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Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Back from Vacation

Well it was sort of a vacation, since there was the concierge level at the hotel! 

The Maus and her spouse, Bubba, drove down to Fort Lauderdale to check in on Uncle Frank who is a resident in the Alzheimer's wing of the Sandy Ninninger State Veteran's home.   Uncle Frank is part of our greatest generation and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. 

Uncle Frank and Gerti Meck, a friend from the 796th Military Police Battalion Association, are my inspiration for participating in the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI); click on the badge over to the right for the link and perhaps the Spirit will move you to bid on a small art quilt to help this worthy cause.

Here are three of my February art quilts which are almost ready for submission to AAQI.

Sunset Star
from "Indian Summer" pattern at Piece By Number

Sunset Star - back of quilt
 shows AAQI "Fast Finish Triangles" as preferred sleeving method so the quilts can be easily displayed
 


As you can see from the photo below, I initially planned using a nice soft blue as the background. 
 
Of course, I cut the pieces way too small....so I opted for a black background and I'm really happy with the result.   The yellows and oranges just pop.  The hand sewn binding was finally done.
 
 
 
 
My second quilt is just a scrap-happy-crazy homage to music.  The backing, sleeve triangles and the binding will be the white with black musical notes print.
 

 
 
My third AAQI quilt is another paper pieced design from Piece By Number, called the  Eternity Knot.  For those of you who are interested in great [and many free] foundation paper piecing patterns, here is Beth's link:  Piece By Number.   

Again, I went right for a black background so the design would stand out.   


 
I didn't want a lot of quilting to disrupt the design, so I did a little stitch in the ditch around the outside edge of the design and then five rows of straight stitching at the beginning of each corner area to frame the knot.    


My goal is to complete four or five art quilts a month between February and July.    I'll post photos of the finished quilts before registering and sending them off to AAQI for auction.


Anyway, back to the vacation....Uncle Frank is doing well and we plan to return for his 90th Birthday in August.

Being on the road doesn't necessarily work for me when I need to be in the Maus Haus to finish up my quilting works-in-progress, so I took the opportunity presented by a five hour car trip south, to get out the knitting and crochet.   

I teach knitting and crochet at a local craft store and during our January open house, a customer asked if I could teach her to crochet doilies.  So, Ash signed up for the beginning crochet class and I promised her I would get some basic doily patterns we could work on during class.  Granny Squares and Doilies (Oh my!) are not my cup of tea when it comes to crochet, but I have to give the customers what they want and tailor the classes to what the students want to make.    

I clicked on my usual freebie websites and found a nice pattern for Ash.  Here's the link for the pattern:  Favecrafts Crochet Doily and here's my car trip version and actually, drum roll please, my very first doily ever....



Sunset Star Quilt is 8.75" square and you can see the size of the doily 

 Lily's Sugar 'n Cream Twist cotton and used size 2 hook.  


Quilt-a-long updates:

Here's the February block, for the Lucky Stars BOM with don't call me betsy.    I whipped this one up as soon as we got home but used a turquoise and gray color palette since that was my block donation commitment for the local Jacksonville Modern Quilt Guild February meeting next week.




I'll have to make another of these blocks later in the month using my Lucky Stars color palette, otherwise that eventual quilt will be all over the place.

And here's my block for this week's Patchwork Posse and the Sewing Loft quilt-a-long:

Block #4 Paper piecing



So that's all I've been up to, plus finishing up the projects for Francesca's baby shower this Saturday....photos to come later.

Hope to see you soon,

Maus out.


2 comments:

  1. Hi Yvonne. Found you through Lily's Quilts. Your Sunset Star art quilt is just beautiful! And your doily is awesome. You would never guess it was your first.
    I am doing the Lucky Star BOM too (although I haven't actually made either of the blocks yet- whoops) and yours look great. Look forward to seeing more.

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    1. Thank you so much Gillian. I am new to blogging and thought it would be a great way to document my creative side. I do hope you'll check back a little later on when I have more time to post a few more completed projects. Looking forward to seeing your Lucky Stars BOM blocks.

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