THE BIRTH OF A STASH QUILT . . .

This was REALLY fun, but when I started out, I had no idea where I was going. (Thank goodness for my makeshift design wall -- that now hangs over the cabinets in my sewing/laundry room -- when I'm not using washer or dryer, that is.)

A couple years ago, ladies at my church donated LOTS of fabric for charity quilt making, along with yarn for charity knitting or crocheting. I had made a few quilts at that time, but a couple months ago, I attacked those boxes of fabrics with a vengeance -- leaving me with at least the beginnings of about 30 quilts, sorted by color, theme, or whatever came to my mind at the time.

A few of those little stacks have been parked on my dryer for WAY too long, so this past week, I've been putting together several quilt tops with those stacks.

One of the piles had this adorable "monster truck" print. But there was way too little of it --and that in several small pieces--to really do the print much justice. There were only 3 whole trucks, and once I cut the fabric to get a the whole trucks, there was very little fabric left for anything else. I was able to cut a few 2 inch strips and three 3 inch squares.

So I "framed" those 3 trucks with coordinating fabric (in the middle, top left, and bottom right). And then I "mirrored" my framed trucks with enough more blocks to get some symmetry. (Oh, yeah, I did have to piece my bits of fabric for the fourth 3 inch block.)

I didn't know where to go from there, 'cause I thought that more blocks would just kind of muddy the whole thing and the trucks would get lost.

Then a light bulb went off. Why did it have to be blocks? Maybe I could just put strips between the blocks.

So I played around a while with several leftover fabrics and came up with this concept.

Tweaked it a little more and . . .

Voila: a fun quilt top!

I have a lot of the red border print that I'll use for the backing.

I'm hoping some little boy will find some comfort -- and smiles-- wrapped up in this one!

THE LAST STITCHES

Finally, the last of the embroidery stitches . . .

on this quilt that I assembled in 2008!

So, now back to the tasks at hand:

Getting back to my charity quilts, using stash and my makeshift design wall.

OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE

Well, at least out of my comfort zone.

I've taken a bit of a respite from my quilt top sewing and have been working on some home decoration items.

Luckily for me, my daughter Eleni of Eleni Interiors, Columbia SC was here to visit me last week and cut a pattern for me for drapery swags. I think they're going to be OK. Realistically they will most likely stay draped over my stairway banister for a while -- until my husband is ready to install the rods. Who knows when that will be.

And on the knitting front, I left my comfort zone of using 4 double point needles for knitting socks. I get e-mails from my local yarn shops. A couple weeks ago, there was a message that Loopville was hosting a class to learn the "magic loop" method for knitting socsk. That's using one circular needle instead of the double points. So I decided to jump on the opportunity. This is the beginning of my "bed socks". I'll have toasty tootsies this winter.

I'm doing OK, in spite of the fact that I didn't pick up that knitting for over a week after the class, I remembered how to do it when I picked it back up a couple days ago.

Now if I can just remember how to do the "long tail" cast on that Jinka taught me the same day. Ah, and I just finished the back of my granddaughter's sweater, so it IS time to cast on -- for the fronts. Hmmmmm, I wonder just which cast on method will be used on those sweater fronts! I'll keep you posted.

MY QUILTING FRIENDS

. . . well, at least some of them.

These are the ladies from our internet quilting group who were able to attend our friend's funeral, and honored me by visiting my home either before or after our good-byes to our dear, sweet Jan.

(All but one sweet lady from NC who drove in for the funeral and did not have time to join us for brunch.)

These dear ladies come from Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Maryland, Massachusetts and Alabama.

Thanks to the internet for bringing us together!

. . . AND ANOTHER MEMORIAL

. . . for my dear friend Jan who passed away yesterday.

Her kindness and genuine caring for others was greater than any I have ever known.

And if anyone thinks that on-line friendships are meaningless, they need to know how many or her on-line quilting friends are traveling great distances (some flying; some driving) to come to her funeral.

This is an excerpt from her obituary:

"She was a passionate quilter and a longtime member of a nationwide internet quilters group making quilts for many charities. She was particularly proud of two of her quilts which were donated to Autism Speaks and the Chron's Society. The group performed many acts of knidess for Janet during her illness. An avid blogger, pictures of Janet's quilts and details of her life can be seen at her blog, quilting in davie.blogspot.com Janet's mission in life was to help children and their causes; she succeeded beyond limits.."

We will miss you, dear Jan.