also always said her favorite color is green.  Therefore, all of the very green fabrics in the quilt.  I didn't find out until I made the sample quilt for Quiltmaker "Hip Hopscotch" that her favorite color is actually teal.  Apparently, teal green the same teal green that my granddaughter Grace said she likes.  I'll need to get some of that for my stash.  Mom seems to be quite happy with her very GREEN basket quilt though.  Or, at least she will be, when I finally give it to her. 

If you are making the block of the month along with Quiltmaker I sure would like to hear from you. 

Happy stitching,

Julie

So happy that the three day weekend has finally begun. I plan to spend much of it at my sewing machine.  This morning I started on some flying geese blocks. They measure 3 1/2 x 2.

And when I get tired of making those blocks I can play with some of the other fabric I recently got.

The two stacks on the right are some of what I'm making the flying geese blocks from.  The stack on the left is for the back of the "I Am " quilt.
Needless to say , there is a lot of quilty fun in my future.  And some fence building too.  We'll try to get that done between rain showers.

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day.

Julie

Today I have spent some time at Sew Mama Sew where they are doing their big blog hop give aways.  I have spent hours doing this every time and have yet to win anything from this particular blog hop.  There's always a first time, I guess.

Often times the bloggers will ask you to answer a question in order to be signed up for their giveaway.  One of the most often asked questions is - what do you like best about the blogs that you read every day.  For me, it comes down to how often they post and the pictures of their projects.  Well, that being said.  I'm falling down (way down) on the job, as far as my own blog goes.  Since I started working on a project that I would like to possibly have published I've quit having much to blog about.   

But I do still have some of the quilts I've finished in the last several years that I haven't ever shown on here.  At least I don't remember showing them before. (Please, don't correct me if I did. Just smile and nod like it's all new to you.)

So without further ado, here is my quilt I called "Pretty Pieces".

Pretty Pieces made in 2010 Queen Size

Close up of quilting.

The back and binding.

This is one of the quilts I made for myself.  It can usually be found hanging over the back of the rocking chair in my living room.  Don't look for matching white seams in this one.  They might be a little hard to find.  This quilt is made from a Kim Diehl pattern. Just to be clear, the seams that don't match have nothing to do with the pattern and everything to do with the maker.

When I was making this quilt some of the fabrics I chose were a little non traditional.  One of the yellows in here gave my mom fits.  And no, she won't be happy I said that.  And will probably feign ignorance of ever making any comment about it.  But she said - "Oh, you don't want to use that one you'll ruin the quilt."  I wish I had a close up of that particular fabric.  It may be one reason why I really don't worry about too many of the scraps that make it into my quilts.  They usually all fit in there somewhere.  And if they stand out a little then so be it.  I must have meant for that to be like that.

Have a great weekend. I intend to!

Happy Mother's Day  (Mom, I love you!!!)

Julie

Still Sewing

Yep, I'm still actively sewing.  I just don't have much of my activity to share.  I decided to finally start working on another project that I may try to have published and that makes for a project I can't post pictures of.  At least any pictures that show any progress. 

This is what I have made for my cornerstones.  I spent quite a bit of one morning figuring out what size to cut the center square and corner pieces to come up with these blocks that will finish at 1 1/2".  Then I spent the rest of the morning sewing a few of them together.  And there you have part of my latest project in a nutshell.

The last time I posted was to show the projects I made my grandgirls for  Easter gifts.  This time I thought I'd post pics the girls enjoying the egg hunt.

Grace

 

 

Allison

 

 

It was a great Easter day.  Time spent with family is time well spent.
 

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On another note. I know that quite a few of you have been praying for our "Mighty" Billy.  I'm sorry to say that Billy passed away on April 21st.  He was seven weeks old.  The family is asking that donations be made to the March of Dimes.  Thank you for all the prayers for Billy.  Please keep his family in your prayers now.


Have a blessed day.

Julie

 

Easter Gifts

My grandgirls enjoy playing with their dolls so much that I decided to actually make the dolls some Easter gifts.

