one down, two to go!

The first one has all the borders on! It fought me about the last border. I originally bought a really nice Jenny Byer border print. Hated it. So then I pulled a really nice dark purple with a gold wave design overprinted. That one was only marginally okay. So I pulled at least three other prints out of my stash, no, no and no. Then I went to a quilt store 130 miles away and found a tan batik with a stylized shell design. It was better than anything else I had so I got enough to do borders. On the way there I realized that I'd be going past a really good size quilt store the next day so I took the wall hanging with me and found a great fabric for the border. I also decided to put the poly in the cornerstones since it pushes the border fabric to the lighter side and since it's a memorial to the bridesmaid dress it needed more of the fabric from the dress.

a graduate

I'm pretty sure I'm not actually old enough to have a granddaughter graduating from high school but there you are. It wasn't all that long ago I posted a photo of her first car.

I'm so excited!!

I get to have Margaret Gunn quilt my "My Secret Garden" quilt!!! Her web site is http://www.mainelyquiltsoflove.com/main/. She's also on my blog list as "Sewing and quilting Gallery." I'm putting the quilt in the mail tomorrow!

beginnings of a memorial

(Just laid out so you can see the beginnings. The quarter square triangles are the only parts that are done.)

This is the beginnings of a "Memorial to a Bridesmaid Dress" The dress is the solid green on the outside of the seashell print. The fabric in the center is a really lovely silk I found that's very close to the color of the bridesmaid dress one of my sister in laws wore. The green is the dress I and my other sister in law wore.

To say we weren't exactly happy about the whole thing is somewhat of an understatement. MIL decided to do a 50th anniversary vow renewal with the full gown, tux, bridesmaid, and groomsmen attire for every one. Then she picked not exactly flattering dresses for the three of us. We're not exactly ... how shall we say... spring chicks anymore. And two of us aren't exactly skinny anymore either. There were several other issues involved that we'll just ignore.

I threatened, after it was over, to turn my dress into memorial pillows. The dress got shoved in the closet after we got home and mostly ignored. Then a couple of weeks before I went to the quilt show I bought the newest issue of "Quilter's World." In it is a pattern for a wall hanging called "Summer Shimmer." It is totally perfect for "Memorial to a Bridesmaid Dress"!!

I'm going to have to get that fancy new steam iron out and steam that poly into submission though. It doesn't want to iron into nice creases.

My Secret Garden

It's together!! I love how it turned out. I'll be looking forward to getting it quilted now.

hollyhock block

I love how this block turned out. It's from the "My Secret Garden" quilt. I only work on it when I take my old machine to the lock-ins. I have two more blocks to make and then it'll be ready to put together and add borders! One of the last blocks is an appliqued vine and it has to have a template for placement so I'll get that one ready here at home. The other block is just a pieced block.

quilt show haul

I got a few things when I went to the quilt show in Denver this last weekend. The thread was a fortune all by itself!! The iron is a Euro Steam Evolution. I have all of the fabrics to make the "Bride's maid memorial" wall hangings now. I need to finish the pink/yellow/orange quilt first though.