Flora's quilt: Hand quilting progress

Thanks to lovely weather this weekend, I was able to spend large chunks of time on the screened porch hand quilting Flora's quilt.  The center area is finished as are all four corners.

The large half hoop makes it possible to finish one of the short sides all at once.  A quick wash at the end will take out the yellow marking chalk.

Cat-approved quilting

Henry's mother sent me this wonderful picture of their cat, Benno, very much approving the first version of Henry's quilt that got ruined by the bleeding fabric. ( See this post.)
Update 6/28/2011
Still more cat-approved quilting: this is Rockette, my niece's cat on the quilt I made her for Christmas last year.

Flora's quilt: Pin basted

Flora's quilt is all pin basted.  My friend Chris Schaefer showed me this trick of closing the pins with a grapefruit spoon.  She even gave me the spoon!  Hand quilting begins today.

Be prepared

This little plastic bag has been in my purse since I started working on the Brownies quilt.  Yesterday, I was really thankful that I had it because I was stuck at the Toyota dealership for nearly three hours waiting for new tires to be installed on my Prius.  Normally, if I know I'm going to have to wait somewhere, I bring a book or knitting or some other hand sewing project.  Thinking I was only going to be there for a few minutes, I was almost caught out yesterday, but thanks to my little bag, I was prepared!  BTW, I am determined to get back to the Brownie quilt this fall.  More on this later.  

Flora's quilt: borders going on

      Since I was chained to the house yesterday because of the plumber being with us for hours (We now have a new water heater among other things!), I got a lot of sewing done.  The borders are on Flora's quilt and I'm going to sandwich it and pin baste today.  The colors please me tremendously.

Kaffe Fassett's African Baby Stripe quilt: A new version of an old favorite

The fabrics for tiny baby Flora's quilt are pre-washed and ready to be cut out.  There's a lovely, soft flannel for the back with pink, blue, and leaf green flowers, two kinds of polka dots for the borders, and nine striped fabrics for the body.  I'll also bind it with a striped fabric.  By this time, I have made more than twenty of these African Striped Baby Quilts using Kaffe Fassett's pattern (with a little tweaking on my part) and it's the random nature of the pattern that most appeals to me.  I never get tired of making them because each one is so unique.

The body is laid out on my work table and ready to be chain pieced.  You can see this old post for more detailed information.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my dear husband, Jim.  I think Dan and Anna would agree that he's been a remarkably great dad over the years.

Happy Father's Day, too, to my Dad.  Above, we are seen playing shuffleboard at Mitiwanga in Ohio a fair number of years ago.  He has the patience of a saint and was always a great teacher.  I love that he taught me how to use tools and read maps and put things together and make a bed the Army way.  That's him below when I visited in April--still raging.  Thanks, Dad.  Have a happy day.

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

                                                  ~Dylan Thomas

Have sewing machine. Will travel.

The weather was so lovely, that I couldn't think of going in the house to sew on the binding.  Since I needed to use the portable Viking with its walking foot, I decided to move it out to the screened porch.  The binding is sewn on the front by machine and now I can sit on the porch to bring it around to the back, pin it, and sew it down by hand.  Henry's quilts will be in the mail to him by the weekend.

Babies, babies, babies!

School is finally out.  I scanned my last item around noon yesterday to finish an inventory of our entire collection--14,000 and change and I scanned every one of them.  Now I can get on with the really important tasks of finishing baby quilts because two more tiny ones have joined our little friend, Henry on this earth and a little ahead of schedule.  This one above is for Demos and will go in the mail today. It was made with the Kaffe Fassett African Stripe pattern.

This is Demos with his beautiful mommy.

This little miss is Flora with her grandmother, my dear friend Diane, and her big brother, Angus who was also the recipient of a baby quilt.

These are the fabrics I've chosen for her quilt which will also be in the African Stripe pattern--all PRE-WASHED, I might add!

Finally, little Henry will get both of his quilts by the end of the week.  (The ruined one will make a great beach blanket.) For those readers unfamiliar with this little drama, this quilt and its brother where made using the Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl pattern.

Henry and his friend look blissfully happy.

Rolling Quiet: A Lightning Fast trip to the Nation's Capital

We made a quick trip to Washington, D.C. to see "Follies" at the Kennedy Center.  (Apologies to friends there for not calling.  It was a spur-of-the-moment trip and very fast.)  It's been many years since I was last in Washington--pre Kennedy Center, Vietnam Memorial, etc.  This little tease of a trip made me want to go back for a much longer stay.

School is nearly done for the year and I am counting the days.  We are up to our eyes in end of the year testing and trying to get the library books all back and inventoried.  Happy June to everyone, but where did May go?