That is the hour I had to turn on the lights in my quilt room today. The dying of the light was not subtle, one moment I had bright sunlight streaming across my worktable, and the next moment it was gone - just like that!
Autumn has arrived.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Peggy's Quilts
Peggy and I have been friends for about 29 years now. We met when we were neighbors and our girls were very little so we would spend a lot of time together. We took up knitting and made some really cute sweaters for our kids. Then our family moved, I went to work full-time, she moved and went to work full-time but through the years we've been in close contact. (We still live in the same town...). Now we meet for happy hour instead of koffee klatches.
A few years into my quilting obsession, Peg asked me to make this quilt when she saw the pictures in Sharon Yenter's first book, In the Beginning. I agreed but convinced her to help. So off we went to purchase the fabric. I did the sewing, she did the pressing, and she helped sew the binding. The was a BIG quilt, I think my first really big quilt that I sent out for machine-quilting. It came out just like the picture and Peggy loves it.
Back, oh, about 20 years ago, there was a wonderful quilt shop about 30 minutes from my house. The shop hosted "mystery quilt night" every so often. We would begin sewing at 6pm and shut the shop about 2am. I was much younger and it was a lot of fun. Now if you asked me if I'd like to do a mystery quilt night I would ask if it had a nap break. This quilt is a result of one of those sessions.
I may have been thinking at the time that I just didn't want to spend the money to buy new fabric, or I just didn't want to use my good fabric on a mystery quilt (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif4ZqLYKL4tcSn_Dlpl5GyWfqiRPn7LsPT2VtqfSIY0z1RCNrIUG_X4xrtex5oeDCNQ451QCliRsYeNDij5nKyt4OZQoJVMSXf2wvMhw-3msxBb1Q_EngEZ2fniTQvBqQZKXhZjQJb27EB/s320/Jeannies+blue+and+yellow+1.jpg This is what results from actually using good fabric). So I chose mint green and pink as the main colors. Now, I have seen pink and green quilts and have never been moved by that color combination, so why NOW did I think this would work???? I had it quilted and put it aside, but when Peggy saw it she went all gooey with her ooooo's and aaahhhh's. Sheese! So I gave it to her for a Christmas present. I know she loves this quilt, but one day not too long ago I asked her where it was. She admitted that for some reason it was in a bin in the basement! IN THE BASEMENT!!! IN A BIN!!!
Peggy, it's autumn (almost). Time to dig out the quilt!!!
I still love you girl!
A few years into my quilting obsession, Peg asked me to make this quilt when she saw the pictures in Sharon Yenter's first book, In the Beginning. I agreed but convinced her to help. So off we went to purchase the fabric. I did the sewing, she did the pressing, and she helped sew the binding. The was a BIG quilt, I think my first really big quilt that I sent out for machine-quilting. It came out just like the picture and Peggy loves it.
Back, oh, about 20 years ago, there was a wonderful quilt shop about 30 minutes from my house. The shop hosted "mystery quilt night" every so often. We would begin sewing at 6pm and shut the shop about 2am. I was much younger and it was a lot of fun. Now if you asked me if I'd like to do a mystery quilt night I would ask if it had a nap break. This quilt is a result of one of those sessions.
I may have been thinking at the time that I just didn't want to spend the money to buy new fabric, or I just didn't want to use my good fabric on a mystery quilt (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif4ZqLYKL4tcSn_Dlpl5GyWfqiRPn7LsPT2VtqfSIY0z1RCNrIUG_X4xrtex5oeDCNQ451QCliRsYeNDij5nKyt4OZQoJVMSXf2wvMhw-3msxBb1Q_EngEZ2fniTQvBqQZKXhZjQJb27EB/s320/Jeannies+blue+and+yellow+1.jpg This is what results from actually using good fabric). So I chose mint green and pink as the main colors. Now, I have seen pink and green quilts and have never been moved by that color combination, so why NOW did I think this would work???? I had it quilted and put it aside, but when Peggy saw it she went all gooey with her ooooo's and aaahhhh's. Sheese! So I gave it to her for a Christmas present. I know she loves this quilt, but one day not too long ago I asked her where it was. She admitted that for some reason it was in a bin in the basement! IN THE BASEMENT!!! IN A BIN!!!Peggy, it's autumn (almost). Time to dig out the quilt!!!
