A Sad, Glad Grad was Had

Hanna's Graduation quilt "Tropical Breeze" revealed:

The quilting was fun to do and I love the look.

Here is the back.  It's a new Kaffe fabric.  Her childhood friend, Katie, has the same fabric on the back of her college quilt.  How lucky that I was fabric shopping with Mary Pat in March so we could make this happen!

I tucked a $20.00 behind the label for a "pizza emergency" (beer).

The Sparrow.

As soon as I can figure out how, I'm going to add a Tab with a free pattern if you want to make your own version of this quilt.

It's been an incredible month for my Hanna.  Here is a quick review:

Memorial Day Run - her first 10K race.

 

She attended senior prom:

  

She turned 18:

 

She and I went to Ohio for her College Orientation.

She attended her last day of High School:

She Graduated!!  here with  her proud dad.

A group of her high school friends:

I guess this was in lieu of a wave?  Her brother was taking the photo.

It's been a tradition at her high school for over 100 years for the girls to wear white formal dresses and carry a dozen roses, while the boys were white jackets and black pants with a rose boutonniere.

It's usually held on the sports field, but alas, we had a flash flood and it was sort of thrown together on the hill in front of the school.  This photo was taken standing on tippy toes and holding the camera as high as I could (Hanna last girl on the right).  I mostly saw the back of the heads in front of me.

While it lacked the pomp and circumstance it usually offers, it happened without rain and summer has finally arrived!!

Have a great week!

Happy Summer!

Thank You All So Much!
Just wanted to say thank you for all the wonderful comments you left for me about my Sparrow story.

I'm working on a baby quilt that I promised a friend a couple of months ago.  It is for her first grandchild and the parents are in the Army, so I decided to use red, white and blue.

It's about 44" square, perfect for the car seat, the floor, the playpen, the stroller.  This is the size I used most with my little ones.

It's being displayed on my Christmas gift, the pull down design wall.  I love this!!  It's hung over my sliding doors in the sewing room.

Here is the back.

I always try to have a secret stash of these in my sewing room. The kids kept raiding the carb drawer I would miss out.

There is a new treat in town!  Skinny Cow (don't you love that name?) dreamy clusters.  There are 6 of them and they are really yummy, small, but yummy.  I try to take 2 bites per.

This arrived today - it just cracked me up.  We do all the paying, she has all the fun.  As it should be, I suppose.

Today was the big Butterfly Release 2011.  Hanna received a butterfly kit when she was 4 or 5 years old.   We've continued the tradition the past dozen years.

We had a good crowd on hand, including coco, who was quite interested in what was going to happen.

We turned it this way and that to try to get them to fly out

She had a real close encounter with this one -

We had four beautiful painted lady butterflies.

As usual they all flew out and headed straight for the neighboring yards, lol.

This is the look of bafflement and disappointment.

I hope you had it great First Day of Summer!
Graduation is Thursday, I can't wait.

The Sparrow Story

Warning:  this post is long and contains many photos - I hope you like my story, it's almost 20 years in the making.

It all started with a fat quarter pack that I picked up in 1996.  It was at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show and I was with my dear friend, Mary B.  We were traveling and quilting together quite a bit at that time.  I'm not sure how she'll feel about these photos from 2009, but I like them.

Here are the blocks I made with the FQs after adding in some other fabrics.

There is an odd assortment, like this one with spiders.  Many have that weird gold embossing on them.

I was not sure what to do with the borders.  I had only been quilting about 5 years, but I had attended a Gwen Marston retreat, so I was already thinking about how to create my own personal quilts.

While driving along one day listening to my favorite musician, Paul Simon, I heard the song "Sparrow".  My mother, Cathy, had died in 1990 and was still grieving the loss of her.  The words spoke to me and I decided to design the borders based on the song.  (sorry the lighting isn't great on this)

I also like the Biblical references to the sparrow such as
Psalm 84:3
"Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine alters, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God"
and
Psalm 102:7
"I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top"

I've included the lyrics and psalm 84 on the back with the label.

I like the sparrow, she is humble and simple.  I wish I was more that way.

I researched the lettering in the library.  I sat on the floor and combed over many calligraphy and alphabet books.  This is in the days before "fonts" on my computer.  I settled on an 16th century Italian script alphabet.

I entered this quilt into the AQS show in Paducah and to my utter delight and surprise it was juried into the show in 1998.

I included the sparrow in a challenge for the Gwen Retreat the following year and my great friend, Mary, suggested that I include the sparrow in my quilts as a personal icon.  And since I do everything Mary says, I have included it in many (not all) of my quilts.

Here are the some of the quilts where I have appliqued them:

This is on the back with a label.

I can't wait to see this one settled in her quilted nest.

Here are some that are quilted-

This one is in a coffin in my Moby Dick quilt - it's Queque's coffin.  That quilt is another story...

Thank you to everyone that expressed their interest in this story, I hope you enjoyed it!

I'd also like to say a special thanks to coco, who watched all the quilt pulling and photography to make this post possible.  Good Pup!