Ode to Aging (or Menopause!) Quilt finished!!

I got my Menopause quilt finished just in time to get it into the local Plowing Match quilt show which will be held at the end of May in Shedden, ON. The quilts will be displayed at the actual International Plowing Match in St. Thomas, ON in September. The details of the Shedden quilt show are also on the IPM website under the Lifestyles tab.

Here is the finished quilt. Sorry I couldn't get a really good picture of it as my cutting table is in the way :-). You can read the original story behind this quilt, and why it's called "Menopause" on this blog post.

This is the backing I used..it's a navy blue toile depicting a winter scene with sleigh rides and skating. I thought this would be appropriate to 'cool' off the colours on the other side!

The blocks in the quilt:

Susan in Texas suggested that I add a border of pinwheels to provide 'cooling breezes' for the quilt :-). Thanks so much for that suggestion Susan...it was perfect way to use up a lot of scraps from the blocks. Pinwheel production:


I added an orange button in the middle of each pinwheel block. Besides looking cute, it also covers up any unmatched centers :-).


Not sure if you can see the funky flowers quilted in the borders. Click on the photo to enlarge it for a better view:

I quilted leaves in the top and bottom striped borders:


The quilting on one of the blocks is shown here. The center blocks had straight line quilting on it and I added some buttons in the center of some of the blocks to match the pinwheel squares.

Here are the individual blocks and the names of each one....#1 Bad Hair Day:

Block #2 Wacky Mood Swings:

Block #3 Crow's Feet

Block #4 Squeaky Joints:

Block #5 Arm Flags

Block #6 Chocolate Cravings

Block #7 PMS

Block #8 Empty Nest Syndrome:

Block #9 Senior Moments:

Block #10 The Pull of Gravity:

Block #11 Can't Remember Nothin':

Block #12 Hot flashes:

Now to decide which of my many UFO's gets a turn next. But, my new Kaffe Fasset fabrics are calling out to me to play! Maybe I'll squeeze in a little new project :-)

Blocks together

I got the blocks and setting squares and triangles sewn together tonight. I'm liking the way this is turning out. Now the next decisions on what to do for borders. Someone suggested I do pinwheels to provide cooling breezes for the colours LOL. I really like that idea and will ponder a way to do that. I haven't done anything in the corners yet. I might just leave the quilt in this shape..would be kind of cool and save me deciding what to put in the corners :-).

Progress on Menopause Quilt

We have some progress on Pat Sloan's UFO challenge for us. I decided to set the blocks with a floral square sashed in navy batik. That looks pretty cool. I'm not sure if I like the arrangement of the blocks yet...I will live with them on the design wall for a few days and see if I rearrange them yet. I figured out the math for the triangles and it worked (at least so far..haven't sewn them together yet, but I'm optimistic :-). I pinned a few first border ideas around the quilt...here's the orange and pink stripe with polka dots on it:

This is with a navy border aroud the blocks. I find this a little strong?

Here is the navy first with the orange next:

I have to ponder these options for a bit as well. I want to make some kind of pieced border with lots of the bright scraps...I could do a 2 1/2" squares border between navy strips? Or possibly half square triangles?? Or rectangles? Or square in a square blocks with bright squares set on point and navy triangles around them? Lots of delicious ideas to think about :-).

Starting a UFO Challenge

Pat Sloan has been inspiring us to get things accomplished. I joined a fun UFO virtual workshop last weekend and finished a complete quilt top over two days as well as other odds and ends that I can't post to my blog yet :-). As part of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Pat is challenging us to finish a project during the Olympics. We have to post a photo of what we plan to work on and there is a chat list that you can post questions, progress and be cheered on.

I made 12 blocks a number of years ago from a block of the month series called "Ode to Aging". I had a FQ of the daisy fabric in my stash and headed for the quilt shop and came up with these batik FQ's:

I purchased the navy blue batik for the sashings and found several bits and pieces of that same line of fabric at a quilt show. Here's the photo I posted on Pat Sloan's challenge as my starting stash. Now to decide what to do with it :-).

Here are all the blocks finished. I have to decide first if I want to set them on point or straight. I think I'll start with laying them out on the actual bed I'm making the quilt for and see what it looks like. It's a double bed and I have 12 blocks, so on point might be better. I'd like to do a pieced border of little squares or something with the bits and pieces.

I was shopping in a local fabric shop last year and found yardage of that daisy fabric and bought a couple metres to use for the border. When I put the fabric on the counter, the cashier said "Wow, that's bright fabric..what are you going to do with that?" There was a huge lineup behind me, and I got some really strange looks when I told her it was for my menopause quilt! She laughed and figured at least I'd have something to look at while I was awake at night with hot flashes ROFLOL!! More looks from the lineup, but this time I think they were getting a little concerned about my sanity. This shop has one of those 'beeper' things at the door so you can't steal things (don't know the technical term for those LOL). When I grabbed my package and walked out of the door, the beeper reacted. I turned around and looked at the cashier and we both burst out laughing hysterically at the same time. "The menopause fabric is having hot flashes," she laughed. Even the guys in the lineup cracked up over that one.

Onward Ho!! The finish line is Feb. 23rd...can she do it??? I'd like to enter this quilt into our local plowing match show in May so I need to get it finished!