Sew & Tell ~ May 1, 2023 ~ Messages of Love

What a week... it zipped by lickedy-split, but as I look back at what I accomplished, I am pleased.

Let's take a look...

Much of the week was taken up with quilting on the Ribbon & Lace quilt.  I still have background quilting to do on each block, but all of the basic quilting is complete.  Wednesday was a very white day... inside and out!  (While I am not a fan of winter and the cold temps that come with it, I do love spring snows.  They are heavy with moisture and they don't stick around long.  The snow on Wednesday was gone by noon Thursday and we woke to more of the wet, white stuff on Friday.)  I plan to have this white quilt finished and ready for a gentle wash and dry by the week's end so that I can send off the final three quilts to the family.

The Memory Bears were getting restless and needed some attention.  Four of them enjoyed a picnic and got stuffed and went to their owner and are hanging out in her living room.  

Mini-quilt #17/52 was inspired by a painting I saw.  This folksy dove carries a message of love & peace...

All three projects this week are messages of love... the love and care that went into the Ribbon & Lace Quilt... the Memory Bears that will convey a message of love... and the Folksy Dove.

All you need is love! 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅰𝅗𝅥  Love helps us get through life.  A statement my friend made during the Living Restored Conference over the weekend, where Dave and I had a chance to lead worship... "When someone helps you while they are struggling too, that's not help... that's LOVE."

Spread some love and inspiration around this week...  Join the Sew & Tell party below.  This week's random feature is Melisa from Pinker & Punkin Quilting.  "My dear friend Darlene  on IG ( Hi Darlene 😀 ) has been sharing the most gorgeous mini quilts on Monday. Of course I want to copycat all of them. But anywhoo! A few Monday's ago she posted two sweet mini pinwheel quilts. I could not get them out of my mind."

And just as Melisa was inspired by someone else, she has inspired me... you can watch for a similar project for my next mini-quilt challenge, #18.  

Ok, link up to inspire others and be sure to spread a little love and visit a few others sharing in the party so that you can be inspired as well. 💖  

Keep Piecing,

Melva

linking with:

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate

Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy’s Quilts

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs

This & That at Days Filled with Joy

Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do

Scrap Happy Saturday at Super Scrappy

Patchwork & Quilts at The Quilting Patch

To Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt

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Feed the Bears

My Teddy Bear Picnic was held Thursday afternoon... right after I finished the assembly of bear #4.

I dumped my button collection out and started sorting and searching for the perfect buttons for the eyes and noses while the bears awaited me in the living room... anticipating a session of binge watching.

They are ready to be delivered... though only four of them... six more to go.  We will be seeing my friend and customer this weekend.  I know that she love each and every one of them. 💜

The time to assemble is improving... but I still don't get much joy out of making them, but I am not grumbling quite as much.  Still, I'd rather be quilting. 😉

Have a blessed and beautiful weekend!  We will be leading worship and prayer time at a conference on Saturday.  It's been a while since we have had an opportunity like this... We are blessed and looking forward to it.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you.

Keep Piecing,

Melva

Linking with:

Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese 

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

Friday Foto Fun at Powered by Quilting

Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

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Sew & Tell ~ April 24, 2023

Welcome to this week's installment of the Sew & Tell Party!  The party where you have a chance to share the progress or finish of recent projects.

Last week I had a goal of getting as many memory bears done as possible... These little teddys are time consuming!  I managed to get three (only 3!) ready to take on a picnic where they will be fed to their little hearts content and leave stuffed. Each one takes about a day.  If I were not making them for a very good friend, I would have turned down the job... 

After getting two bears ready for stuffing, I had grown bored with them and needed a change in scene and activity... I pulled fabric that my Mom had purchased for a quilt.  It will be a large simple rail fence quilt.  I cut all of the strips and have them ready for piecing.

All week, while sewing the memory bears, my thoughts kept searching for an idea for my next mini-quilt.  When I needed a break in the middle of the bear assembly again (bear #3), I turned my attention to the weekly challenge.  Short story, I made one that would honor a friend from my childhood and school days.  You can read the entire story that I shared on Friday...

