Lone Star Number Six - Jay

Next - our youngest daughter's Purple Lone Star  Quilt was shown - - and here is her husband Jay's Green Lone Star.  Greens make such a peaceful quilt.

It all starts with that stack of fabrics - gathered together to make the strips.  .  .

 

Points of the star - ready to become a star.  .  .

All the points - I like the way the colors move when you look at it .  .  .  

Done - with tri-color border.  .  .

After a trip to Julie in Idaho - the center of the star .  .  .

Border quilting .  .  .

Jay with his finished quilt .  .  .

Jay and Donnie discussing quilts and other major issues .  .  .

You can click HERE to read all about the Lone Star Quilt Project.

Lone Star Quilt Number Five - Jason

Next I showed our oldest daughter's Pink Lone Star - and here is her husband's Blue Lone Star.  I like working with blues - so many wonderful combinations.

On each of the quilts I made a different border - some were easy to think up - or find examples of on-line - and others gave me a bit of a struggle.  The ones with precise measurements took use of my geometry and algebra math skills (see you DO use that stuff later in life) - and I was happy with all the results,

 The whole Lone Star .  .  .

The border goes from light to dark, to light, to dark, etc.

Center .  .  .

Home from the quilter in Idaho and ready to bind.  .  .

The quilting gives the center such depth.  .  .

Intricate border quilting  -  Julie is clever that way .  .  .

Jason and Beccy

You can click HERE to read all about the Lone Star Quilt Project.

Granny Squares

While recuperating I wanted something fun to do - and this is what I decided.  I remember when I was a kid (yes, indeedy I can remember that far back) that many people had Granny Square Afghans on the back of their sofa.  The afghans were always done in a lighter yarn than worsted, and in deep, saturated colors.  I always wanted one, yet over the years (oh those many years) I never got around to one.  Well, now is the time.


I used Caron Simply Soft Lite yarn - it really is soft, and has a pretty sheen to it, and I love the colors available.  So with my little crochet hook and my yarn I started off.

 A nice stack of squares.  They are approximately 5" x 5"

 Another stack - love the colors.  .  .

And here is Mr. Lincoln to give us some idea of the size of the little blocks.  I'm not sure how many blocks I need, but I know it is a LOT.  I want it to be big enough to wrap up in, on a cold winter night.

I needed more black yarn and since this yarn isn't carried locally,  I had to place another order.  It has been five days since I ordered and checking the FedEx tracking I see that the yarn has gone from Dallas, TX to Phoenix, AZ in 5 days.  What are they using?  The FedEx Wheelbarrow?  

Have you ever made a Granny Square Afghan?

Fuzzy borders are from Picmonkey - love that program.

Lone Star Quilt Number 4 - Jamie

I'll show the next quilts in matching order of the way I posted our kids' quilt.  First was our son's Lone Star, and here is his wife, Jamie's Red Lone Star.  This one was interesting to make, at the time the reds that were available were the murky, dusty colors and I wanted bright bright bright - so it took some time to hunt up enough colors - but I'm determined.

Lovely reds, the strips are sewn together.  .  .

And points of the star appear (how nice it would be if this were how fast it goes).  .  .

All the points make a star!

After many tries and previewing borders, I came up with this simple slanting scrappy border, which suits the red star perfectly.

Center - Quilted

Corner and border quilting .  .  . 

Jamie and Rusty, with Donnie checking out the quilt.  .  .






You can click HERE to read all about the Lone Star Quilt Project.

What I won - so very long ago

One of my favorite people in the whole world (and that encompasses a LOT of people) - is Peg - of Peg and Garry, also known as Griz (Garry, not Peg).   She is a fabulous quilter, terrific blogger and wonderful friend.  We met online through blogs - and since they live just over the border a bit, into British Columbia, we met up one day and have been meeting now and then whenever they get down this way in their camper, and one day soon we hope to get up their way for a visit.  We visit and laugh and eat and laugh and have such a grand time.  Peg is always working on something clever and interesting.


