Quilts A Lot!

Surprise package delivery! :0)

2011-12-21T12:34:00.000-08:00

This beautiful "Log Cabin" ornament was in a surprise package delivery! I wasn't expecting any packages to arrive and yet there was one on my doorstep. As soon as I saw who it was from I had a great big grin from ear to ear. It was for me! And it was from someone I recognized right away as a special blog buddy! I think this ornament is wonderful! I've never seen ornaments shaped in a quilting block design before. I just love it!! As you can see it was the first ornament I put onto the tree this year! :0)

Here is the box I found on my doorstep. There were lots of other goodies inside besides the beautiful ornament.
These were also inside the box. A snowman statue, a wooden plate, a sign which reads "Love. Where there is love there is life" a special very delicate Christmas card as well as a candy cane!
Look where I put them! I think they look so perfect all together here on a shelf in my "Keeping Room"! I love everything! Thank-you Sue!! I was very surprised and I'm very thankful you are my friend.

Merry Christmas, to all my special friends!!

Karen

One Thing Leads To Another

2011-11-15T07:30:00.000-08:00

These scrappy triangles were something that I picked up that someone else was discarding. They have been on my design wall since summer. I finally decided it was time to do something with them or put them away. Since I already had them up on the board, I went ahead and did something with them. Besides, I needed the room on my design board for the Barbara Brackman Civil war block of the week that I have been trying to catch up on.
This is what I have been doing with the triangles. I got the idea from a book by Tara Lynn Darr.
The book is called Simply Charming...Small Scrap Quilts of Yesteryear.
Naughty blogger, that's 2 pictures in a row that are turned. Sorry. The pattern in the book is called Stars Over The Mountain.
Here is my version. As you can see I have done something different with the borders, and I'm not finished yet. I have something else in mind. This little quick project that was supposed to free up my design wall is growing on me! :0) In more ways then one! :o) The leftover fabric from the triangle project is going into a scrappy leader ender box that I started in order to start moving some of my scraps into wonderful cozy warm cuddle quilts. Since I forgot to take a picture of the blocks I've started I will have to show you next time.
Here are the Civil War blocks that I have been hand piecing. I think I have about 14 or 15 more to go in order to catch up to the current week.
This my friends is what I am working on when the little girl I am watching is napping. I finally started hand quilting "Michael's Victory"!!!! I just love how this one is turning out! This might be my next all time favorite quilt. I want to hurry up and finish it. But hand quilting a project almost always takes me about a year to finish for some reason.

Something Different

2011-10-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I just finished putting the last stitch in the binding of this table runner. It is a more primitive type project then I normally do. So, "Something Different!" This is a pattern by Primitive Pieces by Lynda called Primitive Sketches. I hand quilted this one. I wanted to try out some new thread I bought called Aurifil. I love it! It works beautifully in the machine as well as by hand! Finally an everything thread! :0)
Well, on the home front, I have recently gone back to work. I started in May actually. I was asked by a nice local family to be a "Nanny" to there daughter. She is 8 months old now. The Mom wanted to go back to work, but did not want her daughter in a daycare. I am enjoying it but I also really miss sewing and sharing with my blogging friends. It has been some what of an adjustment for me. I've been a stay-at-home Mom for 21 years. I am still trying to balance my time to get housework, shopping and some sewing in. I feel that I am finally starting to get better at this juggle act! I hope to be able to fit in visits to my blogging friends to! :0)

Long Over Due Update

2011-04-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! I have been (trying to) working on my daughter's "College" quilt. As you see I have a helper, named Emma, today and haven't gotten very far. My daughter wanted me to do some sort of butterfly motif quilting. I don't know if you can see it in this photo yet or not. When I finish quilting it I'll show you.
I've also been working on the "Civil War" blocks being put out once a week by Barbara Brackman. I have caught up on all of them except the last one which is about half done. I think I might have mentioned before, that I am hand piecing these blocks just as our ancestors would have done. I'm not using Civil War specific fabrics, but I am trying to use only reproduction fabrics for these blocks. :0)
Next up are a couple of quilts made by some of the women in my quilt "Bee" . We had a meeting this past Wednesday. The one above is done all in batiks. The one below was a mystery quilt one of our members participated in while she was in California visiting family and friends. ( It looks like yummy chocolates and blueberries to me! ;0)

You might have heard that our state of North Carolina has been bombarded with unusually strong and mighty tornados. The one came within about 5 miles of us. We had extremely heavy rain, and very strong winds as well as dime and nickel sized hail, but were untouched by the storms. I have been finding bits of house insulation in our yard from the surrounding homes that had been damaged. Every time I pick the stuff up I am saddened by the devastation it has caused for so many in our area. You may have heard about "Serendipity Drive"on the News as being hit pretty hard. My daughter has a teacher whose home was on that street. Her house was demolished. She has a son and a daughter between the ages of 8 and 10 years, I believe. My daughter wanted very badly to do something for her.
We ransacked my closet of quilts and came up with this one. It was something I had designed and made quite a while ago, but it seemed the most appropriate to give to this particular family. It made my daughter happy to be able to do "something " for her.
This is a set of basket bins that I store my scrappier fabrics in. My Kitty has claimed it as hers. If she isn't helping me quilt she's taking a nap in one of the baskets. Her nest! I think maybe Emma is trying to tell me something! "You have enough purple and pink scraps now to make a special quilt just for me!" Or maybe she is just a happy cat in a basket full of scraps!! LOL!! :0)

Prom, Table Runner and Find the Kitty?

2011-04-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday was my daughter's Senior Prom night! Eight girls and one lucky guy! LOL! At least that's what we told him. It seems to me there are a lot of shy Senior male students in High School. They missed taking these beautiful young ladies to the Prom!! That's O.K. This group of girls including my daughter took matters into there own hands. They decided they didn't want to miss out on not being able to go to Prom and went as a group!! All I can say is good for them! They had a grand time according to my daughter! :0) (My daughter has the biggest smile and is on the far left.)
I did get some sewing done. This is the "Table Runner" that I made from the fabric that was in a brown bag. My "Bee" had each member put some fabric in a bag. We then brought the bags into the next meeting, shuffled them up and took one bag home that was not ours. We were then to make a table runner from the fabric in the bag. Sometime in the month of May we will bring in the Table runners that we made. We will then probably guess whose fabric we had, and hand over the newly made runner to them. I already think I know whose fabric this was. :0)
(I'm not sure if she reads my blog or not)

Here is a close-up of each block I made. (Well poo. The picture turned!) If you tilt your head to the right you will hopefully see a four inch center block which is a sewing machine. The main theme fabric in the paper bag I picked had sewing "Do-dads" and words related to sewing on it!
So I implemented sewing things into the blocks. This one is a spool of thread. The large over all block is called "Odd Fellows Chain".
And if you once again tilt your head, you will see a blue heart, spool of thread and red pincushion. We had to use only the fabric which was in the bag as well as a small amount of our own fabric to make the table runners. Fun Fun! But I'm glad I'm done!! LOL!

A big Thank-you to all who left ideas of what sort of "Table runner" I could possibly make with the fabric in the bag!! They were all fantastic. Thank-you!!
Can you find the Kitty?

This is the top of a corner fireplace mantel in our keeping room. Hmmm! There is a new ornament which placed itself in the side basket!!! I actually think our Emma kitty looks like she belongs up there!! LOL (Naughty girl) I'll bet it was a nice, warm, toasty spot above the fireplace.

Happy Quilting!! :0)

Picture Day!!

2011-03-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was VERY breezy!! LOL Makes for a challenging picture day!! :0)

I have finished my daughters College quilt top and wanted to post it here for you to see. But, as you might have noticed, my helper was having some issues holding it without the wind pushing it around her feet. She is so happy with it! She has already posted a picture of it on Facebook!
Hahaha! I love this picture! My daughter was amused that her Dad was trying to stay out of the picture! But you know I just had to get him in the photo for you to see how funny he is sometimes! My sweet husband must have seen us struggling with the wind! He actually came out on his own to help hold the quilt still. LOLOLOLOL!
After many pictures were taken struggling with the wind I thought it might be best to take one more with the quilt laying on the floor.

I've already got a back picked out and just need to go get some purple thread! Because that is what daughter would prefer.

I have one more thing to tell you. You might have noticed that the star blocks and triangle border make this quilt look a little more formal. Then comes the last couple of borders. Well, I found this particular pattern to be very wasteful with cutting the pieces out. The quilt ended up being smaller then my daughter wanted it to be. After which my daughter started playing around with all of the extra pieces. The two of us put our heads together and came up with the final borders. Not quite as formal as the first one, but we were both happy with it! And that's what really counts. As well as the fact that we used up a lot of the wasted fabric which made me feel better. :0)

Pondering

2011-03-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

Our quilt bee is currently doing a new project. Not everyone participated, but I happened to do so. Those of us who are doing the project had to place some fabric in a bag and bring it in on Wednesday. The fabric was to be enough to make a small table topper or runner. The bags were all mixed up and then each person was to take one bag which was not theirs. The fabric you see above is what I found in the bag I picked out. Thus I am currently pondering about what to do with it!! Anyone got any ideas??? My thinking cap is on and I do have some things spinning around but nothing concrete as of yet. So if any one has a suggestion as to what to do with the fabric I have, please let me know! I can add only a small amount of my own fabric, but must use what was in the bag. Is your thinking cap on!! LOL Pondering!!!
This is as far as I have gotten with daughter #2's quilt. I have laid out the next border, but don't have it sewn together yet. I'm getting there slowly.
I did however get 3 more of the Civil War blocks done!!! I decided to throw some pink into the mix. #6 Richmond, #7 Log Cabin and #8 Cotton Boll are now finished!!! My goal for this week is to get totally caught up before Saturdays block comes out. Always and ever hopeful. :0)

Where does the time go!!!

2011-03-04T10:14:00.001-08:00

It's already March! As if you all didn't already know this!! LOL

This past week has been full of doing things to get my youngest daughter ready for college as well as my quilt meeting and other necessary things to do... You know, haircut, groceries...etc... The necessary stuff! I don't know about you but, I tend to put off the necessary stuff until it can't wait any longer. Then there is a heap of it to do all at once.

Today my oldest daughter will be coming home for a week of Spring break from college. Needless to say not much sewing got done. Nor will it probably get done this coming week.

I am way behind in the Barbara Brackman Civil War blocks but I am working on them. #5 is shown above.
Here they all are together so far. Looks like I'm doing browns, reds, and blues with a touch of cheddar. So far I've just been pulling fabrics that say "use me" for this block! I will have to start paying more attention now. :0)
Some show and tell from my Wednesday bee meeting.
"Orphan blocks" quilt and rows.
Ooops! Sorry the picture turned. This is a sweet embroidery block.
Double Hour Glass! Very pretty!
Beggars Block. Pieced by hand.
"T" blocks. Pieced by hand.
Ships...Come Sail away.
A Recipe exchange quilt! The maker calls this one "Cooking With the Stars"!! How fun!

I miss not visiting my friends in blogland! I will visit when I can. Until then...

Happy Quilting!! :0)

Fire in our neighborhood

2011-02-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

One of the benefits of living on a golf course is seeing some awesome sunrises. I took this picture on Friday morning. We had some fog rolling around as the sun was coming up. The picture doesn't really do it justice. As I watched, it became more awesome by the minute as it rose in all its glory!

Yesterday, we had a grass fire in our neighborhood on the golf course. Thankfully it was not near enough to us to cause us to leave our home. We live on "Hole #5". The fire was near hole #14. We are in a drought here in NC. Normally this is our rainy season. The fire was started by someone carelessly tossing a cigarette out. The grass here is very dry right now and it was windy yesterday. It didn't take much to start the fire. I don't have any pictures of the actual fire, as you can well imagine, it was blocked off so the fire crew could put it out. They actually asked some people to leave there homes. 3 houses had siding damage. All totaled there were between 25 and 35 acres burned before they were able to get it under control! That's quite a bit!

Well, on a much happier note, I have started my college bound daughter's quilt! Here are 12 of the blocks so far. I have 7 more to go. ( I finished one more while I was uploading all these pictures!) There are 20 blocks total I need to do. My goal is to get all the rest of the blocks done today so my daughter can place them where she likes before I sew them together. Gotta get her involved in her quilt somehow! :0)
I have not gotten to go to IKEA yet. :( My books are still on the floor in boxes. One of these days I will get there so I can finally have a place to store my books! I think I told you that it takes 2 hours to get there from here. By the time you drive there, do your shopping and drive back. Its a full day.
The next pictures are from my quilt bee's show and tell. I hosted the meeting this past Wednesday. Above you see some cute little triangle bags or pouches. Perfect size for lots of things!
Here is a bright table topper.
A table runner.
A Cheerful little quilt!
This is kinda fun! I've never seen this pattern before. It is a four patch turned into a gingerbread man! It's appliqued onto the background or blanket stitched.
This is a raffle quilt.
There are three of us in the group doing the Civil War quilt along from Barbara Brackman's blog.
I'll try to remember to show you mine next time I post.
This is another fun quilt! Something that is dear to my heart. Recycling! This quilt is made all from Men's 100% cotton shirts purchased from "GoodWill"! The maker added a couple of fun bright scraps which adds just the perfect punch. Wonderful! I think she said she spent only $6.oo for all the shirts she bought. I'm not sure how many she got. ( It might have been 6 shirts at a $1.00 a piece?)
Oh darn! I thought I had a picture of the back also. Sorry. Let me tell you this though. The blocks on the front were the sleeves of the shirts. The back was made totally from the larger pieces of the back of the shirts!! What a bargain!!!
Last but not least, is a baby quilt made from all left over scraps from other quilts. Who would have thought that you could put pink and orange together??? Not me... But I really love it!! :0)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I made some chocolate chip cookies today and added some festive colored M & M's! Chocolate Chip cookies are my husbands all time favorite cookie. I've made lots of different types of cookies over the years. If you ask my husband what kind of cookies he would like, he ALWAYS chooses chocolate chip!! So I have made his favorite cookies for Valentine's Day. What's that saying... To win a man's heart is through his stomach. LOL! :0)
I thought I would show you two quilts that I have hanging in my "Dining" room. This is an applique basket quilt I did. It is fairly formal. Although I will tell you a secret. One I can't hide if you ever came to my home. I gave up my dining room so my daughter could have a piano. It was a gift from her Great Grandfather. And she does play! I told her if we got the piano she would have to take lessons and use the piano! It is way too big a piece of furniture to never be used. I am very proud to say that I rarely if ever had to remind her to practice. So... it was well worth giving up my dining room so she could have a piano. :0)
Here is the other quilt I have hanging in the dining room / piano room. I believe this was a Thimbleberries pattern.
As you can see here I have started my piano playing daughter's college quilt. It is still a work in progress. In the last post I showed you the pattern she had picked out. I am actually liking how the fabrics are playing together so far. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they will continue to do so. :0)
Block # 4 from the Civil War quilt along. I was having some problems piecing this one. The center square was fine. It was trying to add the outer triangles. I had to take it all apart and redo it.

