Piece By Piece

A Secret Baby Quilt Revealed

2011-09-09T07:30:00.003-05:00

I realized that I neglected to post about this quilt top. I first talked about it here in this post. It was a big secret then and I just couldn't show it for fear of ruining a surprise. A friend of mine wanted to make a baby quilt for her first grandchild. I found the kit to make this quilt at my Guild's rummage sale and bought it for my friend.

While she loved the idea of making the quilt she was a little over whelmed by it so I offered to piece the top if she would quilt it. She thought that was a wonderful idea! The baby has been born now so I think it is ok to show the quilt. The center section is a panel and there are 4 borders plus a row of pieced blocks.

I don't think I have ever put so many borders on one quilt, but I love the way it turned out! I know you may be wondering what the name of the quilt is, the fabric line etc. I am sorry to say that as of this minute I don't know those answers. :( I gave the pattern and scraps to my friend when I gave her the top. If I find any information about it at a later date I will add it to this post. Promise!

Bow Tie Challenge Prep

2011-09-02T07:30:00.001-05:00

I had a little bit of time and I ~~wanted~~ needed to play with some fabric. In this post I talked about joining in on Bonnie Hunter's Bow Tie Challenge. I am making my Bow Tie blocks in Indigo Blue and Soldier Blue fabrics with a Cheddar background. I found my missing blues and added them to the stack. Out of curiosity I counted the fabrics. I have 58 different blues that will be in this quilt! That number surprised me but made me happy. The scrappier the better!

I began the cutting process with the blues. The blocks finish at a 3 inch square. I really didn't think about it until I had to cut the itty bitty 1 1/4" squares for the knot portion. That is small! I love small blocks and pieces in quilts so I am not worried about it, but goodness that is small! lol Do you see the little pile of fabrics behind the big one? This is what they look close up - Indigo Blue with a touch of Cheddar.

I am trying to decide if I want to add them into the mix and let them play with the other fabrics or keep the Cheddar color in the background only. What do you think? Should I stick with just the blues and let the Cheddar background be the contrast? Hmmmm

Diva Essential Designer Bag

2011-08-27T21:23:00.000-05:00

In my last post , I said that I would have have something to show you on my next post. :) The Diva Essential Designer Bag (designed by Lynndi Enright) is finished! I made it with lightweight denim and Mickey Mouse Fabric because I plan on using this bag when I am visiting Walt Disney World soon! When I first mentioned making this bag here, I just knew that I had some denim in my stash...somewhere! I looked and looked but didn't find it. Have you ever wanted to make a project and the end up going to the store to purchase supplies that you think you already have (but can't find), and then end up going more then once to purchase more things for that same project? Joann's Trip #1 - purchase denim fabric. I knew I had velcro tape at home along with the needed batting and Mickey fabric so all was good! No need to buy any more additional supplies, or so I thought. Before I talk more about my other trips to Joann's, this is what the bag looks like folded up to use as a tote.

The sides kind of poke out like wedges which I like because it is different. When you open out the bag this is what you see. You can also use this as a back pack by putting your arms through the handles when it is opened up like this.

Inside there are a lot of pockets along all four sides. (On a side note here, check out my fingernails. The gal who does my nails added some Mickey Heads on some of my nails the other day. I love them! I'm not sure you can really see them, but that is what the little black spots are on my nails.) :-)

This is a shot of one of the pockets on the end. It is called a secret pocket. When I saw this in the pattern I will admit, I was skeptical and couldn't quite figure out how it would really be a secret. Well, the top edge of the pocket is so close to the top of the bag you really don't see it unless you know it is there! The long piece of velcro really holds it shut. It looks like the perfect hiding place for a boarding pass or some other kind of important paper or item that you don't want to loose or that you want to have easy access to.

Trip #2. It was time to sew the velcro onto the flaps to hold the bag shut. I looked at the white velcro that I had and realized it just wouldn't look right on the blue denim. No, not at all. Ok, back to the store to buy some black velcro as I didn't think they made navy. When I was looking the selection of velcro I did see a package of navy along with the others after all. I picked it up but then saw some black velcro that said "snag free". That sounded like a good idea, because after all I was going to use this bag as a back pack too and the velcro would be against my clothes. So, I bought the snag free velcro and left the navy behind.

Once I got it home and opened it up I could understand why it was considered to be snag free. There wasn't much holding power at all, hence it wasn't going to snag anything! So, trip #3 was to go back to Joann's and buy the navy velcro that I should have bought on the first trip to begin with! Live and learn? Yep!

I mentioned in my previous post that I would probably do a few things different if I made this bag again. All in all I thought the directions were written well. There are photos in the back of the pattern that I kept flipping back to during the construction. While I wish the photos were next to the actual steps that they related to, I still appreciated that the photos were there. The pattern calls for you to insert plastic canvas in the bottom to help give the bag it's shape. I chose not to put the canvas in. I really don't think I will miss it. I wanted a bag that was a bit more flexible. I also plan on leaving the handles the width of the fabric instead of cutting them down to the size listed in the pattern if I make this bag again. While I haven't actually used this bag as a back pack yet, I think this would make it a little more comfortable.

I like the way this bag turned out! I think this bag took a little longer to make verses the typical tote bag because of the extra pockets, but I think the pockets and bag are worth it!

I See A Finish Coming Soon!

2011-08-24T00:25:00.000-05:00

In my last post I mentioned how I wanted to make this bag/back pack. Well, I am close to finishing the Diva Essential Designer Bag!

I thought I would show you a photo of my progress. I am making the bag with denim and some Mickey Mouse fabric. Since I want to take this to Walt Disney World with me soon I couldn't resist adding some Mickey Mouse fabric to my bag!

I have found that Mickey Mouse fabric isn't easy to come by, but I have had the best luck at Hobby Lobby. I am going to have to go back soon to see if I can find some more of this fabric because I have used about all I have with this bag! Usually I am thrilled if if have used up some of my stash...but, it is Mickey Mouse fabric so that doesn't count. I need more! :)

This photo gives you a glimpse of the inside lining. Yes, Mickey is in there too! I have three more steps to do and it will be finished. I am already thinking of what I would change if I made this bag again. One thing I might want to do is make the straps a little longer as I am afraid the straps won't be quite long enough when used as a back pack. I guess I can't totally decide that until I use it though! Stay tuned! A finished bag will be posted soon (I hope)!

I Have To Join In Too!

2011-08-15T10:28:00.000-05:00

I have been trying to avoid this, but I just can't any more. I have given up. I am joining in. What am I joining? You are going to have to wait a bit for that I guess. First things first!

I went out of town this weekend with my dear Hubby to celebrate our 24th Wedding Anniversary. I consider myself blessed to have him as my husband! Along with spending some time together, we did a little shopping too. I found a pair of these neat Crocs tennis shoes! They are called Hover Lace Ups. They kind of look like big clown shoes in this photo, but they really aren't. Beware Crocs fans, you may need a size larger with this type of shoe. I did!

I was very very good with my fabric purchases. I have been cutting back on the purchasing of new fabric as I have so much now! The stash is growing quicker then I can use it up. I guess that is the story with most quilters when you think about it. lol I found some neat Civil War Reproductions (they always seem to call my name) and some lovely cheddar fabric. There is a story behind that cheddar fabric but like I said earlier, first things first.

I also purchased fusible batting so that I could make this bag. It is a bag/backpack and I would love to be able to take it on my next trip to Walt Disney World. If I want that to happen I had better get busy on it! I have an idea of what fabric I want to use with it. I know I have some lightweight denim that will be perfect for this project. The only question is where is it? I know I put it in a special place. It isn't with my quilting fabrics because it isn't a quilting type of fabric. It is there somewhere! Please tell me I am not the only one who has this problem from time to time!

Now for the part I have been putting off talking about in this post. Last month Bonnie Hunter initiated a Leader/Ender Challenge. She challenged everyone to join in on the 2011 Bow Tie Challenge. She is using a cheddar fabric as the background in each block. Well, I love cheddar in antique quilts and I have always wanted to make one with it too. When Bonnie came out with the challenge my first thought was yes! The second thought was no, you have enough UF0's! Turn one of those projects into a Leader/Ender project and get it done. Well, I couldn't get the Bow Tie Challenge out of my head. I would see posts from other quilters who are doing the challenge and it just made me want to join in all the more. I give up! I am joining in! I told my Hubby on the way out of town that I wanted to buy some cheddar fabric and why. He just kind of looks at me and nods. When I was standing in line to get my fabric cut my Hubby walks up to me. I have a big smile on my face. I told him that I found my cheddar fabric! He looks at the bolts in my arms and says, "It's orange! Why didn't you just say you were going to buy orange fabric?" I replied back, "No, it is cheddar, not orange!" lol The funny thing I didn't tell him was that at the end of the bolt it stated that the color was orange. I didn't tell him then, and I am not telling him now! He doesn't usually read my blog so I think I am safe!