In other activities, I had received a message that a LQS (not really all that local to me - 4 hours away) was having a blow-out sale and fabrics were deeply discounted.  I made a quick, frivolous purchase of fabric and joined a fabric swap with the National Park Postcard group hosted by Rachel at Fiona Sandwich...  When my purchase came in, I discovered a special little bonus fat quarter and hand-written note!  Such a special touch 💖

That's all I have to show for Sew & Tell... next week I hope to have the final quilt (8/8) for my customer finished.  This one is getting special treatment and each block some special quilting.  There is a lot of lace and ribbon used in this one... here are two pictures showing the fancy work.  This top is not wonky and wavy as most of the others one were.  I wonder what kept her from finishing it...

Isn't that carousel just the sweetest?  Each block is unique and there are 30 of them.

You know where I can be found this week. :)  No extra appointments or interruptions this week.  Yay!

This week I made the decision that I will use a random selection for the Sew & Tell feature...  this week's selection is Gretchen.  She showed us the progress of her Grandma's Flower Garden piece... she has removed some templates but will have many more to remove since it is not quite half finished.

I'd be having a binging party with netflix... Probably watching Heartland or Call the Midwife.  Or maybe remove them as we travelled and listen to an audiobook.

How would you pass the time as you remove the hexies?

Leave a comment...  I'd love to hear from you!

Keep piecing,

Melva

Linking with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs

This & That at Days Filled with Joy

Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do

To Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt

Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

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An Angel and Her Wings

I received some shocking news the other day... 

A HS classmate that has always been friendly, positive and encouraging had taken her own life.  When I relayed my news with Dave he said, "oh yeah, Danita... she was the one we met at the Rockies game a few years ago, right?  She lived life large...  What a shame."

It is a terrible shame.  Never had there ever been any indication that she was struggling with depression, anxiety or mental health issues.  The news of a cancer diagnosis was apparently just too much for her to handle... On Tuesday, she had put up a bunch of wonderful pictures... she said, "some of the peeps and the pups in my life that I love."  

In hindsight, apparently, this was a love message to all those that she would leave behind the very next day.  😭 So many classmates have all shared the same shock and heartbreak.  

Being who I am and knowing that the way I process emotions, I needed to spend some time in my sewing room... you know a therapy session. I needed to make something to honor Danita and a mini quilt came to mind ~ #16/52

Using her picture above, the last picture she used as her fb profile picture, I did an interpretation of it.

I stitched in her name, the date of her passing and "class of '83" at the top. This year marks the 40th anniversary for the Class of '83 graduation.  

I will be including this mini in a sympathy card for the family...Fly away home, Danita. 🕊 My thoughts and prayers are with your loved ones as we all grieve. 💔 

On a happier note... You may recall me writing about my friend Pat who gave me a large portion of her fabric stash.  She was facing treatment for breast cancer.  She had one chemo infusion and then got terribly ill.  She had two separate one week stays in the hospital because of dehydration as well as other issues.  The doctors re-evaluated her treatment and decided that surgery was the best option... once she was healthy enough.

Just this week (one week post-surgery) she received the news that there was no evidence of residual cancer!  All margins were clear, and she had experienced a one-treatment miracle healing.  I was dancing a happy dance for and with her. 💃 For those of you that joined in with my prayers for Pat... Thank you!

Life is precious... hold your loved ones close and tell them how special they are to you. 

Keep piecing,

Melva

Linking with:

Free-Motion Mavericks at Quilting & Learning

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

Friday Foto Fun at Powered by Quilting

Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Scrap Happy Saturday at Super Scrappy

Patchwork & Quilts at The Quilting Patch

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate

Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy’s Quilts

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Birthday Winners!

 Congratulations to the winners!  The congratulatory messages have been sent and I am awaiting mailing addresses.

