{ 24 Carrot Quilt }

In honor of spring and bunnies everywhere,

I present my Fancy Nancy Original 24 Carrot Quilt.

This quilt makes me smile!

I LOVE the orange/blue/brown combination!

Look really close for my quilting

I'm really proud of my 'carrot quilting'.

Loopy loops on the carrot tops and

'carroty' texture on the carrots.

My quilts tend to 'evolve' more than be planned in advance

and so I was delighted to find the perfect border

and binding fabric after the carrots were pieced.

(The carrot fabric was already in my hoard collection.)

The carrots on the back make me smile.

My sweet helper/photo bomber is currently

serving as a LDS missionary in Uruguay.

I had to include her sweet baby blues.

And her shadow hand puppets.

I paper pieced my carrots (I was struggling with

accuracy on biased edges) but the shapes are

simple enough that you could add seam allowances

to the shapes and piece them that way.

The blue border is 1 1/2 inches (1 inch finished).

My Mom's clothes line

The floral border is 4 1/2 inches (4 inches finished).

The striped binding is on the biased (my favorite).

I cut my binding 3 1/2 inches wide,

use the right edge of my walking foot as my seam allowance, and stitch it by hand.

It finishes to a beautiful 1/2 inch binding on the front

and a little wider on the back.

Link for a pattern for the carrots

Link for a pattern for the carrot tops

The quilt finishes at 43" x 65".

{ happy st. patty's day! }

Today is one of the worst holidays for 

my severely red/green color blind Mr. W.

He went through school, year after year,

never quite sure if he was wearing green

on St. Patrick's Day.

It wasn't until he was 17 that he was officially

diagnosed as red/green color blind.

Every morning I make sure he 'matches'

and today we tucked a pen with a green cap

into his shirt pocket just in case.

He is so color blind that before we were married,

he bought a grass green suit thinking it was brown.

It was our first donation to DI as a married couple.

Here's to the wearing of the green

(even if you can't see it)!

My Kona Cotton Rainbow

Tennessee Williams said

"Luck is believing you're lucky."

I consider myself one very lucky girl!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

{ buttons }

A very nifty tip for placing buttons

before you start stitching.

Let me introduce you to one of my

ALL TIME FAVORITE notions -

* * * Roxanne's Glue-Baste-It * * *

After I decided on my layout

for my Loving Hearts stitchery,

I put a dot of Roxanne's magic glue

on the back of each button.

This stuff dries FAST and clear.

One dot held those buttons firmly in place.

It can be used anywhere you need a pin,

extra 'finger' or a 'temporary' basting.

It comes out in the wash and this little bottle

lasts a very long time.

I continue to find new uses for it.

Check with your local quilt store
and if they don't carry it, request that they do.

Or you can always check online.

{ charity at a stop light }

I heard a talk a while ago about judging.  

The speaker suggested that when someone acts in a way

that appears to us to be less than saintly, 

we should think of the most magnanimous explanation 

for their behavior.

For example, we're cut off in traffic.  The explanation could be that the driver

is rushing to the hospital to see his baby born.

The speaker pointed out that we can't change situations

BUT we can change how we feel about them.

This thought has helped me in many situations.  

I will admit that one circumstance was so bizarre

that the only magnanimous explanation I could come up with was

that the person had an inoperable brain tumor and couldn't help herself.

Saturday, I was headed to Pleasant Grove to watch grandchildren 

while their parents and sister attended a 'Daddy Daughter' date.

I had a lot on my mind as I stopped at the end of my street and waited

for a speeding car coming up the hill to go by.

I pulled out after it zipped by but must have forgotten to look right

one more time before I did.

As I went to pull in to the 'driver's' lane, I was met with a looonnnggg honk.
I quickly turned left and watched as a car passed me on my right.
I unknowingly had almost sideswiped a car.  Deep breath.

At the bottom of the hill, the light had turned red.  

I was now waiting side by side with the car 

that had honked.  I debated about whether to look over 

and mouth 'Sorry' or just keep looking ahead.  

I decided to look over and saw the driver motioning 

me to roll down my window.  I did.

And then, at the red light, I was shown charity.  

The driver explained that she wasn't being rude 

when she honked, she just wanted to warn me 

and avoid an accident.  I explained that clearly 

I didn't see her and was so sorry that I had almost 

caused an accident.  She acknowledged that she knew 

I hadn't seen her and was just glad 

that we were both okay.

The light turned green and we were on our way.

Charity at a red light.  What a great way to start your day!

{ Oh Scraps! }

Have you ever meet a person and immediately known 

that you've just met a new dear friend?

That's how it was with Renee.

Had to fix my 'caught' rick rack before my birthday delivery.

My uprooting had been difficult and I was in need of

good friends that would welcome me to the neighborhood.

Renee was one of those women.

I love a stripy binding!

She's a Provo gal like my Grandma Adamson.  

In fact, she lives at 591 East - my Grandma's address!  

When I realized that, it was a done deal.  

This friendship was meant to be.

I named Renee's quilt "Oh Scraps" because Renee

has shown grace and humor as she deals

with the horrible disease of rheumatoid arthritis.

The 'real' name of the quilt is "Oh Crap" - 

it's been that kind of a year or two health wise for Renee.

I didn't think that looked quite proper

on this beautiful quilt and so I added 

a couple of Ss to make it more lady-like.

Renee is that great blend of 'real' and 'optimism'.

She has been a sounding board for me

and a source of friendship and love.

The butterfly quilting reflects a tender symbol 

for her family with the loss of a sweet granddaughter 

to cancer and of course I needed hearts 

to reflect her deep and abiding love for her family, 

the restored gospel and me.

I love my birdie clips!

I hope that when she warms her sore joints under this quilt,

she will remember how much she is loved 

and how much I appreciate this Provo gal 

at 591 East making room in her heart 

for a newcomer to the neighborhood.

Quilt facts - Quilt layout- my design

Quilt front is made using Kona Snow

and fabrics by Bonnie and Camille.

The binding is cut on the bias.

Quilt block pattern is Buttoned Up

from the book A Cut Above by Gerri Robinson.