I have decided to make a indigo blue/cadet blue Bow Tie Quilt with solid cheddar as it's background. I pulled my blues last night from my stash. It seems like I should have even more blues then this, so I guess while I am looking for my denim I will be looking for more blues too! At least this way I will be multitasking! :)

Fabric!

2011-08-07T10:11:00.000-05:00

My Hubby was out of town for the weekend and what did I do while he was gone?

I washed and ironed fabric that I had purchased in the past! I have some little quilts in mind to start soon and I knew there were some fabrics in my unwashed stack that I wanted to include in them. I have one more "batch" to do, the light colored fabrics...then I can think about some of those small quilts. Do you prewash your fabric? I know many quilters don't find it necessary. How about you?

Tillie's Treasure & Design Boards

2011-07-22T20:14:00.001-05:00

I don't think I the only quilter who does this, but I tend to have more then one project going on at a time. I can't tell you when I started this quilt from the book "Nickle Quilts", but I know I have pulled it out more then once to work on it.

I pull it out to work on some, and then it goes back in it's bag to wait for another day. I'm not really sure why, but it seems to be a quilt that I work on when I am in-between other projects. I love quilts that have a secondary design, and Tillie's Treasure is one of them.

I think is neat is the way you start out with 4 - 5" squares (a.k.a. Nickles), make half square triangles with them and then proceed to cut the half square triangles some more until you end up with this.

The book authors, Pat Speth and Charlene Thode call these units Small Wonders. I agree! Once you have the 4 half square triangles cut I find it easiest to lay the pieces out before sewing so that I am assured that they will get assembled correctly. I have recently come across a neat way to make small design boards.

Lori Holt from Bee In My Bonnet posted a tutorial the other day on how she makes these neat little design boards. You can find the link to her tutorial here! I can stack up the design boards on top of each other and have 6 blocks ready to sew at one time! I was so excited about the design boards that I had to use them right away, I didn't even wait long enough to put the pretty trim round the edges like Lori does (but I did add it later though). I loved the way I could tilt a board with the finished block on it so I could always double check my work.

With the help of the design boards I was able to finish 5 blocks in record time. In the past I would lay out one block at a time next to my sewing area. Many times a few pieces would get bumped and moved around. but I wouldn't notice it until after I had sewn a seam. I would then have to rip out seams and do it over again. That is now no longer a worry!

The boards are finished up with a strip of cloth that you hot glue in place. I have a feeling that this project will see the light of day more now...at least I hope so! Do you have a way that you organize your block pieces? If not, you just might want to try the little design boards. Thanks Lori - I love my new design boards! :)

Time For A Little Fun

2011-07-14T12:47:00.000-05:00

I was able to spend some time in my "Summer Palace" the other day. I wanted to do some mindless sewing so I grabbed my scrap/string bin and decided to make some string blocks.

I like to use left over units such as hourglass or even trial blocks like the pineapple block as the base to work out from sometimes. I think it just adds a little fun touch to them. I was able to make 9 blocks that day! I have a feeling that these blocks will turn into a quilt for my guilds "Kids Quilts" program. We give quilts to area children who are in need, ill etc. I am trying not to add too much pink or pastels into it as I would like to make a quilt for a boy this time around.

Yes, 9 blocks finished, but why can't I see a dent in the scrap bin????? lol

And The Winner Is...

2011-07-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

And winner of the Snap Bags is......

Drum roll please....

Cindy Fragozo!!!!! Congrats Cindy!

Thanks for entering everyone! Its been fun!

A Giveaway! In Fact There are Two Different Giveaways!

2011-07-02T15:15:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry, but this Giveaway has expired. :(

I have been having some more fun with Snap Happy Bags. You can find my first post about them here. They are handy little things to have around and give as gifts, in fact I have actually given away all of the bags I have made. When I thought about this I decided why make some more to give away! I will be giving away two Snap Happy Bags on this blog, and another special bag on my Travel Talk With Marilyn blog and you can enter to win on both blogs!

First, the bags I am giving away here! Since it is the 4th of July weekend I decided to make them patriotic. What could be better then red, white and blue? Yes, the lucky winner will receive both bags!

The special bag that I am giving away on my Travel Talk With Marilyn blog is one I made using a scarf that was given to me on the Mexican Rivera Cruise on the Disney Wonder. During the cruise they had a Pirates IN the Caribbean Deck Party. Everyone received a scarf during the special dinner that night.

While I love the scarf as a souvenir, I wanted to do something with it. Why not make a bag out of it!

I cut out a couple of the skull and cross bones from the corners of the scarf to make the pull tabs on either side of the bag. This bag was so much fun to make. I will be able to make one for myself with the other scarf - and I will make it! lol

I thought you might like to see some people wearing a scarf like this at the Deck Party. I looked for a photo of myself wearing one but there wasn't one to be found.

Now for the giveaway rules! In order for your name to be put into the drawing for the two Patriotic Snap Happy Bags you can do one or all of the following:

Leave a comment on this post for once chance. If you have your settings on noreply please add your email address to the comment to so I can get in touch with you if you are the winner!
Become a Follower on this blog for a second chance. If you are a Follower already just let me know. :)
Post this Giveaway on your blog with a link back to this post for a third chance. Make sure you come back and let me know that you did this!
A winner will be drawn on Thursday, July 7, 2011 after 12:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.

The rules are the same on the Pirates IN The Caribbean bag too, but you must go to the Travel Talk With Marilyn blog to enter. You will find that post here.

Good Luck on the Giveaway!

Snap To It With Snap Happy Bags!

2011-07-02T14:59:00.003-05:00

Editors Note: This post was published some time ago, but when I went in today and changed the label and hit the publish button it republished it with today's date. Why? I have no clue. Sorry for the repost!

Hello! It has been a while since I have posted, and I have missed my quilting friends! Don't take me wrong, I have visited quilting blogs since my last post, but not as much as I would have liked! I ran into a quilting friend of mine a while ago and her comment kept running through my head. Her name is Jan and she is one of the contributing authors at this neat blog, What a Load a Scrap . She said, "I wish you would blog again!" I believe I am finally getting better at organizing my time since starting my new job, so I believe you will be seeing more posts from me!

This is one of my latest projects, Snap Happy bags! They really are a "snap" to make! Sorry, I just couldn't help saying that!

They really are easy and simple to do.You can make them in any size, the pattern gives you three different sizes and gives guidelines on how to make even more sizes.

I think the neatest thing about these bags is that they actually snap shut and you don't have to use snaps or magnets either! You actually used metal measuring tapes that you can get at any home improvement store, cut them to desired length and insert them into the bags before you sew up the outside edges. The cupped metal measuring tape actually keeps the bags closed, and makes them easy to open too! I just love them.

You want to know something funny? See the two bags in the photos? I gave one to a friend as a gift. She loved it so much I gave her the other one too. Now I don't have any for myself. but you know what...I plan on fixing that really soon and I will show you the results! Promise!

What's Up & A Fun Day In Chicago

2011-06-27T23:30:00.001-05:00

What's up? I haven't had the chance to sew on a quilting project lately, but this is what I worked on last week. I am called Mom #2 by a sweet young lady by the name of Stephanie who was in a wedding this past weekend. She needed a hem put in her dress - all three layers, and the tulle layers cut. Her usual choice of seamstresses weren't available so I said I would be happy to help out. Let me tell you - hemming a dress for a wedding is sure a lot more stressful then making a quilt! LOL

I was very nervous when I had to cut into the fabric to shorten it. I am not afraid when I cut into cotton fabric for a quilt but this was a different story for sure! Stephanie was very patient with me. I have a feeling she had to try the dress on a lot more times for me then she has ever had to for a real seamstress who knows what she is doing! If I cross my fingers maybe she will let me post a photo of her wearing it. :) She looks beautiful in the dress!

