Mom's Bird Quilt, Quilted

 

I picked up my Mom's bird quilt from Janet-Lee. Here is a closeup shot of the quilting. 

Here's another picture. I really love the quilting.

I've added the binding to the quilt, and will be finishing it over the next few days.

My mother is going to be very happy with this.

If you want to make your own birds, you can get my tutorial here.

More Birds for Mom's Bird Quilt

 

Now that I have made all the birds based on members of my family, I am making birds based on things I know my Mom likes. She likes the color Orange, so I made this bird.

She also really likes the color Yellow, so I made this one.

My Mom isn't necessarily a Pink fan, but years ago when one of my cousins got married, my Mom wanted to make herself a dress to wear to the wedding. She said she wanted to be "demurely elegant." The dress she ended up making was Hot Pink. So I had to make a bird to commemorate that!

You too can make birds. My tutorial, available on Etsy, tells you how. You can get it here.

Mom's Art Bird

I tell my students all the time, "Don't buy fabrics you fall in love with UNLESS you have a definite plan to cut it up and use it in a quilt."

Great advice. But we all do it. I bought a lot of J. Wecker Frisch's fabrics and while I have used bits of them very judiciously, I still have an awful lot of it.

As my Mother spent a lot of her career as a professional artist, it was clear that I had to make an Art Bird to represent her in her quilt. I was able to cut into my J. Wecker Frisch fabrics and put together what I think is a nifty bird that represents my Mom.

Can you say "fussy cuts galore?"

If you want to make birds, you can get my tutorial that tells you how. It's on my Etsy shop, here.

Niece & More Birds

 

This is my Niece's bird. I made this bird back in July, and I am showing it to you again because I am making birds based on family members for a bird quilt I am making for my mother. My niece has a partner and I wanted to show you his bird too.

When I met him last year, I found out he loved maps, so I used a fabric that reminded me of the topological lines on maps as the wing fabric. My niece send me a photograph of the two of them taken when they were hiking. They both looked so happy and bright I decided to use bright colors for this bird's breast.

They have a black dog, Nona, and she has a bit of white on her chest. This is Nona.

If you too want to make birds based on family members, friends, or anything you see, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop.

Mom Update

 

This photo of Mom was taken in 2017 on our trip to Colorado. It’s one of my favorites pictures of her.

Hi Gang,

First of all, my Mom is good! She just celebrated her 92nd birthday, and she came to my house yesterday to check out the new floors.

She’s good. But she’s 92, and has a host of serious medical issues, which I will not divulge. The doctors would like her in the hospital so they can monitor her closely but she’s having none of it. The hospital is crowded, noisy and, as far as she is concerned, stifling. Stuck in one bed, with often noisy neighbors… she would rather be home.

And who can blame her? The docs are trying to find just the right balance. She would rather be home, where she can live her life in comfort with loved ones nearby. She gets to sleep in her own bed, eat her own food (or M’s) and do what she pleases when she pleases. She says if she feels bad, she can call an ambulance.

I can’t say as I blame her. Her mother spent the last five years of her life in bed, in pain, and in a nursing home. My Mom would rather LIVE the time she has left. She’s happy with M, and she has a reason to get up in the morning. That’s pretty good at her age.

I talk to her almost daily, and see her often. She’s only five miles away. I am well aware of how lucky I am that I have had her this long. Every day is a gift, and every day is OK. I’ve long since made my peace with it. I’m gonna miss her like crazy when she goes, but I’m not going to fret over whatever time she has left.

She could surprise us all. 

Mama Bird & Update

Some of you asked what kind of bird I would make for my Mother. She has always loved yellow, so this bird, with its spiffy red legs is totally appropriate.

My Mom also loves sunflowers so this bird would also be good, but I like the top one better.

She's back in the hospital again, and none too pleased about it.

I am really glad I decided to extend the flooring project to the dining room and the short hallway to the guest bathroom and the office. It looks so nice and will be so much easier to clean.

I have been putting as much of my house back to rights as I can, and that included rehanging my quilts. They look the same, but before I had the rods resting on push pins I stuck into the wall. They stayed just fine until someone or something (like a strong gust of wind) knocked them down, This, of course, was hardly ideal.

So I took a drive to the big orange hardware store and got some curtain rods and installed the brackets. Now the quilts hang just fine, and won't come tumbling down even if something pulls at them.