My husband daughter and I went out to dinner on Saturday evening to celebrate out Valentine Day! Who says you can't celebrate a couple of days early with the family you love! (I miss my other daughter and wish she could have been with us. She will be home in about 3 weeks to celebrate her 21st birthday which happens to fall during her Spring break.) :0)

What am I up to?!

2011-02-03T07:08:00.000-08:00

Hello, friends! I hadn't realized that it has been a whole month since I last made a post! Where did the time go!

Well, let me show you what I've been doing. I started Barbara Brackman's Civil War quilt along. She has been posting a new block once a week on Saturday's. I am only on week 3 since I did not start it right away. I have 2 more to go in order to catch up. I am hand piecing the blocks. Just like my ancestors would have done. :0)

This is a project that I have not begun yet. My youngest daughter will be going to college next year and has asked me to make her a special quilt to bring to school with her. How could I refuse! This is the pattern she chose. I now have everything I need to make it and hope to start it soon.
Here is the Fall 1 1/2 inch strip exchange quilt that I have been working on. ( The top is all together, finally, except for the border) I'm not finished yet so you only get to see a peek of the borders I have been auditioning to see what might work. I think I'm going to go with all three you see in the picture. I hope I have enough fabric to do the last border. If not I will have to devise a plan "B". Stay tuned!
:0) This is something I just whipped up from someone else's caste off! My quilt bee occasionally has a meeting where you bring what you don't want anymore. A sort of "my trash is someone else's treasure"Day. I had picked up three baggies of pre-cut rail fences. It was really easy! I just had to sew the pre-cut strips and ended up with this small lap quilt! I am thinking about adding a border and then finishing it up to give to my daughter who is now living in a college apartment. It will be a perfect throw for her sofa!!
Another baggie I picked up!! Pre cut pyramids! I have been playing around with the pieces on my design wall. This is what I have so far. There were plenty of darks in the baggie but I did have to cut more lights for the background. I'm still moving pieces around yet, so I haven't sewn it together.
Well, here's my story of the day. I have had a book shelf in my sewing room which was made of press board. The bookshelf had been mine as a child. So it was weak and wobbly but I was using it anyway. It had had enough. I have a lot of quilting books. I love my books! I often use them as references for my projects. I think I have more books then fabric.... Uh maybe not. But it sure is close! :0)

Anyway, My bookshelf Kaput! So..... I have two new shelf units that I bought from IKEA called Expedit. I love them! I only bought two to see how I liked them. I will be purchasing another one. Only this time instead of only the four cubes, I will get the bigger one with (I think) it had 12 cubes! I can't wait! My books are currently on the floor in boxes. Our nearest Ikea is about 2 hours away. So it needs to be a planned trip. Maybe I can convince my husband we should go this weekend. ;0)
And last but certainly not least! I did make the little quilt into a pillow!! I am just loving it! I took the two old pillows I had on the sofa, which were falling apart at the seams literally, and cut them open. I reused the poly fill stuffing in them to stuff this one. I love it when I can recycle stuff!!

Have a great day everyone!! :0)

Almost Finished!

2011-01-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Happy New Year to you!

I wanted to show you what I've been working on. I just finished hand quilting the above little quilt. It's a Kathleen Tracy pattern called "Harvest Quilt". Her website is: www.countrylanequilts.com She also has a blog which I think you can get to from her website.
This is supposed to be a little quilt but I am thinking about making it into a pillow. I haven't put the binding on it yet because I am still thinking about it......
I just love this stencil!!! This is the one I used for the Harvest quilt which is a 15"x 21" quilt. I hope the picture shows the quilting well enough for you to see.
Wow! It's funny what taking a picture of a work in progress can show you versus seeing it on the design wall. This is the 1 1/2'' Fall strip exchange I've been working on! :0) It is not sewn together yet, but I wanted to put it up on my design wall and see how it was coming along. It's getting there!
This is a picture of my beautiful family!! I don't often get the opportunity to take a picture of everyone altogether anymore.

Yes, we actually had some snow here in Raleigh, NC! It started on Christmas day and snowed all through the next day! We ended up with 7 1/2 inches!!

Until next time,

Happy quilting!! :0)

Moshi Pillow Gone Flat & A Christmas Gathering

2010-12-23T05:50:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! My posting is sporadic and probably will be for a while yet. This is a long post with lots of pictures just to quickly catch you up as much as I can.

The book above has a quilt in it that I am currently working on. If you have the book, the pattern I am using is called "Colors of Autumn". You can see one finished block I have done sitting next to the book.
I am using these piles of strips which are 1 1/2 inches wide. The strips are from a Fall strip exchange my group had a couple of years ago. The pattern actually calls for 2 inch strips. So I am re-working it for this project.
This is what I have done so far! It has taken me a lot longer then I thought it would to get these blocks to this point, but the end is near! I only have about 6 more sets to make and then I can put it all together!! :0)
(My pictures are backwards for how I wanted to post but OK.)

Here are 2 pillows I made last night for my younger daughter. They will go under the tree for Christmas morning. She has 3 "Moshi" pillows which she has had and slept with for many years. You can't wash these things because of the filling inside. ( They smell pretty bad now! Yuck! Not only that, they are sooo stretched out they have become thin and may tear soon which means little tiny balls all over the place) I used my Grandmothers canning funnel to pour the filling into the new pillow forms. (I made these new pillows so the covers can be removed and washed!!) :0)
Anyway! :0) She received one new Moshi pillow as a gift recently from her "Secret Santa"! My daughter decided it was finally O.K. to give me the old ones so I could get rid of them. Well I figured I won't waste the inside filling. So, I am recycling and repurposing those beads. I made her the two new pillows out of fleece. With the colors she chose, black, red and white.

Here is one really stretched out Moshi pillow and the filling from another. (She still has one she won't let me have. Yet.) :0)
A Christmas gathering!! Here are all ( almost all) of the gals in my sewing Bee! They came to my home for our Christmas get together Luncheon. I don't have as many Christmas decorations as some people but I do the best I can with what I have! ( Most years we travel to see our family which live in a different state. This year we are staying home) :0) (By the way, I am the fourth one back on the right.)

Enjoying full tummies! Everyone brings a dish of something good to eat for lunch so it's not to stressful for the hostess.
Sharing gifts! We do exchange gifts with each other.
Sharing projects. We also had show and tell.
A beautiful black and white quilt with red in it. My younger daughter would love this one! (I call her younger....She will graduate this year from High School and be off to college next Fall... Ssssheeesh!)
A sweet soft flannel baby quilt! I love this!
Christmas hour glass quilt.
The table set for my guests before they arrived! ( I told you my pictures were not in the order I wanted them to be in. Hehehe. Oh well. I am just telling you my story in a "different way")
A little quilt.

A table runner.
Beautiful pinwheels.

A signature star.
Two of the gals have been working on their friendship blocks that we exchanged a while back!
I like this one.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday that is Joyous and Filled with Love laughter and fun!

Merry Christmas everyone!! :0)

Pies, a finish, and a couple of little quilts!

2010-11-21T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well, let me tell you I have been very busy today! I have lots to show and some to tell.

Above is a little quilt top I recently finished. I had some leftover triangles from a past project and wanted a small quick something to do, so, I put them together into a "Broken Dishes" block. I am really loving the way this one turned out! :0)

I also recently put this table runner together. It's from a Primitive Pieces by Linda pattern called "Primitive sketches". I have it basted and ready to be hand quilted.
This is another very recent little quilt I did from leftover reproduction fabrics. It's also basted and ready to be hand quilted. These little quilts should take me no time at all to finish once I sit down and do them.

This one on the other hand will take me much longer! A sneak peek of the next large quilt I will be hand quilting. I just finished basting this one together. All these hand quilting projects will keep me warm and cozy as I stitch them through the winter. :0)
And yes, I have FINALLY finished hand quilting this one!! Hooray!! I have been working on this one for a very long time. It's called "Coming Home". I used all Thimbleberries fabrics in it.

Here's a close up view of the quilting I did on this one. I have put the binding on and just need to stitch it down Whoopee!!!
This little house reminds me of the home I lived in when I was living in New Hampshire! :0)
Apple Pies. Pies, pies pies and more pies!! This is what I've been working on today! I wish you could smell them. Yummy yummy. I baked three apple pies and one pumpkin. I only took a picture of the apple pies. Mr. Pumpkin is still in the oven and due out soon. I am taking advantage of the time I have left so I can blog about it. ( Or is that brag about it). It's a lot of work but they will taste oh so wonderful once we dig into them. :0)

Friendship Stars exchange

2010-11-15T04:46:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday at my quilt bee we had our friendship stars exchange. These are the blocks I received! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. I could just leave them as they are and make a small lap quilt from them. (The blocks are 9 inches square.) or I could graph out an alternative. I am always open to any suggestions. :0)
Here are all the blocks laid out on the table. We all picked up our own blocks after they were set out for everyone to see.
Here are some ladies picking out their blocks.
This is a flower memory quilt. One of our members lost a parent not long ago. Rather then sending flowers to her, we each made a flower block and then put them together as a special memory quilt for her.
This is a really neat purse made by one of our members. And below are 2 more beautiful quilts brought in for "show and tell". :0)

I am currently working with 1 1/2 inch strips in "Fall" colors. The strips are from an exchange my bee did a while back. I have finally decided what I'm going to do with them. I have made a test block which seemed to work out with some minor adjustments. So I plan to go ahead and work on making some more blocks today. (I really have been wishing that we chose to use at least 2 inch strips for the exchange.) I had to re-work the pattern I decided to use in order to make these blocks (which I hope to show you soon). It has taken me quite awhile to figure out what I was going to do with them. Hopefully this is going to work out the way I have visioned it. We shall soon see!!

Have a great Day! And happy sewing! :0)

Friendship

2010-11-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

Next week The "Sew n' sews" quilt bee that I am in will be celebrating the 12th year anniversary of when the "Bee" began! Right now we have 13 members in the group. Each member is to make 12 friendship blocks to share with each other. The friendship block above was the first one I made. Then I decided to be funny and do a second one for everyone (Just because! :0) )
Here is a close-up of the fabric I picked out for my "Just Because" block. It has honey bees and spools! :0)
Here are 3 of the blocks finished. I need to hurry up and finish them for next Wednesday. It should be a fun meeting.
These are some quilts from "Show and Tell" at my last bee meeting. Enjoy! :0)

The "New Look"

2010-08-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! I hope you are all having a great summer and staying cool. It has been extremely hot here! UGH! Too hot!!

I wanted to share some pictures of quilts from my last "Bee" meeting. We have some very talented women in our group which I am proud to be a member of. Enjoy!

The quilts from here on are all hand pieced.

The nine patch blocks below were made up of only red scraps.
The Lemoyne stars in this next quilt are only 3 3/4 inches square!!

It's been a very busy summer in my household so I have not had the chance to do any postings here on blogger until now. I hope this has made up for my slacking off over the summer! :0)

****I noticed that my blog background had disappeared and turned into an orange blob. (I have no idea why????) So I now have a new "Look"! My daughter who is going to college for a Graphic Arts major set it up for me. I hope you like it. :0)

An Apron

2010-06-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

I have had this apron pattern for about a year. I had everything I needed to make it except matching thread and buttons. I finally found some matching thread! I kept looking in the reds for a thread to match it to no avail. I finally said to myself how about in the oranges. Finally!! I found a thread color to match! The fabric looked red to me, but according to the matching of the thread it is more of a tomato soup color red/orange!! LOL
I never did purchase any buttons for the apron. I saved myself some pennies by tying a knot on either side of the neck tie after pushing it through the buttonhole! I then called it done!
I think this is so cute! I am very happy with it! :0)

A "Pin Keep"

2010-06-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I would show you something that my was my Grandmother's. I have never seen another of these anywhere. Have you ever seen this type of "Pin Keep" before? I actually don't know what it's name is so I've named it a pin keep.
If you push down on the top a single pin will pop out of the tiny hole!! I love this thingy! I remember playing with it as a child and being very fascinated by it. Where were the pins coming from? :>) I am still fascinated by it!! :0)
Here comes the pin!
O.K. o.k....... I will show you where the pins come from! You open up the top and there they are! This pin keep only works with straight pins with a small head, as you see here. All of the pins must have their "heads up" or it will not work. :0)

I just love it!! :0)
By the way. The quilt that you see the pin keep sitting on is what I'm currently working on. I 'm hand quilting it. I am very close to the end now! Just have the borders to do!! Hooray!!!
Look!! This is the newest addition to our family of cars! It is just 2 days old!! A 2010 Toyota Prius! Soooo, If you see a red Prius driving by it might just be me! Give a wave and I might just smile and wave back!!!
This is what I should be doing! Ironing!!! My husbands work shirts. Blah. Look how many!!! He just returned from a trip to Europe and brought me all his icky dirty laundry back. (Don't get me wrong, I love having my husband back home safe and sound, just not his laundry!)

