Ok, the last two! This one on the left says "Kitten Britches". My grandma called my mom and my mom called me that. I thought it was just our family but a friend (who I'm reasonably sure is no relation) said her family calls kids that too.

The photo in the last block is my grandparents wedding photo. I guess that concludes our tour!

These are on the bottom row. The photo is, again, my brother and I. Aren't we cute?? I remember the day the picture was taken. A photographer came to our apartment and set up his equipment and took it. I can't imagine how Mom could have afforded that!

The second block has real Scrabble tiles glued to it. Mom and Grandma used to play Scrabble all the time and when I grew up I was allowed in too. When Grandpa retired, he and Grandma took a camper and travelled and everywhere they went, Grandma took her Scrabbble board, just in case she found someone to play with. Anyway, I have inherited her board and she had written on it, the two words: firth and overt. I suppose she meant to look them up when she got home to the dictionary. By the way, I did NOT use my Grandma's Scrabble tiles...I found a game at a yard sale:)

I don't seem to have taken a closeup of the block to the left of the big one but here's the one to the right. The saying was something my Grandpa used to say: Meet me at (wherever). If you get there first, make a mark in the dirt and if I get there first, I'll rub it out!

These two are on either side of the big block. The saying on the upper one is one I remember my grandma saying. I must have been "helping" her sort quilt scraps and asking "is this too little" "is this big enough" because I remember her saying, "If it's bigger than a cornflake...keep it!" LOL The piece right next to that quote is one I think she would have liked. I save my scraps...ravelings, thread clippings...everything! I take a fistful of pretty ones, lay them on a pretty piece of fabric, put a piece of tulle or organza on top and then zigzag all over with metallic thread. It comes out really pretty and definitely unique...and best of all, I KNOW Grandma would approve :)

The picture in the lower block is one of my mom as a baby, with her paternal grandmother. And yes, she is actually wearing a dust cap!

This is the big center block. I had enough blocks done to make the quilt the size I wanted but then I decided I wanted to add more "stuff"...so it had to grow. The larger color photo is All of Us. Mom, my brother and I and our spouses and kids. It was taken close to 15 years ago. To the lower left of that is a B/W picture of my grandma taken shortly after she married my grandpa. She looks serene. Maybe even pensive. Lower yet and to her right, is a picture of all her living children, taken a few years ago. There is a tiny color picture of my brother and his wife and a tiny B/W of my great-grandparents. The slightly larger B/W is another set of great-grandparents with their first two daughters, the littlest one being my "pensive" grandma :)
I really enjoyed working on this block but, of course, now I see things I would do differently.

Two more blocks of Mom's quilt. There's the "famous" Blue Ribbon that I was so proud of. The picture on the left is (L-R) My Grandma Verna holding me and next to us is Mom. The smaller picture on that block is harder to see but it was some of Grandma's Trick Photography. Mom is holding her two younger sisters in the palms of hands. Grandma was a card :)

The photo on the other block is me and my baby brother. Looks like I'm trying to keep him in the chair. Everyone used to call him "The White Tornado". There were commercials for some cleanser (Ajax, maybe) that showed this little white tornado getting into the corner and then bouncing out and flying off somewhere else at ninety miles an hour. It was supposedly cleaning in the corners but I don't seem to remember David doing much cleaning at that age :) The quote on that block is one of Mom's favorites: If you're lucky enough to be Irish....you're lucky enough!

These are a couple of the blocks in the quilt I made for my mom. I gave it to her almost two years ago and she's still finding new things on it. That was what I was shooting for :)

BTW, I have no idea how I managed to get that cat upside down.

Here's my Sweetie-pie. She likes to try on every dress I buy to chop up. This purple is a good heavy satin...should make up nice!

Avocado Round Robin

I just finished my part on another block for the Green Garden Avocado round robin. This one belongs to Dianna in California. She mentioned that she liked to camp and when I read that I knew what motif I wanted to use. We also like to spend time outdoors and I've got several patterns for "woodsy" motifs.

I also did two seams. The one to the left of the tent is Chevron stitch overlaid with Herringbone in two shades of green. Then I added Lazy Daisies on the X's and a seed bead to the intersections of the longer threads. The seam to the upper right of the motif is also mine...I forgot the name of the stitch...something "French-sounding" :) It's basically two rows of stem stitch and then in between you make 3 satin stitches in stacks at intervals and then come back making looping circles. The book called for French knots in the circles but I did a sequin with a seed bead instead.

Now, off to work on the one I have for the Purple round robin, Groovy Grapes...and the Food Fight swap...not to mention the quilt I'm working on for my daughter. Fun!!!