Dancing Daylilies

The story of this quilt began in September 2019.

Dancing Daylilies 70" by 90"

It was the long weekend of Labor Day and I was playing with scraps... Moda Scrap Bag scraps, to be precise. The fabric is by Corey Yoder. 

Scraps from Moda Scrap Bag 

Just piecing strips and making large blocks. I ended up with a flimsy of 50" square. Good enough for a large baby quilt. I set it aside and worked on quilts for the Socorro Foundation. 

Almost Flimsy

In October 2019, I traveled to India. I was tasked to convey a care package to Meetu (my sister's classmate). My sister lives in the US and Meetu lives in India. They went to medical school together and we all have been friends for many years. 

Meetu at our wedding in 2008

Meetu is fighting breast cancer, my sister told me as she handed me a large canvas bag with books, a head scarf and other pink items.  

When I went to see Meetu, I wasn't sure what to expect. Mom's trusted driver drove me to her house and asked me when he should return to pick me up. I told him to wait.  I won't be long.

What if she was asleep or resting, I wondered.  What if she felt uncomfortable about seeing me, I thought. 

Her father-in-law opened the door and greeted me warmly.  I was prepared to leave the bag with him. But he asked me to wait. Shortly thereafter Meetu came downstairs to see me. She looked tired and her head was covered with a scarf but her smile was intact. 

We hugged. I handed her the bag of goodies. I am a courier, I commented.

She laughed. We chatted for a few minutes and I left.

When I returned to the US in November 2019, I knew what I had to do. I pulled out that flimsy. At 50" square it was great for a baby/toddler. Not for Meetu. 

Matching Fabrics

Layered Blocks

Most of the Corey Yoder scraps were gone.  So I found matching fabrics from my stash and made additional blocks. I needed another 38 blocks for a finished size of 70" by 90".  

Adding Blocks

Completed Flimsy

I knew I wanted bright yellow for the backing but how should I quilt it?  I wanted the quilting to be special. I marked the quilt top and  quilted it using my walking foot. I love the design. 

Walking Foot Quilting

Yellow and red are not only bright and energizing they are also considered auspicious colors in Hindu culture. Red and gold striped binding completed the quilt.  

Red and Gold Binding

Labelled and Ready

Dancing Daylilies was completed on January 3, 2020 and I sent it to my sister.  She was scheduled to visit India in April 2020 and I knew she would happily take the quilt to Meetu. Yes, we act as couriers for each other all the time.

And then Covid happened and the whole world came to a standstill...for a long time. 

In May 2020, the Mothers' Day card that we sent to my mom in India was returned to us.  There was no way I was risking the quilt to the postal service.

Completed Quilt

Scrappy and Yummy

Coral, Orange, Green, Gray and Yellow

Peek a Boo

Bright and Beautiful

Ready for You

Waiting...

My sister could not go to India in April 2020 or in April 2021. In May 2021, the quilt reached Meetu's daughter, who is a student in New Jersey.  Last month the Dancing Daylilies reached Meetu. Finally.

Meetu with Dancing Daylilies

Meetu has beaten the cancer. She has also decided on a different career path. Giving up her medical profession as an anesthesiologist, Meetu will be running a Yoga Center - practicing and teaching. 

I wish her well in her new endeavors.  

__________________________________________________________________

In other news, subscriber emails have been successfully migrated from Feedburner to Follow.It.  See the new button on top right.  

______________________________________________________________

Quilters have been working on Positivity Quilts. Rachel's Positivity quilt reached Bernie. 

Rachel's Positivity Quilt

Thank you so much, Rachel. The Positivity Quilt Finished Flimsy Linky Party (and giveaway) is July 18, 2021.  

_________________________________________________________________________

Island Batik July Challenge Giveaway Winners - The random number generator chose comments 53 and 47.  Emails have been sent to Donna T and SandyZoo.

____________________________________________________________________________

Who says you cannot herd cats?  Look at mine - all 12 of them, well-herded :-D

Novella - Original in Batiks (left) and in Florals

Inspired by Katrin's floral cats, I made the Novella Wall Hanging pattern in florals.  The Novella Wall Hanging (Table Runner) pattern is available at a discount in my Etsy Shop till July 15, 2021.

I will be sharing with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar. As usual, I'd love to hear from you about your journeys - long and short.

Side Effects of Marriage (and quilting)

We had a fight!!!

Scraps

He got angry ( I am sure I provoked the saint of a man.)
And said things that were hurtful.  ( I am sure I deserved it.)
And then he stormed out of the house. (What else could he do?)

Where is the broom?

Needless to say, I went to my sewing machine while tears streamed down my cheeks and sobs convulsed my body.

What a mess!

What shall I work on, I tried to think.

Design Wall to the Rescue

There are bags and baskets to make.  About three dozen of them are still unfinished.

Basketful of Pouches

I could quilt any one of the four quilt tops.  I believe they look at me with such neediness as the cat begging for a sliver of turkey lunchmeat.

Completed KISS flimsy (from Craftsy Blog Hop)

There are at least five new quilts that have to be made for specific recipients - my brother, my friend in India, my high school friend also in India, one of my teachers in India, one of my sister's friends, and her sister-in-law.

Blue Strips for a Future Quilt

No. No. No.
Look at yourself.  You are more pathetic than a pile of ugly scraps.
Sobbing and Crying - you will just ruin fabric and thread.

Some order from chaos

So, I did the only sane thing I could do.  I opened my bag of scraps and went to town.
Who cares if I ruin them, I thought, still sobbing.

I am liking this!!!

Being married, fighting with your spouse is inevitable, in my opinion.
As a quilter, it is inevitable that you will have scraps.