Grace has her new doll Beverly which goes everywhere with her.  Or at least when Grace is going somewhere with Grandma.  Last night Beverly took a trip with us to McAlister's Deli.  She seemed to be having a good time.  It's kind of hard to tell.  I think that Beverly will enjoy her new sleeping bag and matching pillow.

Doll Size Sleeping Bag and Pillow

Allison also likes to take her dolls with her.  We've taken her dolls to the zoo and to ball games.  So of course her dolls need a sleeping bag and pillow for all their trips too.

Doll Size Sleeping Bag and Pillow

These were super fun to make and very easy.  Years ago when my kids were little I made them kid size sleeping bags just like this.  They used those bags so much they were all but worn out.  Maybe the next ones I make will be granddaughter size?  The pillow pattern came from Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts.  She has a great tutorial.  I did change the widths I cut the pillowcase pieces and if I make them again I'll probably change them a little more. 

Hope my little dolls are happy with their Easter gifts.

Have a great Easter. 
HE IS RISEN

Julie

ABC Baby Quilt

When I was making the ABC blocks from Temecula Quilt Company I didn't have any ideas about what I was going to do with them.  I was making them to have fun.  Well now that I have a new great nephew Billy I know where one set of the blocks is going to go.

Front View

Close Up of Front

Back View

The borders added just the right amount to make it large enough for a crib quilt.  I had a little help deciding how to put the back together.  My original thought was to use some of the solid blue Kona fabric to increase the size of the piece of fabric I was using.  But the ladies at "Sit and Sew" on Saturday  convinced me to use the scraps from the front.  I'm glad I did.  Now the back will be as bright as the front.  After making the back there isn't enough of the checked fabric to cut even one more 2 1/2" square.  The few narrow pieces that are left will find eventually find themselves in another scrappy quilt some time in the future, I'm sure.

I mentioned baby Billy a couple of weeks ago.  He was born very premature on March 4th.  I'm happy to say that Billy is now three weeks old.  He is gaining a little weight and is up to 1lb 11ozs.  He has his good days and bad days.  We just keep praying that the good will out number the bad.  Billy and his family need all the prayers they can get.  So please add them to your list.

Have a wonderful rest of your day.

Julie

Looking Back

In Leah Day's newsletter she asked "What were you doing last year?".  So I looked back at my March of 2014 projects to see.

On March 18, 2014 I posted a picture of the progress made on my version of "Shakespeare in the Park".  I love the way this top turned out.

In March of 2014 I was also learning to do Baptist Fan quilting on this little table topper.  The pattern is from Temecula Quilt Company.  A cute little project (approx. 24" x 24") that was a lot of fun to make. 

Since then I used the Baptist Fan pattern on the Quilty Baskets quilt that Quiltmaker's Quilty Pleasure blog keeps advertising.  I'm just glad that they are not showing a close up of that particular Baptist Fan quilting.  It was much more difficult on the larger quilt.  I was going to post a picture of the whole quilt but I see that I didn't get a good picture of it before I sent it to Quiltmaker.  And I was asked not to use their pictures until they are ready.  What's up with that?

What were you working on at this time last year?  Can you remember?  I'm not sure I would have come up with it if I hadn't been able to look back on my blog.  Another good reason to be keeping this quilting journal.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Julie

New Project?

Do I really need to start on something else?  You betcha.  One of the blogs I follow on bloglovin is Sew Fresh Quilts.  Lorna has some terrific patterns.  But the one I really couldn't pass up is her "Elephant Parade Quilt".  And to top it off - the pattern is FREE.

Here is my first block.

I cut this block out on Saturday but just didn't take the time to make it.  So this morning when I had an extra few minutes I got it made.  It took all of twenty minutes.  And it wouldn't have taken that long if I had cut a few of the pieces the width that is needed.  The hardest decision about starting these blocks is what colors do I want to go with.  This may need to be another one where I make two sets of blocks.  One that is the original grays and the other in brighter colors.  I see an orange elephant in my future.  It was super easy to follow her directions.  So if you are at all interested I would highly recommend this quilt.  She is just about done with the sew-along but it's obviously not too late to start.

