Going In Another Direction

Well, I decided to do a different quilt for my niece Hannah’s 18th birthday/high school graduation quilt. The one I originally set out to make would have been too big (the one shared in my last blog entry). Plus I was feeling uptight about all the diagonal pieces – wasn’t having much fun because I was worrying about critical eyes judging my handiwork (not Hannah, just others). I really do like the pattern (and Ross does too) so it looks like that one will stay with us.

I think that when you make a quilt for someone else that it should be made with joy and gladness of heart. I love just thinking about the person while I’m putting together a quilt for them – sending good thoughts of peace and comfort and letting the love flow. Since I’d already shown Hannah the fabric (I had her choose the color combination from a couple of choices – Amy Butler’s modern pastels or Kaffe Fassett and Philip Jacobs bold and colorful prints.) Well the deep colors had won out (a girl after my own heart) and so I bought more fabric and put together this very blue, green and purple (with some pink) quilt top. I cut the fabric out last weekend and sewed the top together this weekend. It’s quite a busy quilt with so many patterns yet I’m hoping that a certain young and talented girl will appreciate it.

Hannah is hoping to go to Culinary School in the Fall. In addition to studying the culinary arts she is also planning to study Textiles. It’s been a windy weekend and the rain started a few hours ago so it’s been easy to stay inside and sew. I still have a couple of months to get the quilting finished.

Yesterday was kind of a funny day, I found myself drawn to the color pink and only realized later that maybe it’s because I’ve had all this blue and purple around me lately. It started with a morning online order with Jackson and Perkins for some bare root roses – one side of the front yard I want to landscape with soft colors – pinks and lavenders. More about garden plans in my other blog “The Making Of A Garden”. After ordering a bunch of pink rose bushes I went up to the Auburn Quilt Show and proceeded to buy a bunch of pink fabric pieces at their “Country Store”. These are a few of my favorite swatches . . .