Hexagons and Yoyos

When Mom, Linda Branock, died, I pretty much quit quilting. She had helped me get started on this, so now, almost 4 years after she died, I am working on the quilt she wanted to see me finish.

I have it laid out, and I am working to applique the blue hexagons onto the brown and lavender frame strips. I sit on the floor to stitch it. Yep, it is killing my body, but I don't want to lift it and have the edges to shift. I used spray baste (and pins), but you never know. 

It took me a minute to figure if I wanted the brown or the green frame (you can just see it at the sides of the blue hexagons), but I think the brown looks really good. Both the brown and green are from Mom's Lilac Hill collection of fabrics. (http://www.unitednotions.com/fcc_lilac_hill.pdf)

That was a lovely line of prints. (*sigh*)

 This is a close up of the hexagons (they still have their papers in). I was considering a faded text fabric, but when I put it on the design wall, it looked wrong. Maybe I'll use it in the borders. I have not decided about border fabric, but I laid some portions out (first photo) to see what might go.

AND here is the yoyo shawl I am calling finished. It has 966 yoyos. Don't ask how long it took me; all I can say is "years."

 Holler at me....I don't know if anyone still reads blogs. I do sometimes!

Holiday Happy Day(s)

I'm getting back to a little sewing. I'd like to make some progress on this hexagon center medallion. I started it at Mom's house back in August. Sewing is not a priority since I started practicing golf. (It's not an obession if you only go to the driving range once or twice a day. Right?)

 Only one more hexie-block to go! Next I have to decide if I am going to do like the picture in the book and join these blocks with unbleached muslin hexagons or black ones. I'll post pictures of both to see what they look like.

My yard project is coming along weather permitting. The ridiculous amount of rain Atlanta had this year put outdoor activities at risk of failure (like the 2013 tomato crop). The whole project began as I searched for someone to correct the horrendous drainage problem in my back yard. Now I have underground drains, steps to access my upper yard and the beginnings of dry creek beds. The trees came down.
The overgrown shrubs were yanked out. And that was the front yard.
The back yard was similarly de-foliated.

Ada Yuen of Eastern Redbud conceived the design. She wanted the storage building gone, but the boys talked me into keeping it, so she will work around it.

I love the steps! Finally easy access to the upper level of the yard. What you cannot see is the network of underground tubes to guide the water away from the house. This was phase one; the phase two plan is on its way to me.

My bed is covered by a quilt Mom made; I cannot wait to hop in and get a good night's rest.

One more thing before I go: Family, friends and neighbors may need us, and sometime we may need them too. Let's get our priorities straight and give each other a hand.

Quilts from Mom

As I promised, pictures of the quilts Mom (Linda Brannock) made and I brought back to Atlanta with me. I uploaded them as a batch, so I will explain them in the order they are and not try to rearrange them.

 This is a kitty quilt for my kitty-loving son, Andy. 

 It has bright yellow kitties on the back. I'll have to ask her who this coin-stacks type quit is for. The fabrics are lovely. (You can click on the photo to get a larger version of it.)

 This log cabin is detail from the photo below it. There are stars and trees too. The background is string pieced, but Mom says she did not do the string piecing on a foundation.

 Mom has a great sense of the use of color, and she has really gone bonkers on this one. You (I) cannot stop looking at it.

 The turtle quilt below is destined for my wild child, Adam, once he settles his life down. Right now he is at a music festival somewhere in the US, but I would have to consult Facebook to get an idea where. Mom has made this quilt before too, and you can see it here (the original turtle quilt), but you have to scroll way down in the post to see it. Wait a minute; I will have to call Mom. This may be the original.

 Now we come to the quilt I believe was made especially for me. I love these colors and could live in an entirely aubergine home. I slept under it before I packed it in my suitcase.

 Detail of the quilting and fabrics.

 Mom did two bow tie quilts, and I don't know why I have only one photographed.

 My son, Eron the paramedic, requested a red, white, and black quilt (it's a firefighter thing). And this quilt is especially great. The colors are totally outside Mom's realm of use, but it is a wonderful quilt.

 This is my other favorite favorite of all my favorites.

Bright and cheerful; what I am striving for in my life.

This week was especially challenging for me. I had a dream the other night that I tried to catch AC as he was falling out of bed, and he turned to ashes in the blanket. I am taking sedatives to help me sleep, since I have been spending too much time crying (on the way to work, and the way back).

Then I found the autopsy results were in my mailbox when I got home yesterday. That helped me relive the whole hospital experience as the medical examiner advises we engage the services of a malpractice attorney.

I am so tired. Today is Thimbles, so I am off (after another doctor appointment) to sew with friends. I love that my kitties keep me company here at home. Stroking their soft fur helps calm me.
Karmen

Uh-Oh! Mom's gonna be mad.

I just got back to Atlanta from spending time with my parents in Independence, Missouri. I love visiting them. My Dad is a fabulous cook (more in a later post), and my Mom has a sewing studio, a three story sewing studio. Yes, I have studio envy. One of these days I will get my sewing "area" organized. In the mean time I will satisfy myself with occaisionally wrecking havoc in hers when I get a chance.