Have a great Tuesday!

Julie

"I Am" Quilt

I have a finished top. I think I actually may have she'd a tear or two over this one.  It's more the message than the quilt. We always want our little girls to grow up healthy, happy and with a good sense of self worth. I feel the same way about my granddaughter Grace. It's so important for her to know how great she is.  And no matter how young or old she is she will always be able to look and see it in words.

Grace's "I Am" quilt

Now I should finish this post and get started creating the back.  I'm eager to get this one quilted.

On a different note - Please take a moment and say a prayer for my great-nephew Billy.
He was born about four months early on March 4th.  He and his family will need prayers for quite some time to come.  And many of us know prayer can be a powerful tool.  Thanks.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

Julie

Our little Grace had her 7th birthday yesterday.  I think it amazes me more now than when my kids were little at how fast the time goes by.

Another birthday, another postcard.  Sometimes the postcards I make are great and sometimes they are okay.  This one goes in the okay pile.

Front

The cats are cute.  But I do wish I had used the gray thread on both of them instead of the black.  It's just a bit too dark.  Cats do have crooked ears don't they?  These certainly do.  That gives them character. This looked a little better when I drew it out on paper.

Back

Grace showing the bag she made at 4-H

Well, now that is it Friday I'm about as happy as can be.  I'm ready for a Saturday of sewing.  And after seeing a beautiful pink and gray sunrise I'm ready to do some more sewing on the pink "I am" quilt.

It's hard for me to see colors like this and not try to translate them into quilts.  Do you do that too?  There is obviously way too much dirt on my windshield.  I started to write bugs but it's still a little too early for them.

Have a great Friday and an even better weekend.

Julie

Some More Pink

The pink is still fun to work on.  But quite frankly, it's not much fun to post about.  There just isn't much to show that looks like anything is getting done.  I will say that I worked at least 10 hours over the weekend on this top.  This is one where I should have been keeping track of my hours.  It has occurred to me that each of these blocks is ONLY 4" finished. And that a twin size quilt is going to add up to a lot of 4" blocks. But it does seem like it's taking forever.  Even to me.  This time I have some rows sewn together though.  So see, there is hope.

I started and ended the weekend sewing session making more setting blocks.  I've already shown some of the Jack in the Box.  But here are a few again.  I think they are more level than that on the wall. 

There were also some of these Shoo Fly blocks.  They gave me a little trouble since to my mind they are based on a nine patch setting and I needed them to be a four patch setting.  It was a little difficult to figure out the math (even with a calculator).  I just was not getting them to divide well at all.  I ended up cutting my pieces just a little less than 1 7/8".  The way I wrote it in my notes was to cut them just to the right of the 1 7/8" mark on my ruler. 

Hopefully, that makes a little sense.  Anyway, if you'd like to make your own 4" Shoo Fly block then I would suggest you make the 1/2 square triangle pieces a little over-sized and trim them down to just a shade under 1 7/8".  I tried cutting in between the 6/8 and 7/8 marks and that was too much.  My blocks were too small.  There was more time spent on these four little blocks then I'm sure was necessary.  I'm sure it would have been simpler to browse the web until I found a pattern the right size for my project.

Another part of the top I worked on was the sashing in between the rows.  I had started cutting the gray sashing into 1 1/2" strips to finish at 1".  When I sewed the first two rows together I wasn't very happy with the results.

1" Sashing

The way these rows are put together very few of the letters are going to line up from top to bottom.  There are different size strips separating the words and setting blocks on every row.  With the 1" finished sashing it was too apparent that they don't line up.

1 1/2" Sashing

So I ripped out the narrower sashing and made it a little wider.  It was cut at 2" and finishes at 1 1/2".  By the time a little quilting goes in there it will look just fine.