Warning: This is a long post with many photos. In fact, this might be my longest post ever! If long posts aren't your thing, then you may just want to scroll down to the very last paragraph. When you get there you will see why I said to scroll down to it.:)

Last week I also celebrated my birthday. It was a biggie too! I celebrated being on this earth for 50 years! I say celebrate because that is just how I look at it, not a time to be sad about how old I am, but to be happy that I am 50. I have had some health issues in the past that if it weren't for God and His healing mercies I would not be here today. I felt like I celebrated all week long even though that wasn't quite the case.

While my husband helped to make my celebration a special one, my friend Char helped me celebrate by giving me a fun gift. She picked me up the day after my birthday at 6:00 a.m. and it was a big secret as to what we were going to do that day. Neither one of us is what you would call morning person so the early pick up time was a surprise in itself. I was told what to wear and that was about it. To make a long story short we went to downtown Chicago on the

South Shore Train.

When we were standing in front of Chicago's ABC Television Station Char turned to me and said, "We have tickets to be in the audience of the Windy City Live show!" How cool was that! If you aren't from the Chicago area you will have no clue what I am talking about here, but this is the show that replaced Oprah's time slot in the Chicago area. The show was in it's third week of shooting and it was so much fun to watch everything that went on. The audience members received a free ticket to attend a ballet with the Joffrey Ballet company next Fall that day too!

How fun is that?

The day was filled with too much fun to share it all with you, but I wanted to share some highlights. After the Windy City Live show we walked around Chicago and took in some sights and of course had some great food! Our first stop was the new Disney store. There is merchandise there that you won't find on Disney property.

I think I need some of this!

Shirts with Mickey and his friends with the Chicago skyline...

Chicago glasses with Mickey....

And my friend Char holding a Chicago autograph book with Mickey on it. Yep, I think I need some of this!

We walked down to Millennium Park and saw "The Bean" The real name of this 110 ton elliptical sculpture is "Cloud Gate", but the locals refer to it as "The Bean" because that is just want it looks like - a big silver bean.

The way it reflects Chicago's skyline is wonderful, and of course everyone wants a photo of their reflection in The Bean too.

This was our reflection. :)

One of the places we stopped for a bite to eat was at a little cupcake shop called Sugar Bliss. The name describes the cupcakes perfectly. They have little mini cupcakes that are just like the bigger ones for purchase. We got the mini ones so we could try more then one flavor. Yum! To say that I had a wonderful birthday celebration with Char feels like an understatement. We had a fantastic time!

Thanks for reading this looooong post today, and a word to the wise, be on the lookout for a giveaway here soon!

Orange Peel Table Runner

2011-06-09T16:13:00.000-05:00

My quilt guild had a challenge. The challenge was to make a red, white, and blue table runner and there were two weeks left for me to make it. I wanted to participate, but I really didn't want to have to buy more fabric. I ~~wanted~~ needed to use what I had in my stash. I looked through my patriotic bin and was a little surprised. I favor cream or beige tones to go along with the red and blue, but I didn't realize the only real white fabric I had was this flag panel that I had in the bin for what seems like forever. It looked like a win win to me, as it was going to be taken out my my stash and I could start on it right way since I was in a time crunch. Ok, what was I going to do with it? I had just taken a class at guild with Caron Carlson in which we learned how to draft and hand sew Orange Peel blocks.With that in mind I ended up drafting a template in which the blue star area would be the center of the blocks. This is what the fabric looked like starting out.

And this is what I ended up with! Yes, it is for a small table, but it is still a table runner. (Don't tell anyone but it might end up on my wall instead of the table some day!)

In the class we learned how to draft a block using a 7 inch circle, and you can see how far along I got with the class sample as it is in the 30's fabric in the top right corner. I pieced the table runner using a 4 1/2" circle.

This was the first time that I attached a curved binding, and it wasn't as hard as it looks. I like the way it turned out, and you may be seeing more curved or scalloped edges in the future. You never know! I am left with a quite a bit of the red and white striped sections in the fabric. Now what do I do with it??? Cutting it up for a string quilt sounds good to me right now. I don't want to put it back in the patriotic fabric bin! :)

When it rains....just move

2011-05-25T14:33:00.000-05:00

The other day I found myself with a free afternoon. What was I going to do? Well, to be honest there were a couple of things that I could have done, but I chose to sew instead! It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the temperature was finally warm enough to go out and sew in my Summer Palace ( I first talked about my Summer Palace here, and then again here, and probably a few other places sprinkled around my bog). The weather has been unusually cold and wet so far this Spring. I have a few flowers planted, but none in front of the Palace yet! Yikes! I have not been able to get excited about buying and planting flowers in such yucky weather. In fact, I had thought about going out today and purchasing some but we had a tornado watch this morning, and it looks like it can rain again. :( That quickly put a damper on those plans today!

Anyway, I guess I had better get back to what I am really writing about today! I got my little Featherweight sewing machine all set up in the Palace and started to sew away on a project that has to be kept a secret right now so you won't be seeing this work in progress. You never know who is going to read your blog and this is a gift for someone. I am making the quilt top and someone else is going to do the quilting. I will show you the finished top at a later date, but I won't be showing this work in progress as I would hate for a surprise to be ruined!

There I was...happily sewing away and listening to book on my ipod when I noticed that it had started to get cooler. Well that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Then I noticed that the wind had picked up. That is not a good sign. My hubby came home then and said, it is going to rain, and it looks like it could be a big storm. Oh no!!!!!!! Not when I was having so much fun in the Palace! As I finished up the step I was working on it started to rain. I gathered up my things and dashed inside. I could have decided to call it a day for quilting but nope, I decided to set up shop on my desk. Call me lazy but I didn't want to carry everything downstairs (where I usually sew) just to drag it out again the next time I was going to sew in the Palace (And I had plans to do it again soon!).

My little Green Alien friend saw all of the green fabrics and decided he needed to help me out. You may not know this, but one of my favorite Disney characters is the little Green Aliens from The Toy Story movies. You might remember the Alien Cupcakes that I posted my other blog, Travel Talk With Marilyn and this one. The cupcakes were a lot of fun to make and eat of course! I have three of these little Alien guys that hang out on my desk and they always make me smile when I look at them. They make great office mates! :)

Yesterday at guild we had a guest speaker, Caron Carlson come. In the afternoon she gave a class on hand piecing an Orange Peel quit. Stay tuned for more on that topic soon...and I can actually show you that one too! :)

Hand Knitted Socks

2010-11-02T20:08:00.000-05:00

Hand knitted socks! I love to knit them, I love to wear them. What I don't love is.....

making one sock on the regular double pointed needles and then having to make another sock just like the first. It is kind of like de ja vou, like a been there and done that type of feeling. If it has been any length of time between the making of the two socks then I have to remember if I made any changes to the pattern on the first sock. Yikes! I decided to try a different method, making both socks on circular needles at the same time. This way, when you are finished you are finished! I like that idea. I bought the books Knitting Circles Around Socks and Knitting More Circles Around Socks. The directions look pretty easy to follow and I have read that many have had success with these books. Why did I buy both books? Well, the second book has the knitting from the toe up method which is another thing I want to learn. The yarn just kind of flew into my virtual shopping cart when I ordered the circular knitting needles. That is my story and I am sticking to it!

So far I have just knitted socks on the DPNs (double pointed needles) from the cuff down. In fact, I have a pair that I am working on right now on the DPNs. That is what you see in the lower left hand corner of the photo. Will I finish that pair before I start a new one? Yes, I will and this is the reason why - they aren't for me! They are a gift for a friend. I wanted to give my bff two pairs of socks for her birthday because she loves wearing them as much as I do. I didn't have the socks made in time, so I gave her the yarn. She understood and gladly gave the yarn back to me. :) I have three socks made and the last sock is on the needles. I will not allow myself to start the two at a time socks until I have that last sock made. I am afraid that if I allow myself to put the sock aside I won't get that third sock made in time for my friends birthday next year! I guess I had better get knitting because I can't wait to make some more socks!

Toy Story Alien Cupcakes

2010-10-26T10:28:00.000-05:00

I had some fun in the kitchen yesterday. I made some adorable Toy Story Alien cupcakes with these supplies:

Want to see what they looked like? Click here and you will travel with Galactic speed over to my other blog. Come on over....."You have been selected!"

Some more progress...

