Snowbuddy: A Symbol of Renewal

I'm in a club at a local quilt shop. The cost of admission is $10 and it carries one requirement...to finish a pre-selected UFO each month.

Snowbuddy was my September pick. You can see the original Snowbuddy below. He hung on my sewing room wall in Toledo Ohio for years and years, waving and smiling and encouraging me on. Snowbuddy was wonky and poorly quilted but he was  my own creation and he was ever so happy.  My buddy smiled back at me from his place of honor from the time he was created in 1998 until the time we moved to the South in 2015.

Original Snowbuddy

After I arrived at my new home,  Snowbuddy was unpacked. I took a good look at him. Fabrics used in 1998 were beginning to show ware. (That was before I discovered quilt shop fabric.) The workmanship was poor.  The applique was good, but the machine quilting was really bad and my buddy needed a wash.   My skills had miraculously improved with the decades it was time to put these improved skills to use.  This Northern girl was about to start her new, unexpected Southern life with a new, renovated, spruced up Snowbuddy.

First, my buddy was lovingly disassembled. The machine quilting was carefully un-quilted. The binding and borders were removed.  He was given a gentle wash and hung up to dry.  The embellishments were removed and he was given a press.  My wall hanging was now ready for reassembly with new borders, backing, batting, and hand quilting.

Snowbuddy got a new face.  Tufts of cotton became his eyebrows and nose.  Buttons were stitched on for eyes. 

Embellishments were added:   A winter moon, hearts, stars.  The star on the right was hand pieced using Inklingo and then appliqued down.  New buttons were added along with a hand crocheted red scarf. Hand embroidery was added to the hat and mouth.   

Snowbuddy 2016

Then finally a label was printed and attached.

Snowbuddy helped me through the transition from North to South.  I worked on him here and there for over a year.  Each day this quilt was renewing, so was I.   I miss the north with the change of seasons.  I miss winter and the snow.   Snowbuddy allowed me to remain in touch with winter, as I sweat through the heat in the south.  My buddy now hangs in a place of honor in my Florida sewing room, smiling, waving, and encouraging me on. Looking at him, I can almost feel and smell the fresh Northern Winter air.

Tumbling Stars

Working on projects from the past.

Tumbling Stars

Two years ago in July of 2014, I mixed tumbling blocks with stars and made this small quilt top. (Tumbling Stars July 2014 ) I told myself at the time that I would square it up with neutrals. Well here I am in June of 2016.  While looking through my UFO's last month, trying to figure out what I wanted to do next, I made this marvelous discovery.  There is was, still waiting for the square up. When something that old is found, it's like a special gift and new again.     After doing some thinking and figuring, I finally just today got it properly squared.

All of my piecing was done with patches made with the help of Inklingo.  It's all  hand pieced. The Stars were pieced using the 60 degree 1.0 inch Hexagon collection together with the Star Point 1.0/2.0 inch add on collection. The tumbling blocks were made with the 60 degree Diamond 2 inch collection.  The neutral square up was made with the same collections plus the  60 degree 2 and 4 inch triangle collection. I'm still using my stash and haven't purchased any new material to make this top.

I'm now trying to decide on whether or not to put in some colored borders. It seems the colors are floating in there with nothing to tie them together.  Hopefully it won't take me another two years to make a decision on that.

Tumbling Stars Squared with Neutrals

Once I decide on borders I'll be hand quilting it to finish up.  I've been enjoying hand quilting lately.  I haven't done much of it in the last 2 years, but loving it now.  Like hand piecing, it is very relaxing.  I finished up this very old wall hanging last month...A small project with little thought required while I figured out the squaring up of  Tumbling Stars.

3 Block Sampler from copyright1983

I pieced this wall hanging way before Linda Franz came up with Inklingo. I used Paper Pieces pattern that I found at a local quilt shop in the late 90's.  Must have been hanging around that shop for a while since the copyright says 1983.

While I'm thinking up what more to do with the Tumbling Stars, I'll pull out another small project to hand quilt.  In the mean time, I'll leave the Tumbling Stars on my design wall and peek at it now and then until I'm inspired.

Bye for now from Central Florida, (where my rain gauge measured 14 inches this morning from yesterday and overnight rain thanks to tropical storm Colin).