Long Over Due Update

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?

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!!

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

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!!!

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)