An Update

Brandon with Dad and sister

Thank you for all of your kind and caring comments after the events of last week. Your supportive words mean more to me than you'll ever know. Our grandson has had a rough time, as we expected. We met our son and family for dinner on Thursday to celebrate our son's 50th birthday. Because of current restaurant requirements, our party of seven had to sit at two separate tables six feet apart. So my husband and I sat separately and members of the family each came and sat with us for awhile. That was actually fun, and were able to spend some alone time with Brandon. We were glad that he talked about Prescilla and his feelings. He is a strong young man and he will be OK, and that was a big relief for us.

Prescilla's sister Audrey remains in ICU but she is improving every day. Her family is grieving but very thankful for Audrey's fighting spirit. She has not been told about her sister. A Go Fund Me page has been established for the family and over $36,000 has been raised for assistance with funeral and medical expenses. The memorial service is a week from today and will be a "come-and-go" event due to Covid-19 restrictions. The family wants Brandon with them, so that will be a long and emotional day for all. Please add them to your prayers.

Our daughter and family are coming today to spend several days and our son and family will visit tomorrow to celebrate our youngest grandson's first birthday and our son's 50th. It will likely be an emotional day but full of laughter and love. Life goes on.

During my little blogging break, I decided to work on a new blog with a name related to my username on Instagram. I think my current blog has some technical issues with mixed http and https, so hopefully the new one will be accessible to anyone who wants to comment and also that Instagram will allow me to post my website in my profile. I will have a post with a redirect address when that happens, possibly some time next week.

I hope you are planning good times for your Memorial Day weekend, and I'd love to hear all about it. Stay safe and well!

A Beautiful Life

Yesterday, May 15, our grandson's beautiful girlfriend was in a fatal car accident and lost her life. She was 21. Our grandson is devastated, as are her parents, her siblings, and our family. Her sister, who was in the passenger seat, is in critical condition. The driver of the other vehicle drove into her lane and crashed head-on. He also lost his life.

Brandon and Prescilla met at "Fish Camp" the first week of their freshman year at Texas A&M and have been together ever since. They attended church together and went on mission trips instead of partying during spring break. They would both graduate spring of 2021, and Prescilla wanted to be a teacher. Although they were not engaged, they had plans to marry. They were so, so happy together. It is hard to find adequate words to describe how delightful and special she was. She had an unabashed faith in Christ and was the most joyful person I ever met. Our whole family fell in love with her, and our lives will not be the same without her.

This is a post she made on her Instagram account last month:

"I have a secret place that only Jesus and I know about. Where I know my heart will always be taken care of, my mind renewed, and my spirit can soak in the joy found only in His presence.
That's a reminder for me and maybe a spark for you."

Grandma and Papaw drove to College Station to treat them to lunch in January

I will be taking a break from blogging and commenting to concentrate on family. All of you stay safe and hug your loved ones.

Leaving A Quilted Legacy Blog Hop for Paula

Many of you were familiar with the amazing Paula Budinger of Paula B Quilts. I only became aware of her when Janice of Color, Creating, and Quilting posted about Paula's unexpected passing in February. Paula, who would have been 79 this year, had degrees in biology and interior design and led a varied career as a researcher, an occupational therapy aide, and a medical transcriptionist prior to becoming a prolific quilter. She was an enthusiastic, generous, and supportive blogger who often shared her antique quilt research on her blog, Paula B Quilts. Bloggers participating in this three-day blog hop made a quilt for the charity of their choice in Paula's honor. And there are prizes to be had! Please see below for the blog hop schedule, instructions for entries for prize drawings, and a list of the wonderful sponsors and their generous prizes.

I think Paula would approve of my gifting this quilt to Mercyful Quilt Drive, which provides quilts of comfort for those in the process of dying and is hosted by Bernie at Needle and Foot. Bernie began collecting quilts back in 2018 for donation to Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, CA. You can read about the reason Bernie began the quilt drive right here. I have the quilt laundered and ready to send to Bernie to be delivered to just the right recipient! If you would like to donate a quilt to this very worthy hospital, contact Bernie here!

I saw this quick and easy quilt on Pinterest and found the tutorial on the blog of Rachel McDaniel Hayes. Rachel graciously allowed me to post the link to her tutorial. I adjusted the size to lap sized and have included all the quilt details below.

I began by choosing blue-ish fabrics and decided a pop of yellow was desperately needed! On the back I have pieced a big slab of denim-look with a yellow plaid fabric. The yellow plaid also served as the binding.

A close-up of some of the fabrics

A big "Thank You" to Janice and Kate from Smiles From Kate for organizing this blog hop! Be sure to click on the blog links below to read more about Paula and see beautiful quilts and their charity choices by the other blog hop participants.

