This year our theme is “Boys Like to Read”. We decorate a tree benefitting Primary Children’s Medical Center in honor of Scott’s brother, Capt. Paul Carey. Here are some pix of the wild and crazy decorators!
We did the tree in lime, chocolate, and turquoise and set in a man’s study. There is a cozy fireplace with classics on tops, chair with the quilt I made, a side table with an airplane lamp and Hardy Boys books, and Curious George books under the tree.
Monday I finished whip-stitching the binding to the back of Paul’s quilt. I made it for our tree space at Festival of Trees 2013 that we will decorate on December 2. Paul is Scott’s brother and every year our extended family decorates a tree in his memory at Festival of Trees. (You can see past years in that category on this website.) All proceeds from the Festival go to charity care at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City and several of our children have received medical care there, so we feel strongly about the cause. Besides decorating a tree, my mother-in-law and I serve on a Gift Boutique committee that provides boutique items and works there during the week of the Festival.
I have been saying for a couple years that one year I would like to make a quilt to go with the tree and this year the sisters said it was time. Our theme is “Boys Like to Read” and the quilt will drape over a chair by a side table with lamp and books that all sit by the tree. Sort of like a man’s study where he remembers the books he enjoyed as a boy.
Thanks to my good friend, ShaRee, who set up quilting dates with me throughout October, I did the entire quilt from start to finish in a month. That’s a record for me as I take my time piecing and then hand-quilt all my quilts, which takes a long time. Since this was being donated and not an “heirloom” quilt, I had it machine-quilted so that cut off weeks. The quilter had it done in a few days, so I can see the allure of having them machine-quilted. More finished quilts, faster!
The color scheme was dictated by the choice of colors for the tree and the pattern is Framed Rectangles “A Taste of Honey” from Quilt magazine, Dec/Jan 2011 #118. The quilt is 62″ x 87″. ShaRee told me about the best method for binding EVER and I got it done lickety-split. I think I’ve even gotten over my hatred for binding.
All in all, I’m pleased with how this quilt turned out and I feel it’s a fitting tribute to Paul.
It’s been raining here for a couple days and yesterday I woke up to find that the mountains right outside my living room window have snow on them. One of the peaks was snow-free for only about 9 weeks this year. It hasn’t gotten quite cold enough at night yet to freeze so my annuals are still hanging on, although some of them are looking tired. A few perennials are still blooming and I have some lovely roses blooming late this year. Hurrah for Liquid Fence! I’m a believer, as the deer have mostly stopped nibbling now that I’m fanatically spraying our property. They pass through but don’t stay to eat. So for the first year ever, I have fall-blooming roses because the dang deer didn’t eat off the buds.
I’ve gotten some reading in and finished another challenge: the goodreads.com 2013 Challenge. I set mine for 104 books and reached it in September. Still three months left!
A friend and I have scheduled some quilting time together so that we can encourage each other and make sure some work gets done, so this week I started the quilt I’m making for our family Festival of Trees space this year. I have until Thanksgiving to get it done, but really before then as I’m having this one machine-quilted for the first time instead of hand-quilting it like I do my others. I’m shooting for finishing the top by Halloween. It’s chocolate and lime with some turquoise and has a fun rectangular repeating block in a scrappy fashion.
Except for the week when I was laid up with a sprained foot, I’ve been walking pretty regularly around the neighborhood and listening to audio books. I really like being out and walking. With the weather turning cooler, I’ve been going later to enjoy the warmth, but this week it hasn’t helped much because it doesn’t warm up. I might need to get one of those ninja masks people wear in the cold for fall walking.
We went to see our niece, Nika Fazulyanov, in “Shrek, the Musical” at the SCERA theatre where she played Young Princess Fiona. She was great and looked cute as a redhead.
Brian’s car was broken into and had the passenger window smashed in. Trust me, that makes an unholy mess inside the car. He was shaken up but not hurt and nothing really valuable was stolen, but I sat for 3 1/2 hours yesterday at the dealer while they replaced the window. Things like that make it easy to get lots of reading done.
That’s about all the news. Hope we have an Indian Summer on the way because I’m not quite ready for winter.
Last year, my quilty friend, ShaRee, wanted me to put a quilt in the show for Alpine Days but I was too chicken to join her. I didn’t think I had any quilts good enough to show off. This year when she asked, I decided to be brave and do it. I entered my “Off the Grid” quilt, which is a sliced nine-patch I made to display at Thanksgiving time. The show is not adjudicated but just for fun and I thought my quilt wasn’t embarrassing next to all the awesome ones in the show. Scott thought it was as good as any there, but I think he’s a teensy bit biased. Anyway, it wasn’t as scary as I thought and if I ever get some time to quilt, I might finish up some more in 2012. Hope so!
As promised in my last post, I’m revealing the super secret project that I’ve been working on for a while now.
Yesterday was Lauren’s bridal shower in Alpine and I gave her a jeans quilt! It’s meant to be a picnic blanket and for outdoor concerts and is something I’ve dreamed of doing for the boys when they married. To that end I’ve saved all our jeans since the boys were teenagers and have accumulated a large supply. Fortuitously, a few months ago Mark was getting rid of some torn jeans and I reminded him that we save jeans here. Lauren overheard and asked why, so I just said I was making some jeans quilts. She said she had a couple pairs that she was going to toss and would I like them instead? With great self-control, I merely replied that would be great. Inside I was jumping up and down because I hadn’t figured out a way to get some from her without spilling the reason. So….awesome, it has jeans from all FIVE of us in it!
Now to the details. The quilt is king-size and made of 9-patch squares comprised of 3″ squares cut from old jeans. Each 9-patch has a light blue center that all match, surrounded by eight squares that all match each other. I joined the squares in a scrappy manner so that the light and dark squares are all mixed up. The backing is cotton duck and the pattern is a musical theme with instruments in homage to Mark and Lauren who are both music majors.
It’s tied with a variegated tan yarn with blue and brown accents and the ties are in the center and each corner of the 9-patch squares. It’s bound by pulling the backing to the front and machine-sewing the binding through all layers.
I’m pretty proud of how it turned out and love the way it looks. Hopefully it lasts the happy couple for 50 years or more.