Lordy, The Thing One Finds When Deep Cleaning

It is almost Christmas, and I'm in a frenzy.  Magic Man's family is coming HERE for the holidays.  I'm excited to be hosting, but what were we thinking?!?!

MIL is a terrific housekeeper.  Me?  Not so much.  I maintain a little dust and chaos is healthy for a home.  But push aside my beliefs, I want MIL to be comfortable.  So along with freezer food preparations, scrubbed floors and bathrooms - and I do mean scrubbed, there's washing sheets, rearranging the guest bedroom to open trundle for Magic Man and me.  (Can't let MIL and FIL sleep in those uncomfortable beds), decorating the house AND the Magic Shop Party Room, where the festivities will be held.  Home was a cheap hotel.  Food to be served at the Party Room where the rest of the family would camp.

All of this nonsense to let you know that in cleaning out the closets, I found a quilt top my Grandmother made, who knows how long ago.  She went into a nursing home in the early 80's.  We suspected it was made long before then.

When Granny was admitted to the nursing home, many of her possessions were divided; her house placed on the market, yada yada yada.  As the only grandchild who shared her passion for "making your own," I received this quilt top.  It had the batting and the backing, she started quilting but only finished about a 4" square, leaving me to finish the project.  With a 4-year old in the house, quilting was out of the question.  So the quilt went into the back of the closet, only to be recovered a month ago, almost 30 years later (see note about a little dust and chaos above).

Quilt Top on Frame

Now, life is calmer - just a tad, so I set up my quilt frame (never used, mind you) and tackled the project.  Magic Man came if from work, rolled his eyes and politely smiled at the monstrosity sharing our living room.  Justification - it isn't any larger than the Christmas tree, so I see no need for complaints.

Granny loved details.  She crocheted and tatted with sewing thread; knitted with fine yarns; hand stitches were practically invisible.  Her work was always exquisite.  She could sew like no one I knew and my daughter, her great granddaughter, has that same natural talent (but doesn't use it often).

Cross Stitched Detail

And now I'm quilting.  By hand.  It would be so much easier to send the top to April and let her long arm do the job.  That would not be acceptable by Granny.  I am happy the quilt lines are printed on the fabric.

Quilting, Quilting and Quilting

If you don't hear from me for a while, you know where I am.

Catching Up: Quilt for Layla

Layla is a very young lady battling a form of cancer normally found in retirees.  She moved to Texas from a land far, far away, then moved out of the country.  She and her family fell in love with Texas and its western, laid back lifestyle.  She loves horses.

My friends L and M purchased Texas and western fabric last Christmas, well just because they are really nice people, and added it to my stash.  It was perfect for Layla's horse quilt.  

My second quilt from start to finish in 3 days, interspersed with work.

Quilt Finished

Fav Fabric 1

Fav Fabric 2

I hope Layla finds comfort with her horses.

Happy Birthday to ME!! Gift #2 & 3

Gift #2
With the possum out of the way, it was time to move on to bigger and better things.  Hubby purchased a power sprayer to help clean the chicken coop.  Call me weird, but I am actually happy with it.  The second box was a little more interesting.

Gift #3
Magic Man and I met six years ago.  My friend Nancy likes Bruce and our relationship, we compliment each others creativity and humor.  Nancy is a gifted quilter, as you will see, wanted to capture that relationship in fabric.

She found fabric shortly after we married and was inspired to start a quilt for us.  The colors are the primary colors in the Magic Museum.  The quilt pattern is Card Trick.

Inspiration Fabric

Card Trick

 This project took a few years, revisions, consultations, and a whole lot of love to complete.

Quilt Front

There are 89 different fabrics in this quilt, gathered from all across the great USA.  Each one heart selected, based on Bruce and my professions, hobbies, passions, and faith.  She took the time to cut out the pattern in the fabric to piece into the quilt.  What kind of love is that?

The back is filled with applique bunnies, using the quilt fabric.

Nancy pushed creativity to the limit and appliqued rabbits on the back of the quilt, hopping around cards and more bunnies in the center of the quilt back.

Quilted pillows back

She took the time to quilt the backs of the pillows...

Quilted pillows front.

And honor Bruce's parents by printing photos of these rabbits they made and painted many years ago.  

The ensemble is beautiful.  BUT now we need a bigger bed.  :)

I wish I had words to express my joy and gratitude for this precious gift.  The time, expense, the love that went into this project cannot be measured.

All I can say is the God is so good to me for giving me the bestest of friends and family.

Miscommunication Turned Good

This weekend, Big City North friends dropped in unexpectedly to deliver their sack o' shirts.  Actually, it was a huge miscommunication that worked out well.  Let's set up the scenario before the story begins.

We lost a very dear friend the afternoon before Thanksgiving.  We knew him and his family for over 25 years.  He voluntold as referees for FIRST Robotics.  He was a great leader for us and mentor for the teams.  In his memory, we are making a quilt for his family. 
We considered working on the quilt this weekend.  Where was never discussed.  I planned to drive to Big City North to be with my daughter as she enters into labor.  They thought while they were delivering an ROV (for an underwater robotic competition demonstration) to the Big City.  Understand, we thought Magic Man was bringing the ROV back here when he returned home.

The situation worked out well for us.  We made lots of progress on the quilt.  Imagine, if you will, engineers cutting and stablizing quilt blocks.  "This reminds me of making composites." "This reminds me of sheet metal layout."  So ladies, know that what you do in the quilting world is indeed very techinical.

Our friends brought a gift.  Here it is.  Oh, it matches the granddaughter's bedroom.  How convenient and fortunate for ME!

Handmade Gifts - for the Women

These are the gifts I made for the women in my family.

A Section of my Mother-in-Law's Afghan

A Scarf to Match the Rag Quilt and Bag for L

A Bag for the Rag Quilt for L.

My Daughter, my niece and I received our Indian names over the summer.  I thought it would be fun to have something special like these reversible tote bags to commemorate the event.  It was a wonderful moment to share with these two ladies.

Front of Niece's Bag

Back of Niece's Bag 

Inside of Niece's Bag

Front of the Daughter's Bag

Back of the Daughter's Bag

Inside the Daughter's Bag.
(Check the name on the back and the fabric inside)

Mom didn't go to the dance, nor does she get an Indian name.  But we saw that she got a bag.

Front of Mom's Bag

Back of Mom's Bag

Inside of Mom's Bag

Handmade Christmas - for the Men

This year, I thought it would be nice to make gifts rather than buy.  The lovely ladies at McDougals showed me how to make the rag edged strip quilts.  I had more fun finding the perfect fabric. 

One for a friend from Puerto Rico.  He's just like a brother, only better.

One for my Son-in-law, oh the offensive fabric! <wink>

And one for my Baby Bother.

I wonder what would have happened had I switched the name tags before they opened their gifts?