wip wednesday 2026.9

i got some sunday slow stitching done this past weekend and i finally came up with a pattern order for my stitching on "groovy liberty." i've been stitching the middle of each piece in the pinwheels of this block, but there was no good or obvious way to work around the block as the stitching is not connected from one piece to the next and the stop and start points on the ends aren't always close enough to each other to easily move between on a continuous thread. this slow stitching session, however, a feasible order of stitching occurred to me. if you look closely at the stitching done in the above photo you can see my plan of attack. i know it's so hard to see in the floral piece, but if you look closely/zoom in, you can see that the floral piece in the upper right corner has stitching across the middle horizontally.

the stitching starts in the bottom right corner on that dark chambray piece. i stitched a vertical straight line in the middle from the bottom near the lower sashing to the top, ending just before the floral piece. then i move my needle under the fabric to the far right side of the floral piece, poking the needle back through at the horizontal mid-point of the floral piece, next to the sashing on the right, and stitch across the middle of the floral piece towards the center of the block. it's kind of an inverted L shape or an off-center T shape, except the lines don't touch anywhere. i cut my thread length just long enough to do those two pieces, so i tie off after making that L/T. then I'll start over in the next chambray piece in the top right corner and turn 90 degrees down to do the adjacent floral piece to it's left. i can do this four times per block and just keep wrapping around 90 degrees each time. if i wanted to work with a longer thread length, i could easily move to that green "thorpe" piece in the upper left square and then move to the chambray in the upper right corner next before having to tie off. but i like the shorter length for now.

easy - peasy and it feels good to have a consistent plan.

d1 & R came to help out for their portion of d4's birthday quilt. so we got that top all put together into a flimsy now.

now that she's done with all the 16 patches for "pinky stinky" edna, d5 and i have been discussing her next quilt make. she's been wanting to make use of the fat quarter set heather ross gave her at quiltcon 2025. she wants to fussy cut the ponies and feature them in the quilt. she's been pouring over my books and wracking her brain for an idea.

 we spread out the beautiful courthouse steps quilt i got from jennifer (penelope handmade) to look at that pattern because it's simple and d5 likes it so much. we were pretty much decided on this one with 4" pony squares for the hearth pieces until she started seeing dumbbell shapes in the blocks. so there went that (easy) idea. she really wanted to make economy blocks but i was trying to find something with larger blocks and simpler piecing for her to tackle. plus, we couldn't get enough ponies out of the fat quarter if we cut them in diamond shapes. so no economy blocks this time.

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when i got jennifer's newsletter featuring her newest pattern, constance, i knew we'd found our pattern. it's going to be so cute and will help push d5's skills up a little with the introduction of hsts and flip-and-stitch flying geese. we're excited! she'll be doing a toddler size for her niece, little A.

i've been working on the quilting for "frosted forest star" here and there. i spent one evening labouring over it, getting basically no where because the thread kept breaking about every foot. oh my goodness, was that frustrating! i tried everything: changed the thread spool for a brand new one, changed the needle (twice), cleaned out the interior of the machine (which was pretty clean), adjusted tension, adjusted bobbin tension, switched bobbins, changed the needle a 3rd time. after a while, i remembered having the identical problem with this same thread on "radiant suzy" many years ago. i looked up blog & intsa posts to see how i solved the problem before. the answer last time was "tension." that was unhelpful as i'd already adjusted that as much as i could and was getting no where. 

i finally changed machines altogether. i'd been working on d5's 2020 juki and switched to my original tl2010q for two reasons: the 2020 special edition doesn't go quite as slow on the turtle and the thread looked like it was getting rubbed somewhere along the path to the needle, and the original machine was the one i'd done this quilting on before and gotten it to work on. i'd been meaning to switch around which machine does what in the sewing room set-up anyway. it makes sense that the piecing machines are closer to the pressing table and across from each other and that the quilting machine is at the end of the table where there's more runway for the bulk of the full quilt behind it. that's all settled and situated now.

it took a trial run or two to get the tension correct on the new/old machine, but in the end it worked. hallelujah! i'm so much happier now. seriously, i could have probably completed the entire quilt in the time it took me to do a 1/3 of it with the thread breaking constantly.

weekly report

piecing

• d4's 16th birthday quilt flimsy completed

epp 100 days project

• i will be talking about this project next post. it's not a new project but a new approach to an ooooold project. i'm doing a little epp every day in hopes of moving the 13 yr old wip towards the finish line.

