Delectable Mountain: Of Camping Trips and a Love of Nature

The next block in my Diary Quilt -- Delectable Mountain -- is for my dad. And it's fitting I post this today, as today is his birthday.  Happy Birthday, Dad!

Delectable Mountain -- for my Dad

When I was first flipping through the idea book, I spotted this block and new right away -- Dad. It instantly called to mind all the camping trips we took when I was a kid, the respect for nature that has been instilled in me from birth. 

We traveled all over the country, not always in comfort, but always with a soundtrack of fun and laughter.

I learned at a very early age to leave nothing behind but footprints, take nothing away but memories & photographs. The last thing we did at any campsite was to walk the area and pick up every scrap of trash, whether we were the ones who'd dropped it or not. Of course I didn't love that part as a kid, but I came to appreciate it later, once I realized what it meant and why we were doing it.

I learned too that if we wanted to spot any deer, birds, or other wildlife, to walk quietly; not let my presence be known. Just one little step in valuing nature and the wonders of the natural world, rather than taking things for granted.

As a child, I saw much of the western and mid-western United States, famous landmarks and obscure locations alike. I guess it's rubbed off, as I now drag my boys around to all the hidden and not-so-hidden gems here in Brazil.

One fun tidbit -- I took my very first steps on a camping trip, in an orange pup tent. Thirty years later, more or less, The Adventurer took his first steps on a similar camping trip. I guess I'm doing a decent job of passing Dad's legacy on to the next generation.

Do you have a fun camping memory to share?

Christmas Star Block: Family Time, not just Christmastime

When I look back on my life so far, I remember quite fondly all the times of family togetherness that filled my childhood and teen years and on into adulthood.  Christmases, Easters, 4th-of-July, Sunday dinners.  Thanksgivings and Mother's Days.  Holidays spent with family, my whole life through.

I chose the Christmas Star block as the second block for my Diary Quilt, to represent those Christmastime memories, but not just Christmastime; Family Time.

Christmas Star block with (pinned on) Ojo de Dios ornament as embellishment

The embellishment in the center is a pinned on Ojo de Dios tree ornament, a nod to our tree decorations many of my growing up years. My grandmother is an artist, and her tree decorations were never traditional. One year we had painted yucca blossoms. Another year, chili peppers. I'm told that one year she dragged home a bit of dried wood or drift wood and used that.

Often we had Ojos on our trees, and one year my dad decorated only a small Christmas Cactus, hung all over with Ojos just like the one on my quilt square. I can't look at an Ojo without thinking of my family, sitting with my dad and wrapping embroidery thread around toothpicks.

The one on my block I've left unfinished, with room for more string to be added, as a nod to family time yet to come. In this way, the Ojo symbolizes Christmases Past as well as Christmases Yet to Come. I look forward to one day hearing what memories my boys will tell their children, memories in the making even now.

Do you have a favorite holiday memory? From childhood or your adult years? Is there something that to you means "family" or "Christmas" that might seem odd to someone else? I'd love to hear your stories....

Sunbeam in Fabric

I continue to work on my latest project, the Diary Quilt. I jumped ahead several blocks because I was cutting this color fabric (the turquoise) and wanted to try this, the hardest block in the whole plan. It is the only block where the individual units don't finish out to squares or rectangles, I think.

Oh, that's not correct. There's one more, but it will not be as hard as this one.

So, I tried this block -- a Sunbeam, adapted from a 1929 pattern originally published in the Kansas City Star newspaper.  My grandma has been scanning these into her computer (she has roughly 150, originally saved by my grandpa's mother) and then emailing the scans out to the family.

The pattern is for a 12 inch block; my Diary Quilt is made up of six inch blocks. Add in the fact I don't have the original, and no way to know if the file I have printed at full size or not, and then that I tweaked the changed measurements some, and, well, my first attempt was epic fail. I could not get the beige pieces to line up square.  At all.

The fans, sewn to the beige wedges and laid out how they'd eventually be sewn together.
At this point, the turquoise and yellow were partly reversed, too.  Oops.

I emailed the pros who help me out from time to time, and got back a few different suggestions. I begged my Mentor to use her fancy computer program to re-draw the block for me and give me the correct measurements. She did!

So I re-cut and tried again, and after one more false start finally figured out the human error bit of the problem -- I was lining up the point of the beige wedge with the corner where the turquoise and yellow met. I should have been lining up the intersection of the drawn lines, the seam allowances, instead. The place where the corner or point would be once the pieces were sewn together, not the place where the point was when I started. Oops.

