FH Quilt - reimagined! #uanduqal

Quilt inspiration from Unconventional and Unexpected, by Rod Kiracofe.  Early last year, Sujata Shah put out a challenge to quilters, to make a quilt inspired by a quilt from the book. Mine is finally done!

 

I started with a vintage string quilt made by my grandma, Frances Heggestad.  Grandma signed her letters "love, Gramps and FH", so I call this FH Quilt.  I took the blocks apart - which were about 12-1/2" square - and recut the blocks into (4) 6" square blocks.  Many of these 6" blocks were  not used, due to damage.  Her quilt was well-loved!  You can see my first post about this here.

Auditioning fabrics for sashing and cornerstones.  After trying muslin, and gray, I ended up with various blues and reds for sashing, and several different prints for the cornerstones. 

Progress on the design wall.  As usual, I had not purchased enough of the reds and blues, so I ended up supplementing with some in my stash.  I love scrappy quilts, so this was a happy accident. Grandma never purchased fabrics for her many quilts.  She used old clothes, and scraps, given to her by friends and family.  Grandma made some quilts which she kept, or gave to family members, but she gave many more to charity.  

I love this old photo of my grandma, c. 1940.  That's my dad, a new sailor with the Navy (he enlisted), and his brothers Orville and Gordon.  

Here is the original quilt top, before I ripped apart the blocks.  

Ta da!  The completed project - FH Quilt Reimagined.  I used my favorite poly cotton blend batting, and soft muslin on the back.  

Photo shoot.  I love how it turned out! I think Grandma would have liked it. 

Close up, showing the ties and binding.  

Reading , eating out, and a zoom birthday

My lovely daughters!  Emily, Genevieve, and Hannah - as beautiful inside as out, I must say!  All three are now mothers, fine mothers all of them - my heart is so full!
Genevieve celebrated a birthday recently - but we were NOT all together, as shown in this photo (taken at Scott's birthday party this past February):  we  "met" via zoom.  Ah, the times we are living in!

Favorite photo of Genevieve and Scott - we were about to attend "West Side Story" at the Lyric Opera last year.  I said, jump up like you're dancing in the show, and they both did it!  Note, Scott is 69 years old, and had both feet in the air!  Genevieve is a dancer by training (BA, Northwestern University), and it shows. :)

Lovely Genevieve.

Scott and I WENT OUT TO EAT for the first time since early March.  Hannah had just gone back to work at the local establishment, so we went to support her.  It was late afternoon on a Saturday, before the dinner rush (so not crowded), and we didn't have to wait for an outside table, so we felt fairly safe.  Masks were worn going to and form, of course!  

Just finished this book, and enjoyed it thoroughly!  Our library was closed for months - I think they just reopened yesterday, with reduced hours/services - but you could still pick up books.  I put in a request for some novels, gave them some guidelines, and a librarian curated a selection of books for me!  This was one of them, and I loved it.

Stay safe, everyone!

It's a girl! Kate makes her entrance!

It's a girl! Sweet granddaughter Kate, posing on her special quilt, So Many Hearts.  
Katherine Louise was born 5/14/2020, a full 3 weeks early!  Long story, but mama and baby are healthy and doing well!  The quilt pattern was a simple heart block, 4 squares (3 pink, 1 white) sewn into a 4-patch and set on point.  I think the squares finished at 2", and the simple white sashing finished at around 1". I did a loose meander for the free motion quilting.  The batiks for the hearts were all from my stash.  Many were from a jelly roll purchased about 5 years ago, to make mug rugs for Emily's bridal party.  Perfect use for the leftovers!  I filled in with other scraps I had - pinks, purples, oranges, and a few green/pink prints.  

All of the newborn pictures from the hospital remind us that Kate was born during the Covid-19 outbreak, so both mom and dad are wearing masks.  Even so, you can see the love and wonder in our daughter, Emily's, eyes as she holds her newest daughter.  Her 2-year-old, Ella, stayed with us a week during the hospital stay.  

And check out little Kate and her daddy, Matthew,  sharing a special moment together.  How sweet is this! 
Since Kate was early - and I was late getting her quilt started - plus the fact that Scott and I kept Ella here for a full week (we didn't get much else done that week), the quilt was not done in time for Kate's homecoming.

Emily had hired a painter to paint her nursery - but because of Covid and not wanting workers in the house, she ended up painting it herself.  She even added one wall of peel and stick adorable bunnies wallpaper.  So soft and pretty.

Pretty mama and sleeping baby - welcome to the world, little one!

Oh My Happy Star

Oh My Happy Star delivered!  It's a good thing, because baby Henry arrived 15 days early!  Quilt was done in time for them to use when bringing Henry home from the hospital. 
The quilt had a long journey to its completion!  Once the muse finally spoke to me, it was easy:

Simple squares and half square triangles in bright, fun prints plus pure white Kona make for a sweet and simple baby quilt.  At the time of its making, we didn't know the gender of the baby, but I did know the nursery design and color scheme (gray, white, and bright colorful accents).  But it didn't start this way. 