#1 - Maggie Fellow

#2 - Cindy Smith

#3 - Brian

#4 - Jocelyn

#5 - Linda

#6 - Debi Blackwell

#7 - Melisa

I tried to fulfill each request for the mini preferred, but since there is only one of the birds/heart mini (goodness, that one was popular!), I had to make other selections for some.  I hope that the recipients will be pleased with their prizes.

Thanks to everyone that participated!  I love to spread my love (language) around like confetti 🎉

Be inspired... go create!

Melva

Flight of a Butterfly

It was a wild and willy-nilly week as I finished my customer's quilt.  You can read all of my thoughts on this quilt on my Less Than Perfect Friday Finish. In the end, I am embracing the fact that this quilt is finished and that is better than perfect.  It warms my heart to know that it will wrap a grateful and appreciative family member.

Once the photo shoot was done, I had a creative session as I picked through some of the scraps from my friend Pat.  I chose to make a mini bargello style quilt and was pleased with what I ended up with, but it seemed a little bare and I was undecided on how I wanted to quilt it. 

Early Saturday morning (around 5 a.m.), I had an inspired idea to use a butterfly cut from the same stash of scraps I used in the mini.  I fused a piece of fabric to the back of the butterfly and carefully trimmed off all background fabric. Using some lime green embroidery floss, I quilted in a flight path and stitched down the body only of the butterfly, allowing the wings to be loose, making this mini a 3-D quilt.  I continued using the floss on the back of the mini to quilt it, but only let an occasional random stitch pop through to the front of the mini.  What do you think?

Speaking of mini-quilts... There are still a few days to enter my birthday give away.  Leave a comment telling me which of these mini quilts (shown below) you would like to receive if your name is randomly selected as the winner before Midnight, April 17 to be eligible for the drawing on the 18th.

I have placed my order for 50 Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail Books and reservations have been made for the Santa Fe Trail event where there will be a portrayal of Marion Russell (by her great-great granddaughter) and Kit Carson.  I will have the Pieces of the Trail quilt on display along with the opportunity to sell my book to those attending the program.

Interested in a copy?  You can order you own personal copy directly from the printing company and have it shipped directly to your address.

Last week's Sew & Tell highlights are from:

Yvonne's Circle of Friends was stunning with the bright colors on a black background...

Melisa continued hand quilting her Easter quilt, but it was her embroidered Bunny Kisses that caught my eye...

Deb celebrated her first finish of the year with her scrappy Pink Courthouse Steps

This week I'll be in the studio making memory bears for a customer.  She gave me 10 different pieces of clothing that had been her Mom's.  That means 10 bears... well, she said "make as many bears as you can from all of them."

While cute, they are time consuming.  I guess I will see what I can get done. :)  I am ever grateful that I have customers continue to contact me requesting work...  whether it is finishing another's quilts, making memory quilts from a t-shirt collection or just custom quilts... I offer thanksgiving that I get to do what I love without adding to the amount of "stuff" we already have.  And I love that I have a variety of projects keeping me from getting bored. 

Because when it comes right down to... Creators gotta' create! And variety is the spice of life, right?  I have very few patterns that have been made exactly the same... I'm just that way and believe that God made us unique individuals for a reason and therefore, there should never be two (or more) of a kind of anything... like memory bears... each one will be unique - similar, but unique. 

Do you make duplicates of whatever you make?  

Or are you a fan of unique and individual?

Time for you to share what YOU created last week.  Join the party to get linked up and be sure to visit some of the others that joined the party too.

Keep Piecing,

Melva

Linking with:

Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy’s Quilts

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs

This & That at Days Filled with Joy

Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do

To Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt

Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese 

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Free-Motion Mavericks at Quilting & Learning

Little Things Thursday at Good Random Fun

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Friday Finish Less Than Perfect

As a "recovering perfectionist" this statement is a difficult one for me to state... But sometimes I just have to.

The latest finish of #7/8 of the quilt tops for my customer is one that I am less than pleased with.  The slippery, shifty fabric was a challenge.  And the fact that it was larger than the other one that was made with the same type of fabrics made it even more difficult.

