Steps to this year's V-day quilt

In Progress, now about 20" X 38"

Every year I make a Valentine quilt to celebrate the love I found with my husband. V-day is in less than a week so I started this yesterday, lol! That's just the way I am.
My motto this year is "Use It" and I wanted to use some of my V-day fabric stash. Each year it's a different style, a different size, a different look but always...about love.
First choose some fabrics...

Of course my Valentine collection is all over the place since I collect heart fabric in any color I find.
Second, make a few strip sets in order to cut out some 60 degree triangles...

then cut out the triangles and arrange them on your sewing table.
Next sew three of the triangles together...

Note, you now have a half hexie. I am making these by machine so the easiest way to sew them is in long strips after arranging them on the wall..

like that.

When I am ready, I'll sew each half to the other into strips, then strips together with long straight seams. All straight seam sewing here! Fast. I made all these since yesterday afternoon.

It's messy, and fun, and busy and colorful and happy.

I must tell you a secret.
When I made the first two blocks I thought, that's it I wasted fabris, time and now I can't let myself throw it away.
I considered doing an art quilt instead that's on the back burner of my mind.

But, I know this syndrome... I've had it with each quilt I ever made.

Just about a fourth of the way along the process I begin not to like it, growing fear that I wasted fabric and time on it, then just before it comes together in the final top I love it again!
I mean, look at these fabrics!

Some scraps, some stash, all love!
I do a lecture on working in series and show all 22 quilts... but if you want to see just one more...
check out last year's  (  HERE  ) 
Love, LeeAnna

A favor, a connection, and a thank you gift

The kindness of others!
It is the connection that makes life sweeter.
Sonja in Hawaii, so geographically far from me, offered to put together the I-spy quilt pieces a friend of mine here gave me. She was given the pieces from a friend, gave them to me, I washed them and am sending them to Sonja to make and give to a child...
One good deed deserves a reward!

A while back, I made some 6" friendship exchange squares in honor of Independence Day.
This is one I kept, and it's great to send Sonja as she has a lovely cat.

(As I have said before, perfection is So Yesterday! Stitching with gold metallic threads that won't obey, through thick stabilizer you'll see I didn't stop to worry about anything while hand stitching )

She is an artist so she can appreciate the way it went together. I did it freely, with abandon, happily combining bits and pieces to make my heart happy.

When I chose it to send to her, I added the metal charms, the heart the star sequins and embroidery to represent flowers she loves and the imagination that fuels an artist.
Thank you Sonja!

yep! All that in 6"

Brown, brown, brown...

The color of the month at http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ is brown.
Brown.
It's winter, the ground is brown, the grass is brown, the trunks are brown, the snow is brown.

So out came the brown scrap bin and I began to seek strips for strata. It's apparently the year of the strata quilts for me.

I was going to continue some blocks I made earlier in blues, and wrote a tute for:
 (Click Here or look on tutorials page)  but I couldn't remember what size square ruler I used, so I made them from the largest I own, a 15". I didn't go just look it up.  Of course they are much bigger than my others... so I thought, okay, 12 of these 20" blocks will make a good sized quilt in rainbow colors.

 I finished the blue one but I did not like it.

Too dull. In using the fabric strips I didn't love, I made a block I didn't love.

However...

In for a penny... so this time I made a brown one to go with it. For some reason I like them both better.
They might work out. And I can quilt as you go a big block like this, and try a new to me joining method.
While I was at it, I made the other stratavarious blocks and  the diamond blocks. I'll show those in coming weeks along with the sofa, TV and dress.

From Browns.

Is this a gift... or an opportunity to give back?

the diamonds are about 4" across

You know the old belief if you save someone's life, you are now responsible for it?

Well a friend gave me a bag of scraps. I washed them all in mesh bags, and found these after...
29 hexie/diamonds ready to be stitched together. They are a little wonky. There are about 30 more hexies cut to go with them, without the red triangles. All an  I-spy that reminds me of the old view master toy.

I want to pass these on to someone who would like to put them together into a quilt for a child to enjoy.
If you want to do this, I only ask that the child be one in need... foster care or illness for instance.

Is anyone out there willing to take these blocks from me? I will draw names in a few days,  if there is more than one hardy soul willing to take on this small project. It will be a connection, my friend=to me=to you=to a child.
It's a good thing.

Update, I am going to send them to Sonja. If you will be next on the list in case anything happens, please let me know,
Thank you so much!

Cole's Characteristics...Cole is punctual

And now for a new poodly series, Cole's Characteristics.
Cole is like Daddy.
My lab was like me, but Cole is allllllll Daddy.
Today we'll discuss walks.

Cole is VERY punctual. He is very timely, and clock driven. When the time changes for the season, he knows and automatically adjusts.

Cole: One of  Cole's Commandments is:
Put your people on a schedule and it will make life much easier.

Momma: For him maybe. Cole wants to walk at 10AM, not 10:30 or 11. If I am doing something and say wait, he huffs, gets on the sofa or flings himself by the door....

Cole: Just as a reminder! I'm not a savage. I just want you not to forget! Did you know we have a schedule Momma? I walk at 10, 4, when Daddy drives up at night, and a late night walk at 10PM with Daddy.  I'll walk with Momma if Daddy is on a business trip, but she is not patient. It's all, COME ON Cole!
I am also VERY flexible, and will walk additional times... if I feel like it...