2010-10-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

I have made some progress on the machine quilting of my New York Beauty quilt this past week. I have not had the time lately to quilt as much as I want, but I guess that is just life. I took about 30 photos of the quilt back and front tonight to try to get a good one, but the lighting wasn't in my favor. I am stitching in the ditch around each triangle and arc. Yikes! There are a lot of triangles in this baby!

I have added a little squiggle to the middle of each big triangle. Don't you like my technical term of squiggle? I don't really know what else to call it, so squiggle it is!

I am still undecided as to what I will do in the middle of the blue sections. I am thinking of adding a curving line down the middle of each section. As to the other open areas...I still don't know what I want to do. Kind of sad if you ask me! You would think by now I would know what quilting designs I want to do, but that is not the case. Oh well, I am sure something will come to me!

What you sew, so shall you rip!

2010-10-04T15:16:00.001-05:00

This is a case of ripping out offending stitches. I decided to spend a little time yesterday working on my New York Beauty quilt. I shouldn't have.

My eyes felt tired and my contacts dry. Allergies are no fun at all. I knew that some of my stitching in the ditch wasn't totally up to par, but I thought it would be okay. After stitching along the row of triangles I moved the quilt out from under that sewing machine. I did not like what I saw at all. Now I am spending more time taking out the stitches then I did put put them in the first place. Ugh! At least I hope I have learned my lesson. Don't quilt when your eyes are tired and dry as you won't like the results!

More!

2010-10-01T15:23:00.000-05:00

I am still doing the "basic" type of quilting on my New York Beauty quilt - stitching in the ditch. I have so far gotten most of the blocks and sashing stabilized.

I am debating on sewing around each little triangle in the sashing. I plan on stitching around each triangle in the blocks, but oh there are lots and lots of little triangles. I have a feeling I will...sometimes I feel like I am a sucker for punishment. :)

I feel like all of the photos I have shared lately look exactly the same. How many times do you want to see the same quilt over and over? So, to remedy this I decided to show you a few photos of a quilt from a quilt show I went to this past August at Essenhause Inn in Shipshewana, IN. It is of an antique quilt that was made by many different ladies. It is believed to have been a wedding gift. The way the display area was set up, I couldn't get back far enough to get a photo of the whole quilt. Sorry about that!

I just love the different embroidered blocks in this quilt.

Sister Alma is the one who made this block of course, and in 1941. Isn't it great that no one has to guess as to when this quilt was lovingly made?

The quilt won the blue ribbon for the Vintage before 1959 category.

Of all the blocks, I think Sister Silvia's is my favorite!

The Pinning of the New York Beauty

2010-09-22T15:29:00.000-05:00

The pinning of the New York Beauty is finished! I believe in using many many pins as you can see here.

In fact, if I had more I would have probably used them, but I used every pin I own. I don't want the quilt top or the backing to shift while I maneuver this baby under my little domestic sewing machine. I still haven't come up with a design that I want to quilt in a few sections, but I need to get going on this project. I will be using a product called Golden Threads Quilting Paper because many of the larger areas are too dark for me to trace the design on with a wash out marker - even with the use of a light box. Since this is the case, there is no need for me to wait before I do some stitching in the ditch to stabilize the quilt. Now, if you aren't a quilter and you are reading this you are going to be scratching your head saying, "What in the world is she talking about? Golden Threads quilting Paper?" Just wait...I will show you this in another future post. Until then, I had better get going. There are more blogs to read that I need to catch up with let along start maching quilting this beauty!

Minnie Mouse Is A Quilter

2010-09-15T14:08:00.002-05:00

As promised, I am back and now to tell you what I have been up to. This past Summer I became a Disney Travel Specialist with the 3D Travel Company. Last week I went to Walt Disney World for some training...

and then went on a Disney Cruise Line training trip too! It was a three night cruise to the Bahama's. Whooo Hoooo! It was my first cruise, and I don't believe it will be my last!

Did you know that Minnie Mouse was a quilter????? She is!

Please go to my new blog and read all about "Minnie The Quilter" here. I would love to help my fellow quilters out there plan their trips to Disney Destinations. Let me know if I can help...in fact, click here for a free no obligation quote. Walt Disney World has some free dining opportunities out there now but there is a limited availability. And by the way, Disney pays for my services so there is no charge to my clients!

Will I stop quilting and stop posting about my quilting now??? No way! I may not be able to quilt as much, but it will never stop! :)

The Planning Goes On

2010-09-06T20:34:00.000-05:00

I have been working on the designs for my New York Beauty quilt. I like to take left over blocks and try out different designs, threads and battings. I think I know what I am going to do...but I reserve the right to change my mind. In the last post I talked about putting feathers in the large diamond shaped areas. I have changed my mind...I think! What I am going to put there for sure is still undermined. The fabrics are pretty busy and I am afraid that the quilting will not be seen easily no matter what I put there.

I will not be posting for about a week but don't worry, I will be back! I have some non quilting related things going on this week that I will tell you about on my next post! See you then!

New York Beauty Quilting Decisions

2010-09-03T13:19:00.000-05:00

I have finally finished my New York Beauty quilt top! Yes!! I am liking what I see. It is bigger then I had first envisioned, but that seems to be the usual thing for me. I get carried away in the designing process I guess. lol This is a poor photo as it doesn't show the colors well, and it is draped over a couch, but it was the best I could do today to show you the size of the top.

Here are a few photos that show more of the details. I have used Civil War era reproductions and the colors are so rich. I wish my photos showed this, but I am better behind the sewing machine then the camera I am afraid!

Now to decide what quilting designs to use. I have been thinking about it ever since I started to piece the blocks together. So far I believe that I want to do some type of feather design in the big diamond shape background areas. I love feathers, but have yet to master them. I don't feel confident enough to free hand quilt them, so I will be drawing my own pattern. I am thinking of sewing in the ditch around the triangles and doing a little squiggly type of line in the middle of them. I have yet to decide what to do with the blue sashing areas or the blue squares. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Oh what to do!

New York Beauty Quilt Continued

2010-08-30T21:38:00.000-05:00

The New York Beauty blocks and sashing have been sewn together, so now it is time to take the papers off the back of the sashing! It is a long tedious process, but I thing the end results are well worth it.

I use a small pair of tweezers that I found in the cosmetics section at the drug store to help me. I would be lost without them! I can get the little corners out of the seam allowances with ease and my fingers don't become sore from the pulling and tugging of the paper.

As I am taking the paper off the back I am thinking about what type of quilting design I want to put on the front. I will be machine quilting this piece....oh what designs to use????

Making Progress on the New York Beauty Quilt

2010-08-21T10:49:00.004-05:00

I am excited! I have made progress on my New York Beauty quilt! As you can see, I have gotten all of my blocks finished and four small blocks have been sewn together to make twelve big blocks! I now get to start sewing the sashing and cornerstones in. Yes, I am excited! Wait until you see the sashing - there are tons on tiny triangles on them too. I am hoping that my next quilt project doesn't have triangles in it! Now, on to more sewing!

Progress!

2010-08-10T10:15:00.003-05:00

Yes! I am making progress on my New York Beauty blocks! Eleven more to go and I can start piecing the actual quilt together! I don't think I have ever used as many pins as I have in putting these blocks together. Oh the joy of dropping pins on the floor as they slip out of my hands while manipulating the arcs. I will admit that I have a habit of putting pins in my mouth instead of back into the pin cushion. My Hubby always stops and looks if I am sitting at the sewing machine before he gives me a hello or goodbye kiss. Are there any other quilters out there with the same habit? I hope so! :)

New York Beauty Quilt

2010-08-06T23:39:00.009-05:00

My how time seems to slip through your fingers! It has almost been a full year since my last post! I have missed blogging. I have thought many times about how I needed to get back to my quilting blog. Why did I wait so long? I am not really sure, but the time as come to change that!

