Now what?

I'm not sure what to do now.

The Christmas quilts are done & ready to wrap or ship. (Though I'm finishing up a doll-sized one, local delivery & thinking about a pillow cover -- but that's it!) As usual, I've got plenty of cut out parts awaiting assembly -- geese, stars, pluses, towers, etc, etc; there are 2 -- no, 3 -- tops ready to be basted & quilted; and 2 or 3 that were being quilted but got sidetracked & quickly sank to the bottom of the pile.

But also as usual, I was not in the mood to work on any of those. Instead, I began digging through the stacks & scraps that are over-taking my little sewing room. More clothing -- dresses, some from the thrift store, others are Mom's old shirtwaists (lots of fabric in those skirts) & mine from childhood. Then a dump of my scrap bucket --  more than 20 years of quilt-making there, some of the scrappy-bits are even older than that -- quite a memory trip!

Then lots of pressing & cutting & sewing & fun.

Simple math

1 + 1 + 1 = 3 finished quilts!

You do the math

If you are my brother or his 2 daughters --

!!! SPOILER ALERT !!!

I will be talking about your Christmas gifts, so if you don't want to ruin a surprise,

STOP READING NOW!

OK, now that they're gone (truthfully, I don't think any of them even know I blog, but just in case) --

I've moved other quilt projects to the back burner & have begun working on quilts for the 3 of them (& one for myself) using fabrics from 24 shirts, 12 of Mom's & 12 of Dad's.

I wanted the shirt element to be the same for all four quilts, but something I could change up. The fabrics in the shirts are mostly polyester or polyester blends, many are thin & loosely woven, so I wanted blocks that would surround the shirts in good, strong cotton. I finally decided on a simple + shape. The 2 quilts for my nieces will be similar to each other but not identical. The pair for my brother & me will be different from the nieces' quilts, & again, similar to each other. The nieces' quilts will have 36 + blocks each; my brother's & mine will have 64 each.

2(36) + 2(64) = 200 blocks

!!!!!

Well. I'm glad I'm starting early.

I selfishly began by making 4 for my quilt (-4), but I put them aside. I've finished one nieces' worth of blocks (-36). Now I'm working on my brother's -- I've nearly got 2 sets of 24 done (-48).

200 - 48 - 36 - 4 = 112

112/200 = 56 %

I'm nearly halfway done!!!

This one just makes me happy

This quilt has been a *very* long time coming.

I began it in the early 1990s, not long after my maternal Grandmother moved out of her house & into nursing care. As the families emptied her house, all of Grandma's fabric came to me. I was just then rekindling my love of sewing & patchwork, so my Mom suggested that I make a quilt for Grandma -- which I quickly did. A cute little throw-sized quilt using some of my new-to-me feed sacks & old solids.



But Mom said it was too "good" & might be stolen -- so,  I began another quilt using polyester double knit scraps & yardage. Unfortunately, this was at the same time that Shug & I were planning our wedding, I was packing to move to Texas &, well, the quilt didn't get made. I put the pieces in a wash basin, stowed them in my parents' basement & there they sat for 20 years.



Forward to 2011, when I re-found the basin. By now, those kind of creepy double knits had acquired the Glow of Nostalgia. I began piecing together the parts in the summer of 2011, finished the top in October, then it sat for another couple of years.

This summer, I got Roderick Kiracofe's Blurb book, Quilts & saw in it a charming double knit charm quilt tied with little polka dot-like pompoms. I loved it! I finally knew how I wanted to finish my quilt!

I had begun referring to this project as Sunday School Stars because so many of the fabrics had been or were going to be simple A-line dresses for one or the other of my Grandmas or my Mom -- all good Church Ladies. But the addition of the pompoms (or scrawny pompom-oids, you pick) has kind of taken it in a different direction. I loved the top, but I REALLY love the finished quilt! It brings giggling smiles to my face when I look at it!



So maybe Sunday School Stars: Joy Joy Joy?