Stitches...at a standstill.

First...here is another past photo of our two daughters...who are 2 Sweet Sisters:

& here's a past photo taken of our daughter Girly~Twirly at one of her Kappa Delta Sorority's get-togethers.

I have said this before..."I try to do at least one post a week...cuz i have a hard time finding time to do one, much less any more than that!" haha

So, this week along with Jenny and her awesome Alphabe-Thursday S. 

& Alicia and her fantastic Friday Photo Flashback.

...this post is linked up with Amy's 3rd sensational Spring Quilt Festival.

It would have been "easy-peasy" for me if I was able to link up my recent "Q" post for the Quilt Festival, since it was about some favorite family quilts and my unfinished ones.

(*side note* I am a novice quilter so love to learn all the time...like blogging...I am always learning something new!)

Since this has to be a new post for the Quilt Festival, I thought I would focus on my unfinished ladybug quilts.

(*Side note*: I have always loved the Grandmother's Flower Garden quit pattern... Here is a beautiful vintage one that I found on the search engine: bing.com

"...the flower garden pattern is also known as grandmother's flower garden or french rose garden." & "i did a little research and this pattern was revived in the 1920's from the hexagon mosaic pattern from the 1830's. in the late 1920's there was an american quilt revival which incorporated a new color palette of pastel prints. quilts made from these fabrics are sometimes referred to as depression quilts. the flower garden quilt pattern is supposedly still the most popular quilt pattern today."  -Julie King- 


I was able to hear from Julie and ask if she wouldn't mind me sharing her grandmother's lovely quilt. I love the little hexagon Shaped... Scrappy fabric prints that are Stitched together to form the Stunning flowers.) I've heard that hese hexagon shapes are often put together as "paper-pieced", but never learned what that meant.  I didn't cut paper into hexagons for my quilt, but just cut the fabric into hexagon shapes, and sewed them together edge to edge.

Well, when Girly~Twirly became a Kappa Delta in her first year of college (Fall of 2001) and I learned about their chapter's ladybug mascot...I thought how cute would it be to make a quilt for her with ladybugs. And I pictured in my mind... little hexagon pieces of red and black stitched together like a Grandmother's Flower garden, but instead of flowers... into ladybugs.

I showed a few photos of that progress in a slideshow on this recent post, which is also about some family quilts that are special to me.

I had so much fun buying small strips of red and black fabric, whenever I would go to a fabric store (which was pretty frequent!). My goal was to have this quilt pieced and quilted by the time she started her 2nd year of undergrad ...um that would have been in the Fall of 2002....

Here is another picture taken, when my hubby was in Iraq and Girly~Whirly, Heartbreaker and I went up to see her at one of her sorority functions in 2003.  ...and still her quilt was not finished.

And then in the Fall of 2004, our other daughter Girly~Whirly also became a Kappa Delta girl!

So, I started cutting out hexagon pieces for a ladybug quilt for her too...

They are supposed to be twin size quilts. But so in the hopes of completing them faster, I had entertained the thought of maybe appliquing the ladybugs that I do have onto a solid background (...but I really like my initial plan of separating and joining the ladybugs with a variety of white on white patterned hexagons.)

So, my goal is that I will get these ladybug quilts completed...  Although, instead of a twin size...I have thought of crib size quilts from these ladybugs for each of the girls' first babies (I have a blue and white one started for Heartbreaker is also unfinished(!), so it may turn into one for his first baby. The blue and white one was my very first attempt at piecing...).  (My hubby did bring up the fact that I will have to have a quilt for all of our future grandchildren. But, I actually have quite a number of quilts started...enough for grandbabies of each of our children-Girly~Twirly, Girly~Whirly, and Heartbreaker!

These are white fabrics that I am using for the "linking hexagons" between each of the ladybugs....and with the odd excess scraps, I have started another "scrappy" crazy quilt as I go.

Ah...so, here it is 2010 and this is the Story of Stitches...at a standstill...
just a couple out of the many other unfinished ones and so many others I would love to do! I am such a novice at quilting, so I would love to get back into a guild so that I can learn from those that have so much experience!)

So a Sincere "thank you!" to all of you who have Stopped by...and for your understanding of my joining in with more than one awesome meme.

Blessings & Aloha!

Here are some ladybug drawings...

EDITED* added on June 1st*
(I realized that some are new to by blog, and after an email from another blogger...I should have explained about the drawings :o) Every drawing that I do is drawn entirely with a person's name. The whole image is with a name. I appreciate your interest and please do contact me for info or ordering any image...using any name. :o)

This was from a photo of the original, so the image was not as bright as it actually is.

This is a photo of the same image after I added color. Since it's a photo, it also looks like the mat was not straight, but it is a fishbowl distortion from the lens.

...and this one was one of the quilt-related drawings that I had on my previous "Q"post (Quintessential Quilts and Quilting Quandary)...

***Oh! Here's a favor to ask...If you are a quilter or seamstress, please let me know what type of sewing machine you use... I gave my sewing machine to our daughter Girly~Twirly and am looking for another...I would like to find one that also does monograms...and is "user-friendly" :o)***

***also...it is hard to believe, but I am coming up on my 100th post...please check back, since I will be having a giveaway on that post for a Personalized Sketches artwork and a special discount. I just noticed that this is my 92nd post.*** Thank you to all those that have stopped by and it is so fun meeting you :o)

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