The quilting project I am going to talk about today was been in the works for the past year. Yep, the past year. This has been a very complicated project to say the least. (Of course it isn't the only project I have worked on in the past year, but it has been the main one - I promise!) I fell in love with a pattern I saw at a quilt store. It was a version of a New York Beauty quilt. I could just see this quilt in my home! Every year my quilt guild sponsors a ribbon and an award at the County Fair. The quilt for 2010 was to be a New York Beauty quilt. There was my answer! I just had to make that quilt! If you aren't familiar with a New York Beauty quilt there are many small pointy triangles and curved seams in the traditional block. Never fear I thought, I can do it! I decided to make a sample block because I have learned the hard way that all patterns are not written or drafted correctly. I tried out a block using the pattern and it was a failure. I posted about it here. The arcs weren't drafted correctly and the block would not end up square no matter how hard I tried. Was I ever frustrated! I then had to decide if I wanted to scrap the whole project and do something else or redraft the pattern. I really wanted to get a quilt made and entered in the fair. I played around with the quilt program called Electric Quilt 6 and was able to redraft my own version of the New York Beauty. I ended up actually preferring it to the pattern I bought, which is a very good thing! Want to see a photo? I know you do, but I am going to make you wait a little for that. :)

I will let you see a few parts of the quilt though! This is part of the sashing. I used the paper piecing method to make all of the little triangles. Lots and lots of triangles. Boy was I tired of triangles when I finished the last sashing piece.

I am now working on piecing the actual blocks together.
Because the sections are made up of arcs you have to use many pins to hold the two layers together. I know I am breaking a rule by sewing over the little pins, but these blocks are 8" finished and the arcs start out so small. It would be very difficult to keep the edges of the arcs right where I wanted them without that number of pins. I sew very carefully and slowly. I don't want to break a machine needle by hitting a pin wrong. Would you like to see the whole block? You will have to wait a little for that too. I know, I am being mean here, but I want you to see the whole block pieced together first. Four of the 8" blocks are sewn together to make one big block. Since I have about half of the little blocks sewn together I am going to make you wait to see what they look like when they are put together. I know, I am doing a lot of teasing in this post. Sorry - kind of. :) A side note here: I timed myself as to how long it took to sew each block. It takes an average of about forty minutes to sew one block. Yikes! If there are four small blocks in each of the big blocks...that is over 2 hours for each block. There are 12 big blocks. That is worth a double Yikes!

Well, the County Fair is next week. As you can see, this quilt will not be in it. Why has this project taken me sooooo long? There is a very good reason, but you guessed it. That answer will be in another post. I think I have rambled on long enough, and put out enough teasers for one post!

Ribbons Quilts & Flowers

2009-08-31T22:38:00.007-05:00

Before I start talking about quilt related things let me warn you not to click on pop ups that tell you that you have a virus. As I stated in my previous post I clicked on a pop up that said I had 41 viruses. Yikes! It looked so official, but it so wasn't! With the help of a friend I believe that my computer is back to normal. What a headache! My friend stresses that it is important to never click on a program that you did not start yourself. Even if your virus protection program flashes up a warning, always close out what you are doing and run your own scan. I have learned the hard way!

Now for a couple of quilt related things! I entered four of my quilts and a knitted shawl into my county fair this year. I brought home one first place, three second place and one third place ribbons. Not too bad of a showing I guess!
It is always a lot of fun to see my quilts hung up at the fair, and even more fun if there is a ribbon attached to it!

I showed you a little glimpse of this quilt here with a promise of showing you the whole quilt when it was finished. I started this quilt a long time ago (I refuse to pin point the exact time). A friend and I some bartering and in exchange I was to make her this quilt.
I am happy to say it is now finished! I don't have close up photos of the machine quilting right now, but I hopefully will have on my next post. Camera batteries always die when you don't want them too! The border is more of a burgundy color then what this photo shows. I sometimes have a hard time getting the colors to show just right in photos. This was as close to the true coloring that I could get.

I just had to share this photo of my Hollyhock. I planted this by seed in the early spring. After I planted it I read on the seed packet that this plant wouldn't flower until the second year after planting. Boy was I ever disappointed to read that. Needless to say I am thrilled that the packaging was wrong.
Look at this beauty! It shows up so well in front of the white fence. I think this is one of my prettiest flower this year!

I have been working on a guild challenge again. This time we had to use a certain fabric and make a tote bag or a hand bag with it. I am very happy with the results so far! Wish I could show you a photo of it too this time around, but that will have to wait until after the challenge is due on Sept. 22. Can you ever have enough tote bags? I don't seem to be able to!

I've Not Fallen Off The Face Of The Earth

2009-08-29T14:04:00.002-05:00

Hello! I've not fallen off the face of the earth, but at times it feels like it. I have been getting some quilting time in here and there. This morning I did a very bad thing. While I was reading my email a box popped up that said I had a virus. I thought it was my regular McAfee program and I clicked on the box that said to erase this virus click here. Well, it looks like it was a Trogen Horse of some type. Yikes! A good friend of mine is going to help me out some time this weekend so I should be back up and running again soon. I have a quilt to show you, a new guild challenge that I am working on, but that will have to wait for now. I will leave you with this warning: Be careful of what you click on, especially if it says you have a virus!

Home Again

2009-08-10T16:35:00.008-05:00

I am back home again! I had a wonderful time at the retreat. Susan Cleveland the author of Piping Hot Binding, Piping Hot Curves and Marvelous Miters was the guest speaker and one of the many quilting teachers there at the retreat. I took four classes with Susan and I am so happy that I did. She is a fantastic speaker/teacher. One of the classes I took with her was the Marvelous Miter class. I am a poor miter maker to say the least. In fact, I hated to make them. I decided that I should take the class because I am such a poor miter maker. Let me say I love her method! The thought of miters no longer make me shudder. This is the mitered block I made in that class and the block I made in the Piping Hot Curves class.
The art of making and applying piping isn't hard once you know the tricks. Susan is very generous in the sharing of her knowledge. I am planning on having fun with that curved piping technique.

On Friday night Susan gave a lecture. She showed many of the quilts from her books as well as some of her award winning quilts. We were able to see "up close" because of the use of a camera. That made it so much easier to see exactly what she was talking about when she referred to different areas of her quilts.
She also used the camera during her classes which made the many little details easy to understand.
There were many little quilts to look at and learn from. Susan pays quite a bit of attention to the little details, and that is what makes her work stunning.
Susan had her books and a couple of other helpful products available. Yep, I think I bought most of them. Yikes!
There were quite a few vendors at the retreat also. Look what I found! I think I bought two fat quarters for the usual $2.50 each, but the rest of the yardage was for $4.00 a yard. I didn't buy all that I would have liked, but I did find enough to make me happy.
See the four fat quarters on the right hand side? I won those in a door prize drawing. Fun!

Now the next photo will be understood by the city gals like me. When I pulled up in the parking lot at the college where the retreat was being held in Mt. Carmel, IL I looked over to the next street. There were fields of growing corn. What surprised me was that I was still in the town limits. See the stop sign and the 35 mph sign? Where I live you have to drive at least 25 - 30 min. away to see the first sign of crops growing in a field. By the time you see corn fields the speed limit is at least 55 mph. I'm not making fun of this by any means. I just think of it as small town charm!

What's Been Going On

2009-08-05T19:57:00.005-05:00

Hello! I have been able to get in a lot of sewing/quilting time in lately, I have taken photos but I just haven't found the time to post about it. Yikes! Bad blogger Marilyn! But, first things first! Look what I received in the mail the other day!
I won a give a way from Paula, The Quilter. I love it, and boy am I a happy quilter! Thanks Paula, you made my day! I am looking forward to making this beauty.

As I said earlier I have been able to get a lot of sewing time in lately and best of all most of it has been spent in my Summer Palace. I got the "big guns' out the other day and did some machine quilting. All that is left on this wall hanging is the binding. I am going to make you wait to see it until after the binding is on. Shame on me! *G*

I went to Shipshewanna, IN with some of my quiting friends the other day. Did we ever have fun! I tried to be very very good and not buy as much as I have been know to when I visit the Shipshewanna area. This is what I bought:
I found some great buys and some fabrics that called my name. They just had to go home with me. Beautiful flowers were outside of all the shops. This was one of my favorite photos. Just lovely!

Tomorrow I am traveling down to spend a few days with my parents and to attend a Quilter's Retreat. I will tell you more about that in another. I will be taking four different classes. I am so looking forward to visiting with my family and of course the opportunity to meet other quilters and to learn more about the art of quilting! Now it is off to finish packing for my trip!

