Jardim da Amizade: {r}Evolution of A Quilt

The world is but a canvas to the imagination. –Henry David Thoreau

I've been wanting to show you/off this quilt for a long time. Let's pretend it is the beginning of September again. When we left off, I'd just shown the completed signature quilt that was for a wonderful lady who had just turned 100. A dear neighbor, who has a long-arm, offered to do the machine quilting, so we're going to jump back a little further to the last week of August while the signature quilt was out for quilting. I received word in mid-August that some very special friends were coming from Brasil to visit, that they would be here for only a short window of time and that there was going to be a get-together on October 3^rd. The gears in my brain began to turn and as soon as I dropped the signature quilt off with the lady who had volunteered to quilt it, I pulled out a bunch of half-square triangles I've had hanging about for a while and got to work.

Fast forward to October 3^rd, and voilà. Jardim da Amizade, which translates directly as Garden of Friendship, but it is more comfortable to say Friendship Garden.

I took my inspiration {and this photo} from Wendy Sheppard at Ivory Spring. She is a truly amazing quilter. When I saw her quilt, I knew I wanted to make one of my own. I adapted the design, making my quilt square {I love square quilts}, rather than rectangular and my HSTs are 2" rather than Wendy's 1½" {can you imagine!}. Here's another little tidbit about Wendy's quilt; it took her only 5 days from start to finish.

Color Burst by Wendy Sheppard
Image Source

Wendy was inspired by the quilt below, which is on display at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington, DC. I did some quick maths and there are 1,200 small half-square triangles in this quilt, all hand-pieced. Wow!

Old Maid's Ramble on display at the DAR Museum
Image Source

When I got the newsletter from my favorite local quilt shop the other day, I was delighted by another variation of this quilt. Aren't the colors beautiful? It is done in Moda's Lakeside Gatherings fabric line, and I love this take on the design.

Ladies on the Lake by Suzanne
at Corn Wagon Quilt Co.
Image Source

I had the greater part of the half-square triangles I used in my quilt already pieced when I decided to make this quilt. Some of them were even pressed open. The rest were ready and waiting to be pieced. I finished piecing those while the signature quilt was out for quilting, and as soon as that quilt was finished and delivered, I started piecing blocks of half-square triangles. It was a crazy undertaking to try and get this quilt done in such a short amount of time while juggling a full-time job, full-time mom and wife duties and a busy volunteer job at church. More than once I said, I don't know if I"m going to get this done. But I have to try.

I worked color by color and tried not to repeat any one print in each block. I wanted to photograph each block as I went, but it was hard to align my crazy schedule with good lighting as the days grew shorter. And I decided that I'd better spend every spare minute working on the piecing.

I like to do an embroidered label on the back of my quilts, but there just wasn't enough time for this one. Instead I used a permanent, archival quality pen and wrote my label out. I included a quote from Alfred Tennyson, If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk through my garden forever.

Melissa Kelley at Sew Shabby Quilting saved my bacon again and did yet another rush quilting job for me. After an all-nighter, Mr. Bug dropped the quilt off on a Tuesday morning on his way to work and Melissa had it ready for me on Wednesday evening, just in time for Mr. Bug to pick it up on his way home. She did a beautiful job on an edge-to-edge computerized floral design. I love the way it turned out. I then spent every second I could getting the binding on and hand-stitched to the back.

That week is kind of of a blur, but I'm pretty sure that Mr. Bug and the Not-So-Little Bugs ate a lot of cereal and take-out pizza. I didn't get much sleep and I was pretty useless at work. It was close, but I finished in time to take it to the get-together on Friday night. These are my Brasilian "parents," João Roberto {John Robert} and Maria Lúcia. I respect, admire and love them so much and it was so good to see them again!


This is the first quilt I've done that came completely from my stash. Granted, I did a swap for about half of the little half-square triangles, but all of the fabric I used for the swap came out of my stash and the ones I got back have been sitting in a drawer for so long that they count as stash by default. I did go and buy a piece of Kona in a sort of grayish-blue for the backing, but when I got it home, it wasn't quite right. I had a large quantity of Kona in Coal from a project that will probably never get off the ground, so the blue I bought {I think the color was Rain or Fog or something} went to stash {and is now being used in the next project I'm working on, which is another quilt made entirely from stash and which I hope to show you sooner than four months after it is finished and given away!}.

Other fun facts about this quilt:
• It has 640 small half-square triangles
• The total number of triangles {large and small} is 1,344
• The quilt measures 68" x 68"
• I'm going to make at least one more quilt like this because I'm slightly obsessed with half-square triangles.

