Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Endless Summer

We are among the lucky ones, who have missed all the snow and ice in our hometown in Ohio. While it hasn't been as hot as usual in Ft. Myers, Florida, it has been nice and the skies have been blue with fleecy white clouds. We have been here for two and a half months and "the husband" wanted to drive home to see the kids, but the weather has not let up for enough hours for us to make the drive. We can make it in nineteen hours, but the older we get.... the harder the drive becomes. I have not blogged for three weeks, because I have been working on quilts in an effort to compile a stack for my children and grandchildren. Also, some are just for the fun of it. I have fabric in waiting for a couple of queen/king quilts, but am punishing myself by waiting until I have cleared the decks of "in the works projects". I just finished quilting (by hand) a top that was pieced by my husband's grandmother in the 1940's. The fabrics were from feed sacks and are not particularly pretty and the workmanship was not the greatest, but it will be wonderful to leave to my daughter, who is also an avid quilt addict. Not too bad, now that it is done. It took more than a month of quilting every night while we watched T.V. and my fingers had multiple holes from the needles pricking them as I felt the underside of the quilt to know when the stitch was through and ready to return to the top. How can we ever think this is fun?


The next one is a little wall quilt for the porch here in Florida. It was such fun piecing it, but I haven't quilted it, yet. The fabrics are all sort of crazy , but then...so am I....Works for me! I had a quilting teacher who said, "Quilts are meant to keep people you love warm". Isn't that a lovely thought? So, why do I waste time on silly little wall hangings? Probably, because I can't resist the fabrics that are such fun to play with today. I feel sorry that Grandma never had such choices when she was young.



The quilt top on the right is huge and is finally ready to be quilted. I think I will take it to a long-arm professional quilter, because it is so big and I am tired of looking at the pieces. The fabrics are made in places like Java, Bali, Indonesia and Africa and are called Batiks. Their quality is unbelievable. I spent hours basting the curves together to make certain the circles and points all met at the right places. I am so ready to get on to something different. There are yards and yards of stuff awaiting me in the closet. I don't tell my hubby how much I have invested in fabric and he doesn't tell me about his golf expenses.

This small quilt (about a twin size) is just a pattern that caught my eye in one of my many books. It is a child's quilt and the fabrics are all fun kid stuff. Each colored block has three different fabrics with mice , balls and all sorts of toys. I bought the fabric one week and whacked the fabric apart and put it back together again in a few days. One of these days, one of my grandchildren will have a child and I will be ready. Meanwhile, it is time for Christmas, so the sewing machine must be put aside for a while. The general rule is...."Piece in the summer and quilt in the winter", but Florida is endless Summer!

10 comments:

Cathy said...

Kacey these are all truly beautiful. I can't even tell you which one I like the most because each one I saw I thought was my favorite. That very first one is amazing and so are the others.No wonder you have not been blogging.Whoever gets these quilts will surely cherish them forever.

I hope you have been feeling well? Take care of you my friend and enjoy these holidays.

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

wow they are just lovely! my favorite is the flip flops because i have never seen anything like it and it is fun and free spirited! merry christmas honey! you really did good!

smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Epijunky said...

Kacey,

They're all stunning! My goodness are you talented!!!!

I hope you have a fantastic Christmas, and don't worry, we'll save some chilly weather for you up here.

molly said...

My, you've been busy! It's a toss up if I like the first or the third one best. The flip flops turned out very nicely! Hope you had a good Christmas here in the land of endless summer!
The OC and I have the same "Don't ask don't tell" policy!

Granny Annie said...

DELIGHTFUL! I'm posting this link on my ILYB tomorrow. (I Love Your Blog)

Constance said...

Your quilts are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, Kacey !

You should win awards with them, they are so pretty !

Hope that you had a good Christams - and wishing you and your family a happy, healthy (fingers crossed) upcoming New Year 2009 :)

Loving Annie

Big Dave T said...

My wife got a quilting book for Christmas so she may soon become a quilter too, though I'm sure her creations will not be as elaborate.

Yes, lots of snow and ice up here in the northcountry. In fact, I just did a blog on some of the problems it's been causing around here. Stay there where it's warm.

Dust-bunny said...

The quilts are beautiful, I love the flip-flops!! Very vivacious and fun!

Do you ever make quilts for pay? I heard about someone who took all their son's Little League baseball shirts and made a quilt from the emblems. Or maybe you mentioned it here...I can't remember! I was thinking of paying someone to do this for me so I can put it away for him and give it to him as a gift when he moves out! It certainly would take up a lot less room than all those shirts do now!

Other than that, how are you and the hubby?? I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and your New Year is blessed. :)

Anonymous said...

Scrolling through your blog and checking out your quilts. Simply beautiful!

Sent you an email from my other email address... for some odd reason I think we may know some of the same folks...

Leslie Anne Pease said...

Your work is really well done. I'd love to see the quilting on them.

I am very partial to the drunkard's path block, so that quilt is my favorite of yours... Although, it's truly difficult to pick just one.