Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Quilt Shot 152~ Christmas Cardinal

12 ½ inch or 12 inch finished





      
    Many of us around here have heard the old saying, "A visit from a red bird (Cardinal, our state bird) is a visit from a loved one that has passed on."  My friend who has lost her son, decided this year to decorate all out for Christmas with Cardinals. Her home is beautiful!
 
    I decided to add to her Cardinal Collection by making a Cardinal block pillow for her.  There are several pictures online, but I only found one set of directions and found them to be confusing, especially cutting instructions which had me cutting to many pieces and not large enough. After trial and error, I decided to write my own directions, especially for my future reference, because I have a different way to make the half square triangles than the directions I found.   enJOY!
 
 

        You will need

  •  12 White 2½ inch squares
  •   8 Red 2½ inch squares
 

  •     1 six inch Red square
  •     1 six inch White square
 
                               to make using the Magic 8 Method below
                               7 Red/White Half Square Triangles (HSTs)
                               7 Green/White HSTs
                              You will have 1 HST of each leftover.
Please help me find credit for this cheat sheet.
I printed it a few years ago and placed on my bulletin board for quick reference.

   Square 2½ inch square

  • 1 Black 3¼ inch square
  • 1 Yellow 3¼ inch square
  • 1 White 3¼ inch square
  • 1 White 3 inch square 
  • 1 Red 3¼ inch square
  • 1 Red 3 inch square
   You actually need 2 7/8 instead of 3inch above, but 3 inch is easier to measure. 
     It will be slightly larger than the HST created? 
Pieces will be squared to 2½ inches.
       
      Draw line from corner to corner.
      Stitch less than 1/4 inch from line.
      Cut apart, press

     Place a Red 3 inch square on top of a Red/Black HST
     On Red square side stitch corner to corner across the Red/Black seam as shown below.
     Place a White 3 inch square of top of the White/Yellow HST
     On White square side stitch corner to corner across the White/Yellow HST seam.
 
     Pay attention where the Black and Yellow pieces are located. 
     Square the final pieces to 2½ inch squares.
     
 
 
 The following pieces can't be used because colors are in wrong location.
I had to do them over.

 
Lay out all the pieces as follow.
There are 6 rows and 6 columns.

You can now see why the position of the yellow and black pieces is important.

 I like to stitch rows first.
 
Add a 2 to 2½ inch wide strip,
depending on the size of your pillow,
to the sides, 
then top and bottom of the block.
 
Don't forget to sign and date.

Merry Christmas to Donna

Shared @ 

Handmade Monday #307 on Sum of Their Stories

Inspire Me Monday 565 on Create with Joy 

Creative Crafts Linky Party #126 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

 

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Thoughtful Thurs 190~ Ending the First Super Sad Year

 


Yesterday, around 6 am was the anniversary
 with the help of the
 nurse in the COVID unit,
I said Goodbye via the phone
 to my dear Sweet Mr G
who was actually non-responsive
as they had just removed his ventilator.
One of the nightmares that still haunts me
was not being allowed to be by his side
holding his hand
I was recovering from COVID so I felt no danger
and couldn't understand my denial.

I will always wonder if our loved ones that left us this way,
would have lived longer or survived
had we been allowed to be by their side,
or did they feel abandoned and give up?
Its been a very long sad year full of nightmares,
and thus, little sleep.
I miss him deeply and still have a hard time catching my breath.
during his last days and moments.
 
 His funeral and burial was on D-Day.