I really love the white cabinet I was given this year. It looks so nice in the living room and makes that one area not look so empty compared to the rest. Then I decided the living needed a bit more of a color boost. You know I like color. Well, I decided it was time for the black and tan rugs to be replaced. Also looking, I realized the new sofa wasn’t the best fabric for dogs as their nails were leaving snags in the fabric. Since the sofa was less than 6 months old, a new one wasn’t in the mix. You know what that means, sofa cover.

I ended up going with a gray sofa cover since the sofa was gray and added in a new chair cover for baby dog’s chair so they matched. Then I needed something to brighten the room. Hence my new rugs. My daughter says they’re hideous but I have to say, I love them.

Of course I was just finishing a multi-colored quilt that has the same colors so I think I will hang it on the wall.

My bosses daughter asked me late last year about making some quilts leftover from fabric her mom had. I told her in advance it would be well after April and it was lol. Apparently her mom used to hand quilt. Mom had a few blocks half made that were hand stitched but they were falling apart to the point I didn’t want to try and use them, and there wasn’t a lot left to choose from. She basically had a box of scraps. Some pieces were a half yard and some were 5 or 6 inches.

Looking at the prints there were likely from the 30’s or 40’s (her mom died 20+ years ago) so I wanted something simple to match what would have been a popular quilt when she was sewing. I used whatever fabrics I could get a 3 in square from and made simple 9 patch blocks. They still needed something so I hit the store and found 2 tone on tone creams that had a very vintage look and made hour glass blocks to go between the 9 patch blocks. Came out very vintage looking.

It wasn’t an easy tasks for me for a couple of reasons. One is I don’t care too much for scrappy looking quilts so using so many colors was outside my comfort zone. My friend Sue loves scrappy and said just use whatever you pick up next rather than trying to coordinate. That saved my sanity. The second was the odor. OMG that fabric had sat in a garage 20+ years in a cardboard box. It reeked of what I call old smell. You know that smell when you open a door and a house is full of old furniture, old clothes, etc. I didn’t dare wash it till I had it pieced and quilted so for weeks every time I opened my front door, you could smell it. Thankfully a little Gain laundry soap and some bounce dryer sheets and they smelled like new once they were washed.

She wanted it gift the 2 quilts to her daughters as something of their grandmothers so I made them almost alike. They have the same fabrics and one is quilted with swirls and one is quilted with hearts. She really liked them and I hope the girls love them as a reminder of their grandmother. I suggested she take the handmade squares her mom had in the box and carefully frame one for each daughter to display with their quilts.

Here are a few more I have finished and finally gifted. The hexagon one with the gold accent fabrics was my attempt at again trying to enjoy making hexagons or one block wonder quilts. I’ve accepted the fact that while I enjoy making the octagon blocks, I don’t care much for the 6 piece hexagons. I still think it came out quite pretty. I wanted to gift to a friend Brenda who has been dealing with a lot of medical issues and surgeries. She’s having to use a wheel chair till it’s all resolved and it turned out the perfect size to use for her doctor visits.

This batik one is called Magic Tiles. Still one of my favorite patterns when I want something easy, yet striking. It works out pretty in almost every color combo. This one was made using tropical batiks by Lunn Studio. I sent it to a co-worker of my son in law who wanted it for a new baby. Made the perfect size to carry it around so you have some place clean to lay the baby. I think the burnt red accent lines really worked nicely with the blues and greens.

The 3rd one has no pattern name. I just mixed octagon and 4 patch posey blocks and sashed with a lavender. I love how the lavender makes the small amount of purple in the tiger lily print stand out. It needed a color boost with all the drab orange and whites in the print. I gifted to my friend Sue who had to finally give up her home and move to an assisted living apartment. She needed a pick me up and loved it.

I usually forget to come back and update my blog but then again, my life isn’t overly exciting and there isn’t usually a lot going on. So what’s happened or what have I gotten done since last here, hmmmm?

I did finish a few quilts I can share. These 2 were for the doctors at the veterinary clinic my daughter works for. Dr. Ertel is a Vietnam vet so I made him a Bento box quilt using red, white and blue fabrics with a red/white swirled backing. I think it came out really nice.

The second one posted is for Dr. Brainard. He loves bright, colors. In fact he and my daughter have an on-going sock contest to see who has the most colorful or weirdest socks. The pattern I made him is called Under the Stars and has a ton of different colored batiks with a purple backing. He loved it. In fact he sent me a very nice thank you card. Luckily I wash all the quilts before they are delivered because as you can see once again Argus photo bombed me.