Introducing You to 'Ode to Joy', the Finished Quilt

 Ode To Joy is a true blue finish! The fourth finish of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed having this one in the hoop and I'm super happy about the finish. Just loving the unique look to this quilt!

Ode To Joy is finished!!

This quilt was started very impulsively one day when I wanted to make another big basket quilt. The applique flower motif was inspired from the darker blue fabric used right about the word 'joy'. Probably should have made the leaves in green, but I was wanting the result to be a nod to the Scandinavian vibe.

My first attempt at putting pears on a quilt

The pears were added in an effort to achieve a folk art look and the hearts just hopped on for the ride. I was busy hand quilting this one day when my mother-in-law was visiting and finally she asked what was on my quilt, was that pears? So I held the quilt up so she could see. She bluntly stated that she liked the pears, but not the heart things. Okay. Well. 

Loving these heart things so much.....

Guess you can understand why I rarely show her my quilts or even talk about them with her! lol  I'm still second guessing all the reasons why I didn't make sure the pink fabrics at the right side of the centerpiece weren't more blendy. The top lighter pink fabric works okay, but the one underneath is a bit too salmon-y for the bubblegum pink it's laying next to. I remember liking the tension and clashing of it all, but does it really work? hmmmm....

Good to see the texture across the quilt

I was surprised at how intriguing it was to see the outside gray border take on texture with the addition of hand quilting. Making a mental note here that I adore seeing the different gray prints and values come together to make the outside border surround. So much more interesting than a single fabric border!

A very snuggable quilt

The backing fabric worked perfectly for this quilt. It's an old fabric, probably about 20 years old. I bought it for a red and white quilt top that I made back in the day. Never could bring myself to hand quilt it, finally took it to a friend for long arming treatment. After she held on to it for two years but never did the stitching, I brought it back home and basically threw up my hands in despair. Ughh. I didn't even like the quilt anymore! So I gave it away to some church friends in Oregon to use as the base for the their annual raffle quilt. Very selfishly though, I kept the backing fabric 'cuz I love pin striped fabrics! Love, love, love seeing it used for this fun quilt. Much better use.

And it's a wrap!

I finally got the 'Old Fashioned' quilt top sewn together. You can see my original inspiration here. It doesn't look like much now, but some day when I hand quilt it? It's gonna look amazing. 

Got the top done

It'll probably make me break out in hives to hand quilt it though, because it's gonna be soooo boring! I can't help but be quietly pleased though at seeing these oldy moldy yellow and cream fabrics come together looking so well. It's so very easy to overlook fabrics that aren't as striking and eye-catching as others, but there is still plenty of value and opportunity in these understated fabrics!

Looking very sweet

I am trying to squeeze in time to work on some baby quilts too, even though I have more quilt ideas than I can shake a stick at. It's looking like I'll need to come up with at least three baby quilts, maybe four before the year is over. The first one is a baby girl quilt using the cut-out pear shapes from behind 'Ode to Joy'. It's on the floor here, being auditioned for block extender strips. 

Does this work? 

Really pushing the boundaries of the pink/red mix, but having a lot of fun with it regardless. There's a good mix of the prints, new fabrics, old fabrics, JoAnn Fabric 'meh' fabrics and even a true vintage fabric picked up at a quilt show vender years and years ago. I'm thinking this will be for my daughters baby but we'll see. Might end up with something I like better! 

Then I nixed the baby boy quilt idea that looked passable and decided to venture out with a improv. monkey wrench block instead. It was all so impulsive and compelling, I just reveled in the experience! And of course there was at least three interruptions to the flow of work that day. Right? Always seems to happen when the creativity seems to be at the highest ebb. Now I need to decide if I should make more of these, or just wrap it up with log cabin type surrounds of fabric till it's big enough. Part of me wants to go the log cabin route and see if I can sneak some applique in somewhere. 

A good start

Here's a picture of my husband and me in the last hour or so before we're finished cleaning up the campground on Memorial Day weekend. Yes, it was a great weekend once we actually arrived and got settled in. Finally starting to get a little more help from some of the younger families which is a tremendous boon. Can't even describe the relief we're feeling to see others step up and start doing more. We've been in a transition period for several years where families had moved away or aged out, and the few families doing the most work have been at or around our age. Starting to feel like maybe it's time to let the tradition go, but no.... looks like others are recognizing the need pull their own weight too.

Almost ready to head back home

It definitely helped that this was a slightly smaller crowd at 167 people, not including the kids under 5 years old. Undoubtedly a result of the economy, but it made for a little more relaxing and chill weekend than it could have been. And all the kids were great. No pockets of teenagers we had to keep an extra close eye on for potential troublemaking. You just never know! So yeah, we were glad to go, glad to enjoy the weekend and thrilled at making it back to Pizza Hut for our annual celebratory 'we made it' lunch on the way home. ha ha  Then loads and loads of laundry to wash. Still working on that as we always loan out sleeping bags, fuzzy blankets and towels to visiting teenagers. 

My daughter and I made a quick weekend jaunt to Eugene, Oregon too, for my niece and nephews graduation. Just got back on Sunday night! It's shaping up to be the busiest year ever with two of our niece and nephews getting married and now a cousin too.*sigh  Won't even get to take my quilts to {or even attend} the first regional quilt show after three years without! So sad. Is this a post Covid rebalancing of all things normal? Don't be surprised if my blogging gets more and more erratic throughout the summer. Will try to post whatever I'm doing quilty-wise, but it might be weeks apart. And I'm definitely not checking in on everyone else's blogs very often. So sorry. Just don't have time for everything these days. Crossing my fingers I'll be able to get back into being a better blogger by this coming fall.....