MY ROWS ARE HOME!

Thursday's mail brought my row swap home to me.  This is a swap where the 'owner' selects her theme, makes the first row, adds a few fabrics, and sends it on.  Each quilter makes a row and sends it on around the circle of quilters, until it arrives back home with the owner.  I feel a little (just a tad, mind you) guilty opening mine, when I still haven't finished Linda's Southwest theme row.  But.............  like I was going to leave the envelope unopened?  Not!

In the photo, the top beach cabanas and palm trees are my starter row.  I wanted a beach in soft colors to go with my guest room theme.

Second: Beach umbrellas from Cindy D.  Love the details!  Look how she even shaped the shadows for the tilt of the umbrellas.

 

Third are flip-flops from Carol, each with a unique, embellished strap.  There's even a crab on the beach.

Fourth are pails and shovels from Terry.  No beach scene would be complete without them, and she added embellishments too.

Fifth is that amazing fish swimming though sea weed row from Linda!  Stunning!

Sixth is the beach sunset row.  I love the way Angela captured all the beach colors flickering on the water at sunset!  See that 'sun' in the center?

 

Seventh is the row with four pieced blocks in my color scheme from Cindy F.  Very nice.

 

My guests will sure have something to talk abut when they see this on the guest room wall!

 

Each time we do this swap, my family and I are blown away at the care, thought, time, effort, purchasing extras, etc., we quilters are happy to put into a quilt for someone else.

I'm humbled to be part of this group!  A huge thank you to all participants.

PS:  My blog banner is my starter row from the first time we did this swap.  My theme then was 'sewing studio'.

Edit:  Just wanted to add, these are not sewn together.  The 'owner' gets to play with them and assemble them how she wants.

 

 

FRIENDSHIP SWAP QUILT

Indeed, friends are flowers in the garden of life.  My mini quilt is finished and ready to mail off to the receiver.  There are almost 200 quilters from all over the globe in this swap.  I will patiently be waiting for mine to arrive, by the end of October.

VIOLETS

Our Applique Boutique group upped the game for Dutch Treat.  We are now aiming for two blocks per week, and violets is the first one from the 'difficult' column.  I decided to do this one first as our other is a 'super easy column block.  I also decided to try a new foreground fabric, a tone-on-tone white sprig.  I may end up deciding to use a variety of WOWs.

Hope everyone finds some time for stitching today.

THE ALPS

This is my 3rd Dutch Treat block, The Alps.  These little blocks are fun to work on, and so far I'm keeping up with the group.  It would take 4 years to complete all these blocks at one per week, so starting next week, we are shooting for two.  We'll see!

Annie's Choice Block

I stitched this block last night.  It's Annie's Choice from Quilter's Cache.  It's going into a quilt top one of my Yahoo groups  is hostessing.  Here's a link.  One of the entries will win the top, which will have been sewn together by the hostess. 

I know it looks like a lovely navy.  It is really royal purple.  Camera?  Lighting?  Eyes?  Everyone is using jewel tones with white on white.  Should make a jewel of a quilt!

DEAR JANE SECRET SISTER GIFTS

My DJSS got behind, as life got in the way for her. She sure made up for it with the lovely box I received this week.

For July and my b'day she sent sock knitting things -- a book, super yarn, knit pick needles, snacks for sustenance, and it was all wrapped in the gorgeous FQ.

Aug, and Sept. gifts were wrapped in wonderful FQs too.

August brought 3 lovely black on black FQs, a stitch marker/holder set, marking pens, and chocolates.  Yum!

For Sept. more beautiful fabric, Circleeze, a note pad, and a good read.

I sure hope her life is going smoother.  I can tell from the care she puts in to what she sends that she is a very thoughtful, giving person.

December and the big reveal isn't that far off.  Can't wait!  And thanks once again, if you are reading here, SP.

MINI QUILT

Progressing nicely, but far from complete.  A bit more hand stitching and maybe beads will go on today.

MINI QUILT SWAP

Yesterday I finished the embroidery stitching on the Friendship Mini Quilt Swap.  Now to decide what to do for borders.  The piece measures about 5 x 7 inches, and the quilt minimum size is 12" but it can also be larger if desired, up to some maximum size.

I'm pretty sure I'll do a 1/2" first border with that batik blue, but then what?  I do like the plaid, and also the print on the bottom.  I want it to have blues, as that's a favorite of the receiver, but I think it needs some others colors too.  So, a pieced border?  Maybe some applique flowers in the border?  Oh and I need to add some yellow centers to the blue daisies still.  Maybe beads or maybe French knots? 

Decisions, decisions.  Any suggestions are most welcome!  Thanks!

GRANDMOTHER'S CHOICE BLOCK 3: UNION SQUARE

This week's Grandmother's Choice block is Union Square.  It is used to represent the "processions" women organized, first in England, and a few years later in the USA, to make their needs known.  Nowadays, it is common to have marches for social change, but it was a new idea at the time.  The women carried signs and wore coordinating colors.

We are having a dark, rainy day here, and I think that influenced my color choices this week.  None of the darks in my palette grabbed my attention today.  I went from medium gold to lights.  It looks festive to me, as the women would have been, processing through the streets.

There's a link to this BOW about Women's Suffrage and the right to vote on my side bar.

