Whimsy Finished!

So excited I'm ahead of schedule for this quilt!

March: choosing pattern and fabrics, ordering pattern and ruler

 

 

CHECK!

 

April: cutting fabrics according to pattern, piecing arcs

 

 

 

CHECK!

 

May: piecing blocks and sewing finished blocks together

 

 

 

 

CHECK!

 

June: find backing material and quilt

 

 

0.5 CHECK!

 

Here is the chosen backing fabric.  One of my all time favorite, soft, silky smooth vintage sheets.  Hoarded for a long time now and just waiting for the perfect purpose.

The bride-to-be has seen it, petted it and approved!

 

I finished up the top on Friday and we had a chance to take pictures before Rebecca drove home to stay before the wedding.  She made a short trip up here for Chris's graduation (more about that later), but we won't see her again until she and Jon get their first apartment keys and start moving things in.

 

 

This has been such a fun top to put together! 

Patterns usually scare me to death!  I'm so afraid I will make a mistake and ruin all the lovely

 (and expensive) fabric I've chosen for a quilt.

Using the ruler, this one was a breeze!

I will be making another one, only larger I think, for hubsmuffin and me.

 

The first weekend in May, we were proud to attend Jon and Rebecca's university graduation.

 

 

This weekend, we were honored to personally hand Chris, as his father and mother,  his high school diploma!

 

 

We made the carefully considered decision to bring him home to educate at the end of his sixth grade year from a small, private, Christian school.

It was one of the best things we've ever done!

We loved it so much, we brought youngest brother, Ben, home to educate 7-12th grade also.

Educating our children in the home has given us some incredible opportunities and unique experiences (our co-op helped put a science experiment into space on the last shuttle mission!) we wouldn't have had at our old school.  Friends who have become family. 

Our oldest, Jon (who graduated from the Christian school) is hoping to talk Rebecca into homeschooling when it comes time for them to think about this.

I think that is an awesome testament to how much we have been blessed to be able to do this and the impact it makes on families and communities they live in.

 

I leave you this week with a thankful and full-to-bursting heart!  Thanks for letting me share here and for all the happy encouragement and inspiration I get from reading your comments and blogs!

 

Linking up with

i have to say

quilt story

freshly pieced

my quilt infatuation

and

crazy mom quilts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Metro Rings!

Well!

It's been a busy spring!

 

But right to it, eh!

Our oldest son is getting married in June and I wanted to make the lovely couple a quilt.

They chose the Double Wedding Ring pattern.

 

 

This is Jenny Pedigo's fresh, fabulous and fun pattern for this traditional favorite.

It requires a special ruler she designed, the Quick Curve Ruler.

 

 

Which got laid on my sewing chair during cutting and then sat on...promptly snapping 3 & 1/2" from the bottom.  Crushed!  At first.  I was having difficulty adapting to getting my rotary cutter in the curve for cutting.  It felt very awkward and I was not liking it at all.

Well.  I don't have that problem anymore after the "snap".  It broke in just the right spot taking the top with it...leaving the curve cutting guide open.

 

I chose a Kaffe Fassett collection for the rings and went to work piecing the "arcs" in greens and blues.

 

 

The pattern calls for forty-eight green "arcs" and the same number of blue ones.  I can't help but think of melons.

 

 

Here are two of the "arcs" with the background fabric I finally settled on.  Originally, I had picked out a dark, charcoal, Kona gray...it made the colors really pop! but it was dark and heavy.

I found this aqua polka dot at Joann's and fell in love.  The couple will be going to Sanibel Island in Florida for their honeymoon, and I wanted something very tropical to help keep the memories they make there alive on the bleakest of our Indiana winter days!

 

 

Saturday, I started sewing the setting blocks on and yesterday began squaring them up.

"Inside giggles and smiles"

I want to keep this quilt for myself!

 

 

Over at ginabean quilts you can see a gorgeous Metro Rings also using a polka dot for the background...excited and inspired by the way this one turned out!

 

Some huge finishes at our house.

 

 

Congratulations to our son Jon for graduating with honors from Ball State University!  So proud of all he has accomplished and thankful he graduated debt free in four years!  He held down part time jobs and one of them had partial tuition reimbursement.  He'll be continuing his studies in Accounting in grad school.  I'm so excited as the wedding gets closer for him and his sweetheart! 

 

 

And this cutie pie is graduating this weekend!  Six years of homeschooling finished.  One semester of college classes already under his belt when he starts Ball State in the fall.  We were so excited when after six months of searching for a part time job...in a college town...in a tough teen job market...Chris landed a job at a local farm supply store.  He started out as a loader and was asked by a department head to come work for him in his department.  His career path will lead to him helping rehabilitate returning veterans.

 

 

And Ben.  Who is also homeschooled and is really only an 8th grader, but finishing up most of his 9th grade year with some of his 10th grade classes already on his transcript.  We're transitioning to just the two of us at home now with big brothers flying the nest.  He is a smart and caring kid who is always looking for fun and ways to help.

God is good!

 

Linking up with

i have to say

quilt story

freshly pieced

my quilt infatuation

crazy mom quilts

and

sew many ways

 

Happy sewing!