Successful Visit With Grandbaby!

I just got back from a great two-week visit with my gorgeous grandbaby.  I know what you are thinking; EVERYBODY thinks their grandbaby is gorgeous; and I think that is GREAT!  But my grandbaby really IS gorgeous!

  The Gramma has been stuck creatively for a couple of years now, but was recently given new creative life when presented with a little less than a yard of Kaffe Fassett fabric.  It's such a particularly beautiful piece of fabric; it truly went straight to the marrow of my bones and lifted me up in a way that I hadn't been in YEARS!  Here is a pillowcase for my buckwheat hull pillow that I sleep on every night, made from this same fabric:

Well, that's not the picture I thought I had, but I want to show the end of the pillowcase anyway.  I got this pattern from this blog... one of my very favorite blogs:

 http://exuberantcolor.blogspot.com/search/label/pillowcases

While you're there, check out the rest of her blog.... amazing!  Well named!  I LOVE color, and the idea of EXUBERANT color just makes me so happy!

Here's a better picture of the fabric:

Here is the next thing I made, using this "less than a yard of fabric", given to me by a friend:

Darn!  Again I picked not the perfect example!  In this picture, you see two adjacent pieces that are alike.  NOT what I was trying to show; but since we're here... please notice that it was too much work to take apart and resew once I realized there would be two adjacent pieces from the same fabric.  I am cut from a more relaxed bolt of fabric, I guess.  I let the ball be what it was, and I'm letting the picture stay as it is. A very wise and wonderful quilting friend once told me not to bother redoing things, but to keep marching forward, improving as you go, leaving a history of your progress.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

The entire soccer ball is hand stitched using the  English paper piecing method;  the only saving grace for all those annoying card stock postcard things stuck in magazines to sell you subscriptions.  I enjoy making grandmother's flower garden parts, nothing near a quilt, mind you... maybe in a thousand years. OR maybe this adorable grandchild will want the finish THE GRAMMA'S quilts.  Wouldn't THAT be great?

When I got the soccer ball all finished and gave it to her, I could see that it's a little big for her right now. That's when I made the smaller ball, made just from the pentagons that I used in the soccer ball.  I used this book for both balls:

http://www.amazon.com/Patchwork-Puzzle-Balls-Jinny-Beyer/dp/0972121854/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268345868&sr=1-1

I owe a big thanks to my friend, Kate, who graciously gave me this fabric, giving my creative soul a huge boost.... Thanks, Kate!