Rhapsody in Bloom: finished and gifted

Amid all the family events last week I actually did finish the wedding quilt for my niece.  And with three hours to spare! Yep, I was still quilting the morning of their wedding.  But, proud to say it was finished on time!

The pattern is Rhapsody in Bloom, designed by Doug Leko and published in Quiltermaker magazine March/April 2011.  I did add an additional row of blocks and a couple more borders to make it bigger.  The pieced star border blocks are made from bonus blocks which came from the corner trimmings.  I enjoyed making this quilt, and the individual blocks weren't difficult, but I had problems making the seams match when I joined the blocks.  Corners were ok, but there are seam lines along the sides that I couldn't quite get to go together well.  But, it was made with love, and that's the important part.

Over the past week we've had the full spectrum of family events.  A funeral for my dad, a college graduation for our DIL- Dr. Sarah!, a beautiful wedding for my niece, and a new grandson for my SIL.  Anything we missed???

I can't wait to get back to some relaxing piecing and quilting!  I've been saving up the instructions for Pam Buda's Market Day Quilt and hope to catch up by next week.

A graduation, a wedding and a funeral

Sounds like the title to a movie, but it's actually what's happening for our family this week.  Our DIL graduates with her Pharmacy degree.  Congratulations Dr. Sarah!  We're so proud of her!

Our Niece will be married this weekend, and their wedding quilt is nearly finished.  I might have time the morning of the wedding to finish up some additional quilting that needs to be done.  If not, my niece and her new hubby will be gone on their honeymoon for a week, so I'll have plenty of time then to finish up their quilt before they get home.

Finally, just before Easter my father's health suddenly declined and he passed away last Wednesday.  Even in his last days he would say, "Stay home this morning and work on that (wedding) quilt."  What a sweetheart!  He was 92 years old and lived a wonderful life of service to others.  He was active in Boy Scouts for 80 years.  Yes, your read that correctly,  Eighty Years!   And he lived out his faith and values daily.   We will all miss him terribly.

Mexican Cross

The  Hispanic community in our area celebrates Cinco de Mayo today.  The day commemorates a significant battle in Mexico over a century ago.  For me, it is a time to remember a wonderful vacation we took to Mexico a few years back.  I made a block on our Silver Anniversary Quilt for that trip and thought I'd share it with you today.  It's called Mexican Cross.

Here's a link for the free pattern for an 8 inch block is at Quilters Cache.  I adjusted the pattern to make a 12 inch block for the quilt.

Enjoy the day!  Ole'!

Chinese Coins and Lanterns finished

The sewing machine came out yesterday after a long Easter break from quilting.  But, time to get back to work!  It's a big year for weddings in our family and I'm way behind.

Thankfully, other family members have been able to stay with Dad and I spent yesterday finishing the quilting and binding on Chinese Coins & Lanterns for an early June wedding.  I made up my own pattern for this quilt, combining traditional Chinese Coin strips (for prosperity) and traditional Chinese Lantern blocks.  The lanterns are staggered to add movement and resemble lanterns hanging from tree branches.  Add in some printed Prayer Flags that I came across while shopping (Love, Peace, Happiness, Tranquility, Courage, Wisdom) and it all came together.   All good wishes for the Bride and for the Groom, who is of Chinese heritage.

Chinese Coins & Lanterns 87x91
 original design by Jean Bellefeuille 2014

The red borders and Coins are quilted with straight lines, and the rest with a large meander.  This morning I washed it up and snapped a photo.

Next project is to sandwich and pin baste Rhapsody in Bloom for a May wedding.  There's an Album wedding quilt in queue next, and then baby quilts for Twins by September.  It will be a busy summer quilting.  FUN!

Breakwater Lighthouse Tote

Ashland, Wisconsin has a lovely little lighthouse out in the Chequamegan Bay Harbor on the breakwater.  It is the signature landmark in the Bay now that the last Ore Dock has, sadly, been taken down.

The Ashland Museum had a stroke of luck a few weeks back when a young man came in looking for work.  Since the museum mostly is staffed by it's dedicated volunteers, all they could offer was the opportunity to volunteer at the museum while he continued his job search. He took them up on the idea.  He only spent a couple of afternoons at the Museum before he was offered a job elsewhere in town, but it turned out he is a talented artist.  He drew a pencil sketch of their lovely little Lighthouse for them to use as a logo for Museum gift shop items.  We had it digitized for my sewing machine and ...

Ta da!  Tote bags for the Museum gift shop.  I'm so excited to be able to embroider not just ANY lighthouse, but THEIR lighthouse!
If you're ever in the area, stop by the Ashland Museum on Main Street.  You could mention that the curator's Mom sent you.  (smile)

Rhapsody in Bloom

Finally, I am able to post a photo of 'Rhapsody in Bloom.'

It's the wedding quilt I am working on for my niece CJ.  Her wedding is coming up quickly here in May.  The top was started in October and finished last Friday, just in time to give the couple a sneak peek when the family was together to celebrate Easter.

Don't know if I'll get it all quilted by their wedding day.  My father's health has changed dramatically in the past few weeks and taking care of him is my top priority now.

Rhapsody in  Bloom is a design by Doug Leko and was published in Quiltmaker #138 (March/April 2011).  The stars in the border were made from the bonus hst's that came from the quilt blocks. The snowball corners have names, wedding date and label embroidered in them.

Sweet Dreams

Hello dear friends, I'm afraid it's been quite a while since my last post.  But I've been so side tracked by a variety of things around here.  Hubby finally took a few vacation days and we made a couple short visits to family and friends.  But Spring is finally in the air here in Minnesota and the snow is rapidly melting away.

The embroidery feature on my Elna has been hard at work.  A new batch of mug rugs went up to the Ashland Historical Society gift shop when we visited our daughter.  While the machine was all set up for embroidery I tried this sweet design on some pillowcases.

This "Sweet Dreams" pattern is from an old Workbasket Magazine, and the digitized pattern is on a CD which came with the book "Redwork from The Workbasket" by Rebecca Kemp Brent.  I have such a fondness for those vintage Workbasket magazines.  I have a couple year's worth from my Grandmother that were published around 1960.  Times sure have changed!  The role of women in the family, and certainly the prices are dramatically different.  I don't think you'd earn much selling handmade craft items for 10 cents today!