to my Friend Susan
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SUSAN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
you really don't want me to phone and
sing it to you.
I've been sewing this,
that (these are the niftiest things I've ever made)
and the next thing lately trying to get ready for a workshop at the end of March.
Karl is going into the hospital on the 24th for his 4th hip replacement so I want to get as far ahead as I can. I know that week is going to be hectic and not much will get done. The Wednesday will be a total loss. I won't function well that day at all. I should invite a crowd in for tea so I don't have time to think. Don't think they would like my company that day.
Before the workshop happens, I am one of the stations at our annual walkabout at Guild. That means all that has to be finished too. (I can't say what I'm doing cause its a surprise until that night.) I started to machine quilt last Saturday and got some done, but when it came time to do the free motion, I couldn't see the lines I had just put on the quilt top that I wanted to follow. It happened to me twice. On Sunday I gave it another go. I used a different method. (Don't panic, this is not what I'm doing for the station at Guild.)
My "quilt-let" is from a line of fabrics from Connecting Threads called Jacobean Garden. I want to follow that theme through from the fabric, to the quilting to the label. I wasn't sure how I wanted to quilt it, so I threw it over the back of the sofa and looked at it for an entire evening. Then the light bulb came on. Stitch in the ditch and then in each block do something.What was the something going to be? I googled Jacobean designs and found these. Now of course, another dilemma. Which one to choose? I picked two! One was a flower and the other a leaf. I scaled them to the proper size using Microsoft word -- I find it better than my printer's scaling -- and once it was run off I cut out a bunch of flowers (in this case) onto freezer paper. Then I pressed the pieces of paper onto each block.
Once that was done I machine quilted the centre and then all around the perimeter of the flower. I did both the printed and the blue blocks with this motif. I'm now working on the borders. I ran out of bobbin thread last night and decided to take a break. Two of the shows I like to watch were on so I sat there like a lump and just vegged out. It felt good!
This is how it looks so far. I have the larger blocks done and all the blues. 
I thought you might like to see the full quilt-let! I designed this using EQ..........well, not this one exactly. This is a small version of what I designed. I made this one to see if what I want to make is easy. You know how much I like easy. It went together very quickly so when my fabric gets here from Hancocks I'll be able to start on the large version. Its a queen size and an anniversary gift for my son and daughter-in-law. 20 years this June! Don't know where those years went. Anyway, here is a sneak peak at their quilt. They know about it. They helped design it!
I guess you can tell this was written awhile ago and then forgotten when things got hectic around here. I found this post while browsing this morning, so thought I would publish it for you all to read before its well passed its prime.