See the pretty fabric hanging over the door?? That's the fabric I'm going to use for my next project. :0) Maybe I will work on that before I iron shirts.......
Oh yes! One last thing I want to share with you today! My Father gave this to me a couple of years ago. I asked him where he had gotten it and if it was my Grandmother's. He couldn't remember. I had completely forgotten about it. It's been sitting in the attic since he brought it to me. I have wiped it down using mild dish soap and water. It needs some more cleaning, but I'm afraid to rub too hard or the design may come off.

Does anyone know anything about this type of machine or how to clean it?

I was not going to do anything with it unless it looked promising. Well guess what? The needle still moves up and down! And when I plugged it in, the light and motor worked!! Now I am excited about trying to clean it up more. The question is how? My guess is this used to be a treadle machine which was turned into an electric machine. ( I would love to turn it back into a treadle machine.... I don't have the special table with the foot pedal though. ) :0)

Quilt Bee

2010-04-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

My goodness! I hadn't realized how long it's been since I updated my blog! I'm sorry I haven't had the time to visit anyone else's blog either. It has been a bit on the hectic side around here and looks like at least for the next couple of weeks it will continue to be so. I thought I would share a pictures of two quilts from my last quilt bee meeting.
This one is called boxy stars.
Here are some flowers for you!! These are on my front porch. Just a reminder that Mother's Day is soon! Remember all the fabric I showed you when I last posted?
This is what I made with them. A table runner. (I know another quick project) These are my Mother's favorite colors. Instead of sending flowers this year, I thought I would send her something home made with flowers on it! :0)

New Project

2010-04-12T14:05:00.001-07:00

I have a small project in the works. A gift for someone special! I hope to have it done soon. I can't tell you who it's for, because sometimes she checks out my blog. My fabric is all washed and freshly pressed. I just need to start cutting and sewing! :0)

New blogger with a Giveaway!

2010-04-07T16:28:00.000-07:00

One of the members of my Quilt Bee has recently started to blog. If you have a free moment go over to visit Laura and welcome her to blogland! She is having her first "Giveaway" of one of her Kangaroo Totes along with a pattern. Laura will be choosing a winner on April 15th. Don't forget to tell her that I sent you! :0)

2010-04-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Holiday! Family and friends alike!

I've been missing from blog land too long. We have been house hunting, college touring and car shopping. Not a whole lot of time left for quilting!

We are house hunting and looking for a car for daughter #1 who will be transferring to a different school next Fall. The school only seems to guarantee housing for the first and second year students, and not for transfer students. Not sure what we're going to do yet.

The College touring has been for daughter #2. We looked at 6 schools in 3 days! For those of you that have never toured colleges, It can be quite exhausting just touring one school depending on how large it is!

The "Squirrel" was a critter we spied when we were on one of the College tours! It was really fun to see it working on trying to open the jar. It was perfect timing as we were becoming a bit stressed that day. I'm not sure that it really needs any more peanut butter. It looks pretty round in the tummy already!!
When I have had some free time I've been working on finishing Mr. Hockey Man. As you can see I have had plenty of help doing it. :0)

Mr. Hockey man has taken a long time for me to finish. I can't tell you how many times I had to change threads for this quilt!!! Hubby had better really appreciate this one! I just have to finish sewing the binding down, put a label on him and then I can call it finished!
Have a great day! :0)

March Madness Giveaway winnings!

2010-03-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after returning home from my daughter's piano lessons this is what awaited us at the front door! I couldn't believe everything came at once! My daughter said it was like Christmas. The only difference being that its all for you, Mom! LOL! I had ordered some books and fabric recently. But, The biggest box was a Huge Surprise!!!! Back on February 19th I had visited Elaine (Faithful Quilter: Elaine's Journey) to thank her for visiting my blog and made the general comment that she seemed to have some similar interests. I wasn't actually entering the giveaway she was having.
But, apparently I was added to the list of entrants!! :0) (Thank-you Elaine!) It was a March Madness Giveaway!! On March 15th I found out that I had won. My husband said, "I think you won something!" I said "No it must be Junk mail, but leave it and I will look later when you are done on the computer." I am soooo happy that I didn't have him delete the message!!
Look at this lovely array of packages that were in the surprise box! Surprise box, because Elaine never said what she was giving away!! They are all so wonderfully wrapped!! I didn't want to open them.... Yes I did!!! :0)
WOW WE!!!!! This is what Elaine sent me!! I wish I could give you a hug Elaine and Thank-you in person!!!!! I never expected such wonderful gifts!!! I love to read! I haven't read "Tumbling Blocks" yet but look forward to doing so! I had heard about the "Antique magazine but had not seen it out yet! I'm so excited!! Elaine, how can I thank-you!! A puzzle with sunflowers on it! When my daughter saw that she said, "Mom, you love puzzles and sunflowers! How cool!" A bottle of "Sew Soft" moisturizing lotion, a needle threader, thread conditioner, needles, a pattern, 5" block sampler of fabrics from "Summer's Basket of Flowers" (beautiful), specialty chocolates (which I made quite clear, my daughter was not to touch!! LOL), and a French General sewing kit!. Elaine!! You over did yourself!! I love, love love everything!!!! Thank-you ever so much!!!!!!! :0)

Table Runner

2010-03-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

Here is the table runner I made as a house warming gift. It was quick and easy. I let the fabric do the work since I was short on time to get it finished before we went to our friends new home. She seemed very pleased with it. :0)
Here is a close up of how I machine quilted this one.
And here is the back.
This is what we had for dinner. Chicken Bryan. It was very good. (See the table cloth and the colors in it? I think I matched the table runner fabric fairly well to what she has going on in her home! Hooray!)
Surprise!! This beauty is two hexagon blocks hand pieced by a special friend of mine! She said she was really enjoying the part of picking out fabrics for it. :0)

House warming gift

2010-03-12T09:42:00.000-08:00

My husband and I have been invited to dinner this Sunday. Some friends of ours have recently moved into a new home and we are to be their first dinner guests. I wanted to bring something special with me as a house warming gift. I cut the fabrics out this morning for a table runner that I hope to have finished before we go. Because I'm short on time, I choose a simple pattern that can be done on the machine but still look good. My husband and I have been helping them paint and move in. Which was helpful for knowing what color choices to pick for the table runner. Best of all I went shopping for the fabric in my very own stash!!! I had everything I will need for this particular project! :0)

Teaching

2010-03-09T07:00:00.001-08:00

I've been asked by my local quilt shop to teach "Hand piecing" as well as "Hand Quilting"! I was very surprised!! I have never taught a quilting class before! After giving it some thought I decided to do it. If I can teach my daughters I can teach others! Nothing ventured nothing gained. :0) Here is a sneak peek of my class sample. It's not very big at all. This is a beginner class so I don't want to over whelm my students. I almost have it finished. It will be displayed at the quilt shop as the class sample. The shop owner wanted me to use her fabrics for the class. A kit will be offered for the class using these same fabrics. I'm getting excited, and looking forward to this new adventure! :0)

Raspberry Coffee Cake!

2010-03-04T07:36:00.000-08:00

My daughter is home from college this week on her Spring Break. I've been trying to spend as much time with her as I can before she goes back to school. One of her favorite breakfast treats is this Raspberry coffee cake which I made this morning! I have added the glaze to it today but it is very good without the glaze also! I will share the recipe with you. (Kim B., I think this might be an excellent recipe for you! :0) )
Here it is before I put the glaze on. This is a low calorie and low fat recipe!

Raspberry Coffee Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 cup unsweetened raspberries (I have only used fresh but you can use frozen; if using frozen do not thaw)

1 Tbsp. sliced almonds

Glaze

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1 tsp nonfat milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. Combine the egg, yogurt, butter, and vanilla; add this to your dry ingredients just until moistened.

3. Spoon two-thirds of the batter into an 8 inch round baking pan ( a pie or cake pan works great for this) coated with a non-stick cooking spray ( or crisco if you don't have spray).

4. Combine the brown sugar and the raspberries; sprinkle over batter.

5. Spoon the remaining batter over the top.. (It won't cover completely, which is OK).

6. Sprinkle with almonds.

7. Bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched and is golden brown.

8. Cool for 10 minutes before removing cake from the pan to a wire rack. ( I usually keep mine in the pan )

9. In a small bowl, combine the glaze ingredients.

10. Drizzle over the coffee cake.

11. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does! :0)

Giveaway Winner!

2010-02-22T12:49:00.000-08:00

Today is the day!! My daughter picked a name from a basket of 103 participants who entered into the giveaway!!! I am overwhelmed by the response to this giveaway! I thought I might have 20 to 25 entries. Not 103! Thank-you to everyone who left such wonderful messages of congratulations for my one year Blog Anniversary!!
The answer to what you have all been waiting to see....... Wendy from "Snippets of a Quilter" is the winner! Congratulations Wendy! Wendy as soon as you let me know where to send these goodies they will be on there way. :0)

Winner of the giveaway!

2010-02-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

My Blog "Anniversary" Giveaway!!

2010-02-17T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hello my dear friends! It's time to celebrate my one year blogging Anniversary! I have finally picked out some things I would like to share with someone special. There is a pair of quilters gloves by Nancy Odom. I love these gloves! I find that they are very helpful if you do your own machine quilting like I mostly do. There is also a group of 35 Jo Morton 5" squares in a variety of fabrics, 3 Jo Morton fat quarters, and last but not least, a yummy Milka chocolate bar!!!

I never realized how difficult it was to pick out things for a giveaway! I tried to pick out items that I like and I hope you will enjoy also!

If you want to enter my giveaway, please leave a comment and a way I can reach you by e-mail if you are a no-blogger. I will have my daughter pick a winner on Monday afternoon, February 22.

Good Luck to everyone! :0)

The Three Little Spools or klosjes

2010-02-15T07:11:00.000-08:00

I saw these little spools over on Valentina's blog. (check out her Feb. 6th blog post) As soon as I saw them I said to myself, "OK, drop everything. I've gotta try making one of those!" I was going to use these Jo Morton scraps to make a basket quilt, but I couldn't resist these cuties!! The first one I tried making turned out looking too much like a bowtie. The second one I made just didn't seem right. The third time around was just right!! So far I've only made two. Valentina wants to make 500!! I haven't decided how many I will make yet. I am sewing these by hand.
The little spool measures about 3 inches unfinished and about 2 1/2 inches finished.
I just realized that this month is my 1 year blog anniversary! How about that. Time does fly sometimes. I think I will have a giveaway of sorts in the very near future. But, first I want to take a survey. I would like to know what sort of giveaways have been your favorites?? What sorts of things do you like to win?? Fat quarters, patterns, scrap bags, tools of the trade, chocolate? Handmade items? Maybe a combination of goodies? Or maybe a secret bag of something???? If I haven't thought of something that you might like let me know.
Here is my Jo Morton apple core project. I am still working on it. When I'm not working on something else. :0)

Pinning

2010-02-11T14:17:00.001-08:00

I finished appliqueing Mr. Hockey man onto the top of the quilt! I spent all day yesterday getting the back ready and then sandwiching the quilt together with pins. I don't mind telling you that my fingers were a bit sore by the time I was done. But that's O.K., because I'm another step closer to having him done! :0)
Here he is! Laying on the kitchen table, all pinned and ready to be quilted! I hope my quilting will be straighter then my pinning lines!! LOL!!
Hey, look at that! If you look in the background of this picture you will see another project I have been working on. Yes, I do have more than one project going on at a time. Don't you? :0)

Hot Chocolate!

2010-01-30T12:32:00.000-08:00

Hot Chocolate! Yum!! To warm me up. I just came inside from making an attempt at shoveling the snow out of my driveway. It is not the nice fluffy stuff, nor is it the kind of snow you can make a snowman with. It just crumbles or is a heavy icy chunk! We had 5 3/4" of snow and then sleet and I think it is going to freeze into a solid ice block. I like snow but not this kind! Snow is rare here in North Carolina.

Here is a picture of my home. As you can see the sky is still thick with dark clouds. I took this picture about 2:30 in the afternoon. Our street has not been plowed. North Carolina rarely has snow. They do try to plow the main roads but the back streets may never get plowed. The Southerners philosophy is "It will be all gone by tomorrow, so why bother". I personally don't think this will be gone by tomorrow this time. It is supposed to get down into the teens tonight. And if any melting takes place it will refreeze at night.
So I have come in from shoveling and taking a walk. Had some hot chocolate and I'm now ready to get back to work.
This is "Roxanne's glue baste it". It has been very helpful with this large applique piece I am working on. It doesn't take much to just hold this hockey guy in place so I can sew it down. I've used it before. It just dissolves away once you wash the quilt.
Here is my hockey man! As you can see I am about half way with the final applique piece. Carrie over at "A Passion for Applique" has some great tutorials on applique! I found the one she calls "Freezer Paper Points" to be extremely helpful especially with my hockey guy. It showed how she uses magic sizing to hold and press the edges into the perfect shape before sewing it down. Carrie has links to her tutorials on her right side bar. :o)

My husband just went outside. He says the roads are now a sheet of ICE. I think I will just keep on working on my Hockey guy for the rest of the evening.

An Unscheduled Blog Break

2010-01-18T06:42:00.000-08:00

I have been taking an unscheduled break from blogging. I haven't had much time for sewing, blogging or even "Me" time. Between Holiday preparations, obligatory traveling to visit relatives and friends, having children home on holiday school break and catching up on Doctor appointments and now half days of school and sharing my computer. Phew! I have had no time or even opportunity to blog. My apologies to all whom I have not gotten back to yet. I am also trying to catch up on my e-mails. But, most importantly, I have enjoyed every minute of being with all my friends and family!! :o)

Thank-you to my "well wishers"!! and those who sent Christmas blessings! I am hoping all of you also had a wonderful holiday season and will have a great New Year!! Enough said.

