A UFO . . . finished!

Hey everybody!

We had a nice nap and we are all recuperated from the Pet Show! We're so glad that everyone had a great time, and we hope all of our friends, old and new, will stick around and see what's happening here at the Lilypad!

Quite a while ago, I showed you a sneaky peek of a project that I was working on....I even thought I was finished with it!

But there was something missing. I just wasn't happy with the overall look of it. 

So, I added some stitching. Lots of stitching. Lots and lots of red stitching to make the stripes on the flag! (Grin)
And personalized it even more than it was!

Take a look!

 

Me likee now!

I added "8th" in the little star, since my dad-in-law was in the Mighty 8th Air Force. And I put "351st" in the large star, since he was stationed at Polebrook, England, as a part of the 351st Bomber Group.

Here's a closer look:

I like this project much better, now, and I'll get it framed.

Do you ever rework something you thought you'd finished? 

Love,

More Blocks and Stitcheries!

The first part of this story is here. It's the story of the quilt that I'm making, with stitcheries to remind my mom-in-law of fun and funny times in her childhood (she'll be 89 in October).

I finished another block, and this one will probably need a little explanation! First of all, can any of you special peeps speak another language (other than English)? Can you "parlez vous" or can you "sprechen Sie Deutsch" or . . . can you speak Fish? Aha! I got you there!

Let's see if you can translate this old Southern nursery tune:

Down in de meddy in a itty bitty poo,
Fam fee itty fitty and a mama fitty, too.
"Fim," fed de mama fitty, "fim if oo tan,"
And dey fam and dey fam all over de dam.
Boop boop dit-tem dat-tem what-tem --- Chu!
Boop boop dit-tem dat-tem what-tem --- Chu!
Boop boop dit-tem dat-tem what-tem --- Chu!
And dey fam all over de dam.

Now before you go and tell all your friends that Snoodles has finally gone completely off her crumpet, let me translate for you!!

Here it is in everyday English:

Down in the meadow in a little bitty pool

Swam three little fishies and a mama fishy, too.

"Swim," said the mama fishy, "Swim if you can,"

And they swam and they swam all over the dam.

A popular big band leader, Kay Kyser, was introduced to this tune by a member of his band, Saxie Dowell, and some folks say it was an old nursery rhyme, while others say it was a tune made up by a college coed. Wherever it came from, it was a #1 hit for Kyser and his singer, Ish Kabibble (yes, they called him that!) in 1939, and others have covered it since.

Here's "The Smoothies" singing it for you. If you want to skip some of the instrumental part (but it's really good) you can skip over to about 35 seconds and just get the words!

Now, my mom-in-law remembers this as one of the songs that her daddy sang to her, and her four siblings. That is a fond memory for her, since her daddy passed away when she was about seven years old.

Years later, it was a song that she sang for her grandbabies, while bouncing them in her lap. They giggled and sang it with her, when they were old enough to learn the words!

Here are some blocks that I adapted from Tonya's May for Me pattern, and the stitchery is my own design:

Again, I'm using thirties repro prints from my stash, and adapting Tonya's piecework to make it just right for my mom-in-law.

Here's a peek at the "itty fittys" up close and personal:

I'll be making some more blocks and stitcheries with special meanings for her, in the coming days --- stop in and see how they turn out!

Hope you enjoy seeing the process behind the finished quilt!

Happy Labor Day weekend!!   :)

Love,

Better Late Than Never, Right?

Earlier this year, (actually MUCH earlier this year --- I am months behind!) some of my favorite bloggers celebrated "May for Me."

It was a month filled with quick projects, posts filled with happy notes of time spent playing with fabrics, or just playing in general, and doing things that brought joy to the do-er. In other words, we gave ourselves permission to just have fun!

We put this aside . . .

We enlisted our kiddos to help out . . .

And we made sure we spent time having fun . . . 

. . . with our families and with our fabrics!

One lady that is close to my heart offered a Quilt Along, with pieced blocks and stitcheries. Tonya, of Hillbilly Handiworks, did an awesome job of designing a lap quilt to go with the springtime theme. Here are some examples --- Tonya completed one, and Sharon did too!

Now, here is the better-late-than-never part . . . I'm only just now completing some of the sections! 

I'm utilizing the May for Me piecework, and a couple of the stitcheries (Thanks, Tonya!) for a quilt for my mom-in-law! 

Oops! The photographer got a little wonky there!

I'm using some of my beloved thirties repro prints and solids, and this is the windmill stitchery block.

Here is the block with the tulip stitchery . . .

And here are some of the blocks laid out together:

I'm adapting and adding to the design that Tonya graciously gave to us. Tailoring it, you might say, to my mom-in-law's personality. Well, actually to her history. I'm adding some things that reflect the stories she has told us, of her childhood.

Here's an example:

See that wee little rocking chair? When she was just a little bitty girl, she and her sister received small, red rocking chairs and baby dolls to lavish TLC on . . .

She has told us that many evenings they would sit in their rockers in front of the fire, and tend their "babies." They would rock, and rock, and then their eyes would meet, and one or the other would start to giggle. Well, you know what happened then --- a giggle fest! They would chuckle and snicker and try so hard to be quiet, but then they would look over at one another again, and whoops! There they went again!

I'll be showing you some more of the blocks as I complete them, and tell you the stories behind each one.

I hope that you like seeing my work-in-progress!

Love,