Step 6

Step 6.  Clean up your mess.  You are 99.9% finished!  I have one rectangle left and I'm trying to decide who will work it, me or the grand girls. There are so many "Awwww" reasons to let them but on the other hand, it's been a long haul with this wall and that rectangle is right out front.  Will they want to?  Will they lose interest halfway through?  We'll discuss it when I have them again on Thursday.  If they say yes, then it's theirs to do.

 Yes, I am tired.  Very tired.  Each time I went out to work on it I was there for 4-5 hours at a time.  I found if I went out by 8:00 a.m. I could get in 5 hours work before the sun hit it like it is here and it was just too hot and bright.  Sometimes I also went out at night and measured, drew lines and taped so it would be ready in the morning.

 The big block on the left was a last minute decision yesterday.  PH helped convert the math from an internet picture to a 5 foot square on the wall.  I am SO glad I went with this, it balances the other two big blocks.  The birds are drawn in for this one. I will paint them on tonight. I got a little carried away with the birds and had to 'erase' some of them by painting over some.

 I liked the more traditional blocks but I wanted to put some applique in because that's what I do. I don't piece like these blocks, I applique like the sunflower.  I'd even applique the stars.

       The moon and stars is a very special quilt for me.  I came across the picture again last night while going through my quilt pictures so this was a last minute decision to do for a block I painted over yesterday because I didn't like what I had done.
        When our first grandchild, Charlie, was still residing inside mommy, I wondered and wondered what quilt to make for him as his baby quilt.   Well, I worked in an elementary school library for 16 years and read thousands of books to kids in that time.  One day I was turning the pages to What a Wonderful World, the song that was Louis Armstrong's favorite. I put his vocals on the tape recorder and played the song while I turned the pages to show the kids.  My son, Charlie's daddy, loved Louis Armstrong.  Well, once you turn pages  18 times in three days, your mind can start to wander while you're doing it.  When the song came to the lines " the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night" a light bulb went off and I knew I would make this a reversible quilt for Charlie. Friend Marilyn did the math and converted the exact pictures from the book to measurements and I put them to fabric. It was my very first fly by the seat of my pants quilt that was born from an idea, not a pattern.
For the block on the wall, I decided to use the idea.  You can see the sun got the best of me and I'll finish it tonight.

This is a picture of the actual quilt. It's reversible. My mom did the embroidery by hand. The fabric matches perfectly the illustrations in the book.

The little basket (which is not crooked on the wall ) is because I do love a basket. I don't like piecing them, though, and look for bowl style baskets I can applique. I decided last night when I had a heck of a time even drawing on one-inch squares that I was going to do something different.  I wasn't going to tape off all of those little one inch squares. I taped the inside and outside border and had a small flat head brush and would wing it.  Looks good from here.  And from an airplane. But don't get too close! 

Statistics:  Most used color:  black
                  Most blocks I painted over and started with something new:  4
                  Audio books listened to:  4  (LaRose by Erhdrich - 14.5 hours;  Little Red Chairs - 9.75 hours; At the Edge of the Orchard - 9 hours and Portable Veblen - 13 hours.) 
                  Number of rolls of painter's tape:  8 (don't buy the green, it doesn't stick to concrete!)

       The audio books don't tell a true picture of how much time it took because on Saturday mornings I listened to NPR so probably add another 10 hours.  The guys at the paint store asked  how long it took and I was sorry to say I didn't really keep track, I can only guess.
        I have some touch up, some birds to do, the moon to finish but essentially, it's finished!  Time to pick up the needle again.