Christine's Flower Garden

Every man desires to live long, but no man wishes to be old.
–Jonathan Swift

When last we left off, we were pretending it was early September. I was hurriedly trying to get a signature quilt finished for a lovely lady I know who was turning 100. This is her graduation {photo of a} photo in 1932. Isn't she beautiful? Nevermind you can see my reflection in the glass and I was too chicken/lazy to call her family and ask for a digital copy, which I know they had. Just ignore the extra head growing out of her right frontal lobe and the extra shoulder over her right ear.

Back to our story. As the deadline for the party drew near {which I might add was 11 days before her birthday. #talkaboutstressful}, I started to collect signatures for this fantastic quilt that I'd dreamt up using 1930's reproduction fabrics to make 100 signature blocks for the lady who had just been coming into her own in the 30's and was now turning 100. That was really, really fun! Families from the neighborhood and many of her long-time friends stopped by to sign a block. It was so interesting to hear what they had to say and how they felt about Christine. It turns out that she is pretty much as amazing as I had suspected.

~time elapse~

Ta, da! Signed and assembled blocks with sashings ready to go. I used Sharpies because they are relatively inexpensive and have infamous non-solubility. Yes, I know they're not archival, but they come in such lovely colors and I'm hoping that the acid will all wash away when/if the quilt gets washed some day.

~time elapse~

All told, there are 338 signatures on this quilt

Christine is just as beautiful as ever, wouldn't you agree? She cried a little bit when I gave the quilt to her at the party. And, actually you can see it wasn't quite finished. Note the binding clips on two of the four sides. I told you they moved the party up 11 days, didn't I? So many people were invested in this quilt that I decided that taking it unfinished to display was the only option. I came back after the party, brought it home to finish the binding and took it to her the next day. We had a nice time looking over all the blocks together.

As I was working on this, I kept praying that I'd be able to get it done in time for her birthday. I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull it off. There were so many people involved that I didn't want to let them, myself, or Christine down {not that she was aware of the quilt, but I feel like it is kind of a let-down to give someone a gift after their birthday}. There is a fellow quilter in my ward {congregation} who has a long-arm and when she came to sign a block, she offered to do the quilting as her gift to Christine. Who am I to turn away the answer to a prayer when it knocks at my front door? It was a no-brainer to take her up on her offer.

I mentioned that it was fun to collect signatures, right? The top right square in the picture above went all the way to Pittsburgh and back to be signed by a family who used to live in our neighborhood. The block under that, in the bottom left corner, is signed by a little Japanese woman who has been friends with Christine for years. That, I think, is my favorite block of all.

The block below in the bottom left corner is a close second. The couple who came to sign this block dropped by at about 9:00 pm, and embarrassingly enough, I still hadn't cleaned the table from dinner. They were very gracious while I cleared away some dishes, wiped the table and pulled out fabric samples so they could pick which they liked best. The wife narrowed it down to three different blocks and then told her husband to choose. He started to choose something that was not in the options she offered. She got him back on track and then she asked him to sign for them because he had better writing. Their kind negotiations and the familiarity of their back-and-forth was very telling of a long marriage of cooperation, mutual respect and love, and friendship. Anyway, I think their birthday wish was rather creative.

Gratuitous artsy smartsy quilt shot. That trumpet vine makes the perfect backdrop for quilts. I wish it were in bloom all year round.

Christine still lives in the house her husband built for their family in the 60's. Her family checks in on her several times throughout the day. When the weather is good, she walks around the block. She was even still driving until just three years ago, when her eyesight became too poor. She still goes out in the early mornings, before the sun comes out {she's very careful to avoid exposure of her skin to the sun} to weed her roses. I thought it fitting to call this quilt Christine's Flower Garden. The finish was really down to the wire and I didn't have time to sew the label into the back like I usually do, so I put it in the corner. I kind of love how it turned out.

More about this quilt:
Working on a plan
Moving forward with a plan
The first half of the blocks
The second half of the blocks

Tuesday Tales

The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser — in case you thought optimism was dead. –Robert Brault

I forgot to post two Personal Progress Totes I finished this month with the bags I posted yesterday. I was planning to put them all together in one post but forgot, so you get to hear from me two days in a row, with is an altogether uncommon occurrence around here these days. We only had one April birthday girl in our ward.

