Finishing touches on Charley's gift

Charley's choice of colors for his quilt are red and black; squares please! So this request sent my mind to the checker board idea. Peek at his quilt here. Since the center portion of his quilt IS an actual checker "board" he will want some checkers to go with the quilt.

My favorite part of playing checkers is when my piece travels all the way across the board and is "upgraded" to "King" status, thus gaining new power to move backwards! "KING me!" I would crow to my sister!  These cloth checkers have a gold "crown" on one side so they can be flipped over to reveal their KING status.

I know that my daughter will be tempted to ..... (insert favorite punishment)  if I give Charley all these loose checkers... (12 of each color plus 2 spares of each color for a total of 28!) so I made a bag!

Use a safety pin to thread the ribbon into the casing.

Black bead for red ribbon, red bead for black ribbon.

Place bead on ribbon, then tie square knot.

Move the bead over the knot.

 At this point I should explain that my ribbon was almost too wide to be able to fit the knot into the bead. I put the loose end of the ribbon into the bead and pulled..... and pulled.... opps, now the bead is on the other side of the knot.... pull again from the other side.... opps again! As you can see, I did finally get the bead to cover the knot.

Cut the other end of the ribbon, but not too short!

Bring the ribbon ends together and tie an over hand knot.

Tic-Tac-Toe any one?

 I will insert black ribbon through the casing on the opposite side of the bag and add the red bead in the same way. (after I buy the black ribbon!)

Your move.....




edited to add this photo of Charley sharing his quilt:

Charley and 'Becca playing a game of checkers!

Shh, don't tell Charley!

Something else that has been absorbing my time and attention is this quilt; for grandson Charley's birthday at the end of March.  The quilt is done, but I want to include cloth checkers also.... maybe tonight I'll sew some.

I hope I can get him to pose with his quilt for a photo.... after his birthday!

Some thing Else... or a little of this and that!

I always seem to have several "irons in the fire" as great-grandma used to say....

actually I hate ironing .......even though I have the luxury of an electric iron that would have amazed our ancestors!  But I do love to sew.... all kinds of  things!  And here is the reason that the princess slip remains unfinished!

Cindy's cushion project... finished just in time for the arrival of out-of-town family visitors today!

The seat cushion foam was still in good shape, but the inner case of the back cushions was turning to powder. Those pillow style cushions had to be re-made before they could be re-covered.

I did not take photos as I worked on construction, but I will share my photographic struggles with you!

The sofa, chair and ottoman are in a sun room with large glass doors on 2 sides.

By the time I arrived with the cushions, the sun was shining in creating bright spots.





At first I thought the sun might be covered by the shifting clouds, thus giving me some softer light.  I waited while Cindy fixed lunch....... and waited some more.....no clouds.

So let's try adding some 'flash' light... not a good idea!

Hey, where is that sun light coming from? and could I move the sofa enough to block most of those spots? It was an idea worth trying.

See that little sliver of light on the left side...
move the sofa just a little more!

Better, but still not a great photo.

So I moved the sofa back where it belongs, turned the camera off, at sat down to finish lunch and chat with Cindy.... then the clouds came back!

Just as I thought the perfect light had arrived, I missed it!

Finally, the soft light I wanted.

I know it's not a perfect photo, but given my simple photography skills (few) and the available light.....

I'll keep it!

For some really great photography and classes, check out my daughter   Faith and her blog.