Finally Back to Quilting

I had a wonderful afternoon of quilting today.  I had been working on a red/white/blue mystery quilt along with this Yahoo Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MysteryQuilts4Military/

This has been a fun mystery to put together, but I fell a little behind in getting the clues cut out and sewn together.  The final clue (#6) came out last Friday, so I’m not so very late.   I expect to be caught up to the point of having the blocks laid out by tonight.  Then sewing them together in rows will be a breeze.  This is my progress to date:

 

No, it won't always look like a house!

Did I look ahead to the finished assembly to solve the mystery?  You bet I did!  And some of the participants have posted their pictures and they are gorgeous.

And here are a few pictures that I snapped while moving things out of my mother’s assisted living apartment.  First, a very pretty Golden Rain Tree in full bloom.

 

And the baby ducks that my mother liked to feed.  I think these were born in this unused door-well (an emergency exit only) – the mother has since moved them on to the nearby pond.

 

And the osprey on the nest on the parking lot light pole.  I’ve been watching for baby’s heads but haven’t seen any peeking out yet.  The large lake is just across the street, so a fish dinner is readily available!  The daddy osprey was sitting on the next pole, but I didn’t get his picture.

 

More on my mystery quilt tomorrow!

Frederick Law Olmsted’s Birthday

Are you familiar with the work of Frederick Law Olmsted?  He was born on this date in 1822.

Oil portrait by John Singer Sargent

Olmsted essentially founded the profession of landscape architecture in America, and even if you don’t know his name, I’m sure you know some of his works.  He co-designed both Central Park and Prospect Park (both in NYC), one of the first planned communities (Riverside, IL), and many coordinated systems of public parks and parkways across the US (e.g., Buffalo, Milwaukee, Louisville, et al). 

Central Park, NYC

Olmsted was innovative and vitally interested in conservation.  His efforts resulted in lands being set aside for the first national park at Yosemite Valley and aided in preserving the natural wonders of Niagara Falls.  Definitely, a man before his time.

Niagara Falls

Olmsted also had a career in journalism.  He wrote and published a book entitled Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England after visiting public gardens in England in 1852.  Olmstead’s friend described his work as follows:  “An artist, he paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest covered hills; with mountain sides and ocean views”. 

As we move into Spring, it is fitting that we pause to remember the contributions of visionaries like Olmsted and enjoy the parks and urban oasis that they were instrumental in setting aside for us.  It kind of of makes me want to make up a floral quilt right now!

To learn more about landscape architecture, see this site: http://www.asla.org/design/

 I found the links on that site about Therapeutic Gardens and Public Gardens particularly interesting.  Here are some more examples of Olmsted’s work:

Capitol grounds, Washington, DC

Reflecting Pool at UC-Berkeley

Columbia Exposition of 1893, Chicago

Spring Means Babies

Our resident Limpkins have had a family.  These wading birds eat freshwater snails, mussels, frogs, etc. and the mom and dad are teaching their four offspring to find their own food along the edge of our pond.  Due to the decline of their favorite delicacy, the FL Apple Snail, they are seen less frequently in Florida (their only range) and becoming a “species of concern”.

 

Mom with 3 of the babies

This guy is also a temporary resident of the pond (they move around in the spring), so the parents must be vigilant.

Wally Gator on Patrol

 So far they’ve done a good job and the babies are growing and developing wing feathers.

 

Dad with the 4th chick

Speaking of baby animals, this is my latest finish:

 

I wrote in an earlier post about sewing some elephants upside down on this, but I recently told my On-line guild about how the troubles just kept on comeing in constructing this simplest of quilt designs:

1.  As mentioned, I sewed some elephant strips on upside down and had to rip them out and sew again

2.  Then I quilted some feathers – the first row of them was wonderful – the second row was an oopsie since the loops went opposite directions

3.  Then when I went to take it off the frame I discovered the backing was 2 inches too short – bummer – fortunately, with this design I could cut off a piece of the top to match the bottom in length

4.  And finally, I forgot to change the thread color when I was eagerly putting a fancy stitch on the binding – it is sewn with white thread instead of tan.

I’m guessing a kid won’t notice!  And BTW, this quilt is modified from the design called Quick Strippie at MaryQuilts.com.  I’m not going with “easy” next time … LOL.

Yardwork and Quilty Progress

Into each life some yardwork must fall … and it’s mulch season around my house.  The weather has been so weird that I’ve been neglecting my yard (great excuse, huh?).  And it sure did need some work done.  So yesterday and today I went to town on the yard, so to speak.  I pulled weeds, cut back bushes and put down lots of mulch.  I still have half of the front to do, but it is looking so-o-o- much better that I’ll bet the neighbors are cheering!

 

It's getting there!

I love the African Iris in bloom!

I also dusted the entire house, finished up through Clue 2 of the red/white/blue mystery and laid out the fabrics for my next child’s quilt.  What a great day!

 

Mystery in progress - all cut and labeled for the next clue

This panel has lots of animals - the green is not true-to-color

PS  I think I need a nap …

Following Directions

When I take a class or try something new, I usually follow the directions to a “T”.  In between working on children’s quilts, I’m working on a mystery quilt now and the instructions call for ironing all of the seams open, something I've seldom done.