And this second one is for one of my cousin's daughters. I made one for her other daughter earlier, and casually included it into my post with the ones for February and March birthdays, hoping she wouldn't notice her daughter's name. I sent both of them to her a few weeks ago as a surprise and she was tickled to receive them.

For me, that is what it is all about — I love it when someone loves what I have made for them. I put a lot of thought into the things I make and try to use fabrics and colors that suit that person. When I first started working with the Young Women, I had each of the girls fill out a questionnaire so that I could casually find out their favorite colors for the ribbons and their embroidered names. Even though all of the totes are made with the same fabric, I wanted them to be personalized for each girl.

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by someone wondering if I would make a Gumnut Baby quilt, like the one I made for one of my Twi-Quilter friends. It was a collaboration quilt and we all made blocks for it. I did the center block, which featured the main characters, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.

For the most part, I turn down requests for commissions. Honestly, it takes all of the fun out of my "me time." It makes my hobby a job. I'm torn, on this one though. I love needle-turn appliqué. And I'm very flattered that someone liked my work enough to pay me to do it. But that's the sticky part right there. I don't know how much to charge. I'm sure those Gumnut Babies took at least 20 hours. Add to that quilting time and supplies and we're looking at $500+ for a baby quilt. I don't know if I would dare ask that. Another sticky spot is that I tend to procrastinate something I perceive as a chore. Creating for money makes it a chore. The person who wants the quilt doesn't need it until Christmas, but that just means I have lots of time to put it off and then I'll end up stressing myself out trying to pull it together at the last minute. I also don't know if I saved my pattern. I don't even know where to start to look for it. I'm a fool if I threw it out, regardless of whether or not I will ever make this block again. And then there's real life; kids, husband, church stuff, job, summer vacation . . .

Do all of those "cons" outweigh the joy of creating something so individualized? I don't know, but I probably should e-mail the person back to let them know I'm still considering. That is the polite thing to do. And whether or not I make the quilt, I can be polite.

Today's post brought to you by:

P.S. Don't tell, but I think those Gumnut Babies are a little bit creepy.

Amelie x7

Friends are like handbags . . . you can never have too many.
–Unknown

I've been working on a secret project for the last seven or eight weeks. Before we get to that, I have to fill in with a little backstory. In January, I was called to work with the Young Women at church. I decided that I wanted to make a Personal Progress tote for each of them for their birthdays using Deena Rutter's Good Life fabric, which is based on the Young Women program. I also knew that I was going to need a bigger bag to tote back and forth to church and while I was making one, I could make a few more for the women who work with me as leaders over the girls. I've been working on these pretty much every day since I finished my last quilt, but I had to keep it quiet. We're all friends on The Facebook and my blog posts also show up on my timeline there. Naturally, I didn't want to ruin the surprise. But they've all been delivered now and I can finally show them off.

I used Geta Grama's Amelie Purse pattern. The pattern, with the accent fabric in the front pockets, was perfect for the Good Life fabric. The purse is nice and roomy, but I added 2" to the height of the bag, so they'd be tall enough to fit a standard size binder in them.

I think the funnest part of the assembly was installing the magnetic snap closures, which I ordered from Etsy for a really terrific price.The bag has tons of pockets; besides the two really deep pockets on the front, there are two pockets inside, one each on the lining front and back.

I think the back zipper pocket is my favorite because it has polka-dots inside. If you've been hanging around for any amount of time, you know how much I love polka-dots. I really love the zippers, which I also got on Etsy.

On the practical side, I sprayed them all with Scotch Guard, inside and out. Although I debated about spraying them before I put the pieces together, I decided to wait until after they were all finished, in case the heat from the iron did something funny to the Scotch Guard.

This is the only sewing I've done lately and this is the first project I've worked on from start to finish without getting detoured in a long time. Sometimes I wondered if I was ever going to get them done. It was tempting to work on something else. And having my nose up close to them and seeing all the not-so-perfect top-stitching made me wonder if they were going to turn out good enough to give away. But the reaction I got from the women when I took the bags to them really made it all worth while. One of them said, "this means so much," as she ran her finger over her embroidered name. That meant a lot to me and I'm so glad they are finished and delivered. I can't wait to use mine!

Today's post brought to you by:

Swinging On A Star

Would you like to swing on a star?
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a . . .
–Swinging On A Star
Music by Jimmy Van Heusen, lyrics by Johnny Burke

One of the girls I work with is expecting a baby boy in a couple of weeks here. I was invited to her shower with a pretty good amount of lead time, so I decided to make a quilt. I had a panel that I bought about 4 years ago out of an all-you-can-stuff-in-a-bag-for-$5 bin. A tiny bit of the outside border had been nicked in the cutting process and I figured it would be a good quilt to practice free-motion on, and then maybe donate. I didn't have enough time to get a quilt pieced for the shower, so I used the panel plus fabric from my stash to make her a quilt.

