Six Months Have Passed….

It has been half a year now since my Ernie passed away.  I’ve made it through two more holidays….
Memorial Day & July 4th plus a few family events, like hosting this dinner when my baby sister visited from Maui.



It was fun to *play* with my dishes again!



Ms. C. rode with her school’s unicycle club the entire parade route!  I was amazed!!






Two other “occasions” that just weren’t the same without him were Ms. C’s 11th birthday party
as well as my daughter’s birthday.  *sigh*





I’ve been keeping busy with my sewing & baking, though, as it helps to distract me & pass the days.

I made this little toddler quilt from a piece of Ikea fabric & Minky backing for extra cuddle-softness.

  

It was VERY warm on my lap while I hand stitched the binding!

This was the first time I had quilted anything with Minky & I was glad that I didn’t have a bit of trouble.

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting inside & Sew Fine thread throughout.
The Minky is stretchy & I had been warned to place the selvages parallel to the poles of my long arm,
to help control the stretch. 

I did make sure to clean out my machine really well afterwards, as it leaves more fluff than usual behind.

The quilting pattern is called “Green Tea” & I was hoping the big leaves looked rather jungle-ish, given the critters on the front.

Here is a shot of the back, where you can see the pattern better:



I have also used my Innova longarm to quilt some items for my friends.
This first one is Nicole’s gift for a young relative with health issues.

 

I was SEW impressed with the beautiful job she did with her embroidery machine on the blocks!

 

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the theme she has chosen, using the words from St. Patrick's breastplate (and song) "Christ Be Beside Me".
hey played this at my husband's funeral in Feb. & I find it so touching & meaningful.

Known as "The Breastplate of St. Patrick" and "The Lorica"
This powerful prayer was composed by Saint Patrick in the year 433.
He was aware that there was an ambush to try to kill him and his group en route to the King's court.
It was during the march that they chanted the sacred "Lorica" or Deer's Cry -
later known as St. Patrick's Breastplate.
As the druids lay in hiding, ready to kill, they saw not Patrick and his men,
but a gentle deer followed by twenty fawns.
St. Patrick and his men were saved.

I put a design of a "deer" on the back of the quilt, per her request.


She has used her embroidery machine to create the individual blocks by Anita Goodesign, called "A Quilt For All Seasons" here:
http://www.anitagood...seasons-spring/
She also stitched out the words of the prayer with her sewing machine's built-in fonts, in the sashings.

I did a lot of ruler work to just anchor along the edges of the sashings.

She wanted it to be "poofy" so I used wool batting.   
I did each block's unembroidered triangle areas in a color that will blend into it.
I anchored down each embroidered section but they're pretty thick so I didn’t do much ON those areas… just SID, as the intersections were thick.



I’ve also done a few smaller projects for my friend, Robin.
If I remember correctly, this quilt pattern is called "Sand Dunes" & can be found HERE.



The quilting design had a Western theme, per her request.
It is called “Yippee Ki Yay” with cowboy boots, lassos,
stars & cowboy hats.  It went beautifully with the
fabric she chose as her backing…too cute!



I did this little table topper/wall hanging for her, too.
There are faint white *pumpkin seed* designs in the squares that are half white.  Hard to see them in this photo.



With lots more time on my hands these days, I’ve been a *Domestic Diva* in the kitchen, making over 100 Eiffel tower cookies for DGD
Ms. C’s Girl Scout troop.



They sold them for $1 apiece & also won an award for the “BEST DESSERT” at the event!

I just completed a really pretty & very dramatic quilt but I don’t want to share too much of it until
after I enter it into the upcoming Mutton Hill Quilt Show at the John S. Knight center.
Here is a sneak peak, though:



There is more to come…I have TONS of beautiful photos from a Pat Knegel (Eleanor Burns' sister) trunk show I attended
but this post is long enough. I'll save those for another day.

I thank each of you who have contacted me to check on how I was coping.
Some days are better than others & the weekends are still the worst.
However….I muddle on!
Thanks for stopping by!