
It is so amazingly soft
Originally uploaded by Q_uilted T_hrifted
It’s the first day of Spring today and it is the coldest it has been in 48 years! There is so much snow. Yesterday the wind chill was biting cold but the sun was so bright. I passed a man walking into a building and he said to me “Can you believe the snow is melting at zero below wind chill.” I looked around and he was right. The brightness of the sun must have been like a magnifying glass. We both had smiles on our faces. Life is good when the sun is shining.
My sunshine lately has come in the flowers surrounding me. They are of course “inside” the house.
The cut flowers I got from my son’s school are perfect timing!
They started out like this…


and now are so happy.
Two more lilies will open up in the next few days.
I made this quilt back in the 80s. It is some of the first fabrics I ever purchased just for quilting.
I challenged myself so get it done by the time our 1st son was born in 1989.
It was summer and very hot…

I remember being in a shopping center and I had the little one wrapped up in this blanket. A woman took my son out of the stroller and said ” you have him bundled up too warmly” and she preceded to take the blanket off of him. Then she said, ” if you let him sleep all day you will not get any sleep at night” and she continued and took his socks off. Of course he woke up and being the happiest baby ever he charmed her to no end. I was shocked but… she was right. He was way too hot and only 5 or 6 months old. I did have him bundled up like it was the middle of winter. I thought babies always needed to be bundled. Really I did… even when it was reaching 100 degrees outside. Could I do what she did to a new mom today? Maybe, if I thought the child was uncomfortable and it was clearly in the best interest of the child. Have you ever done anything like this or had someone do something like this to you?

When I was going through the box of patterns last week I came across some of my templates for my earliest Jean quilt and a stem for my Maple Leaf quilt and this fabric.
You may not be able to see it clearly but because it has been hidden in the box it is not faded like the fabric in the quilt is. It has been preserved. I think I will put it in an envelope and label it and put it in one of my quilt 3 ring binders.
When I was quilting this the backing fabric shifted and I was left short of fabric on one side. I added this little strip to it and thought maybe I would embroider the date on it. Well you can see it is not there. But it should say 1989.
Would you use purple embroidery thread?

In the box of patterns from my Grandmother was also a paper bag with this book in it.
I purchased it at a quilt shop.
I picked up the companion book to this one at a thrift shop sometime in the last two years. I thought it was pretty funny.

I put the widest binding on this quilt.
I looked at it quite a while to see how I did it but I just
don’t remember and I really couldn’t tell. I pulled the seams to see if I could tell one side was by sewing machine and the other hand sewn but I really didn’t see it. I now fold my fabric so it is double thickness and sew it onto one side. I know I didn’t do that with this one.

I love the softness.

I like how the binding looks.

I love the color.
I like that it has the 4 diamonds toward the center.
I do remember purposefully not putting the extra rows on the side to finish the diamond shape.
I didn’t want it to be any larger.
I wanted it to be a little longer than wider.

It sometimes amazes me the things I remember and the things I have forgotten.
I do remember that we did not know if we were having a boy or a girl.
I thought purple would be neutral.
I had a fantasy that my baby’s room would be lilac in color with white wicker and African violets.
We lived in a one bedroom apartment at the time and his crib was in our room.
That was not going to happen.
My Love would not have allowed white wicker to take over our apartment.
He was too macho at the time!
I would not have done it either. We were at a different place in time then.
Now I have six great nieces and nephews.
My time will come!
Oh yes it will!!!
Shhhhhh. Don’t tell anyone yet.