Belated Mother's Day

Happy Belated Mother's Day to my Mom #2, a very wonderful sweet woman who takes delight in the wonders around her. She's always happy, upbeat and so excited to see snow on top of the mountain, a flower budding in the yard and the hummingbirds at the feeder... A true joy to be around.

I made this little quilt for her a few years back. She's a shell fiend, so I designed the quilt with this border fabric in mind.

This was just a quick project. I know it's freehand fan quilted, but I think I used 3-strands of embroidery floss to get the color I wanted. Pretty sure I didn't have the perle cotton in that color. I actually love the "m" in my, how it wobbles to one side. I'm pretty sure that was a happy accident rather than deliberately done, since I can't figure out how I would have done it on purpose.

Meanwhile, I've gotten the blocks pieced together. They vary in size - measuring up to 5.25" (across or down) and think the narrowest is about an inch less. I think one block is a square and the rest are all manner of rectangles. I did make some of these a wee bit smaller, taking a quarter inch off here and there.

My plan is to put oversized sashing on them and then cut all the blocks down to a consistent size. I know and love how that looks, but have to admit I've never seen it done with cornerstones. Gonna try it with a few blocks and if I hate it, I'll drop the cornerstones out.

Another option at this point (the option I'm not planning on taking) would be to make each of the blocks the same size now. I could add strips to the extra small squares and whack off bits of the biggers ones. Well, I'm going to add a bit of fabric to 4 different blocks, but that's it. Maybe.

Lily, if you are interested in doing this, please email me (the addy is in my profile). I'll talk you through it. You can be my test subject (mwa ha ha ha) to see if any of this work is appropriate for beginners. Of course it might drive you away from patchwork forever. As far as I can see, it's all doable, so long as you get at least a quarter inch seam allowance (too small and the project might come apart). And use pins. I hate to say that last bit cuz I've fought against pinning for ages, but it does actually help since at least my machine just doesn't feed evenly.

I've had a good time looking at what some of ya'all are doing with the letters. Joyce finished her house and words quilt (great purple background and machine quilted names) and I love the teapot quilt she's working on right now. Forest Jane is working on a patriotic quilt and asking about her letters not being consistently sized. I personally LIKE all the letters ending up different. It's folk art. To try and do otherwise would just make my brain hurt too much.

Lois has her liberated house lap quilt together (I'm still in love with the colors and fabrics) and check out her birthday banner (I love the D). Last but not least, Karen made a Quiltville Random Ohio Stars quilt, using photo transfers and the letters.

My sweetie and I watched a Wallace and Gromit short over the weekend - A Grand Day Out. I love it like crazy. It's their earliest adventure and the technique is wobbly here and there, but the storyline is so sweet and so very very English. The duo have run out of cheese, so decide to build a rocket ship to go to the moon, which everyone knows is made of cheese.