The borders were wonky and it made the pieced corners downright impossible to get the same.  **Insert frustrated and disappointed emojis** Amongst other emotions and thoughts that ran through my mind.

I kept reminding myself yesterday as I finished the binding that the quilter was slowly loser her vision and that her family will still love and appreciate the finished quilt.

As I write this, I have the quilt getting washed and dried.  BUT before I did that I went and positioned the four corners together to show how badly they were... 

Not as bad as I remembered, and despite the few wrinkles that are there, the corners will not be all together when laid out on a bed or back of the couch.  

I have no choice but to live with it... rather, let the family live with it... chances are, unless I point them out, they will probably not be noticed.  Afterall, there are no other quilters in the family.  If there were, I would not be the one finishing these quilts.  The quilt is not going before judges or being juried for a quilt show.  They only want a piece of their Mom/Grandmother's tangible love to hold onto.

The cross-hatch quilting really shows on this quilt.  You'll notice that I decided against feathers in the outer borders.  

The label features one of the smocked hearts that was in the collection of miscellaneous items.  I felt that it was a good thing to include. 💜  All in all, I am pleased as I look at it from a distance.  Remember Eleanor Burns says that if you can't spot the mistake while riding by on a fast-moving horse, it doesn't exist... right?

As I said, I am a recovering perfectionist YET I have come so far in my striving for it.  Not that I don't continue reaching for it, but I don't fret over it or beat myself up over it.  One of the most helpful things I have done to help with this is to continually try new techniques and activities to build my skills.

Smaller projects are a great avenue to overcome the perfectionistic trait.  Small, quick quilts such as table runners and baby quilts are not only fun, but usually very forgiving... much like the mini-quilts and quilted hearts that I have been making. These projects help me to perfect hand-quilting, embroidery and such.

I have saved several bargello quilt patterns over the years and have a real interest in making one... but time has not allowed me to do so.  I have had a small pile of scraps collecting on the corner of my cutting table and plan to make this week's mini-quilt (#15/52) using a bargello technique.  Come back on Monday to see what I have created.

Are you a perfectionist?  

Or have you adopted the "finished is better than perfect" motto?

Leave a comment... I'd love to hear from you!

Keep Piecing!

Melva

Linking with:

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Off The Wall Friday with Nina Marie

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

Friday Foto Fun at Powered by Quilting

Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Free-Motion Mavericks at Quilting & Learning

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

Sunday Stash at QuiltPaintCreate

Scrap Happy Saturday at Super Scrappy

Patchwork & Quilts at The Quilting Patch

Favorite Finishes Monthly Linkup at Meadow Mist

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To-do List and Thoughts

I have been waiting patiently (mostly) to hear back from the grandson of one of the POWs that had written to my grandparents, Phillip & Katie Schleich.  He has written twice that he needed to process the fact that Gotthart Hauswold had written, but also that there were two other letters on his behalf... He was still processing the idea that the letters had been saved and still exist 76 years later.

I read an Easter devotion that had a fictitious conversation between a few of Jesus' disciples after the resurrection...

I struggle to take this in, but eventually ask, “How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know,” my friend admits. Then she grins. “But isn’t it incredible?!”

I try to process. Silence… thoughtfulness… hope… doubt… fear… hope again… questions… anger… unbelief… hope again…

And belief? Maybe. But definitely lots of questions. 

While the situation with Uwe discovering a connection his grandfather (whom he had only met one time in his life) is completely different from the devotion, he has questions, and perhaps some disbelief that the letters exist... but mostly questions.  And most of those questions are probably not something I can answer... rather they need to be answered by other family members.  For this I pray... that he would find the answers to the questions he has. 

Uwe did send me a couple photos of his family and, as his wife had stated in her original comment, I too see a slight resemblance of his grandfather that has carried through a few more generations.

