The Patriot's Heart

The Patriot's Heart. All red white and blue. Nothing but red white and blue were my rules for the quilt. I'm still in the process of finishing this wall hanging. The top, coverlet part, is done, all the hearts are made from a template.

You can make your own template, too. Whatever size you want. I make my templates from a Cheerioes box. You can make one too. Then use the template for all the base fabrics. I started this quilt in 2003. The majority was finished last year . But I just need to bind it and get a sleeve on the back to hang it up.

My DH is in the service, so I'm pretty patriotic. So this goes out to all the mommys, daddys, sons and daughters serving our country. Thank you.

Steps to making your own heart blocks. Or just make one for an accent pillow for your bed. Or for a wedding gift:

Step 1. Cut out your template from a cereal box

Step 2. Cut out 15 hearts on some muslin for your base fabric using your template. Trace around the template with a pen, pencil. or whatever you feel like using.

Step 3. Choose your theme and the fabrics to match. Fun themes are patriotic, white on white, spring flowers, birds, cats, family (each heart can represent a different person in your family, that's fun. Add dates and names. Ooooo makes a nice heirloom), NRA and guns for your man, ...........oh..........whatever you love. Your state or Country of origin, be it California, Florida, Michigan, or Australia!! Holidays. Goodness. The themes are endless.

Step 4. Yay!!! Now get all 15 hearts all filled up with fancy fabrics sewn together in the CQ form.

Step 5. Embroider the seams and embellish the heart shaped blocks with beads, fancy lace, buttons, and trims. Embroider motifs to fit your theme.

Step 6. Pin and blanket stitch the hearts onto another piece of fabric using a contrasting and strong thread. I used black tatting thread to blanket (or some call it button hole) stitch the hearts onto a piece of fabric.

Step 7. Choose the smallest block, crop it, and use that block to crop all the other blocks.

Step 8. Machine stitch them all together any way you want. Mine was done three across and five up and down.

Step 9. Using a disappearing ink quilters pen, mark swirls on the blocks in between the hearts. Hand quilt it to another big piece of muslin like an old sheet. No batting necessary. If you don't want to hand quilt it, quilt it any way you want. Machine. Straight lines using a ruler. Whatever strikes your fancy. It's your quilt, after all.

Step 10. Sash it, back it with another sheet, tie the center blocks.

Step 11. Hand quilt the sashing.

Step 12. Bind it. Then put a tube of fabric on the back top for hanging.

DONE!!

Wow!! Now you know why it took me four ye years to make. Yikes!!

My beautiful home

This is my lovely mountain community here in Southern CA. We actually have four seasons , and we got 5 feet of snow in the period of two days last year. School was closed. Guess I'm buying a snow blower this year.

Valley temperatures hover near the 100s in the summer while here in the mountains it rarely gets above 85 degrees.

Also here's a picture of my really cool home nestled in the trees. We have about 7 really huge trees on our property. In the valley, where we used to live, we had zero. The air is much cleaner up here, too.

The top photo is the view out our loft, my bedroom window!! Can you imagine looking at this every day!! I'm so lucky. I live where people wish to vacation. Lucky Lucky me. And thanks to my Dear Husband, who works his rear off to afford to live here. I'm a lucky girl. The crazy mountain girl.

Getting old, I guess

Oh my goodness!! You think I'd be able to go for a mere 1/2 hour jog. Y know!! I mean, I gave myself shin splints. SHIN SPLINTS!! On only a 1/2 hour jog. Now, take it, I hadn't done that kind of jogging for 7 years, an last time it was on straight city streets. I guess a 5 degree slope is major on the joints and shins, at that. But, HELLO!! I thought I could do it. I was having fun, too. Bopping along to up-beat music.

But then I took a spill on the stairs the day after, and landed right on my butt and layed there deciding weather I should move again. Something had jarred in my hip joint that shouldn't have. And so, I've been in my bed letting people do stuff for me all week. I was pretty pathetic. And in the worst pain ever. So painful, I was dizzy and felt like I was gunna puke my brains out. I painfully hobbled to the toilet a couple of times. Alleve became my friend. And Tylenol PM in the evenings became my buddy. And the chiropractor. Yay for thoughtful chiropractors. I'd still be in bed if it weren't for him.

I'm back to recovery. And I won't give up. I'll start jogging.............hmmmmm..............next year!! LOL. For now I'll just do the walking thing. And try not to fall on the stairs. After all, I'm not getting any younger. I'm old. 35. Old. Arthritic. Old. I'm old. I feel really really old.