Lemon Tree Tales

Fab Little Quilt Swap: Ideas

Earlier this month I was invited to participate in the Fab Little Quilt Swap hosted on flickr. How could I resist when I was asked to play along? ;-) Once I got my partner I had to keep looking at their photostream and blog, you know, the basic pre-swap stalking. After a short bit I quickly decided that a rainbow of mostly solids would be nice. Here's the palette:

I liked the fabrics and figured that anything missing would easily be found in my scraps. But what in the world was I going to make? For a short while I thought that I'd make churn dashes in a variety of sizes (that may end up being my plan B if plan A doesn't work out.) Then I looked through one of Kaffe Fassett's lovely books and thought about making one of them in miniature. But you know how it goes, as I was touring the internet I found Carol Taylor's site and immediately fell in love with her quilts. Actually one of the ladies in the Shir Hadash quilters had taken one of her classes and showed us her couched circles quilt ... to die for! My inspiration would be taken from Carol Taylor's Moonshadows quilt, one of her confetti series. Oooh, how I love that quilt. I thought that the graphic nature of it would be perfect for my swap partner.

Here's my initial sketch and interpretation of Carol Taylor's design for my palette of fabrics/colors:

I'll probably wing it and sew it in big sections at a time. I'm not sure how the final piece will turn out. Hopefully it'll be a success. The sketch has the middle section a bit too aqua, it'll probably lean more towards the warm shades of reds/oranges and yellows with just a hint of green, pink and aqua. So far I haven't tried anything yet because I still have to pre-wash the fabrics with a color catcher and finish the binding and top for the Shir Hadash quilters. Wish me luck on it!

Ripple Afghan

In the midst of working on the tops and binding the quilt for the Shir Hadash quilters, I realized that it's been a long time since I've made anything for my husband. He spends a lot of his time at home on the recliner with a blanket while he's working away on the computer. So I figured why not crochet one of those retro ripple afghans that is all the rage. My dad has one that my grandmother made and I've always liked it. After looking at all the free patterns online I finally chose the one by Attic24, her neat ripple pattern. Even though I haven't crocheted since I was a little girl, it was not long before I was back into the rhythm of the stitches. It's a very soothing process, fantastic for working on while watching tv. The colors are mostly the blues and cream of our living room with a bit of accents in green and the clay/terra cotta range. There wasn't a wild selection at the craft store so I mixed in different weights of acrylic yarn. So far it's not too bad, but I'll reserve judgement until it's finished.

Happy Birthday Nikki

Today is my sister's 40th birthday but I can't just call her up and wish her a good one. Almost nine years ago she decided to divorce herself from the family, cut all ties to everyone. Effectively she vanished without a trace. She sold her condo and moved away with her son, N. For many years I wondered if she was even alive but at my stepfather's memorial service (her dad's), someone said that Nikki was living in the midwest and may or may not be married and teaching there. If so then I'm happy for her. Perhaps she's found the life that she deserves to have. I just wish that once in a while she'd drop a postcard or note to say hello.

I'm left with memories: how we'd share a bedroom when we were growing up, then getting mad at each other and kicking the other out, making up again so that we could be roomies again .. egging her on to do a one-handed handstand since she was a gymnast and so good at it .. painting her face for halloween (and then painting a few of the neighborhood kids and one adult too) .. going shopping, talking about her baby-to-be when she was pregnant .. holding N when he was a little baby .. listening to him tell me and Steve how he loved the movie Fast and Furious (he was just four and such a cutie) .. sharing my wedding day with her as my maid of honor, how she made sure to blot my face when the photographer was taking all those pictures, how she tossed her bouquet when the photographer took a group shot and we all laughed like crazy (that's one of my favorite candids from the wedding!) .. yes, I'm left with my memories but I would have liked to create more than those ones.

Nikki and me at my wedding (she looks a lot like my mom and grandmother while I tend to favor my dad's side of the family.)

After Nikki tossed her bouquet during the pre-wedding pictures. Luckily the florist had an extra one. I just loved how much everyone laughed.

And the more "formal" pre-wedding kiss photo. Don't you just love the expression on Nikki's face?

 

If you're out there reading this, Alicia Nicole Scott, I hope that your 40th is a fantastic one! I hope that you're being treated like a queen and that all your wishes come true. I love you! Happy birthday Nikki!!

The Guilts

I don't know about you, but I'm often plagued by the "guilts". No, these aren't ordinary feelings of guilt, these are what I tend to think of as crafting guilts. I have so many UFOs that I know that I need to finish yet I get distracted by new fabrics, new patterns, new classes and so I begin new projects. How in the world do you get around to all the projects you'd like to make? Granted I tend to spend a lot of free time on reading books, blogs, flickr and watching tv shows (I'm especially fond of Grimm, Once Upon a Time, and Fringe).

I need to attack the UFOs and make time to complete more of the projects that I'd like to finish. So far this year I finally finished sewing a quilt top from donated fabrics for my temple's quilting bee. There's a second one that needs to be attacked, but first I volunteered to sew the binding on another quilt. Yay, I feel so much better getting those done. I've had the pieces for the top for many months now and the rabbi has been asking for more quilts to hand out. I also have a jelly roll that I'm going to sew into the Jelly Roll Race quilt at our next gathering. I'm excited about that one because the fabrics are a variety of Kaffe Fassett prints in blues.

For now, here is the top. Keep in mind that it is made from donated fabric and is very 1980s. I think it'll be perfect for one of the ladies.

 

And this is the quilt that I volunteered to sew on the binding and label. The stars makes it a cheerful quilt. Those binding clips are the best things ever for sewing on binding. No more pins poking me.

 

All of the quilts that we make are lap sized, perfect to wrap around cold legs in beds or wheelchairs. We figure that it'll help to cheer someone up when they're feeling ill.

There's more UFOs to attend to, some with a higher priority than others. I have two t-shirts sitting on my desk just waiting to have robots sewn on. Next there's a lap quilt that I need to get started for a surprise. Oh my, I've been quiet here on the blog but the sewing machine has been purring along. I hope your new year has had a great start too!