 Way back in October Peg had a give-away - and I won it.  We had just been together at Bob's in Burlington the day before her drawing, having a fabulous brunch - and I was so surprised the next day when she announced I was the winner of her wonderful give-away.  It was a whole lot of great Christmas items, sewn up lovingly by Peg.  

I waited (somewhat impatiently) for the package to arrive.  Mail between BC and WA is slow, to say the least - but it did come faster than I had thought it would - and what a glorious time I had opening the package.  (I have shamelessly stolen the photos from Peg's Blog - I was in the middle of my painful back episodes that eventually led to emergency back  surgery - when the package arrived and I just couldn't concentrate to get photos taken)  But one day soon - as I recuperate from surgery - I shall take photos of all the fun things I won - but for now - you get to see Peg's photos.





Starting at the the top left, and going clockwise - a bag that was STUFFED with Christmas Candy, which I will not be able to photograph later, because the Christmas Piggies ate every piece of the candy, next is a set of four of the cutest coasters you ever saw - perfect for a hot cup of tea or cocoa.

 Then on to the pan cozy, with Santa on the front - and you can see the next photo (bottom right), a pan poking out of the pan cozy.  Well, inside that pan was a bag of ingredients and instructions for making brownies (to share with our friends when we carry them in the pan cozy - hahahaha - fooled them, we ate them all - and Peg even included a nice 9x9 pan to bake the brownies in. The bottom photo is a cute hot mat with a Penguin on it, and then a beverage bag - perfect for a special christmas gift.  And in the middle - a Christmas bucket/bag - so clever and handy - for gifts or for filling with evergreens and decorations.

See - I told you she was so clever - and so thoughtful.  I love everything in the gift package - but wait - there is more - can you believe it?



There was a large tote bag - in coffee bean and chocolates fabric - it has a zippered top -  plenty of pockets and a nice long strap - this will be a scene stealer when I take it shopping - and believe me, I will take it shopping - a LOT.

So that is my winning package from Peg - any one of these items would have been super wonderful - but all of them -  oh my, I was overwhelmed.  Thanks so much Peg - we are looking forward to visiting with you and Garry again - hopefully in the spring time.  Happy sewing - to a dear and thoughtful friend.

Click Peg's name at the beginning of this post to visit her fabulous blog, you know you want to see more of her quilts.

Lone Star Quilt Number 3 - and some changes

At last, I'm able to have the laptop on my lap so I can post something.  I still can't sit at the computer desk - but this is great for now.

This is the third Lone Star Quilt - made for our youngest daughter, Lori. When she was growing up she had a purple bedroom - purple everything - even the bathroom was purple.

 I started collecting purple fabrics - it was amazing the difference in purples, some had a red tone, some a blue tone and some were hard to describe.

Then cut strips, sew strips, cut strips apart, sew strips together again - into diamond shapes.

And then sewn into the points of the star - I worked on the shading on paper, with scraps of fabrics so I would get the grading of colors that I wanted.

Finally - the whole Lone Star

I have read that when you look at a Lone Star quilt your eyes should be continuously moving - going from color to color, as if the quilt was moving - I think I've done pretty well in capturing that movement.

Center close up .  .  .

A tiny pieced border and some embroidery and YoYo Flowers.  I did the embroidery on my Brother, it has a stitch that looks like hand embroidery - pretty clever, eh?

The whole top - done at last!

Next step - off to the Machine Quilter - Julie in Idaho. These  were well traveled quilts before they were done.  Julie quilts on her home machine, which amazes me.  This is the center of Lori's quilt.

More details of the machine quilting.  .  .

Lots of YoYo Flowers on this quilt .  .  .

Lori on presentation day - with our grandson Ben, sitting behind his auntie in the big giant chair.

You can click HERE to read all about the Lone Star Quilt Project.

And now for the changes coming to my blog.  Since I've stopped quilting I won't be focusing on quilts so much now - though I still have 6 other Lone Star Quilt to show.  I will be focusing more on what is happening in our area - photos of interesting things to see and do in and around Bellingham, WA.  I hope you'll continue to visit - even after the quilt blog posts are finished.  I enjoy having visitors and love the comments.