Red and White Block Exchange Quilt

I completed this in September 2017.  The back was pieced by Cathy Smith, The Kwazy Quilter.

Colorways for Jen and Tony's Quilt

Stacie's "Slipper Rose" Baby Quilt

It has been 3 years since I have used this blog. I wanted to show the progression of a new baby quilt I am making using a Slice and Dice method I got from a little worksheet from Linda V.  It is really an interesting technique and I am learning al ot along the way.

This is the beautiful Slipper Rose Fat Quarter set from Fat Quarter Shop in 3 colorways: Ruby Slippers (Pinks), Glass Slippers (blues) and Dress Slippers (greens).  I am certain my mother had one of these as her childhood wallpaper in the 1950's.

I am not sure if you can click on this to see it better, but this is the set of instructions from Linda.  Basically, I am stacking up 12 Fat Quarters, shoring them up and making 3 slices along the long side and 2 slices along the short side.

 This process gave me 12 stacks of 12 pieces of fabric.  Then I had to shuffle based on the "recipe" above to ensure 1 piece of the 12 different patterns were representing in each block.

After shuffling, I sewed together 4 pieces to create a row for the block then sewed the 3 rows together to create the blocks.  Here is what I learned.  I should have mixed up the colors of the fat quarters before I cut them.  You can see all the blues, pinks and greens are together following each other.  Now that I made the cuts I cannot figure how to mix without creating a big mess resulting in 2 of the same fabrics touching. I also wish that the stripes were not all going the same direction. Although I love the fabric, the value is very much the same. I tried to add a solid dark pink to the mix but pulled it out because it stuck out like a soar thumb.  I am trimming and ironing as I go.  And it is going pretty fast.  I cannot wait to work on the 11 other blocks.  This was a good utilization of the full fat quarter block, and I like it much better than turning 21.  I plan to add some decorative stitching in the quilting in blue, pink and green to mimic a traditional crazy quilt.

Stacie's theme for the baby (a girl) is Shabby Chic.  I thought the quilt looked so nice with the shower invitation.  I am hoping (assuming I actually finish the quilt!) to display the quilt on an old wooden ladder I have that I paint in baby blue chalk paint.

This is a snap shot of the red and white quilt I had to take off the design board to work on the baby quilt.  See the border I am adding thanks to ideas from my bee and inspiration from Carole S.

mckenna's first blog

Hi puppy's are alway lol and cute.Lol lol lol lol lol lol.

Life is Good : )

I am doing all my favorite things today. I am in my favorite city: Tokyo. I am traveling business class by a very strange twist of IBMness (certainly an accident!). I am drinking free wine in the Admirals Club. They had my favorite Japanese sandwiches: potato salad (which Jeff had me craving before I left the office. How the heck am I going to get a green Melon Pond in Raleigh NC! -- Jeff, if you are reading this, I asked Joe to pick up some yeast along with the pistashios in the way to pick me up. I am hoping someone has posted a recipe on how to make Melon Pond on the i'net!). AND, they have pumpkin soup (my favorite!) here at the Admirals Clug. Wow! How much better could this day get??!! (I am seeing McKenna - THAT's how!) Forgot to mention great SHOPPING and purse purchasing here at the airport with another female IBMer! (And LOTS of great gifts for my fruit bat!!!!) Soon I will be doing another of my favorite activities: drinking cold champagne and eating warm nuts in the quiet comfort of a BIG business class seat....ahhhh, life is SO good! Cannot wait to see that little bears face and Joe's when I get home tonight!!! Yeah! That's all I can think about!

I HEART TOKYO

Although I "heart it," I'm leaving it. And, happy to do so because I miss Joe and McKenna SO much. It was 10 years ago the last time I was here, and I sure hope it will not be 10 years before I am back again. I got to see one of my favorite friends in the world, Hikaru Hie (Lu, who was in my wedding). I can almost cry thinking of what an incredible life she has made for herself in 10 years. Now the CEO of her own company, in improv comedian, a bongo player in a band -- hello, could she be any cooler! She is a ball of engery that inspires everyone she meets. In addition to old friends, I made a new friend in my newly adopted brother, Jeff. Jeff is excited about Tokyo (dare I say more if that is possible!) than I. He showed me some new things, including Melon Pond (a honeydew flavored bread), almond dessert waffles and street-food cheese filled "pancakes." If I hung around him much longer I would surely gain lots of weight (despite his walking our legs off). I was reminded of my excitement around the Tokyo subway system. It is thrilling and scary and reminds me of Alice in Wonderland popping her head up in new crazy locations every time she sticks her head up. We had incredible meals while here:
Night Before Last: Mario I Santi... between Roppongi and Hiro. On the table we were served blanched pointy green cauliflower, green and black olives, sun dried tomatoes in garlic-anchovy olive oil. I thnk I had the best meal of my life there: pistachio gnocchi with shrimp followed by pistachio creme brulee (hey, what can I say? Mario and I have a thing for pistachios!). Last night we went to a crazy little place that has no name. It is just a door. You walk through and it is like a tree house with ply wood walls, a narrow staircase up and Japanese style tables you put your feet into a hole and sit on the floor. It was a 10 course dinner. Let me see if I can name all that was served: radish and raw fish, salad with raw fish and ginger dressing with pine nuts and celephane noodles, huge hunks of sashimi with shredded readish, boiled whole little baby potatoes in a honey sauce with fried shoestring potatoes on top, chicken with wasabi, tuna tail that was about 12 inches high that had been slowly braised, Karin beer. I stopped after the potaoes.

Tired

I am so tired I cannot even finish thinking my thoughts on what we did today....