We Interrupt...

 

I finished up making the blocks and then sliced a couple and sewed them together, threw them up on the design wall and took this picture. Then I sent it to my son and DIL.

DIL: OMG that's going to be a really cool quilt!

DS: Hang it in a museum!

So I text back that I think, YES! It's going to be a hell of a quilt, and I had to ask if they really wanted me to tie it instead of having it quilted.

My DIL texts that she thinks it ought to be quilted, but that my DGD really wants a thin quilt like the green one I made for them.

So we go back and forth, and we talk to my DGD. She wants a thin quilt. I'm happy to make her one.

But it won't be this quilt.

Blushing Zebras

I'm almost finished sewing the blocks together, but I simply had to slice a couple of them and resew them to see what they'd look like.

CLEARLY this is going to be really cool.

I sent the photo above to my granddaughter and my son said not only did she think it was pretty but she "squeeked really high pitched." They all love it and my DIL loves the name I have chosen, Blushing Zebras.

Thank you Starsthatblaze! Haven't heard from you in a long time. Nice to know you're still around. Also hello Sewgirl!

I should finish sewing the blocks together later today (Friday) and then over the weekend I'll start slicing the blocks apart, matching pairs and resewing them together. REALLY looking forward to this next part. 

 

Lynne Changes Her Mind

Once I had designed all the blocks in the BWR Quilt I put them up on the wall and stood back. One of them stood out like a sore thumb for being too wimpy. It's the second from the right on the top row. From a distance (hell, even close up) the outer fabric looked too much like the fabric in the center and it just seemed insubstantial compared to the others.

So I made another block using a fabric that had more contrast in the outer ring, and I like it a lot better, and will make the remaining three blocks using the zebras in the outer ring.

They look better now. I still have fifteen more blocks to make before I slice the blocks in half diagonally and match up pairs.

Here are all the blocks I have sewn on the design wall. It doesn't really show what it will look like eventually, but it kinda sorta gives you an idea.

This is still fun, but it needs a name. Any suggestions?

More DGD RWB Blocks

 

I've designed the last three blocks for my granddaughter's Black White and Red quilt. I will be making 64 blocks in all, 32 with a black center like these, above,

and 32 with a light center, like these above.

Twenty of the light-centered blocks have red in them. I've made all those, but now I have to make a total of four of each of the blocks I have designed.

Here are all the blocks I have designed. The sixteen different blocks are unique, but there are fabrics that are used in more than one, but I have changed their placement.

I have made 32 of the 64 blocks, so I'm getting there. 

More DGD Black White Red

 
I was eager to see the fabric combinations I had planned made up into blocks. So I made one of each. I have plans to make four each of these color combinations, but I wanted to see the blocks next to each other. These are the three combinations in the last photo from yesterday's post.

These are some darker blocks I had planned to make.

I always tell my students not to get too hung up in sorting, organizing or shopping for fabrics by category. I think making categories is a bad idea because things could get "stuck" there. I found this fabric above in the Christmas section of my local LQS. The Christmas section is often a great place to look if you want reds or greens, but often you have to hunt through the store to find it. XOXO! I mean Hello! Do you not think this is a perfect fabric to include in a quilt for someone you love?

(Incidentally ALL fabric in my stash is sorted by COLOR and COLOR only.)

I needed more red blocks, so this is what I selected when I was planning all this the other night.

But then I remembered I have a big bin full of black and white scraps. Very often fabrics in this bin wasn't of sufficient quantity to make the outer edge of the blocks, but it was a perfect place to find fabrics for the centers or even the middle section.

The XOXO red became this, which I like very much...

But I found a better option for the center of this red block. I bought and used that black and white cat fabric back in 2017...? 

You may have noticed a preponderance of cat fabrics in this quilt.

Because, like, duh!

Granddaughter Black White & Red

 

I mentioned briefly that my darling granddaughter (DGD) wants me to make her a quilt that is black, white and red. I kinda sorta knew where I was going with it, but that idea didn't thrill me so I got out my quilt books and started browsing. The quilt above is SLICED, which I made way back in 2013, from Amy Ellis's Book, Modern Neutrals. We all know how much I love neutrals (NOT!) so naturally I did some tinkering. I liked this quilt back then and I thought it would be suitable as a Black, White and Red quilt for my DGD, so I sent her a picture. (Remember she lives on the other side of the country.)

My son said she loved the design. I had another question. More BLACK than Red or more RED than Black?

The answer was MORE BLACK! 

Well all righty then. Not quite what I was expecting from an almost ten year old girl. When I told Julie she asked, "Does she know black fades fastest of all colors?"

"No, of course not," I replied, "However, you and I both have one person in our lives for whom we would do anything. I'm her grandmother, and I'll pretty much do anything she wants."

Besides, this is the quilt that is going to hide under the blankets during the day, or at least that's the theory.

I did, however, extract some concessions from DGD. I could use black and white fabrics, which she likes, and the blacks could have bright colors on them. With those two concessions I knew I was in business.  No problem. I can do that. Now that the work on the floors is all done and I have put the house back to rights, I can get into the studio and get to work. I made a couple of test blocks and then went through the stash to make combinations I thought would work. You can see some of them above.

Of course I started working before I figured out how many of each block I needed, but I wanted to see if what I had in my head would work in real life before I got too committed. But once I had these blocks on the design wall I knew I was good to go.