As I mentioned, I bought the panel to practice FMQ. I outlined all the little bears in the center, plus the lines in the main borders of the design, which was good free-motion practice at following a line. But I specifically had stars and loops in mind for practice. And practice them I did. I did the blue borders on the left and right of the panel first and thought, "huh. Those didn't come out too badly." Then I did the green border with the stars on it in the panel and those loops and stars were decidedly better. Then I filled in the center of the panel {which may have been overkill, but it's done now} and when I got to the outer border, which is flannel I ordered on-line by mistake because it was on clearance but works perfectly in this quilt, I'd pretty much figured out how to keep the loops looking like loops. I'm still really slow, though, because when I come to a star, I have to think about where I want to end up and then go in the opposite direction.

In my blog travels I've seen a number of people who, when they finish a project, list out how many yards of fabric came out of their stash {and if they added any back in to stash}. I always find it interesting. Everything on this quilt came out of my stash {I love it when I actually have what will work!} except for the satin blanket binding. Here's my run-down:
½ yard green flannel for the borders
¼ yard light blue for side borders
¾ yard panel
1¾ yards flannel {used in place of batting; fused to Ultra-Cuddle for backing with Mistyfuse for added stability}
1¾ yards Ultra-Cuddle

Total out-of-stash: 5 yards

And because I've had this earworm for about the last four weeks {the first two lines are printed on the panel — in different fonts for each line, I might add}, I'm going to share with you. Bing Crosby's voice is pretty dreamy, if that helps.

So, you see it's all up to you
You can be better than you are
You could be swingin' on a star

Today's post brought to you by:

Apron № 112: Groovy Garden

The earth laughs in flowers. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

After finishing the Honey Bees II apron, I decided I'd better put together an apron I had all cut out and waiting to make for a former co-worker's wedding a couple of years ago. Her husband still works where I do, but he's moving to a new job soon, at a different company. While I still had the serger out, I put together this apron.

She got a yellow KitchenAid stand mixer and those are her kitchen colors {or at least they were when she got married. Does anyone stick with the kitchen colors they picked before they actually set up house?}. I'm not sure why I never got it finished. Ok, well I do. I'm always distracted by something new and shiny and I'd already made about a hundred of these aprons by the time I cut hers out. So it sat until I got my apron making mojo back. I'm not saying that I'm ready to make another hundred aprons. But it was fun to make a couple more.

Today's post brought to you by:

Apron № 111: Honey Bees II

Behold in spring see everything
Alive and cloth'd with beauty
Shall I alone an idle drone
Be slothful in my duty?
To gather honey see the bee fly
Around from flower to flower
A good example there for me
To well improve each hour.
-Shaker Hymn, derived from a poem by Isaac Watts

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a lady who had seen my Honey Bees Apron and wanted to know if I could make one for her daughter, who is a bee keeper with her grandpa on his farm and whose birthday was coming up.

I wasn't able to find the exact same fabrics, but what I did find was even cuter, I think, than the first apron. Her birthday is today, and I think she looks absolutely adorable in her new apron!

I'd like so send a shout-out to my dad {who is already in bed, I'm sure}. It's his birthday too, today! I love you, dad. I hope you had a great day!

Today's post brought to you by:

Pretty Little {Mia} Maids {and Beehives and Laurels} All In A Row

We are daughters of a Heavenly Father, who loves us. –Young Women theme

Last summer a series of events happened that led me to buy yards and yards of the coordinates in Deena Rutter's Good Life fabric line, which is centered around the Young Women program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I wasn't directly involved with the Young Women {girls ages 12-18} in our ward, but I had a specific project in mind. It was one of those moments where I followed that little impression without knowing exactly why. I went to a couple of different quilt shops in town and ordered the rest on-line and in the end, had enough fabric to make 54 of those cute little Personal Progress totes. I had several thoughts on what to do with all of those, which included making them for the Not-So-Little Bugs to give as Christmas gifts for cousins, organizing an activity for the Young Women in our ward {congregation} to make them, selling kits on Etsy and selling them ready-made on Etsy. It wasn't something that was pressing, because I always have a zillion things going on. Besides, our Church encourages us to be prepared by storing up food and necessities in case of an emergency. I'm also working on storing up a two-year supply of fabric and projects. I think I'm nearly there.

