Flower Gardens

 I live in beautiful Fort Collins, Colorado
located along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and

home of Colorado State University.

One of the advantages of being a university town

is the outreach to the community.

CSU is well known for it's

horticulture department and the research it does

on different annual plants and their tolerance

to high altitude, arid conditions,

wind and hail.

(Sounds like a great place to live.)

Actually, it is

and the Annual Flower Trial Gardens reminds us
that flowers can grow here.

 

It's a beautiful place to come and stroll

and enjoy all the different varieties of flowers and color.
The air even smells sweet.

What better place to take some

photos of a flower garden quilt than at

a lovely flower garden.

 The pillar print by Andover and Di Ford
has made a fantastic vintage style border.

The colors in the border were
the perfect guide for choosing the
fabrics for the hexagons.

Each corner came out differently because of the
miter, but the pillar still
flows around the quilt.

The sun was beginning to set and the
surface of the quilt was washed with
a soft golden light.

The nearby geraniums were a brilliant red which
caused the reds in the quilt to pop and show off too.

I'm thinking,
I might have to hand quilt this one,
but we'll see.

There was an older man sitting on a bench
enjoying the evening and he watched curiously as
Running Man and I moved the quilt
from place to place
setting it with different groups of flowers.
I don't think he ever figured out
exactly what we were doing.
Hopefully,
 we didn't interrupt his quiet evening too much.

Until Next Time-
Kyle

Almost Done

Ever so slowly my

hexagons have come together.

 

I like how neat and crisp the back looked

 with all the paper templates. 

Finally, all the sections were

completed.

And I started to see what it would

look like with the border I'd chosen.

The next step was to connect all the rows

with the diamond shape.

It looked fantastic to see it all together.

I  had been putzing along at a pretty good clip,

 when I saw myself heading

onto a very uneven road.

Hexagons don't leave a straight edge,

but a very bumpy road.

The directions said to cut each side 

straight and leave a 1/4" seam.

I couldn't do that.

All the sides of the hexies were tacked down.

And all I could see was trouble ahead.

So my solution was to applique the border

to each side of the quilt

It has taken quite a bit of time to

get it right.

I've actually taken each side off at least once.

I was surprised how much the top

stretched even with the papers intact,

extra pinning and careful placement.

Well, it's almost a flimsy.

It's heading off to it's official

photo shoot this week.

Until Next Time- 

Kyle

Giving Feels Good

 Giving makes you feel good.

It generates a sense of pleasure,

a "warm glow".

In other words,

it makes you just want to dance

and share your happiness with others.

 

I have a friend who is very involved

in an organization called

Child Safe Colorado 

Their goal is to help and heal

children of sexual abuse.

 They like to wrap each child

in a love quilt. 

The sad part is that there is a 

need for 100's of quilt.

My friends, the Quilty Buddies,

challenged each other to make a quilt this summer 

to give to this hard working organization.

"Frozen"

45" x 56"

My grandkiddos love all the characters of 

"Frozen".

The pattern I used was a Disappearing Nine Patch.

You can find instructions anywhere online. 

I made sure the purple fabric was

always the middle square and

that the themed fabric was in the

lower left and upper right.

 So when the nine patch was cut

it gave some continuity

and made the characters

stand out.

I'm hoping some sweet child

finds comfort wrapped in this quilt.

****

And now for my anniversary giveaway.

I want to thank everyone who

left a comment last week

Because so many of you did

I added a third prize!

Drum roll, please.....

 #1 - Susan at http://thimblestitch.blogspot.com/

#2 - Audrey at http://quiltyfolk.blogspot.com/

#3- Pat at http://amityquilter.blogspot.com/

Ladies, please send me your mailing addresses

and then start checking your mailboxes.

If you're not a follower on these quilter's blog,

check them out.

You'll be glad you did.

Until Next Time-
Kyle