I did get my notebook out and I did the math. The amounts on the page above are wrong. I need 20 Red, but only 10 of the Dark "L" blocks, and I need 30 of the blocks with the dark center and Light "L."

Here are the fabrics for those ten dark L blocks. I will be making four blocks from each combination. It's always good to have a few extra.

This is to give you an idea of where this is going.

Memere to the Rescue!

 

Every time I go to California to visit my son's family. we take a trip to the South Coast Botanic Garden. This photo of my granddaughter was taken in August of this year when we visited the butterfly exhibit. I give my son and his family a membership to the Gardens each year. I love visiting as much as they do.

Yesterday my son texted me, "There are dinosaurs at the botanical gardens! And we lapsed our membership!"

HOLY TERROR BATMAN!

I tried to remember when I renewed the membership. I couldn't recall. So I got on my phone and brought you the Botanic Garden website and gave them a call. Discovering the membership had indeed expired, I renewed it for another year. After the staff person told me the membership was reinstated I thanked her, "Now I need. you to do me a favor. I need you to go out to the ticket office and tell the clerk that the membership for my son's family has been reinstated. I'm pretty sure my son is out there waiting with my granddaughter!"

She laughed and did just that. 

A few minutes later I got a text from my son, "Thanks Mom, they just let us in."

Turns out membership renewal notices are sent to the members, so my son probably saw it and thought, "Oh, Mom will take care of this." Now I have set a notice on my phone so I will renew the membership in time next year.

Memere to the rescue! 

OK! Christmas gift for the family... CHECK!

Happy granddaughter... CHECK!

Butterflies & More

 The South Beach Botanic Garden is located not far from my son's family. They love it, so I gift them with a family membership each year.

They had a butterfly exhibit there while I was visiting. Most places now have areas designed for photos. We should all be butterflies!

Not many people were lucky enough to be the landing spot for a butterfly.

This was as close as I got, but it was still fine by me.

They have lovely flowers, an entire bleeding heart garden, and a stunning rose garden, but I find myself attracted to the Cactus garden.

They were in flower, which was really cool to see.

We had some terrific food. Here my DGG is taking a picture of my son and DIL.

While there I read Haroun and the Sea of Stories **** to my DGD. I really didn't need to. She is able to read very well. Once I stopped to take a drink of water, and when I tried to find my place to resume reading, she pointed it right out to me! It's a fun book, and when we got to the end of one chapter and she said, "Do we have to stop? Can you please keep reading?" I knew she liked the book as much as I do.

It's always fun to see quilts I made a long time ago. This is the Petals quilt I made in 2015. I slept under the Dinosaur quilt!

Before I left, I set up my DGD's iPad so she could FaceTime with me with just the push of a button. As you can see she is getting tall. She'll be nine next week, and I'm pretty sure that the next time I see her she'll be taller than me.

I had a grand time.

**** this from Amazon about the book: 

Immediately forget any preconceptions you may have about Salman Rushdie and the controversy that has swirled around his million-dollar head. You should instead know that he is one of the best contemporary writers of fables and parables, from any culture. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a delightful tale about a storyteller who loses his skill and a struggle against mysterious forces attempting to block the seas of inspiration from which all stories are derived.

“This is, simply put, a book for anyone who loves a good story. It’s also a work of literary genius.” —Stephen King

Happy Birthday Darling!

 Happy Birthday to my darling granddaughter,

Somebody is 8 years old today! And as. you can see she loves the PRIZM quilt, so now it lives in California.

The cat loves it too. He hasn't stopped cuddling with it since it came out of the box. (The soft frisbee is a gift from Mémère as well.)

yeah, those two are definitely connected....

Family!

 

My son and granddaughter arrived a couple of days ago. Their flight was delayed by 2 hours and they finally got to my house about 10 PM, and they were hungry! So I fed them, and they both perked right up. 

The next day they came over and my DGD and I baked a cake and then I asked her to crawl under my worktables to fish out some fabrics and tools I had dropped back there.

We added the stitching for gathering the skirt on the Dino dress I am working on. DGD expressed an interest in sewing herself, so I Gabe her a strip of fabric and let her practice.

The next day she sewed the hem on the dress.

My son took pictures of us, and he asked us to be a little bit silly.

Jet lag finally caught up with the both of them.

A Dino Dress

My granddaughter will be visiting next week and she has expressed a desire to sew with me. I figured I better get going on her dinosaur dress.  I have completed the bodice, above, and assembled the big parts of the skirt. All that's needed is to gather the waist and attach it to the bodice, then sew the hem. My granddaughter has no sewing experience, but I think she would get a kick out of doing that part.

I've really enjoyed the Olympics. I love watching the Equestrian events along with Water Polo, and that's in addition to the usual - gymnastics, swimming and tennis. Then again, pretty much anything is interesting to watch.

Fancy Dress Up Day

 

It was Fancy Dress Up Day at my granddaughter's school on Monday. Naturally my daughter-in-law took a picture of my DGD and my son.

Pretty in pink, the two of them!

BTW, my seminole patchwork basics tutorial is available here, in my Etsy shop. The band on the bodice of her dress is more complicated than it at first looks, but the instructions are in the tutorial.

A Little Ham...

This is my granddaughter in the Pink Dinosaur Seminole Dress. 

Pretty sure she likes it. 

Seeing these photos (and the others my son sent), reminded me of what his pediatrician said to me during one of his exams.

"There's a little ham in this kid."

Clearly it runs in the family.