My Sister's blocks

Okay, I said I was starting a new project so here it is. If you click on the picture, it gets bigger and you can see it better.

Early in the spring my sister, who lives in Las Vegs asked if she finished cross stitching some blocks a friend gave her would I quilt them. As long as she wasn't in a hurry, because I might have to set it aside for a Christmas project, then sure. She even said she would pay for the addition fabric.. again a plus.

So last week I received the package. It was 30 17" plus squares. I used my EQ6 program to come up with what a 5 by 6 block quilt would look like. What was nice is that they had the printing still imprinted so it was easy to cut down to a uniform size....16 1/4. This took me a couple nights of trimming to get them all cut down.

The next step was to cut the strips for the sashing. She had said she would like pale green or lavender but what ever color I thought would work. Took both kids with me to the quilt shop and while Cassie and I were looking at the greens and purples, Ethan walks up with this one and it worked great.

So I cut strips, then the sashings. Then began to sew the sashings on. Then once I got the sashings sewn on then I started sewing the blocks together . Once you have the strips cut, it doesn't really take any time at all to start the assembly. Goes by rather quickly.

By the time I stopped Sunday night, I had all the rows sewn together and the size measured for the strips in between. I'll sew several on then start sewing the rows together. this will take a little bit more time because I'll want to make sure they line up okay.

I'll probably have to put off the next step for a few days...have a large basket of cloths to fold and supposedly that type stuff is suppose to come first... more later.

Memories

One of my Flicker friends lost her 10 yr old Dobie one day in June. After an afternoon of play, she just lay down and took her last breath being held by someone who loved her dearly. She was completely devastated, Lucy's death hit her hard and her 6 year old male, Silas who was lost without her too.

It took me a bit to finally decide what I wanted to do in memory of Lucy. After collecting pictures, the week before Labor Day I printed out a bunch that I thought went together to make ready to quilt.


I worked over Labor day weekend on cutting down to size, and putting the black borders on all the pictures. I had the puppies and paw print in my stash. so what I bought to go with this was the bright pink, Lucy's favorite color and the fuzzy backing. I decided I didn't want it to be really heavy with batting and all the stitching.

Once I finish a quilt I have to make a label. I don't consider my quilts done until until the label is complete. I usually labor over this for days to make it just right. This one took me all Saturday. Leaving it alone for a while then coming back to work more. I thought there was something missing so Ben read it and helped fix a couple of the last lines. I thought it turned out just perfect. Off to the left is what it actually looked like but below is what it say. I was pretty proud of how it turned out so I thought I'd include the real thing.

Memories of Lucy
June 11, 2000 – July 5, 2010

When you brought her home she was just a wee thing
With floppy black ears that flew like wings.
She romped and she rolled, making best friends from the start
She found a small spot way deep in your heart.
You might think it a handicap running on three
But not this ol’ girl, she would dance with glee.
They would whine and bark, making plenty of noise
She would tease poor Silas by taking his toys.
Just like her siblings, she had a poor heart
She was taken too soon, not yet ready to part.
She lives on in our hearts at ease
With oh so many lasting memories.
We’ll miss Sweet Beans and her love of all pink
You’ll see her again before you can blink.

Made with love by Shannon Coutant
Eugene, Oregon
September 2010

I sent it out Tuesday and it arrived today. I kept checking to see if it arrived and then it drove me crazy until I say her comments. I even sent Silas a little stuffed bunny, he loves his animals. She put a picture up of him opening his package and then of one with him holding his new toy in his mouth. the look on his face was great. It was funny because she thanked me for the gift but couldn't do much more..

I did forget to put my flicker name so she wasn't really sure who had given it to her, so after I left that info she left another message. she said she had tears after reading the card, and then after reading the label she lost it. I figured I'd done my job well if it made her speechless.

I took it into work to show it off and I guess the real shocker to everyone was, I've never met this person or her dogs. Sometimes you just have to go a little further to make someone happy and this was one of those times.

Now I have a new project...my sister sent me 30 cross stitch blocks.. that's another entry...

I finally finished the Barn Yard friends a few weeks ago. I had finished the center but decided I needed to get the garage done so spent the summer doing exactly that. I think I started working on it just after my birthday putting the extra borders, then sandwiched it together. the machine quilting I did over a weekend because it was brighter than at night.

I have several other tops to finish now too. It was nice to get back to quilting. I was coming up to my quilt room after dinner, sitting down on the loveseat and falling asleep before the show I was watching was half over. Was really making me a little ticked at myself. I really felt good when this one was done. Oh, I should have takend a picture of the back too. It's a dark green with chicken wire and little fat white & black chickens that have spots. maybe later. Just excited it was finally done.