My friend Marilyn and I share two beautiful grand-daughters. Elizabeth is 2 1/2 and in a big girl bed so we are making a quilt together for her new bed. We are using Acorn Quilt & Gift Co's pattern Betsy's Closet. I finished the applique on the first block last night. No embellishments yet but it's so cute I wanted to share it. When I bought this batik fabric I couldn't wait to find the right way to use it. A little sun romper is perfect. I still have to embroider the fold lines and find just the right buttons for the straps. When that's done I'll show a finished photo. Rummaging in my fabric for the outfits for this quilt is like going shopping for new clothes!

Elizabeth's quilt

This is the quilt that taught me to really, really like applique. Before this, I was afraid of it but when this was finished I discovered applique can be very forgiving. This is a good thing! This posy quilt was for my second grandchild, a little girl whose mommy loves to get her hands dirty in a garden. On the edge I used a cotton crochet lace I found in my mother's old sewing notions. It makes the quilt look old fashioned, still feminine yet sophisticated.

summer quilt

I like the simplicity and variety of string quilts so I spent a couple of days during Christmas break sewing together strips of old sashing and bindings. ( Last summer during a particularly slow day I ironed all of my left over bindings flat again.) I saw my pile of blues weren't going down fast enough so I made one that was mostly blue, and then another with lots of pink. Those I bordered with a stark white and are still waiting to be sandwiched. I really wanted the strings to just float in a wide border so this is a 14 inch border of turquoise all around. I pinned it Sunday afternoon. I don't much like turquoise but it sure works nice with this mish mash of colors! Very bright and cottagey. The object of these simple quilts is to have some "cottage quilts" available when the kids are here. They complain that with a mother and mother-in-law who both quilt, there aren't any we'll actually let them use! Not true of course, but some scrappies will be fun and it's nice to see THAT pile go down!

Bright blessed day

Several years ago I took a quilting class to prove to myself I wouldn't like it. Boy, did I get in trouble! I loved every part of the process! Mostly and especially, I think, because I piece and quilt by hand. This quilt is the first quilt I made that was completely out of my comfort zone but it was for my first grandchild. With the help my good friend, Marilyn, who does all my math for me, I made this reverseable quilt using two pages in the picture book What a Wonderful World by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele, illustrated by Ashley Bryan.

hello

January 14, 2010

This is new to me, this blogging thing, but everyone says I'm supposed to jump right in and start talking. The most that's been happening since the turn of the year is the weather gone mad. This picture looks peaceful and beautiful, and that day it was. But it was also before the NEXT 24 inches of snow fell!
My husband and I live on Lake Michigan. Our winter has been very snowy. And winter is just started. Yet it IS beautiful. We are not in a high traffic area so the snow is crisp, clean, and bright. The cardinals look like berries in the trees, and as we shovelled and moved the snow from one place to the next I told my husband I guess this is the price we pay for living here in the summer.
I am a quilter. I enjoy piecing and quilting by hand and am beginning to love applique. I was very fearful of it but I found after one large project it's really very forgiving. Sharp pieced points are not. I'll share some of my quilts soon. As soon as I figure this blog thing out.
I read. A lot. I work in an elementary school library and spend my days reading to children, searching for the best I can find for them, and in the evenings, reading for me. I'll share my favorites as I go along and hope to have new quilting and reading friends.
Our yard is a sea of lavender. When we bought our house my husband said he didn't want to have to mow a lawn so I could do whatever I wanted, just so a lawnmower wasn't in the picture. Lavender! I planted hundreds of them. Late June and July are stunningly beautiful and my best friends are bees. But it turns out the garden is more work than mowing!
Cooking is good, too. I'd rather bake than cook but there are favorites I'll share in both categories.
So, until tomorrow, Hello, My Name is Denice and I'm looking for friends from all over.