Momma Said There'll Be Days Like This

2009-07-23T13:15:00.006-05:00

Can you sing along with me? Momma said there'll be days like this, there'll be days like this my Momma said..... The day started out well. I was going to be able to spend some time sewing in my "Summer Palace", also known as a Gazebo. I was going to work on my Gallantly Streaming quilt that I mentioned in my last post. I found out that my friends who were working on the same quilt are much farther ahead of me. In fact, one of them actually has her top finished. Well, I couldn't let that happen so this was the project I picked to work on. I just love to sew out in my gazebo. When I look up I see the beautiful flowers. When I sew in my usual place, down in the basement, I only see walls.
I thought all was going well until I realized that I was missing some of the units that I had previously sewn. Three of one type and one each of two other units. Who knows where the missing units went. I guess that is what happens when a project sits around for a while and is moved from one place to another.

At least the units weren't very complicated and I had my extra fabric strips handy. I cut up some 2 1/5" squares and pieced away. Problem solved. I moved on and sewed the red piece that you see on to the sides of the units.
I ironed all of the units and got the next piece to sew on to it ready. Then I realized that the red strips were supposed to be sewn on the other side, next to the little blue squares. I looked through my pile of 44 units. I may have four that are sewn correctly. Can you say rip it? Ugh!

I thought I would show you the little lariat that I made to go on my rotary cutter. It even has a little rotary cutter charm on the end. Cute! I will never again get confused as to which rotary cutter is mine when I quilt with friends.
This past Sunday I took a few hours to play with this Sleeping Beauty block.
I wanted to see if the pattern was correct before I cut into my fabric so I pulled out the scrap bin and got to work. After I had paper pieced the arcs I saw that the smaller one hadn't been drafted correctly. One end of the arc was smaller then the other. I decided to go ahead and piece it together to see if there were any more baubles in the pattern. As you can see this block is anything but square. It may be pretty, but not square. I bought this quilt pattern because I fell in love with a sample at a quilt store. I guess I will be either finding another New York Beauty block pattern or redraft this one to make it work. I am sooo glad I didn't cut up a lot of fabric for this quilt before trying out the block.

I guess I had better get back to ripping out all of those quilt blocks. At least I can do it out in my Summer Palace!

Blocks (Or Pieces Of Blocks) and Mail

2009-07-15T15:31:00.005-05:00

Today I got together with a couple of my quiting friends. We worked on a quilt called Gallantly Streaming. The pattern is put out by Cozy Quilt Designs. It is from their Cozy Strip Club Pattern series. The quilt is made from 2 1/2" fabric strips. I forgot to get my camera out before my friends left so I don't have photos of their blocks. They are much farther along then I am. As you can see I have one block out of 12 made and the little unit sections to make the rest of the blocks. The next time I get together with my friends maybe I will remember to take photos. I hope so!

Look what arrived in the mail today! Let me tell you, I just love it! Debi over at Quilting With Debi

was celebrating her 300th post and this is how she celebrated - with this generous giveaway. I was so thrilled when she sent me an email telling me I had won. While I was looking through the book "Tea In The Garden" I found myself thinking ohhhhh I like that quilt quite a few times. I love this book! The little Schnibbles pattern "Plan C" is just adorable. There are two charm packs, Hemming House and Tranquility. The panel that you see coordinates with the Tranquility line. I am going to have some fun with these fabrics! Now to decide what to make...I am thinking of using the Hemming House charm pack to make Plan C. Hmmmmm what can I do with the panel and charms that go with it? I will think of something! Thank you soooo much Debi!

Galena Part 2

2009-07-11T20:29:00.007-05:00

I had every intention of posting the second half of our recent trip to Galena, IL before tonight, but as you can see it didn't happen. So, here it is now! The first store I visited was a neat quilt shop called Phat 1/4's This is what I bought here:

Reproduction fabrics (of course) and a neat apron pattern. Phat 1/4's is also a Bernina dealer. I drooled over the 820 model. It is the one with the extended arm and many neat features. That machine is on my "Oh Wouldn't That Be Nice To Have" list. The owner was so nice to chat with I ended up forgetting something there, but I will tell you more about that in a minute.

Hubby told me, "Hey, there is a yarn shop next door." Hmmmmm Sounds good to me! We went next door to Fiber Wild! Talk about a dangerous place for me to be! As some of you might know, this past Winter I picked up my knitting needles again. I have had so much fun knitting socks. Fiber Wild! had such beautiful sock yarn, plus any other type of yarn you could imagine. The customer service there was beyond my expectations. Amy and Sean are the owners. While Amy was patiently answering all of my questions Sean was talking to Hubby about what there was to do in the area and basic guy stuff. I found a sock pattern that Amy had designed and I found the perfect yarn. It is the pink/purple/green/yellow yarn that you see in the photo. When I was looking over the pattern I saw something that I didn't understand. Yarn over. I have just been doing the purl knit thing. Amy showed me a few different things about knitting that I didn't know and said that if I had problems with anything to stop in the next day and she would help me. Great. When I tried to pull out my credit card to pay for my purchases I realized I didn't have it. Yikes! The last place I used it was at Phat 14's next door. I had been so busy chatting there I walked off without my card. Sean assured me that was nothing to worry about, my card was safe. I just needed to pick it up in the morning. Hubby pulled out his credit card and away we went. That night I started knitting the new socks. Yes, I had some issues with the yarn over thing. The next morning the first stop we made was to the quilt store, and yes, my card was waiting safe and sound for me. When we went into the yarn shop we were greeted with ahhhhhh your back! Amy sat down with me and helped me with my yarn over issues and made sure I knew what I was doing. I asked her for assistance with finding a light weight but warm yarn for a shawl. I always freeze on Sunday mornings in church when the A/C is on and I want to be able to put something cute around my shoulders. I found the perfect yarn and pattern to fulfill my request along with a beautiful blue yarn that just called my name and wanted to go home with me. Yes, I had a great time at the shop!

The next stop was at a neat bead shop called Galena Beads. I have always wanted to learn how to make my own jewelry, but to be honest, I need another hobby like I need a hole in my head! I was looking at the many ready to wear jewelry pieces that were available for sale there and found a beautiful green necklace and ear ring set. The only problem was that I only had one top to wear that would work with that color. I then saw a sign that said I could take learn how to make my own necklace right then. I mentioned it to Hubby. He said to go for it. As I was picking out the beads to use Hubby told me he would go and visit some of the shops and come back in a little while. To make a long story short, when Hubby got back I had just decided what beads to use. He sat down beside me as I was guided along the process of making my first necklace. That was so much fun I decided I needed to make earrings to match. Fun! I also bought beads to make a bracelet to match when I got home. This is what I made:
As we were walking into different antique stores the owners recognized my dear Hubby and say, ahhhh your back! I didn't think too much of this until about the third time when the shop owner asked to see the jewelry that I made. (Hubby had told him his wife was making a necklace and he had time to kill) I happily showed him. I then commented to Hubby about the many shops he had been in while I was at the bead store. "Well," Hubby said, "I was gone for an hour and thought you would have had the necklace made by the time I got back." I couldn't believe that it had taken me an hour just to pick the beads out! There were so many to choose from and I kept changing my mind. I thanked Hubby for being so patient and understanding. At the antique store, Gustafson & Grey to be exact I did find this:
They are silver button covers that for some reason just needed to go home with me. We had a wonderful time in Galena!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-05T13:13:00.003-05:00

Hello! I guess today isn't the 4th of July, but it is the best I could do. Yesterday morning I couldn't get on the Blogger site. It just wouldn't work. Then in the afternoon and evening I didn't have DSL service. Since I was able to get online now I decided that I had better take advantage of it! So, Happy 4th of July to all of my fellow Americans.

My town has their 4th of July parade on the 3rd. They call it a twilight parade. It starts at 6:30 p.m. If you want a prime spot to watch the parade you had to stake out you spot at least an hour before it starts, if not earlier. My friend Char loves to take photos. She told me that she always wanted to take a photo of the parade from the overpass that crosses the parade's path. Was I game to drive while she took the photos? Sure, I would love to. I guess I should mention that the parade route is also linked up with the big festival at the park so the roads are more congested then usual. We took off on our adventure. We had to figure out how to time the traffic so we could slow down at the top. I found out that if I drove really slow at the bottom of the overpass the people behind me would go around me in the other lane. After they went around me I would speed up to get to the top of the overpass. That gave me time to slow down to almost a stop so Char could snap the photos. It worked! We did a few passes and ended up with some great photos.
This is one of the best photos of the evening. A giant flag is carried down the parade route. Char was so happy as this is her favorite part of the parade each year.

Happy Independence Day!