***IMPORTANT!***
Comments will be open until Friday, May 15! Remember - your comments on any blog wins you an additional chance to win a prize. More comments = more entries! Winners will chosen by random generator after May 15. Those of you who live outside the US will only be eligible for the gift certificates or pattern prizes, but not the fabric prizes due to the cost of postage - sorry!

***ALSO VERY IMPORTANT!***
If you are a "no-reply blogger", please leave your email in your comment if you would like to be entered in the drawing for prizes. If you prefer, you may privately send me your email address at rubymitch12@yahoo.com

BLOG HOP SCHEDULE:
Wednesday, May 6 
Karen @ KaHolly
Kate @ Smiles From Kate
Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of my Quilting Life
Bernie @ Needle and Foot
Linda @ My Sew-Called Quilts
Cathy @ Crazy By Design
Sue @ From the Magpie’s Nest

Thursday, May 7
Kate @ Smiles From Kate
Diann @ Little Penguin Quilts
Rose @ Something Rose Made
Nann @ With Strings Attached
Mari @ The Academic Quilter
Louise @ My Quilt Odyssey
Susan @ Desert Sky Quilts

Friday, May 8
Janice @ Color, Creating and Quilting
Kate @ Smiles From Kate
Joy @ The Joyful Quilter
Susan @ Quilt Fabrication
Edi @ Edi’s Crafting Life
Carol @ Quilt Schmilt
Preeti @ Sew Preeti Quilts
Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

PRIZES!
Lorna, Sew Fresh Quilts, $50 gift certificate for her pattern shop
Yvonne Quilting Jetgirl, 2 PDF patterns of choice
Bernie Needle and Foot, $25 certificate for her shop
A fat quarter bundle from Figo Fabrics
A set of quilty gift cards from Initial Thought by DMF  Note cards set 1
A pattern of choice from Karen, Sugar Free Quilts
A $30 gift certificate for Doris, Cactus Queen Quilt Co
A PDF pattern of choice from Joanne, Canuck Quilter Designs Etsy shop
$25 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop, donated by Janice Holton
Book 1 and 2 of The Enlightened Spaniel, donated by the author who is the husband of Kate of Smiles From Kate

Quilt Details:
Finished size (laundered): 54 x 66 inches
Pattern by Rachel McDaniel Hayes

Front:
Fabrics from stash
White Grunge-look from Hobby Lobby

Backing:
Denim Grunge-look from Hobby Lobby
Yellow plaid from stash

Binding:
Yellow plaid from stash

Superior Thread:
Piecing: #50 So Fine in 502 Genoa Gray
Quilting: #50 So Fine in 419 Pineapple

April Monthly Color Challenge

The bird for April's Monthly Color Challenge is the Purple Honeycreeper - I love that name! This post is linked to Patterns by Jen Color Challenge 2020.

Jen created this pretty Square in a Square pattern which you can download (free only for the month of April) right here. All of the patterns are for 12-1/2 inch blocks, so at the end of the year I should have a nice sized quilt.

I used part of my Kate Spain Honey Honey collection from stash. I really like this block pattern and would like to see it as a quilt.

Re-done January and February blocks

I don't know about you, but sometimes I make a quilty decision that I regret down the road. You might recall I decided to make the January and February blocks 8-1/2 inches instead of 12-1/2 inches, in order to accommodate the size of my scraps. You may read about that decision here. Then I forgot to do that for the March block. I didn't want to redo the March block, so I added borders to bring the two previous blocks up to 12-1/2 inches, and that riveting post is here. Although I liked my do-over blocks, every time I looked at them they just didn't look quite right to me, and it finally drove me crazy enough to remake the blocks again! It's all good though, because I can still use the smaller blocks as part of the backing.

Be sure to go check out all the lovely birdie blocks here!

RSC Blues, Picket Star Block, and Other Quilty Happenings

The RSC color for April is light and bright blue. With last month's challenge being teal and aqua, my blue scrap bin has had a workout but still seems full of blue. I love the way blues pop on my design wall!

Scraptastic Star pattern by Melissa Corey

Geese Migration pattern by Cynthia Brunz at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Cynthia Brunz Irish Chain

Strings

I had help on my strings from Julierose at Julierose Quilts, who took the time to send me instructions on how she makes her beautiful "Ojos" - thank you Julierose!

Now that my "scrap chores" are over for the month I get to concentrate on other projects, such as this Picket Star block from Preeti's blog. She has generously created an excellent tutorial for it right here. Preeti has a perfectly lovely and appropriate name for it, but to me it is simply "Preeti's Block". It makes a big 17-1/2 inch block!

I love this block so much that I ordered more of these luscious fabrics by Jinny Beyer to make several blocks into a quilt.