OK. I started a new project back in September. It is a Hockey quilt for my husband. I thought I was going to be able to have it finished by Christmas. Hahahahah. No such luck. (Maybe I'll have it done by July for his birthday).

This pattern has been very challenging for me. As my High School "Junior" year daughter said to me; "Mom, this is your AP course in quilting!!!" I had to laugh!! Yes indeed this is most definitely my AP course in quilting. Tee hee. :0) This pattern seems to have a little of everything in it. Oh Boy! What have I gotten myself into!

I have had this pattern for about two years. I was searching for the right fabrics all this time. I didn't want this quilt to seem too immature. I wanted it to have a more masculine feel to it.

The instructions are not very clear. I have had to take apart and put back together more times then I care to remember. Measure once cut twice. Wrong color choice. Not matching up properly. Paper piecing, Applique.
I am doing this for my Husband! I can do this this. ;o)

This is the right leg of the hockey player. It took me over 3 hours just to do one leg! I still have another leg, the body, the head and the arms to do. That will probably be at least another 12 hours of work to do on this "Special " quilt for my Dear Hubby. Between cutting and sewing, and most definitely measuring twice! I do not want to do this part twice! This is the last major part of the quilt then I just need to add the border. (I am determined to measure that properly this time also!!!!)
As you can see I have started the Left leg here.
This is the full image of the "Hockey Player" that I am Appliqueing by hand each and every single little piece. I decided that if I had already put this much time and effort into this quilt, that I was not going to take a chance and use fusible material that may end up dissolving and no longer adhere in a couple of years!!
I have the quilt top all finished except for the borders and the applique part. It's getting there!!! :o)

Cathspennies is having a giveaway!

2009-12-12T07:35:00.000-08:00

I was just visiting cathspennies which is a wonderful little blog. She is having the sweetest giveaway! I shouldn't be spreading the word because I really like this little pillow! But I thought I would share it with you. Happy Holidays!!

Hamburger-Vegetable Soup

2009-12-10T15:00:00.001-08:00

MMMMmmmm!!!! I smell it cooking right now!

I forgot to take something out for dinner tonight. Ooops! Oh, what to do, what to do??? Aha!! I have some frozen hamburger in the freezer!! Now I know what to do for dinner. Whenever I get myself into a dinner pinch this usually does the trick! I will make some Hamburger-Vegetable Soup! It's cold outside tonight anyway! Perfect! Here is the recipe that goes pretty quick. And if your like me, you almost always have the ingredients on hand!

Hamburger-Vegetable Soup

1-1 1/2 pounds hamburger

3-4 cups of water

3 medium carrots, chopped (about 1 cup or more if you like carrots)

2 medium stalks celery, chopped (about 1 cup or more if you like)

1 large potato, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 1 cup or more if you like)

2 medium onions, chopped (about 1 cup or more if you like)

1-2 teaspoon salt

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 can (14.5 ounce) Diced tomatoes with the liquid! ( or 2 cans if you like)(or a 28 oz. can will do)

Cook and stir hamburger in Dutch oven until light brown; drain. Stir in remaining ingredients; Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer just until vegetables are tender, about 20 to 30 minutes. (Depending on how small you chopped your vegies!)

Serves about 6, but in my household any leftover soup keeps for lunch the next day!

As you can see you can vary this recipe to your liking or to what you have in the fridge! Works for me and my family! I hope it works for yours. Enjoy! :o)

Jo Morton Club meeting

2009-12-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

Today was Jo Club Day! I have lots to share with everyone. This is an apple core tablemat. finished with the blanket stitch. Very cute!
Here is a gorgeous log cabin and houses. Each house has a different block inside of it. Nice warm colors were used. I was sorry I couldn't get a full length photo of this quilt.
Here is a Figgy pudding Christmas stitchery. This is really adorable!
Here is an up close shot of one the the stitcheries. A "sweet" gingerbread house. :o)
Some really fun Tea towels! I just love these!
A partridge in a Pair tree!
These were really cute! They are wool hooked rugs.

A Signature block quilt top from Jo Morton pattern.
Another Apple core table topper. This one has ric rac around the edges of the apple cores. Such a creative finish! Really neat!
Here's a close up of the ric rac. As you can see there is also a bit of blanket stitching in this one! Really nice!
I had a totally unexpected surprise today! While at the Jo meeting I received a special package from one of the members. Guess who it was from! Mary! From over at Quilt Hollow!!
There was a yummy candy cane ornament. A very cute handmade little zipper pouch out of fabric with sewing essentials on it!! :o)
Inside the pouch was a Mary Englebreit package with all sorts of needles in it. I can always put those to good use! As well as some thread! Oh yes, a package of cinnamon spice tea. Yum! I will definitely enjoy this as I am a tea drinker.

Thank-you Mary!! You are so sweet. I had no idea that I would be a recipient of one of your wonderful gifts! Let the Christmas Joy begin! :o)

Yesterday was Quilt Bee Day!

2009-12-03T10:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my quilt bee meeting! Time to share some "show n' tell". Here is a cute little Christmas tree. I don't know if you can see them or not but there are tiny red buttons on the tree so ornaments can be hung.
I thought this fabric was really cute. It's the back of the next quilt.
A fun Kim Diehl quilt. (And yes Mary, that is a tuffet!)
A Tinker bell apron which is reversible. Shhh!! It's a Christmas gift for someone special!
Look!! Tuffets!! Aren't they fun?!! I think they look great! :o)
Here is a beautiful Cathedral Stars quilt which is from a Bonnie Hunter pattern.

Hope you enjoyed the show! :0)

Half square triangles

2009-12-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

I am currently working on a project which has half square triangles in it. Of course I loaded the pictures in reverse! LOL
I was trying a new product being passed around as a trial.
It's called "Stitching Lines" by Marin & Colusa. Here is there website. www.marinandcolusa.com if you are interested.
Usually I just draw a straight line from corner to corner and then sew a quarter inch away from each side. I then take my rotary cutter and cut the triangles apart on the line that I drew. With this product you lay the "Stitching Lines" paper over the diagonal where you would normally draw the line. You then proceed to sew your quarter inch away from the marked line, then cut as normal.. It just saves you from having to draw the line.
If you are confused, just start by looking at my last picture first! Like I said at the beginning of this post, I put my pictures in reverse order! Ooops. LOL

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Wednesday's Bee meeting

2009-11-22T06:11:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was my quilt bee meeting. I remembered to take some pictures of Show and Tell to share with you!
These first four little quilts will be donated to a charity.

A beautiful star quilt. The picture doesn't do anything for it, but up close and personal it is really neat. Check out the corners of the outer border!
Here is another beauty! I really liked this one. Lots of triangles! Again check out the border on this one.
A Christmas table runner. I believe she said it was made from some left over blocks from a previous project. Very cute!
Ohhhh!! This is one gorgeous block! I really like this one. This bear paw is a hand pieced block. There will be more of these in the future. I would like to do this one! For some unknown reason I have been wanting to do a bear paw quilt for the longest time. For one reason or another I just have never gotten around to doing it yet!! One day! :0)
Another gorgeous hand pieced block! This is only one block of about 12 that she brought in to show. This one came from a Fons and Porter magazine. An article about an old quilt which didn't have a pattern for it. She just drew up her own pattern and "Wha-La". A replica of an old quilt!!!! All for herself!!

I am going to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving now, because I may not have a chance to check on blogs during family time. I am very thankful for all the new and special friends I have met since I started this blog! I never knew there were so many wonderful friendly people out there sharing a common hobby, until I started blogging!! I am also very thankful to have friends and family who have stayed by my side through many hardships in my life. The good as well as the bad.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my very special friends, both new and old, and all of my loving family!!!!! :0) (0:

Jo Morton club meeting

2009-11-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

I have been having problems with trying to connect to the internet and staying connected! Ugh! Otherwise I would have posted this sooner! Hopefully that has been straightened out. This past Tuesday was Jo Club Meeting. I thought I would show some pictures of what was shared at the meeting. This is an "Apple Core" quilt which was hand pieced and hand quilted.
A signature block which was finished as a pillow covering! I hadn't thought about doing that.
A very pretty two color quilt.
And an awesome Cake stand baskets.

Two Inch Strips and a Jo

2009-11-08T07:31:00.000-08:00

I had a box full of 2 inch strips which was over flowing. They are all from leftover projects or of that last bit of a fat quarter or yardage. I felt the need to thin out the box, and use the strips for something. I got the itch! To try something new.
Here is my box of 2 inch strips. I put them all together and made a huge ball of material. You can see a small version of the ball when I first started the project. I wanted to see if I was going to be comfortable with crocheting fabric. I was just fine with it. It was a bit awkward when I first started, but I soon got the knack for it.
I made a rag rug using the pattern. "Get Hooked" designed by Ann Lauer. (www.grizzlygulchgallery.com) Pretty cool Huh? And I was recycling those leftovers! Yahoo!
I put it here for now, in front of the fireplace. I had intended on putting it in front of the guest bed, but my kitties seem to really like it where it is. When I turn the gas fireplace on there is always a least one of them on it. Getting warmed up! LOL :0)
Here is the Jo Morton top all finished. I had shown it to you when it was still in rows and not sewn together. My next Jo meeting is this coming Tuesday. I'm ready! :0)

A Finish!

2009-11-03T05:14:00.000-08:00

This is a web Sampler I did a few years back. Of course, my kitty wanted to be in the picture to I see! It's been sitting in my closet with the top finished for a while. I've been trying to get some of my unfinished projects completed. With the help of Mary from over at Quilt Hollow blogspot I am beginning to put a dent in my closet!
Here is a close-up of some of Mary's wonderful quilting! Uh, I'm so happy this is done!
The fabric I used in this quilt was from a Jo Morton line called Coventry.
And the back of the quilt. I just love it! Mary did a superb job!
The patterns for the quilt blocks are I believe designed by Paula Barnes Her blocks look complex, which is something I really like, but are really easy to put together! :0)

Mail Call!!

2009-10-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

Today is the day that my 5" charm squares arrived! This is so exciting! This is the first swap that I've had a return on so far from blogland! I had participated in a Jo Morton fabric swap back in September. Dawn over at Spring Water Designs was holding this swap.
She sent me a nice card with hearts on it, along with the 5" charms.
I had sent her 13 sets of 8 blocks each of different fabrics. That means I should have 104 different charm squares if there were no repeated fabrics! WOW!
Dawn asked me in her note to share what I intend to do with them. Well here is what I have in mind.
I've already got a few started. :0) I would like to use them for this "Apple Core" charm quilt by Cindy Blackberg. She uses a stamp to mark the design onto her fabric! I thought that was kinda neat and had never heard of using stamps before. So I thought I would give it a try. This is a hand piecing project. A Good project to work on in the carpool line while waiting for my daughter to get out of school!! :0) If I have any charms left I will use them in one of Jo Mortons tiny basket quilts. I just love baskets!! Actually, I might just pick out a few of my favorite charms right now for either the "Betsy's Baskets" or the "Beth's Baskets" pattern! :0)

Jo Morton quilt

2009-10-26T06:21:00.001-07:00

Now what am I up to?! I joined a Jo Morton club. Which I've never done before. At a shop in Apex, NC. We've had two meetings so far. The project the club and I are working on currently is called "Kindred Spirits". It's the signature block quilt in Jo Morton's newest book called "Vintage Journey". The signature blocks are done and I brought them into the club meeting to be signed last Tuesday. I believe that there are supposed to be 12 people in this club. Only about 6 showed up. Hopefully the rest will show up for the next meeting, so they can then sign the blocks.
You would think by now that I would have figured out what pictures blogger puts up and in what order. Shesh. The above photo is of my scare crow wall hanging which I did a couple of years back. I actually hand quilted him. He is one of my all time favorites!
This is how far I've gotten with the signature quilt so far. I spent just about all day in my sewing room yesterday. The blocks are all finished. I just need to sew them all together now. I'm trying to decide whether to go with the blue border or the green one. What do you think? If you click on the photo it should enlarge so you can get a better viewing of it. I have a pile of laundry waiting, as well as some other chores to get to, but it will just have to continue to wait! I want to get a couple of those rows put together first. :0)

I'm Back!!!!!

2009-10-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh! Paradise!! :0) (0: My Husband and I had a wonderful trip for our 25th anniversary!! I actually would not have minded staying longer!! Once we got home reality came back all too quickly along with responsibility.

We stayed on the island of Kauai. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!! We have so many pictures, that it was not easy to choose which to post. I may just have to post a few more in the future. The first picture was taken from a hiking trail. It is of the Kalalau Valley.
Kauai is known for its chickens. They are everywhere!! In parking lots, on the golf course on the beach, along the roadways.... You name it they are there! They are well fed and very healthy looking birds for being wild. Very colorful! The story goes that after a hurricane hit the island sometime in the 1950's they got loose and were never corralled. There is a law that states the chickens must not be harmed in any way! LOL!! Hence they are everywhere!! We had a pair just outside our hotel window. At 3:45 am was our wake-up crow! Yes, Mr. Rooster would wake us every morning. Ah well, great way to start your day, before sunrise!
Of course we had to do the mandatory helicopter tour of the island! We had a beautiful day for it! My husband and I sat right up front!! There were 6 passengers plus the pilot. Oh, there are no words to describe how beautiful the island was from that angle. Actually any angle we looked at was just simply awesome!!!
This is the hotel and pool where we stayed. Just looking at it makes me want to go back, or better yet still be there! ( Although we did have a Tsunami warning on our first day which was a bit unnerving to say the very least!!!!)
This is the view from the hotel! Mountains and ocean! Where else in the world can you see that???!!!

My parents graciously took care of my home front while we were away. They stayed on an extra week after we arrived back. Thank-you Mom and Dad from the bottom of my heart!!! This was the first trip my husband and I have made together, alone, since before we had children! Almost 20 years ago!

