elephants on parade, or goose baby’s zig zag top

 

yesterday and today were cool enough (i.e. under 100) that I could turn off the ac and plug in the sewing machine and iron, so I worked on Goose Baby’s Zig Zag and got the top done.  I think probably he’s going to arrive before his quilt is done.  I’m thinking of putting his name on the back, which I won’t know until after he’s born, so probably OK.  I need another payday before I can finish the back and the quilting, and mama’s looking like she might go into labor before Friday’s check…  It’d be nice if she made it to the Fourth of July holiday – so baby could have fireworks every year on his birthday.  What a fun time of year for a birthday!

Ty Pennington fabrics in Chartreuse paired with Jay-Cyn Designs Ellie Fam in Grass and Kona Charcoal.

stop and smell the roses

OK – so they’re snapdragons, which don’t actually have much scent, but you get the idea.  It’s too hot to sew or blog and the electricity in the apartment is a little iffy these days when the whole city is running their air conditioning.  I have 3 window units – one for the living room and 1 for each of our bedrooms, but we can only run two at a time.  and then only if we unplug the sewing machine, the iron and the microwave.  so nothing much to show and little to blog about.  heat wave induced “stop and smell the roses” time. 

Farmer’s Flimsy

Farmer’s Wife Quilt-along top is complete!!!!  If I put the number of exclamation marks there that match how I feel about finishing this top, the whole post would be nothing but !!!                                                   
my first sampler quilt and my first quilt-along – thank you to author Laurie Aaron Hird, I now have a book of block ideas for future quilts, and thanks to Amanda and Angela for the quilt-along, and big thanks to them for the flickr group where we can all share – lots of support and inspiration there!!! 

of course I couldn’t've completed it without this little guy:                                          
  (he doesn’t get to be super-sized!)

Oh, how I wish he wasn’t necessary…  I did 49 of the 111 blocks in the book – a 7 by 7 layout alternating the squared and on-point blocks.  Big thanks to Michelle for doing the math on the sashing and then blogging about it! and to Melinda for grouping all the finishes in one spot.  :-)  Do you think it’s too bright???  (I don’t know the story behind that inscription – something to explore later, but it seemed to match the quilt)
It was made to go along with this (bright) pillow in my living room.  in that chair that’s supposed to be mine…  (he arranges those pillows himself!)




















It was a beautiful morning in Chicago today – though 90 degrees well before noon.  I had a little helper, so I thought why not go down by the lake to take some photos.  Look at her valiantly trying to help me get just the right shot – even on her tippy toes!                                                                                
beautiful, but windy in the Windy City (which was nice given the heat, but makes quilt top pictures challenging).  She was getting frustrated with the wind…             
… and then came up with the best solution.                            (isn’t she just the cutest???!!!)

Farmer’s Wife QAL

progress on the farm!  I made 3 blocks today and settled on a layout.  I like the alternating on point and squared as seen in the flickr group here and here.  and I’m so so happy to be only 8 blocks away from having my Farmer’s Wife blocks completed.  so my first sampler quilt, and first quilt-along quilt will be 49 blocks (not the 111) but I’m ready to be done with these little 6 inch blocks and happy with the quilt this will give me.  It’s been a fun and educational quilt-along, but I’m glad to be near the end.  It was, after all, started a year ago… 

here then are my new FWQAL blocks:

#48 Homeward Bound, #54 Kitchen Woodbox, #56 Maple Leaf

…and now my thoughts are wandering to possible fabrics for the background…  wouldn’t the non-quilters of the world be surprised to know how much of the time we are thinking about fabric?!  :-)