I still love you girl!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
First, You Cry...
"I have breast cancer..."
I could not talk; I could not breathe. I put the phone down and cried for about 4 minutes. I could hear her at the other end saying, "Barb? Barb? Are you there, Barb?"
My sister has breast cancer.
I could not talk; I could not breathe. I put the phone down and cried for about 4 minutes. I could hear her at the other end saying, "Barb? Barb? Are you there, Barb?"
My sister has breast cancer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That was April 23. Since then, Jeannie has undergone a full mastectomy, and will be undergoing chemotherapy soon. I gave her a choice for a chemo quilt: pink, blue (her favorite color) or funky. She chose funky but asked for it to be really soft. When I got home from California I felt the need to get the quilt made quickly, but then the OTHER news came...lung cancer. The oncologist says that each cancer is unrelated. Jeannie is a smoker. Ok, no cancer diagnosis is good, but you have to understand that the lung cancer (stage 1) was found only because Jeannie was having surgery and she needed a routine, before-surgery chest x-ray. In my view, the breast cancer has saved her life. This lung stuff is curable with surgery. So I'm off to California again and I can deliver her chemo quilt in person.
Once I got over THAT shock, I was able to concentrate on the chemo quilt. I started pulling out my funky fabrics but somehow they didn't FEEL right for the purpose. By the time chemo starts, it will be hot where she lives, so I was thinking that something softer would fit the bill. It should look cool, but keep her warm. (I've heard that chemotherapy patients are often chilly, even in warm weather.) So I hit upon a group of fat quarters I picked up at a quilt show about two years ago. And it's backed with baby blue minky embossed with stars. I hope Jeannie likes lavender and green.
A bluebird has come to visit Jeannie whenever she goes out in her back yard:
http://www.kimtracyprince.com/2010/05/the-ghost-in-the-bluebird/
So I put baby fairies with bluebirds on it:
The lettered fabric sends messages of love, hope, joy and compassion, and you can find some pretty cool words in there too if you look hard enough. And I sprinkled it with a little bit of pink ribbon fabric for sparkle. It really is easy on the eyes. I'm sure Jeannie will love it.
Now don't go sending this post to her - she is incapable of using her computer for browsing the internet, let alone check her email (which I set up for her! She never answers back!). Let's save it for a surprise for when she gets home from the hospital, OK?
This was taken at lunch post-surgery. Doesn't she look great!!
That was April 23. Since then, Jeannie has undergone a full mastectomy, and will be undergoing chemotherapy soon. I gave her a choice for a chemo quilt: pink, blue (her favorite color) or funky. She chose funky but asked for it to be really soft. When I got home from California I felt the need to get the quilt made quickly, but then the OTHER news came...lung cancer. The oncologist says that each cancer is unrelated. Jeannie is a smoker. Ok, no cancer diagnosis is good, but you have to understand that the lung cancer (stage 1) was found only because Jeannie was having surgery and she needed a routine, before-surgery chest x-ray. In my view, the breast cancer has saved her life. This lung stuff is curable with surgery. So I'm off to California again and I can deliver her chemo quilt in person.
Once I got over THAT shock, I was able to concentrate on the chemo quilt. I started pulling out my funky fabrics but somehow they didn't FEEL right for the purpose. By the time chemo starts, it will be hot where she lives, so I was thinking that something softer would fit the bill. It should look cool, but keep her warm. (I've heard that chemotherapy patients are often chilly, even in warm weather.) So I hit upon a group of fat quarters I picked up at a quilt show about two years ago. And it's backed with baby blue minky embossed with stars. I hope Jeannie likes lavender and green.
Tropical Dawn
A bluebird has come to visit Jeannie whenever she goes out in her back yard:
http://www.kimtracyprince.com/2010/05/the-ghost-in-the-bluebird/
So I put baby fairies with bluebirds on it:
The lettered fabric sends messages of love, hope, joy and compassion, and you can find some pretty cool words in there too if you look hard enough. And I sprinkled it with a little bit of pink ribbon fabric for sparkle. It really is easy on the eyes. I'm sure Jeannie will love it.Now don't go sending this post to her - she is incapable of using her computer for browsing the internet, let alone check her email (which I set up for her! She never answers back!). Let's save it for a surprise for when she gets home from the hospital, OK?
This was taken at lunch post-surgery. Doesn't she look great!!
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