Counting 72: a birthday Journal quilt

   On July 20th I will have my 72nd birthday. How can that be when I feel an enriched 22. To emphasize the years past to myself and my grandchildren, I cut out 72 birthday icons, either cakes or ice cream and put them to a 12" x 12" journal quilt. 

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    I alway make a soft card for the girls for their birthdays. Five-year-old Erika said if I gave this to a boy he would throw it away, but a girl would like it. Beth said it was her favorite because of the colors. I thought it a total failure, but I wanted to do it. Joe said it needs some black. I am going to sew red beads on the cherries tomorrow at beading and embellish some more. It needs black and white to absorb color.

    Four different fabrics are in the piece. I ironed Wonder Under to the back of the cake and ice cream fabric and cut them out as I listened to the news. I ironed them to the 9-patch block, squares of which I cut out with my new Accuquilt. The yellow fusible binding fabric fills the back of the quilt. I made fusible binding with that same yellow fabric which I both ironed/fused on and sewed after overlaying some maroon tulle. I am returning to do some more sewing atop the block in yellow. I tried to slow down, to be more careful. However, I wish I had used the yellow tulle that I had forgotten about rather than the maroon which I quickly grabbed.

Birthday fun: Cutting up!

   At my advanced age I behave mischievously. I went on-line to order a birthday present for myself. The Accuquilt arrived quickly yesterday (from the JoAnne's sale), during the meeting of my beading group. This morning before breakfast I had to try it out; and before my cereal and coffee, I had created two more blocks for the Project Hope quilt. I was so into speed, it will be obvious, both design-wise and stitching. But what fun.

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    I was so inspired by how fast the activity went, I ordered two more dies (Round Flower and Hearts 2", 3" and 4"), one which would cut hearts and another for flowers, stems and leaves. I chose a couple of small (5" x 10" no. 55110) cutting mats to fit them as well. That should keep me busy making kits for the granddaughters and surprises for my friends. I never got over the clever idea of the assembly line when we studied Henry Ford in elementary school.
      By the way, I set up my flannel board to put the little pieces on so I would know the order in which to sew. No more hopping up and down except to iron. Another step in becoming a quilter.
       P.S.  In response to Sherron's question, I added the following: "You put a die on the bed of the roller. Add about six pieces of fabric over each die shape. Put a cutting board atop the fabric and roll the the three through. Your pieces will be cut for you. FAST. You would have loved it when you made the heart quilts for your granddaughters. There are videos of the process at the Accuquilt site and elsewhere."