Molas

Sorry (again!) for not posting.  Life is too busy. However, with much determination this one is done. 

Our guild received four molas from an estate donation. No one knew what to do with them. Then a neighbor gave me three that she didn't know what to do with either. 

After some thought, I put them into a big nine patch each with black borders and bright sashing. That part was easy. 

The quilting was more of a challenge. Finally I used mola designs to invent a floral look strip to fill in most of the black, one with frogs to go around the middle block, and an angular design for the border. Never again! But my wobble fit in okay with the mola art. I also made two solid blocks with mola-like designs to match them to the rest. It was finished with a very bright red patterned backing and the same fabric for the binding. It is about 64" wide by 56" tall.

This one should go back to our Community Services guild for a donation to charity, yet the chair already said she doesn't know what to do with it. So its destination will be a mystery for now and a surprise later. 

A finish and an apology...

Wow, have I been negligent with comments. Thanks to two dear quilters who posted and sorry I didn't check and left you in cyberspace. They are now posted. Both of your are big encouragers to me.

I also want to post this. It is a quilt for a very nice neighbor. I asked her to find something she liked and she found this...

And I finally got this finished and gave it to her this past weekend. I was supposed to be a lap quilt but she and her hubby decided it will go on a bare wall at their mountain condo retreat. They were happy and so was I. It is about 60" square.

 I had all the fabric except the blackish border and backing. This black has very small grey flecks in it, just enough to take away that dead look that black can have. It was fun, but took forever. Life has been very full of unexpected events!

Yes, I am still alive!

 January and February were rough months with health and other issues. All is well now and I'm quilting with enthusiasm. I just finished another scrappy blue for charity but my hubby liked it so much that he claimed it. It is a lap-size about 48 x 60". I used a panto called Atlanta and just the fabrics in my scrap bins. Some 'blocks' were made from very small pieces.

I'm nearly finished a landscape (photo later) and started another scrappy, this time a medallion with a large collection of charm squares given to me. This is my element, so much fun. So far... I started with an orphan block that somehow got missed for the above blue scrappy. Then I added strips to make it the size that would be okay with 5" squares around it. The next round is charm squares. My plan is to make some HST or QST or something that will make a different size so all the seams do not line up like they do on these two rounds. So much fun...

Not much happening

 After having the Nativity Quilt in my window for all of January, I made one more suitable for January. Our supreme cold snap is over, snow is melting, but this one was quick and easy.

Otherwise, little progress on the landscape quilt. On January 16 my blood oxygen dropped to below 88 and hubby called an ambulance. I spent a few days in hospital diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia and on oxygen until that number went up and stayed there. Since then, recovery is slow. The heavy duty meds first by IV and then by pill might have been one of those "cure worse than the illness" as they messed with my digestive system. I lost six lbs, which is fine, but still feel like a truck hit me and aware that full recovery can take weeks. 

In the meantime, hubby got viral bronchitis, so both of us are moving slow, trying not to feel sorry for ourselves, and taking turns with cooking, chores, etc. depending who feels most like it. This is NOT FUN but one goal for 2024 was to simplify my life. Off to a good start!

 

Progress Report

 The days fly by and yet a few things get done or at least there is progress. Here is the landscape started this week. I just love it when the fabric creates a design before any applique or thread play or quilting. This background mountain looks like a distant mountain. Thankful!

Also happy to have a warm home. It is -40 or so with a windchill closer to -50. This is Celsius, but when the numbers are that low, it is about the same as Fahrenheit. COLD! Hubby went out this morning to indoor golf. Lots of cancellations. He usually stays out for lunch, but not this time. He said the streets are icy and brutal.

Time to make supper but nice to be warm and glad I'm not needing to go anywhere...😰 Stay warm -- wrapped up in a quilt!

A New Challenge

This is a sketch from a photo that will become a landscape lap quilt... when I get my act together. The fabrics are merely a value exercise... the sky is okay, the large background mountain needs to be a tad darker, the next two ranges should be bluer, but I'm happy with the green hills, water, and foreground fabric -- which almost disappears at the bottom right. Of course this is simple and will be more 'realistic' which is what the customer wants. A double-click might show it better.

Progress reports as I go, now that I've figured out that a photo on my new I-Pad automatically shows up on my new MacBook Pro. The learning curve for that change is far from over though!

This year...

Several quilt blogs that I follow do a summary for the year. I don't have my photos in a collage so will just copy them in without comment beginning with this small window hanging. They are in no particular order. The first 24 are a mix of small quilts to hang in the window, table toppers, up to queen-size bed quilts. Eleven of them were for refugees who became fast friends. The last four are tops only, given to a charity group to sandwich and quilt. I know, I cannot believe I did all this. It has been a hectic year besides.