quilting

• "frosted forest star" straightline quilting begun

handquilting

• 4.25 "groovy liberty" blocks stitched (10.25/42)

planning/fabric pulls

• selected a pattern and fabrics for d5's next project: constance

purchases

• "constance" pattern from jennifer jones at "penelope handmade" (but this isn't for me)
• no fabric! that's two months straight no fabric purchased

robin nests

 

the design wall is layered up three deep at the moment. my grandchildren came over for the evening while their parents went out and r and i got to sew together for the first time this year. i asked him if he wanted to work on his quilt or make some "cute betsy hearts." he chose the quarter log cabins, which i now call "robin nests" rather than "valoe cabin." i wanted to see what we'd made so far so we could keep mixing up the colors, so i put them up on the design wall on top of "pinky stinky."

i've been letting r decide which order to put the colors in, but we're ending up with a lot in a similar configuration, so i intervened a little for a few blocks and we are now a little better mixed.

to keep him from curiously pushing buttons and turning dials on the sewing machine while i'm pressing seams open and cutting strips, i introduced him to a little basket of scraps i've been saving for him to snip. using scissors develops fine motor skills in young children, so i like to give him opportunities to work on those skills. d5 looooved to cut paper or fabric into tiny little snow flurries when she was small. i've been saving my too-small scraps for r for a few months now so that he can have fun with harmless, skill-developing cutting, too. he definitely enjoyed it! 

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an added bit of nostalgia was realizing the basket i put the scraps in was one d5 used to collect her own scraps in over a decade ago.

we switched up the sweet bowl for some valentine's leftovers. r wanted to put them in the harp space right in front of him so he could keep an eye on them while we sewed. he gets to pick one piece after each block we complete, which means he only got two in this session.

we were having some real difficulties with the stitch getting dropped after the first few on each new seam. it was getting really frustrating for me. i checked the bobbin several times, adjusted the tension on it, cleaned out the inside of the machine more than once. nothing was helping. i was also hearing a weird triple click every two seconds. i thought for sure something was wrong with the bobbin. finally, i decided to do the fail-safe thing and change the needle. r turned over the "key" (the machine's screwdriver piece, which he insists on holding every time we sew) so i could turn the screws for the needle.

voila! it worked it's magic just like it always does. no more issues, all smooth sailing.

valoe cabin, a start

so, this is very not-seasonal and not anything i was planning to do at the moment. i am so motivated to get some wips completed and the starts i do have planned in the queue did not include this quilt at all. but i tried out an idea late one night and then my grandson keeps asking to sew with me and this turned out to be the easiest thing to sew with him. 

so . . . 

a few weeks ago i was browsing my saved ig posts (which is such a good way to see a lot of quilts i like at once and get inspired). i came across this old quilt from quilter jenna valoe. the color palette is classic jenna and this is one of the quilts that inspired my "valoe" stella grande quilt. i knew i had plenty of scraps from my "valoe" quilt leftover, so even though it was late at night, i snuck downstairs and whipped up a block, just for fun.

that was supposed to be as far as it went for now. the block and the scraps were supposed to be put away until maybe spring.

but then the little guy came over and asked to sew. i didn't have anything else out ready to sew with him. so i grabbed the scrap pile, cut a few pieces into 2.5" strips, and we made another block. this has happened on repeat several times now and i'm quickly accumulating blocks!

he likes to sew with me, but the discovery of my candy bowl of sewing sweets is, i think, the main motivator. granna is stingy with the sweets - we have to complete a whole block before he picks out one candy (it was candy corns until this week when those were gone and we switched to peanut m&m's). but he's really into it and works hard for that one little bite.

i've been letting him decide what order the colors go in, which was making for some similar-looking blocks. i've started guiding that a little by giving him a choice of two colors to pick from for the next one we sew. he always wants to hold the "key," the little screwdriver tool for changing my needle and foot. fortunately, that's on a ribbon, so it's easy to keep track of. it's the first thing he goes for when he gets inside the blue doors. then he sits in the chair i found for him and runs the buttons and foot pedal on demand. i let him choose the speed at which we sew and lately he is really into turtle speed. it makes me a little antsy because the turtle is soooo slooooow. but he's the boss! i'm impressed how patient he is while i cut and press between strips, although he has started fidgeting and pushing a button or two while my back is turned, haha. granna is strict about safety, so I jump right on him when I hear that button click behind my back. 

