University of Florida Gator Quilts

Upside down seems to be my thing lately.  This is one of my two Gator tops, just upside down, the other one still needs borders and then I'll put them aside for a few days as I need to work on my house and we have relatives coming for dinner on Monday.   Tuesday we will probably be going to Tampa with our grandson and granddaughter-in-law.   With any luck at all, keeping my goal of a finish for May should be a piece of cake (knock on wood), in fact I should have at least two.  I have to keep things even for my brothers or they'll say that the other one is my favorite.  Finishing only one would be unacceptable, lol.

I Made it for April!

I made it, Saturday was basting day, Sunday quilting day, and this AM binding and now just washing and drying and delivering left.   I think that it doesn't look quite as busy now, and hopefully it will be liked.   Quilting day is always too much thinking day for me.   I can't hear the TV or the Ipod, so I'm on my own and then I start to think my arms are tired, my back is tired and I think that half the people who I make quilts for would just as soon have a blanket from Walmart or a $10.00 gift certificate.   If I weren't quilting I'd have a cleaner house, more nourishing food, and more money, such are my thoughts.   Then when the quilt is finished I feel better again.  Does anyone else have these heretical thoughts, lol.

The label.  I did well keeping all the directional fish fabrics swimming in the right direction, and then this guy is upside down on the back.  Oh well, nobody is perfect.

I need to find a new way of photographing my quilts.  Until then this is my number two pose.   For me keeping up my goal is new and different, and here it is a finish for April.

A Little (Maybe a lot) Busy

I hoped this quilt would be like this one, this one, or this one, only different.  After all, I did use my leader and ender 16 patches.  However, it turned out looking much more busy.  It was supposed to look a little beachy (although I couldn't find any beach fabric that would seem to work in my mind, so I chose fish since they are in the ocean and she has an aquarium) and her favorite colors were blue, purple, and white.  Check, check, check, only when put together with my 16 patches, chaos.  I am going to use a narrow green border and then a wide border from the fish fabric.  Hopefully, it will be toned down a bit.  It's for a young girl about 14 who is moving and decorating her room with a beach theme, so if she doesn't like it I guess I'll make her another one.  

PS  I'm supposed to get the rest of my Gator Fabric today, and then I'll try to get them finished and then back to my Paintbox quilts.  The Gator quilts are for my brothers and my Paintbox quilts don't have any destination yet (maybe, one for me) so they keep taking a back seat.   I'm hoping to finish Alex's quilt (the one in the picture) before the end of April to keep up my goal of at least one quilt finish a month. 

PPS  We went to visit our new great grandbaby but it was a short visit.  We had a flat on the way, and a 100 mile trip on the toll roads turned into a 5 and 1/2 hour journey with tow truck and trip to Walmart to get a new tire.  We took them to dinner and got to see the and hold the baby, Cecilia, and she is tiny and adorable.  

Last Six Done

Last of the 24, I now have 108, 54 for each lap quilt.  Now on to the 3,500,000 sashings, lol.

Yea, for leaders and enders, now I have lots of 2 patches. 

Six More to Go!

Back to the Paintbox

My goal for April is either to finish at least one oh Fransson Paintbox Quilt Along quilt, or at least one Gator Quilt.   The original Quilt along was for 80 blocks but I decided to do 2 lap quilts so even though I had 84 blocks, according to my calculations I need 24 more.  Here are the first 10 of the 24 blocks.   These are also excellent for doing leaders and enders as you go, so I'm off to cut more 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 squares.  I cut a bunch last night, but these 10 blocks have used them up.  I'm sure that it could be figured out how to do assembly line sewing, but I haven't done that so it's do one seam on the paintbox, and then do a leader and ender, and so on and so on.  Not too efficient, but I'll have lots more leaders and enders, lol. 

goal

Granddaughter's First Sewing Project

Last night was the first time that this young lady had touched a sewing machine, and she wasn't too comfy with the idea.  My DD and I reassured her that if you were careful it was safe, and took out the thread.  She started out sewing on notebook paper and the first page was not straight, but pretty darn good for the first attempt.  After about 6 or 7 rows she went on to another sheet and did every single row of the notebook paper, and each line was almost perfectly straight.  When we felt comfortable leaving her in the next room we went to visit with others and we could hear her going top speed.  We were very surprised with how well she did, she is a talented little girl, but she surpassed our expectations.  Today DH and I went over this afternoon and DD had helped her with some real sewing, they were up to the point of sewing on the casing and it looked really nice.  We helped her finish it up and she did 99 percent herself.  Isn't she amazing!

