Time to Vote

 November 8th is 

election day here.

It's the day to make your voice heard.

Quilts are also a way of making

your voice heard.  

They can be be made for any reason,

to celebrate any occasion or

to commemorate any event.

 On the eve of this historic

Presidential Election,

this is a quilt that I made

to commemorate and remember

 the presidential election of 2000.

"Our Next President is...?"

 40" x 54"

We all watched history unfold

that evening and for several days after
as different media reports 

came and went.

Was our next 43rd  president,

Republican George W. Bush or

 Democrat Al Gore?

Over the course of time,

 we all learned more about 

recounts,

butterfly ballots,

dimpled ballots,
dangling chads, and

absentee ballots.

 We all tried to remembered from
our American government classes
the difference of the popular vote verses

a state's electoral votes.

We watched as our country

worked through various conflicts and procedures

in a peaceful way to determine the 

outcome of that election.

With another close election

on our doorstep,

take the time to vote.

Your vote does matter.

Until Next Time-
Kyle

A Springtime Sampler

Here in Colorado the blossoms are 

starting to appear on the trees,

and the tulips look especially colorful
this year.

Spring is officially here.

When the seasons change,
it's nice to also change the quilt that's our the bed.

One of my favorite quilts is 

this wonderful applique sampler.

The pattern is by Lori Smith

called 

Love Always.

88" X 88"

 I finished it in 2008.

The fabrics are a Fig Tree line by Moda
called Yuletide Jubilee.

Reds and greens don't always
say Christmas
especially if the greens are more of a

spring green.

Most quilters have done a sampler quilt

one time or another.

 Samplers are a delightful way

to learn new techniques,

pace yourself,

and have the opportunity to make

lots of different blocks without making a 

whole quilt with only one design.

I enjoyed appliqueing the simple,
soft curved pieces of the blocks.

You can see I used a fairly limited palette.

The blocks were framed perfectly
with the half square triangle borders and

 then framed again with the sashing strips.

My machine quilter, P. Raymond,
did a fantastic job, interpreting each
block individually and including accents on the appliques.
It definitely added to the
beauty of each block.

I used a wool batt in this quilt,

but that's a good thing.
 The nights can still be pretty chilly here.

Just like each individual block that
works together in a sampler,

each new sign of spring

 brings the beauty and sweet smells
of the season to it's fullness.

Weather Update:
At least 3 inches of snow
is predicted for the Denver Metro area
on Mother's Day!
So much for spring!

Until Next Time-

I'm Ready Now

 With a new grand baby on his

way in just a couple of weeks,

reality had set in.

I needed to get a new quilt made

for this newest member of the family.

Just like it takes a baby 9 months 

to get ready,

I found a group of fabrics

that had been curing for 7 years.

When I worked at the quilt shop,

I remember someone sharing this pattern

that was from a McCalls magazine.

At the time it was current,

Now it's 7 years old from February, 2007.

I had the big alphabet fabric,

 the little alphabet background fabric

which were from Lake House fabrics and

a great stripe.

All I needed to do was
 dig out of the stash 

a few bright fabrics in primary colors.

Construction was easy.

I used The Angler on my machine

to save time from drawing diagonal sewing

lines on the squares.

The pieces were pressed and folded back.

I cut only one layer of fabric, leaving the 

base fabric for stability and for more accurate piecing

if the folded over piece didn't match up exactly.

Which can happen, trust me.

The fabrics were perfect,

 Bright and cheerful.

After adding the stripe,

and wide border, and then machine quilting it

 it was time to add the prairie points which will be

fun flaps for the baby to play with

or chew on.

I machine quilted it pretty much in the ditch

and a 1/4" around the letters

and some straight line stitching in the border.

All done

in plenty of time.

4 weeks until the due date.

Until Next Time-