October - The Quilt visits Disney Parks

During the long drive down to Florida, I was able to complete 3 full flowers (I finished another 2 on the return drive). This marks the first time that Hannah and the quilt have traveled together. For security purposes, no pictures of the two of them appear together.

The Peters contingent was amazed to find our family name carved into the beach. We, wink wink, don't know who would despoil nature by writing graffiti on a public beach!

Animal Kingdom, note the large concrete tree in the background. Yes, those are animals carved into the trunk. And, no, we are not responsible.

Disney Magic Kingdom's Main Street. People already lining up for the electric light parade. Cinderella's castle looming in the background.

Flick, from Ant's Life, poses with the quilt.

The quilt visits Epcot. What says "Epcot" more than the lake with the big ball in the background?

Finally, Snow White visits with the quilt. She not only scared me, the children and everyone else within 3 square miles, she scared the quilt. I'm not sure this flower will be able to face being incorporated into the quilt.

No, I've not been twiddling my thumbs!

I must apologize for the delay in posting. I've actually been quite busy. I finished piecing the Summer Reading Program T-Shirt Quilt and took it in to Sally (through Quiltology) to be quilted. It turned out beautifully. I especially want to thank her for doing such a speedy job. The only thing left now is the binding and loops for it to hang. But take a look, isn't it beautiful? This first picture is a detail from the reverse of the quilt. I had already pieced the front before the 2009 T-Shirt came out, so decided to include it on the back.

In addition to Abe, the back of the quilt has..... the backs of the T-Shirts! Sorry, I thought it would be a clever idea. The shirts are in order beginning in the upper left corner. It is interesting to see how they change over time. The early shirts were simply a listing of the sponsors, as time goes by, the numbers of sponsors increases and logos are added, the shirts backs certainly become more complex.

Here is the front of the quilt. I'm very happy with the front, the design worked perfectly. The center medallion is composed of the first two year's shirts (T rex Reads and Reading is Art-rageous) surrounded by jean material. The next ring around the center is composed of shirts from 2002, 2003 and 2004. Readers @ Play is set off in the corners and Zooray! and Book a Flight fill in. Finally, the outside band of shirts is composed of 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The shirts repeat in order in such a way that each shirt gets a corner.

Hannah's quilt made a trip to her mother's graduation. Here I am with Laura outside the Decatur Civic Center. She graduated from Richland Community College. Congrats Laura!

Here is Laura again, flanked by her daughters Hannah (left) and Sarah (right). Well, actually Hannah is on Laura's right and Sarah on Laura's left, but you know what I mean.

And, of course, the quilt wanted to travel further afield than Decatur. It insisted on another trip to Costa Rica. I HAD to comply. This photo was taken on the grounds of Tabacon Resort near La Fortuna. In the background is the Arenal Volcano, yes it is erupting that is not clouds at the summit but rather rock and volcanic dust being discharged into the atmosphere. Scary huh?

When did it get to be March?

The beginning of March saw the completion of the 6th row! The next row marks the 1/2 way point. It really is amazing how the pattern is becomming visible. In the pictures the vertical rows of large flowers are very evident, in person and when you click on a photo and view it enlarged, the vertical rows of small flowers also can be seen quite easily. I hope April brings lots of progress, we'll just have to wait and see. Until then.

Panama

I don't think I'll rehash the horror stories of my trip to Panama here. Let's just say that I won't be returning to Panama City anytime in the near future.
The top picture is the large red flower of row 6 making a full transit of the Panama Canal. The same flower visited the rainforest home of the embera indians. There was a beautiful secluded waterfall and pool for swimming.

February, is it really here?

I'm happy with the progress made on the quilt during January; added 4 flowers. Next week part of the quilt is going on a trip! Where? Of course I'm not telling, you'll have to check next month. I will tell you this, it is a nice warm spot.  It also involves a man, a plan, a canal.

State of the Quilt: New Year's 2009

The quilt travelled for New Year's 2009, destination ... Southern California.


Hiking at Torrey Pines Park, Pacific Ocean in the background.


On the beach at Torrey Pines Park, after climbing down the cliffs.

The lighthouse at Loma Point, Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego. Quite a nice hike, the highlight was seeing the California Quail.

Spanish Village in Balboa Park, San Diego.

Can't visit San Diego without visiting the zoo.

The morning we left, it was 36 degrees in Laguna Beach, with a heavy frost all along the Canyon Road.

The quilt is coming along quite nicely. I think the next month will show a lot of progress... Until then.

The Reason Hannah's quilt won't see much progress this month!

I took a class on t-shirt quilt making at Quiltology in Chicago's Lincoln Park. This is the result of the class. It is also the reason that not a lot of work went into Hannah's quilt this month. I had wanted to make a t-shirt quilt for Sarah, my younger niece, but she won't let me cut up her t-shirts. Oh well, her loss.