Baptismal Quitls

When my grandsons were baptised I made each of them a special baptismal quilt. The white fabric background is called Fairy Frost and has a wonderful shimmer to it. They we're baptised on their First Birthday so I added their handprints from that age. All the family from around the U.S. gathered to celebrate their baptism and birthday.

They loved their quilts and used them until they almost wore out. They called them their "church" quilt. 

They also loved the wide silk binding!
I made all 3 of my grandson's s baptismal quilt but could only find these two.
I scanned these pictures into the computer, you would think I could get them closer together (and straight) but no that would look to good!



 Anyway my daughter's girlfriend loved the quilts and asked me to make 3 for her own children. She is a wonderful person and helped us tremendously when we packed up our daughter's family and moved them all back to Michigan. So here they are, I had hoped to have these done sooner but their finally done and ready to be shipped to Florida. The first one is for her oldest son who also made is First Holy Communion in May so I added that in too.

 They're all made with the white Fairy Frost fabric.

 This is for her littlest son who someday will be making his First Communion so I added that in also.

And a purple one for her little girl whos favorite color is of course, purple.

 We have this large tree in our yard at work. My employee told me they have one at home in his yard and every summer when the blossoms blow off the tree and fall into his pool the water turns bright green.

I'm told the tree is called Heavenly, well the scent is heavenly anyway. I picked the blossoms

 soaked them in my dyepot over night and the water turned a wierd green. I didn't simmer it because I wasn't sure what the heat might do to the color.

Last night I added a strip of mordanted wool. In a couple of days well see what "heavenly" color I get. I'm thinking it might be bright yellow.

Summer Solstice

My first rust dyeing project turned out perfect for my Summer Solstice block. A little hand quilting and beading and it's ready for the quilt.
And we are celebrating summer here, it's been in the 90's and very humid. A little too hot and humid.

  "Legend has it that herbs harvested during summer solstice have special powers for healing and protection. It was thought to be a magical night and you would be able to see fairies and elves if you picked fern spores at the stroke of midnight. Herbs associated with midsummer traditions are chamomile, cinquefoil, elder, fennel, roses, mugwort, rue and St. John's Wort."  Susan Betz "Magical Moons and Seasonal Circles".

 I played around with the different gears I had,I can see where this can be very addicting. Now I find myself walking around the garage looking for different rusty parts!

 As I was weeding my dye garden I pulled up some small madder roots (they really need to be a lot fatter), but I was anxious to try them out.

 I cut a small strip of wool and popped it into the dye pot. The fabric turned a beautiful peachy-pink.

They say you can get a pale pink with the tops. I chopped them up and simmered it, the color looked like a muddy gold.

I added a few correopsis tinctoria to the pot, this little flower has so much dye packed in it.

 Simmered it awhile.

Pulled out a pretty piece of peachy-gold with orange spots fabric.

 Our family was adopted by a kitty. The boys love her, all the kids in the neighborhood love her. The cat thinks she's a kid and stays with them all day long.

What can you say?

Rust Dyeing

 My friend Deb H. sent me this wonderful piece of her rust dyed cotton fabric, I've never tried it before but this week at work I found a piece of steel that inspired me to try.

 This steel gear looked like a good piece to print a "Sun" for my "earth" quilt. Next Thursday, June 21 Summer Solstice begins and this looked perfect to make a block. First I soaked my wool in water and vinegar, the vinegar helps get the rust going.

Another great piece for a larger Sun print. After soaking the wool fabric and placing the metal on top I placed large rocks on top to weight it all down. I'll leave it a few days then we'll see how it works out.
I saw on another blog (can't remember the name) a lady rust printed a full size fancy iron gate. It was beautiful. She was quilting it as a whole cloth quilt. Wish I had one!!

 I have my "Strawberry" moon appliqued and hand-quilted, ready someday to be joined together with all the other earth/moon blocks.

 My parents are quite elderly and I've been spending sooo much time helping them, not complaining they we're wonderful parents and always there for us kids, but I needed a moment off.  Last Saturday we decided to take our daughter and grandkids on a boat ride up the river. I packed a picnic and off we went. The weather was beautiful, everything was so green, it felt good on the eyes. (I have been inside way too much).

 The boys love to fish.

 Grandpa teaching them the fine art of fishing.

We stopped for a picnic along the shore where immediately the boys found lots to do.

Strawberry Moon

 Oh my gosh, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record "it's the full moon again". I barely finished the last "flower" full moon and here we are again. 
This month the Eastern Native Americans called this Moon the Strawberry Moon as the berries were ripe and ready to eat, it is one of the first fruits to ripen in the summer. . This moon was very important to the Native people, they believed the strawberry was a sacred gift from the Creator. They use this fruit to symbolized his generosity in their ceremonies. All parts of the plant were used. There is so, so much information on this moon I could go on and on. Probably more than you want to know.
When I go to different Native ceremonies in the early summer they always have a big bowl of strawberries for everyone to share.
My strawberry (not sewn, just cut out and laid on the fabric) is made from some of my cochineal dyed wool with the stem from some of my natural dyed green wool. I will be stitching on it tonight along with another strawberry moon project for my friend.

 I unrolled and washed my wool from our camping trip. Not a whole lot of extra color flowing out of the leaves yet. Better to wait until August when the leaves are tough and bursting with color!

 A few cute oak leaves came through.

I expected more from the alder leaves.

 The beech nut will be over dyed in madder root at the end of the summer.

 My dear friend Deb akquilter1@blogspot.com held a contest on her blog to see who could guess the closest date to when the snow in her yard would finally be gone. I tied with Vicki. Deb made us each a pin which is a little work of art. I love the silk "stones" and square beads. the whole pin is beautiful. Thank you Deb, I'll be wearing it to quilt guild meeting tonight.

I just received this from my niece in the Navy. When they were in port in  Bahrain she bought me this little hand-hooked mat. It is so cute, the grandsons love the camel. I have such a wonderful collection of textiles from around the world.