"Chain Link" - Noah's Quilt

Last winter I participated in another sew-along with my online quilty friends.  This time we used the "Chain Link" pattern by Generations Quilt patterns.   You can find a free tutorial here.  

I pulled a bright green and a bright yellow from my stash and a dark gray for the background.

I cut out the whole quilt, but after I made just one block I realized I did not like that gray.   Back to the stash!

I found just the right thing.  Dark green on an even darker green.  Perfect!

This quilt was for our grandson, Noah.  It was a "Happy Graduation from Trade School" present.  We are so very proud of him.  I would go so far as to say he is probably the best welder in the world!  Well, I am a proud Gramma, after all. 

I barely took any pics of the process, but photos of the finished quilt are better anyway.

Oops.  Ignore the red ribbon in that photo.  The hummingbird swing got in the way  Too bad it wasn't occupied!

Of course, the very best photos are the ones with Noah in them!

He loves the quilt, and we love him, and you gotta love that smile!

GROW YOUR BLOG

This is my introduction for the "Grow Your Blog" 2015 Party. 

I grew up in a quilting household.  There was always a quilt in the frame in my house.  My mom's parents were both quilters.  My Gramma quilted with the church ladies at Zion Lutheran Church in St. Louis, MO regularly.  This is a photo taken of that group of ladies around 1960.   Gramma is second from the left.  

  
I don't have any photos of my Grampa actually quilting, but this is one of the quilts (in the Hearts and Gizzards pattern) which he hand-pieced and left for me to finish.  It was the first time I ever hand-quilted something.  I put it into my hope chest and used it for both of my babies.  They were boys, but the color didn't matter to me because it was so special to have it.

This is my mother with one of the baby quilts she was famous for making.  She made many quilts during her lifetime so this picture is special to me, as it is the only quilty picture I have of her.

And this is me!  I'm Sandy.   

I grew up in St. Louis with my seven siblings and lived there, with the exception of a few short years, my entire life until moving to Huntsville, AL to be closer to our grandchildren.  I home-schooled my two sons, Adam and Aaron from baby through high school and then continued being a stay-at-home mom.  I have been married to Hubby, Philip, for almost 40 years.  I am Gramma to Noah, Gavin, and Aidan and MIL to Brandy.  

Besides quilting and spending time with the grands I love to read, knit, and play around with photography.  

Quilting has become my real passion.  Every quilt I make is special, and I hope they bring joy to the people who receive them.  I wish I had time to make a quilt for every single family member and dear friend in my life.  And I often think about how proud of me my mother and my grand-parents would be, if only they could see the quilts I make and how much I enjoy making them.

A big "Thank You" to Vicki at 2 Bags Full for organizing the Grow Your Blog Party.  I hope you will check out her blog as well as some of the other bloggers participating.

Noah's Quilt - A Late Finish

I had set finishing Noah's quilt as my July goal.  It was a lot to accomplish in one month even if we would have been home the entire 31 days!  We were gone for a week, but I still managed to get the borders on it, baste it, quilt it, and bind it.  I finished it about 20 hours after the deadline. 

I machine quilted this one.  Using two different threads and two different patterns.  It was worth having to tie off all those threads because I think it turned out great.

I like the pattern......

......and I love the pieced back.  The lacrosse fabric is pretty cool, plus I used up the leftover navy from the front and some blue from my stash.

I slept under it (tradition!), washed and dried it, photographed it, and then forgot about getting it to my grandson for a couple of weeks.  Ooops!

The main thing is that Noah is happy with it.  

I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy it for a long time.

July Goal for "A Lovely Year of Finishes"

Setting a goal at all for July is kind of scary since I will be out of town for about half of the month.  I've been really motivated lately so I'm going for it!

My grandson, Noah, is ready for a new quilt.  I asked him what kind of quilt he wants (Never do that!  Just ask what color they like!) and he said he wants a lacrosse quilt.  I thought, "Oh no, where will I find lacrosse fabric?"  Then he added the fact that he also likes the University of North Carolina.  Yikes!

Well, Quiltshops.com to the rescue once again!  First, I found these cool prints from the "Sew Sporty" collection by Dan Morris for RJR Rabrics. 

Then I ordered some of this Officially Licensed Collegiate Print.

Figuring out how to use these prints together was the next bridge to cross, so I just started doodling.  I have no idea if I saw this idea somewhere or if it's out of my own head, but I decided it would work.  I thought that adding this black-on-navy print would work well.  It's "Nature's Basket" from Moda.  The other fabric will be used for the backing.

I got one block made and everything else cut out to take to retreat with me.

I wasn't really loving the fabrics together in the block, but the more blocks I made and laid out on the floor, the more I liked it.  Once they were all stitched together I decided it actually looks pretty cool.  I love the way the blocks seem to float on the quilt top.  Now it needs a dark border and it will be ready to baste.   

