But at the same time, I had all these sampler blocks that I'd used for practicing my Seams Perfect Bee blocks each month. They were so bright and garish that I had to find a way to settle them down.
I finally decided on grouping them all together in a clump and calming them down with lots of old white (a paisley screenprint on white someone had given me years ago) fabric I had around here. I used it all up and needed a little more design, so I added the red stripe to even it out.
A friend (Tanya) from my guild has been urging us to make a few quilts in red, white and blue to donate to the Wounded Warriors organization - they ship quilts to war zones and welcome wounded US soldiers in hospitals with these special thank you friends from home. I love that idea, so I decided to use this for that cause. My other guild buddy, Ramona, gave me some leftover Ty Pennington Ivy fabric to back it with and I spent my LAMQG Weekend Sew time this week basting this quilt. I used my new extension table that I got for Christmas last night (thanks to my in-laws!) and practiced my stippling. I'm not winning any awards with my stippling, but I believe strongly in the proverb that says, "do not despise the day of small beginnings" - we all have to start somewhere, right?
Well, it's done now. And I feel good knowing some service person somewhere will know they are appreciated for what they have given.