Trip to Galena, IL

2009-06-27T21:02:00.011-05:00

Recently Hubby and I went on a mini vacation to Galena, IL. We totally enjoyed our trip. Illinois' Northwestern area is one rolling hill after another, beautiful farmlands and a joy to travel through. This first photo is a distant one of the town of Galena.
This is a view of the downtown or business area. There is one little shop after another. There are many different types of shops there ranging from quaint little antique shops to shops that have the latest of apparel. I had three favorite shops there: Phat 1/4's (a wonderful quilt store), Fiber Wild (a good name for that store as I went a little wild with the different yarns there) and Galena Beads (I always wanted to learn how to make jewelry). I also found a little treasure in an antique shop. This post would be too long if I went into detail about the shops and what I bought, so I will save that for the next post. Oh, did I mention the many restaurants to choose from? Or about the chocolate shops and the popcorn shop? Yum!
Since Galena was founded as a mining town it is no surprise to see the houses built into the hill sides. What was interesting to me was the steps that lead from one street up to another. You may have to click on the next photo to get a good view of the steps that seem to go on forever and forever. One thing Hubby found interesting was the number of chimneys that the buildings had. So many fireplaces! I will admit I found looking at the trees, the number of church steeples and thinking about the next shop to wander into more interesting then the chimneys. I guess it is a girl thing huh?
I thought the steps were lovely to look at, but with a heat index of 100 degrees I had no desire to try to walk up them. Dear Hubby is much more adventurous then I am. He is also in much better physical shape then I am. He wanted to see what was at the top of the stairs. Here is a photo of what he saw looking down from the top of the stairs. See the little purple spec standing by the top of yet another flight of stairs? You may have to click on the photo to see it. That is me.
Okay, you may want to know what was at the top of the stairs. This house. Neat!
I did walk up and down some stairs while we were in Galena, but not to the extent of dear Hubby.

There was to be a Hot Air Balloon Festival that weekend and we were so looking forward to seeing the sights. The weather, however, did not cooperate. There were severe storm warnings on the evening that we were there. We figured they would have to cancel the event but we drove to the golf course/resort where the event was to be held anyway. Once we got there we found out that yes, the event was canceled. We were very disappointed but we decided to drive around a little to see what there was to see. Imagine our surprise when we rounded a corner and saw this waterfall. It wasn't a bunch of hot air balloons taking off into the air but it sure was beautiful!
There are many different things to see and do while in Galena and I am only touching on a few. I would be remiss if I forgot to tell you that while in Galena you can visit Grant's home and a few other old but beautiful mansions. There is a statue of Grant, a memorial to the soldiers of the Civil War from the Galena area and many cannons to view. I am sure I didn't get a chance to see everything there so I hope to return one day. If you get a chance to stop by for a visit to the Galena area I can tell you that you won't be disappointed!

What's Up

2009-06-22T19:09:00.007-05:00

Do I ever have a lot of things to talk about, but I will start with what I had originally planned for last week. We have been having problems with our DSL and phone service. Never any fun, but I guess you always want what you can't or don't have. So, what I wanted to post last week was what I had been working on.

I pulled out this little project out the other day. I started this foundation paper piecing project years ago. It had been sitting on a shelf waiting to be noticed again. I just had six more blocks to make before I could sew the blocks together. Now it is waiting for a border. I believe the block is called Delectable Mountains. I like how this is turning out. I don't plan on letting it sit for a few more years before I finish it though!

I taught a beginning machine quilting class last week. I really enjoy teaching, but the only problem is that I can't seem to leave the quilt store without spending some of my pay check. This is that called to me:

I just love those reproduction fabrics. I bought a new type of basting glue. In the past I have always used a different brand that had a poor applicator tip. This new one's applicator isn't supposed to clog up in between uses. I will let you know how that turns out when I get to try it out.

Hubby and I got to go out of town for a few days last week. We had a great time. We went to Galena, IL. It is a beautiful town with rolling hills and many many steps. I will talk more about what I found to do and buy there another day. For now I will talk about a quilt shop that we stopped at on the way (kind of) to Galena. Ever since I purchased the Better Homes and Gardens Quilt Sampler 2007 magazine I have wanted to visit The Quilt Merchant shop in Winfield, IL. They specialize in reproduction fabrics. They have been a vendor at the Chicago Quilt Show that I try to go to each year and I have spent time in their booth drooling over the fabrics, patterns and quilts that they brought. Yes, I always spent money in their booth, but I always wanted to visit the store. When I first walked into the store I will admit my first thought was , oh is smaller then I thought it would be. I was a little disappointed. But then I realized that every bolt of fabric in that store was a reproduction fabric. Every single one! The smile spread on my face and the shopping began. I found yards of fabric that needed to go home with me. There is a great sale corner that has some great fabrics at 50% off. Neat! I found a few other things that I had been looking for too.

I am looking forward to trying out that little light on my sewing machine. I think it will help me to see where I am going while I am machine quilting. I'll let you know if it does what I hope it will. I will post about the actual visit to Galena soon!

The Needle Chaser?

2009-06-11T08:56:00.004-05:00

Well, I think life is finally turning more back to normal around here now. I have been spending every available moment quilting on the Red & White quilt that I was making for my Quilt Guild's Challenge that was due on the 9th. I have mentioned the quilt in previous posts, but could not even show a photo of my progress on it because it had to remain a secret until the the challenge was unveiled last Tuesday. Many long hours were put into the creation of this quilt, and while I became weary of it from time to time I am very happy with the result. The winners of the Challenge are pictured below. From left to right, third place, second place (Me!) and the first place winner. Since I did not get prior permission to list the other winners names, I will refrain from posting them, but aren't their quilts just wonderful!

It is a rainy gloomy day here and it is not easy to take a nice photo, so until that photo can be taken I will just have to share these. The block's actual name is the Wild Goose Chase. I am thinking about naming this quilt "The Needle Chaser" because I broke, bent and blunted more needles in the making of this quilt then any other quilt that I have ever made.

I used Kona Cotton fabric, and it tends to be on the heavy side, so the seam allowances were quite thick at times. Because of this the open toe foot on the sewing machine barely cleared in some areas. (I quilted this on my regular Pfaff sewing machine.) Moving the quilt around during the quilting process sometimes caused the foot to move out of place. When this happened of course the needle would break when it hit the foot. Ugh! When I was piecing the blocks I found that I had to sew through so many layers of fabric that my Pffaf couldn't handle it well. The needle would bend and then blunt. I ended up piecing the whole top on my little antique Singer Featherweight machine. It held up to the heavy layers just fine. Go figure!

I used silk thread in the white areas there the highly detailed quilting was required. It makes it easier to have dense quilting in small spaces.

Now that this little quilt is finished I can now get back to reading my favorite blogs and getting my house back into order after being neglected. Talk about the laundry that is waiting for me!

Flower Power

2009-05-20T09:00:00.002-05:00

Aside from my working on the Two Color Challenge quilt (like crazy) that I can't show photos of yet, I have finally been able to start planting flowers around my home. It has been a very cold, wet Spring here and that gave me a late start on planting this year. Last week I got in a car with my friend Char and drove approximately one hour to get to this wonderful Greenhouse. Talk about a Greenhouse!

I told Char that this reminded me of a quilt. Hmmmmmm...she just laughed at me. I wonder why?
Every year I just have to have a big red Geranium plant in front of my house. When I see the beautiful pink ones I think for just a minute about getting one of those beauties, but I always end up getting a red one. Why? I don't know for sure. Tradition? Maybe next year I will try a different color. Maybe. Char and I spent four hours walking around this giant greenhouse and picking out our plants to take home. I have a bad habit of picking up one plant, looking at the others, and then putting the first one down to get a different one. That wouldn't be so bad if I only did it once. I have to pick the best one, but which is the best one? I did break a record though this year. The Geranium that I picked out was the second one I looked at. I believe Char was impressed! Yes, it took me four hours to find these beauties had just had to go home with me. The photo is a bit dull. The only time it wasn't pouring down rain that day was when it was time to take our purchases out to the car. We were happy about that part! The sad part was that I could have spent more time there just looking and the different plants. But you know as well as I do, the more time you spend in a place like that the higher you bill is as you leave!
Here is some of my work in progress. I consider this a "before" photo. As the plants grow and fill out I will try to remember to show you an "after" photo too.