I figured that out and got all the fan pieces attached to the framing wedges. Then I was stumped -- what order to connect all my units?? And connect them to the center square????  Once again, I asked for help.

I sewed two pieces of frame together. I sewed those to the inner square. I sewed two more pieces of frame together. I sewed those to the inner square. Then I connected the two sides of the frame to each other.

See, the points line up pretty well....

Every step of the way, I laid my block-in-progress on my sewing mat, to see if it was square. And every step of the way, it was. Or, if it wasn't, I took out the stitches, fixed it, pinned a little better and tried again. And then it was fine.

...but my beige frame pieces are back to being crooked, mostly at that top right corner.

All the way up to the end, when one side went really, really crooked. At that point, I stopped anyway. I'm setting this block aside for now, and will come back to it once I reach this point in the quilt. From this point forward, I'll proceed in chronological order. Once I've got some easier blocks behind me, I'll try again at my sunbeam.

I do think it will be quite nice when I get it finished, but for now, I need something I can do well. Squares and triangles, thank you very much.

What about you? When you try something and it doesn't go well, do you tackle it again right away? Leave it as "good enough?"  Keep trying until it's just right? How do you handle project frustrations??

86 Uncle: The Airplane Block

In preparing my Diary Quilt, I jotted down my most vivid memories from all ages of my life thus far.

The absolute clearest memory from my early childhood really isn't a single memory at all, but a patchwork itself of many trips over the years, all taken in one small airplane, piloted by my grandfather.

may need to be trimmed/added on to yet
done using this tutorial
the 86U is embroidered on, a 1st for me!

I'm told that my very first trip up was exactly, to the minute, one week after my birth. Many trips followed, sometimes just going up in the air and circling our city below, sometimes heading off to distant (or not so) locales.

Many of these trips were to a certain island near us, accessible only by plane or boat. I remember my Grandpa laughing as he pointed out that the "No Trespassing" signs were only on the beach side, thus clearly only applied to those coming in by boat and not those of us coming by plane.

I remember playing with an airplane wheel, a discard given to my sister and I. We stored it under a bush in the backyard, and pulled it out for all kinds of games.

I grew up, and that plane was always there. Grandpa always referred to it by a portion of the call letters: "8-6-Uncle" and so I came to know it that way as well.  I brought a group of friends home from college and what did we do? Went up for rides in 8-6-Uncle.

I got married, had kids of my own, and Grandpa took me up for flying lessons. I think he was disappointed I didn't quite have the same knack for flying that my dad & his siblings all had. Too many instruments, and too many numbers to watch all at the same time. But what fun it was, trying to learn, my Grandpa patiently showing me what to do, passing down his passion, pouring himself into his oldest granddaughter.  I didn't learn, but I'll never forget that single day he spent trying to teach me.

Eventually the plane was sold, but I will never forget 8-6-Uncle, flying through the decades, carrying me from one happy memory of my grandfather to the next.

What happy memory do you have of your grandfather? 

Fabric! Let the Diary Quilt Begin.....

Several years ago now, my Aunt Carolyn and my cousin Debbie got together and made a Diary Quilt as a gift for my cousin Jennifer. They followed a book, A Quilter's Diary Written in Stitches, by Mimi Dietrich. 

This quilt, the plans for it anyway, was perhaps the single exposure to quilting that made me think it might, one day, be something I'd like to do. The thought of telling one's life story in fabric had a very intriguing appeal to it, particularly for me. I was, at the time, an avid scrapbooker, though, so I gave little further thought to making a Diary Quilt. I mean, at the time, I thought I didn't know how to sew.

Life went on. I met a few other folks who quilted. Two ladies I'm honored to call my friends, one a very advanced quilter and one who's more advanced than me (and quite good!) but considers herself a beginner. I ooh'ed and aah'ed over their creations and that little spark of interest was kindled.

Then one summer, one of these good friends introduced me to the concept of Jelly Rolls -- pre-cut strips of a certain width, and rolled together in pre-selected, coordinating colors. Whole patterns, whole books of patterns!, exist for making use of these Jelly Rolls and turning them into quilts. It seemed like a nice, gentle introduction to the quilting world for a beginner, and machine-less beginner at that!, like me.

I'd already made one entire quilt block for the other dear friend, so armed with that and an idea, I took my mom shopping. We went to a few quilt shops, and eventually decided on the red white and blue project I've been working on lately.

But ever in the back of my mind has been the idea of this Diary Quilt. 

