Blue Monday

I LOVE BLUE! This is not news to those of you who know me well. You know I often wear blue, I live in a grey-blue house, my kitchen and bedroom are both blue, and, lucky me- I have a blue-eyed hubby. Blue has been my favorite color for as long as I can remember. And no big surprise, it's my first choice to use in a quilt. So today I'm sharing a few of my blue quilts with you.




At left is the very first quilt I made after joining the Guild. I had made one bed quilt previous to that, a Log Cabin cut with templates and shears. (God Bless whoever invented the rotary cutter!) This blue Trip Around the World resulted from my very first workshop. Isn't it fun to look back at early projects and see how far we've come? I can remember what a difficult time I had choosing 7 fabrics ranging from light to dark. I was so grateful to that sweet little gal at Delong's who helped me out. Lesson learned on this one- not to use poly-cottons (the borders rippled). Although this is 20 years old now, I still like it and it hangs over the railing at the top of my stairway. It is 40" square. We sure have "come a long way" with fabrics - look at all those little calico prints...

After my very first quilt (the blue Log Cabin) faded terribly, I decided to make a smaller "keepsake" version of it from the leftovers. This is an exact replica (same fabrics in same positions), except this is square and my double bed quilt was of course rectangular with one more row of blocks. This is 27" square and I have been careful to keep it out of the light so there has been no fading. Lesson learned- keep your quilts out of direct light!



This lap quilt, called Friendship Star is another Guild workshop product. It was quick and easy and a great way to use up a lot of scraps. I can remember doing this workshop, sitting beside my friend Barb F. who was a new member. It was her birthday that day, and we shared fabrics - what a great way to spend one's birthday- sewing with friends... Lesson: quilting is more fun with friends! Even better? Friends with fabric!!



I call this single bed quilt Blue North Wind. I love the rich blues especially  those with purple overtones. The orange-y yellows seemed to be the perfect "zinger" to add a bit of punch. This quilt was the result of a Birthday Block exchange in 2006. A small group of friends committed to this "challenge" for one calendar year. In the month preceding your birthday you would give the group your instructions and color suggestions for the block of your choice. Then the next month for your birthday you would receive the blocks - can there be any better birthday gift than blocks already made for you?? One in the group whose name is Susan, has a definite dislike for Sunbonnet Sue so she had us each do a "Bad Sue" block, where sweet little Sunbonnet Sue had to be doing something naughty. I think that one was the most fun of all...
This last one is a Miniature- it measures 11.5" square. The design is called Spool and Bobbin and I'd love to do it again some day. It is foundation pieced and machine quilted. I love doing miniatures; I have sixteen 1.25" blocks all done for another which I will call Blueberries and Cream; I just can't decide how to put it together. It's on my "Must Get Back To.." list for this winter... stay tuned for that one....

So there you have it for another Blue Monday..

Piece,
Linda

"Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same." ~ Francesca Reigler