So, as far as goals for July go ........ I would really like to get the final border on, baste it, quilt it, and put on the binding.  In other words -- finish Noah's quilt. 

Wish me luck!! 

I am linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes Goal Setting Party for July at Fiber of All Sorts.  

I am so embarrassed!

I keep track of all my quilts and quilted projects on an Excel spreadsheet, and I just took a look at my totals for 2012.  Hmmm, something has happened to my momentum!  

In 2008 I completed twenty-eight quilts, nineteen of which were for charity.   This stack and slash quilt was made and hand-quilted for baby Seth....

....and I made this quilted stocking for our grandson, Aidan.

In 2009 I completed eighteen quilts. Two of my favorites are this "Wacky Blues"  quilt I made and hand-quilted for our great-nephew Phenyx....

....and this quilt I made for our grandson Noah's bed using a Hockey print for the focus fabric and red, white and blue alternate blocks. 

In 2010 I completed fifteen quilts.  One was a Black & White & Bright baby quilt for a friend's new baby, Max....

....and one was a little quilt for Noah's stuffed monkey, made out of the leftovers from his quilt. 

Then in 2011 I completed twenty quilts.  The only one I haven't blogged about in a previous post is the baby quilt I made for our great-nephew Christopher.  I used some blue strips I found in my sewing room and pieced them with white squares, similar to the Allegro pattern by Terry Atkinson, then hand-quilted it.  

That brings us to 2012, which will be ending in one more day.  That is not much time to bump up my totals, so I will admit that I only completed seven (yes, seven) quilts this year.  That includes not one single UFO.  ((sigh))  And I even blogged about all of them so there isn't anything else to add.  Except maybe one of the reasons.   Better make that THREE of the reasons.

A Happy Christmas!

Christmas this year has been a little different.  I wanted to stay ahead of the Fibromyalgia Monster so I decided to not decorate the house.  Surprisingly, I didn't even feel guilty about it.  In order to keep this post in the holiday spirit I will share with you a picture of our tree from last year!

It's a little out of the ordinary too, I know, but I kinda like to fit life into my own mold!

We celebrated Christmas at Adam and Brandy's house a few days early and had a wonderful time.  The food was delicious, the company delightful, and the grands were really excited about their gifts.  

Technology ruled the day.  Noah loved his super-duper headphones....

.....and Gavin and Aidan were surprised with their iPad mini's.  

Six and a half year old Aidan exclaimed, "You have GOT to be kidding me!" when he realized what it was.  By the end of the evening he was snapping pics with it and emailing them to us!  I woke up the next morning to a text message from him asking me if I wanted to Face Time with him!  

We got to open presents, too!  

This iArm that Adam and Brandy gave to Hubby was the best present of the day!  Too funny!!

Even though this Christmas was unlike other years, the best part of it was unchanged -- focusing on and spending time with people we love.

Normally I don't make any gifts for Christmas.  I find it much too stressful.  Besides that, when I do make a gift for someone, I just can't wait that long to give it to them!  This year I did make several things (probably because I saved so much time by not decorating!)  I'll show you those next time.  In the meantime, if you want to see the rest of our Christmas photos you can find them here on my Flickr page.

Playing Catch Up

One would think that I went from losing my sewing mojo to losing my blogging mojo.  Not so.  "Life is real" as they say, and lately it has been incredibly busy.  I've had more than one reason to be so far behind in my blogging.  I apologize to my tens of followers!  

The grands have kept me busy for sure.  I cannot complain about that, though, because I love it!  I have been baking and cooking with Gavin...


...doing all kinds of fun things with Aidan...

...going to Noah's Cross Country meets...

...and planning a week-end-long celebration of Hubby's 60th Birthday!

(And in case you are wondering, yes, he is older than I am!)









I just finished a wool scarf for a soldier in Afghanistan, a group project that my Tuesday Night Knitting Group is working on.

I have also been very involved in the Newcomers Club of Greater Huntsville where I joined a Book Club, Learned to Play Euchre and all kinds of other fun things.  I'm making new friends through this group and Huntsville is feeling more like "home" every day.

Since the last time I blogged I also spent the better part of a week in bed with bad allergies, kept Gavin and Aidan while their daddy was out of town, and spent two weeks without my computer when it was at the Apple Store being repaired.  (See?  I really do have good excuses. Ummm, I mean reasons!)

I have managed to throw together a quilt from leftover Yellow Brick Road blocks and hand-quilt it.

I think it's the perfect quilt for my newest great-nephew, Noah!

This week I finished up five more pillowcases for Children's Hospital in St. Louis and I am right on track to meet my goal of fifty by next June!

This is what fifteen pillowcases looks like!

Last but not least, the 9th Annual Wagener Sisters Get-a-way was last weekend.  But that is a subject for a whole 'nuther post!