Grandma's Quilt - Q1 Finish

It has been almost a year since I wrote about Grandma's Quilt -- and now it's finally finished.  Yay!  This is a quilt on which 3 generations have sewn.  My grandmother did the embroidered blocks, my Mom did the hand quilting, and I did the piecing.  

When planning this quilt I waffled between using solids and using prints.  Solids, for more of a simple, modern look.  Prints to try and match the style and because they reminded me of what Grandma would like.  I went with prints -- "Nana's Pantry" from Connecting Threads.  This was a difficult decision, and I still wonder if I should have gone with solids.  I am not a cute, flowery kind of girl.  But, I do love Grandma!

Points I pondered:

1.  Grandma loved birds and flowers.  It was fun to look at the birds that represent various states.  Do you know what your state bird is?   

2.  I still wonder if I should have gone with solids, or maybe just a fewer colors.  This is not something I really thought about when I ordered the fabric.  I just ordered several colors included in the bird blocks and included them all.  I am still not very good at envisioning the end from the beginning. 

3.  Most of all I love that my mom hand quilted this.  My grandmother died almost 20 years ago, and to think that my mom and I both worked on the same squares that she made so long ago is a neat feeling.

And here she is!

Cute polka dot binding.

My home state's bird is the Mountain Bluebird.

And Utah's is the California Gull -- kinda funny, but there are plenty of them here so it's appropriate.

January and February Update

I'm back again with a slew of pictures to record what the family has been up to these last couple of months.  It's so hard to choose just a few pictures!  

In January Brian took the older boys to a UofU Alumni dinner and Basketball Game.  They had a great time.  You will see that as they walked out they found the entrance to "Tanner Dance" and had to strike a pose to show their little brother.  

Eric played his first season of Jr. Jazz.  He did great.  He's got a good sense of how to handle the ball, despite the relatively little basketball he's played.  You can see his nice form in the shot below!  SCORE!

 

On President's Day we went down to Temple Square and saw the movie "Meet the Mormons." Andrew and I had already seen it, but Brian and the other boys had not.  It was a little long for Tanner who had to take a few breaks to run in the hall, but other than that we all enjoyed it.  

We followed the movie with quick walk around City Creek -- the newly (well, not so new anymore) renovated shopping area in downtown Salt Lake City.  We had never been -- a house full of boys isn't too interested in malls.  :)  It was a very nice Mall, but once all the fountains had been seen and dipped into, we were outta there.

After a quick lunch at Jimmy John's, we went on a tour of the Conference Center.  The boys enjoyed seeing the large auditorium that we've seen on TV when we watch General Conference.  They also seemed to enjoy the numerous paintings throughout the Conference Center.  Our Tour Guide was very efficient, which allowed for little dawdling.  Luckily, he did wait around for us when we had to stop for a potty break.  :)  The roof of the Conference Center is covered with gardens (mostly dormant in February) and has a great view of the city.  There is also this really neat mural etched in marble.  

It is Andrew's birthday in February too.  His wish list consisted of all things Soccer and Nike.  No video games were on his list!  Mom's not complaining!  And yes, those are green Vampire Teeth you see on Tanner.  That kid and his costumes!

We celebrated with cousins one Sunday evening.  Here he is with his cousin who also has a birthday in February.  And of course Tanner has to be in all pictures, particularly if candles are about to be lit.

Rather than having a birthday party with friends, Andrew opted to invite two friends to Airborne (a trampoline jumping place.)  Unfortunately, his closest friend got sick that day.  Luckily we were able to have his cousin join us at the last minute.

Sugar Pine Quilt - Finish Q1

I am so excited to have this one finished!  It was on my design wall for a long time.  The pattern is Sugar Pine from the book Fresh Family Traditions by Sherri McConnell.  When I first browsed the book I didn't particularly notice this quilt.  But the more I looked, the more I liked it.  I like that about scrappy quilts.  

This is the first quilt I've made that's large enough to lay at the end of our Queen Bed.  I had sent it out to be quilted with some playful loops.

Points I pondered:
1.  Speaking of points...using a 1/4 inch Quilting Foot did help with my accuracy.  I know a lot of people don't like them, but it helped me.  I love that most of the points were not cut off!
2.  I enjoyed trying to use up the fabrics I already have.  Some fabrics are favorites, others just the right color, and even some "novelty" fabrics.  I had bought this Dick and Jane looking fabric a while ago because it reminded me of reading as a child.  It's not typically my style, so it was fun to work them into this project!
3.  I did get a little bored from doing so many quarter square triangles. I had to take a break for a while,  so it was nice to have it up on the design wall while I worked on other projects.

Linking up to Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday