I'm Done on Several Fronts; Moving Ahead on Others

I have finally finished Gabe's quilt. It came back from the quilter about a month ago.  She did a wonderful job.  I really can't say enough good things about her work.  I often tell her that she takes a sow's ear and turns it into a silk purse.  At left is an awful picture of what the quilt looks like - overall - on the front.

Now here's the long story about the picture...  10 years ago I had ankle surgery because I'd managed to lacerate all the ligaments on the right side of my foot.  So I have some eyebolts in my leg, just above the ankle where everything was reattached.  The other day I was walking down the driveway and the cat meowed at me from the top of the drive.  I did not want him to follow me down to the road, so I was looking to see where he was.  I was paying more attention to the cat than where I was walking and I "walked" sideways off the edge of the driveway which is about a 4" drop.  And my ankle started to go out in the direction that I know it is not supposed to go.  I then threw myself to the left and crashed down onto the blacktop.  I really hurt my left leg because the jeans I had on at the time have these brass buttons on the outside of the leg and they gouged and scraped on the outside of my left calf.  But, I thought my ankle was OK.  I went all day yesterday doing all sorts of chores and grocery shopping and no problem.  Last night it hurt a bit, but no biggy.  This morning I was limping on it.  So, my husband got my boot out of the basement and I'm back in it.  Hopefully the boot will stabilize the ankle long enough for it to feel better.  If not better in a few days, I'll have to go see a orthopedist and see if I've done it again.  So, for now I'm mucking around in the boot and it's not easy because something's been going wrong with my left knee over the last few weeks.  I have a feeling I'm going to the orthopedist one way or the other, but I'm trying to put it off.  So, can't hobble down to the clothesline and hang the quilt up and take a really decent picture - that will have to happen soon as I'm more mobile.  Next picture shows you what the quilting looks like on the front.  It's done in a really gorgeous saffron yellow.

And here's what that saffron yellow ends up looking like on the back -

It was Bettie's idea - as soon as she heard me call this the "Pirate Quilt" to use this pantograph.  We went through several different colors of thread, but finally landed on the yellow because of how nice it looked on the red of the back.

So the quilting helps support the "Pirate Quilt" theme - and so does this -

The pirate hat with scull and cross bones.  I tried to make it look NOT scary.

So, that's that finished.  I'll get it organized in a box soon as I have several things I need to ship out to them.

Here's my other finish:

Opus Magnusson and the gajillion trefoils in the border.  I'm quite happy with it.  In the end I ran out of Gentle Art Tiger Lily (green) and had to substitute with some Weeks Moss.  It's almost a perfect match in color, it just lacks the yellow of Tiger Lily.  Methinks that Tiger Lily is a discontinued color; I'll have to check on the GA website about that.  EDITED:  No, it was introduced in 2010 and is not discontinued.  Now I have to pull my invoices and give the final count of how many of each color I used.  That's on the back burner for now though.  This piece, I have decided, I will make into a wall hanging.  It's really big - about two and a half feet square, so would cost me an arm and a leg to frame - and then another arm and leg to ship to Seattle.  So, if I do it as a wall hanging, I will be able to roll it up and pack it in my suitcase when we go to visit the kids next year.  Thus saving all my arms and legs for another time.

And I've been working on the Civil War reproduction quilt, having finished several more blocks:

Four Square, above, was easy piesy - again.  I cut out all the blocks, the same size as the red ones.  Then sewed them all together like I did on the album block and then cut the whole thing down to size.  No tricky triangles!  This one helped me make up some of the time I lost on the more complicated blocks before it.

 Homefront, above, however, was a four-hour block.  The "petals" are appliqued and although it is simple, it is big and fiddly with the placement - since the book does not provide a placement template on the 13.5 inch square.

Cartwheel, above, WAS simple, but I made it difficult on myself by sewing the red and black parallelograms together - leaving me with set-in seams to do the rest.  But, that's my fault for doing it wrong.

Finally, Log Cabin.  Simple block, right?  Yeah, but it took a long time to cut all those pieces out, then I had to lay them out on the table and do them in exactly the right order.  Took me the whole two hours and then some to do that one.  I had to be so exact with the cutting, because the darker ( and some of the lighter) fabric is limited and I can't cut more than I absolutely have to use - 'cause I'm afraid I'll run out.  On the Cartwheel block, I actually did run out - of the red fabric - and had to come up with something different.  Grrrrr.

There is one more all applique block and three more easy blocks to do.  Two of those easy blocks will help me make up the time I lost on the Homefront block, but I also have a basket block to do with the handle as applique.  So I'm afraid I'll end up going over my predicted hours on the whole.  Keep your fingers crossed I make no more dumb mistakes - I have a total of 20 more blocks to go!!!

Last, but not least, I am going to blow my own horn.  My DAR Regent asked me earlier this year to print out all the entries I'd made for our chapter blog.  As fellow bloggers, you'll know that is not easily done.  What I did was screen capture and then stitched together in my photo editor.  If anyone knows an easier way, please let me know, 'cause I'll have to do it again early next year.  Well my regent submitted the prints in a little notebook at the State Conference held last month.  We DAR ladies are very competitive!  My chapter held it's picnic earlier this week and the regent was telling us about all the awards we received at State Conference.  And the blog I do for the chapter was named best in the state!  I was SO pleased.  My chapter sisters give me an enormous hand in getting the blog done by getting information and pictures for me, so don't get the idea that I do it all on my own.  But it was awful nice to have it recognized as the best.

The regent and I are working on finalizing the official website for the chapter, so hopefully soon I'll be able to tell you all to check it out.  Until then - hope you enjoyed!