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Jake's Quilt

  I have finally completed a quilt for the son of very close friends. His sister has had one for two years, and I felt bad for not making something for him, too. He plays soccer and baseball, hence the sports theme of this quilt.
  Sewing for older boys can be tricky. My goal is to make something that is interesting but not too pretty.
  This quilt measures approximately 65 x 84.

  Just for fun, here is the one I made for his sister. I love this pattern, the Giant Vintage Star Quilt Tutorial, from In Color Order . Simple to make, with striking results. Approx. 64 x 64. I used the same tutorial to make the Smith College quilt that I blogged about previously.

I'm back to work on my ticker tape quilt, as seen in Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison. (Amanda blogs at Crazy Mom Quilts)

Here is a picture of  a mini version of her finished ticker tape quilt:

She suggests making this quilt approx 33 x 45 (baby quilt size.) Of course, I wanted something more the size of a cozy blanket for the couch, so I made mine larger, approx 60 x 72. Big mistake!
Here is a picture of my ticker tape quilt in progress...

I grossly underestimated how long it would take to sew on each little square or rectangle. The smallest pieces are about 1 inch square, and the largest are about 2" x 2". I love the effect, but just yesterday I spent 3 hours working on this while binge-watching the new season of "Scandal" and the area I filled in measures about 12" x 24" !

I guess I will just try to give it an hour a day....I would like to finish this before I move on to something else!

Gifts for two new college freshman.....

A girl at Smith College,

...and a boy at University of Kansas.

Both quilts went to California kids now living in places that get much colder than Southern CA ever does, so I hope these quilts will keep them cozy!

Finished swoon! I started this post in February, and I am finishing it now, at last. All fabrics are Denyse Schmidt except for the solid light gray background.

    Well, I guess blogging is something at which I will have to work a bit harder....I started out in January with the best of intentions, and here it is October and I have not written a thing here for 9 months!! Time does seem to fly by, and my 3 teens have kept me very busy. Two out of three are now in college (one locally, one in Europe!) For today, I will just post a quilt I made recently for a very good friend, just because I thought she would like one. She was surprised (and delighted, I think.)

  

    She likes pink, so it has a lot of pink going on. It fluffed up nicely after being washed and dried, as you can see in the above photo.  It was fun to make and fun to give.

    The yellow domino fabric and the pink with trees are both from Waterfront Park by Violet Craft. The pink squiggle stripe is Lotta Jansdotter Lena in Azalea. 

    Have a great week. Mine is off to a good start--I blogged for the first time in 9 months!

Adell Fink 1938-2013

My mother-in-law Adell Fink passed away this morning at 75 from complications of Alzheimer's Disease.

Her life over the past 3 years, and especially over the past 6 months, has been less than happy as she slowly lost her ability to enjoy the things she used to love. She was feisty and independent and sometimes a little crazy. She was difficult at times and incredibly generous at others. She tried hard, but undiagnosed mental illness made life difficult for her at times.

Today I remember her for taking me to the Bullocks Wilshire tearoom for lunch when I was in my early 20's before I married her son. She and her daughter didn't always get along easily, and she wanted a daughter to hang out with, I think. She and I had our ups and downs too, but as her dementia progressed, I only felt caring and love toward her and that she was like a child who needed help and understanding, and any difficulties that had come before disappeared. Scott and I tried to do right by her to the best of our abilities, though she was not always cooperative. I learned a lot about patience and understanding.

She loved shopping, Louis Vuitton handbags, travel, Jeopardy!, movies, art, theater and opera, her grandchildren, the color red. She was a member of Sisterhood at her temple and very involved in many temple activities. She loved makeup, too, and one of my daughters has inherited this trait!

She cooked huge holiday meals at Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover, making huge pots of chicken soup with matzo balls and her famous brisket. She was said to make the best chopped liver around, but I never tasted it since I don't like liver.

We have been mourning her for so long, watching her gradual deterioration. I hope she is with her mom, Betty, and her dog, also Betty, and has found a peaceful place to rest after her long journey through her turbulent life.

Rest in peace, Adell.

Quilting the swoon, at last!

Quilting with my new JUKI 2010Q. Quilting the Swoon while learning this new machine was a good idea, but my stitches are less than perfect. I hope once this is washed and fluffed up that the overall effect will still be beautiful! All fabrics in this quilt (front and back) are Denyse Schmidt prints from her collections for JoAnn's.

I finally opened my new Juki2010q on Monday, and actually practiced sewing with it yesterday! It sews beautiful, smooth, straight lines, and I just have a couple of questions for the people at Baron's about the tension and the walking foot. Then, I can start to quilt this!....

It's my swoon quilt! I can't believe the top is done. I hope to get the quilting done this week and work on the binding over the weekend.

Jan 5, 2013
Well, I am 5 days late in starting on this resolution, but late by 5 is better than late by 365! I need a place to record my thoughts and keep track of my projects, so I am starting a blog. I hope to post pictures of my cooking and sewing endeavors and to record the goings-on of my household with 3 teens, 1 husband, and 1 dog.