The Quinceanera

When we returned to AZ, Matthew took part in the quinceanera of one of his older cousins, and acquitted himself with aplomb, especially for a ten year old! This beautiful fifteen year old young lady chose him to be her escort for this important event which begins with a solemn Mass where the young woman dedicates herself to an upright and godly life.

The escort's role here is to walk her into the church and present her at the altar. Then his part in the church ceremony is done, her parents and godparents take over for the remainder of the ceremony. He will later escort her into the reception.

 Pictures after the Mass

Myna and her "court".

I am calling this the "presentation dance", it's choreographed with all of the "court". That's Myna's eleven year old brother on the left.

 Dancing with Yessenia-mom

And with Nana. Pretty good moves for a ten year old!

 A family photo op

And La Familia Figueroa, Nana-Nana, grandchildren and great grandchildren!

 What a grand event and the Atwoods were much gratified to be invited to be a part of it.

Boston Summer Adventure

We had a grand time at the Tree Top Adventure in Canton MA. And yes, that would be me in the picture below, I had a blast on this very challenging three hour obstacle course along with Matthew, his twin cousins and our nephew. Telephoto lens comes ion handy at these events!

 Along with the obstacle parts of the course there are several zip lines.

Some difficult parts took both balance and strength.

 Matthew did great, this was his second time on such a course, his first was a couple of years ago in NZ.

Nephew and his son set up for another zipline.

We enjoyed a stage production of The Wizard Of Oz,

and after the production were able to go backstage to meet some of the crew!

 Including the not-so-scary Wicked Witch!

A visit to the coast would not have been complete without beach time!

And a sweet treat after all that surfing!

Great Grandson's Baby Quilt

Great Grandchild #4 is due any day, literally, probably tomorrow. I took the theme and colors from the baby shower invite that featured a little cowboy. I found this fabric line from last year but had to do quite a bit of researching to find everything I needed and ended up with enough left over for at least two more quilts!

 The line featured a panel with this cowboy figure and accessories, so I made them up to decorate Dawson's room.

  

The fabric is adorable isn't it?

I quilted it kind of modern with a different design in each row

 

 The backing is the brown version in the line and the label is embroidered directly onto the back, my preferred method if I remember before I start quilting it!

PS. Baby Dawson is set to arrive tomorrow!

Catching Up from July!

This will take a few posts, it's been a busy summer for travel, family and quilting. The first two are from my friend in Texas, this quilt was a project we did together and we both struggled with the extemporaneous piecing, though I think I really disliked it a lot more than Leslie! You can see mine below with a pale blue background.

 The cute pieced backing

Leslie's is much more striking with the black background but this is a child's quilt so they both will be fine!

 My backing also pieced, I really do try to use what is on hand as much as possible.

This next one Leslie really did not like so I gave it a good quilting and she was quite happy with it then to give away!

I quilted a freehand E-E floral design and a piano key border.

The two quilts below were pieced by Shiela and donated to our quilt group for gifts to two of the members who struggled with cancer. I quilted them and they were delivered to the recipients.

 This is a scrap quilt from Kaffe Fassett bits and pieces, too precious to discard! It made up beautifully and I plan to try one similar once I accumulate enough Kaffe scraps! Quilted freehand floral and separate borders with the same design

 I love this scrappy quilt with the stars so much that I am collecting 1.5" strips to make my own!
Such a happy quilt and all from 1.5" strips, 2" squares for the star points and 3.5" squares for the star center. Shiela copied the idea from Celeste one of our other quilt group members and they both say it is a fast and easy way to use small scraps.

 Quilted with quarter inch lines around each tiny piece [yes I know I am crazy but I enjoy ruler work!] and a separate sashing design.

 I love the pieced backing and made the effort to center it to make it a reversible quilt

I have much more quilting to show from my summer and a little family adventures too!

Sandy's Quilt

Sandy in PA sent this large [72" long] wall hanging for me to quilt.  She made it with a pattern from "Na-La"s" quilt shop in Fountain, Colorado.

  I knew I wanted to do something really interesting, something rather out of the box for me, and this is what happened!

 I made it up as I went along, it's the first time I have been quite so bold and I love the result. I took another photo from an angle with side lighting and it shows up better.

It makes a very interesting wholecloth quilt from the back

And now I want one to quilt for myself- but first I would need to piece it!

A Quilting Extravaganza!

The past month since the Colorado trip has been very productive, lots of quilting but no binding! I never know when a Baptism will pop up at church so it's nice to have a few baby quilts on hand.
This first one I call the Rainbow quilt was done in Texas with Leslie last year and we tried out a "new to us" technique of freehand piecing. It was not my favorite way to piece and I doubt I will use it again, I found it very frustrating to be sewing random bits and pieces of fabric together to make a certain sized strip from it. Argh, a little mild cussing occurred and much grumbling I confess!

I quilted a different design in each row of color and the background with peacock feathers

The pieced backing from stash

The HST quilt was made at a Lakeside retreat last year from left over solids from my Texas projects

 I quilted it on the diagonal for a more interesting effect. The backing is a piece of flannel from a previous project.

 The next two are made from donated batik strips, one for a boy and one for a girl. I quilted E_E on both using different designs. I did not take a picture of the backing on the green one, it is a tiny green print.

 I know we will soon have a girl's Baptism, our music leader and his wife had a baby girl recently

The backing again pieced from stash

I have already prepped bindings for three of the above quilts and then wrapped them on a piece of sturdy cardboard.

The next is not a baby quilt and I think it is called Blooming Snowballs? I made it with Leslie in Texas three years ago and only now have it quilted

I am so glad though that I waited because I am much more adventurous in my quilting and I am sooo happy with the result. I first decided on the borders and the rest fell into place making an unintentional secondary design in the squares 

 A pieced backing again, there are so many different fabrics in the top, why not??

And it helps to reduce stash and rotate fabric-so I can buy more,LOL