2008 April 02 | Suzanne Earley

So in the midst of everything else, I did receive several bits of good news on Friday — the new issue of Quiltmaker Magazine is out, and it includes a quilt that I quilted. And — even better — it’s the quilt on the cover!

CoverMayJune08 Good Things

It’s a very pretty quilt, and one that I wouldn’t have minded having here in my home! One of the reasons I really like Quiltmaker is that they never say “quilt as desired” — they always give specific instructions about how the sample quilt was quilted with line drawings and everything.

The other good news was that my husband’s cousin gave birth on Friday to a baby girl, her name is Madelyn Elise. Isn’t that pretty? She was about a month early and only 5 lbs 13 oz, but is healthy and home.

How about a funny? My boys are at that age where they are very aware of language and how it is being used. I can’t even count how many times in the last week they’ve asked for a definition of a word. Some of them I answer, others I tell them they need to go look up. This is an education for me: there are so many words that I know how to use, but I am hard pressed to give an actual accurate definition.

They also like to insist on being very literal.

Last night after supper:

Mom: Joe, can you please put the butter away?
Joe: (staring right at the tub) I don’t see any butter on the table.
Mom: OK, can you put the margarine away please?

But this is the really funny one. In an 8 year old sort of way. (You’ve been warned).

Mom: You guys can’t leave your crap all over the coffee table.

Will or Joe: But Mom, we don’t go to the bathroom on the table.

And on that note…..

TTFN-

Suzanne

Remember when I was blaming Mary for planting a seed about making log cabin blocks? It was back on March 21st.I don’t think I can keep blaming her for the fact that I felt compelled to finish this quilt.

There are 60 full blocks, plus 24 half blocks that finish the edges. I love this setting and I especially love the larger red squares that pop out of the centers. There are some spots in the light guidelines where the spines looks darker: those are the blue guidelines that I marked that I haven’t gotten rid of yet, I’ll soak it in cold water after the binding is on and finished.

I had the 60 blocks made and displayed on my design wall and was debating about setting square options: I had a dark almost solid purple and a really busy dark paisley. I made Mark come in and asked his opinion: the purple, the paisley or…I folded a block in half and showed him what the half blocks would look like. He confirmed what I had already been thinking, and I soldiered on with the additional piecing.

Here’s a close up of the center:

I won’t even tell you all about my trials and tribulations with getting the quilting done. They don’t reflect well on my ability to pay attention to what I’m doing.

It’s called Maggie’s Quilt, because it was the quilt that has kept me occupied this past weekend. Concentrating on it helped me to NOT concentrate so much on her. I’ll print a photo of her and use that as part of the quilt’s label, and will enjoy snuggling under it. I’ll be wishing she could snuggle with me, though.

It’s time for a run to the post office. They know me pretty well down there.

Suzanne