so not only have i started a new quilt, we're actually completing it rather quickly as these are big blocks and i don't need much more than a dozen for the quilt. i asked my grandson if he wants this to be for him and he says, no, he already has a quilt that i made for him. i asked if we should make it for his mom. no, she already has one, too. i guess we'll just have to wait and see where this one lands. maybe he'll change his mind once it's done.

a little help

my daughter and grandkids came over just as i was pinning the binding to "paint lake." little man was very interested in my project and wanted to help. i was thrilled! of course you can help me. granna loves little quilt helpers. we had to keep sister out of the pins, but that wasn't too hard.

 he kept asking me, "do you want it here? can i use this one?" at first i had him help me push each pin through, but when we reached the corner and i was working on mitering it, he just started pushing pins in where ever by himself. after that we worked in tandem doing our own pins. his pinning skills weren't the best, but i worked around him and it was good enough. there were a few ballheaded pins in the pincushion and i kept telling him to use the flat ones, but he reeeaaally wanted to use the round ones. so i let him put a few of those in. grandkids can get away with a lot.

the real fun began when we sewed the binding on together. he didn't know what i meant when i said, "let's go sew it on with the machine." usually when we "sew" together we're playing with a wooden cheese block that you push a string through. he likes to "sew the cheese" with granna all the time so he was confused about sewing on the machine. he learned real quick!

he pulled pins and ran the pedal for me. it was so cute!

when we first started out, i forgot to put the sewing speed on turtle and he laid his foot down on the pedal, giving me a start when it roared to life. he stopped immediately when i said to and we reset everything.

i mostly kept everything lined up, told him when to stop and start, and did the corners. 

sometimes he would tell me to do the pins. he pushed the needle up/down button, scissor button, or held down the reverse lever for me when i asked. sewing on the turtle speed, which is best for the walking foot anyway, was nice and slow, easy to manage with a two year old on board.

he stuck with me right up until about a foot from the end, which is when i needed to join the tails anyway.

what a fun time we had and how good he was at helping! granna will sew with this little man any day.

binding the little ones close

 i'm currently binding "star of the circus" whenever i get the chance: soccer games, while visiting with friends, or when we're just hanging out as a family. it's nice that it keeps my lap warm while i work since this is the time of year that's desirable.

i like to have some photos snapped of me working on the quilt because i'm foolish enough to think future generations who own this quilt might actually like a picture of grandma working on the little piece of her they've inherited. i would certainly like to see any heirloom i have when it was in the works, in the hands of the maker. so i grab a child and ask them to take some pictures.

 naturally, i prefer that this happen when i feel photo-presentable, which is usually on a sunday afternoon after church. a few weeks ago all of this was happening when i got an interested photobomber. first, she asked if she could sit next to me in the photos, wanting what she always wants: attention and the world to revolve around her 5 yr old self. she's a cute enough prop that i said ok.

 then she asked if she could help me sew! one of the reasons i enjoy handwork is the methodical, meditative, slow-paced aspect of it. i can either concentrate on a conversation in the room, or have one in my head. either way, it's always slow work. but adding a 5 yr old into the mix makes it even slower.

i admit i was reluctant to let her into my personal stitching space at first. but we worked it out very nicely. i place the needle, getting it started. she pulls it through. she did ask to do all the work herself after a minute or two, but i held firm to the arrangement. i do want the binding to be functional and look good, too. (it's the perfect opportunity to introduce her to her own stitching projects, like burlap stitching.)

however, giving her a chance to sew with me has many benefits.

it increases my enjoyment of the project and adds to the emotional value of the quilt. i imagine someday i'll look back and say, "i remember when d5 was so little and we stitched this binding together!" her involvement becomes part of the story of the quilt.

it also creates pleasant memories and associations for her, piques her interest in sewing, and attaches her to the project. when she looks at quilts she's helped me with, she'll be able to think, "i helped mommy make that!" i'm hoping this spurs her to create on her own in the future. of course it's an opportunity to instruct her on sewing skills.

so often, letting the kids "help" me sew is anything but help. it can cause extreme frustration and maybe even some explosions on my part. however, i believe it's an important investment in not only their future as creative people, but an investment in our current relationship, as well.

i already know this quilt is going to take several sit-down episodes to bind. slowing down a bit more to let her sew with me isn't going to delay the process much. since there's no deadline on this quilt, i have the luxury of being able to include her.

