Iris Finished ~ Another UFO Started

Every once in a while, we get to work on something truly special. This will be one of my most memorable projects because I had the chance to work out of my comfort zone and honor the unknown creator of the hand embroidered blocks and showcase her incredible craftsmanship.

Working with purple isn't easy for me.  When it comes to purple, I avoid it most of the time. The color purple only appears in my scrap quilts because I don’t really like it. In scrap quilts, purple is just another part of the rainbow, blending in nicely without stealing the spotlight. As you can imagine, there’s very little purple in my fabric stash. So, to make these gorgeous blocks shine, I had to buy some fabrics...and it was worth every penny.

While working on the quilt top, I considered giving hand quilting another try, thinking the unknown maker of the blocks might have preferred it. But after some thought, I realized the best way to honor her and make it the best it could be in my care was to stick with what I know and do well...machine quilting.

She put so much time and love into every stitch. I can’t help but feel a little sad knowing her family will never get to snuggle up with this quilt. All I can do now is make sure it’s cherished the way it truly deserves.

Even though I don't know her name I did my best to give her credit on the label.  I also gave it the name "Purple Passion".  Purple because of the color.  Passion, because it took her passion for handwork and my passion for quilting to get it to a finished quilt.

The last thing I did to honor the maker was to hand stitch the binding to the back.  Normally on quilts I plan to give away I 100% machine bind. 

A big thank you to Melissa, a new local quilting friend, who gave me the embroidered blocks.   For those of you who missed the original post about this quilt, below is how it looked.  

Melissa's mom gave it to her.  Her mom passed last year.  Her mom got them from a neighbor who has also passed, hence the Unknown Indianapolis Woman on the label.

The finish is bittersweet because I would love to keep it my quilt collection just because of all the handwork, but I know it's going to someone who will appreciate the handwork, the colors and the story behind its journey.

Now it's back to working on my own UFO's.  They too have gone unloved for far too long and they don't have any purple in them!

Next up on the frame...this one was started in 2013.  It's a small quilt so let's hope for a quick finish.

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Fabric Friday

 Not a single stitch or snip happened this week in Podunk, unless you count trimming the weeds. On the bright side, my fabric order from LouLousfabricshop.com arrived.   She offers great prices, and her daily deals are even more tempting. Honestly, I don’t visit her site often because it’s hard to resist. But right now, I’m on the hunt for low volume prints for a fall quilt I designed a few years back. I’m giving myself the green light to shop online for this project since the two local stores didn’t have enough of what I needed.

For now, they’re tucked away in a project box alongside the other new low volume fabrics, the pattern, and the dream of making the quilt. There’s no plan to start anytime soon, but you never know when the mood might strike.

Today’s rain means it’s prime time for some hand sewing—yippee! But if the downpour keeps up the weeds will be easy to pull so, I’ll be out in the flowerbeds for some quick and easy muddy weed pulling. The quilt will just have to wait its turn.

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Butteryfly Heart Flutter

It doesn’t happen as often as it used to, but every now and then someone tags me on social media with a project made from one of my patterns or tutorials. The latest was from Maggie Beard of pearlinthepinesco on Instagram.  A darling little wall hanging featuring my Flutterby quilt block.

 

The funny thing was the day before she tagged me, I was thinking about starting a new quilt with simple patchwork and a few of these butterfly blocks.  Springtime always puts me in the mood for posies and butterfly quilts.  Well anyway...Maggie isn't just a maker of cute handmade items she also sells her handmade items on Etsy.  You can find her Etsy shop by clicking here.

Thank you Maggie for sharing your creation with me.❤️  It made my little ole heart flutter.  There's nothing more rewarding than knowing others find my creations worth making.

I've used my Flutterby block in several quilts over the years.  You can find the tutorial for this block and the quilt Podunk Posy that you see below by clicking here.

If you make one of my patterns, I'd love to see them.  Send me an email at podunkpretties@gmail.com.  Of course, let me know if it's okay to share them.  If you would prefer they not be shared here on the blog, that's okay too.  I'd still love to see them.

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Racing The Clock

So much to do and so little time, that’s the story of my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m rarely bored.  This week will be non-stop action.  At the top of my want-to-do list is getting the Iris Quilt off the frame and bound, with hopes of sharing a Friday finish blog post.

As you can see it's close to being finished.  

  But I'm not holding my breath on a finish this week because there's much to do on the need-to-do list. Last week I finally started working on the flowerbeds and veggie garden.  Last year I decided to take the year off from the veg garden, you know, let the soil rest. The garden became a jungle.  So last week while Mr. Podunk was tending to the beehives I decided to burn off the garden mess.  As you can see the fire tried to creep out into the yard.  Oh, but what's life without a little excitement.  It kept me on my toes!

Over the weekend, Mr. Podunk tilled the garden.  The planting will begin this week. With our late start this year we can’t grow cold crop veggies, but we’re still going to try for a small batch of snow peas. If I plant them on the garden’s south side, where there’s more shade, they should do fine. Over the next two or three weeks, I should be able to get the whole garden planted.  Well, that's the plan, we'll see how it goes.

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