All of the elements

I have now added stripes, batiks, and an alternate block. I still have many more blocks to sew. Every pair of 2" strips yields one light background block and one dark background block.I haven't decided if this alternate block is the one I will use. I'm still just playing. I don't design my quilts before I make them most of the time. I just make some blocks and start designing with them on my flannel covered design walls. I'm never sure if all of the color combinations are going to work and occasionally a few blocks get pulled and don't get used in the original quilt. I also rarely know how big I am making the quilt. I work on it until I'm bored with it and then I know the final size.

This is very multicolored right now. The really light fabrics might get pulled now that I see it in a photo. I think I want it more saturated and less contrasty. I'll make another pile of blocks and then play some more.

AND just in case you think I sew all day, I didn't even get into the studio until 7 p.m. I'm trying to tidy up the garage and put away the gardening stuff. I've also started moving furniture to do a really good vacuuming before Thanksgiving. I really do housework too. And take an afternoon nap. And read.

A little progress

Yesterday morning I went to the quilt shop classroom where a bunch of customers meet once a month to work on projects and talk. I just took cutting equipment and more strips for my "H" quilt. In the afternoon I went to embroidery club at the sewing machine store and learned about embossed designs in embroidery. Then last night I went to computer club to hear a program about photo finishing services offered on the Internet. All in all it was a fun and educational day. I sewed a few blocks while watching "The Mentalist" last night. I have 2 more groups of fabric to add in today, some Kaffe plaids and stripes and some batiks. I'm going to add a secondary block in now and then too. I haven't decided which one but I'll work on that today too.

Letter quilts

I know there is a "T" quilt in traditional patterns, and there is this "S" quilt in one of Kaffe Fassett's books. I'm sure there may be more letter quilts that I am unaware of. I have been drawn to this "S" quilt maybe because of the colors (which I love) rather than the fact it is the letter "S" forwards and backwards.I have always wanted to make an "H" quilt. That is my daughter's nickname for me. She and her girlfriend when they were about 9 years old came up with names for us mothers and mine was Mother H. Then it got shortened to "mache" and pretty soon it was just "H". Now I see I have to share that nickname with the head guy on CSI Miami. Every time they call him "H" I have to smile. It was my nickname first, mister!

I got out my graph paper and drafted the block and calculated the measurements of the pieces. The blocks will be 7.5" finished. Now that I have made a few blocks to see if I like it I need to zero in on a color scheme, or maybe it will just be multicolor. I might throw an alternate block in once in awhile. I will have to do a block with 5 divisions like the "H" block is. I love math and drafting patterns in case you didn't know that. I have friends who just start shaking their heads when I try to explain the math thing. They just tell me to give them the answer, the bottom line, no explanations needed.

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Today is my dad's 96th birthday. I have 3 meetings to go to today so my brother and I celebrated with him last night.

Wishful Thinking

All I did was some wishful dreaming last night. It was a cold, rainy, dreary day. All I got done was a load of laundry and straighting up all of the left over strips from the 2 Kaffe log cabins (1.5" and 2" strips). I sorted them by length and bagged them. In the afternoon I went to the visitation for an dear friend of mine. She was 98. In the 1960's I made almost all of her clothes because she was very short and had wide shoulders and was narrow through the hips. I also made clothes for her granddaughters and daughter-in-law since I had a custom seamstress business in my home. When she was going to have her 90th birthday party she asked me if I would mark a hem for her on the dress she was wearing to the party. This was while she was still living in her house. I marked the hem and she cut it off and hemmed it herself. She was sharp as a tack all the way up to her death on Saturday. A few years ago she moved into the same independent living building that my parents lived in. In fact she lived right next door to them so I saw her often. I will miss her smiling face and our conversations.

Finished projects

I finished the tiny little notebook cover. I left it laying on my cutting mat so you can count squares and see how little it is. It didn't come out perfect so I'll either have to keep it or give it to someone who knows I am not perfect and is OK with that.I got the last seams sewn and thought I would lay the pillowcases out full length so you can click on the picture and see the fabrics better. This is my first attempt at these so I hope my fabric combinations will make the kids happy.

It really felt like November today. It was in the high 40's and damp. It was a good day to stay inside and play with fabric.

Oh, yes, and a bit of advice about fabric: Use your favorite and most precious pieces of fabric. Don't leave it for your estate sale.

Finishing a project

I finally washed the remaining fabrics I needed to finish the 12 pillowcases for charity. I will be sending these to Jackie who tells about the worthy cause here. I just have 3 more seams to sew and they will be in the mail.

A terrific birthday thanks to my readers

How can I begin to thank all of you for your good wishes? That was like getting 60 birthday cards. Wonderful!

I didn't stick with the cleaning for very long. It seemed like a good plan but it didn't happen. First I had to assemble the vacuum cleaner. Remember when everything used to come fully assembled? Once I had it together I vacuumed 3 rooms and it works great, but with my short attention span, I was ready to do something else. I read for awhile, did some grocery shopping, worked on my Kaffe fabric index cards, played on the computer. All in all it was a very relaxing day.

I only did one tiny bit of sewing. I had this little paper pieced cat from years ago and I wanted to try a cover for a tiny notebook. I got this far and then decided to watch some missed TV shows on my computer and the next thing I knew it was bedtime.

Now back to reality on day one of the next year.