She is a dancer and is going to competition in Ohio.  This is the first and smallest of a 3 bag kit that she received for Christmas and they will come in very handy in her luggage when she travels.  It's a little soon to see if she will like sewing enough to really get into it, but if she does I can see some costumes made by herself in her future.  She will be eight soon.

Gator Quilt that Goes Along With The Previous Post

Here's a picture that Ruth, my possible quilting buddy, sent me of her Gator Quilt.  We had cut out the big blocks and the solids and she had sewn the solids.  She hadn't received her white and blue Gator fabrics yet when she was over, so she took it from there.  I think that my brothers would enjoy one of these.

First Camping Trip in About 35 Years, Gator Quilts

Oh Yeah, as you can see from the title, DH and I are big outdoorsy sorts.  My brother in Jacksonville camps fairly frequently at an army base called Camp Blanding, it is for the National Guardsmen.  When I was younger I spent many happy hours across the lake, which also borders Camp Blanding, at a couple of recreational parks and even when we had a boat to get there, had a picnic lunch at Camp Blanding.   My brothers are both able to get on the base, and one had gotten a campsite for tents and the other a cabin.  Because of DH's health, our life has been pretty restricted, but I thought we should give camping a try anyway, we aren't getting any younger and we spend way too much time indoors.   Our intent was to tent camp, there is water on the site and a bathroom about 50 yards away or so, and my brother has lanterns and flashlights etc.  Unfortunately, we picked a time when a storm was rolling in, lol.  We had a really nice time the first day and sat by the fire above until about midnight.  The young man in the picture is my nephew Robert who was a perfect kid the whole time even though he's 15.  Our intention was to tent camp, but a storm with winds and lightning was expected in the middle of the night so we all slept in the cottage.  The cottage was a really nice little two bedroom house with a screened porch, all the amenities and a beautiful site on the lake.  It is such a beautiful place and the water so clear and beautiful.  I waded and the water was cold, but my brother from Georgia and his son even did a little knee boarding.  We were supposed to take a boat ride the next day, but it was still windy and a little nasty, exhilarating though, I enjoyed the portion of the second day that we spent there also.  We left about noon and drove home.  The little tent is what my brother uses when he's by himself, he has a larger one that we would have used.   To make this quilty, last week the lady who came and quilted with me came back and we worked on two of her quilts, a flowery one for her that still needed some cutting out, and a University of Florida Gator one that she is making for a grandchild (if it turns out well she plans to make several more for other grandchildren).  Anyway, it happens that both my brothers are Gator fans, especially the Florida one, and so I'm going to make them Gator quilts also.  My Florida, tent camping brother had his quilt that I gave him a few months ago with him, it seemed the perfect size for sleeping on the ground with a twin sized air mattress, and it made me feel good that he's using it.  I thought that Gator quilts would be excellent thank you gifts.  I have really good brothers.   Many times when my brother camps he goes with buddies, but sometimes he goes alone, and hopefully he will invite us some more, and it would be even more perfect if my other brother and his son could come too.

New Great Grandbaby - Great Grandbaby - Finish for March

My granddaughter had her baby, Cecilia Marie, this past Thurdsday, March 24th, and she was a big baby for a tiny mama.  Little Cecilia arrived weighing 9 pounds 4 ounces.  She's a cutie, I can't wait to see her in person.  

Here's another cutie my first great-granddaughter on the porch enjoying the spring weather.   I have 3 great grandbabys now, including my grandson's girlfriends little boy, who is 18 months old.  Mackenzie is 15 months old. 

Amy's BOM quilt is all done without too many days to spare to keep to my goal of a finish a month.   It's definitely not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it.  Now to wash it and dry it and make it crinkly, lol.