I THINK IT WORKED !

I think that the hodge-podge of turquoise, teal, and red worked out OK. I had enough of the stash fabric to make a nice size quilt for a young teen. (It turned out to be about 38" x 60".) I backed it with fleece. I have backed with fleece previously without using a batting, but I was always a bit unhappy with the seam bumps that could be felt through the fleece. So this time I pressed the seams opened, then zig-zagged sewed the horizontal seams of the top to sheeting fabric before I sewed on the fleece backing. I'm much happier with it this way than with nothing between the fleece and the seams.

Since there was already the zig zag on the top, though, I didn't want to do a lot more quilting, so I decided to tie this one.

And on to the knitting front:

I have started this sweater for my soon-to-be 15 yo granddaughter.

I was a bit concerned that the pretty ringlet pattern stripe on the front wouldn't show up enough on my varigated yarn, but I think it's going to be OK.

Well, it's been a couple days since I've picked it up, so I guess it's time to get back to work!

ANOTHER SWEATER READY FOR THE MAIL

So, here it is: the next birthday sweater with those buttons I found in my stash. This one is for my soon-to-be 5 year old grandson in New York. Maybe it will help keep him warm while all that snow finishes melting. Well, maybe it's already melted; I'm not sure. At any rate, hope he likes it!

On the quilting front: still trying to use up my old fabrics (some with at least a bit of polyester). I had so much turquoise and so much red, but not enough of either do do much with. But, HOORAY, there was a flannel that had both colors. So it's all going together in one quilt with that flannel "tying" it all together. (Actually I have the top sewn together and just this morning picked up some turquoise fleece for the backing.)

This might not quite count as quilting (Well, I stitched some straight lines in the middle for the book "spine" area, so maybe that does count as quilting.) Anyway, some dear internet friends have been spoiling me with all kinds of little goodies in the mail for my birthday and "just 'cause". Most of the fabrics will be put together in one quilt for me to be reminded of their love. But these three goodies worked out just great for a book cover.

I call it my "green pastures" (as in the 23rd Psalm) book cover and I'll use it for my paper back spiritual books to carry around with me.

These fabrics were sent by two different friends:

Couldn't get a more coordinated look, huh?

And this embroidered goody was sent by yet another.

Great finishing touch, don't you think?

OK, maybe I should go trim up that red/turquoise quilt top, and sew the backing on.

A HA, ANOTHER KIND OF STASH . . .

We're not to the new kind of stash just yet. Wait a minute, I'll get there.

But in the meantime, these are a few of the stash quilts I made and dropped off for Project Linus yesterday:

This is not stash; I purchased this fabric in Nashville a few weeks ago. A gift for a baby to be born, most likely this weekend.

TADA, here is my "other" kind of stash: my button box (well in my case, a basket). I was about to go to the fabric store to buy some buttons for this sweater, but decided to look in my basket first. Lo, and behold: just the kind of button I was planning to purchase, and just the right number too.

Hoping for this sweater to be finished (All that's left to do is this buttonhole band and the side seam stitching.) and in the mail on Monday!

Hmmmmm, NOW WHAT ?

Oh, goodness, I hate to throw anything away--including scraps of fabric. But I have all these bits and pieces that really don't seem to go together. (I've already gleaned the best go-togethers from my stash scraps.)

So what to do with all these:

Well, a quilting friend shared a blog web site that included a pattern for a "disappearing 9 patch" block. So I thought I would try that. The scraps I had, though, were not such that I could make 9 equal size patches in my blocks, so mine is--needless to say--a bit of a modification from the original pattern.

This is what my block looked like right after I cut it into the quarters. You'll notice that right side "patches" are narrower that the others and I opted to cut it a little off center.

And this is how I arranged them to make the block.

In the meantime, my daughter showed me a really neat way to make a strip block.

So the resulting scrappy quilt will be a combination of 4 strip blocks and 12 modified disappearing 9 patches.

But, drats, I still have some of that pile of fabric left. Now I wonder just what will be next!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANI

Ah, what can be better for a birthday (my 65th) than to have your daughters (200 and 300 miles away respectively ) come home to help with dinner.

And to have 8 of our 12 grandchildren here to celebrate with us. (The eldest is not in this photo.)

And to have one of the granddaughters like the sweater (her Nani knit last year) enough to wear it to church.

And to know that the youngest granddaughter in New York is celebrating her 2nd birthday on the same day! (God willing, we will be visiting with them for Easter.)

Wonderful weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY

This photograph of my father is part of a quilt (one of my first) that I made for my mother after Daddy passed away in 1998.

He was born on February 18, 1910, so yesterday would have been his 100th birthday. Even though I didn't get the quilt out yesterday, I thought of him all through the day.

I think one of the the most important things I learned from him (through example) was not to feel sorry for myself, to be positive, and deal with life as it comes. There could be no better example.

I know that whenever and whatever challenges I may face, he is up there cheering me on as I go headlong on through life. Thanks, Daddy and Happy Birthday.

Panning a little farther out on the quilt, there are photos of him with my mother in their younger and senior years; photos of my sister and myself with our husbands, with Mother and Daddy; and one of my favorites of my sister and me. (That's me looking up at her so adoringly.) Some of the patches are fabric from Daddy's ties. Farther out on the quilt are blocks that each of my children, nieces and nephew added to the collection, as well as their photos.

Ah, a wonderful loving family. Life just doesn't get any better!

A HA . . .

. . . I knew there was a good reason that I was keeping all those little snippets from the cuttings of my blocks from my Block of the Month quilt. I had already sewn them together into little squares, so it was just a matter of pressing, squaring them up, sewing them together . . .

putting them around this fabric for a sashing . . .

to come up with a fantastic pillow to go with the quilt!

As for another A HA: so this is why my Christmas cactus didn't bloom for Christmas. It was waiting for Valentine's Day.

Hope you all have a sweet one . . . Valentine's Day, that is.