FRIENDSHIP EMBROIDERY MINI QUILT SWAP and word verification

I love hand embroidery.  That's one of the reasons I signed up for this swap (link on my side bar, but it is closed now).  My recipient said she likes blue, so yesterday I started pulling fabrics for the borders as well as embroidery threads for the center.  I won't use all of these fabrics, but it's a start for color palette to select threads.  I haven't decided on the border scheme yet anyway.

While watching TV last night, I embroidered the words in dark blue.  Next comes the arbor and flowers.  Mine has to travel quite a way so I want to get on it soonest.  I don't think this post will give too much away, as there are almost 200 swappers.

Word Verification:  I have once again removed that pesky word verification on comments that is so hard for some to read, thus making it easier for you to leave a comment.  As usual when I removed that step, within hours I had received two robot spam comments, but both were now caught by the comment spam filter, and weren't posted.  Yeah blogspot!  So as long as this works I'll leave it easy for you to comment.

Hope everyone finds time to stitch today.  I just came back from light aerobics, and am ready to get to work.

DEFT DELFT

LOTUS

 

CAT'S PAW

 

 

These 4" recessed applique blocks are from the book, Dutch Treat, by Judy Garden.  She named her beautiful quilt Deft Delft.  There are 196 blocks in this book based on Dutch tiles.  I've been wanting to give this a go for some time.

I've decided to keep with the traditional colorway of blue and white.  Recessed applique (also sometimes called reverse applique) is different in that the design emerges as you stitch back the foreground, rather adding the applique on top of the background.  I'm very used to my back-baste method of applique, but I'm starting to get the hang of this.

I'm doing this quilt as a block-a-week with my Applique Boutique yahoo group.  But, it would take 4 years just to finish the blocks at that rate, let along sash and quilt it.  Hmmm............  Well, like most things, it's about the journey more than the destination to me.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET

A photo taken on September 11, 2001 by the New York City Police Department as the North Tower collapses, engulfing lower Manhattan in smoke and ash.

(Photo: AP Photo/NYPD, Det. Greg Semendinger)

GRANDMOTHER'S CHOICE BLOCK 2: AMETHYST

This is block 2 in the patterns being offered by Barbara Brackman, on Women's Suffrage.  The name of this block is Amethyst.  It was chosen to represent the colors used by the Suffgragists and the more militant Suffragettes in England.  Their banners, etc. were made using symbolic colors:  white (purity), green (hope), and purple (dignity).  You can link to this BOW on my side-bar to read more, or to join in.

GRANDMOTHER'S CHOICE, BLOCK 1

 

Here's my block 1 for Grandmother's Choice, the new BOW about women's rights.  I'm happy with the way it turned out and with my colors.  I did pull some more mediums today.

 

My Grandmother was a teenager when women gained the right to vote in the U.S.A.  When I was 44 'ish and 'back in college' (a late bloomer?) I took a class on Women's History in the U.S.A.  It was actually about women's rights in the U.S.A.  While studying sit-ins, protest marches, arrests, and hunger strikes - and forced feedings in jail - I asked her how she felt about all this at the time.

 

I was shocked that she found the women to be 'kooks'.  This grandmother worked for pay her whole life.  She was always modern for the times.  Cut her hair and wore flapper clothes when that was in.  Owned and ran a farm by herself after her husband died.  I thought she was quite modern.  Kooks???  She said yes, while she and her friends were all for women voting, they thought the extreme measures taken by the women's rights advocates were nuts.  And all the men thought the women would just cancel out their votes.  Geesh!  What a surprise.

 

As a child of the 60's, I grew up with protest marches, sit-ins, hunger strikes, and arrests.  Even the National Guard murdering students at Kent State.  Even assassinations of civil rights workers, and one of our beloved presidents.  I thought, "Good for them!"  I wouldn't have had that courage. 

 

But then I realized I thought the women's liberation movement movers and shakers seemed like kooks to me.  Bra burnings?  Unshaven hair on legs and underarms?  Leaving your kids in day-care (which I actually did for a few months).  But I'm all in favor of equal rights for women in the work place and society.  Hmmm..................  What comes around goes around?

 

I'm so proud that we've come so far.  Women are free to stay home with thier kids, or work outside the home.  They are free to do what works for them, their goals and dreams, their families' needs.

 

You can find a link to this BOW in my left sidebar and earlier posts.

NATIONAL SEWING MONTH

Sept. is national sewing month?  Who knew?  Well, not me!  There's even a web site for it.  Click here to read all about it and get ideas on how to celebrate.  Me?  Well, I'll be spending Sept. in the sewing room as much as possible.

START

Today after church I started getting ready for my Grandmother's Choice BOM.  Step one, select fabrics.  Gold and black or gold and deep violet were often the colors used for suffrage banners, etc., in the United States.  To be true to the cause for the quilt, I've washed and pressed this grouping, all from stash.  Looks like I might need a few more mediums, but we'll see.  The gold of that era was more what we call cheddar today.  I think I'll look for more of that in my stash.  I'm sure my CW bin must have some.






The BOW just started yesterday.  Maybe I can keep up.  That would be a first!  Here's a link in case you'd like to join along, or just read more about the struggle for women to vote, not only in America, but around the globe.