Since we have arrived home, my daughter #1 came home for her Fall break from college last weekend. It was so great to see her! Even though it was a short visit.

And daughter #2 has been keeping me hopping since our return! She is in a club band jam called "Double Negative". This is new for both her and I. She plays the piano/keyboard. Her first ever live performance was this past Friday night! I am so proud of her! For only about 3 or 4 times has this group gotten all together with the teacher to practice. There are 6 students. They played two songs and did really well! You go girl!! Her 17th birthday was this past Friday also! Happy Birthday!!! Yesterday we went on a school field trip to the "Carolina Tiger Rescue" in Pittsboro, NC. OMG! If you love cats this is a really neat place to go. I can't get over how close up you can get. Whenever we have been to the zoo you can see them to, but usually at quite a distance away. They had Servals, Tigers, and goodness, I think about 6 or 7 other types of wild cats. The stories of how they arrived at the rescue center are almost non-believable and often heart wrenching. I hope to go back again sometime soon. It was well worth it! This is a rescue facility I will gladly donate to.

Until next time!

ALOHA!!!!!!!!! :o) (o:

Here it is!!

2009-09-24T06:13:00.001-07:00

Here it is! The Judie Rothermel Web Sampler! I think I have kept the suspense long enough!!!! :0) I know many of you have been waiting to see this. The fabric line was called "Vicksburg". This is the quilt that Mary over at Quilt Hollow quilted for me! I think you may have to click on the pictures to see it better. I do my best, but I am not a very good photographer.
I had my hubbie and daughter hold up the quilt for this shot. I have the binding on, but still need to hand sew it down. That will be tonight's TV time project. That is, if my parents don't arrive tonight. They are arriving either tonight or tomorrow morning. While my husband and I are away in Hawaii my parents will housesit. It makes a nice get away for them also. :0)
This one I took after laying it on the floor. How do you take full length pictures of large quilts? What seems to be the best way to do that?

For those of you who are Jo Morton enthusiasts, there is a 5' charm swap going on!! I want to do this, but the timing may not be the best. Hmmm, I have some siggie blocks to do as well as visiting some blogs, packing, can I get these cut also? Anyway it is over at Dawn's blog called Spring Water Designs. Go check it out!!
Ah! A sneak peek of our Anniversary dinner! :0)

25th Wedding Anniversary and Jo Morton Club. All in one day!

2009-09-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

25 years ago today I was a bride. My husband and I are celebrating 25 years of marriage! This morning my husband couldn't wait until I left the house. He kept saying "when are you leaving", "shouldn't you have left by now". Well when I came home, there was a message on the answer machine. It said go look out on the front porch. On the door knob was a card, and out on the front porch was the biggest flower arrangement I have every received! It is really heavy with long stem red roses. :0) 25 red roses!! For 25 years of marriage!

This is the card that came with it. I'm blushing!! I was told that I will be going out to dine this evening and that I should put a nice dress on!! This Sunday my husband and I will leave for Hawaii. It will be the first trip we have made with just the 2 of us since before we had children. I am very excited about going!!! Who wouldn't be? :0)
Another reason to be excited today!! My reason for leaving this morning was to go to a fairly local quilt shop called Plain and Simple Quilt Shop. Its a wonderful little store that I've recently discovered. I had signed up to join a Jo Morton club. Guess who is also in the club? Mary from Quilt Hollow!!!! What a neat lady she is. I was really happy to finally meet her! We've been commenting on each others blogs for almost a year now. She took a lot of great pictures from the show and tell time. If you go visit her blog you will see all the wonderful quilts that she took pictures of! (I need to start remembering to take more pictures.)

Mary brought my quilt with her. I had asked her to quilt a Judie Rothermel quilt, which I had blogged about in the past. I want to put the binding on it before I show it to ya'll! Mary did a superb job on it!!! Thank-you Mary!! :0) (0: I look forward to our next meeting!!

Now I must go get myself ready. I'm dinning out tonight! :0)

Random acts of Kindness

2009-09-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

Most quilters I've met seem to have such good hearts. Always thinking of others and trying there best to make everyone around them feel loved. They are often like the quilts they make. Warm and generous, they wrap around you in friendship and generosity. The above churn dash block is a random act of kindness. It will join blocks made by others who have opened there hearts to spread love to one in need. :0)
Look who came to visit!! My family and I have named this white deer "Abbey". She is with her Mother and a new younger sibling. I wonder if there will every be another white sister or brother one day.
Yesterday was my quilt bee meeting. This is a quilt one of the ladies brought to share with the group. It was made from blocks abandoned by another quilter from various projects. The receiver of the blocks thought since they were all in the same color family, why not make one quilt with them all! I think she did a great job!
And last but not least!! Ugh!! I Finally, finished the round robin!!!! I am so happy to finally finish this one!!! Ah! It has taken me what seems like forever. I know you all are probably saying it's about time. Now we don't have to see that one anymore. I know I am! LOL!! :0) (0:

Humming Along!

2009-09-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

I've been working on machine quilting the round robin quilt. I'm about half way as of today. I can only do a limited amount of sewing in one sitting due to a past shoulder injury. After about 2 bobbins worth of sewing I need to get up and do some stretching and special exercises that I am supposed to do daily with my arms. I'm slow but I do finish things eventually, although I would much rather keep zooming along and get things finished quicker. :0)
Here are some pillowcases I made over the weekend. I made them for daughter #1, who is away at college. I'm hoping they will go with the quilt she made for her dorm room. I find

purples/lavenders a difficult color to match with, unless you have a swatch of color in your hand. Red on the other hand seems to be one of the easiest. What do you think?

Making A Quilt Sandwich With Bunnies On The Side

2009-09-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

I have finally gotten around to making a sandwich out of the 2 Round Robin tops. I decided to baste them together as a reversible quilt, rather then having 2 quilts which were very similar. They are basted and ready to be quilted! I'm not going to take the time to hand quilt this one. It's more of a casual throw type quilt. Might just be the right one to put on my sofa to cuddle with! :0). I hope to start working on it tomorrow. My fingers are a bit sore from pin basting all afternoon. May have to rub some good old fashioned "Bag Balm" on them later. This is the round robin project that I was working on in my "quilting Bee" earlier in the year. I had done several posts on them as they were going around my group.

BUNNIES!! I have been working on the Bunny Hill blocks on the side. I've almost got 4 of them finished. I have a few more things to add to the chocolate bunny then I can move onto #5. I'm only 4 months behind now. Half way there!!!

Now that school has started, I've finally gotten myself caught up on "Stuff " that had to be done around the house. Maybe I can sneak off to my quilting room more often! :0) (0:

Move In Day

2009-08-26T05:52:00.000-07:00

Isn't this an odd picture? It has nothing to do with quilting! I've been helping my daughter pack, and then unpack! Sunday was move-in day at my daughter's college this past weekend. I thought I would show you her dorm room and facilities. She has a suite. There are 2 rooms, with a bathroom in between. 4 girls will share this bathroom.
Not exactly the prettiest! But it works. The building was built in the early 1960's. I don't think it has been updated since it was built.
Here is the room looking from the doorway in. My daughter decided to leave her bed in the loft position so she can have her desk underneath. This will give her and her room-mate better access to the closets. I took this picture while we were still putting stuff away. It was very hot!! It was a good thing we brought some fans! No air conditioning here. I was very happy that it wasn't raining like it was supposed to be! Can you imagine how messy that would have been? I had bagged everything just in case.

Here is a picture looking towards the hallway. This is a co-ed dorm. In the hallway where my daughter is, there are 12 rooms. 6 on each side of the hall. Her suite faces the only suite in this hallway that has boys in it. The rest of the hallway is all girls! I'm thinking that this shall be a very interesting experience for the girls. And for the boys!!

Yesterday was the first day of school for daughter #2. She is a Junior in High School. Today is going to be weird. It's the first day that the school district is trying this new thing. They are dismissing all students one hour early on all Wednesday's. That is except for 6. Those 6 days the students are to get out even earlier!

Hopefully, now that school has started and we are getting back into a schedule of some sort, I will have more time to visit my "sewing room"!!! :0)

Give away

2009-08-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

Karen over at Sew many ways is having a giveaway! 4 1/2" squares from a variety of Thimbleberry prints. Go check it out!

Two Finished Tops

2009-08-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do a "Show and Tell" today. These are two quilt tops that I have recently finished. Recently meaning within the last 2 years! LOL !!! Both of these tops I did from "Web Samplers". The one on the top is from 2008. It's done in the Vicksburg Collection of fabrics by Judie Rothermel. The pattern was designed by Bonnie Blue quilts. The size of it is 75 x 93.
This next one is from the Jo Morton fabric line called Coventry and is also designed by Bonnie Blue Quilts. This is from 2007. It's size is 94 x77.

I really enjoyed using the Bonnie Blue patterns. They are written very well! I am not sure how to quilt them as yet. I'm considering the possibility of hand quilting the Jo Morton and having the Judie Rothermel machine quilted. But I haven't decided yet for sure. Maybe I will have both of them machine quilted, just to get them done.

On the home front, I feel like my house is in a revolving door! With all the "comings and goings" going on. Phew! That's O.K. we will all be back on some semblance of a schedule soon enough! School starts August 24th for daughter #1 and August 25th for daughter #2. We've been busy packing for my college bound daughter. We will drive her up to school on the 23rd and move her into her dorm for the school year. I've also been School shopping for both of my daughters and bringing my husband back and forth to the airport as needed for his work related trips.

Happy Summer! :0)

Shopping Spree!

2009-08-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went on a shopping spree! I went for the first time to a quilt shop called Plain and Simple! It was a shop that many fellow quilters said was a "must see". Wow, is all I can say! It really was a cute and inviting shop! As you can see it is a house turned into a shop. So so cute!
I want to go back again today! But, of course I won't. It only took me about 45 minutes to get there, which really surprised me. I thought it was a bit further. It helps that they recently finished an extension of new highway which is very close to the shop. Horray! I finally got to go! I have been wanting to go to this shop for quite awhile!
Now for you to see all my new goodies! I haven't shopped in a quilt shop for almost a year. Except for maybe thread. Our local shop had changed owners. The new owner had changed styles of fabric to things I was not interested in. I no longer got warm fuzzies there.
At the suggestion of the cashier, I purchased the punch key ring. As you can see it was punched almost 1/2 way! This is punched as to how much you spend. Once you fill it up you get $10. off your purchase. The keyring then goes into a basket for a monthly drawing. If you win, you receive a gift from the shop. Since the keyring was filled to half way, I think it was worth it. I am almost positive it will be filled the next time I go on a shopping spree there!!
Cheers!!

Signature Block Swap

2009-08-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

I finished my signature blocks for the online swap. They are all signed and ready to be placed into an envelope and mailed to melissa. They aren't really due until sometime late in November. I actually had some time today and decided to get them finished so now I can move on to something else and not have that looming over me. I prefer not to be a procrastinator. So, sometime this week they will be brought to the post office and then be on there way. :0)

How do you sign your blocks? Do you use a stabilizer on the back? Or do you use freezer paper? I used a piece of very fine sandpaper that I had glued to a piece of cardboard so the sandpaper wouldn't curl up. That way I could quickly write my signature and move on to the next block. The sandpaper did a great job of holding the fabric block still without shifting around.

I am really excited about seeing everyone else's blocks arrive in my mailbox. I think I will have to wait until maybe December before they will arrive. Plenty of time to try and finish some of my other pending projects!

Happy Quilting!! ;0)

Mail Call!!

2009-08-01T11:23:00.001-07:00

Look what came in the mail! A brown manila package with my name on it! Hmmmm. What could it possibly be. :0)
Boy, whoever sent it, did a really good job with the tape. Must be something really neat inside!
Ta Da! Whoa HOo! It's from Mary over at Quilt Hollow! It is from the surprise giveaway that she had! Thank-you Mary! It is a small kit from Thimbleberries called Watermelon Vine! Directions for a small quilt, and all the fabric necessary to complete the top! Mary also sent me some information on her Longarm Quilting business. If you really enjoy piecing your quilts, but for what ever reason don't quilt your projects, then Mary is your gal! :0)

Town Hall Meeting With President Barack Obama!

2009-07-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

I don't normally talk or even blog about politic stuff, but I have to tell about this. My husband was looking at our local online news, and saw that Obama was coming to Raleigh NC. He then saw a link to where you could apply for tickets to possibly see him. He applied. We got a phone call saying you are one of 800 people who will recieve 2 tickets to go to the Town Hall meeting!! We couldn't believe it!!
So, yesterday we went to see the President of the good ole' USA!!!!! We stood in line to get a security check for 2 hours.
The meeting was held here at Broughton High School.
My husband showing his ticket near the end of the line. Can you tell he was tired of waiting just to get in.
Here is security check-in. We were told we could bring a camera and our cell phone. No bags! But here you see a bag! No wonder it took 2 hours!!
Look here he is!! I still can't believe that we actually went!!!!

Signature Blocks

2009-07-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

I was working on my signature blocks today. I have gotten 28 of them done so far.

As I was working on them, I kept thinking to myself, boy I must be starting to get hot flashes, I am really sweating here. Then my daughter comes into my sewing room and says to me, boy it is really hot in here! (To myself, I thought I can't radiate that much heat can I? LOL) Come to find out our air-conditioner unit was on the fritz! It was up to 84F in my sewing room. We had a repair person come out and replace the unit. So needless to say, I didn't get any more blocks done.
I won a surprise "Giveaway"!!! Mary over at Quilt Hollow had pulled my name out of her surprise giveaway drawing. I won a Watermelon Thimbleberry kit! Thank-You Mary!!!

My first online swap!

