Political Red, White and Blue Quilt

Look at what is now hanging in my office .

"Voting Is" Quilt 

 

 

Close up of blocks and quilting.

 

 

I'm so happy to finally have this one finished.  And to actually get it done before the election.  Now I hope staring at it everyday will help me get motivated to vote.

There is no pattern for this quilt.  I just tried to use the extra blocks left over from other quilts and quilt tops I've made.  The solid star blocks are from one of my first quilts from about 15 years ago.  And a few of the blocks were made just for this quilt.  Okay, more than a few.  Those little red  3" churn dash blocks make me want to make a quilt just using them.  Or maybe come up with something for the churn dash and the 2" pinwheel blocks.  I see a great leader/ender project in my future.

This quilt started with the elephant and donkey blocks.  I found the patterns for them on the internet. If you would like to make them just Google political quilts and eventually you'll find them.  They are old Kansas City Star patterns.  I made a few changes to them including making the donkey larger so the two would be nearer the same size. Then I made the word borders and they are what determined the size of the quilt.  It had to be long enough for the word responsibility.  The patterns for the letters are from The Temecula Quilt Company pattern Little Letters.

Anyway, I love the way it turned out.  And apparently my boss does too.  I left to go to a bid letting and when I returned he said he hoped I didn't mind but he took pictures while I was gone.  He wants to post it on the AGC Facebook and twitter account.  Go for it.  I've already put it on my Facebook page.

Even with our election choices this time it is still our responsibility to vote.  To have a voice.  I may never admit to who I voted for, but I'll vote just the same.

Julie

 

Almost done.  Just a couple of short rows. And then the decision on what color of binding.

Julie 

Okay, time to slow down a minute.  Should have known when my quilt felt like it was dragging that there was a reason.

Oh, well.  That's what seam rippers are for.

Julie

Last night I had the opportunity to see Kaffe Fassett give a lecture on color.  He did a great job describing how the things he sees influence his choice of color.

I really couldn't say how long he spoke.  There wasn't a moment that I wanted to stop listening and look at the time.  Nothing at all what I expected.  Very entertaining.  We were sitting about 15' away from the stage. So close that there was no chance we were going to miss a thing.

There may have been a few, okay more than a few, people in the audience laugh or gasp when he shared his opinion of the colors of Thimbleberries. Let's just say it's not the highest.

He graciously signed all the books that were brought to him and continued to answer questions that were asked.

All in all I'd have to say it was a very good evening. The evening was made even better because I spent it with my daughter (a non-quilter, but an artist nonetheless) and my sister ( a proficient quilter).

Happy sewing,

Julie

I'm told that I need to update my blog.  I don't really understand why writing a new post has been so difficult for me but it has.  This is the first time I've logged in to my blog since March.  When the blog came up there was a comment that was awaiting moderation.  The comment was from September 3, 2015. The day before we took mom to the hospital and found out she'd had a stroke. I'm sure it hadn't automatically posted because there were so many typos in the comment.  Mom had written the comment and apparently she was already having stroke related issues. I went ahead and approved the comment. I wouldn't have deleted it for a million dollars.  But it just reinforces to me how much my world has changed in the last year.  Mom is doing well right now but has had numerous challenges to face. She, of course,  has her good days and bad days. After all she's 85 years old. One thing she doesn't do any more is quilt. Nor does she talk about quilting.  So that changed my quilting world too. However,  I am still sewing. So I'll move on to why I started this post.

This is such a horrible election year. But one thing I do feel strongly about is voting. Whether I want to vote or not. That prompted me to start a political quilt.

My picture is, as always, terrible but it gives a clue where I'm going with my design.  This started with the elephant and donkey.  Then I made the borders.  I've been trying to use up some of my orphan blocks like the bow ties and stars in the picture.  And now I'm making some blocks to fill it in.  This weekend I'm hoping to get the center put together.  If I don't get working on it the election will be over.  If that happens at least I'd have four more years to work on it.

Happy quilting.

Julie 

Happy Birthday Grace

My granddaughter Grace turned 8 on February 26th.  She is growing up and changing so fast.  It seems to go faster then it did with my own two kids.

Grace's "I Am" Quilt

I finally finished the pink quilt I started last January and gave it to Grace.  I spent a lot of time on this quilt.  Each row is made up of 4" blocks with a few spacers added in to make the rows come out even.  No, I didn't think to take a picture of the whole quilt.  But the pictures with Grace in them will always mean more to me anyway.

Reading the label.

Under Construction

It is so nice to have finished something that hopefully will bring her a lot of  joy.

Happy Friday!

