Another Quilt....

I'm quietly pleased - only a couple of days have passed since I mailed off the dinosaur quilt and I've started another.

The young lady whom this quilt is for loves unicorns....Cinderella....Snow White. Unicorns was a little difficult to nail down but Cinderella and Snow White? Elusive beyond belief.... Searching through a couple online quilting stores is fun. Searching through hundreds of online quilting stores is not. It's downright painful, frustrating and the worst - an exercise in sheer will power not to order yards and yards of "oh I just have to have THAT now" fabric. I did find one Cinderella print but she looked downright scary. Whatever happened to that lovely Cinderella of my youth....

Okay - fabric arrives. Now - what do I do with it? I know this young lady also loves aqua .... but alas, no aqua in the fabric stash. So..... I come up with a few colors that might go well with the fabric.....

Great - looks pretty good. Hmmm - 6 1/2" squares might capture the unicorn well.....

6 1/2" squares? Only because I bought this nifty square template and it measures 6 1/2" square. Found out that it's great for 'framing' what I'd like to cut - but to cut around it is painful. But cut, I did - and managed to keep all fingers intact. I think - great, I'll do a 9 patch with the unicorn in the center.

Idea lasts for about an hour....but when I draw it out, it lacks substance. See, I'm beginning to think like a quilter. Who the heck knows what substance is anyway - but I like how that word looks when written and when I say it, it sounds so "quilty.

I've also discovered that my math skills really need some beefing up. I pulled out my fat quarters (to you non-quilters, a fat quarter is one forth of a yard - get it? "Fat" quarters.... gotta love it) which are photographed next to the uncut unicorn fabric above. I cut out 6 1/2 squares out of each fat quarter - and somehow believed I cut EIGHT 6 1/2" squares per fat quarter. How I thought I got EIGHT out of each fat quarter is beyond me. But somehow I had it in my head I cut out 8. Now, framing each unicorn would require EIGHT squares to form a "Nine Patch". Do the math - only SIX squares could be cut out of each fat quarter. No way am I going fabric hunting to find extra fat quarters to match what I already cut....

....so new idea.

Quick - find some more "blenders". Blenders - another quilty word - which simply means solid colors with a little more 'oomph' to it - Moda makes wonderful blenders called "Moda Marbles" - and the best thing is - I won these beauties playing bingo online via the online quilting club I belong to - but that's another story. So out comes more blenders - but alas no photograph before I cut 'em up and started sewing. That's something else I learned - to heck with photographing every detail - let that machine fly! Out comes the rotary cutter - a bunch of 6 1/2" squares are cut....

And thus was born.....

I really need to improve my photographing skills.

Now - border. I think I'll do a multicolored border, piecing together the leftovers from the fat quarters. Yes - that should do nicely.

In the meantime, today I bought THREE lamps. After weeks of sewing on the dining room table, I realized I needed LIGHT in the 2nd bedroom we use as a den/study/sewing/craft room - which is why I hesitated to move the sewing machine back to "the room". Okay - right now it's simply the sewing room until Riley comes home. When moving things around last night, I broke my treasured Ott lamp. If you don't have an Ott lamp, you are missing one of the world's greatest inventions. Gives off a light that's better than natural lighting - or so I believe. Natural light is always interrupted with nasty things like clouds and sunsets. I found a Ott floor lamp at a very good price - and also bought 2 more lamps - touchiere lamps to be precise. Oh the light that is now in that room is a sight to behold. Now I can move the sewing machine off of the dining room table and into the room where it belongs.

Putting the lamps together led to cleaning out a closet. Trust me, there is a connection in there somewhere. One trip to Goodwill and four trips to the dumpster in the back of the apartment building and I feel like I have accomplished much.

In the meantime, Riley's brother called - mom was admitted to the hospital. Her blood pressure had skyrocketed - and her feet were swollen beyond normal swelling. Echogram and cat scan were ordered today but no test results yet. I think somehow news of mom spurned me on to do something that required tossing/cleaning/organizing - why, I have no idea. Someday I'll analyze why and when I do the things I do - but for now, it felt good.

Mom is in good hands with the medical staff at the hospital. Dad is still in the hospital - but alas, they're not in the same hospital. Each is aware of what's going on with the other. I think of them both and think - there is no greater love I have ever witnessed. Those vows "through sickness and in health" have held up well for them. Many of us are never put to the test. Many of us don't wait around until the 'through sickness' part happens. It's too easy to walk away. It's harder to stay in a marriage -no doubt about it. That's not to say that there are very good reasons why a marriage doesn't work and a parting of the ways in inevitable...but I digress. Prayer requests have gone out for both parents...and God's taking care of them.

Tomorrow - I cut the backing & the batting - and then the tying and then the binding....

Life is so very good. Yes, I miss Riley more each day - if that's possible. Yes, he's coming home in twenty-three days for a 2+ week "vacation". Yes, I do spend some time with our kids. Yes, I do like this stage in my life called "retirement". Yes, I quilt.

Angel45402