Owls, Gifts, Donations and a Finish. Whew!

You know that when I write a mid-week post, I have a lot going on to write about. Otherwise, if it’s daytime I would be sewing and if it’s nighttime I would be reading or watching Netflix. That’s my life in a nutshell. Not really, of course, but let’s pretend.

First, let’s get the business out of the way. I finally finished the details on the patriotic quilt pieces. This is goal/item #9 on my Quarter 4 Finish-Along list for this year. To recap, this was once a patriotic quilt made by my ex-husband’s grandmother, Georgianna Ryan Muir (“Annie”). She was my children’s great-grandmother.

The quilt came into my life in 1982 when my mother-in-law, Mary Muir Flox was widowed and my brother-in-law packed up her household in North Carolina and drove a full U-Haul truck of her belongings to our Idaho home. He used the quilts as dunnage to wrap the furniture with. When unpacking, he just threw the quilts in our trashcans. I rescued them; there were three.

One of them, in pink and white, I donated to the Sandy City (Utah) Museum in 1998 with the full provenance provided. The second one I still own. It’s mostly white with peach tulips and light blue leaves that have faded a lot. I added a wide eyelet ruffle around three sides and used it in our guest bedroom for a decade or more in the 1990’s. Some day I would like to reproduce it in fresh fabrics. The third quilt was holey and beyond salvation. These three stars were the only viable pieces I could salvage. So, I trimmed and bound them in varying blue Kona solids and  added hanging corners and a pocket to the back of each. They’re about 14” square. In the pocket is a printed copy of the story of the quilt from its maker to the present day. They will be little gifties (stocking stuffers at Christmas) for my three adult children, Ryan, Shane and Megan.

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A couple weeks ago I donated three quilts and 9 pillowcases to a local quilt shop, Thimbles and Threads, for the Hurricane Relief Effort (Harvey, Irma and Katia). They snapped my picture when I dropped them off, and I was surprised to see it turn up in their next newsletter and IG post.

So that’s what my hair looks like in real life. Miss Clairol and I parted ways last year....

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Owls. I love them, always have. I used to collect them back in the sixties and seventies (not real ones - just owl things). A few years ago I used to make and sell owl softies (among other things) at boutiques. I would take magazine pictures, online pix (not sure if Pinterest existed then) and combine bits from here and there to come up with my owls. I learned quickly that owl feet were problematic to attach to softies and could be skipped altogether.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I rediscovered some of my leftover owl parts in a plastic case. Most of the stuff went to Cousin Kim, but I kept one or two. And then I decided one would be cute appliquéd to a 12” block to include in my Autumn quilt. Here he is:

That just reminded me of something.... appropos to nothing..... when I was a kid we had a cat (one of many) that I got to name. I named him Oliver Wendell Livingston (initials O.W.L.). Ollie was a great cat........   but I digress....

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And I saved the best for last.  Today I got a great package in the mail from my friend Diann of Little Penguin Quilts.  We had planned to meet up (with other friends) on our Colorado trip last month, but plans fell through at the last moment. Anyway, I sent Diann a zippered pouch and some fabric and a couple little things. Well guess what? She sent me a zippered pouch and fabric AND a cute pincushion that she made! The pincushion is already in use, and I am here to tell you that one can never have enough zippered pouches. (Forget shoes - zippered pouches are where it’s at).

I loved Diann's little pink penguin fabric when she showed it on her blog, and can’t believe she was willing to part with some of it to send me! The spool fabric will go with some other sewing-themed fabric I have to make a sewing machine cover - a project for this winter sometimes. I hope. Anyway, thank you, Diann!! You rock!

That’s it for now. I’ll be back on Saturday with my Pink Scrappy Progress Report.