Incidentally, I'm letting my hair grow. This is me now. I'm not sure how long I'll let it grow, and I don't know how long I want it to get, but it's a work in progress. I am not sure I recognize myself in the mirror, but part of that is how much silver I have, I know I should probably change my profile picture, but I have to get used to this first!

What I did on Sunday...

 

I got the binding added to the Pink Panther quilt. Now I can pin it to the front and hand sew it down. Good thing, because the quilting on the quilt for P is done and I'll be picking it up later this week. I want to finish the Pink Panther before that happens.

My Mom and her beau came over for dinner on Sunday. After dinner I showed her the quilts I was working on. She loves all my quilts, but she was particularly taken with Allegretto (the yellow and green one on the left). "Oooo! Can I have it?" Um, no. "Are you sure?" Yup, no, this one is staying with me. 

My Mom got creative, "But Lynne, how many quilts do you need? You already have so many." She said this with a broad grin. She knew perfectly well I have used that line on her before,  because she loves ALL my quilts, and basically wants each and every one of them.

"Can I BORROW it" she asked again? 

No.

"Can I RENT it? I'll give you money for it," she laughed.

Um, no.

Across the room, her beau, M, was laughing. This isn't the first time my Mom has tried to convince me by hook or by crook, to give her a quilt. He was enjoying the exchange.

Now before you get all judgy and tell me what I should or should not do, that my mother is old enough to get whatever she wants because after all, she's 88 and I'm not going to have her forever... remember that this is a game between my Mom and I. We both know that whenever she sees a new quilt of mine, she's going to ask for it. And we both know I'm going to say no. 

"You know Lynne, it would go so well with my Yellow Ribbons quilt and M's Jealousy quilt."

I rolled my eyes.

My Mom laughed.

 Yeah, we had a great visit.

Binding Dairy Cream

I'm  pretty sure Donna at Quilted Threads was shocked when I picked this colorful diagonal stripe for the binding of my Dairy Cream diamonds quilt.

Believe it or not, I don't usually like to use fabric for the binding that is in the quilt already. Reason: because if the binding touches a piece of fabric on the quilt that is the same, it looks like one area is bleeding into the other. I want to keep them separate.

For this quilt, I wanted something mostly white or cream, and a color, but I couldn't find anything that really made my heart sing.  I found this pretty stripe in the kid's section, and I knew it was perfect. The reason? In this case, the binding was selected because it is perfect for who the quilt is FOR. My mother, who's an artist and loves color. And the stripe was happy.

And when I joined the binding strips, I did this DELIBERATELY.  I like the little bit of zing it provides for the viewer who will notice it.

My Mother is so eager for the quilt she told me I could machine sew the binding down on the front, and not to do it by hand, so this will be finished very soon.

Dairy Cream with Sprinkles!

A couple of weeks ago my Mom made a bid for my pink diamonds quilt, Tickled Pink. I told her that wasn't happening, but that I'd see what I could do.

This quilt got started with the leftover pieces from the Tickled Pink quilt, but as all my quilts do, it took another direction.

I'm calling it Dairy Cream with Sprinkles.

I picked a nice flowery backing for it. (I found it at eQuilter)



Just a reminder that my diamond quilts are inspired by Pam Goecke Dinndorf's Harlequin Quilt. She sells a pattern for it here.

Mom Wants

My Mother told me the other day she wants a quilt. I said, "Ma, you already have like five or six!"

"When people come in my house, the first thing they see is the quilt you made when you first started quilting," she said.

This is the quilt my Mom is referring to. It's an original design, machine pieced and hand quilted by me 28 years ago, blogged about here.

My mother continued, "Everybody loves it, but it's not you anymore. The stuff you do now is amazing. I want the new you."


My Mom wants a word quilt. (Oh gee, there's a big surprise.)


"Well, Ma, what words?" I asked.

"I love that quote about creativity by Pearl Buck."

"MA! That has WAY TOO MANY LETTERS. You can't have that many. That would make a quilt the size of a house! Think of a quote you like, but it has to be short. The Quick Brown fox has 35 letters. You can have... 50. You can have 50 letters."

"That's not a lot."

"The quilt won't fit on the wall if it has too many."

"I don't need a quote, but I want words. I'll think about it."

My grandmother used to say "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

I'm pretty sure that won't be what my mother chooses.