Dragonflies and Penguins???

So after a very difficult day of emptying one of mom's craft boxes, Ryan and I decided to trek out to the Davis Arboretum for some quilt photos.  He loves to humor me by taking pictures of quilts in natural settings, so we took Jackson, my bag of quilts and walked over half of the area searching for the perfect quilt perching spots.  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring clothespins and beanbags with me...items that would be extremely helpful for a quilt photoshoot, but oh well.  We persevered.  And, in spite of the crappy light today, we managed to get some good shots...even one of a loon on a pier that was kind of cool.

I spent yesterday in heaven....inhaling lovely citrus smells wafting from my jam pot and sewing away at Estelle.  I was able to bind the last of the quilts taken to Cornerstone to quilt over Christmas...Dragonflies.  I will definitely have a difficult time giving this one up as it has all the right colors and my fav bug in the animal kingdom all over it.  It is such a soothing quilt and the colors came together so nicely.  Its from a pattern called "Slash a Stash" that I got from Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove.  I actually pieced this together a couple of years ago, but just recently pulled it out to finish it after being heavily distracted by other projects.  But when I pulled it out, I instantly fell in love with the fabrics all over again.  I really wanted to have it done this month in time for Chinese New Year.  Well without further ado, here is my Dragonflies:

What this picture doesn't show well, is the beautiful quilting pattern of dragonflies in green thread.  It is stunning against the predominately black background.  As I mentioned...this one will be particularly hard to part with, not only for the design and colors, but I picked out the fabrics and assembled the top along side mom.  However, I feel that keeping every quilt because it has some link to my mom is not realistic, nor is it healthy for me, so I will find this a good home....someone who will love and appreciate it.  The good news is that I still have scraps of fabric from this quilt, so I get to use these fabrics in a scrappy quilt again soon.

Around the same time as the Dragonflies were being created, I was working on a series of Penguin quilts.  I stumbled on a pattern called "Calling all Penguins" by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes at Thimblecreek Quilt Shop in Concord that I knew would be perfect for my house.  My husband love aquariums, and especially penguins.  We have travelled all over the world, and everywhere we go (with the exception of Egypt) we have managed to find an aquarium to tour...and he always insists on seeing the penguins.  Someday, I would like to get to Antarctica to see the Great Emperor Penguins there, but I digress.  Anyways, I saw this pattern and made a penguin top. After I pieced it together, I was so happy with it I made two more!  And, I took a quick quilting seminar on how to use a walking foot and do a little free motion quilting with a darning foot around the same time, so I sandwiched all three quilts and proceeded to quilt them all, stitch-in-the-ditch.  Now, I know that you aren't much of a quilter if you just stitch-in-the-ditch, and furthermore, it weakens the seams, but who cares.  I did it all myself and they actually turned out pretty well, though I know what all the blogs are talking about the beauty in the quilting process.  Stitch-in-the-ditch really doesn't capture the beauty, but it surely gets the job done.  And with this particular pattern, I didn't quite have the skills then to do detailed quilting on my own.  However, in hindsight, I probably could have done other interesting patterns in each penguin or some free motion swirls to add interest.  Oh well...maybe next time.  I managed to bind two of those quilts last night as well.  One is going to my husband, naturally, and one to my dad.

My favorite part of this quilt is that the beaks flap!!!

Well, back to sorting through mom's unfinished projects.  I fully intend on finishing them, but it will take time and a little courage.  Thanks for reading....

Happy Crafting!