A miniature

I decided to begin a miniature of this quilt. It sure is cute. It is some of the fabric Dan picked out at Joann's as part of my retirement gift. Here are some beginning pictures.

Top is completed...

I have completed the top today. Will contemplate a smal thin silver or gray border and then red folded  triangle borders. We will see after I return back from Az.

The next part is a pieced backing...original is with Egyptian fabrics. I probably will use from my scraps.

Week 7 -The finale

The Business of Life...

Not only are you being served a mimosa by a member of the extended Grantham clan, but there are many others there to enjoy mimosas too: Lord & Lady Grantham, Carson, Anna, O’Brien, Thomas, Bates, Daisy, Mrs. Patmore, Rosamund, and Rose. Even Julian is there, which you find a bit odd, but is by now something you are quite used to.

After all the mimosas are passed round, you call for a toast. Everyone starts pointing fingers at one another, but you have someone special in mind.

“Mr. Carson,” you ask. “Will you do me the great honor of presenting the toast for this occasion?”

“Certainly,” he replies. He clears his throat, and recites a fitting line from Season 4. “The business of life is the acquisition of memories. In the end that's all there is.”

“Hear, hear!” shouts everyone, and you all take a sip of your mimosas.

All of a sudden, while you’re sipping your mimosa, you get a feeling of déjà vu. You start to feel a little woozy. Your vision starts to get grainy, and just before you pass out, you bid everyone farewell.

You wake up next to your sewing machine, surrounded by dozens of quilt blocks, and to the TV playing an episode of Downton Abbey. That will teach you to binge-watch Downton while you sew!

In the meantime, you’ve got all these blocks to put together into a quilt, and a mimosa sounds like just the thing to have before you dive in.

Well so many options to think about. Here are some of the possibilities and my final decisions. Worked on it a lot today and have only the top and bottom row to attach.Too cold downstairs this evening, so will attach tomorrow just to finish it prior to leaving for Arizona.

Let's play a bit with known pieces..

Not sure the final layout, but fun playing with know pieces. We do know that some additional strips need to be added. I think we will start putting it together next week.

A new twist is a pieced backing. I have never done this. It to be with Egyptian fabric line, put I will try to use left over scraps and possibly some of my retirement fabric from Dan. We will see what this may look like. This will be revealed during our travel to Arizona and will need to wait until my return home. I guess it also could be a top of a quilt. So this quilt along is 2 for the price of one. However need to sit down and do some hand quilting on some UFO projects before starting another big project.

Week 6-Campanion

So here is the continuing story from Ebony....

Mimosas for Everyone...

The feast you see before you is almost too fantastic to eat! There are so many fabulous meats, savory dishes, desserts and puddings (oh, the puddings!) that you stuff yourself within minutes. Oh, the chefs of the abbey are fi ne indeed.

“What are you doing here, at my house?” you inquire between bites.

“Julian thought it would be a good idea for us to feed you after your long journey,” they explain. “And what better place to serve you dinner than in your own house?”

There’s no arguing with that kind of logic, it seems. Now where is that pudding?

You locate the pudding on a table in the parlor. You serve yourself a heaping helping and drop into a chair. After only a couple of bites though, you yawn a great yawn, stretch, and decide a nap is in order. Because when one sits in a cozy chair by a fire after a huge meal, one must nap.

You wake up the next morning – sti from your nap in the chair – to find the sun streaming in through the windows of the parlor. You must have been more tired than you thought. Someone at least thought to throw a quilt over you.

You hear the murmur of voices coming from another part of the house, so you go to seek them out. Oddly enough, you are startled to find someone you never expected to see in your dining room, serving up, of all things, mimosas.

So who is serving me....

My preferance is Rose, but I love the Rosamund block some am doing the medley this week. Here are some pictures....

Just after cutting.

Block layout

My favorite block..Plucky Rose

 

Week 5 - Culinarian

So the story line continues...

Never Miss a Good Pudding...

The walk back is pleasant enough, but after a few minutes you realize you have no idea where you are going. You ask your walking partner, “How do you know where my estate is located when I don’t?”

They reply, “The village is quite small. We know everyone! Don’t worry; we are almost there.”

After a few more minutes of awkward silence (for what on earth do you say to a famous actor or a servant - ask how their day went?) you spot a lovely little cottage up ahead, with smoke tendrils climbing from the chimney. “Oh, who lives in that adorable little house?” you ask.

“You do,” is the reply.

You stop short with a puzzled look on your face and turn your head back and forth from your attendant to the house and back to the attendant. “Pardon me,” you say, as you break into a giddy run across the green. So this is the estate! It isn’t at all like you pictured, but it looks quite lovely all the same. It reminds you a bit of your own house back home.

As you approach the house, you smell the aroma of chicken, and biscuits, and… pudding! It would be such a pity to miss a good pudding. You fli ing open the door, and sprint down the hall; you’re pretty sure you know who’s in the kitchen already…

So who did I see?

Well of course Mrs. Part ore and Daisey. This week I will be making both blocks or the medley. 

Sous Chief  Daisy and Master Chef Beryl....the Culinarian Medley. Today I cut out the fabric and laid out the blocks. I have all week to see 16 blocks, eight of each.