This and That

It's always nice to see a quilt outside, so you can get a sense of its true colors. Here is the Fruit Loops flimsy on my front steps. I ordered fabric for the backing of this quilt, and I am eager to see it finished.

About a year ago I made a quilt for my son and DIL to give to an internet friend of theirs who was fighting cancer.
.

Imagine their surprise when she showed up at their house for a visit yesterday.  My son texted me "It was like meeting a celebrity who loved me." My DIL wrote, "She made us feel really special and she made sure to tell us how much we mean to her."

It's just another reason why we make quilts - because they help form bonds with people and spread love. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you can't give a better gift than a quilt. Quilts are magical.

Diane says THANKS!

Diane sent a text with the following photo my son and DIL last night. She had finally received, and opened the package with her quilt. (She had been back to Johns Hopkins in MD for consults with her physicians.)

 
"Just WOW!!!!! I can't even put into words how much love I feel right now!!! DUDE!!! I am so in love with this very very special blanket and awesome book**. You [DIL] are very special to me.  I am so grateful for you and [DS] and [DS]'s Momma - unbelievably talented! My family and I are just in absolute awe with the kindness and support you've shown us!!! (heart) (heart) (heart) (heart) (heart) (heart). I WILL FOR SURE SNUGGLE WITH IT EVERY NIGHT!!!"

**my son & DIL put together a book of pictures of the quilt. They took it out for beauty shots.

like this one.

and this one of me, and included it when they sent her the quilt.

I'm glad Diane loves her quilt and will enjoy it.

Beauty Shot Sunday

I've been hanging on to the Petals and Over the Top quilts so I could take beauty shots of them. First thing was to bring them out to the pond to drape them over the Moose.

Alas, the Moose vam-oosed. DRAT! Later I learned it was dismantled because it was falling apart. Still.

"Over the Top" is over the bridge,

and over the railing.

What's interesting about the Petals quilt in this photo is how different it is when you look at it sideways.

or even at a slight angle. 

Both quilts, however, seemed a lot more at home in a truly natural setting.

 I don't know why this surprised me.

 

but it did.

After the photo shoot both quilts had a trip through the washer and the dryer, where, if possible, they both came out more beautiful.*** 






***(Yes Julie, that is the sound of Lynne eating vast quantities of crow. Enjoy it, my friend.)

Comfort Quilt, Finished

 Chris said she unpacked the quilt, took one look at it and knew exactly how this quilt should be quilted. I adore the variegated black and white thread she used, and I love the quilting design.

I think I'm going to have to name this quilt "Over The Top"  because every aspect of this quilt goes over the top, and yet the quilt doesn't look like "too much."

So I added the binding,

turned it over, and started stitching it down.

taking photos every time the binding changed.

.

.

all the way around until I got back to the beginning.

 Julie likes the crumpled look.  Here you go, Julie!

Here's the finished quilt. I love it, and I know the recipient will too.

Binding Ready...

The Comfort Quilt is due back from being quilted today, so I prepared the binding. I decided it should be varied and made from the fabrics in the quilt itself. I'll finish the quilt over the next few days, take beauty shots of it and the Petals quilt this weekend, then send them both off to their respective homes on Monday.

And it's time to clean the studio!

Comfort Quilt, 3

I spent all day Sunday sewing up the blocks for the comfort quilt.

They were some kind of crazy, that's for sure.
 

Some of them really twisted my head, getting me confused on which color was the "figure" and which was the "ground".

But eventually I found an arrangement that worked.  We thought it would be a nice thing to put the girl's name on the quilt.

 Not that we were worried this quilt would ever go astray...

 I think this is the perfect backing for this quilt, and I know Diane is going to love it. Let's all hope she beats cancer and gets to enjoy it for a very long time.
 

Comfort Quilt, 2

I'm on a roll. The house has been neglected, and my desk is a waterfall of paperwork. It's more fun to be in the sewing studio.  I'll have to get down to reality soon, but for now this is too much fun.

I paired all  my strips, cut and sewed the curves and cut the curved pairs into blocks. Then I designed all the blocks and set them aside to pin while I watched TV. I saved all the little extra bits from each strip. Hold that thought...

.
This is the end of an evening's work.

.
Then I took the little leftover bits and sewed them together, alternating the black and white at each end. I just grabbed the strips semi-randomly. The resulting strip was about five feet long, and totally awesome. I didn't know exactly what I'd do with it, but felt it would appear on the back of the quilt somehow.

 I love this block.

And this one. This quilt goes WAY WAY WAY over the top, but it's perfect for the young lady it's going to, and she so well deserves it. I'm happy to be making it and have been having such fun doing it.


PS, All the fabrics for this quilt came from my stash. I'm not sure if I should hide from embarrassment about that fact.

A Comfort Quilt

A friend wrote to me recently and asked if I could help her out. She wanted to gift a small quilt to a friend of hers who has been battling leukemia for a long time.   She told me where to find her friend's Instagram feed, so I checked it out.

One look told me this young lady LOVED bright, bold unexpected combinations. I wrote back to my pal suggesting a Rail Fence block the same size as the Blue Boy quilt. It would go together quick. How about eye popping brights (acid green, hot pink, purple, orange) with black and white fabrics for the lights, I asked her.
   

"I just heard from her and you were dead on with the colors, she says her favorites are green, purple, and orange!" she texted back about a half an hour later.

(An aside. This would have been incomprehensible to me when I was that age. I am in the Northeastern US. My pal is across the USA in California, and the friend is in Baltimore MD. Our messages, and these plans, were going back and forth across the country in mere minutes... Oh, the internet is a wonderful place.)

So I've been slicing my fabrics in an occasionally gentle curve and sewing them up. I really think this is going to be fun. I have an idea of how to really break the rules on this one, and we'll see how it works out.