and as it turns out, she only stays interested for a short period of time anyway. after a few minutes, she'll bounce off to other things. i'm glad this is a lesson i'm learning right along side those she is gleaning.

it has certainly made both of us happy in this instance.

how to get time to quilt

 i had a quilting deadline this weekend. my dear friend, jill, who used to come sew with me on friday mornings before she moved away 9 months ago, was coming into town and i needed to finish up that "bloom where you are planted" quilt so i could give it to her when we would be seeing her on sunday. i had a top and two days to do the rest.

on friday, the marathon finish started. i had to stop to tend to the children so many times, which can be frustrating. but it's just the way it goes around here. i got rather desperate to entertain them, so i pulled out all the stops, using my best tricks and most desperate measures. namely, i let them make a complete mess just so they could be with me but entertained as well.

 d5 loves anything to do with scissors. i gave her a pair of snips and a bag of stuffing strings. this worked on and off, but not as well as i had hoped at keeping her busy. she'd rather "help" me sew or jump on my back while i'm at the machine, yelling, "climbing monkey!" when she does. i just have to go with the flow and periodically stop to read books to her.

 d4 spent a lot of time playing with the eeboo patchwork tiles. and then she got out her sewing box and made some pjs for a toy bird.

d3 stayed the most involved, picking out scraps for her gee's bend inspired concept quilt. but she did have a meltdown moment when i had to pull all the pretty little strings she'd taken from her little sister's stuffing strings pile. she just couldn't understand about 1/2" disappearing into the seam allowance and why she couldn't use pieces smaller than 1". "But its going to ruin my whole quilt if you take those out!" there were tears, but i think we've moved on. i gave her a small 1"x6" ruler and told her the pieces for her quilt had to be at least that big.

i think there were other desperate things i tried, but in the end it paid off because i got this done:

i'll get a proper post of this finish up as soon as i can.

pile 'o fabric

 after i got my penny patch 2.0 all laid out and then made a baby penny patch, too, i needed a break from it for just a little while. so it sat for several days. i knew i should go ahead and get the top pieced and be done with it, but i didn't have a lot of time or even inclination to do that just yet. the mr was planning on taking the little kids to the zoo and giving me the day off last friday, so i thought i'd probably get around to it at that point.

but then some boys were kicking a soccer ball around in our large central hallway, adjacent to the dining room/sewing space and my design wall got hit. game over, for me at least.

it's been sitting there for about a week now. i don't even have the heart to go in and put everything back up yet. yes, i was mad and even teared up a bit, but this is life in a large family, life with children, life with boys. they are the more important piece of this equation. so i'll just sigh a bit, reassemble it when i get a chance, and get that top sewn together, hopefully before they strike again.

thank goodness i always take a layout shot to work from when piecing so i at least know how it's supposed to look and don't have to figure out the layout all over again. because that took hours!

plus a diamond polished off

 yet another one of those quilts i almost finished for last christmas has been completed. even though all this one needed was the handbinding, somehow it still took me 10 months to complete. it's been a slow quilting year for me. d1 and i went on an outing today to photograph her new mama-made quilt and spend some mother/daughter time. when i finished the quilt off on sunday, i sat down and wrote out some thoughts that go along with the finish. so this is a two-part post - the thoughts i had when i actually completed the quilt and the photos from today, accompanied by a few notes from our outing and photoshoot. as you'll see, despite the fact that she is now two inches taller than her mama, she had some issues getting the quilt held up for photos. it fell or her arms got tired more than once. we had lots of good laughs along the way.

 i put the finishing stitches into the binding of another last-christmas quilt today. d1 now has a mama-made all her own to snuggle, curl up in, read under, sleep with, dream on. and although i'm pretty ambivalent about the styling and process of this made-from-a-kit quilt, it does feel good to have it completed and ready to hand over.

 later in the day, the mr and i were discussing some long-needed overhaul to the way our home and life functions. there are so many places in my life where i've failed to live up to my own expectations and ideals, to what i intended to do. kind of like with my quilting, i had big ideas about what i was going to do and be in my life, and i bought all the trimmings to go along with all my grand schemes. and kind of like my quilting, life has worked out a lot differently than planned, and i've been left with a large amount of clutter and unfulfilled dreams. it's time to review priorities, let the excess go, and simplify so that i don't miss out on the essentials.

