Wanting to be Above it All

I have been dividing my time between gardening to get ready for planting, taking care of the house,  sewing epic quilts, and cooking. I have recently been working to learn new cooking and eating with much lower sodium. The goal being to stay under 1500 mg a day. I know about processed foods, but for example I had no idea flour tortillas were so full of sodium! I have been instructed to lose some weight for my blood pressure. This is no small feat. I am well versed on the science of weight loss, and know about exercise and metabolism. It is not easy at my advanced age of 61 yrs and 11 months. My body fat is about 27%. I saw a meme that said "I want to lose weight and I want to eat." yep. And age gracefully. And be natural. And also above it all and self actualized.

Hope's Star baby quilt is coming along nicely. I still want to add a row of dimensional prairie points and another camel colored border. I like the cheery, scrappy, colorfulness of this quilt.

The light brown sashing fabric is a sampler of sayings and childhood primer writings. Sweet.

Here is part of the Big Beautiful Butterfly quilt. I have since finished the giant middle butterfly that is 38" x 29", and a yellow side middle butterfly. One more side middle guy and two bottom bigger butterflies and then I can piece the top together.  It is so fun seeing the quilts come together.

Finishing What I Started

I have worked to become more of a finisher rather than indulging my impulses and being mainly a starter. Starting new quilts and projects is so fun and exciting. Getting past the middle part of questioning whether the project is really worth it is the tougher part, and the finishing has often been under the pressure of a deadline. That whole procrastinating thing got tiresome to me, because of the lameness of shoddy workmanship and making excuses.

So... I am joining a "Finish Along."  Three months to finish, no consequences if I don't finish, prizes to some lucky quilters (Including, hopefully, yours truly,) and new friends in the interwebs.

Here is my list, ready, set, go!

1. Bugs in the Rosegarden. This small quilt is 44" x 57." The blocks were from my quilt club. I added sashing and borders. The back is pieced pinks, mainly a lovely rosy fossil fern. It is ready to quilt.

2. Thrifty Thirties. These old blocks were found at a thrift store by my sister, Pam. She gave them to me knowing that I love the challenge of turning straw into gold. The quilt is 32" x 47." I sashed it aiming for a woven look. The back is red 30's reproduction.

3. Butterflies. This is a get well quilt for my cousin, Angie, who is in treatment for lymphoma. She asked for a butterfly quilt for her bed, and I told her that the only good thing about cancer is that it pushes her to the front of the quilt line. I made #12 blocks and sister Pam made #5, including one huge butterfly. There are a few more blocks to make. I am going to finish the top as my goal, and Pam is going to longarm quilt it. It is an Elizabeth Hartman pattern called, Lepidoptera. It will be 84" square.

4. Hope's Star.  I blogged about this a few days ago. this will be about 32" square when it is finished. It is a baby quilt for my cousin Hope who has 2 young adult children and is surprisingly expecting a baby later this summer. It is made from 30's reproduction prints in pattern called Original Star by Fons and Porter. I want to finish it soon so I can enter it in the Council Qult Show in June, as the theme this year is stars.

Catching a Boomerang

Once upon a time a quilter received a boomerang gift of 30's reproduction fabric and some quilt books. (Ainsley's declutter meets my fabric vortex.) These were my fabrics before they were Ainsley's and in my new style, I don't just want to let them collect dust, but rather use them and challenge myself to something creative and different.

 I took one of the books to read in bed and found a pattern I had not seen before. The book is Scrap Quilts by Fons and Porter, published in 1995. The pattern is Original Star. After brainstorming with sister Pam, I created these blocks using some solids for contrast. I sewed strips before I cut the triangles to use scraps and add to the overall charm.

I chose white background for sparkle.

I have a bag of soft, pastelish 30's prints and only bits of solid in 30's colors, so I am going to make do and push the neutrals. I hope I can do some good trading with my local fabric collectors for more solids. Here are some auditioning blocks:

The text is fun retro catalog print from Moda.

I am heading to retreat in a few days, and having the prep work done will mean I am ready to cook up a quilt top as soon as I unpack. Yay for Camp Trinity Pines in Cascade, Idaho. The forecast is for rain and snow, so all the better for lots of sewing.