2009-07-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it! I signed up for my first ever online block swap. Melissa, over at cornbreadandbeansquilting.wordpress.com , has initiated a civil war fabric signature block swap. The swap had soooo much interest that she has already had to close her sign-up list! But, I made the list! Someone else dropped out and Melissa graciously snuck me right into that spot! I am really excited about doing this. Not only is this being done in fabrics I love, but there are many fellow bloggers that I like to visit who have signed up! I just love the whole idea of a "Signature Block"! I have put a link to her website on my side bar for anyone interested in seeing Melissa's swap recipe.
Well, I guess I better get going. I have 70 blocks to make. :0)
Happy block swapping!!

I'm Home!

2009-07-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

I'am finally home after going to visit family and friends for almost 2 weeks in New York State.
The above picture is the view from a restaurant called "Shadows on the Hudson". It's in Poughkeepsie NY. Really nice place with great food! We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, with friends, who are also celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary! Theirs is this month. My husband and I were married in September.

Here we are! We had made reservations 3 days in advance so we could have a table outside on the deck by the water! My husband and I are on the right. Our friends on the left.

A backyard shot of us before we left for dinner. The weather was simply gorgeous the whole time we were in NY!

Girls, girls girls!!

The friends we had dinner with have 2 daughters as do my husband and I. They are all about the same ages. My daughters are the two end girls (Pink top and camera around neck). We had gone to an art exhibit on the Hudson river in Cornwall NY. You see the Hudson in the background.

Here is one of the sculptures. It's of a boat. I took this picture with the Hudson river in the background! I am not the best photographer. But I really like how this picture turned out!

We spent one day at Belmont Park, racetrack. One of my daughters is very interested in horses. You see the back of my oldest daughter and my husband here.

I love visiting Historical old homes!! This is (Yet again!) another picture of the Hudson river, from the property of a home called "Claremont" which was owned by the Livingstons. This home is not far from Roosevelts Estate! This is the view they had from their front porch!

This is a picture of the "Claremont" home. That's my Mom standing in the front.

This is Rambo. He is the mascot of a farm we visited called "Catskill Animal Sanctuary"! Visiting the farm makes one never want to eat meat again! This is a home for abused animals as well as animals that were from butcher farms. I'll tell ya, some of the stories about where the animals were from and how they came to this santuary were really awful!! How can people be so abusive!! I won't go into details.

Over all a good time was had by all! Now it is my turn to entertain! We are having some of my husbands cousins visit us this coming weekend. Which means it's time to tackle a mountain of laundry and start making menus and cleaning house for our visitors. No time for quilting yet! Maybe next week! :-)

Hope everyone is having a great summer!!! :0)

Sampler and Vacation Time!

2009-07-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Well, here you see I am working on Machine quilting the grab bag sampler top. I decieded since it was a sampler quilt I would try some different design motifs on it. It has also been a while since I have done any Machine quilting. Good thing it was a small quilt. It was the perfect size to get me back into the groove!

My helper!? This is Miss Emma. She thinks my quilting is just "Purrrrrfect"!

Here it is all quilted. The binding is the only thing I have left to finish on it now.

My family and I will be on vacation beginning July 3rd until July 18th. My daughters plan on bringing their computers so I might be able to check in at some point during the next 2 weeks.

I wish you all a Happy 4th of July!!!

Grab Bag quilt

2009-06-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

A couple of posts back I talked about how my "quilt bee members" were putting fabric in a bag and then each person was to take a bag that was not theirs! They were to take the bag home and make something with only the fabrics in the bag! I showed you the quilt I made from what was in the bag I picked, but I never showed you the fabrics I had placed in a bag. Well, the above photo shows the fabrics I chose for the grab bag.

At my last bee meeting, I recieved the quilt top all finished!! ( Only thing is, she forgot she wasn't supposed to add any new fabrics!) Oh well, that's O.K. She made the sampler quilt you see in the above picture. I have already machine quilted it and just have to put the binding on. I'll show you next time!

Happy Quilting! :0)

Mini Bow Tucks Purse!

2009-06-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

My oldest daughter and I have been busy! I didn't think about taking pictures until we already had the front and back of the purse started. lol. I will try to do better next time. We made a "Mini Bow Tucks" purse designed by Penny Sturges. www.quiltsillustrated.com . We chose some batik fabrics that I've had in my stash for awhile.

Uh oh! The summer hair frizzies are here! Must mean a rise in the humidity! ;>D

Here it is all finished! I really like how it turned out! My daughter will keep this one. I may just have to make another one for myself! Sew cute! :>)

Here is a picture of the inside. I love the fact that there are lots and lots of pockets! I just need to purchase some "Matte board for the bottom of the purse yet, but other wise it is finished. Horray!!

Happy Quilting!!

:0)

Apron Made from Jeans

2009-06-16T09:33:00.001-07:00

My daughter and I have been cleaning and sorting "Stuff" throughout the house. We are getting ready to have a garage sale. I began to think about how I was going to deal with the cash that is needed for a garage sale. Then I grabbed a pair of old jeans I had and made an apron from it. Sort of with the Home Depot or Lowes handy aprons for men in the back of my mind. ( the ones they use for tools)

I decieded I needed more pockets then just the two back pockets. I cut away the top of the jeans and inserted some fabric to add a deeper and wider pocket.

Here is my finished apron! I added some applique flowers with "Steam A Seam 2", put a binding around the raw edge of the cut jeans/ now apron and added some "apron stings" to tie around my waist and Wala! A handy dandy apron to keep the cash close to me. Now I won't have to worry about where the cash is, or that it would walk away with someone! :o)

Hey! I am also being "Green" and re-using something that was getting ready for the trash! Something old turned into something new again!!! :0)

"Sewing Cabinet"

2009-06-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

When my parents came to visit last month, they brought a sewing cabinet with them. It had been in my Grandfather's house. I finally took the time to clean it up and rummage through what was in all the drawers and side storage areas. It was like a treasure hunt! There was a basket of old wooden spools of thread!

A "Coats and Clark" box filled with these tiny spools of thread and a pair of scissors! The box is set up like a jewelry box! It has a spring hinge top. Nothing like the ugly plastic containers they come in now. Which when you try to open almost always lead to cuts on your fingers!

Here is one of the drawers, after I cleaned out the dust and stuff that comes with time. If I'm not mistaken, the wooden things in the back of the drawer were for making or darning socks. There is a metal rod which attaches to both sides of the drawer. As you can see it has 4 small spools on it! So cute! and practical! The dark green box is the "coats and clark" box I just showed you, in the above photo.

Here is a view from the top of the cabinet so you can see the side storage cubbies!

Tah Dah! Here is what it looks like from the front. There also were some fun looking needle cases, which I didn't get a picture of. Some old zippers, buttons and a glass container full of all sorts of pins and needles of various sizes. A needle persons treasure box!

Hope everyone is enjoying there summer! :0)

My Round Robin returns

2009-05-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here is my finished Round Robin quilt top.
For those of you who don't normally follow my blog, this is a project from a quilt bee I am in. We all started with a 9 patch block of our making ( There were 10 people participating) Then we passed the block around to each person participating. They would either add a 2 1/2"(unfinished) checkerboard border or a 4 1/2"
(unfinished) border around the center block. We did this 6 times. Now I have to add one last row of the checkerboard myself to the quilt top. I am debating as to whether I should use this as the back of the "Twin". All participants of this project, also made a second 9 patch block which they were to finish on there own.

This was the 9 patch block that I started with. I think I was having a dark day. Do you do that? Depending on your mood, your fabric selections sometimes follow how your feeling on any given day. I seem to do that. :>)

Whoa! Oops. This is not my round robin. This is the Kaffe Fasset quilt top from another bee member. This is the one I had the most trouble doing. I didn't have any Kaffe Fasset fabric in my stash. It seems to be haunting and following me. It pops up when I least expect it to! :>D

O.K. Phew!

Here is my "twin" or my version of what I did to the 9 patch block. Now, I could make two quilts, or I could make a reversible quilt by using them as the front and back together. What do you think I should do?

Check my side bar for a new link to Patchalots website. She has some really neat patterns! :0)

Strawberries!

2009-05-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

MMMM! Don't these look yummy delicious!! Oh, I couldn't resist them. They smelled so good. The first strawberries of the season! While my parents were visiting we went through 3 of these boxes! They have gone home now. We had a very good visit!

After finishing my grocery shopping this past week, I got into my car to drive home. I saw a movement in the car next to me and my first thought was "is he coming or going- do I need to wait before I back out of my parking spot?" Imagine my surprise when I saw these two big puppies sitting in the driver and passenger seats!!! I had such a good chuckle over it! I don't normally take pictures of someone else's dogs, but this I had to share with my daughters and all of you! :0)

Here is the first picture I took. At first I thought there was only one dog, then I spotted the second one. To cute!!

When my parents came to visit they brought this quilt with them. I had made this in 2001 as a Christmas gift for my Grandfather. My Mother wanted me to have it. My Grandfather passed away last April at the age of 90. I always felt very lucky to have at Grandfather who was still alive and I was able to know him as an adult. I don't think many people over the age of 40 can say they still have a living grandparent.

Here is the label I had put on the back of the quilt. My Grandfather always told me how much he loved being outside and with Nature.

That's why I chose all the animal and outdoor type print fabrics.

Just a short quick update for today. I hope to get back to sewing soon. I am definitely going through "quilting withdrawal!!!! I admit I am addicted and miss it. :0)

The Last of the Round Robin Quilts!

2009-05-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

Horray!! This is the last quilt I have to do for the round robin project my "quilt bee" is doing! The above photo is of the quilt after I added my 4 1/2 inch squares. The photo below is the before. For some reason my pictures are reversed again. ;o)

At my next meeting everyone will get their very own quilt back. It should be fun to see them all! We then take our quilts home and add one last border to it. It will be the 2 1/2 inch checkerboard all the way around. I am very happy we do not have to do any more 2' and 4' inch squares around the "Robin"! Enough is enough. It was a fun project to do, but I am glad we are finished. Now maybe I can get to some of those UFO's I have hanging around! :o)

Mini Quilt Show

2009-04-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

I thought I might do a "mini quilt show" today. I have been showing lots of quilts I am working on for or with other people, but few of my own. This is Mr. Scarlett. He enjoys all the quilts!

This is an all cream quilt I like to use in the Master Berdroom for the summer, I just put it on my bed today. It looks like summer has arrived. It has been in the 90's for about the last 3 days now. I pieced the quilt, but can't take the credit for quilting this one though. It was way to big to go through my Viking! It is not a king size but it is larger then a queen. I wanted to be able to cover my pillows with it. (Keeps the cat hair off) :o)

Here is a close-up of some of the hand quilting I did on this quilt. It is called "Thirteen Stars". I finished it in 2002. I love how this one turned out! It feels yummy to. Hand quilting makes a quilt feel so much softer then machine quilting! This is my feminine side, a pink quilt just for me!

Here is the full picture of it. You will find that I don't have any one style or color group that I stick to. I seem to dibble and dabble in just about anything that suits me at the time. (Except maybe Kaffe Fasset fabrics. ;o)

"Stars and Rails" a Buggy Barn pattern. I keep this one in our family room. Everyone uses this one! You could call it my utility quilt!

A log cabin table runner which also has a home in the family room.

A basket quilt which was made from a Thimbleberry Kit. Many years ago. It has some applique on it.

I made this quilt in 2002. It is a signature quilt. It was signed by all the members in my "quilt bee" at that time. Of course some of the ladies that signed it have moved away or left the bee for various reasons. This quilt is near and dear to my heart, for it reminds me of the friends of the past as well as the present.

Prarie Pines! A Thimbleberry pattern. This was the very first fabric exchange I did when I first joined the "quilt bee" I am currently in. I remember feeling sooo over whelmed! Some of the fabrics in the exchange were down right awful to me! I ended up using them thinking I don't like this one bit! Now it is one of my favorite quilts! It goes to show that it is a good exercise to try new things, and it is O.K. to use some ugly fabrics! I may not like all the fabrics but they really work well together in this quilt! I learned a great lesson!

This is a "Churn Dash" block. I just used up lots of scraps in this one. Kinda just did my own thing with it.

This is a Kaffe Fasset pattern. Someone in my "bee" decided they wanted to do an exchange of "black background floral prints" and use a pattern from Kaffe Fasset. (Not Me!) We actually did 3 different fabric exchanges for this same pattern! The very first quilt I showed as the all cream fabrics on my master bed is one of them. This one and one more which you will see later. Believe it or not, after everyone was so excited about this exchange only 3 people out of 12 ever finished any of the projects!

This was a fun one! At one point my bee was doing "secret pal". I was recieving these blocks one at a time! I had to finish a few of the blocks and put the final quilt together, but I really enjoyed seeing what block I was to recieve next! Fun Fun Fun!

O.K. Here is the 3rd Kaffe Fasset fabric exchange we did. This one was fruit and vegtables! I Yi Yi ! I like how all the quilts turned out but, boy they are busy and were challenging for me to work on!! I still can't get over the fact that I was the only one to finish all 3 of these. It was hard.

A Debbie Mumm pattern. Moo. It's hand quilted.

This is a quilt I made for my youngest daughter! I saw this special hand dyed fabric and knew that she would love it! I gave her the finished quilt for Christmas one year. She was only 12 years old at the time. (What 12 year old would want a quilt for Christmas? Hehehe) I thought she would like it and think it funny that she was getting a quilt for Christmas. Turns out it was a HUGE hit! She was so happy with it! :o)

Here is the scrappy rug I crocheted to go with her "Rainbow Quilt" as she calls it!

Well I hope you enjoyed my "Mini Quilt Show"! I have many other quilts squirreled away but, will save to show you some other time! This post has been long enough!

Happy Quilting!!

Round Robin #5 ; and Family Comes First!

2009-04-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

Eeeeekk! This is the round robin I was afraid to get and do! It is waaaay out of my comfort zone! It is done in all Kaffe Fassett fabrics! I had to go shopping for fabric for this one. I had 4 different people at the shop trying to help me!! LOL!! I have not had to buy fabric for any of the other round robins I've done so far. I thought my stash was fairly well rounded. No Kaffe Fassett! I have been trying to convince myself that this is O.K. to do! I put it off for a couple of days, but I needed to get it finished now. This is a definite challenge for me. It's good to try new things. Right?! Just difficult.

