{Post 1,138} Floral String Quilt Recipient

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Mrs. H.  She is one of the most positive and cheerful people I have ever known.  She is my adopted grandma.  

Last year I got an idea of making her a string quilt from my watercolor fabrics.  She is an avid flower gardener.  I even have some of her grand-plants...ones she started for me from her supply.  They are special to me.

There was a period of time where we would visit for 90 minutes or so every Wednesday night.  Sadly, it has been months since we've had a good sit-down chat.  So yesterday I made a point to spend some time with her.  I also got a pic of her with the lap-sized quilt I made for her last year (I had neglected to get a picture when I gave it to her).  It's about 60" square.  I didn't want her to get tangled up in it or have something too heavy for her to handle.

Mrs. H is a very young 88.  Love spending time with her.  

{Post 1,029} 36 Floral String Blocks

Here are the 36 floral string blocks laid out to my liking.  There were only a couple fabrics that really needed to be spaced out because they stood out (!), so that made it easier.  I am working some more on machine quilting my Christmas bed quilt, so I will sew these to each other for a break during that process.  I like these...a lot!!

{Post 1,028} 24 Floral String Blocks

A friend came over to make a Twister runner today.  I let her use my sewing machine, so I did not sew as much as I might have otherwise.  I didn't want to run my HandiQuilter while she was there because it's so noisy.  


So after I cleaned up the whole house just for her arrival, I sewed floral strings until she was ready to use my sewing machine.  While she sewed I ripped paper off the blocks that were already finished and trimmed.  Now I just need to sew about 1/3 of 12 more blocks to have them all finished. This is indeed a beautiful quilt.  I am sewing all 12, adding one strip to each one, in a row.  

At first I thought I should have made the black strips wider, and out of something with more interest than the solid black I used.  Now I'm lovin' it!

My husband and 3 of my children will be home tomorrow.  They have a very long drive ahead of them.  Left Wisconsin (northern WI) at 5 this evening.  Meant to get off earlier, but something must have held them up.

Good night!

~Joan

{Post 1,027} A Surprise Started

There is a dear elderly widow in my church that loves flowers.  She has given me several of my favorite plants in our natural area out front.  


I have been machine quilting last night and this AM and have learned the hard way that I can't keep doing that like the Energizer bunny, or I'll pay for it in back and shoulder pain the next day (s).  Only this much more to go on my wreath quilt (about 3 more feet of batting showing, so I must be close to the end!):

So as I took a break from machine quilting today, I started a set of 8" string blocks for my friend, Mrs. H.  I used widely-colored strings from my watercolor quilt stash.  The same fabrics that I used for my Florabunda quilt.  


Here are my flocks so far.  In this photo, the paper is still on the backs, so they don't stick flat to the design wall.

My son, Luke, saw them and said they look like stained glass.  I suppose they do from a distance.  I used a 1" cut black strip for the center diagonally of each block.  I love the ease and mindlessness of sewing strings.

~Joan