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West Virginia
When I started my retirement travels in 2009, I wanted a way to share it with family and friends as it was happening. Hence, "My Travel Journal". However I realized I wouldn't always be on a trip and wondered what to do with the blog in between times. My daughter pointed out, wisely, that travels can also include trips to the kitchen to try a new recipe, trips to visit family, trips to my neighborhood Starbucks, or a fun day trip with a friend. You're welcome to join me on any of these journeys! I've set up individual pages for each of my major trips (see tabs above).

Also, I have an Etsy shop where my current needlework resides. The last pieces I posted here were in 2013! So if you'd like to see what I have accomplished recently, go to (and I apologize for having to copy and paste):

www.etsy.com/shop/thedollhouseneedle

I recently added an "Italian Word a Day" thingie which shows up at the bottom of every page. You see the word and can click to hear it pronounced. I've been enjoying it and I think my accent is improving as time goes by.

July 18, 2012

Post-Sophia

Took Sophia back to meet her mama at our halfway point on Thursday and it sure was a quiet ride back home.  And it sure was a quiet apartment.  I had pretty much lost my voice by Thursday so wasn't feeling my best and after spending Friday puttering around putting things back in their normal spots, etc., I decided I'd better think of something to do with myself or I'd end up spending the weekend in a blue funk.

A long time ago I had bought some scrapbook paper that I thought would make wonderful dollhouse wallpaper and then at some point after that, I decided I should make a quilt using the colors in the paper.  So, again quite a while ago, I selected all the colors and left them sitting on my bedroom windowsill, thinking periodically "I should get started on that".  But I had never figured out what kind of pattern I wanted to do or anything like that.  Finally for some strange reason, I moved the fabric and the paper to the top of my clothes hamper(!) and for the past 3 or 4 months, there it has sat and been in the way every time I had to put clothes in the hamper.  Crazy, right?

But, my threatening blue funk made me decide "okay, time to start on that quilt".  I decided I would just make a patchwork quilt using 1/2" blocks of each color.  Here's the paper and the colors I selected in the order I planned to use them:

I really love that paper!


Just to be sure I was going to like it, I cut out little blocks of each color, laid them out in a row of twelve and discovered after the first six blocks, starting over with the lavender would place it next to the purple, which gave me pause.  I dug through my stash and didn't find anything really  right, so off to JoAnne Fabrics where I purchased little bits of three different possibilities.  Came home and tried them and ended up using the one that I was pretty sure I wouldn't  use, just bought it for future possibilities.

I've worked off and on ever since I got the fabric issue resolved and find that I still get as obsessed with the process as I always have.  I have to force myself to give it a rest for a while cause I'm afraid if I just keep going and going, I'll end up getting careless.

As of today, this is how far along I am.  I cropped this picture so you don't see the unfinished edges.  It will have border(s) around the edges and I haven't quite decided how I'll do them, although if I just have one or two solid borders, I will probably use the lavender and/or purple because the wallpaper has more purple and having never used the purple family in any of my real-life decorating, but loving the color, I think that's why I was so drawn to the paper and this project.

Not sure how many more rows I'll need - I made enough foundation strips for 13 which would give me 6-1/2" one way and 6" the other.  With the borders added, that's probably bigger than I need so I will probably only use 10 rows.  I think I might make pillow shams with some of the left-over.  We shall see...

4 comments:

Christopher said...

That paper is quite pretty and appropriately wall-papery, too. And the quilting looks terrific; I love the diagonals created by each fabric color.

Elga said...

Oh, it is lovely Mary Lynne. The wall paper makes me think of spring, thanks for cheering a cold winter's day. Love the quilt too!

Mary Lynne said...

Thanks, Elga! So strange to think of you in the midst of cold winter while here we are slowly all melting into puddles from the heat!

Mary Lynne said...

Oops, I meant to also say that after scrolling past the fabric/paper picture, I realized the background of the paper almost looks pink-ish. It's not - it's a very crisp white.

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