Red Balloons

 Little kids love birthdays.

Me, not so much.

Last week was my grandson's 2nd birthday.

 

He wasn't quite sure what a birthday was,

but the way the grownups were carrying on,

he figured it must be something important.

And if something is important,

the best thing to have are

 red balloons.

What else in life could

bring such joy?

It was the best present ever!

A good reminder to all of us.

The simple things 

are sometimes the greatest gifts.

Until Next Time-

Bound and Determined

A set of three
always creates a good progression,
a beginning, middle and end, or
like a trilogy in literature.
Each story can stand alone or
they are connected together for one interesting story.


Here is my beginning,

my middle

and the end.

What's the connection?
Bindings!

In this case,
 three quilts
three bindings
and three finishes!

Maybe with three evenings to stitch,
three good movies,
it will equal three quilts completed.

I'm bound and determined!

An update:

Elizabeth was given "da boot" today.

The best choice, no cast, no surgery.

Nana's heading home after a stop 

at Sanford's preschool for a 

Thanksgiving feast.

It's been a busy week

Until Next Time-

Oh, Boy

Life can be full of surprises.

One moment you can be

doing some last bits of fall gardening,

and the next moment,

you can be at urgent care.

 My daughter, Elizabeth, who

is 3 months away from having her second baby,

was dead heading the last of the

summer flowers from her perennials,

stood up,

and promptly fell.

It was the 3 pops she heard

that caused her to worry.

Sure enough 3 breaks

in her right foot.

Oh, boy.

That wasn't part of the plan.

It's been quite a challenge this week.

Until Next Time-

It's A Holly Jolly Halloween?

 I know that it's only

about 5 weeks until the holidays,

but I just had my 

Halloween quilt 

 quilted,

And I just couldn't put away

partially done. 

So,

the next step was to create the scalloped edge.

I drew the edge on freezer paper

so that the design fit the border of the quilt,

and using a blue chalk-a-liner,

 marked the outside edge.

I decided to stay-stitch a scant 1/4" from 

the chalk line before I cut it.

 Somehow that seemed safer.

 I really liked the

 new edge.

I had previously picked out the binding,

but now I wasn't quite sure if it was what I wanted or not.

Here's what I was trying to decide.

Of course, I had picked the orange and black. 

It was the safe choice, 

but somehow the

black and white dots seemed to fit the 

nature of the quilt better.

So that's what I used for the binding.

It fit the whimsical look of the front of the quilt

and even went with the wild backing I had chosen. 

Sometimes you have to go with your instincts

and do what makes you smile.

I should lean in that direction more often. 

So while I was in my unconventional mindset,

and the fact, that I still couldn't find any black 

rick rack to use with the last border,

I went a different direction.

How about purple?

These are the new colors 

modern quilters are using for this holiday.

And I guess I did too.

Until Next Time-

A Sewing Day, Finally

I needed a simple sewing project

to get me back in the swing of things.

Nothing hard,

big pieces,

a Stash user,

and fun.

A friend showed me this wonderful

free pattern from Robert Kaufman.

Photo from Robert Kaufman

Asymmetrical Diamond

It's the perfect design for

easing myself back in.

It has endless possibilities...

Christmas fabrics

brights

30's repros

batiks...

I liked the weathered blue plaids

and I had a great stack in the stash,

some dating back to some of Roberta Horton's

original plaids.

Her book came out in 1990.

The fabric that I needed was the

Kaufman's Essex Yarn Dyed to

use as the solid.  

It's a beautiful fabric, 55% linen and 45% cotton.

The texture is lovely and it added a wonderful feel to the quilt.

I used the flax color.

I cut my pieces bigger than the pattern (7")

and happily sewed half square triangles.

I had a lot of different fabrics to use

for the light and medium plaids so it

created a scrappier look,

which I love.

I couldn't quite decide if I wanted to add borders or not.

I liked the look without, but

it was going to be only about 48" x 60".

I was thinking, that wasn't going to use up much stash.

But then I woke up this morning to

 the soft undefined edges of fog,

I knew I had the answer.

The low contrast between the light blues and medium

blues blurs the diagonal lines of the pattern

like the fog blurs your vision.

You're not quite sure what you'll see next.

A border would be too defining, too containing.

***

Sew, no borders.

Until Next Time-

I've Been Caught in a Giant Snowball

 All it takes is just one snowflake 

to fall and attach itself to another

snowflake,

and before you know it,

 there's a giant snowball careening

 down the hill out of control.

 It started out small

and now it's turned into something big.

I've been thinking about

 what's been going on in my sewing room

as I've finally had time to unpack all of my quilty stuff.

Getting organized is a good thing.

You can't do sharp work without a sharp pencil.

So taking the time

to put everything in an appropriate place

will just make

it more fun later.

But it doesn't take long before

one tidy spot leads

 to another spot that needs work,

that leads to another spot...

And as you continue

to ride in that giant snowball

you're thinking, 

"Help! Will this ever end?"

And guess what?

It isn't long before

you find yourself at the bottom of the hill.
Yahoo!

All that hard work is done.

Everything's put away.

There's nothing left to do now

but

 HAVE FUN!

Until Next Time-

What's Around the Corner

 While these spooky
little trick or treaters

were out last night

peeking around scary corners
and

enjoying Halloween,

I was being "crafty".
On a Halloween night
that could mean 
I was being tricky or sly, or
even devious.
 Hee Hee!

But in reality,
I was being crafty.

I had pulled out a pattern, sequins, felt,

and metallic floss.

With a new addition 

to the family arriving in February

and being one Christmas stocking behind,

Well,

I started thinking about

what's just around the corner.

Until Next Time-