Monday, April 11, 2016

A finish ... finally

The baby quilt is now ready and waiting for its new owner. Taking the advice from Rose Marie, I asked my daughter to bring me some Oxiclean when she came from the states. After testing it on a scrap, I rubbed it into the pen lines and let it set, then washed the quilt. Almost all the pen lines came out on the first washing and one more shot pretty well cleaned the pen off. Good call!

Aren't blogging friends the greatest?


A half-day of sun gave me a chance to take a few pictures. I ended up quilting a few cats into the larger areas and added a pale purple binding.

The backing is made of tenugui and yukata fabric (the purple floral). Since this is the year of the monkey, I added some monkey tenugui.


The red to yellow fabric I had auditioned for the side borders, ended up on the back ... as it did on big sister's quilt.

Today I added a label along the bottom. It says ... " For You Daphne. You can count leaves ... You can count cats ... Left-handed cats .. Right handed cats .. Winking cats ... and you can always count on my love."

I am pretty satisfied with the way it came out and hope it will get plenty of use before long.

Another sweet little baby has been added to our church family and I will dig in my child-friendly prints to see if I can put something together for him next. It is fun to have small projects for take-along work and my nine-patch is coming along slowly too. I wish I was better at math so I could calculate the border piecing better but the bottom strip seems to be coming out pretty close to what I had imagined ... and fabric is pretty forgiving so I think it will work. If not. I will figure out something creative for the corners and make it fit.

Yesterday was the memorial service for my husband, Paul. So many people worked behind the scenes to make it a very special occasion. The church was packed with his friends and mine as well as members. There was a lovely reception ... beautifully decorated with a cherry blossom theme, a beautiful cake, music, finger food, slide show, everything was so wonderful and I am thankful to all the friends and family who pulled it together. What a wonderful celebration of life! I took my camera with me but not even one picture ... but before I even got home, Facebook was full of posts of pictures. It is going to take me ages to thank everyone enough.

16 comments:

  1. This is a beautiful quilt. The numbers look great and the label is so touching. I am sorry for the loss of your husband.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely quilts. I had fun looking for the quilted cats. I have gotten behind in my blog reading and did not know about your husband. I am sorry for your loss, but so pleased that your friends and church family had what sounds like a lovely celebration of his life.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great quilt. I use oxi clean on the chrome parts, when cleaning sewing machines. Glad lots of people helped you celebrate Paul's life. He will still be a part of your life, even though he is gone.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your quilt turned out just darling. Love the colors and shape of the numbers. The label is the best part!! I am glad family & friends helped you celebrate your husbands life. I wonder how the dog is handling him being gone?

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a quilt.. cats, numbers, leaves , just truly beautiful, this will be a treasure forever.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your baby quilt is adorable! The addition of quilted cats was very clever - and the label is super special. I'm also glad that family and friends were able to help you celebrate your husband's life - it sounds like it was a very nice memorial service - ;))

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love those quilted cats. So cheerful and happy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your quilt, you do such beautiful work and I can see the love that you put into each one. The cats are such a cute idea, I will have to remember that when I think of quilting designs and things I can add to the kid's quilts. Are you on Facebook?

    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  9. That quilt is gorgeous, Julie. You do such beautiful hand sewing and quilting.
    How lovely that so many of your friends and family turned out to celebrate Paul's life. I know you miss him so much and pray for you both.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This quilt is a masterpiece though designed to be used hard by children. I say "children" because it will be a keepsake passed down or shared until it shreds. The vines are so beautiful as well as clever! I am so glad that Paul's memorial service went so well.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well done, I love your quilt and love the what you wrote on the label. I hope your late husband's memorial service was a day to remember and full of love.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a blessed girl little Daphne is! You've made a beautiful quilt that will be fun to look at and learn to count with, and the message on the label is a beautiful touch. Is there no end to your tengui collection? You seem to have one of ANY theme there is!
    So glad to hear your friends helped celebrate Paul's life.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The quilt is simply delightful. First thing I noticed were the cats quilted into the background - clever idea. It is so bright and cheerful - lovely little Daphne will adore it I'm sure.

    How nice that everyone pitched in to make the menorial so specail.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your quilt is beautiful Such a special gift. And your sentiments for the label are lovely!!
    I am so pleased the memorial went well. It reminds you of how much your husband was appreciated and hopefully held some special memories for you, too.

    ReplyDelete
  15. So glad that Oxiclean helped you. the quilt is adorable and Daphne will treasure it. Sad times, but wonderful memories and friends help.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Julie, I love this quilt. I am inspired to make a quilt with numbers, maybe because
    I taught math!! Glad to hear that the memorial service for Paul was so special. Thinking of you today and glad you have so many activities to keep your mind off your troubles. Love you.

    ReplyDelete