Not exactly how I planned to spend my summer...

Father's Day weekend, my 93-year old mother tripped, fell, and broke two bones in her neck. She's doing well (remarkably, no pain, and she's up and walking and in physical and occupational therapy twice a day at the rehab center), but my father, absolutely lost without his wife of 68 years, turned out to be the one who needed the most tending.

So home I went to cook, clean, do laundry, garden, grocery shop and make daily visits to Mom (which, after a couple days, tended to coincide with the afternoon ice cream social). I pined for my sewing machine, wishing I'd brought it with me but acknowledging that there wouldn't be much sewing going on, anyway. I was trying to do actual work after he went to bed every night, but a project needed special attention, so I returned to Chicago for four days, leaving Dad with plenty of hot dogs (the only thing he can cook in the microwave), yogurt and my sister's gift certificate to the local diner.

The first thing I did when I got home was sit down and start quilting.

Excuse the horrendous amount of lint! That Kona Nightfall shows everything!

I could feel the tension leave my body as that walking foot chugged along. I believe I also kissed the machine once or twice. And look how well I lined up the backing!  There's a first time for everything.

I didn't finish it, but made enough progress that I'm not going to be antsy when I return to my parents' today. Mom's coming home tomorrow, so it's back to caretaking.

I'm going to miss that ice cream.

Untitled...

Not sure what to call this one just yet. I think it's going to have to wait until it's quilted. It's very "City Quilts"-ish, which is probably my subconscious inspiration.

It may be picking up some reflection from the kitchen wall (can you tell I love yellow?) because despite what my camera tells me, these are all shades of blues and greens, no yellows or purples, at least thirty different scraps. That one dark teal in the middle is bugging me a little bit, but not enough to go pull it out. It's a cross-weave and may be photographing more on the black side; there's better contrast up close.

Still loving Kona Nightfall, and I see many possibilities for it in my future. I should have ordered more!

In love...

I think yellow and blue is my all-time favorite color combination, and I am absolutely in love with this little quilt.

At 40" square, it's a good little lap or baby size. I'm not sure if it's the off-centeredness of it or what -- I made this quilt out of many of the same fabrics three years ago and wasn't half as enthralled -- but there's just something about it that's making me want one for my bed. Note the wall color -- wouldn't it be great?

I used a rose print for the backing that I originally bought to use for the bedroom curtains. The striped binding, a much less bold choice than what I had planned, is perfect.

And of course, what's a photo shoot without the cat? I swear, he can hear the shutter click from the other end of the condo and comes running.

This one is definitely going on my wish list.

And on Day Seven...

...I rested. Six WIP's is enough.

And since I was already on my way to sorting through the blues, greens and aquas in the scrap box, I decided to go all out and get better organized -- with a little help from Archie, of course.

For much of the day, it looked like a rainbow exploded in my kitchen.

Many of those scraps were gifted from Jacquie as she was packing up to leave me Chicago last spring (can you tell from all the orange?)  I had sorted through them a while ago, but not by prints/solids and not by specific shade, which would have been more helpful in pulling colors for Saturday's project.

 He lost steam fairly early on.

As I organized the scraps a second time this weekend, I found some Bruno hairs and got all nostalgic.  Jacquie wasn't here for very long, but we developed a friendship -- first through blogging, then explorations of  Chicago, lots of lunches, and quilting -- that (I hope) will last a long time. I'd never had a close friend before who understood or shared my love of quilting and fabric. She didn't raise an eyebrow at the stash overwhelming the corner of my kitchen or question my rationale for the bolts in the back closet (freedom to experiment!).  I had a boyfriend once who said "I don't understand it, but I respect it," which is the closest I've gotten to acceptance of my hobby among my circle of friends. I feel honored to have been witness to the growth and demonstration of Jacquie's talent (our first sew day together saw the beginnings of this quilt), benefitted from her experience, and been a recipient of her generosity. I miss being able to swap fabric in an emergency, or just coordinate a play day for a run to Vogue Fabrics or PetSmart. We still keep in touch pretty regularly as she jets around the country teaching, but you gotta admit, having a quilty friend within walking distance is pretty darn special.

A week of WIP's, Day Six...

And yet another project. Where are all these babies coming from?

This one should go pretty quickly now that all the squares are cut and the layout is (relatively) final.

I'm not sure the same can be said for the cleanup.

A week of WIP's, Day Five...

Don't think I forgot about my Fern quilt!

These triangles are still in the works -- it's just one of those projects that I should have thought through a little more carefully before I decided to add quarter-inch strips between each piece. I have a hard enough time keeping my triangle rows straight as it is, and I guess it's pretty typical that I decided to complicate things.

That being said, the white brings a much-needed lightness to it. Even with so much yellow, it felt too serious to be a baby quilt. Good decision, but maybe wider strips would have made it easier to work with. For me, anyway.

My progress with this is slower than normal, but as you've seen all week I have plenty of other things to work on when/if my momentum slows.

A week of WIP's, Day Four...

These little strings measure 8.5" x 4.5", which means they're going pretty fast, and provide a quick break from all the other projects.

My new favorite Kona is Nightfall. It's a beautiful shade of navy, with a depth to it that lets the other colors shine. I think I'll be using it a lot more in the future.

The juggling continues!