Hello my bloggy friends… sorry I have been consumed in my life and not writing to you all! So let’s recap what has been going on around here to keep me so busy!!!
Quilting on Starlight… Starbright is going WELL!!!!
I am now at the halfway pinnacle of quilting on this lovely quilt… I hope to be done by mid July.. but we will see… she will be home and expecting it completed on August 3!!! Linking this Whooping Moment to Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict Whoop Whoop Friday Post HERE <<<
I was VERY excited last weekend when DL, Kayla and CJ dropped by and gave me this photo…
From their elopement day!!!!
Above is Kayla in her beautiful wedding frock and her son CJ cheesing for the camera as they are ready to depart in the Jeep DL rented for 24 hours… he proposed when he arrived with the Jeep for her (her fave type of vehicle is a jacked up Jeep like the one in the photo above)… we live in a tourist’s mecca and a Jeep dealership here rents Jeeps like this for 24 hours at a time…
So my son DL proposed on an eve in March and the next day is the photo above and the cool frame they put together for me below from their wedding day at the courthouse! They hired a friend to photo them after the ceremony… we had been anxiously waiting these photos… I think the photographer did a RAD job too!!!
If you look in the photo collage above… the top right is a silly photo with CJ playing with DL… then DL and Kayla are holding a sign Kayla designed and wrote on that says “The Byrum’s” and a great family photo on the bottom of the collage!!!!
It sits front and center in my living room presently and since none of my other kids are planning a wedding anytime soon (that I know of anyway! lol) it will probably stay there for a bit too!
I am gearing up for a new piecing project… a new bed quilt for our queen sized bed!!!!
The planning for this yet unnamed scrappy quilt is in full swing!!!!
This is an adaptation of Fons and Porter’s pattern called “Emily’s Wedding Quilt” that I found in a free PDF downloaded book… however it is just 2 blocks alternating and instead of making them the pattern called for size of 9″ I am making my blocks 12″ finished and changing up my outer border to just a simple white sashing… “Singing the Blues” is a name that has been coming to me… but I am just not sure.
The story of why we need this quilt and why I am actually bumping other projects I had planned… and holding off a bit on starting the quilting on the wall hanging that is on my new frame… to start a new project is simple… our current quilt… my first quilt to make… is worn out!
I have been inspecting this quilt and trying to convince myself that it would be okay… but the process of making a quilt to a flimsy, then hand quilting and binding it and washing and using it will be about 6 months in reality… so moving it up the ladder now is what I am doing… Increasing it’s importance as we will soon be sleeping under something store bought if I don’t get this show on the road!! lol Yuck!
So I am collecting 5″ charm squares in light, medium and dark blues for the quilt blocks…
I have assigned a place for each shade of blue… here on the right you can see a row of what I have deemed light… then 2 rows of medium blues (these will end up all being cut to smaller pieces in the block making process) and finally some dark navy blues (these will be centers of each block so no duplicating here)….
And since I took that shot of the quilt I have added lots more info to that sheet of paper… I have counted how many hst’s I need to make and how many tri recs angles I need to cut… how many 4 patches to make…
I am mixing these blues with steel grey by Kona and Optic White 🙂 I think this quilt is gonna be very cool and hold lots of memories of quilts made in the last 5 years too!!!!
Currently I have about 2/3 of the total amount needed to get busy with the piecing… I want to have all the blues together before I start in earnest on this project… I have some close friends sending me some blues for this quilt also… add more meaning to it for sure!!!
I have NO IDEA how I will quilt it… but I do know it will be quilted on my new frame and after the wall hanging is finished…
So I have to get Brandi’s quilt done and yet still devote some time to the wall hanging daily as well as block making or block part making each day… must get more organized I think to meet these goals along with house chores and other things that take up my days and nights…. lol!
Also… I have been having some thread breaking issues with my 401a Zena… it has gotten so bad that I finally decided time to replace her … my honey finally agreed and now there is a Clarinda in the house!!!!
She is a beautiful two toned blue… she has a matte finished bed and body and shiny top hat area… She is 1 year younger than me as I was born in 1966 and her manual is dated 1966 copyright but all the 347K’s were made in Great Britain for only 1 year.
Here is all that she came with… but her blue color doesn’t show below I don’t think like it does more truly in the photo above…
Clarinda had a big wad of lint UNDER the bobbin case area under the hook actually… so my honey has put lots of TLC into getting her running for me… we found her on eBay through a resale shop for sale and made them an offer which eventually we agreed to a price… I am happy with the deal but wish my honey hadn’t had to devote so much time to getting Clarinda ready for me to use!
I hope to have a shot of here not in the portable case or in a state of repair on the table but in the queen anne cabinet Zena currently resides in… I think it will make a beautiful “dress” for Clarinda!
As for Zena… she has a strong motor and is a good machine otherwise so she can be parted out for others to replace parts on their 401’s 😉
Come on back on Sunday… I plan to hand quilt this weekend and JUST GOT IN 2 new thimbles to compare and contrast for you all!
So have your thimble questions ready!!
Hope you have a blessed Friday and a Great Weekend too!!!
And remember… no matter how rough the road may get from time to time…
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