O.K. here it is all finished. What do you think? I am very happy with it. I felt that it really needed to get more purple back into it from the original center block. I had to be careful with getting it back by adding the softer pinky, purplely bluish fabric in the first go around set of 2" inch squares. Then in the outer set I went with all purple. I am soo happy that it is done. I actually felt I had to purchase a couple of different fabrics and come home and play around with them. Then I finally made a decision. Now, what to do with the leftovers? (Maybe I will put them in the bag with the round robin quilt) :o)

Family Comes First:

I really do enjoy blogging! My goal is to keep an online journal and post at least once a week. Sometimes this goal may not be realized due to other obligations. My family comes first! Always has and always will. I am a devoted mother and wife.

I am using this blog as an online journal, so that my family and friends which don't live anywhere nearby can see. I love quilting and will probably end up blogging mostly about that, but there will be times that I blog about other things.

I will be having out of town friends visiting this weekend. They are scouting out colleges for their daughter. Next weekend my parents will arrive for a month long visit! I only get to see them about twice a year if I am lucky! We will also be going to pick up my daughter and move her back home from her first year of college! The upcoming month of May will be very busy for me! I look forward to seeing and spending time with these friends and family members! Thank-you to my new friends in blogland for understanding!

Happy Month of May!!

Online Quilt Festival!!!

2009-04-21T06:28:00.001-07:00

This is so exciting! There is an "Online Quilt Festival" going on! The festival is being held at http://www.parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/ Anyone can enter a favorite quilt of there choice! So I have decieded to join in the fun. (Let's just hope I can figure out the linking to blogs thingy without the help of my computer wize daughters! Wish me luck!)

This is my all time favorite quilt!! I can not take the credit for this one though. My Great Great Grandmother made this quilt. It is from the Civil War Era near as I can figure with dating it. Perhaps sometime around the 1860's. It measures approximately 82"x 100"! It is a large quilt and all done by hand!

This is a view of one of the side blocks, which go all the way around the quilt. They look like they were full blocks cut in half. As you can see by the half block, she used whatever fabric scraps she had left to finish the side blocks. "Waste not Want not".

Can you imagine how frustrated she was when she got to this part of the border!!! If you look closely she had to add a piece of mismatched fabric to this last corner. The rest of the border is all the same fabric. But she did well! I did not notice this until after my 3rd close examination of the quilt! Every time I look at it, I find something new about it that I did not see before. It tells me another piece of it's story each time I view it. I truly love this quilt. It is a peek into my family and adds to the stories my Grandfather used to tell me of the struggles they faced so long ago. My Grandmother lived in a log cabin.

The four corner blocks are done in blue. This is the only blue in the whole quilt. My Grandmother used her color choices well. I greatly admire her artistry, using what little she had.

Here is a close-up of one of the blocks. As you can see she used different fabrics in this one block. The blocks vary in size slightly. Some are 11"x 11", 10 1/2" x 11" and even 11" x 11 1/2".

Here is a closer view of 4 blocks and how they are layed out. This quilt was obviously not a utility quilt. My guess would be that it only came out of a chest or cupboard for very special guests! It does have some brown age spots throughout, but over all is in excellent condition.

This is the back of the quilt, which is all hand quilted.

My Great Great Grandmother Libby! This is the lady we are giving credit to for creating this masterpiece.

I have her wedding portrait sitting on the fireplace mantel. Look at the detail of the frame alone. I feel very honored to have aquired this as well as the quilt. A wonderful piece of history to be shared by all.

Project: Move Away

2009-04-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

This is the new June 2009 edition of American Patchwork & Quilting! Some really neat stuff in this issue. A member of my quilt bee is moving away to Texas in June. We as a group have decieded to make a remembrance quilt for this gal. We chose a pattern from the Magazine.

The pattern is called "Mix It Up". It is the Jacobs Ladder block done in 30's reproduction prints, which is a favorite of our member who is moving.

These are the fabrics I chose to use. Each member is to make 9 blocks as well as 4 border blocks and squares.

Ahh! Now you get to see my special helpers! ;o) Although it looks like they are sleeping on the job!! Literally!!

The blocks are a work in progress. I have everything cut out and ready to go! Zoom Zoom!

More progress! Almost done!

Tah Dah! This is as far as I need to go with this project at this time. The next step will be to have a workshop with the rest of the group so we can put the blocks together into a quilt. Shhh! This is a secret! She doesn't know we are doing this. It will be our surprise gift for her. We need to hurry along if we are going to finish this before she moves. We may have to mail it to her if we don't get it finished in time. Ideally, it will be quilted, binded and labeled so we can hand it to her at her last meeting with us. I have not told anyone in my "Quilt Bee" that I have a blog. I wanted to be able to post things here without having to keep it a secret from you! :0)

All in good fun!

Round Robin # 4

2009-04-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

I recieved the next "Round Robin" at my last bee meeting. After this block I think there are 3 more to go. I will be happy to no longer have to add 2 and 4 inch squares! ( Time to work on some of my own projects again!) I added the 4 1/2 " squares. This person wanted vibrant fall colors. Golds, rusts, red/browns and autumn greens. No white, black or gray.

OOPS! As you can see someone didn't read her directions! There is white in there! I wonder if she will take the quilt top apart just to get rid of the white.?

Hmm, this picture turned side ways. Oh well. You get the idea. I have begun the Bunny Hill block of the month "A Tisket A Tasket". As you can see I haven't gotten very far. This is the January block! All cut out and ready to be appliqued. First though, I need to make 9 blocks to donate to a quilt being made for one of our bee members who will be moving to Texas. Then I hope to get to the Bunny Hill project!

Happy Easter!!

Mulch Madness!

2009-04-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

This doesn't look like quilting to me!! My husband had some mulch delivered and we have been busy shoveling and spreading this stuff around the yard. It is hard work, but always makes the yard look better!

We bought 2 Jessamine plants and 2 trellis's for them to climb on. We have never had Jessamine before. Hopefully they will like there new home. You can see here what a difference the mulch makes!

The azaleas are begining to bloom. I think North Carolina is very pretty in the Spring! If you can deal with the allergies and pollen! Blah!

Everything is starting to push out of the ground with vim and vigor! Spring has Sprung!

My husband does most of the shoveling and dumping. I do the spreading. Team work! Gets the job done.

I planted 2 of these in the garden this morning, before the mulch covered the ground. Grow! Grow! and Bloom!

Here they are after I plugged them into the ground.

This is the hole I was preparing for them. As you can see we don't have dirt. We have clay! UGH! It is the worst stuff. Hard, clumpy, heavy, and nothing can grow in it! You have to either remove it, or have raised beds of dirt that you have hauled in. As you can see, we remove it. Then I use soil that I have purchased. Then we have to figure out what to do with the clay after we dig it up! I often wonder, how in the world did our ancestors farm here! How did they get there vegtables and fruits to grow in this stuff!!!

Funny Things Happen!!!

2009-04-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

This morning I had a special delivery come to my front door! It was from the "Fat Quarter shop"! Hurray!! I am grinning ear to ear! What could this be? Fabric, of course! But, I haven't ordered anything!

Imagine my surprise when I opened the box! This is fabric from a line I am not familiar with. Hmmm. The shipping address on the box says it's for me. Hmmm. What to do?

I called the Fat Quarter Shop, and told them I had recieved a package in the mail and it wasn't for me. Yet, it is addressed to me. They were not sure either and would call me back.

When the Fat Quarter Shop called back they said I was to re-tape the box and the delivery company would come back to pick it up. They know who is supposed to recieve it, and will re-send it. It belongs to Anne Sutton over at Bunny Hill!! This is too funny! I can't wait to see what she will do with what was in the box!!! Hang in there Anne, your fabric is on its way! :0)

Workshop Day

2009-04-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today were busy days. I spent yesterday baking and today at a sewing workshop! Yesterday I made a Yogurt Apple Cake from a recipe I found at Suzie's littlebusybee blogspot, and Oatmeal White Chip Cookies from a recipe I found at Mary's quilthollow blogspot. Mary, by the way is doing a fun special give-away. A link to her blog is in my side bar! I brought both goodies to my quilting workshop today. Yummy! Good thing I took a picture before I left this morning! The goodies were well recieved.

This is what we were doing at the workshop. We made 5 quilt tops. All of them were the same, from a pattern called Bricks.

One of our bee members had a Mother-in-law pass away. Her husband had asked her to make quilts from her clothing for him and all of his siblings. We were making the quilt tops out of her clothing for all 6 children.

Busy! Busy! Busy! We used a room at a local church as our gathering place.

We also had a "garage sale" of sorts. Whatever we had left from "The Box", which I posted about a while ago, was brought to the workshop. We had a fun "free-for-all" rummaging through what was left! :0) I brought home some magazines and fabric. As if I don't have enough already!!!

We had an ironing station, several machine stations, a food station and of course the manager! The manager needed to tell us which pieces to put together in which row. Then of course, which rows went together where......

For lunch we had a friendship salad. Each person brings in one item to add to the salad! We have done this before. Each time the salad is completly different! We added our managers specialty "chili salad dressing". A favorite of everyone's! If you look close enough you can see the goodies that I brought in. I took this picture before we had our lunch. Fun, Food, Friendship and quilting! What could be better!!!! :0)

Addendum to my last post. I was asked about the pattern for the "Welcome Home Quilt" I am hand quilting. I am not sure if they still have it available or not since I purchased it several years ago. It was from www.quiltcompany.com If you add your E-mail address to your profile I find I can better answer questions about things I might post. Happy Quilting!!!!!

Getting Things Done

2009-03-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

I am finally starting to catch up on some quilts I started. Here is a close-up of the quilting I put on this small quilt which I made for a table in the living room. I made it by using some charm square packets. This is only the second time I have tryed using prarie points around a border. The first time I did it was on the very first quilt I ever made! Being naive sometimes allows you to do things you would never dream of doing other wise! It has taken me over 25 years to try it again. This time I found it much easier though! ;o)

Here it is all finished. Simple but elegant. Charm squares and Prarie points! Horray! One down and how many to go???

This is a project that I am currently working on right now. It is called "Welcome Home". I am hand quilting this one. I've had the top done for a while. I just couldn't decide how I was going to quilt it. Sometimes I have to look at a quilt until it speaks to me, as to how it should be quilted. It is about 3/4 done! It's getting there one stitch at a time!

Here is the back of the little mini quilt, which is pictured below. I had just enough small pieces of fabric left after finishing the top of the grab bag project to make a scrappy sort of back. I did not have to finish the grab bag quilt. Only a top was required. I liked the idea of finishing it though! I know if it was me, I would prefer to recieve a finished project then one that is a work in progress! I have enough of those already! :#)

Ta Dah!! Here it is. All finished! I ended up hand quilting it. Some quilts lend themselves to machine quilting some to hand quilting. This one said please hand quilt me! :0)

Happy Quilting!!

Last of My Daffodils

2009-03-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

Well, these are the last of my daffodils for this year. They are gorgeous. It is such a gloomy, rainy, cold and foggy morning, that I needed to see something cheerful. Daffodils always make me cheerful! They are sitting on a table runner I made a few years back. It was from an "Atkinson" pattern I believe.

This is my helper! He seems to enjoy quilting just as much as I do. Maybe I should have said that he enjoys sleeping with quilts, instead of quilting them! Now you see one of the reasons why I don't get much done! I am handquilting this particular quilt. (Whenever I can get at it) I will take a better picture of it soon.

I have my new computer finally! It is sooooooooooo fast compared to the other one! It is also very sensitive! I need to have lighter fingers now. I deleted some e-mails by mistake because the cursor mouse is really, really sensitive!

Look! A white deer! This is out my back window. She is a ways off so the picture is blurry, but I caught her on my camera before she disappeared. I see her mostly on rainy days for some reason.? I have watched her grow. My daughters and I have named her Abbey. If it was a male deer it would be Al. A nickname from "Albino". Although I don't think she is albino. I think she is a pure and simple white deer! The first time I saw her she was just a baby. In August she will be 2 years old. I can't wait to see her babies! Will they also be white?

Round Robin Block 3

2009-03-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

I had a bee meeting this past Wednusday. We exchanged our round robin blocks once again. The above picture is the block I recieved. Aunt Gracie style fabrics in this one. Below is what I did.

I added the 2 1/2" blocks. I am begining to wonder if I made it too dark. I may need to change this one. I was trying to use only the fabric I had in my stash without having to purchase more.

This is the grab bag mini quilt. I had enough leftover fabric to make a pieced back! It came out cute. Some of the girls in my bee already brought there finished ones in, which makes me feel like I should hurry up and finish this! I am hand quilting it, which of course takes longer to do....Although it will not be overly done since it is a mini. I didn't think it needed too much quilting. We have until June to officially finish them. I have been doing so much stuff for the bee lately, that I have not been able to work on any personal projects. I think once this mini is done I will be able to finally get back to working on a few other things. I must say that I do enjoy some of the challenges that my bee comes up with! They are often outside of my comfort zone. Therefore I view them as learning experiences!

I have been busy baking cookies for Daughter 2. She had her piano concert last night. I had signed up to bring in some treats for the guests. She did well. She played the "Pineapple Rag". It is a piece she has been working on since January. So, it will be nice to hear her play something else now. Before we left we wanted to bring home the cookies that were left, otherwise they just throw them away. There weren't any left! :o)

Brown Paper Grab Bag!

2009-03-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Hurray! I finally finished the top from a "Brown Paper Bag" Grab Bag exchange! When I first recieved the paper bag and took a look at the fabrics I had no idea what to do with them.

I went through a lot of books to try to find something to fit the small amount of fabric and the personality of it. I am not supposed to know whose fabric this is. I have a really good idea though!

Ooops! I goofed. Same picture. Oh well.

