Roadtrip Quilt

I finished the quilt top I call "Roadtrip".  I wanted tp make a quilt that would look like something a grandma would make from scraps in the 70's.  

I hunted for just the right background fabric.  And I finally found a piece I liked by Laundrybasket Quilts that has small orange hearts or tulips and dusty green leaves.  I was looking for something pale red or blue but when I found orange I had to add orange (and green) to the fabric pull.  I think it brightens up what might have been a ho-hum color scheme of red, blue, and brown.

I've never made a six-[pointed star quilt and to be honest I'll never do it again. Trying to match up the star points to each other was hit and miss.  I finally sewed the rows together by hand and it was better but not as good as I had hoped.  But, I really enjoyed ironing this quilt with all it's stars and rosettes, 

 It took 2 months to make which doesn't sound too bad except I worked on it everyday and it took hours. . . especially the hand piecing.

I have no regret making it.  In fact I really like it and will enjoy hand quilting it.

Anything I make next will be a little easier than having over 1100 diamonds to sew together.

 

I purchased the little Lori Holt suitcase recently.  I don't know what I'm going to put in it but it sure looks cute on top of my hutch near my old sewing basket.  I think I need to put some mini-quilts up there too.

I've decided that I need to get back to sewing my Boro-like jacket before I start anything new.  I inherited the quilt above when my uncle passed away in 2014.  The top was made by my Great Aunt Nell and someone, at some time, quilted it in a diagonal grid.

Don't you love that random purple piece - the only one in the whole quilt.

The quilt is quite stained.  But, surprisingly the stain on the border above did not bleed through to the back.  I'm going to give it a good cleaning in my tub and then I'm going to cut it up for the lining of my Boro jacket.  I'm not a fan of cutting up quilts (especially applique ones) but in it's present state I would never use it and it will make a warm lining for the jacket.

We had a heavy snowstorm last week.  It's not unusual to have a surprise storm in April or May but this one was devastating.  It got warm early here and was warm for a long time.  The freeze killed many fruit blossoms but the worst happened to our walnut trees.  

It not only killed the blossoms, it killed the new growth too.  We have two trees and wonder if either one of them will recover.

The freeze didn't bother the beautiful lilac below.

I was searching through my old magazines to come up with some new sewing ideas and I found the picture below.  How I would love to have a wall of rods to hang my quilts upon.  It would be so easy to hang them and rearrange them.  Bonus!

Hope you're having a beautiful spring (or fall) day.

Robin