New beginnings and work in progress

The first day of the second half of the year is here. Lucciano is celebrating with a clean cage and new tail feathers. He is still working on new wing feathers and I miss his usual amount of singing. I gave him a nail trim and he certainly deserves an A+ in patience. I keep wondering how long this old cage will hold up. I have not seen any like it for many years. Long ago it had a stand that could be moved around the room but for this tiny room, the window is perfect. He has a good view of the wild birds on the feeder and the neighborhood cats on the garden wall.

Over the weekend I did a bit of baby sitting. It felt like old times rocking my little sweetie in my comfy chair and using the time for a bit of quilting.

Leia leaps into life at full tilt, always on the move.(I call her "the blur" because every picture of her shows her in motion... if you can get a picture at all...) Then comes the crash. A few songs and she is out. Ah, to be three!

I still have a long way to go on this big quilt and it is going to have to step aside this month for a banner that has a deadline of September.

I am quilting the flowers in the border fabric with colored thread and repeating the flower in the 8inch blocks. I have yet to decide what to do with the large blocks.

Plan A .. a larger flower

Plan B.. the same size flower with an outer ring of petals

Plan C.. four smaller flowers

Plan D.. a cluster of the smaller flowers as seen in the border


There is still plenty to do while I am mulling this over in my mind. In spite of its summery look, this is a very warm quilt. My daughter knows she will not be getting it any time soon, still, the idea of having a nice sunny quilt on those gray Portland winter days makes me want to push a bit harder.

Leia's Quilt 2008

After swearing off hexagons forever, here I am back going going crazy again. Norie liked the I Spy I had made for Julie's boys and I didn't have to do any fabric shopping thus an alphabet for the center. I thought it only fair to put the Hiragana around the edge.


The plans changed when Norie wanted the 1 inch pieces added because the border was now too small. Kato-san gave me some fabric out of her stash of a similar color and the 1-10 counting filled those areas along with name in the upper right and date of birth in the lower left.

Norie got the organic cotton backing. It is soft and shows off my crooked quilting. From a technical standpoint this is the worst quilt I ever made. I was ready to toss it at several points. I hope my darling granddaughter will look at the love and not the imperfections.

68" x 82.5" (173 cm x 210cm)