Momma, well, I don't like standing around in the dark, waiting for your royal highness, Old King Cole, to sniff thoroughly every doggone bush in this block.
 Daddy started this...
 Did you all know if you do anything two days in a row,  it's carved in stone and must be done daily?? It is.

warmer days

Momma: when it comes to walks, Cole subscribes to the Mail Carrier's motto: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion...

Cole: and...you're welcome!

Both Cole and his Dad have an internal time clock to obey. We'll discuss eating and sleeping by the clock later... 

Just for today...

This is a page from my journal, drawn and written on Sunday when I put on a coat and was able to be on the porch perch for an hour.

 It's just ink pen on ruled paper. Nothing fancy.

I was inspired after looking into my neighbor's yard and seeing these two tall trees.

They made me think of Valentine's day that is approaching.
I make a quilt every year, but this is the real valentine. The daily love shared between us.









I also noticed the shadows on snow...

So many shades of lavender, blue, gray, black, white. I said to DH did you notice all those lovely shades? He looked again, seeing them.

"no I didn't. Hmmm"

It's interesting to see life through another person's eyes.





Remember when I made my list, the list of fun things I would like to do? Not counting the mundane daily lists of life, but the little fun things.( the post is here) I wonder if I accomplish anything, if I am underachieving? I suppose we all wonder that now and then. Well, I wrote a note to myself on Sunday:

The last line, I acknowledge myself and my offerings... this is a goal, and a change for me.
Just for today (Tuesday) up to now at 3pm, I have:

I have listened to http://writersalmanac.org/ read to me by Garrison Keilllor.

I read http://painterskeys.com about Renoir, an excerpt is here...
“If a painting is not a pleasure to me I will certainly not do it,” he says. He seems not to want to stop until he feels the pleasure coming on — then he announces “Here.” “You learn about painting,” he says, “not by looking at nature, but by looking at your painting.” Renoir

I wrote a blog post for Cole to publish tomorrow and saved it
Cole and I walked a mile, stepping around ice and listening to the snow melt

I finished a puzzle while having coffee, and listening to a tv show.







I made iced tea from a mix of two blends from Teavanna brought home as a gift from a doting husband who knows I love it but am reluctant to pay so much for tea. I make iced tea because I am from the South and that's what we drink.

I cleaned the burnt adhesive off the bottom of my iron from pressing over some tape the last time I paper pieced and had to join two pieces of the pattern.

I put away the clean dishes, and loaded the dirty ones in the dishwasher
I got dressed and put away clean clothes

I read emails from friends, and from blogs I receive that way
I trimmed my bangs (fringe) because I was so annoyed by hair in my eyes

I planned this year's Valentine quilt
Since the color of the month on Rainbow scrap challenge is brown, (!) (YIKES) I began to look through my brown scraps...

 separating the piles into, "sofa", "dress" "tv"  "strata blocks".
 I printed out paper piecing patterns of the sofa, tv and dress, cut the sections out, grrr, on the faint thin blue lines, glued them to paper and copied them so I can have seam allowances on the sections.

I'm in the middle of reading this book by Brian Weiss. I have read so many books on this subject, but he remains my favorite author.

I have read about life after life, NDE's, extensive scientific studies by reliable Doctors, and they all seem to say similar things.





Love. Compassion. Understanding. Experience.
These things are most important to life. 

They can't be checked off a list. 

I am not making monumental discoveries here. I am just going through the day, trying to live a creative life, noting the colors of the day. I realized I can check off a few of the items from my fun list today!

As my journal notes, I won't do ALL of it EVERY day, but I will do some.
Hopefully I will grow, and learn, and experience life even on these days. Just for today...
Love, LeeAnna

In Honor of pink

PINK.
This reminds me of the 60's like the blocks I made recently, and the mention of spirograph.

It's winter, and when looking out at nature I see a lot of neutrals like white, gray, brown.
When I saw this sweater from a distance at Lord and Taylor I knew... I knew it was coming home with me.

I remember fluffy sweaters over cigar straight leg pants on chic girls in the 60's. I had the slippers.

This sweater is soft. The color changes my mood from blah to yipee.
There are people who do not like pink... but think about this..in 1947 the term Hot Pink was invented by Schiaparelli. I like hot pink and magenta.  In 1897 cotton candy was invented. I ate lots of that in my youth.

I even had access to a kiddie cotton candy machine for my birthday once. I was in heaven.

Funny how colors affect us, stimulate memories, make us feel chic or energized or happy.

Cotton candy was invented in 1897 by William Morrison and John C. Wharton, candy makers from Nashville, Tennessee, USA. They invented a device that heated sugar in a spinning bowl that had tiny holes in it. It formed a treat that they originally called “Fairy Floss.” As the bowl spun around, the caramelized sugar was forced through the tiny holes, making feathery candy that melts in the mouth. -Enchanted Learning.com

Read more at: http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-meaning/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-pink-4342#.Vq9_2cnLKM0

Cotton candy was invented in 1897 by William Morrison and John C. Wharton, candy makers from Nashville, Tennessee, USA. They invented a device that heated sugar in a spinning bowl that had tiny holes in it. It formed a treat that they originally called “Fairy Floss.” As the bowl spun around, the caramelized sugar was forced through the tiny holes, making feathery candy that melts in the mouth. -Enchanted Learning.com

Read more at: http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-meaning/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-pink-4342#.Vq9_2cnLKM0

Snowzilla is melting today in the relative warmth. Dirt is emerging.

The poodle wants to return to his perch. The pink flamingos are standing in snow. I am wearing a fuzzy soft big pink sweater and painted my fingernails to match. Ain't color grand?