Cathy L's Summer Dreams

The last blocks of the Summer Dreams RR arrived about a week ago. Of course I had visions of flowers, butterflys and bees in mind, but when I opened the baggie and saw the 2 remaining blocks, that all went out the window. Blue fabric with lots of water themes just screaming out for a day at the shore. I started with the blue and red seam and then went to the lower right corner to do some seaweed and fishes. Then I moved on to the lower left patch with the flying gull. I added a sailboat and did the seam with fly stitches and straight stitches to resemble flying gulls. About that time I "saw" hot air balloons in the sky. I kept the remaining seams

'quiet' so they wouldn't distract from the balloons. Finally, I made one of the sand dollars in the upper right corner into a sun. What's a day at the beach without the sun! This was really a fun block to work on.

Autumn DYB book

When I got my 5 completed blocks back from the Autumn DYB rr, it wasn't that difficult to finish that last block. Then the question was what to do with these blocks. Everyone's work was far too grand to put them away in a pile somewhere. After studying loads of eye candy, I decided to make a book. That meant making a front cover and a back cover. To make a long story short, I did it! It's not the greatest, and I did learn a lot about how not to construct a book. I intend to make more with the other DYB round robin blocks I've been in.

Season Share project

In CQ for Newbies we did a series of blocks, one for each season of the year. Each person pieced a block and embellished half of it. It was then sent to another person to do the other half before being returned to the original piecer. I've had my finished blocks laying around for a while but was too busy with other RRs to bother doing anything with the blocks. Those other RRs are finishing up now and I have more time. The fact that it's been pretty snowy this winter has helped also. So ----- I made a wall hanging out of my 4 seasons blocks. It's a little warped and not exactly square, but it's my first "big" CQ project. I had forgotten how to make bias tape and how to turn corners with the stuff. Thanks to the internet, it was easy to refresh my mind and I muddled through. There is a tube on the back for hanging. I just have to get a dowel to slide in there.

Summer Dreams DYB for Helina

I just finished working on my Summer Dreams block for Helina, in Finland. We each make a tiny booklet to circulate along with the blocks so each person can record what she did, along with any other information. I enjoy reading what each person has to say about her work, and so on. In this RR we have 2 ladies from Finland, Ritva, who mails to me, and Helina. Ritva was the last one to work on these blocks. I read what the other 2 ladies had to say and turned the page expecting to read what Ritva said. Well, there it was all right. All in Finnish!!! At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, and then I realized it WAS a foreign language.

Anyway, Helina had a couple of blocks with butterlies on them but they had already been taken so I constructed one of my own from some butterfly fabric I had bought quite a while ago just for this purpose. I have made a lot of butterflies but there are still a lot more to go in that 1/2 yard of fabric.

Hearts and Flowers

In CQ for Newbies, when someone is experiencing tough times, we have what is called the "Hearts and Flowers" program. Anyone who feels like it, can make a cheerful block with either hearts or flowers on it and send it to the person to brighten her day. Here is the block I just finished for Marilynne, who had a heart attack. I hope it cheers her up.

See that lace in the corner? Here's the story. My cousin, Suzi, gave it to me. She got it from a friend of her's who was the god daughter of the Dodge family of Omaha, NE. They had no living family, so she became heir to the estate. This lace was in the drapes of the Dodge house ~ a big mansion in Omaha.

Kindle Cover

I made a crazy quilted cover for my Kindle, and when my mother saw it she had to have one also. She picked out some fabrics from her stash and I took them home to work on.

This is her cover. Btw, she's only almost 96 or she'd be making her own cover.

4 x 4 CQ swap

The clothpaperstudio Yahoo group is having a CQ swap. Colors that Sing! Make 3, get 3. One each; red/green, purple/yellow and blue/orange.

I finished mine and am getting them ready to send to the hostess who will do the swapping.