When I worked on the totes I made as Christmas gifts, I realized that this wasn't really a beginner project. While they are simple and quick to put together, you have to be accurate and pay attention to the details, so contacting the Young Women leaders in the ward and suggesting it as an activity for them kind of fell off the list. But, one of my cute sisters {I have three sisters and they are all very cute} is a leader over the Young Women in her ward and when she saw the totes and that I had a surplus of fabric, she took 15 kits off my hands. Her ward reimbursed me for the cost of the supplies and I volunteered my time to make the embroidered labels for them, because they really do make the totes special. Hers are all finished and handed out to the girls in her ward and I'm hoping to see pictures of them really soon.

That left me with enough fabric for 37 more totes. Still, it wasn't really pressing, except for where to store the fabrics, which were all washed and mostly pressed by now. So, I entertained the idea of selling kits or ready-mades on Etsy again. Sometime. In the future. When I have a few extra minutes.

And then the call came and all the pieces fit together and that little impression to buy a bunch of fabric for no clear end made sense. You see, our Church runs on volunteers. Every position is filled with a volunteer, but not in the sense that you sign up to do what you want. Rather, you are "called" or appointed to do a certain job. You always have the option to say no, if you don't want to do it, but I believe that even if I feel unequal to the task, I will be blessed with the help I need to get the job done. In early January the Bishop {similar to a Pastor or Minister, but again is a volunteer} asked if I would work with the Young Women in the ward as, to use the lingo {we really do have our own vocabulary}, the Young Women President. At the time, I was so excited! Now, I'm mostly just super busy and a little overwhelmed. But I already love the girls so much and am still really excited to be a part of helping them know that God loves them, who they are and what their purpose in life is.

In my spare time, I've been working on birthday gifts for the girls in my ward. Here are eight I finished in February for the February and March birthday girls. {There are nine in the picture, but I switched out the light green ribbon on the one that is grouped together with two others in the middle for an orange ribbon and didn't have individual photos of the other two totes, so, there you are.}

This calling is a lot of work. On a slow week, I only have one extra meeting or activity with the girls. But most weeks there are two or three or four, which explains a little bit of why I haven't blogged much lately. It is taking some getting used to, but as I mentioned, I already love the girls and the six other women who are leaders with me. I am so excited to learn and grow with them. And now that LadyBug has turned 12, she is in Young Women with me. I'm so excited for her! And I'm looking forward to working on my Personal Progress with her. Which means I'd better make a tote for myself, too!

Christmas Memories Part V: A Very Important Date

♫♪ EM EYE SEE ♪♫
See ya later.

♫♪ KAY EE WHY ♪♫
Why? Because we're going to Walt Disney World!

♫♪ EM OH YOU ESS EE ♪♫

Our goal this Christmas was to make memories instead of collecting more stuff. We did a few fun things before Christmas and one of the gifts that was under the tree for LadyBug and Grasshopper was a monogrammed Mickey Mouse silhouette luggage tag for each of them with a note saying that we are going to Walt Disney World. I only finished the tags for the Not-So-Little Bugs in time for Christmas. I finished the four others this week. I used clear tablecloth plastic to make windows on the back to put our information on and we are set to go.

The time has finally come. Reservations have been confirmed. A superfluous supply of Dramamine has been acquired. The bags are almost packed. And we are all beyond excited.

See ya real soon . . .

Today's post brought to you by:

A Stitch In Time: My 2014 Finishes

Talent is a wonderful thing, but it won't carry a quitter. –Stephen King, Duma Key

I thought I'd better get my index page up for my 2014 finishes, because any day now I'm going to have something finished that needs indexing. I did index posts in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 and have really liked having a place to record everything so I can look back and see my progress. Sometimes it seems like it is slow going, but it is kind of fun to look back and see how much I accomplished in a year. Right now, it is empty, but I'll update this post each time I finish a project and will leave a link to each project here, as well as linking my finish posts back to this index.

Here are my 2014 Finishes!
• January: Four Finishes
Four Monogrammed Luggage Tags

• February: Five Finishes
Five YW Personal Progress Totes

• March: Three Finishes
Apron № 111: Honey Bees II
Apron № 112: Groovy Garden
Swinging on a Star Baby Quilt

• April: Nine Finishes
Seven Tote Bags
Two YW Personal Progress Totes

• May:

• June:

• July:

• August:

• September:

• October:

• November:

• December: