Five More Years

My husband had his third colonoscopy today. He doesn't have colon cancer but he does have recurring adenomas so this is simply the third in a series.  When the doctor came in to give his report, he said  that because of the three in a row findings, my husband needs to come in every five years until he is 85. I told my husband I didn't plan to live to be 83 so he would have to find a new driver (we actually live a block away so there is no driving) some time soon. I took the current quilt to work on while waiting and received numerous compliments and questions. I am glad that complete strangers find the quilt attractive.

Valedictory Top Completed

I finished adding the border with swag applique today. The quilt is very strong with strong colors and design. Most of the fabrics are from Moda's Lorraine series because the young lady who is the intended recipient speaks fluent French and dreams of Paris. The dark green (which is primarily black) is a Windham Fabric New Colonies reproduction fabric by Nancy Gere. It is not the norm to use a large patterned  background fabric but it suits this quilt. The block where that makes the biggest difference is the laurel wreath with cherries and I inserted reverse applique in the vase handles and in the inked areas. As previously described, the blocks are from a variety of sources but none is as originally drawn in the patterns I have. Each has some element changed to suit my overall scheme. The border, however, is pretty much as drawn by Bonnie Browning in a 1998 book called "Borders & Finishing Touches" though a third smaller than the original. 

  No quilt is without errors but this is nice and square with only one, to me, glaring issue. I have to decide if I will fix it or leave it be. I plan very simple quilting so I expect to be done before the end of August when she goes back to school. NB--I did fix the errant element and I am probably the only person other than my husband who will know which one it is.

Setting Records

After our cold wet spring we are in a period of intense heat, setting records and wilting plants, animals, and people. We have very low humidity here but even dry heat at 97F is hard to deal with.

I sit indoors working on my new project. I have finished setting the blocks together and four of the twelve swag elements on the border. I think I am going to make myself a new kappogi today. My mother-in-law gave me one about thirty years ago (yeah, really) and I have finally geared myself to replace it. I used to make most of my clothes but I do very little clothing sewing so it's good that this is simple with straight seams and no fitting issues.

Valedictory Quilt

The current project is for an event that will take place a little less than a year from now, May of 2017. My young friend who is the proposed recipient has worked hard to get where she is already and eleven months from now a major milestone will pass.

It feels sort of like the old wives' tale of not giving baby gifts prior to the birth but barring an unforeseen calamity this young woman, of very modest immigrant background, with nothing but her own hard work and ability will graduate from Harvard College. There have been bumps in the road and struggles along the way but she deserves every accolade anyone can dream up.

The quilt is far from done but my husband and I, with two of our furry friends, were trying out the material for the sashing. There will be an appliqued swag border as well. In the Baltimore tradition with the hidden language of symbols and inked inscriptions, these four blocks praise her achievement and her good character. The animals approve.

Weather Is Changeable

We have had a cooler and wetter spring though we did have ten days a little while ago where it was nearly 100F and as arid as the Sahara.   A series of cold fronts has been moving through over the last four days and the temperature is back to more normal (78F) but we have had some rain as well which isn't as normal.  Our tomatoes are already setting fruit and our potato plants are growing well.  The peonies are done for the year but the Shasta daisies are just starting and the lavender is full and lush. I ordered over 300 bulbs for planting in the fall. Most are various tulips but I also got some fritillaria meleagris. I had some in my previous yard and found them to be so charming and delightful that I thought I would get more.

New Project

Although I only work on one project at a time, my brain is always planning ahead. Not just in quilting but even in daily life. My husband laughs because I always have a plan, whether it is simply driving to the grocery store or which step to take next. I am not completely rigid and I certainly change direction if the situation changes but working out how I want my day, my trip, my life to move gives me a certain kind of comfort.

It should come as no surprise that I have already started the next quilt project. I am not like most quilters; I cannot move past an uncompleted project. I don't have UFOs lying around. But I am working now on a graduation present for the young woman who is a rising senior at Harvard. I asked her back at winter break what her favorite colors, flowers, etc. were and whether she liked traditional or modern. She has seen me working on a variety of quilts in the seven years we have known each other and she has had two friends at Harvard take the quiltmaking class that is offered in the Folklore and Mythology department so she knows what each question means or implies.

I have nearly finished the first block of a Baltimore album style quilt for her. The basic block ideas come from a variety of sources but I have altered them slightly to fit my plan. All Baltimore album blocks and quilts had at least some small amount of underlying meaning and many of them were given as tributes to the recipients. Sometimes the sentiments were heroic with war monuments and flags, and sometimes the tributes were more subtle. I don't want to burden this young woman with a bed-sized quilt--the chances of her life being on the move in the future after her undergraduate degree are very good--so I am working on a four block format with border and probably sashing. The blocks are big--16 inches square- -and the finished quilt will be approximately a standard crib size. I am using the classic red and green combination but with printed fabrics not solids except for small areas where I am doing a reverse applique circle to accommodate some handwritten inscriptions suitable for a graduation present.

Spring Complete

It turns out there is good news and bad news about the alpaca batting. I am fairly used to batting bearding, especially visible on darker quilts, but this batting sheds like an elk in spring. I tried several different methods to get rid of the longest, most obtrusive fibers, then finally used my cat brush but if you look at the quilt up close the hairiness is very apparent. That's all right (though not welcome) since I don't enter shows or anything.

For some reason, my cat Max likes this quilt best of all the ones I have made in his five years of life. He played under it, he played on top of it, he tried to sit in the hoop as I was quilting. Cats typically like quilts but this was beyond the norm so the label I made features a paper pieced cat in his honor. 


I would like to to thank Barbara Brackman and Ilyse Moore whose design for the Garden Quilt was the primary inspiration. I changed it from a center medallion to a corner focused design and added several other elements while dropping many as well. The original design was very nice but too large and too formal for my interests and I have made so many quilts with grapes that I thought wisteria would be better. I clearly changed the color direction as well from a dark background with pastel flowers to the bright spectrum that I finished with (once again that yellow fling from a while ago). There are numerous other differences but the similarity is still apparent.

The area that looks a little like a fingerprint in the photo above is just a spot that is still damp from getting rid of the blue ink.  Please let me know what you think.

Quilting Finished

I did finish the quilting today but no photos yet. The next decision is whether it's a flange or a cording before the binding. If I worked at fancy finishes, I could probably make them but the finishes are never my best or favorite part.

Update: No flange and no cording. I made some cording but when I began to apply it to the top, I decided it was too sharp a contrast so I am just going to make standard French fold binding in the same yellow as the outside.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

I will finish the quilting on the new project tomorrow. I have about 20 inches left, most is just the echo quilting in the outside yellow section. As anyone who quilts knows, reaching this point is exhilarating and frightening. Luckily, I not only know what my next project is, I discussed it with the recipient. While it is unusual for me to have a recipient, most of my quilts never get seen or touched by anyone but me, I want to make a graduation quilt for the young woman entering her senior year at Harvard. She told me she liked red and green and traditional. Sweet. Baltimore Album here we come. It's funny that two of her suite mates have taken the Folklore and Mythology class during which students make a quilt. When the latest one showed her the final product, she laughed because she has seen me make quilts and her friend's was approximately placemat size.