Closet Treasures III

I am enjoying my visits to the WIPs in my closet. I am bad about finishing things though so I am making a list as I go. One day I WILL finish some of these quilts!!!

This one goes way back to when I first gave in to the quilt urge. For more years than I care to count, I kept saying that I wanted to make a quilt. I bought books and talked some more. Then got started and the closet collection was born. Its a block of the month from Joann's called, "Vintage Treasures". ( now how did they know it would become a *vintage* treasure in my closet??) DH and I happened to be in Joann's right after Christmas and they had it on clearance for 75% off. DH did the math and convinced a more frugal me to buy the entire thing. Then when we got home, he convinced me to buy another one so I have another complete set unopened somewhere in that same closet!

I know that some of my points don't match well and it is no way a great piecing job but it is really good for me at that time and I learned so much. Each block had great instructions and for the most parts were blocks that I would never in a 1000 years attempt on my own. (nor would I ever put some of these fabrics together).

For 75% off, I feel like I took a quilting class without a live teacher and what I learned about construction was invaluable. After working on this, I could look at a quilt and see the individual blocks. It is set on point and has a great border...........and just looking at it makes me want to finish it. So, someday............

Going In Circles or Closet Treasure II

Is there such a thing as blogger's block? I just haven't been able to think of anything lately that seemed revelant to post about. I haven't felt like quilting either so nothing new on that front to post about. I guess I could post a picture of my dirty ironing board cover like I saw on a blog but.......NAW! I have even had problems finding something to say for other blog comments. Now as much as I talk, this is scary!

Shelina has pictures of her denim circle quilt on her blog. I have one just like it hidden in that same closet as the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt in the last post. Oh, the WIP that closet holds/hides. Her quilt has batting and blue cotton centers. Mine is scrappy (of course) and does not have batting in the centers. It is way heavy for AZ use as it is without the batting. I plan to back it with flannel and use it when we go to the mountains.

It started out as a long term project. I lost a lot of weight and had some jeans that I decided to cut up for a quilt. I have short legs so didn't get a lot of circles, just enough to play with. Then my over six foot son brought me a stack of his old jeans. Now this guy has LONG legs so I ended up with lots of circles.........Need to put this on the "finish me please" list!

Gratitude's

Long legged son

large closet

the good life!

Here are pictures of the two in progress large blocks, the circles ready for fabric centers and the piles of many, many circles waiting for my undivided attention.

Closet Treasures

Some folks have skeletons in their closet............I have unfinished quilts.

I love to hand piece and hand quilt. So, using scraps from a quilt that I made for my grand daughter, I traced, cut and hand sewed this about six years ago. The hoop shows my progress on the hand quilting, not even half done.

When anyone asks who this is for, I tell them ME. I want to display this on my quilt rack, someday. In the mean time my children have instructions that they are supposed to cover me with it in my coffin...........finished or NOT.

I must say, digging it out of the closet and looking at it, I love it even more. It makes me want to get busy and do another session on the hand quilting

Happy Monday!

I really didn't fall off the earth, just off doing other things.

DH and I have been shopping for a new couch for the family room. This involved several furniture stores, a couple of them required two trips, much discussion and finally...........today we ordered the couch and love seat. It is not what we went for, not what we chose the first time but, we agreed on it and that is a good thing. Soon, after a little break from these furniture shopping ordeals, we will shop for tables and lamps.

I called to have a local charity pickup the old couch and they are coming tomorrow. Then I sat and looked at it and the chair and a half that matches and thought about how they had so much history in our family. They are just wood and fabrics but a great deal of family history has taken place on them.

This set was purchased after a major kitchen fire (paid for by insurance even). We really liked it, bought the tables to make due until we could find ones we liked better (and never did, of course.) In the last eight and a half years, this couch has been through a lot!

DD did her bed rest through the latter part of two pregnancies on that couch. Every morning, our son in law would bring her here to spend the day with us rather than home alone. On the second time, we could care for our grand daughter and she could be with Mom too. She also recovered from gall bladder surgery on that couch.

DH recovered from two surgeries, one knee and one carpal tunnel. He also spent a lot of time on that couch after being caught in a downsizing layoff. He looked extremely hard for a job but there were more than a few empty hours to fill when there was no job to go to every day.

I recovered from surgery on that couch, as well as spent many a sleepless night there with a major case of insomnia.

On the plus side, two grand babies were held, fed, changed, played with and slept on that couch. They grew to sit there and cuddle with us, read books and play. The cat loves to sleep under and on the couch. That couch and chair has held this family in good times and in bad. It was there on holidays to hold the family together in one place.

Poor couch, it has served this family well and tomorrow it is being cast out. Hopefully, someone will take it into a home from the charity thrift shop and let it support another family through good times and bad.

Thank You

Thank you, everyone for the great birthday wishes. If you have to turn 60, it was a nice way to do it!

