Pursuit of Quilts

Don’t forget to leave a comment on my previous post to be entered in the drawings for my three giveaways.

Here is the completed Shoofly quilt. I’ll send it and the child’s quilt off to Japan sometime this week. I found the address I need to send them to on OZ Comfort Quilts via Merilyn’s blog. Quilters do some amazing things! I’m glad to do my little part.

52"x75"

Here are some fabrics I pulled for a quilt for my DS#1. He asked me to make a quilt for him when he moved back home in February. The first big quilt I made was for DS. It was a triple rail fence made with 3 fabrics and tied. He used that quilt for over 15 years. It was already in pretty bad shape when he got the beagle puppy, Len, and Len chewed it up. I made DS another quilt a few years ago, but he told me he doesn’t like it because it is too stiff – it is pretty heavily machine quilted. I wondered why he never used it. I thought maybe he just didn’t like the design. But no, it seems DS is texturally sensitive! There is no way I’m hand quilting a quilt for him and I told him I don’t do tied quilts anymore. He said he would tie it! Deal. When he asked for a quilt 6 weeks ago I asked what his favorite colors were. He didn’t know. I asked my DH and DS#2 about theirs… apparently none of the men in my family have favorite colors. DS#2 said he just didn’t like orange. The other day I asked DS#1 if blue and brown were okay because for some reason I have an abundance of those fabrics and he said yeah, and he liked teal with brown, too! Okay, we are getting somewhere! Now I just need to settle on a pattern – it will be a simple one. This one from an American Patchwork and Quilting magazine is a possibility.

You might be wondering why I’m even considering making a quilt for DS when the beagle is still around. Well, we had to make some changes. Len steals Penny’s food and one morning when I pulled him back he growled at me. It really caught me off guard. I should have held him down right then, but didn’t. Anyway, I thought about it throughout the day and told my son Len couldn’t sleep with him anymore. He needs to learn he is a dog and not top dog at that. Len now sleeps in his crate at night. I noticed a difference right away. He is coming when called now and no more growling. Also, I don’t expect to get this quilt done quickly. Hopefully, he will be a well trained dog by the time it is finished.

Has blog reading affected your book reading? It sure has mine. I used to read a lot – well, I guess I still do, but it is mostly blogs! I miss reading books. I shelve books at a library for a little paycheck. I keep bringing books home and taking them back without reading them. Electronic books don’t work for me. If I don’t listen through headphones I get distracted and if I do I can’t hear the jangling of a certain dogs movements. The following books are in my home and waiting for me to drag myself away from stitching and blogging-

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (my sister said this is really good)

A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley (fell asleep after a couple pages yesterday afternoon – a reflection on me, not the book)

Passages in Caregiving by Gail Sheehy (half way through this one – very good)

Quiltmaking by Hand by Jinny Beyer (I’m stuck on chapter 2 – a primer on pattern drafting)

 

Here are a few photos of my garden. I’m a fair weather gardener. In the hot, sticky months of July and August I tend to just take care of my porch plants. In the spring and fall, I do like to get out every once in a while to dig around. My husband does most of the work. It is amazing how something that would take me all day to do, he can do in less than an hour! 

Just a couple more photos from this past week...

As soon as I laid the shoofly quilt down on the floor to position the binding so no seams ended up at the corners, Penny made herself comfortable. She is looking a little untidy here. This photo was taken before she and Duke were groomed on Thursday.

Duke after grooming - don't think he's is too happy about this arrangement.