 

Lovely pressed seams

I’ve actually been doing this and the blocks are resulting in exact squares and lay nice and flat.  I don’t know why I’ve resisted ironing seams open in the past!

 

Mystery Block A - I now have 24 done

This one is red/white & blue and will be donated to Quilts of Valor.

 

Ingredients ready to go when clues arrive!

Can’t wait to see how this mystery is solved!

Something Simple

Sometimes you just want to use up a few fabric leftovers and make up something quick and easy.  That’s the theory anyway.  I have used the Quick Strippie pattern from MaryQuilts.com before with great success.  No matter what novelties you use, this design always looks great - and you can modify it to fit the fabric pieces you have available.

So I blissfully cut up the leftover smallish pieces from the tote bag I made for Sadie’s Dream for a Cure (see this post) and began sewing the strips together:

 

See what’s wrong with the above picture?  Those darn elephants on top are standing on their heads!  I knew the jungle print was directional, but I thought that the goofy elephants went every which-away in the other fabric .  Well, no they don't - sure, it's easy to see now.  Glad I own a seam ripper (don’t we all have that old-faithful tool readily at hand?!) …

 

But now the strippie is done, the fabric is all used up, and it’s on the frame to quilt.  Simple can be made simply after all – LOL!

I did make up some star block kits for my Quilts of Valor group meeting later this month.

 

~25 kits for star blocks

sample star blocks

Maybe that’s why my brain was tired!  A star-in-a-star pattern can be found at McCall’s Quilting:

http://www.mccallsquilting.com/patterns/details.html?idx=8332

Where this pattern has an internal star, we will be using the pinwheels that result from our leftover triangles from snowball blocks – waste not, want not they always say!

 

One More Quilted

I finished quilting the last of the three tops I received from a fellow member of the Sunshine On-line Quilt Guild.  This one was great fun to work with.  I have to confess a weakness for calico fabrics and this one was a showcase for them.  I did small meandering in the white backgrounds and a ring of hearts in the centers of the blocks.  That made the monkey wrenches pop out.  I wish I had a better camera to take pictures because the quilt is marvelous in real life!

 

Detail of calico



Detail of ring of hearts



Beth's Quilt

I have one more quilt to bind and then this box will go off to Wrap-a-Smile and then on to children having cleft lip/palate surgery.  Sometimes older children and even adults get facial repairs, so this quilt is sure to find the right person to snuggle up to it – it’s perfect for any age!

One More Done

I finished quilting and binding the second of Beth’s quilt tops.  This one has the fish with snorkels and masks that I posted about yesterday.  I had some fun with this one and tried a template and the chalk Pounce pad that I’ve never used … the template kind of reminded me of fish, tail-to-tail!

 

The center is meandered and the strip below the template has clamshells that can barely be seen here.  The outer borders have wave-like channel quilting.

It was fun to do this one.  I’ll have to take another detail shot that shows the binding – it is a yellow/white stripe that looks good with both sides.  Another photo in daylight tomorrow…

Today’s Quilting

Today’s quilting was actually Quilting!  A friend in the Sunshine Quilt On-line Guild sent me three of her finished tops to quilt and send on to Wrap-a-Smile.  These are such cute fabrics to work with … if I had seen them in the store I would have snatched them up, too.  This was the first one that I finished up today:

 

The fabric with those colorful jungle animals is just so soft.  And I had a confetti print for the backing that seemed just right.  It is just meandered in the middle panel and channel quilted in the borders.  Done!

And this is the next one up to quilt:

 

Aren’t those fish with snorkels and masks a hoot?!!  And I have multi-colored sanddollars for the backing that is just perfect.  I might finish another one tonight – I’m on a roll today!

Be sure to check out Beth’s Beachgirl’s Blog for some wonderful quilts and nature shots.  This photo of a barred owl posted last year is one of my absolute favorites:

http://bethspcgallery.blogspot.com/2012/12/barred-owl-cape-may-point-sate-park.html

  

Possum Sighting

Our house backs up onto a conservation area and we get lots of the usual – squirrels, raccoons, armadillos, deer, etc.  You would think that we would have seen possums before, but really we’ve had no sightings to speak of.  So when I looked out of the window and wondered why a cat was eating my birdseed, I had to look a little closer.

 

Possums would actually be kind of cute if they didn’t have those creepy rat-like tails.  This one was fat enough to look pregnant, so I don’t begrudge her a little protein from sunflower seeds – eat away little mommy!

 

And my Attic Windows illusion is starting to look a little better.  It's time to sew the blocks together.  I think I’ll call it “Windows into the Robot Mind”.  This is a close-up of the circuit board fabric window:

 

Brrr! This is Florida?

We can’t believe that we’re still downright chilly - way down south as we are …

 

This is the time of year when it’s supposed to be warming up, not getting colder!  Maybe by this weekend.  But looking at other parts of the country, I'm certainly not complaining (much...).

We had a fun birthday lunch for a friend yesterday and I can now show the tote bag that I have been working on.