 as i sat considering where i intended to go as opposed to where i've ended up, it occured to me how complicated even the simplest of tasks and relationships can be: so many options, so many choices to make, so many styles or modes to choose from. i was also thinking of the quilt i'd finally completed. "goodness!" i laughed out loud, "turns out quilting is the least complicated thing in my life!" imagine that. four years ago, as i sat in my first quilting class in front of my old high school singer machine, inwardly trembling in fear that i wouldn't be able to actually do this big thing i wanted so badly to do, i would never have guessed how relaxed i would one day feel making a quilt.

 sure, i still mess up constantly. and sewing a straight line or accurate quilting stitch can allude me, but that mostly happens when i am quilting a sandwich as opposed to when i am piecing a top. the piecing part i've become comfortable with. i have to assume that because i've had a lot more practice piecing than with quilting, that in time that will come more naturally, too. the mistakes i make no longer throw me the way they used to. i expect them now and am usually able to take them as part of the process. but i've got over a dozen completed quilts to my name, actual evidence that i can do this difficult thing. so, really, quilting is not that complicated for me anymore.

 on reflection, i'm only about half way through my hands-on, in-home parenting life with one child nearly three years old and the oldest about three years away from leaving the nest. i had hoped to learn how to be a good mother before my children left home, but that's the thing about parenting (and quilting) - you learn as you go. there's no way to be an expert before you start your real training in the field. so admitting my mistakes and trying to correct them now rather than later is a good move. it's simply time to swallow my pride and seek to make things right like i've been able to do with my quilts. eventually i'll have 7 grown children that will hopefully be proof that i learned how to parent.

end of original musings

 the quick facts on this quilt: it's made from a kit my local store put together of a pattern by carina garnder for her dainty blossoms line for riley blake fabrics. except that i decided to put it together during a quilting class, so i ended up using triangles-on-a-roll to make the chevrons rather than the pattern. whatever. it's a chevron quilt i did zero design work on and my daughter, d1, asked for the quilt when she saw the store sample. the only bit of original design that ended up in the quilt is the row of white diamonds i accidentally made when i sewed one row together incorrectly. hence the name, "plus a diamond." the back is pieced from one large bit of ditsy floral and a strip of the green dot i used for the binding, which then left me short on the binding, so i had to piece in bits of other scraps for my first scrappy binding.

 after taking our photos, we went into the coffee shop for lunch, but settled on a sweet instead because d1 decided she didn't want a sandwich but an actual burger from the grill also on site.

 i die over their arrangements every time i come in here. just looking at it is delicious enough most days.

 and that right there is what i would have chosen: devil's food cake. but d1 picked the double chocolate buttercream instead. i warned her it was vegan, but she wanted it anyway and it turned out to be scrumptious. we grabbed her treat and then our lunch at the grill, where we laughed a whole lot more. especially when a pea i was admiring before consumption suddenly jumped to the floor.

this particular daughter is quite happy-go-lucky and cheery. she laughs a lot, which is good for me. it helps me relax sometimes when i'm so unnecessarily uptight. she's made my entry into parenthood relatively easy, although i admit she was pretty high maintenance as a baby. still, she's a great kid and has helped me navigate the parenting waters with all her natural goodness. more than anything, she knows how to laugh at her crazy mama. i love her to the moon and back.

when we were leaving, d1 said, "so when i finish my quilt, can we do this again?"

absolutely, sweetheart.

linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts.

from scrap to confetti

how do you explain to a 13yr old boy that the seemingly insignificant and useless scrap of fabric he just mindlessly hacked to pieces with your (off-limits) rotary cutter was in reality rather precious? he certainly won't understand that itty bitty smidge of fabric being a still-useful piece of an out-of-print designer fabric that is hard to come by these days; nor that you had plans for it in your current project which actually calls for pieces to be cut to that size, which further means you now have to deface another larger piece. oh, the waste!

please, son, just don't touch any of mom's fabric, no matter how tiny it looks to you. and definitely leave my tools alone. unless you ask first, of course. then we're good.

