Blotting Out Winter With Rainbows

 

Click here for pattern:  Rainbow Bows

It all started with a sale on fabrics. Right after Christmas, I happened upon a package of sixteen fat eights in bright, rainbow colored, polka dots at half price. How could I pass that up? The baby box containing items I'm making for future great-grands is far from overflowing.

While cold winter took hold and the snow fell constantly, I played with warm, summer colors. I dreamed of warm days, soft rain, and lovely rainbows. The rainbow colored fabrics turned into a quick and easy rainbow quilt made with large and small bow tie blocks. I kept the theme going in the border of alternating colored and white squares - rainbows everywhere to contrast with the gray skies and white snow outside my window.

Too much snow!

I almost never use polyester batting in my quilts. It's too lightweight to drape nicely or to hold it's shape as a table runner or a wall hanging, but when it comes to quilts for babies, polyester is my first choice. It's warm, it's soft, and it is lightweight. A baby quilt like this is light enough for a toddler to drag everywhere. It can be tossed into the washer and dryer with other laundry, too.  This isn't the kind of quilt  you might display on a wall. it's meant to be used and loved.

Minimal stitch-in-ditch quilting was perfect this time.  Simple, straight lines with a walking foot are fast, well suited to the batting, and the quilt remained soft and fluffy.

Quite a bit of fabric was leftover, so I improvised the back of the quilt to use up the extra.

I also made a coordinated slip on pillow cover There is no zipper this time, so the entire project was both fun and easy.


Dreaming of spring.

Wishing you a lovely end to winter. 

The Empty Chair, Part 4: A Year Gone By

This week marks a full year since my dear man has been gone. So many things have changed. I still miss him every day, but I'm gradually adjusting. I think the hardest part has been the silence. I've been running the television or playing the radio all day long, just for background noise.

Life has changed in so many ways, but this next year will be one of happier adjustments. Something is in the works.  I always knew I'd married a stubborn man, and there are moments that leave me wondering. 

I mentioned in an earlier blog that Fred was adamant that I not live alone. My grandchildren moved next door in March. Everything fell together so suddenly after his passing, that I questioned if Fred had a hand in it all. I've so enjoyed having those sweet, young people so close by. It's been wonderful, but not exactly what Fred wanted. In those last weeks, he insisted that I should live in the same house with one of our children.  He worried that I'd fall, or get sick, and no one would be here to help me. He had the same concerns for our daughter, who has been living on her own for several years. Fred thought we should be together under one roof. There was just one problem. Mandy has been living over an hour's drive from me and working in Omaha.

Then, just before Christmas, a position in Lincoln suddenly opened up. Mandy applied, and job was hers. Her transfer took effect last week, and she'll be moving back to Lincoln as soon as her house sells. It will go on the market in March when winter begins to bow out. In the meanwhile, Mandy is staying with me during the week, and going home on weekends. While she's working, I have the company of her two little dogs, Watson and Willow. They are delightful, and my house isn't quiet unless they're sleeping. Puppies during the day, a daughter in the evenings. What could be better?

After the sale of her house, Mandy will find a house in Lincoln. She says that her dad won't let her rest until she finds something with enough space for both of us and the pups. She also won't settle for anything that doesn't have well lighted studio space where she can paint and I can sew.

This is all quite exciting. I'm truly looking forward to the coming year.

Nap time for Watson and Willow

Change is inevitable, so I wish all of us a year filled with love, happiness, and only those changes that bring joy.