Turning Fifty

No.  It's not a new quilt pattern.  Turning Fifty is my idea for a birthday card.  I think it would work for any big ZERO birthday.

I started with a purchased birthday card that is made for a 10th birthday.
I attached a bunch of tens to the card, with a piece of ribbon and staples or tape.

The extra tens are hidden in the card, but fall out as the card is opened to be read.

I traced the numeral "10" onto a piece of white paper

 - and cut it out, to use as a pattern.

Then I cut out 4 more numeral "10"s out of different colors of paper.

(Scrap-booking paper with patterns and bright colors would be phenomenal!!) 

I traced around the edges of the numbers with magic markers.

And then I taped the ribbon to the back of the tens.  I left some ribbon in between each ten so they could fold up into the card.  I have used staples before, also.

I slightly altered the interior of the card...

Folded the extra tens into the card.

And I have a card that brings a laugh to my OLD friends, 

but is not as insulting as some of the 50th birthday cards can be.

CathyH

I (Heart) Embroidery

Oh yes.  Now I remember.  I love to embroider.

I can't wait for Valentine's Day!

CathyH

Winter Coat

Winter Dress Coat
Promised Christmas 2009
Started December 4, 2011 (See the start here)
Finished January 28, 2012.

Love the color

Love the warmth

Love the buttons

Love the pleat in the back

Love the Brocade lining

Love the collar

Love the girl

Love the Finish!

Daughter said it was completely worth the wait.

Now we just need some winter!

CathyH

Charm Quilt - Scraps to the Max

About two summers ago (maybe it was three) I decided it would be a great idea to go through my scraps and cut out whole quilts.  (one of my children used to like to do this with a pair of scissors and paper.  We called it 'making little ones out of big ones').  So, I went through each box of scraps and made little ones out of big ones.

I cut out a whole quilt's worth of squares to make into Flying Geese.  That is - a whole quilt.  Made out of Flying Geese.  Mostly bright colors.  No white.

I cut out pairs of fabrics to make square-within-a-square patches.  I think they will turn out to be 6-inch squares.

I cut out JUST blue and white squares. Then I cut 1-inch strips of those fabrics, too. . . anticipating making what will look like a blue-argyle quilt.

I cut strips to make this nine-patch quilt. . . and actually finished it in one summer!

AND I cut out equilateral triangles.  One out of every fabric.  Just one.  I had always wanted to make a charm quilt.  The idea is to make a quilt where none of the fabrics are repeated.

I've spent a few nights  (well, weeks) in the hospital with my daughter over the last few years.  After going through all these scraps, I had something to do while we sat for hours.  I put the fabrics into groups of four to make larger triangles. Then, when I had a little time at home, I would sew the sets of four together.

Then I was ready to put the triangles into larger blocks - diamonds.  I invited my oldest daughter and a few friends over.  We paired up triangle sets to make diamonds, and placed them . . . well . . . so they looked good.

We had triangles EVERYWHERE!

But soon I had a plan and started sewing diagonal rows.

I love this quilt!!  

 

This neutral is one of my favorite blocks - the bottom four fabrics just look so good together!!

My goal: Quilt this baby.  

For the Scrap Attack Challenge

at Stitched in Color.

On the road to finishing things in 2012!!

CathyH

Quilt of Valor

My Administrative Assistant (for my One math class) (Algebra 2) has a son in the Marine Corps.  In a COLD place... and his Mom wants to send him a hug and some warmth.

Sounds like a quilt to me.

So, the ladies in our Quilting Bee made patriotic blocks - and I helped get them into a quilt.  'Mom' will tell you that she will NEVER set blocks on point again - but it was not really that hard (once we figured out that 3 or 4 of the squares were not the same size square as the others).

Today three of us finished the binding.  

 In keeping with a patriotic theme, our lovely Bee Quilter added this

 flag to the center of the quilt as she quilted it.

Soon it will be shipped away to a far-off place.  Wrapped up in that package are prayers and hugs, warmth and encouragement for that young man...  For that young man we remember from his beginning, and are pleased and proud of what God has made him to be today.

Arrive safely, little quilt.  Deliver our love.

CathyH

Grinch in January

You may remember a Grinch quilt I helped design-as-you-go. Well, my friend got the last borders on it and was headed to our Bee's (long arm?  I'm not good with names of machines) quilter.  She brought it by for me to see before the quilting began.  I plan to get photos of the FINISH, but wanted to post pictures of SOMETHING!!!

We designed this around the pictures of the Grinch - adding frames as seemed appropriate, with a sense of it all floating in the white snow.  The background is a white-on-white that includes white snowflakes.  This is a pretty good picture of the distribution of fabrics and colors. We had to put it on the floor and take an angled shot because I'm not yet supposed to climb ladders and things like that.

 Here is another over-all shot.

This photo shows the outside borders that have row of Whos from Whoville and a great Grinchmas Banner. 

These two photos show the fun Suessed-out squares she put near the corners.

I can't wait to see it after it's quilted!!

CathyH

Bread

When we were first married a friend gave me a WONDERFUL recipe for whole wheat bread.  Before Children (BC?) I would bake bread each week.  With four kids - well - that did not always work out.

So I taught the KIDS how to bake bread.  (Homeschool)  (School at Home) (In the kitchen) (often in our pajamas)  I made them READ the book how to use the machine.  They all still like to cook. Some of them would say in spite of homeschool!

But today - no kids at home.  So my husband and I are back to 2 fresh loaves just for us.

Wish you were here.

CathyH