Here is what I recieved. Brown paper bag and all! The object of the exchange was to put some fabric in a brown paper bag and bring it to the bee meeting. Then mix the bags up. Grab a bag! Do Not Pick Your Own! No Peeking until you got home. Make something out of one or all fabrics. Do not add any fabrics! Only use what is in the bag! Make a pillow or table runner or table topper of some sort or a mini quilt. If you only had enough fabric to do the top that is O.K. If you have enough fabric to make a finished product then go for it. I have the top finished. If I have the time I will put a back on it and quilt it. I have to see how much fabric I have left first. I am very happy with how it came out!

My Sewing Room!

2009-03-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

I took some pictures of my sewing room after I finished with the "Spring Cleaning". I'm glad I did, because it doesn't look quite so clean anymore! I have been working on some projects, so of course, there is now fabric and books and rulers laying on my table. By the way my husband built the sewing table for me!

Here you see my books. I love collecting books! They are so great for Inspiration! If you look on the design wall you will see my round robin in progress. My design wall is an old flannel sheet! Don't laugh it works! Fabric just sticks to it without having to be pinned! I've just learned to ignore the floral pattern! I actually have 2 more rows on the round robin now. I am still trying to decide what to put onto it next. One of the pictures on the smaller book shelf is of my best friend and I. We are holding our first children.

Fabric! Thread! Rulers! Iron! All the necessary items to be a quilter and or crafter!

Here is my sewing machine. It is a Husqvarna Viking Quilt Designer. It was my 40th birthday gift from my husband! The little bee pincushion is from a pattern shared by a new friend! ;0)

The other half of the sewing room is a guest bedroom. The "Kasper"(clown) on the bed is handmade by a relative in Bavaria Germany. My Mother made the rug on the floor and crocheted the afghan on the bed.

I found out yesterday that the new computer I ordered has been delayed. They don't expect it to ship until March 25th now. boo hoo. Oh well. That's ok, It will come soon enough.

This past week it was sunny and in the low 80'sF. Today it is in the 30's and rainy! Go figure. I feel like we are on a weather rollercoaster! It does make a super day for staying in and doing some quilting! Guess where I'm heading?! :-)

Block 2 of project "Round Robin"

2009-03-11T13:48:00.000-07:00

I just learned that when you get your photos to post they are in reverse order! That is why block 1 on the previous post is not in order. So, now with block 2 I have learned to go backwards!

The above photo is how block 2 began as a 9 patch. Below is the block when I recieved it.

Here is the block when I finished. I added the 4 1/2" squares (Unfinished). This person requested staying with the theme of "Sewing". I don't know if you can see it or not, but the first set of 4" squares have buttons on the red fabric. I happened to have just enough blue fabric with needles and thread in my stash to add to her block! Yeah! I like the way this one is coming along.

I have only had 2 blocks to do so far. The next one will need the 2" checkerboard to be added. I found that the checkerboard uses up a lot of fabric!

My college bound daughter has returned to school. I will not see her again now, until May 2nd. That is about 6 weeks. When we go up to get her we will be packing up all her things to bring her home for the summer. We are trying to figure out how to bring everything home! We took things there throughout the school year as she neede them, so I know it will take more then 1 trip to bring it all back home. We may end up renting a small truck or U-Haul. We have also been considering renting a small pod for the summer to store it in. That way we won't have to bring it all back again in the fall when classes resume. Hmmm. The dilemma of being a parent. :o)

Quilt Bee Project "Round Robin" Block 1

2009-03-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the first "Round Robin" block that I recieved from my quilt bee. I had to add two rows of 2 1/2"blocks in checkerboard style. The photo below is of the block before I added the next 2 rows. The photo above is the block when I finished. This person asked for all scrappy, with any blue and yellow fabrics.

Snow!? In North Carolina!

2009-03-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

Daffodils in the snow! This is a picture my daughter took on Monday of our daffodils still pushing up through the snow. It does snow in North Carolina every once in a blue moon! We had 3 inches of snow. School was closed on Monday and we had a 2 hour delay this morning due to black ice. School should be back on a normal schedule tomorrow. (No more sleeping in for daughter2). I used to think it was funny that everything would shut down whenever it snowed in North Carolina! But after living here for the last 15 years I now understand why! It is easier to just let it melt. It is supposed to get down to about 15 degrees F.(10C) tonight , but it is predicted to be 79F (25C) by Sunday! I think my poor flowers are very confused.

My college bound daughter arrived home safe and sound on Saturday by train, well before the snow came! This was her first time riding the train home. It seemed to work out quite well for her. I think she may use the train again when traveling to and from school. My husband and I are planning on driving her back to school on Sunday though, which happens to be her birthday!

With the help of my daughter1, I was able to decorate my blog just a bit. I was showing her what I would like to do, but just did not know how to go about doing it. My computer skills are not as advanced as I would like them to be. I am working on them. The more I use the computer the more comfortable I am becoming. (Slow but steady wins the race). After my daughter saw my blog, she decieded to start her own! I have added her to my "followers" list. She is not a quilter, but is doing her blog on how to be "Green". If you have a moment, go to her blog and check it out! If you visit don't forget to leave a comment. She will be very happy if you do!

Needless to say I have not done much quilting this week. I was out playing in the snow and taking pictures of course! I am also enjoying the time I have with my daughter, before she heads back to school on Sunday. I did get the 2" checkerboard onto the blue and yellow "Round Robin block". I will be going to a meeting tomorrow morning and be coming home with someone else's Round Robin block. That one will require me to do the 4" blocks all the way around. I can't wait to see what colors and fabrics this one will be made up of! I am currently working on a hand quilting project, which has nothing to do with my sewing bee. The quilt is called "Welcome Home". It has 9 different types of buildings on it, which include houses, a barn, a church, a school, and trees. It has a fence that goes all the way around the outer border. It is made up of mostly Thimbleberries fabrics. I am about 2/3 done. I hope to have it done before to much longer. Once summer gets here it will be too hot to work on lap quilting! Summer is when I like to work on piecing and machine quilting. Happy Quilting!!

The First Round Robin Block

2009-02-25T06:52:00.000-08:00

I have recieved the first block from the "round robin" project. It is a scrappy blue and yellow nine patch block. My job will be to add the next row which will be a checkerboard effect of 2" finished pieces. I will need to rummage through my fabric stash to find some blues and yellows. For the first block this should be fairly easy to do. I have seen some of the other blocks I will be working on once they come my way. I think some will be a true challenge. Especially the one made up of mostly Kaffe Fasset fabric, which I am not used to working with! The only guidelines that came with the blue and yellow block are to keep the block scrappy or not, specks of other colors are O.K. Guess what I will be working on today?

Oh, one more fun thing that my Sewing Bee decieded to do. We are to gather some coordinating fabric together and put it into a brown bag. It should be enough fabric for either a small quilt or table runner. We are going to bring the brown bags to the next bee meeting and put them into a group or pile. Then everyone will grab a bag (that is not there own). We are to take the bag home and make something with only the fabrics that are in the bag! We have such a diverse group, that this could prove to be more challenging then the Kaffe Fasset round robin block!

I am off to my sewing room! Happy Quilting! ;0)

"Spring Cleaning"

2009-02-24T05:35:00.000-08:00

Is "Spring Cleaning" a good idea or a bad idea? Hmmm. A little bit of both perhaps. I have finally finished cleaning out my sewing room! It all started because of "The Box". ( Which now over floweth! I added more than my share to the box! I hope the next box reciepient has a large trunk space! Giggle!) There are no longer any dust bunnies residing in that room. (For now anyway, but I am sure they will be back! They always seem to have a way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it!)
I found 13 UFO's (unfinished objects) and have 5 tops that only require quilting. I did not count the current projects I am working on. Some became UFO's because I had to put them away when we moved and they just got buried or lost. I have a couple which were projects started in my sewing bee. For example, a block exchange, or fabric swap. Sometimes I just put a project away because I was unsure about what to do with it next. I have a couple of those too! During the "cleaning" process my creative juices started to flow! All the ideas for future projects I would like to do. But, what about my poor UFO's! I want to finish those too! Which leads me back to my question. Is "Spring Cleaning" a good idea or a bad idea? In the long run I think it was a good idea! No more dust bunnies! ;0)

My husband and I have been doing some research on new computers. We decieded to get a new one, because we have been having a lot of issues with the one we currently have. The one we currently have is a refurbished 2001. It is very slow, and we can only do web searches and check e-mail at this point. Anything more then that and it freezes and then "Kaput"! It has been a work horse that has seen better days. My hubby ordered the new one this morning! I am soooo excited! He found a 30% off sale. It's arrival date is March 18. (Sounds like I am talking about a baby!) I am sure it will be a learning process. It will have the new "Vista" which we do not currently have. A wireless mouse sounds super! Needless to say, I can't wait!
I will just have to make do for now. I will make my blogging words as coloful as I can until I can post pictures. My daughter did put a picture on my profile from her computer. Thank-you daughter2!
Daughter1 will be coming home for spring break this weekend! Something else to look forward to! She will be coming by train for the first time. We have been either driving up to get her or she has found a ride home with a schoolmate. She goes to a school about 3 1/2 hours drive from here. This is her first year away at college. It has been an adjustment, not only for my daughter1, but for daughter2, my husband, and myself!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

2009-02-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

I had the most delicious tasting soup at a Christmas Party in December. It was a broccoli cheese soup. Yummy! I had asked the hostess of the party for the recipe, but hadn't tried to make it until yesterday. It is a quick and easy recipe, with excellent results. I wish I had a picture of what it looks like to show you. I seem to be having some problems with my computer lately. Whenever I try to do anything with photos, the computer freezes then shuts down. So for now no more pictures. :0(

Broccoli Cheese Soup
1 10 oz. package of frozen chopped broccoli
1/2 pound grated American cheese ( I used cheddar cheese)
1 Tablespoon butter or margerine
2/3 cup chopped onion
3 cups chicken broth ( I used 3 cups of water and 3 chicken bouillon cubes)
1/2 of an 8 oz. package of fine Egg noodles ( I used 1 package of Ramen noodles broken apart)
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups of Half and Half or 3 cups of milk
Pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Optional: sprinkle with a little allspice or nutmeg

Heat butter and saute onions. Add chicken stock. Bring to a boil, gradually add salt and noodles. Cook covered for 3 minutes. Stir in broccoli and garlic powder. Cook for another 3 minutes. Add milk, cheese and pepper. Stir constantly until the cheese melts. Freezes beautifully.
This recipe can be cut in half for it makes a nice pot of soup.

There is nothing like altering a recipe to fit what is in your cupboard. :0)
Although every once in a while I find one that you have to follow exactly or else it becomes a disaster!

Spring is coming! My Daffodils are up, and I think I will see them in full bloom by this weekend! I always look forward to seeing my "Daffy's". They are such a nice bright spot of creamy yellow coloring, after the drab brown of winter grass!

I am still working on cleaning out my sewing room. It is taking me longer then I thought it would! Probably because I decieded to move some furniture around and found huge piles of dust bunnies! I will be very happy once I get this photo glitch, computer problem resolved. Then I hope to share a picture with you of my sewing room. I always enjoy seeing photos of other peoples sewing rooms!

Round Robin

2009-02-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I think I finally figured out how to get a picture onto the blog! Although, the real trick will be if I can do it again! :0)
This is a picture of one of my bee members with her "Show and Tell". My group as a whole decieded to use her quilt pattern as our next project. Each member of the group is to make a beginning block, which will be a 9 patch. Then, the block will be handed to another member who will add on a row to that first block. It will be passed around to each member until the quilt has nine rows around. There are 12 members in my group. I am not sure yet if everyone will be participating or not.
We will start with a 4 patch of 2" squares (finished size). That 4 patch will become the center square of the 9 patch which is made up of 4" squares. Then around that the 2" squares, and around the next row will be the 4" squares again, etc.....Until we have gone around 9 times. Very easy sewing. We are doing it as a lesson in color values as each row goes from light to dark.
We are actually going to make two 9 patch blocks that are the same. One to pass around in the group project, the other we are to finish on our own. It should be a lot of fun to see how different the two quilts end up! We are still talking about the possibility of donating the finished quilts to some sort of charity. That will remain for a future discussion, once we see how well the project goes, and how many of us are going to do it. I am planning on participating in this project. We have not done a group project for quite a while.
Happy Valentines Day!!!!!

"The Box"

2009-02-12T10:47:00.000-08:00

I am a member of a quilt bee called "The Sew n' Sews". We meet every other Wednusday. This past Wednusday it was my turn to host. One of the things we are doing right now is passing a "box" around to each member. The "box" is filled with unwanted items from all of the members. When we first started each member was to bring several items which were sewing related that they no longer wanted. (One persons trash is another persons Treasure!). One member is then choosen, by having their name drawn from a basket, to take the box home. The lucky person gets to rummage through "the box" and take out any and all items they may want! But, they must refill "the box" with things they no longer want so the next person might have a full box of goodies to pick from. Guess what? I got to keep "the box" for the next two weeks! Boy, there is a lot of stuff in "the box"! Books, fabric, pincushions, scraps of fabric as well as fat quarters, unwanted blocks from a quilt someone abandoned, webbing, patterns and tools. Whew! Well, I finally figured out what I wanted to keep. Now I need to fill the box back up with things that I may not be using or no longer want. Hmmm. I might as well start my "Spring Cleaning" now. Which means I will begin in my sewing room!

A New Beginning

2009-02-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

I thought "A New Beginning" was an appropriate title for my first blog paragraph. After following blogs from others, I have seen inspiration, fun thoughts, compassion and friendship blossom. Some of these friendships are with fellow bloggers from around the world! I think that is really wonderful! I have finally decieded, with the encouragement of my new friend (Suzie)to take the plunge and begin my own blog.

I don't know how often I will get to do updates, and it may be a while before I figure out how to use it properly. But, I am going to give it a try.