serenewhimsy

The Alaska quilt has been ironed, washed and tumbled dry. It will be on it’s way tomorrow. I thought I’d share some of my favorite parts. Thank you everyone, for your encouragement and kindness along the way. I have had a lot of fun with this piece and realize that in the process of sharing, my creativity was boosted. 

I finally finished my niece’s bag/tote. I added an upcycled woven belt as a handle. I’m happy with the look. It’s much cooler than what I might have woven and only cost a dollar.

The newest addition to my sister’s family, her 2nd grandbaby will be recieving this quilt as soon as the little elephant has eyes and a tail, don’t want to traumatize anyone…

I’m so glad I cut into and used my small stash of thrifted, vintage barkcloth. It looks pretty good with this little elephant.  I still need to practice a lot, at this free form quilting, but I like the idea a lot.

Hope all of you are wonderful and enjoying your week.

One baby quilt done, one to go…….If my sister’s kids keep having babies so quickly….I’m gonna have to hire a team of quilters…..just kidding…these are fun to make…..just trying to get them done before the munchkins get too big….

Thank you to everyone who has been stopping by. Even if you don’t leave comments it’s nice to see that I’ve had visits…….and a thank you too to all those who have left comments, it’s ALWAYS nice to get feedback. Hope all of your weekends are good ones.

I have been bitten by the paper piecing/hexagon bug……here is my first attempt. There are a lot of good tutorials and helpful hints out in cyber space. I’m grateful to all those talented people who share their knowledge. How do you like my vintage wall paper?? My bathroom needs an update…it’s just the bathroom though and it can wait. Each of the six sides are 1 inch wide. These are all vintage fabrics,  little squares found at a thrift store, and I wondered how I could use them.. These hexagons are addictive…not sure if I could do an entire quilt..maybe..

Here is the hexagon appliqued onto red cotton fabric, with colonial knots added on top of the red pen dots. It will eventually be made into a tote for my mom.

wouldn’t it be nice if we were all born with a little compass to carry around and tell us where we needed to go? I can hear my mom in my head saying..”we do!” and if I were meditating on a regular basis, mine would be in perfect working order! but I want it easy..I want a shiny little one I can hold in my hand, with a pretty silver chain to where/wear around my neck!  Psssh!

I need to meditate!

Here is the compass for the Alaska quilt.  I finally settled on an idea I liked.

When you are eight years old and you see a full grown salmon hauled into a small boat on the Yukon river, it appears to look roughly the same size as you are..it’s true, really, they are HUGE!

working on the cabin. Did a little what-ifing, inspired by Jude  http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/ . I had a little bag of 2″ by 2″ quilt squares bought at the thrift store. Wasn’t sure I would ever use them, so I challenged myself to come up with something pleasing just using the thrifted quilt squares. I knew it had to be the log cabin quilt pattern, and then I roofed the cabin with a piece of green velvet, another Jude inspiration.

At first I thought it looked a little eastern european, and then had a funny serendipitous happening. I called my dad to wish him Happy New Year, and while talking, he asked me what we had been up to. I answered, and mentioned that my husband had been reading  The Hobbit. My dad said excitedly, “I love  that book, an old woman in a bar gave me that once.”  So then I looked at the cabin and thought maybe it might be the cozy home of a hobbit.

my dad has a way of throwing in a quiet surprise now and again. That same conversation he told me how he likes to make fried chicken, marinated in buttermilk and honey. may need to try that.

continueing to quilt and applique…still need salmon, a log cabin and the compass……words too, still thinking about those…

also began the binding….decided to do the binding even though it’s not completely done, well…just because I like bindings…

all this hand quilting is starting to pay off. The quilt is starting to behave like a quilt. It folds up so nicely into a bundle. It reminds me of a cowboys blanket roll. It is very satisfying to fold it..is that weird?

still lots to go as you can see. I started to use the striped fabric as the backing and with all the quilting I did on the river sand, it was just too rough on the back side.  So I found a twin size navy blue flannel sheet in our linen closet and that feels perfect. I need to find my silvery silk to include a moon, my dad has done his fair share of howling at the moon…

so far the sky has been my favorite part to quilt, it looks like actual clouds to me. The moon will go just to the left of these clouds.

I have missed you guys!! I have a laptop and can use it at my leisure, upload photos and keep up with all my favorite blogs! I can even watch a little tv on this new laptop if the mood strikes me.. Yeah, I am happy to be back…I will be visiting blogs shortly.  Thank you to all of you that kept coming back even though I couldn’t payback the favor. I will be now.

I have had to take the quilt apart a few times to try and make it a little more square….I guess because this quilt has so many organic shaped pieces, it has been hard for me to make it square, it will be a little wonky, but who among us has a perfectly symmetrical body.It will do the trick.

I have been trying to decide if the sun needs a face, what do you think??

I have also been working on the eagle totem pole…maybe I will post about that next….need to sew on her wings first. I’m so glad to be back online..Yipppeeee!!

It’s my Dad’s Birtday today…Happy Birthday Dad!