PATCHWORK -- BIG, LITTLE, AND FRUITY ?!

I've been having lots of fun the past couple days using up some "postage stamp" strips that I've had left over for a few years. (They are from one of my very first quilting projects. I am pretty much a "self taught" quilter, but I did take one class a few years ago, just to learn some basics. The class available at the time happened to be for a postage stamp quilt, so I took that class and made a couple pillows. I don't think I'd ever have the patience to make a whole quilt with such little pieces (1 inch squares {finished}). Anyway, I had a lot of strips left over and decided that my daughter Anna Maria's "Rainbow Around the Block" project would be a good use of that part of my stash.

So this is what I have come up with. All of these blocks, as you see, do not use the postage stamp strips. I simply used up the fabrics that I had put with the strips.

There were several blues and greens:

and a few in the reds:

And although the postage stamp stash is gone, I still have lots of other little pieces to use somehow.

And I see that there are a few (down in the bottom right corner) that will go with the above blues. Hooray.

Oh, and since we've been doing patchwork inside and out around here, I even did it in the kitchen the other day.

If you don't have enough of one kind of fruit to make a pie, might as well make a patchwork pie, too.

;-)

Oh, and yes, it was quite yummy!

THEY'RE ON THEIR WAY

Hooray, I have finished the Irish Chain blocks for my block exchange and have them all packed up and ready to take to the post office today.

This is what it would have looked like had I kept all of my blocks for a quilt. I will look forward to seeing the different blocks that I get in the mail over the coming weeks and play with the arrangement.

Oh, and on the outdoor "patchwork". Mission accomplished. AND we had a good rain yesterday afternoon with NO water going where we didn't want it.

Now to get on with my next quilting fun: blocks for my daughter, Anna Maria's "Rainbow Around the Bloc"

project.

THE PROOF IS IN THE . . .

Well, in this case, not the "pudding" but the piles.

See, I really am working on a bit of quilting, even if it has been going rather slowly the last couple weeks.

At least I now have all my blocks trimmed so I can start the final assembly. FINALLY!

Oh, and a project that is no longer a WIP (For those not familiar with the lingo: that's "Work in Progress".) but completed.

So here is another birthday sweater ready for August.

At least, I'm ahead somewhere, instead of behind.

Hope to get caught up real soon.

PATCHWORK -- INSIDE AND OUT

As I'm working on MY patchwork inside (to finish my Irish Chain block exchange blocks) . . .

. . . my husband has his own brand of patchwork on the outside of the house -- to remedy a water problem in our basement utility room. He is raising the concrete (which has "settled" over time) that supports our driveway pavers so that water won't run toward the house(and in to the basement) in a heavy rainfall.

And like any good quilter, he plans well for the placement of his "patches" so he will know exactly where the pavers belong to keep the pattern correct.

And as I take a break from my patchwork, I am finishing up my granddaughter's birthday sweater.

Actually, between the time I took this photo and got around to sharing it with you, the crochet edging is finished as are all the seams. All that's left is the buttons that I will buy tomorrow.

That means I can now start on my grandson's sweater this evening --I guess I'd better get to it.

ALL WRAPPED UP

Oh, my. Two celebrations within a week of one another. And opposite ends of childhood for our youngest and eldest grandchild.

Our youngest, Roman, celebrated his first birthday last week and his big sister, Juliana, will graduate from high school on Monday.

We get to go visit them and enjoy the last couple days of grandchildren sitting (Their other grandmother has been with them the last few days.) until Mom and Dad get home on Monday, just in time to see their first baby graduate. They have been busy in Minneapolis this week at Quilt Market.

My preparations for the celebrations are almost complete.

Including my first attempt at towel monogramming. I'm thinking that they turned out quite nicely.

And the machine embroidery for the yoke of the nightgown I think is quite OK too. I'm hoping the "puckering" will relax a bit once the Solvy is off the back. (It just might have been a mistake to try to press the hoop wrinkles out with the Solvy still there--just to get this photo!)

I'll finish the nightie when I get more fabric from my daughter's home studio while I'm there. So I guess it's not all quite wrapped up after all. Some of it needs to wait just a few more days.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT . . .

. . . or at least I hope so.

I've been playing with my embroidery machine again -- and using very different weights of fabric. First of all on this voile (from daughter Anna Maria's collection) for the yoke of a nightgown. The body of the gown will be the print. (I think I'll make a trip to the shop to get a little different colors, but I'm pleased with the quality of the stitches.)

Amazingly, I didn't even have to change the tension settings to get a good result on the practice towel either.

Oh, yes, I'm still knitting along on that sweater and my "take along" dish cloths.

And, of course, still enjoying the spring blooms I find in my flower beds.

OK, time to go back and play some more, or shall I just go outside and enjoy the birds' songs after our late afternoon rain?

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Oh, my goodness. I had almost forgotten I had this pattern "book". I knew I had a lot of my mom's old patterns, but this one contains the pattern for not one, but for three patterns of sweaters that she made for me while I was in high school! I no longer have those sweaters, but I do indeed still have two others that she knit me during those same years that I still actually wear. AND my daughter and granddaughter each have one as well.

Now, the reason I was looking through all my patterns was to find a pattern for "chunky" weight yarn for a sweater for my granddaughter for her August birthday. (Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to find patterns for late grammar school age and pre-adolescent children?)

And, hooray, I found a pattern that I am using. (This is the back, but I guess you cold figure that out.)

And since I showed you a bit of my mother's "hobby", I thought I might as well show you that I try to keep up a bit with my father's as well. At one time he must have had around 100 rose bushes. And they were all beautiful.

These are the first blooms on one of my (only) three bushes.

I think both Mother and Daddy might be pleased that the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree"!