 

I especially liked the colors and I think my friend liked them, too.  I used a pattern by Pink Sand Beach Designs, but if I were to make another one, I think I would lengthen the straps a great deal.  And not put so many pockets in, since it's a tote not a purse.  So now I fancy myself a designer, right?!!

My Attic Windows are progressing nicely and actually starting to look like windows:

 

Here’s a closeup of the robot fabric:

 

Too cute!

Treading Water

 Do you sometimes feel like you’re just barely keeping afloat?  Fortunately, that little rodent  and I both have itty-bitty life preservers to help us out.  Thank heaven for friends and family.  I haven’t been blogging much but I have been trying to do a little something each day.

These are the nice bundles I made up for our next Quilts of Valor meeting.  Each is marked for what should be cut from them and the sizes (blocks, bindings, borders, etc.).  That way if I have to miss the meeting due to family medical issues, our members can just pick up a bundle and the ball will keep rolling (and I will feel better about not letting them down).

And I did take a walk or two (well, maybe one) to see what was blooming.  The bottlebrush trees are especially full around my neighborhood.

You can clearly see how they got their name!   It has been a funny Spring, with cold snaps that last 2-3 days then it warms up – the plants are confused.  This was early March when it should have been warmer – check out the gloves on the stylish cabana boy (aka my husband).  Maybe the cold nights next week will be our last for the season.

 I have been eating myself out of house and home and decided to make something that was at least on the reasonable side.  This pie is really good (and low-cal) if you like light and fluffy things.  Very quick to make – it’s the time waiting for it to chill that gets to you!  It’s easy to take to potlucks and looks fancy if you garnish it.

It’s an older WW recipe for Key Lime Pie but you can substitute many flavors for the lime.  This time I used cherry jello and cherry yogurt (I only had strawberries to garnish though!).  And I only had one container of yogurt on hand instead of the 2 the recipe calls for – it worked fine.

Key Lime Pie

1 box (0.3 oz) sugar-free lime flavored gelatin

¼ c. boiling water

2 containers (8 oz each) key lime pie flavored light yogurt

1 container (8 oz) fat free whipped topping, thawed

1 prepared 9” reduced fat graham cracker pie crust

In large heat-resistent bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water.  With wire whisk, stir in yogurt; with wooden spoon, fold in whipped topping.

Transfer mixture to prepared crust; refrigerate overnight or at least 2 hours.

Eight servings =  3-4 Pts+ depending on ingredients (FF or not)

And on the track for children’s quilts, I have an Attic Windows in the works that uses robot and circuit board fabrics for what you'll see in the "windows".  This photo doesn’t do the fabrics justice, but I think it’ll be kewl and trendy!  OK – old people just shouldn’t try to use slang … LOL.  Or "LOL" either ... ha!

St Patrick’s Day

 Beside’s the wearing of the green, today seems to be a good day to relate some of my favorite Murphy’s Laws as they relate to sewing.

What are Murphy’s Laws, you ask?  Well, the scoop is that the saying (“anything than can go wrong, will go wrong”) originated at Edwards Air Force Base in California in the late 1940s.  It was named after a real person, Cpt. Edward Murphy, who was an engineer working on a project and discovered some incorrect wiring.  He blamed the technician and claimed that if there was a way to do something wrong, that technician would find it.  The project’s contract manager then began calling it “Murphy’s Law” and the title stuck. 

Of course, Murphy’s Laws can be found everywhere on every subject, but these are a few of my favorites pertaining to sewing:

• The seam you meant to rip out is invariably the other one
• When you are in a hurry, the needle eye is always too small
• If you drop something out of your sewing basket, it will be your box of pins -  with the cover off
• Whenever the construction process is going well, the bobbin thread runs out
• The magnitude of the goof is in direct proportion to the cost of the fabric
• Your lost needle will be found by your son, husband or brother-in-law, while walking around barefoot
• Pinking shears get dull just by looking at them!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

National Quilting Day

Today has been designated as National Quilting Day

and the theme this year is “Celebrate America”!

I had my Quilts of Valor meeting yesterday so the day before I had to lay out some more blocks into Bonnie Hunter’s Fourth of July pattern to take for another member to sew the rows together.

Why is it that you can spot the mistakes in a photo that you didn’t see with the naked eye?  Before I picked up and numbered the rows, I did fix that 4-patch that was sewn wrong  - it had two blues and 2 reds side-by-side rather than in opposite corners (it’s in this photo wrong at the bottom left).  Always something, right?!

And I also finished up the last of the little tissue covers and took them over to my mother.  She has fifteen to give out as bingo prizes.  I hope she remembers to actually take them to the Activities Director and doesn’t plan to secretly keep them all!

I also spotted another free pattern that I might consider making as my next personal contribution to Quilts of Valor.  I like stars and I loved this design that uses 10 inch blocks and finishes at 80x80:

This quilt called “Cayuga” was designed by Michele Scott and the pattern can be found on the Fons & Porter website:

http://www.fonsandporter.com/articles/Cayuga_sixteen_point_star_block_free_quilt_pattern?bc=c

It looks great in the muted neutral colors as shown, but I think it would also look fabulously patriotic in red, white and blues.  I’m adding it to my pattern collection right now!