My first idea was pinwheels - bright happy scraps, leftover from another quilt I made for Hannah and Danny (parents of the baby to be).  I spent LOTS of time making this, pressing seams open, picking fabrics carefully, figuring out the math to add the sawteeth borders (ugh).  And after I got it all "done", I hated it.  Hated. It. It was just TOO TOO  - too bright, too big, too scrappy.  So while thinking of another baby quilt idea, I ripped apart the pinwheels. 

I trimmed down the pinwheels to a smaller size, added white sashing and soft gray cornerstones. Aahhh.  

I added some simple white borders, and this top is done.  This quilt will go to another baby someday.  But in the meantime, this quilt is hanging on a hanger, awaiting quilting.  

Baby quilt idea #2 for Hannah's baby.  I used a simple color scheme of gray, white, aqua, and peach, and cut lots of 60 degree triangles.  Nice and simple, and I loved the result.  For about a day.  Then - I started rethinking it.  I thought it was too scrappy for Hannah, and not modern enough for her taste.  

Triangle quilt, take two - nope!  this is not it either.  All of the pieces are in a box, and will work for another baby quilt someday, but not this one.  Thankfully, the muse spoke to me, and I ended up with Oh My Happy Star.  I think I finally made the quilt, start to finish, in less than a week - including free-motion quilting.   I work full-time, and teach 18 piano students a week.  

Baby Henry's homecoming day!  I think they both look super cute. I love that Hannah is using the quilt, and not just hanging it on the wall, or storing it away in a drawer. 

Oh My Happy Star at home in Henry's adorable nursery. 

Sweet dreams, Henry!

It's a boy!

We are happy to announce - Henry Lee!  Born just two days ago, 15 days early, but 6 lbs., 5 oz., mom and baby are doing fine!

We think he's pretty cute!  Of course we haven't been able to meet him yet, due to social distancing.  This is our first grandson; we have two granddaughters, both age 2.  I think Henry will be the little prince, lol!

Little Henry and dear Hannah.  So proud of her, she did good!

New dad, Danny, and his new love.  He's over the moon!

Looks like a magazine, right? Hannah is very clever and artistic, and she created this adorable nursery. The wall treatment is something she found on pinterest, she free-handed it just using a simple cardboard template.  My quilt is hanging on the crib; more on that later.

They'll be rocking little Henry in that chair pretty soon!  Sweet dreams, sweet Henry!

(Not) Wordless Wednesday

My view this morning!

Lovely neighbor created this to add some smiles.

Adds a little perspective, doesn't it?  The gentleman on the left could have been modeled after my dad, though he was in the Navy (including Pearl Harbor).  Kind of looks like he did, too, minus the baseball cap. Stay safe, everyone!

We shop, we cook, we eat

Scott and I have been cooking pretty much every day for the past several weeks.  I think we got takeout twice in all that time.  Here are a few keepers:

Recipe source:  Betty Crocker, purchased in 1978 (wedding gift!). My kind of recipe, one bowl, easy, and really delicious!

We had heavy cream in the frig, so we skipped the frosting and served with real whipped cream.  Check out my teeny stove!  Looks like we live in a tiny city apartment...nope, just a small mid-century ranch in the suburbs.

Now THESE are to write home about!  If you're ever in Minneapolis, consider visiting Al's Breakfast in the U of M neighborhood called Dinkytown.  There is but ONE counter, with about 15 stools.  That's it.  So you have to WAIT for your breakfast.  But oh, the food is worth it!  Here's a link to the recipe.  The recipe shows made with blueberries and walnuts, but I subbed in chocolate chips for the blueberries.  And you MUST use real maple syrup - pictured above is Anderson's Pure Maple Syrup, made by my godparents' family in Wisconsin.  They carry it at my local grocery store!

More proof of our tiny kitchen. Scott is backed up to the refrigerator, and to the left of the stove the counter takes a left turn and there is the sink.  It's a "step saver kitchen", that's for sure.
Scott is working on a quick pasta dish I saw on "The Kitchen" (food network).  They had a "pasta drop challenge" where you had to create a pasta sauce in the time it took for the pasta to cook!
Here is the link for Sunny's Quick Bolognese sauce.  We used 1# hamburger, crumbled and browned with olive oil, salt, and pepper for the meat, and pasta sauce for the pizza sauce.  It was clean-your-plate good.  

More recipes next time!
Stay safe, everyone!

Keeping busy!

Welcome back to my blog! Although I am busy - I've decided I've time enough to get back to blogging.  So here we go!

Although some folks are home with lots of time on their hands, I am home - but I am still working at both of my jobs.  I do customer service for a heating parts distributor, and I also teach piano lessons.  Since the stay at home order, I've been teaching via FaceTime, which has worked very well!

My home office setup.  My workplace brought over my computer and phone and got everything connected for me.  I've been here for just over 3 weeks - first using some vacation days, and now working from home.  The commute is great, but I miss my friends from the office.  Best to be home and try to stay safe.

Over the weekend, I made enough masks for our family, using some batik fabrics.  I used a design found online by Kaiser Permanente, see here.  Very clear instructions.  I made my masks with ties rather than elastic.  Models are my daughter and granddaughter.  Of course we miss our family, but if staying apart will keep us all healthy, it is a small price to pay!

Our other project lately has been painting our kitchen!  Good-bye green, hello white!  Going for a fresh new look.  I enjoy painting - but it's taking longer than I expected!  We're very good painters - but not very fast!