As of right now, I have five rows sashed together.  Using the wider sashing means that I will need at least one less row of words.  And that means I have an extra word.   Oh, well.  Maybe something else to work into the border or on the back.  If you have a strong opinion about the color gray for the sashing please don't hesitate to let me know.  There are several reasons I went with the gray.  One - I have a lot of it.  Two - It makes me think of the words being underlined with a pencil mark.  This quilt is for a almost seven year old that is in the 1st grade.  They do a lot of writing in pre-lined workbooks in the first grade.  And several other reasons could be added.  But it's not too late to make a change if needed.

Another weekend or two and this too shall be in the "to be quilted" pile. Yes, that is me, mocking myself for making a lot of quilt tops and quilting very few.

Have a terrific rest of your day.

Julie

I apologize for using the word "sashing" so many times in this post.  When I hit the spell check it high lighted each and every one of them.  If sashing isn't in the dictionary, it certainly should be.

Pink Progress

Any progress is exciting to me.  And this weekend I finally made some progress on putting together a few of the quilt rows.

Grace's "I Am" quilt progress.

Isn't it coming together great?  This was just what I had in mind when I started thinking about doing this quilt.  I've been calling it Grace's "I Am" quilt.  I started thinking of it as a "You Are" quilt.  But I don't want her to read "You are beautiful.", I want her to read "I am beautiful".

Right now each of the rows finishing measurements are 4" x 60".  I plan to add a narrow inside border and a wider outer border to make it a twin size quilt.

This is what the rows looked like Saturday morning.

See where I had spacers on some of the ends and not on others?  Nope, I didn't like that.  So all of those had to be removed and that amount had to be added in the row.  All of the figuring I had done the week before wasn't going to work.  I did a lot of ripping and resewing.  But it was well worth it to make it look like I wanted instead of just what what was easier to do.

I also made quite a few 4" setting blocks.  So far each of the rows has different setting blocks.  I think I've come up with enough different patterns that none of the rows will be the same.  That means I'll have quite a few leftovers from the little blocks I've already made.  Maybe they can go into the border or on the back.  Since my planning hasn't made it that far there is still time for that decision later.

Here are a few more of the filler blocks I made Saturday.

One row of the flying geese blocks have already been used to the left of the word "Sweet". I'm hoping to fit them in here and there.  Otherwise, I'll just make enough that they will be on their own row with a word or words.  I really like the small block to the right of the flying geese.  It is a "Jack in the Box" block.  I've made quite a few of them before.  This time I just made the sizes smaller to end up with a 4" block.  The butterfly blocks are with the word "Daughter"  That bright pink polka dot was some of the yard sale fabric I found at a church sale a few months ago.  There is only a small piece of it.  The butterfly pattern is all over the web right now as it's quite popular.  My directions for it came from a free pattern Lori Holt had on her blog in a row by row quilt. One of these days I'm going to have enough bright colored fabrics to make that quilt.  The pattern for it can now be found in her book "Quilty Fun".

And there you have my Saturday in a nutshell.  I spent half of it ripping and resewing and the other half making very small blocks.  And to top it off I spent a couple of hours at a Minnie Mouse birthday party for my granddaughter Allison.

Allison at the zoo.

This week I'm going to link up with Judy at Patchwork Times since I haven't done that for a while.  

Have a great Monday!

Julie

Birthday Cards

Last year when my little granddaughter Allison turned one and I stewed and stewed over whether or not I wanted to start making her fabric postcards for her birthdays.  I have been making one every year for her older sister Grace.  But I wanted something different for Allison.  So I had a terrible plan to make her a flower block each year until there were enough to put a quilt together.  Well, that's one way to test whether or not your thread will hold up over the years.

This was from last year.

Flower quilt  block for Allison's 1st birthday.

Over the last year I've regretted my decision to not make Allison postcards too.  After all she can't pick up a quilt block and carry it around.  Or read it, either.

So here is Allison's birthday postcard for her 2nd birthday.

Postcard for Allison's 2nd birthday.

Back of postcard

You should never look too closely at my applique work.  It's usually acceptable, but rarely great.  It is however, done with love.

Now to figure out a postcard for Grace's 7th birthday.  Wow.

Happy Tuesday.

Julie