As I was getting ready to print the Pieces From the Past book, I had made arrangements with a friend to take some photos near where she lived, which was in the small town that the Schleich farm had been and where the POWs would have been transported to when they worked at the farm.  When I shared a few of the edited photos with my grandparents overlaid on the photos with her, she had commented that she saw a family resemblance to Katie.  

I had never really thought that I might look like her.  For most of my life I have been told that I look like my Mom.  My Mom and I disagree and say that I look more like my Dad and in all these years I only heard that one time.  Not that I don't want to look like my Mom... that's not it at all.  It's just that, well, genes are fascinating.

So, as I await further communication with my new pen pal, I will be in the studio...  but first let me tell you what I got in the mail on Saturday!

I received my proof copy of the Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail book.  It looks as fabulous as I had hoped but will take a few days to read through it one last time to try to catch any corrections that were overlooked before placing an order for 50 copies.  Because I have included both the stories and patterns, I have removed the tab and stories here on the blog, with the exception of the introductory post and a photo of the finished quilt.  To encourage anyone who is interested in more of Marion's life stories and the block patterns to purchase the book, a direct link to make the purchase will be included.  

All of this techy stuff takes time, so the only items on my to-do list week in the quilty realm of things are:

❧ Quilt the slick and slippery customer's quilt (#7/8)

❧ Make this week's mini-quilt challenge (#15/52)

BTW, did you see that I have a birthday coming up???  AND that I'm celebrating by giving away a few gifts?  To be entered into the contest, leave a comment on this post, or on the original post (by following the link above) telling me which one of these mug rugs you would select if picked as the winner (sorry, but only US mailing addresses).

Keep Piecing,

Melva

Linking with:

Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese 

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Free-Motion Mavericks at Quilting & Learning

Thankful Thursday at Brian's Home

Little Things Thursday at Good Random Fun

Senior Salon Pit Stop at Esma Salon

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Birthday Celebration with Sew & Tell

April is my birthday month, the big day, the 18th, is just around the corner. 🎉 And I am the one giving a few gifts!  Details below...

This week I was busy on the road with appointments and meetings, but I managed to squeeze in a little time in the studio.  Since I haven't been doing much piecing (remember, I've been busy quilting my customer's quilt tops) I was missing that step...

It is a step that usually involves cutting as well, but I skipped that by using a box of pre-cuts that came from my friend Pat.  Once I decided on the best way to get them to fit together with only one cut necessary to fit, I stacked up the various piles and started chain piecing.  What resulted was a block that wasn't square, rather it was rectangular, and there was no need or concern for matching seams.  Quick and easy!  It will be a nice lap quilt for a nursing home or for the local emergency responders to have on hand.

Another time that I snuck away into the studio I sewed up a second laundry bag for the camper.  After our 2-week trip in March, I decided that it was needed.  this fabric came from the same source as the farm scene fabric that I believe was intended to be a tablecloth.  

Now I won't have to shove so much into one bag, making it difficult to empty.  It was a struggle! 😅

The last of my sew & tell is quilt top #7/8 for my customer.  It is another one made of slick, slippery fabrics with a willy-nilly border on it. 

I won't stress over the fact that it isn't just perfect, but I will simply do the best that I can.  I think I will be using some purple thread for the quilting with an on-point cross-hatch in the squares and vines and leaves in the narrow borders and feathers in the final borders.

Last week Rita joined the party with her first two finishes of the year - a stack & whack and her stand for Ukraine wall hanging.

And Kathy showed off a shirt that she perfectly aligned cows.  Not an easy task!  

Gretchen has her hexie flowers in position and ready for a final layout and finish.

Now for the details on my birthday give-away... I have 7 min-quilts (mug rugs) up for grabs... Numbering them starting top row, l-r, then 2nd row, l-r, etc.  Leave a comment with which one you would like. I will do a random drawing on the 18th for the winners. (Sorry, US mailing addresses only.)

And now it is YOUR turn for Sew & Tell... Join the party and tell your friends too. The more, the merrier! 🎊

Keep piecing!

Melva

Linking with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs

This & That at Days Filled with Joy

Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do

To Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt

Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

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