Thy Word a.k.a. Bee Happy

I'm losing a friend this week.  Okay.  That sounds really melodramatic.  She's moving to another town several hours away, but I won't see her every week and I won't get to sing with her, perhaps for a very long time so I'm feeling a little melodramatic.

I started this quilt in 2013.  I saw something similar somewhere and set out to recreate it.  I was very new to quilting and didn't understand that it was a simple 9-patch.  I laid all my 2½" blocks out on a bed and sewed strips together.  When I told my much more experienced quilting friend how I did it, she laughed herself silly and took pictures so she could show more people and tell them the story of the newb.

After the top was done, I put it away for years.  I just didn't have a clue how to quilt it. 

Enter the friend I mentioned at the beginning.  I was showing her my unfinished tops.  We stopped at this one and just looked and looked and looked at the wonderful little bits of fabric patterns.  We found thimbles and purses and as the title of the quilt suggests, bees.  I realised this is the good bye I needed to give her.

I quilted prayers into the black borders:

Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you 

and give you peace.”’

Romans 15:13(NIV)

 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I never intended to give this one away so I have to make myself another.  This time, I'll make 9-patches!

This is a finished for Q2 (click here) with Finish-A-Long

I'm linking up to One Monthly Goal, Thread Thursday and Crazy Mom Quilts

HST Love

The third MCC project is HSTs.  Many of them were made and more were cut.

The fabrics are incredibly eclectic.  Florals, Americana, checks, and much more (there's even a pumpkin).  Most of them are patterns I'd never pick myself but together they look amazing.  I pulled out my own "uglies" container to make the project larger.  They worked perfectly.

There's 432 HSTs in this top.  Wow the trimming.

Zen for Dad

Date:  May 2012 - March 2013

Pattern:  McCalls Quick Quilts March 2008 (severely modified)

Reason:  I liked the pattern and I wanted to use some blocks Grandma gave me.

Special Fabrics / Best Buys:  Many of the blocks including the 4 in the centre were given to me by Grandma.  My Aunt who works at a fabric store let me know when the perfect navy came in to the store.

Thoughts:  Gave to Dad for his 60th birthday.  I hand quilted this one.  It's been a really long time since I've done that.

Scrappy Lattice Garden

Date: 2011 - Feb 2014

Pattern:

Size:  86 x 86

Reason:  My Grandmother has given me hundreds of HSTs.  I'm always looking for good HST patterns.

Fabrics:  Half the HSTs are from my grandmother, the other half from my scraps.  The sashings are from fabric a friend gave me. 

Lessons Learned:  Hand stitching through batik is painful.  Just FYI

Thoughts:  My sister's MIL wanted practice tops to break in her new long arm.  I wish I had had more tops available for her when she asked :)

This quilt is on my bed.  It makes me so happy.  Who knew I love scrappy quilts so much . . .