Wonky Nine Patch

When I first started to quilt, my dream was to be able to machine quilt.  There was a day when machine quilting was frowned at, but in recent years it is acceptable.  There are many talented long armers that do wonderful and breath taking work.  I know I will never be one of them, since my first attempts at machine quilting were quite disappointing.  I still wanted to create quilts, so I set out to learn to hand quilt.  Not to my surprise it is my favorite part of quilting.  I have mentioned before that hand quilting is relaxing and therapeutic for me.

 Hand quilting takes time and patience and I didn't have either when I started this quilt.  So, I decided that I would attempt to machine quilt this one. My first attempt was aweful, and I spent an afternoon picking out the stitches.  I thought about big stitching it, but my heart wasn't into that either. I have really never done big stitching and this being a baby quilt, I didn't want to chance little toes or fingers get caught up in the stitches.

Time was running out and I decided to try my hand at machine quilting.  I  tried to break it down to something that would make this manageable for me. So I came up with idea to stitch a motif on each wonky nine patch and if I could master one block then I should be able to finish the quilt eventually.  So what better than wonky five pointed stars on wonky nine patches.  I am happy with the results.  I may try something like this on a top I made several years ago our of scraps.  It is hard to hand quilt over a lot of seams so this may be the solution.

Klosjes

Hand quilting and hand stitching is therapy for me, so over the Memorial Day weekend I took along precut pieces to stitch on the trip to Texas.  I plan to do the same for the next trip we take in July to TN.  It is nice to have something to keep my fingers busy on the long trips.
These klosjes will be appliqued onto 6.5 in blocks which will then be stitched together to make a quilt top.  I am using all pink fabrics for the actual spools, but I haven't decided about what I will use for the background block. I have thought about browns or may just go scrappy. Time will tell, and it will be awhile before I get enough of these together to make a quilt top.

Grandkids

Not sure where the time goes, but somehow it escapes me. My husband and I spent the weekend in Texas visiting our children and their families.  I brought my camera along to get some updated photos of grand kids, but I must admit I didn't do very well, but that is ok, I was busy enjoying them.  I did capture the two youngest in their kiddie pool in Austin.  They are so very  busy at this age, they kept me hopping.  I really enjoyed playing with play dough that Grandpa helped make, splashing in the pool and of course the many many pictures we drew on the patio with side walk chalk.