Dee's Doodles: April 2015

Monday, April 20, 2015

A long time ago...

in a galaxy far, far away I bought a quilt pattern at Joann's.

This was one of the first quilts I pieced in this house. Almost eleven years ago.

(shaking my head)

I wasn't new to making quilts, but wasn't much for reading and following patterns. This one looked pretty straight forward. No curves. Easy math. I had a lot of fun finding fabrics and learned a lot making this top! I loved how soft and cottagey it looked when I finished it.

Well, I got the top made and then moved on to much more interesting blocks and patterns I saw on quilting blogs, flickr and then Pinterest.

It was a classic case of QADD.

(Quilter's ADD)

Remember me mentioning spring cleaning my sewing stuff? I found this top and decided it needed to come away from the dark side and get finished. I had chosen soft, cottage style prints and colors. Some of my first purchases from "real" quilt stores are in here. A lot of my favorite cabbage rose prints.

Beautifully vibrant blues. Soft as rainfall blues. Sweet lilac colored purples and tickle your toes pinks. Warm, happy, sunshiney and buttery yellows. Spring greens.

Can you tell I fell in love with this quilt again?

The original pattern had the blocks made from complimentary fabrics scattered throughout the top, but I remember not liking that look and deciding to keep the them together. This created a "four square" pattern. I bought some cotton batting and backed the whimsy with an old, soft sheet I had in my vintage linens collection.

Straight-line, echo quilting around the inner boxes and fmq-ing the rest. While I was decluttering and cleaning, I found a white fabric with small white leaves to use for the binding.

This quilt is heavy! I wanted to take another picture in the sunshine this morning, but someone was still snuggled up under it in their bed. Just didn't have the heart to wake him up.

Good thing this finished out somewhere between a twin and full size quilt!

Next WIP to work with is this strip of scrappy, mini-Swoon blocks I pieced in the fall of 2011. This was before the pattern for a smaller block had come out and I just improvised on the measurements.

These finished out at around 11" sq.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers for us! My mom reads every comment on this blog. We really appreciate you. My dad, sister and I are tag teaming on doctor visits and radiation treatments. Knowing we are covered in prayer is a comfort and encouragement!

For some encouragement to be creative, persistent and just sew...

Monday, April 13, 2015

My Soul Is Fed...

with needle and thread.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for my mom.

Every day she has radiation, she is fitted with a mask almost exactly like this and bolted to the table under the radiation machine. The mask was made of moldable plastic and formed to her skull and shoulders.

I have to tell you how stunned I was when I saw them pull her mask out of the cupboard and then watched them put her on the table and tighten the bolts.

She is my hero!

Last week for therapy, I gathered up some of my favorite blue scraps. I'm currently in the process of changing all of our 18 year old, seen two houses décor for the living room into coastal shades of blue, green and tan with splashes of beach finds here and there.

Pinterest Board

So many of our happiest memories as a family are at the beach. I wanted to capture some of those feelings and remembrances and bring them into our daily lives.

I have always liked the look of this Stacked Blocked pattern and decided to make a new coffee table topper to help make the room feel more "beachey".

Pretty straight forward stitching. Using some white scraps, I just started cutting the blues into different lengths, none larger than about 7" and attached white strips to each side.

On the machine for some FMQing and....

here it is! Finished and already brightening the room! Love! Love! Love!

I used an oceany blue fabric from Joann's for backing and some of Kaffe Fassett's stripes in luscious blues for the binding.

Here are some other projects I've crocheted and sewn to help redo the room:

Removing border and repainting comes next. I'm waiting for warmer weather so I can have windows open while I paint since the smell seems to linger a long time in this house.

In the meantime, I'm still making Granny Square blocks and

putting together Churn Dash blocks for a second quilt for the bunk beds in Ben's room.

Sewing is such a peaceful, creative process for me. I've learned I like the puttering and putzing of making a quilt more than the idea of setting out to make a quilt and finishing it asap.

Choosing fabrics, appreciating the colors and feel. The tactile pleasure of measuring and cutting. Contemplating where a block might go in the overall pattern. Pressing.

It centers me. Calms my fearful thoughts and worriful murmurings.

Hope you get a chance to sew some this week.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Catching Up

March was a difficult month. 'Nuff said.

So I was really happy when the weather started turning and Resurrection Sunday was just beautiful!

This time two years ago, Jon had proposed to Rebecca. They will be celebrating their one year anniversary in June. They are both in grad school with exciting jobs this summer. Chris is finishing up his freshman year. It's been a good year for him. Lots of growth. Ben has experienced a lot of new adventures this year, including flying an airplane, and we are so thankful for our kids!

This makes me happy too! Really pleased with the way the circle quilting turned out.

My spring table topper has me smiling every time I see it. It finished out at 24" x 20". I used one of my favorite stripey fabrics in rainbow colors for the binding.

So glad to have been able to save these beautifully stitched vintage posies and repurpose them into everyday use!

I also got to work on a "bouquet" of flowers for my mom. I can't take her real ones because she doesn't do well with strong smells. Perfumes. Potpourri. Flowers. Lotions. She just finished taking an oral chemo pill for the last three weeks and will start radiation tomorrow. She is such a trooper! I wanted to give her something bright and cheerful.

I used another hand stitched, vintage piece salvaged from the cutter bin at a thrift store, some Heather Bailey charm squares and anonymous scraps. So much fun working with these bright, sweet colors!

This will be a door hanging for their living room.

Come check out these incredibly inspiring blogs and get your sewing on!

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