Women of Courage Quilt

I saw this quilt hanging in one of my LQS (Crazy Cousin) and the it struck me.  I loved it.  I think, ultimately, it was the border that pulled me in.   (Warning, this post is going to have a lot of pictures!)

This was a block of the month and the fabrics are Wyndham Fabrics.  Please click the link to find more detailed information but in short, there were several notable women who have displayed extraordinary courage in their life and each month provided a summary detail of who these women were and what they did as well as block instructions and fabric.

It's a little bit of a drive for me to this LQS for the monthly meetings so I purchased the kit all at once and started building the quilt on my own schedule.  I posted each block on Instagram as I went along to satisfy my need to shout, "another one complete!"

   

I had two hiccups in the process, I miscut one fabric and had to find something out of my stash to substitute because it was no longer available in the store (& not worth ordering for the small amount I needed) and I miscut the border strips, even tough I read those instructions 80 bazillion times (yes, bazillion).  However, I adjusted in both cases and pressed forward, I think, successfully.  In all honesty, unless you are comparing my top to the pattern picture or you've made one with the provided fabrics, you won't know. lol

Finally, the top was complete and part of me wanted to stop there. The other part had been craving to get to quilting this baby. I wanted to do custom quilting in sections, although I had no idea how yet.

I loaded her up, asked a lot of opinions on Instagram and then, got to it.

Of course there are errors but that makes it real and she came out lovely. I had to find my own courage in trying something different on this Women of Courage quilt and given what these women had done in their lifetimes, what was my piddly little insecurity?  Exactly, it was nothing compared to true adversity.

The moral, I love this lady. She's big, fits over a queen bed with drape and has rich colors. The deep aqua sets off the browns and reds and truly, that border is just stunning in real life.

I made the kids go with me to come up with photos. It was a beautiful day and I took them out to help me with this lady and one other quilt (you can see the story here, Fractured Sunlight, if you haven't seen it & are interested). Below are some sample shots of the kids at work. These were their ideas and styling.  I take no credit except forcing them out of the house, which, I feel I need to do for all the quilt photos now. :)

The helpers.  Thanks kids, I love you.

I hope you are having a lovely day and the next time you are a little reticent or fearful of something, think of those who have come before who haven't let that stop them and then ask yourself, can you do it? Will you?

Cheers!
Beck

Monopoly Quilt - complete

I've finally completed my son's Monopoly quilt. I bought the fabric about a year and a half ago but I could not figure out how I wanted to piece it together.  The teen and I thought about several different patterns but none of them felt right so finally, I just started cutting and piecing with 2 ideas: 1) have one Monopoly board in the middle of the quilt, and 2) showcase the other fabrics but still have them support the Monopoly board.

I am thrilled with what I ended up with.  The next step, quilting. Again I wanted to showcase the fabrics but still have quilting loose enough to keep warmth to the quilt but individualized designs in each of the different areas.

I ended up quilting long wavy lines on the chance and pieces borders and in the black with cards/individual bills, I echo quilted around the cards and bills with a small wave in between each (it's really hard to see in this picture).

Meandering with "money" written in is what's on the money borders.

Smaller wavy diagonal lines on the board with a curved echo in the real estate spaces.

In the orange chance areas, I did square type quilting and in the polka dots, I quilted a loops. You should be able to see them better in the picture of the backing (which is a fun stripe in the colors of the quilt).

Lastly, for the binding, I combined alternating directions of the backing stripe. It's a different look and adds a little character.

And here it is.

Here is P.  I told him to come outside and help me with the photo shoot. Nearing 6 ft already, I believe he thought he was simply going to be holding the quilt up (which he did) until I said, "now pose with it, because you are going up on the blog." He replied, "okay" and the photo below is the look on his face when he actually realized what I said and what he agreed to and then said, "wait, what?"  I was prepared for that.

Here he is (b/c I love him and you don't see much of him on my blog), deciding how to pose.

Finally, my handsome boy headed too fast for manhood. I'm glad he still keeps some whimsy about him and is happy to have the quilt for his bed.  I love you, P.

Cheers!
Beck

Progress. A little at at time.