Julie

Allison's Third Birthday

Our sweet little Allison turned three on the 10th. She had been given a doll like an American Girl doll for Christmas so it was time for her to get some doll clothes of her own.

I used several of the fabrics Allison and Grace had gifted me for Christmas which worked out great.

It bugs me that the patterns often have the closures
on the back.  I wish I had thought of that before I
finished making the blue shirt and dress.  I would
have made them a little different so that the Velcro
and snaps looked like they belonged on the front.
And to Allison they do belong on the front.  I
certainly won't tell her any different.

All dressed.

Birthday Postcard From Grandma

Happy birthday to Allison. Now on to Grace's birthday on the 26th. I better hurry up and get finished with her presents.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Gifts

For Christmas I made my daughter Jen and daughter-in-law Victoria casserole carriers and potholders.  By now I should be used to the dark pictures my camera takes but alas, I'm not.  It probably has more to do with the lighting in my house and not the camera.  Anyway, here are the gifts I made.

Victoria's casserole carrier with two potholders.

Lining fabric.

Jen's casserole carrier with two potholders

Lining fabric.

The potholders were made using patterns from Lori Holt's book Farm Girl Vintage.  I didn't use her potholder directions though.  They were too large for my liking.  Basically the same just not as wide of a border.  The carriers are a conglomeration of a couple of free patterns I found searching the web.   Both sets turned out great.  And I certainly had fun making them.  One of Jen's potholders was supposed to be a sheep but it required some hand stitching and by the time I did that it was no longer fit to be a gift.  Some day I'll learn.

Happy sewing,

Julie

There weren't many posts written on my blog last year.  So I'll try to do a little catch up while I seem to be on a roll.  This is three posts just this month.  Wowza.  Anyway, one of the things I never blogged about was being a winner.

The second week of December was another Sew Mama Sew give away week.  It's where bloggers write a post about whatever they want but in the post they offer to give something away (often fabric) if you'll follow their blog on one of the many different ways you can sign up to follow.  Or you might just have to answer a simple question.  It's a good way to get new people to visit your blog.  I participate as one who visits the blogs not the blogger.  That may be one of the reasons I still only have 30 followers (and some of them are duplicates) and not hundreds of followers that many bloggers have.  Anyway - in December I was one of the lucky winners and I never posted about it.

This is the fat 8th bundle I received from Jayne at Twiggy and Opal.

Very pretty fabrics and a zipper pouch too!

The different patterns of fabric.

I was quite surprised that is was such a large bundle of fabrics.  It was a generous prize/gift and I appreciate it.  Now comes the decision on what to do with it.  These fabrics are not necessarily in my usual group of fabrics.  However, I've been looking to do something a little more current and this may be a good reason to figure something out.  Thanks again Jayne.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Another busy weekend.  Saturday we had a birthday lunch at the "manor" with mom.  She is 85 years old now.  Most of the family attended. There was too much food as always.  Mom has said that she never gets Mexican food anymore.  So we had a Mexican food potluck.  She appreciated that.

Sunday I spent working on my mystery quilt.  I switched the yellow for teal and love the way it is turning out.

close up

I'm pretty sure this one will be yet another one I want to keep for myself.  I have quite a bit left to sew to get the blocks together.  And since it's laying on my living room floor I may have some motivation to get it done.  I haven't decided yet if I'll put any borders on it. 

Happy sewing,

Julie

A New Year

How did it already get to be January 6th.  The last few days have just flown by and I have so much to get done.  Isn't that the way it always goes.

The holidays around my house were very busy.  We always have one place or another to run off to.  I'm not sure I would change a thing about it though.  I sure wasn't wanting to change anything this time.  There was just too much upset in 2015 to want to throw something different into the Christmas holiday.  And a great Christmas it turned out to be.

My grandgirls Grace and Allison and DIL Victoria like to buy me fabric for my stash. Nothing wrong with that. This time Victoria took some pictures of the girls picking out the fabric.

 

Allison was working hard to get those bolts up on the table.  It appeared that Grace was being a terrific supervisor.  It's great fun to have them show me which fabrics they picked out.  And this year was even better since I got the pictures that show the story to go with the fabric.  Several of the fabrics made it into my mystery quilt.  I'll have pictures of it another day.

I had so much trouble trying to post these pictures that some of the people that read it via bloglovin might not get the whole post.  I had to keep correcting and updating it.  Oh, well.  I'm leaving it, as is.
Hoping for a productive rest of the week.

Happy sewing,

Juliw  (I even spelled my own name wrong and didn't even notice it. Yet another update.)  Julie