Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

The next 9 of the 6" quilt squares have been completed! Number 8 had way too many pieces in it for me to tackle yet...paper piecing or foundation piecing is really testing my patience. I hit a few garage sales this weekend and scored some really good stuff. Fabric was my main purchase and I was able to get some really good pieces for little of nothing. I also got a wonderful piece for my garden which I will post later and I was inspired today to start another couple of projects that I have always planned to do. I picked up a Country Woman magazine and they show the most amazing garden totems made from tea pots, flower pots, plates, etc. as well as some miniature gardens. I have the perfect place for a miniature garden so I will have to work on getting some miniatures for it in the way of plantings and garden pieces. I did pick up some hostas for my shade garden and a couple of snowball plants at a bargain price but we are battling the rabbits! We have had to put chicken wire around everything! They aren't afraid of anything and although they are cute, right now I feel like they need to go in a stew pot. I wonder also what they might carry in the way of fleas etc. Our neighbor's cats used to keep them in check somewhat, but they have not been here since Dec.

This sky blue pink picture is a wonderful reminder of Dad. It was taken a couple of weeks ago from my front porch. As children with way too many questions, we would often ask him what his favorite color was and his answer was always the same. "Sky blue pink". So in the quiet of the peaceful evenings on my front porch I will watch the pink sky and think lovingly of Dad.

"Memory is the diary we all carry about with us." ~ Oscar Wilde

Garden totems

My friend and garden Guru, Bonnie, and I embarked upon another "crafty" bit of garden art over the 4th of July weekend. First we hit a few yard sales and then a couple of flea markets to gather bits of glassware. We found vases, bowls, goblets ashtrays and globes for discarded light fixtures. This is only one of 6 that we constructed. The base is a piece of re-bar hammered into the ground 1 ft. for every 2 ft. of glassware. Then the lower most piece is a cheap or free vase of the type that a single rose might come in which will slip over the re bar. Using a caulking gun and GE Silicone II for windows and doors, which is a clear sealant and adhesive, we started by adhering two pieces at a time and letting the final structure dry overnight. It really is quite strong and drys in a few hours time. I will post a couple more later, but did E-mail these to some of my followers so sorry about the repeat.
Still working on more small quilt squares for Sylvia's Bridal quilt sampler and will post those as I progress slowly through them. We have relatives coming for a short visit and are excited to see how the little ones have grown.

"What we have to learn to do we learn by doing." ~ Aristotle

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

I have in the past, blogged about Thimbleberries, which is a quilt club with members across the country. A couple of months ago, one of our members locally embarked upon a project which has sparked a good deal of enthusiasm among our members. Every year, we have a quilt project to complete if we so desire, but this project is of our own choosing. Jennifer Chiaverini has authored a series of novels ---"The Elm Creek Quilt Novels". I began reading this series several years ago, before I began to quilt actually. The stories depict quilters from different eras in our history, one for example about a slave titled "The Runaway Quilt" and her struggle to escape slavery. But the novels all are based on the same characters and their common interest in quilting. Sylvia's Bridal Sampler was a quilt assembled with 6" squares, each from a different quilter. Sylvia was a master quilter and opened a retreat for quilters from all over the country, even other countries. When, at an advanced stage in her life, she married, the quilters whose lives she touched contributed to her wedding quilt. Now this book of quilt patterns, based on the 140 blocks from "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler" authored by Jennifer Chiaverini has been published for us!! I was so excited to begin and as I make each block, and learn it's name and struggle with each method of construction, I find that I am learning so much. What started as one quilter here choosing to start this project has become many. We compare our blocks, share tips and encourage each other. So...here are my first 10 blocks. There are 14 rows of 10 blocks each in the quilt example I chose.

We had a wonderful 4th of July with friends spending the weekend with us. My friend, Bonnie and I spent the weekend on a garden art project which exceeded our expectations and my next blog will show the fruit of our labors. I hope it will inspire some of my followers to follow our example and to let me know what you have done.

"Like a gardener, I believe that what goes down must come up." ~ Lynwood L. Giacomini