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Thursday, September 1, 2011

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.

13 comments:

  1. Janet, Love the Floribunda!!! and what a find with the blues!!

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  2. I love your Floribunda. I'm still working on mine but it doesn't look as nice as yours. Great quilt.

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  3. Your Floribunda turned out just great Janet. My fabrics are still sitting in a pile, but after seeing yours it is hard to resist making one. I agree with you about the proportion of the quilt. Your story about your grandson and giving the quilt is great. Those kind of things are the reason why we quilt. I pray his seizures stop.

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  4. Your Florabunda is gorgeous! When I get thru with the one I'm working on (Chrstmas gift), I'm going to make a scrappy one like yours!

    Love your new favicon... what you and your daughter are doing is fantastic! Best wishes to your precious grandson!

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  5. Janet - excellent progress on the Floribunda! I actually liked the dark border as it echos some of the dark central fabrics. What a wonderful quilt to send to the fundraiser - I hope they raise a lot of money. Finally - how does one change their Favicon? I have wondered for some time...

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  6. Love your Floribunda and your roses - I can almost smell them! So sorry about your little grandson, but glad that you had a quilt for such a great cause. Your daughter is doing amazing things!

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  7. janet, love your quilts! isn't that bonnie soooo inspiring? sorry to hear of your grandson's condition; hoping it can be managed to improve his wellbeing.

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  8. I love my roses, I have had roses every house we have lived in. My MIL says they are hard to grow. I don't, I just let them grow and DH prunes them... Glad you had one quilt to Raffle off. Have fun with all your ROSES!

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  9. So much for a little one to deal with. Sounds like your daughter is quite a woman.
    Your floribunda quilt looks wonderful. I tend to like dark borders, too.

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  10. That's a great story about your daughter's fundraising activities; I hope it will help your grandson's illness. Is it treatable?
    Once again, I love your quilts. I think you did a beautiful job!! Keep up the good work!

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  11. Fabulous!!! What a great leader/ender....I have one too...of Bonnie's....not finished like yours though!!!

    Your daughter is sooo courageous!!

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  12. I love your floribunda! It is wonderful! And that coin quilt is great too. Glad it went to a good home for a great cause!

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  13. It is nice that many people support raising money for this disease. It feels good to do it!!
    I love the quilt you donated to the cause.

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