Mom has been asking me for an Amy Butler Sunday Sling like the one we made at her house before (see here). My artsy son took that one when he moved out. The next one went to a friend (see here and scroll down). And my replacement bag (here). So I brought the cut out pieces with me, and, once she got busy doing something else, I started ironing the stabilizer onto the straps.

Uh-oh. Mom's gonna be mad.

I was able to peel the upside down strip off, and  there didn't seem to be any ill effect from the gluey stuff on the ironing board cover. She didn't even know I'd made a mistake (and I ain't tellin).

Here is the bag with handles attached; and the side pockets. 

I like the inside fabric best.

  The little pocket inside is called a cell phone pocket, but it is just right to keep lipstick handy. I'd purchased some lip plumper at Ulta (by Two Faced), and I tryed to trick Mom into trying it. You know that stuff feels just like you kissed a shot of lidocaine. Mom didn't go for it (I thought it would be funny and I could post the video on You Tube).

 Anywho, I didn't have much fun at Mom and Dad's house until I got this darn bag finished. I swear I'm not making another one.

  But I already have it cut out. 

Dang it.

Food at Mom and Dad's

I love going home for a visit.

It will be 50 years, next summer, they have been in this house. I started first grade that fall (1964).

Now I go back a couple of times a year. I timed it right this year. Dad's tomatoes were ripe and ready to eat.

I ate my weight in tomato sandwiches. Mom had never had one, and she was surprised she didn't miss the lettuce and bacon. We put a thick slice of peeled ripe tomato between two skinny slices of white bread each smoothed with a bit of mayonaise; don't try to slip any damn Miracle Whip in there. See? Easy and delicious. No bacon needed.

Dad made pizza one night, salmon the next.

Dad ended up making two cherry pies while I was there. I was on a diet. A cherry pie diet. 

  I am very sorry I don't have a photo of the grilled okra. Dad impaled individual okra on bamboo skewers, brushed them with clarified butter and grilled them until roasty. Man, oh, man, okra heaven.

 Bird houses are everywhere you look in the garden. When Mom and I walked out back to the studio, we were stalked by a very angry wren.

 She was scolding us and flitting from place to place. We never figured out where her nest was (although I did find a nest, she didn't ever go near it).

 She can certainly take her pick of bird houses.

Next week I will post photos of the quilts Mom sent back to Atlanta with me.

Karmen

One Month

Embrace beauty in all its textures and layers, in all its time: past, present and future.

I have been taking time to make adjustments, sob my guts out, and absorb the silence in my home. I stay busy, but in the non-busy time his absence is like grey fog seeping into my conscience. It happens less now than at first. 

One night I heard his car door slam shut like he was coming home from being out. When we're  asleep, do brains select random noises from the past to play back?

The love seat and coffee table from the living room are now in the bedroom where I can read in the evenings. The big screen TV is, and always has been, too close to my chaise.

I cut out a new quilt, but I haven't found the discipline to put it together. It is for a special friend who has helped me through all this, so I will work on it during Thimbles Summer Stitch (In). Pat, if you are reading this, this year it is a Summer STITCH, not Stitch In. We'll have fun either way. I will be there if I can get vacation time.

I'd like to secure these yo-yos to this hand-dyed background.

That would be good. 
AND look what I found in the process of spiffing up the sewing room.

 Two of Mom's patterns we occaisonally get asked about. The Dresden Hearts pattern was published in 1989, and the rug pattern in 1986!

Cleaning the sewing room is a start.

Sunday Night Quickie

 I don't remember putting this "Bento Box" quilt on the blog. If I did, forgive me.  I worked on it while I was spending time in Mom's (Linda Brannock's) studio last month.

 I took the course from Jean Ann Wright at the Georgia Quilt Show. It was fun to select border fabrics from Mom's stash. (She has ever so much to choose from.)

I liked working on it enough to consider making a second one.

 We got a new Hancock's fabric store by my house. I had to go look around to see what they had. I found some reproduction Victoria and Albert fabric by David Textiles. 

The "David" fabric is not the quality I prefer, but the blues (below) are from Blue Hill. La-Te-Da! I love the hand; soft yet dense and smooth.

The previous two quilt tops complete, I found myself able to start the top I told Mom I was going to make two or three months ago. I wanted to work with Audra's Iris Garden by Brannock and Patek.

I started cutting. I just love these flowers. I noticed I have "Audra's" but I also have "Awakening." I didn't realize I have mixed two lines "Together." Ha. That was clever, right?

If you didn't get it, don't worry over it. Pretty lame. I want to make "Hexagon Hip Hop" from the pretty iris fabric.

 I've done the hexies by hand before, but these are large and are constructed from half-hexagons.

The instructions have been easy to follow, but I had to give up cutting because someone got in my way.

I won't say who, but I think you can figure it out.