Another healing quilt or two

 One of my favorite things to do with my quilts is to give them to anyone I learn about who is undergoing some serious medical treatments.  I've sent them to complete strangers.  I've given them to acquaintances.  I've given them to friends of friends.

I found out last week that someone we know here in Sunriver has a wife who was just diagnosed with bile duct cancer and is undergoing chemo.  i knew just the quilt to give to her.  I made this a few years ago with Céçile and Béa's quilt along, the year that baskets were the theme.  It's been folded, waiting for the right person to give it to.  I do love the quilt (I love baskets) but it'll do more good on Cristy's lap than in my pile of quilts! 😁

I also love the back!  I used extra baskets and some orphan blocks.

Before we drove back to Sunriver, I sent a quilt to a woman I know who became quite ill a few moths ago.  I completely forgot to take a picture of it (it was a 25-patch scrappy quilt that was pretty large!). She emailed me the sweetest note after she got it.  I'm going to share it with you so you can sense how much joy our quilts can give to others!

I encourage everyone to give away your quilts.  At least in my house, they just sit in piles, unused.  I can only use so many on my bed!  They can offer so much love and comfort to others.

Here is our sunset last night after thunderstorms all afternoon.  Mt. Bachelor is in the background.  One great thing about Central Oregon is the occasional summer rain--you know California is desperate for rain.

Hope you have a great Monday!!

Antique store finds

 When we were together last month, Barb, Wendy and I stopped at a couple of antique stores, as well as a quilt store.  We found some great things to buy!

I always like to buy orphan blocks being sold (I mean, who doesn't need more orphan blocks!! VBG).  I shipped everything that I bought (we also swapped scraps, which is always fun!) and I only just opened the boxes this week.  Was I ever excited!!

I bought these blocks and hadn't realized that they were all HAND SEWN!!  Here's the back of one block!

And here are the blocks!  I put 9 on the design wall and put the rest on the floor.  I wound up with a LOT of blocks.

Here are the rest:

I'd love to know the age of these blocks.  If you have any ideas, let me know.  I'm thinking of adding a skinny sashing because their sizes vary between 9-10"...  I also don't know the name of the block pattern.  Any ideas?  Any suggestions for how to put them together?

I'm happy to report that I have finished the center block for the Primitive Gatherings Twilight Garden from 3 yrs ago.  I have been struggling with lining up the exact placement for the inner border (after what they call a "faux sashing").  I put chalk marks but the longer I look at it on the wall, the more I see that I need to more a couple of buds and flowers to make it more square.

This is what the quilt will ultimately look like, hopefully.  So I've finished all 12 blocks and the center.  I'm now on the inner border! I honestly never thought I'd get this far but I'm loving the quilt.  I'm not thinking about the huge undertaking the outer border will be! Taking it step by step!

Funny story:  the pieces for the border were printed on full sheets so I figured I'd copy them onto my soft fuse, which is my favorite product to use.  That worked great for about 3 or 4 sheets until the soft fuse MELTED in the printer.  What a mess to get that gunk out of the printer.  VBG.  I hand copied the remaining pieces so I was lucky I copied as many as I did.  You can see how many pieces are in the inner border!

We are back in Sunriver, Oregon, for the next month, and offered to take our daughter's micro mini golden doodle while she moved into her new apartment in SF.  He's all of 14 pounds and very sweet.  Last night, he got mad about something and chewed his way out of his crate in a very short time!

Fortunately our puppy hasn't thought of that (yet)... and our dog is weighing in a 55 pounds at 7 months of age (he was supposed to be 40-45!!)...

Zeke and Cooper playing in the backyard

Hope you're having a great week.

Fabric purchases

 I mentioned that I went to the local quilt shop near my son's new house in Ashburn, Virginia, and found some fun fabrics!  I figured since I don't have anything to share that has been finished, I'll share fabric that's waiting to be cut into!

I thought this was so interesting...  never seen anything like this.  I think it's a Benartex;  not sure how to use it.   Maybe as a border?

I love conversation prints and fabric with writing and couldn't pass these up.

The other find for me was a new Tula Pink line;  I actually bought a bundle of fat quarters, which I never do! I loved them all!

Purple and aqua blue are a great combination and I can see myself doing something just in those colors.  I need to make a baby quilt for my new granddaughter (to be born later this month) and they do not want pink!! ;-)

Have a great weekend.  I'm flying back home tomorrow--eager to be in my own home!

Stay safe!

Full circle

 I have been away from home for nearly 3 weeks so have not gotten any sewing done.  I did go to a quilt store in Virginia, where my son just moved, and did a little damage.  They were kind enough to offer me one of their machines to use while I visit!  It's fun to see fabric in different parts of the country.

I didn't get my mini done (or didn't take a picture before leaving) but did want to share this picture of a quilt I made for my son (who is now 33) when he was 3 yrs old.

This was a pattern that I used many times and still love.  What's so amazing to me is that my son's boys, now 4 and 1,  use this quilt.  So this quilt has gone full-circle.  I could never have dreamed at the time that the quilt I made when he was 3 would be used by his own children 30 yrs later!

I didn't know how to chain stitch back then (1991) so I did some sort of stitching to embroider the year.  There's no label (who knew to do labels back then??)

I think it needs a new binding but otherwise, it's just fine!  [--secret--I did look on Craigslist to see if I could pick up a used machine to keep at my son's since I expect to visit as much as I can!].  Anybody live near Ashburn, Virginia??

When my son was in the Marines Reserve Office Candidate's School in Quantico two years ago, I made him a quilt to commemorate his graduation.  Here are his sons playing on the quilt.  Another amazing example of a quilt coming full-circle!

I am finally able to download some of my pictures from our getaway to the New England Quilt Museum and wanted to share my favorite from the Pilgrim Roy exhibit!

I love the way the yellow flowers complete the main block but then form a secondary pattern. I could look at this for hours.

I also want to share a couple of pictures of some of Wendy Reed's (constantquilter) quilts which were on exhibit.  Hopefully she won't mind!

She did this one just this year as part of the sew-along hosted by Céçile and Corinne in France, where we needed to do curves.  Well, Wendy outdid herself!

When I get back to California this weekend, I'm going to pull some fabrics to start making some circles.  Such a simple but striking idea!

Look at this fabulous applique quilt she did.  Wendy does the most amazing appliqué.  I'll be happy to tell you that she even gave me some tips to help improve my stitches, which are definitely in need of help!

I'll be back in California this weekend and hopefully will get some sewing machine time and can share my May mini!!

Take care, stay well and be safe!

xxxx

Randy