Today's post isn't about words, it's about pictures.  Today, I'm posting a picture of a few of the projects I've got going on.  I have been restless lately b/c I want to quilt my Swoon quilt but am waiting for batting to arrive. I thought I had it when I loaded the quilt but nope!

Anyway, I've finished a block from the Little Birdie stitch a long. I haven't cleaned away the markings or pressed it yet but you can still take a look.

I've finished a couple more of these blocks for the Jinny Beyer UFO I have hanging out there.

I've been making up a pattern using my Wee Woodland jelly roll.  This is as far as I've gotten. Before I start stitching crazy angled fabric, I'm sitting on it. I am not sure I want to have the angled fabric strips coming off the middle square or if I want to have it hang in each side. We'll see. It's not a project for any purpose other than playing with pushing myself to be creative so no hurry.

Finally, I've made some progress on my son's Monopoly quilt, which also is a "make it up as you go" design.  However, I am pretty sure that even if I don't like the finished product, he will and that's all that's important. Regardless, so far I don't dislike it or like it but it is growing on me. :-)

So, what are you up to? How does your progress look?

Last little thought, I had a nice Mother's Day. Kids were helpful with some house items (like moving boxes out of the garage) that I really wanted done and we cooled off with ice cream at a local stand.  Thanks kids!

Cheers!
Beck

Let's talk about doing one's civic duty

Hubs is finishing up his stint at the police academy here in VA. Depsite having been in law enforcement his whole life, VA doesn't recognize any other state's academy if there has been a gap in service.  Therefore, hubs has been back at school.

As part of the cadet training, the school runs what htey call scenarios. Role-played scenes where the cadets can learn to clear a room, issue a noise ordinance summons, etc. I've been talked into volunteering for a couple of these but the most entertaining one, by far, was the one last Friday.  Hubs roped my brother into helping and in turn, my brother roped his two friends into it.  I participated, too.

I was the chaperone.

Yep, I chaperoned my brother and his two friends while they got plastered, at the insistence of the police.  This started at 1pm and finished at 9pm. There was liquor and no beer.  The drinks were mixed, by the police, to be disproportianetly full of the liquor than the soda mixer. 

Why you ask? So the cadets could learn to administer field sobriety tests.  Yes, folks, now you know the secret. The police get people drunk so they can learn how to test them for how drunk they are.

The boys started the night like this.

(this is my brother)

An hour after starting, they started the testing (this was about 3-4 drinks within the hour and high octane).

As time went on, they looked like this.

(Sorry about that finger... couldn't edit it out from my phone. And he's the mild-mannered one!)

Lastly, this one made this man's day. There weren't enough civilian cars to use so they pulled up the cruisers to use. No driving, just have the drunks sit in the front and then get out as the cadets ran the scenario. However, this guy, he played and turned on the crusiers lights. He felt so pleased with himself for doing it despite "Ma" (that would be me as the chaperone) telling him not to. 

The moral of this story? If you have always thought civic duty to be tedious, you might want to think again.

Have a good day, ya'll!

Cheers!
Beck

Favorite Things Friday - The Hubs

So I was looking through all my posts and realized I wrote about Hubs hunting at once before when I was bragging on his hunting skills but for all the FTF's I've written, I have not mentioned him.  That just seemed like I should maybe let you know he rates above the music, quilt shows, coffee mugs, and Dirty Little Secrets.

So here's the thing... HUBS RATES over it all. He's a good man. We've been together 10 years now, married 6 and while we've certainly had our ups and downs, we are prevailing.  This year, most recently, we hit a rough patch.  It resulting in an extremely real conversation but one which just had to be had. Both of us have determined to do better, show each other our love and appreciation more. To stop taking the other for granted so much, you know?

Hubs has come out of retirement and is now finishing up his time at the police academy to start his new job as a deputy sheriff.  The irony is, he's been  law enforcement/military his whole life. It's a long few months but he's going to graduate top of his class and I'm very proud of him for working hard at doing his best through it all.

Hubs makes me happy, he's my home, and I'm lucky to have him. I love you, hubs.

To check out other FTFs, click on my side bar link.

Cheers!
Beck