I Spy Quilt for Clayton

 3 weeks ago a co-worker shared that her cousin's baby was having surgery in Houston. He was born with Craniosynostosis - a premature fusion of the cranial sutures (soft spots). I went home and began pulling fabrics for a quilt. 

I've been collecting fabrics for I Spy quilts for some time and I thought Clayton needed one so sewing commenced. I used a disappearing 9-patch for the design and pulled lots of fun 5" novelty prints for the blocks:

I pieced it in 3 days and took it to Jackie who had it ready when I was back in town on Monday for work. I sat down to bind it the next day and thought I'd try to bind it by machine. I figured the blue binding, combined with the blue Minky, might hide any wobbles and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with it, but I love stitching binding by hand:

I backed it with blue Minky for that cozy, cuddle effect

I will give it to my co-worker on Monday. There are 56 little squares for him to seek and find in this quilt that finishes at 48" x 58"

After a successful surgery, Clayton is home - surrounded with love and prayers. He's busy healing and  exploring and growing and thriving. Praising God for the medical team and technology that made it possible and excited to watch this little boy discover all the new adventures that lie ahead and I hope he drags this little quilt along for the ride:

Wildflower Quilt Finish

 I love quilt finishes as much as I love quilt beginnings and this one started way back in February of 2020 with some fabrics from a 2015 line called Bloom & Bliss. I just had some random 1/2 yard cuts from the collection and I added a little bit of gingham and one more print from my stash:

The pattern I used is called Wildflowers 

and I love the combination of pieced flowers and pinwheels:

I added an extra row, used a white on white dot for the background and pulled the red print from the pinwheels for the binding:

Once I had this pieced, it hung around for a long time waiting for a backing, but I found this fun blue print at a little shop called Scrappy Quilter in Schertz, TX last year and knew it was exactly what I had been looking for:

Jackie's quilting magic brought everything to life

At 65" x 75", I think it made a pretty little quilt:

I wish I had a fresh spring backdrop to show it off, but although we've had some warm days, the desert terrain hasn't quite decided to relinquish it's hold on winter just yet, but we've got pretty blue skies - at least we did this morning when I took these photos - now the wind is howling and the sky is filled with dirt, but just 2 days ago 2 of the trees began to release their little pre-leaves, or seeds, so green leaves are soon to follow 

I'll keep it in my quilt armoire until it is chosen to fill a need and hopefully bring a little joy. 

I like to keep a few finished quilts on hand because when something comes up, it's nice to have a few choices to select from. We had a few clouds the next day so I snapped this shot that shows the true colors:

He's Home!

 No one really even knew he was away, but on March 3rd, DH left for Tanzania. 

And no, I did not go with him. It was an unexpected trip. His brother had booked the trip a few years ago and his wife backed out 3 weeks before they were slated to leave so on Feb. 12, DH got a text from his brother asking him if he wanted to go. 

Last Fall we received devastating news that DH's brother has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. He's 58. He's an equine vet and he and 2 partners started up a VERY successful clinic that now employs 9 vets. Sadly, his brother couldn't take this trip alone and the $ already paid is not refundable. So we rushed and scrounged and ran around in circles and prayed, trying to organize a trip to Tanzania in 3 weeks. I told DH that if he was meant to go, God would work out all the details and work out all the details he did. 

We hustled and bustled the entire time and made a mad dash to Lubbock (3 hrs one way) one morning to meet with Customs for a  4457 (a required form in order for DH to travel with a firearm). He needed a PRC Covid test, tons of paperwork, visa applications, and during all of the commotion, DH took our camp man around for a few weeks so he'd be familiar with the south end of the ranch and the water system. We've only got 300 hd here so DH just had him feed everything. And of course, Skeet was heartbroken:

I didn't tell anyone. Not friends or co-workers because I just didn't want folks knowing I was home alone. We don't participate in social media so I thought I was in the clear, but we did have to tell our Camp Man so some folks knew and of course we told the kids. The safari company they went with also posted on Instagram and a friend follows them and recognized DH. LOL. So secrets are pretty hard to keep these days. 

Skeet and I managed to keep the shenanigans to a minimum while DH was away:

The horses aren't used to the grunting that accompanies chore time when I lug the50# sack of cubes out to them in the evenings. The older I get, the heavier those sacks get.

I did very little cooking, but got a craving for Cranberry Bread:

You'd think I'd sew my heart out with so much free time, but I didn't. I felt kind of lost and puttered and sorted and cleaned a lot. I have some fabric I know I will never use so I pulled those and got ready to post those online for sale:

And worked on some binding

I worked in the yard and garden, getting things ready for spring

We only do 1 puzzle a year, at Christmas, but I pulled out a puzzle and worked on it while I watched The American:

I'm not a TV bug, but I don't sleep well when DH is away and  I discovered a Show called Shetland and binge-watched every season - 

But all went well and after 17 days, Skeet and I are thrilled to have our intrepid hunter home.

It was a wonderful trip for both of them and I'm so grateful that he was able to spend this special time with this brother! 

Settling in to Sew

I haven't sewn much since before Thanksgiving and I'm itching to start some new projects, but I had some old tops that needed some attention so I made some bindings and pieced a few backs. 

I traded Jackie some tops for quilts last week so I'm enjoying some hand binding in the evening

So when I found some unexpected free time, I was eager to dig in to something new. I floundered for a few days because I had so much to choose from, but I need to make a few more patriotic quilts and have a stack of squares left over from this quilt: 

And I am using them as leader-enders and turning them into HSTs:

I finished appliqueing the little sailboats for a baby quilt I started probably 4 or 5 years ago and handed it off to Jackie

I kind of want to use up the rest of these On Deck fabrics and I've got enough for a few more baby quilts. I like the versatility of HSTs so that's where these are headed

I also have this Sweetwater kit. I love this color combination of taupe-cream-red:

And it feels good to finally release these fabrics from their bin and move this project forward.

And then my co-worker told me that her cousin's baby was in Houston undergoing a serious surgery and I pushed everything aside because that sweet baby needed a quilt ASAP so I'm currently sewing up a storm:

New Sewing Inspiration

My SIL stopped by the other day and she left me these:

She made this quilt and it is beautiful and I just so happen to have a burgeoning bin of blues:

And this quilt has been on my list to make - yes, another Miss Rosie (Carrie Nelson) pattern:

She wants to make every quilt in this book and wanted to enable me show me all the great patterns.

Lots of inspiration! 

Step one - find some time to sew...LOTS of time!