A Quilt for Grandpa-Grandpa on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday

One More Row to Go

Yesterday I spent some quality time stitching in the studio with the Norwegian Knitter. Now that the new window treats are up it is so much cooler and enjoyable to be back there this time of year and it's really hard to pull myself away.  For all of the hours I spend in there,  I can never seem to finish anything because I am too distracted/discouraged by the Black Hole Craft Closet.

This abyss holds all of my fabric...and most of my beads...and most of my carving materials...and all of my holiday decorations...and all of my empty shoe boxes I might need someday...and three unused yoga mats...and a broken Hello Kitty sewing machine...you get the idea.

At 7:30 a.m., after an hour of birding, I was fed up with the looming closet.  I was getting sucked in by the magnetic-color-wheel-explosion-pull and order needed to be returned.

I pulled everything out of the closet and was determined to regoranize so I could actually get to my fabric stash. That left me facing this:

Reality

What a mess! I post this to show you I am not Martha by a long shot.


And then I unearthed a real treasure.  Something I had started last summer.  Something that I had been meaning to finish and never got to after Hello Kitty gave out:  A Kaffe Fasset charm quilt.  I had five nine-patch blocks finished and just needed to complete four more to have a finished top. I dusted off and oiled the Singer 301 and got to work.

One More Row II

I kept sewing and sewing...and guess what? I came to the conclusion I am not a great sewer...yet.  My seams are crooked and I have no idea how to nest properly when I iron, but once I got the top up in the window to take a look, I was thrilled (big reveal in a moment).

I love how the colors and the prints play, and the way the rows trickle down like the seasons--pale winter/spring bursts at the top, failling into bright spring/summer patches and finally the saturated summer/autumn tiles complete the cycle.

I was pretty happy with my 81 patches. And then I got to thinking...Grandpa Grandpa is going to be 90 years old next Saturday. If I added one more row of nine patches, I'd have 90 squares. And I have been wanting to make him a lap quilt.

Bam! Brilliant! Of course--this will be a lap quilt for Grandpa-Grandpa on the occasion of his 90th birthday!

I got to back to work. Brewed a pitcher of Passion iced-tea for sustenance. Ate some yellow and chocolate cake. Got back on the sewing machine (oh how I have missed her!)

Passion Tea

A few more pins, seams, tucks and 'oh shoot' s later, I finished this:

Grandpa Grandpa's Quilt

Now: I have to beg Mamacat and HH to back and bind the thing, because I have no idea how to do that...yet. I've got to get to the Post Office and Priority Mail this sucker! I'll keep you posted. And for the record, I hauled down about 20 cubic feet of junk to curb-cycle, and it's all gone. But the studio is still trashed, and that's ok.

XO Terez

Walk to Work Thursday

Turbo Charge

Red Iron Walk

Turquoise Eave

Here Comes the Sol

 

 

Yesterday's News Today

Terez Through the Looking Glass

Emergency Mail

Cathedral Concrete

Resparkling

Daisy Chain

You may have noticed: I am a jewel junkie.

Some day I'll take the time to write about how this came to be (thank you Grandma Helena and Grandma June) but I want to take the time to do that right. So for now, please observe:

Upcycle Jewelry Fixings

This is what came in the mail yesterday. Four pounds of broken bits of floatsom and jetsom.  'Bah! Terez! What are you going to use that junk for?'

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Tiger Beads

 Ooooh tiger-stripey beads. Hmmm. A little gaudy now, for sure. But I see potential.

Blackberry Patch

Mmmm blackberry patch. Reminds me of the thickets that grow wild all over Oregon. Reminds me of picking juicy berries right after college with Angela-Girl, the summer that she stayed with us, and the cobbler and vichyssoise we made with cod (remembered fondly as one of our Top 10 Meals of All Time).

Moonglow

Ahhh. Moonglow beads. Plastic? Sure. Means they are lightweight and I can cluster them together for high impact but low pull on the earlobes.

Coral Field

Coral fields. How I love red!

This is the state of my studio:

Chez Terez State of Affairs

Stay tuned.

And they're off!

A bundle of Chez Terez gifts on their way to the West Coast

Today I shipped out a batch of Chez Terez adornments to the West Coast. Mama Versace, they are on their way! 

Half of the fun is creating little bundles of joy to be unwrapped at the other end of the magical US Postal Service's portal {isn't it magical that I can mail Mamacat something 3,500 miles away and she receives it in 2-4 days?}

Old faithful

When I got home from mailing/walking/lunching with V. I ran into my new mail carrier, Joe. {It was his first trip out as a mail carrier! A supervisor was accompanying him with a clipboard!}

I apologized for my tiny mailbox overflowing with catalogues, magazines, mini packages, etc--it never fits in these 1920s post boxes. His supervisor said, "Oh no ma'am, please don't apologize. We'll get your mail to you and the U.S. Postal Service sure appreciates your support."

I said, "Oh don't you worry, I love mail."

If he only knew how much!

XO Terez