#firstworldquiltingtragedy #dramaforascraphoardingfabriholic #thatwasfuntoplayup #butsomeofyougetit

color me happy

 the littler girls and i have been working on assembling my manipulative color card before color intensive course begins next week. when signing up for the course, i got a free (shipping only) kona 2012 color card that rachel has showed us how to turn into a card with detachable swatches.

i'll admit i loved this idea, but also thought it was going to be pretty tedious to cut up all those swatches and the velcro. however, with my little helper at my side, it turned into a fun mommy-daughter project that even allowed me to sneak in some homeschool lessons on counting/number sense and letter recognition for a little girl that is coming to these skills rather slowly.

 we've had some very lively conversations about color comparisons, favorites or preferences, and name choices. when looking at the swatch called "banana" we thought it was too soft, not bright enough, so we got out a banana to check.  surprisingly, it did match a paler section of the banana near the stem! i think "lemon" and "school bus" need some checking, too, but maybe i'm the one who'll be surprised.

in general, it's just been a lovely introductory activity to the color theory class. spending time handling and considering each individual swatch and thinking about the differences and placement has been quite pleasurable and instructive already.

this is probably my favorite section of the card: all those pinks, lighter blues, and fresh, new greens. colors to please the eye and gladden the heart of this girl.

if you haven't yet signed up for the course, there's still time and a few cards left.  class starts feb 3. join me?

still making christmas

 "twirly" is at the 95% finished stage: binding is machine sewn to the top, needs to be handstitched to the back. it's now completed enough to gift for Christmas and has moved to the handbinding que, which is behind the top completed/quilted que. i am quite pleased to report that i got the binding put together and fully on the quilt without having to consult one single tutorial or photo anywhere.

i get binding now! i know how to do it all by my big self, i can actually visualize how and why it works the way it does. this is a big step forward for me as a quilter. it was a tiny bit tight after i attached the tails, but i got it to sew on the top with no problems or weird puckering, so it's a success.

i did take an extra-long time, going super slow, to see if i could get the seam allowance more exact, thus making for perfectly balanced binding. it was tedious. we'll see if it was worthwhile or not when i do the handstitching.

in the interest of moving my Christmas makes along, yesterday i decided to forgo exercise, personal grooming, or a change of clothing in order that i might give all my attention to getting this thing done! sometimes sacrifices are made in the name of the greater quilting good. (today, however, i gave my children a slightly better example of motherhood by showering and dressing myself.)

i owe big thanks to my quilting crew for the large group, concerted effort to get this quilt completed. my number one pin remover did a great job depinning for me. littlest sister did her part by running around on the quilt, stealing everything she could get her grubby little hands on, and bringing over a ruler to take measurements for her own personal entertainment. (liz, princess would have died to see all 3 of us actually on the quilt at the same time!)

these are her go-to tools. and they are definitely hers if you judge by the way she screeches, "mine!MINE!!!" and sprints whenever she finds them.

the final quilting of the straight lines with the fmq foot went badly. very badly, indeed. but it's done and i've moved on. i'm hoping that when the creases from the hera marker disappear, and you can no longer see where the stitching was supposed to be as opposed to where it ended up, it won't look so poor. but that will only help a little, i'm afraid.

my only other concern: d3, who this is intended for, said yesterday she has decided she wants "her" quilt to have animals all over it. she doesn't seem too interested in this quilt. i hope it's not a huge disappointment when she opens up her gift and finds "twirly" inside.

on the funny side, d4 was trying to figure out who this was for when we were working on pins. she asked if it was hers (at least someone is interested!). nope.

"oldest sister?" nope.

"second oldest sister?" nope.
she was hot on the trail and i was preparing to evade the next question without directly lying to her when she asked (or maybe i said, can't remember exactly)

"oldest brother?" yes! oldest brother.

laughing hard, she replied, "but mom! this is a girl color quilt. why did you pick girl colors for a boy?" oh. i thought he liked pink. doesn't he like pink?

"no, he likes purple." i guess i made a mistake. do you think he'll like it?

she had a lot of fun telling everyone all day that the pink quilt was for oldest brother, that silly mom thought he liked pink. i can only hope d3, whose name i have quilted into the stippling, decides she likes a quilt that twirls like she does. even without animals or her favorite color: purple. in my defense, i started this quilt with her in mind last December before her color preference was so decidedly fixed. i hope what her younger sister d4 said, that d3 hates pink, isn't true! it'll need a Christmas miracle otherwise.

 

 

my week 8 making Christmas update:

d1 - "plus a diamond" needs handbinding

s1 - wonky stacked coins not started

d2 - "taite" needs handbinding

s2 - "bandwidth" fabric selections made, strips being cut
d3 - "twirly" quilted, binding machine attatched

d4 - flowered pillow sham some flower centers blanket stitched

d5 - "paris daydreams" flimsy

penny patch qal - top completed; a flimsy

 

linking in to the making Christmas blog hop and link party hosted by lucy at charm about you this 8th week.