In Your Words (or should that be “in my words?)…psst..giveaway alert…

Either way you title it, this is a very fun blog hop that wouldn’t exist without the wonderful Madam Samm (someday I’d love to meet her in person) and the lovely Linda at Buzzing and Bumbling.  I’m so excited to be a part of this and am grateful for all their efforts!

Please be sure to stop by and read the other “wordy” quilts today at

Tuesday, January 15

BQuiltin Studio  (Beverly K.)

Hill Valley Quilter (Britt-Inger)

Bumbleberry Stitches  (Theresa K.)

Buzzing and Bumbling  (Linda W.)

Outback Crafter (Debra S.)

In Stitches and Seams  (Annette S.)

Englating  (Marica from Sweden)

Stitchin by the Lake  (Marlene B.)

Selina Quilts  (Selina)

Sheila’s Quilt World (Sheila M.)

Words & Stitches  — You’re here!

 

I was introduced to the idea of words in quilts by a lovely lady in our quilt guild named Helen Grigg.  She not only quilted words into her quilts but had a “coded” quilt that I never heard of anyone deciphering.  I began free-motion quilting words into my quilts but wanted to make more of a statement with letters.  I loved paper-pieced letters but wanted something “freer.”  Along comes “Word Play Quilts” and I was off and running! 

 

One of my first efforts was this one

This hangs in my kitchen (where I spend a lot of time with children) and reminds me to soldier on with a good attitude!  Another opportunity to use Tonya’s terrific system was on a quilt for my mom’s 80th birthday commemorating our first three trips abroad together. 

This quilt was the first time I ever broke out my tri-recs ruler and boy I just love it!

There’s a Yellow Fish Quilt basted but not in a place for me to photograph at the moment because, yes, being the queen of procrastination, I’m writing this the night it’s due!  I had grand plans of making a quilt to commemmorate our trip to Hawaii but my sewing area was right next to a daughter’s murphy bed so my time was limited.  (She’s my light sleeper.) 

I bought fabric for a Hawaiin Word Quilt I had floating at the edges of my imagination so I started with the word I like best in Hawaiin…

How can you not love a word that can mean “hello”, “goodbye” and “I love you?”  I made this with not a whit of an idea where it would go or what I would do with it but then I was inspired!  While we were in Hawaii, I jotted down the Hawaiian spelling of all of our names (cribbed from key chains in tourist shops) and one name eluded us.  Low and behold, a lovely lady on our plane ride back told my younger daughter what her name was in Hawaiian.  I think I’ll use this as the jumping off point for a quilt of Hawaiian words including all of our names.  Oh, and some turtles, definitely turtles, oh and some whales, we saw whales this trip…and a rainbow…maybe?  What was that I said about finishing two old UFO’s before  starting a new project?  As far as I can tell, I’m about six UFO’s behind and January isn’t half-over!

Speaking of words, though, on a more serious note…I did pick up a tip from a Julie Morgenstern book about using a word or statement as a theme for a season of your life.  My words this season are “Frugal Abundance.”  Opposites, you might ask?  No, my goal this year is to celebrate the abundance of what I have while being frugal with my funds.  I want to enjoy the abundance of family, friends, felines, fabric, four-leggers (I couldn’t figure a word for dog that started with ‘f’), and other fun and fantastic things I already have but don’t always appreciate.  So, with words on my mind, I picked up this 1/2-yard piece of “wordy” fabric to give to one lucky winner (chosen by Mr. Random after the hop ends.)  Just leave me a comment and tell me what word, or words, you would choose for this season of your life.   

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Quilting.

Beth