Yes, I've got other projects already before me. There's a certain Christmas Tree Skirt just waiting to be started. And the boys are out-growing some favorite t-shirts, which I'm thinking will make a nice t-shirt quilt or three. And I'd love to do a specifically Brazil quilt, just as I'm doing the red white & blue quilt. And then my Grandma is sending me patterns from the 1930s, saved by my grandpa's mother, and I'd love to get some 30's reproduction fabrics and do something with some of that. And, well, the ideas keep coming and my friends keep laughing to know I've truly been bit by the quilting bug. 

But this Diary Quilt.....it's my story. In symbols, and pictures, and fabric, and color, and thread. It's challenging. It's a tribute to many. It's history in the making, to be passed down to my boys and hopefully on through the family for years to come. It will be something the boys can see, and touch, and know me. Not the me they see every day, the teacher, the mom, the disciplinarian, but ME. What memories from childhood shaped me, grew me, stayed with me. What happened then to make me who I am now.

It's my story, and these fabrics will help me tell it. Each one chosen with a specific person in mind, to represent a specific touch on my life. The black will be the border and sashing, the beige that lies below everything will be the background. The rest will make up the pictures, the blocks, the symbols, the bits & pieces of my story, symbolizing the people and the moments that have shaped my life.

fabric of my life
click photo to enlarge

It's my story, and I can't wait to share snippets of it with you...

I Need a Project....

I posted earlier in the year about a Pay it Forward project, where I would make a handmade gift for the first three people to comment that they wanted to receive said gift.  (except I accepted four, because the fourth person who posted is someone it just tickled me to think of making something for....). 

Only now I'm stuck.

I don't know what to make.

I am having trouble deciding --- would people prefer something I sew? A quilted hot pad? Or coaster set? Or placemats???

Should I look for some fun tote bag or mini tote bag pattern and try that??? Or something else?? What all stuff can be sewn????

Would they prefer a photo something? A set of photo notecards using some of my photos?? Beach photos? Amazon photos? Flower photos? Crazy pet photos?? Is that cheesy???

A photo calendar?? I did that for a few folks at Christmas and it was  a hit. But then, who wants a calendar in the middle of the year, so scratch that.....

What about a paper crafted something? I do have all my scrap booking supplies and could do cards or note cards.......a set of paper notecards they can use?? Wrapped up in a quilted pouch???

See -- I'm stuck. 

I had an idea rattling around for a quilted 12x12 square, which could be used as a hot pad in the kitchen, or a wall hanging or something. But I'm having trouble converting my loose idea into an actual pattern. And I keep second guessing -- would people be glad to receive such a thing???  I mean, I was given one at Christmas by a friend, and I love it. A lot. I use it daily. But maybe everyone else is not like me.

So -- I'm turning to all of you. Suppose you had been (or maybe you really are!) one of the three (but really four) people who commented on that post.

Suppose I was making something for you, just because I think you are really cool and I'm glad you read my blog. What would you want me to make for you???? 

More Quilt Progress

I have been busy in the "sewing room" (aka, the end of the dining room table) lately, and it has been a blast!

I decided to wait on cutting the fabric for my tree skirt, as my cutting mat is tiny. Luckily for me, I have a pretty terrific dad, and he reads my blog and saw me lament that fact earlier this month. He decided to send a larger cutting mat to my mom-in-law who'll be visiting in just a few weeks. Thanks, Dad!  With the new mat coming, the cutting will be much easier, so I'll wait on that project until then.

Meanwhile, I've had the urge to sew, sew, sew! and I've made tons of progress on my red, white & blue quilt.  I originally started this quilt in July of 2010, after a US trip that summer. From July to January, I did exactly two blocks. Two.

In January I did one more, and in February I finished three more so that as of yesterday, I had six blocks total! That is the whole first row of the quilt and half the second row. The quilt top is laid out in a 4x4 pattern -- that is, four rows of four blocks across.

I don't have pictures of all six blocks yet, but here are four of the blocks, laid out in the pattern/order of the top row of the quilt. I might move these around before I attach them and start sewing rows, but this is just to give an idea of how the blocks will go together.

four blocks in my red/white/blue quilt project

It's been so easy to work on this now, because I  got those really great quilting gifts at Christmas. The tote my mom gave me has been such a huge help -- I didn't realize how unportable my quilting stuff was until now that I see the difference. It's so nice to just pull out one box that has my organized baggies of cut fabric (all the squares and rectangles, sorted by size), the tote with all the supplies, and just sit down and go.

Everything I need is inside the tote, which is inside the box. Makes it very easy to take over one end of the dining table, sew for a while, and then quickly put things away when we need the table for eating and stuff.

What projects have you been working on, crafty or otherwise?