Three Columns of Blocks

So when one side effect threatened to ruin my day, I turned to another.

Finished Flimsy

So will I cook for Paul?
Sure, if he asks nicely, I will.  He still has not.
Guess that means I have more time to myself :-D

So bright and cheerful

Now, that is a good side effect (time for quilting) of a bad side effect (fighting).
Trust me to always see the bright side of things.
And speaking of bright side, this flimsy is not too shabby either.

Scraptastic

What do you think?  I am going got call this one Side Effects :-D

Now, that adds another flimsy to my to-be quilted list.  Shall I add this to my one monthly goal?
Why not?

Not sure it will get done.
Because, now that Paul and I have made up, I am feeling sane enough to dive into a new project.

Here is a sneak peek at the auditioned fabrics.

For Angel's quilt

I will be linking with Scraptastic Tuesday and One Monthly Goal, along with all my other favorite linky parties.

And please, please share your thoughts about fighting, coping and making-up too!!!

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that Craftsy is having a 50% off sale on their top classes.

And while I was browsing, I could not but notice that this very yummy Free Spirit by Tula Pink fabric was a whopping 40% off.  No, that is not sale. That is a steal!!!

Free Spirit by Tula Pink

This blogpost contains affiliate links.

Strawberry Salad with PeptoBismol Dressing

One day in March, Paul came home to a very pink design wall.

Strawberry Salad + PiptoBismol Dressing

Paul: Is that a quilt for breast cancer awareness?

Me: More like Pink Eye.  I don’t know where to look.
It has no focus and no place for the eyes to rest. 

Scrap Bag - Good, Bad & Ugly

Let's start at the very beginning. Shall we?

One fine day as I was browsing the World Wide Web, I came upon Hawthorne Threads and noticed their Scrap Bags in the sale section. 

Strips Grouped

Ignorance & Temptation is an ugly combination. Next thing, I ordered a few of the Fresh Scrap Bags. When they arrived, they were just that – a mixed bag. Some were very pretty fabrics, some very ugly fabrics and some just in between – but all pink.

The first block

I figured, if I cut them up and put them together, they may come to something.

When I had made the Paulitiks quilt, I felt it was just too blue. May be if I made that pattern scrappy and pink.

There was only one way to find out. I cut up most of the pink scrap bag into 2” strips and started playing.

Hot Mess

Made a few blocks. Made a few more blocks and realized that it was too pink. May be I should add a little teal/turquoise/aqua.

A touch of teal

After I had made a dozen blocks, I realized that it was too pink, too scrappy, too disgusting and had absolutely no focus. I was devastated. But I was also determined to finish it. The uglier the project the more likely it will end up as a UFO. I could not let that happen because 2016 is my year of destroying UFOs.

Some red

So I marched along like a soldier on a mission. When it was finished, I HATED it. Wish I had used some neutrals in each block to balance the pink.

Does white help?

As I was arranging the strips, I tried to place the low volume fabric between the two high volume ones. This worked fine for each block but when I placed the blocks together, the high volume fabrics ended up adjacent to each other, making it look very busy. 

Low Volume between High Volume Strips

Further, the low volume middle strip, distanced the center square from the outer strip making the whole block disjointed.

I had a finished flimsy and no desire to quilt it.  Fortunately Mauna stopped by.

Mauna: What are you working on?

Me: It is a strawberry salad with Pepto-bismol dressing.  It is grossly pink. Not pretty and pink. Not Blush & Bashful. Just in your face sickly pink.  And I showed her the finished flimsy.

Chic?

Mauna: I don’t think so.  Imagine a little girl’s room that is painted very light yellow and is completely plain and then on the wall there is this quilt.  It is shabby chic and modern. It is something you might see in one of these modern lifestyle stores.

Me: Really?

Mauna: Trust me, this will make some little girl so very happy.

Backing Fabric

Whatever Mauna said made ME very happy and this strawberry salad of a quilt began to grow on me.  I picked a backing and a matching binding.

Teal/Turquoise Binding

Not everyone has to like it as long as someone likes it.  In the next few pictures, you can see how I put the ends of my binding together. No rulers required.

Binding Ends - 2.5" overlap - RST

Has it ever happened to you that when you get to the end of the binding and trying to connect the two ends, you get it twisted?  I did for about 18 out of 40 quilts.  Now, I have this method down - Perfect.

1. Make sure that the ends overlap by 2.5 inches

2. Bring them together and place them right sides together, (see picture above)

3. Now turn the one on the right (near my thumb) by 90 degrees towards the edge of the quilt, while keeping them RST (see picture below)

Give a 90 degree turn to one, keeping them RST

4. Now, mark the one on the top, as shown in the picture below.  
5. Pin in place and stitch. 

You have just connected the binding ends, without ruler, templates or a twist. Do a little happy dance.

Mark and Pin

Mauna's positive feedback encouraged me to finish this quilt.

Binding in process

Blame it on the early onset of spring or March Madness. Strawberry Salad + Pepto-Bismol Dressing is here to stay.

Completed!!!

 It is kinda pretty in a messy way, I think.

Labelled

 Finally, the clouds broke for just long enough that I could take a few pictures.

Backing rocks the Binding :-)

Isn't that grass just the perfect backdrop?

Thank you Mauna!!!

What do you think? Messy or Chic?
Did someone else's opinion make you see something in a completely different perspective?   I'd love to hear from you.  I will be connecting with my favorite linky parties.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, I just saw this pop up in my inbox and I am sharing with you.   There is a Flash Sale on these Quilting Classes at Craftsy.  Save 50% or more on the following classes.

Oh, you are not interested in these classes.  Never mind.
This link will take you to all classes that are under $20.  

This blogpost contains affiliate links.