Bon Voyage

This fabric is reminiscent of the wonderful experience of an Alaskan cruise which my youngest brother and his wife so graciously invited me to share with them and their family, their daughter's teacher, and our mother. I had never been on a cruise, nor had mom, so this was a thrill of a lifetime for us!  Beautiful, rugged Alaskan scenery, a thrilling helicopter ride over glaciers, breathtaking skies, whale sightings which had everyone leaving their dinner tables to crowd around windows, each night being rocked to sleep on the gentle ocean - memories to remember and treasure forever!  My heartfelt gratitude to Perry and Sandy!

Joy of Spring

I love this fabric sprinkled with butterflies, flowers and all the other symbols of spring. Those who know me know that I'm not a "snow person" so the arrival of spring is a breath of fresh air and begins a re-awakening of my spirit after the snow melts. I love seeing the first daffodils peek out from the newly sun-warmed soil and seeing the first robin of the new season.

This quilt is my ode to the Joy of Spring.

Auntie's House

The pattern of this quilt brought back memories of my aunt's house from when I was about 4 years old. She had this beautiful Victorian-style carpet with large burgundy flowers against a soft gray background. Though the colors in this quilt aren't the same as that carpet, it still stirred those memories within my heart.

This quilt is dedicated to the memory of my darling Auntie Blanche who I miss very much (the picture above is of Auntie Blanche and "baby me").

Serenity

I fell in love with this fabric at first sight. On a recent trip to Idaho, my sister-in-law Lorna and I were sharing our new-found love of quilting, and when I showed her this fabric, she too fell in love with it. Upon my return home, I purchased some and sent it to her.

We both share a love of Oriental fabric themes, and this one was no exception. The cascading flowers around the illuminated pagoda evoke the peacefulness of a quiet moonlit night.

Another of my prized quilts that I entitled "Serenity."

Paradise Quilt

Each of my quilts reflect a part of my heart and bears a title symbolizing something meaningful to me, and I think this one is my most prized quilt.

This fabric really caught my eye. I love deep contrasting colors, and the deep green felt almost velvety to me. Then I saw the fabric with these beautiful flowers, and I knew the flowers belonged with deep green fabric. The blossoms reminded me of the gardenia plant that we had in our back yard in Santa Barbara. We also had a hedge of jasmine around the back yard and enjoyed relaxing in the back yard during summer evenings with all the wonderful fragrances. Thus the name of this quilt, “Paradise.”

Blogspot is one of my many new ventures this year, and I'm having fun learning how to set this up, make it fun, and also to document my projects.

It's been a busy year, and I am currently unemployed. As I job search, I am also doing quite a bit of sewing and have now completed my current quilt projects, have made several aprons (for some reason, I seem to be stuck in the 1950's mentality, and some of the aprons reflect that style), even made a couple pairs of lined kitchen curtains (out of the red bistro style fabric shown above), have a blouse almost finished, oh yes, made a skirt without a pattern, made several sets of reversible placemats, stitched tablecloths and have drawn up the plans for a queen sized bedspread for us.

In March, I was in a car crash (which I have to qualify was not my fault), and my neck, upper and lower back injuries have curtailed a lot of my projects. I can sew for a short span of time and then walk around to work out the kinks, have done physical therapy and am doing massage as well. Feels so good when I feel good! :-)

Bought myself a new sewing machine - a Janome DC2010 and can give you a glowing recommendation if anyone is considering a new machine. This is a dream, and it really is user-friendly, quiet, easy, and just generally a joy to use and own!!

Here's wishing you all a very creative day and many creative days ahead. And may all those creative days be filled with God's richest blessings!