A rose by any other name ...

Floribunda has been my leader/ender project while I have been working on the Tree of Life quilt. I got all of the 4-patch and HSTs sewn in that manner and then I would sew together a block or two when I needed a break from the other quilt. Since I am still toying with the border options on the Tree of Life, I used my "sew time" today to finish up the blocks on Floribunda and this is what I have.

I can see that I need to rotate a couple of the corner
border blocks. I mean to have them echo the
direction of the inner corner blocks.

This is the original size of the vintage quilt that inspired Bonnie's pattern (6x8 blocks). I had planned on going bigger, but as I got to this point I realized something. If I just added one row of blocks each way (7x9), the pattern would no longer be symmetrical. That won't bother everyone, but I admit it would bother me. I didn't think my leftover floral fabrics would sustain an 8x10 block quilt (neither, I think, would my attention span), so I opted to stay with the 6x8 and just add borders. It will finish at 72x88. I need to check the LQS today and see if they have a floral I can use for the border (I know, the pieces I have up there aren't cut straight--it's all I had) on their clearance table at $4 a yard, hopefully something not quite so dark as my test pieces. There isn't enough of any floral left in my stash to make this border and I think this quilt is busy enough. I would like the border in just one print, rather than pieced. Once I get this to flimsy stage I'll probably set it aside until I have a purpose for it. It has been fun to make using fabrics I wasn't sure would ever find a home.

While on the subject of Floribunda, maybe I was so drawn to this pattern partly because of the name. The word floribunda means a plant, especially a rose, that bears dense clusters of flowers. Maybe you also grow floribunda roses--six of my seven rosebushes are of the floribunda variety. Hybrid Teas are a little less hardy and don't do as well in my location. Recently I got a couple of photos of some of those "dense clusters." Both of these roses have lovely scents, as well. I always look for that when buying rose bushes. I think it is rather disheartening to bend over to smell a beautiful rose and be met with no scent.

I hit the jackpot at a thrift store a couple of days ago. They had scrap bags and I found two that looked promising. For a total of $3.50, these fabrics are going into my stash. There is at least 1/8th yard of most of them and some are more like 1/4th yard. There are KT fabrics, Kaye England, some batiks, homespun, and several other good pieces.

What was crazy was that among the "not-for-quilts" scraps that I won't be keeping, there was a substantial piece that my mother and I recognized. When I was a girl (many decades ago) she made most of my clothes and she had made a dress for me out of that very fabric. It is a fall colored floral, but it isn't 100% cotton, or I would definitely have worked it into Floribunda.

One final note--Chinese Coins found a home. My youngest grandson has a rare and severe seizure disorder. My daughter and her husband just got the diagnosis confirmed with a genetic test a couple of months ago. As soon as it was known, my daughter was determined to raise money to help with research. She has run a local 1/2 marathon a couple of times and was prepping to run it again this year. She approached one of the organizers who happens to be a neighbor of hers to see if they would let her do a fundraiser in conjunction with the race. In just a few weeks and with the help of some very good friends, she got a logo designed, gathered prizes from sponsors, had stickers, tickets, a banner and fliers printed. She had the logo and sponsors on t-shirts for the volunteers and family, and on running shirts for her and her friends that ran the race. This quilt was sitting in a closet at my house, already quilted, but not bound. I offered it as one of the prizes and my Mom bound it, knowing that as slow as I am it probably wouldn't have been ready on race day. It was very satisfying to see it go to help a good cause and the winner was very happy to receive it. Just in case any of you have noticed that I have a new Favicon--I know it is too tiny to see, but it is the logo used for the "Running for Ben" fundraiser. Here it is in a more readable size.
Ben is about 2 1/2 years old and has been having seizures for 2 years.

He is such a sweetheart and we are lucky to know and love him.

My daughter will be doing a fundraiser again this month for the full marathon. I wish I had another quilt that would be ready to go.

Until next time, from the little mountain valley where the wind has been blowing all day and the pollen count is too high for comfort,
Janet O.