Another thank you to all of you for your great comments on the Chinese Coin black strips. It was helpful to hear what you thought, then look at the quilt from your view points. I still haven't decided what to do but plan a shopping trip to wander up and down the bolts of fabric and think it over! I will post pictures when I am get back to it. DH likes the purple and I trust his judgement on color. He helps me all the time match things up.

Quilting is still very much a learning process for me, especailly when it comes to colors. I did realize though, that the quilts I have stuck with and finished, have been ones where I did my own thing and didn't use a set pattern. Even if there was a pattern when I started, I changed something along the way. I have several BOM quilts from Joann's that I have bought over the years and they just sit there. Instead, I get ideas and go for it, change it, stress over it and redo, buy different fabric in the middle but in the end, I finish it! They are labors of love and all mine!

Gratitudes

Good quilty friends

A good start for the grandkids for the new school year

Another year passed in good health

A Girl Can Change Her Mind or That Is What Seam Rippers Are For

After being away from it for the weekend, I laid out the Chinese Coins quilt and decided that I definately do not like the black strips. They just make the hot colors seem so, well, HOT! DH says that when he looks at it, all he sees is the black strips and they overwhelm the colors. Now it takes a lot to overwhem all those colors!

Then there is the added thing about the cat and the quilt. I work really hard to keep the cat hair vaccumed up but, she is part of the family and she sheds. That hair is going to find a home on the quilt no matter what I do. So...........

I will be spending some quality (or is that quanity?) time with the seam ripper in the next couple of days. Gonna carefully undo what I have done. Anyone got a good idea for some black strips not to mention the black fabric I just bought to make more strips? Yuck!

Not sure what I will replace the black with. The green below is the fabric I bought for the quilt backing and there is more than enough to use for the strips. The purple is just a left over so if I go with it, I will need to buy more. Problems, problems but I think in the end I will be much happier with the end result.

Open to suggestions and ideas anyone might have!

Who Knows For Sure?

Today is my birthday! No, wait that's tomorrow. My birth certificate says August 6 but my mother said August 7. Confused? Welcome to my world! LOL

I didn't get a copy of my birth certificate until I was almost 19 years old. I was born in a small mining town in the Colorado mountains. My parents, grandparents and great grandparents all lived there at some point in their lives, several were born there too. So everyone knew who we were..............and my mother managed to get me admitted to school with my baptism certificate. (we are talking early 50's here). Now why no one bothered to order my birth certificate, I will never know but it is just one of several odd things about my childhood.

One day when I was about 18, out of high school and had a good job, my mother told me that she had called and ordered my birth certificate and I should stop on my way home from work and pick it up. Oh and by the way, I would need to pay for it too. She had decided that beings I was almost 19, I might need it soon. I think she was becoming aware that DH and I were making marriage noises and there was no way I could get a marriage liscence with my baptism certificate.

The registar in our town was the history teacher from the high school. She had handled the county records for years. Needless to say, not someone I was looking forward to seeing but...........I went to her house, got and paid for the certificate and answered her questions about what I planned to make of myself. I left muttering under my breath about parents who wait until a kid might get married to get their birth certificate and then make them pick it up and PAY for it. Then I opened it up and looked at it.

It says I was born on August 6, but for 18 years I had celebrated my birthday on the 7th. When I got home, I asked my mother if she was sure I was born on the 7th? She told me that yes, she was! A mother remembers these things!! (and after three of my own I had to add that to the list of things that my mother was right about....sigh) Mom checked with the history teacher/registar, who checked with the State of Colorado and yes, the offical date of birth was August 6.

So, I checked with my lawyer boss, who said not to worry about it beings it was the day that was wrong. It would only need to be changed if it was the year. But he said to always be sure to use the legal date on any paper work I might fill out in the future. (something that drives my DH crazy because he can never remember which one is the legal one.) Someone in my family is always asking which one is which?

Apparently, the dr was the one who did the registration of births and when he did them, there was a long list and some where along the line a error occured. So, legally I am one year older today...........but I am holding on to one year less for one more day. Why? BECAUSE MY MOTHER SAID SO!!!

Moving Along Slow But Sure

I am making progress on the Chinese Coins but its going slow. I ran out of black fabric and needed to go get more. Then it had to be washed and is waiting to be ironed. I have one more colored strip made and need to make one more. Not sure what I am doing after that as far as borders go. To be honest, not entirely sure I even like this. Maybe it will grow on me as it comes more together?

If you notice, I did NOT lay it out on the floor for Paris to drape her furry self on the black fabric! It is usually the hard way, but I do learn. Cats and black fabric do not go together really well even if she likes the quilt.

There certainly is nothing Chinese about this quilt even though that is the pattern name. Needs something much more tropical............any suggestions?

My Bubba's Quilt

This was made a few years ago for my grandson............in fact I made two, one went to a grand nephew in California.

Bubba loves his quilt and I think it is one of my best efforts.