One of the online stores where I found my fabric was Lone Star Quiltworks, a store I had visited in December when we took our grandson and his girlfriend to lunch in their college town. I talked my husband into going early so we could check out the store before we met them. It is a quilter's dream - clean and bright and full of beautiful fabrics! For some reason I migrated toward the long arm machines they had set up. I gave the Hand-Quilter Simply Sixteen a test drive, and oh my goodness! What a fun time I had easily maneuvering that piece of metal around. We asked the friendly demonstrator several questions before I finally asked "how much is it?" Well at $5995.95, and even with a payment plan, I decided maybe I'd just stick with my domestic Janome. And even if we could afford it, we would have to add on a room for it somewhere - lol! But oh it is fun to dream about it, especially when I'm wrestling a quilt through Miss Janome.

I am adding this post to the other fabulous blogs linking up to Cynthia's Oh Scrap! and Angela's Scrap Happy Saturday.

Gooseberry Garden Quilt Finish

This quilt is the result of a pattern test last year for "Eternally Yours" quilt pattern by Julie at Running Stitch Quilts. It was a fun "X's and O's" pattern, and I love the final look! I finished and sandwiched the flimsy last March (you may read about it here), put it in my closet, and there it stayed until last week. Because it had been folded for so long, the backing was no longer taut, so I had to re-sandwich it. That was fun (not!).

The majority of the blocks were made with Gooseberry, a 2015 collection from Lella Boutique

I quilted with an unmarked double cross hatch in a basting stitch.

Unmarked translates to "not perfect", so I shall call it "organic".

During the 2-1/2 day quilting marathon, one needle was broken, excess backing got caught in the stitching several times and had to be ripped out, and Rosie insisted on lying on the quilt almost every time I wrestled with it. Fun times!

This happy quilt which will reside on the guest bed used by our granddaughter when she comes to visit. I'm pretty sure she will love it as much as Jack does!

Quilt details:
Finished size: 60 x 70 inches
Pattern: Eternally Yours by Running Stitch Quilts

Front:
Gooseberry by Lella Boutique for Moda
Cupcake Cafe from Studio E
Vintage Holiday by Bonnie and Camille for Moda
Aqua with white dots from Hobby Lobby
White embossed from Hobby Lobby

Backing:
Gooseberry by Lella Boutique for Moda
Peach-Gold-Mint diamond print from Hobby Lobby
White fabric from stash

Binding:
Aqua with white dots from Hobby Lobby

Superior Thread:
Piecing: #50 So Fine in 502 Genoa Gray
Quilting: #50 So Fine in 519 Barely Mint

I'm hooking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for "Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?"

Beverly's Quilt Finish

What was begun as a quilt for me evolved into a quilt for a childhood friend. Beverly is the older sister of my best friend from childhood. She is in assisted living in my hometown and according to my friend, still leads an active life in her wheelchair. However, due to some complications from diabetes, she is currently in a physical rehab facility and hoping to get back to her home soon. In February I read about a wheelchair quilt on Louise's blog and began thinking about Beverly, and I couldn't stop thinking about her. Now that I know she is experiencing health issues, I'm glad I made the decision to gift her the quilt instead of keeping it for myself.

Inspiration vintage quilt from Instagram

This "pattern" was my attempt to recreate a vintage quilt I saw on Instagram. It was scrappy and composed of nine-patch blocks made anchored by cornerstones and separated by sashing rectangles.

This was a fun quilt for me, from doing the quilt math to picking fabrics. Most of the fabrics came from scraps or stash, but I did purchase the cornerstone and binding fabrics. My husband (and occasional quilt model) has become a surprisingly good consultant in choosing fabrics for bindings and backings, and he picked out the binding at my local quilt shop.

My quilting was a combination of a wide zig-zag stitch and grid quilting. The inspiration for zig-zag came from this pretty quilt on Preeti's blog. If you squint, it looks a little like hand-stitching. I employed the same zig-zag on the binding. Zig-zagging is fast but it really eats bobbin thread!

Backing is the same as the cornerstones

Quilt model Jack

Beverly's Quilt details:
Finished size: 42 x 60 inches
Pattern: Nine-patch blocks made with 2-1/2 inch squares; 3-1/2 inch cornerstones; 6-1/2 x 3-1/2 inch sashing strips

Fabrics
Front: Scraps and stash
Backing and cornerstones: Geraniums by Edyta Sitar for Andover
Binding: Heartfelt by Kansas Troubles Quilters for Moda

Superior Threads
Piecing: #50 So Fine 502 Genoa Gray
Quilting: #50 So Fine in 492 Pale Yellow

I'm linking again to Myra's Stress-Free QAL on Busy Hands Quilts.