Now, I guess it is back to that Two Color Challenge quilt that I am machine quilting right now. I will be able to show a photo of that too, but not until June 9. I am a long way from the finish line as far as quilting goes, so I had better get back to that machine!

Another Pair

2009-05-07T22:52:00.007-05:00

I finished up another pair of socks tonight. Even though this isn't the season for wool socks I want to start another pair. I will admit these little striped beauties have been waiting for the final stitching up of the toes for at least a couple of months. This is about the third pair of socks that I have knitted, but I always have to watch a video on the Knitting at Knoon site in order to stitch up the toes. I can never remember how to do it. I was able to knit my first pair of socks this past Winter with the help of one of their patterns and the helpful videos.

I thought I would post a few more photos from the Antique Quilt Trunk Show that I talked about in an earlier post that was given at my guild by Caryl Scheutz. Such eye candy!

Here is a crazy quilt, and yes, that is me on the left hand side holding up the quilt. I couldn't resist studying it a little. Talk about beautiful!

This is a "T" quilt. The letter T is there in each block, four times to be exact. I seem to remember Caryl talking about how the ladies Temperance Movement made this type of quit. Remember, I was one of the gals behind the quilts and it was easy to get distracted from time to time!

This one is called the Princess Feather I beleive. If I am wrong please don't hesitate to correct me! Another beautiful applique quilt for sure!

Busy Week

2009-05-04T14:57:00.009-05:00

It was a busy and fun week last week. We had two guests at our guild this past week and as the Guild Program Chairman that means I was hopping. At our regular meeting on Tuesday Caryl Schuetz who is a certified quilt appraiser came and gave a lecture/trunk show about antique quilts. Talk about beautiful quilts!
This is one of the gorgeous quilts that she showed. I believe this is a variation of a Wigg Rose. I was one of the gals holding up the quilts that day (Thanks Phyllis for taking pictures for me!) and I have admit I was a little distracted at times. She showed many other quilts, but this one was my favorite. Another quilt that I thought you might enjoy seeing is actually a quilt top that was turned into a shower curtain at one time. Caryl found it at an antique store and has hopes of turning it into a "real" quilt in the future.
In the afternoon we had a workshop with Caryl concerning making new quilts today look like the antiques of the past. This is one of the quilts that we saw in the workshop. The basket blocks are of the Civil War era, the setting blocks or the blue blocks are newer in age. I loved looking at the fabrics in the baskets and the color combinations.

This past weekend Sue Nickels came to teach a class for my guild. Talk about fun! She drove into town Friday so a couple of fellow guild members and I were able to take her out for dinner and have an enjoyable meal chatting away. Saturday she taught a class about how to machine quilt an applique quilt. She gave us tips about what to do in the background area and how to embellish the applique motifs.
Sue uses a camera in front of her machine and then projects it so that the whole class can see exactly what she is talking about. You can watch each stitch as she makes it instead of everyone in the class crowding around her machine trying to see what she is doing. I truly enjoyed my day with her and my mind was filled with ideas and possibilities after class. If you enjoy machine quilting and have a chance to take a class with Sue don't pass it up!

Today I have been working on the two color challenge quilt I have talked about before. It is so hard not to snap a photo of it to show it to you...but shhhhhhhh it's a secret! The quilt top is pieced, the paper foundations torn away from the back and now it is time for the quilting decisions. So many decisions! I am machine quilting it. Do I want a free motion type of design in the borders or something more traditional? How about the quilting in the blocks themselves? What type of batting and thread do I want to use? I have made some little samples of different threads, quilting patterns and batting to help that decision along. I have spent a lot of time piecing this quilt and will spend a lot more time quilting it so I want it to be just right. Some quilts are made for the pure joy of it, and are utilitarian in nature. This one I have challenged myself and I want to be truly happy with my choices. Stay tuned for the revealing in June!

Another Bag

2009-04-27T14:05:00.005-05:00

I thought I would show you one of the projects I worked on while on my blogging break. It is another tote called Bow Tucks Tote put out by www.quiltsillustrated.com. One thing I especially like about this bag is that you can tie up the sides loosely or cinch them up tight depending on how much you want to carry in your bag. I used some fabrics that I had collected from a Pat Sloan line. Sorry, but I don't remember now what the line was called. Another favorite thing about this bag is the button I found by sorting through my button box. I love this red button. It reminds me of piece of hard candy. Someone else told me it reminded them of a chocolate covered cherry. Every time I use this bag the button makes me smile.

Play Time

2009-04-22T12:45:00.007-05:00

You know when ever you buy a new toy you just have to try it out! Of course you do! I told you in my previous post that I would write more about my new Mini Fit to be Geese ruler put out by Monique Dillard of Open Gate. Her web site is www.opengatequilts.com I just love this little ruler. I played with it and made the four sizes that can be made with this ruler. I made 2" x 3 1/2", 1 3/4" x 3", 1 1/2" x 2 1/2", and 1 1/4" x 2". I made four of each size and had only one unit not come out perfectly. I blame that on an over zealous use of the iron. I have a feeling that I will be obtaining the larger size geese ruler too. She also has a square in a square ruler that is impressive too. One thing I like about this method is that there is little waste in the fabric used and there are no bias edges on the outside of the units to worry about stretching. The way it works is that you cut squares diagonally once for the "sky" part of the geese and another square twice diagonally for the geese part, sew them together and use the ruler to trim it up so that it comes out right in the end. Gotta love it!

Another purchase that I played with from the quilt show was this pattern packet from Thangles. It gives you 13 miniature quilt patterns and the Thangles to go with it. In case you aren't familiar with Thangles it is a way to make half square triangle units using strips of fabric and their paper strip that you sew through to get the half square units. I fear I have done a poor job of explaining what a Thangle is so here is their web site! www.thangles.com I have never made such tiny half square units before with this method so I thought I would try it out. For the most part I liked it. I didn't take as much time putting the rows together as I would have if it wasn't just a practice block so they aren't exactly even in places. All in all I liked it, but the smallness of the pieces did take some getting use to. I recommend using heavily starched fabric for this method. The starch would help keep the pieces from stretching and make the piecing of the small units easier.

This afternoon I plan on working on the borders of my guild's challenge quilt. I think I will have to purchase some more fabric for the backing. I don't want to piece the border and I am afraid that I won't have enough yardage left for the backing by doing that. Guess I will find out this afternoon!

2009-04-20T11:07:00.004-05:00

Okay - I know it is about time I get back into blogging again. Thanks for the kind and thoughtful queries as to my well being. It is nice to know that I have been missed. When I took a break from blogging life had gotten really crazy with little time for reading my favorite blogs let alone posting on mine. When it looked like things had settled down I thought whew...now maybe I can get back to normal. Yeah right! So here I am after a much longer break then I had imagined!

I have been working on a project that I can't post of photo of yet...let alone talk much about it. My guild has a challenge going on. We are to make a small quilt with two colors and two fabrics. At the first meeting in June we will be taking our quilts to the meeting and the members will vote for their favorite quilt. We can't let anyone in the guild see our quilt prior to the voting because that wouldn't be fair. I can say that I am using a red and a barely off white solid fabric. I am foundation paper piecing each block as there are 105 pieces in each of the 6" blocks. Yep, I think I am crazy at times for doing blocks in this size, but I just love them. There are 43 blocks in this little beauty, but I like the way it is turning out. So, you will just have to wait until June to see a photo of this quilt.

Last Wednesday when I woke up the first thing I thought about was that I didn't have a nice big tote bag to take to the International Quilt Festival show in Chicago that I was going to on Friday. I thought of a pattern that I had and decided to go for it. If I didn't have it finished in time to take to the show at least I had made an effort. I used the Weekender Tote pattern put out by Quiltsillustrated. (Their website is http://www.quiltsillustrated.com/) I had some 1930's reproduction charm squares that were waiting to be used, so that is what I did. Since I had made a bag previously by this same designer it wasn't hard to figure out what I had to do to get this bag made. The part that took the longest was machine quilting the sections, but I used a simple loopy design since the quilting wouldn't be easily seen. I was able to put the finishing touches on it Thursday night just in time to load up my supplies (camera, water, snacks etc.) for the show the next day. The bag worked out great and was easy to throw over my shoulder or just carry.
The vendors at the show of course were wonderful. It was hard to pick and choose what I wanted to buy. There was so much there that caught my eye. It seems like there are more new reproduction fabrics then ever out there to temp me. Of course there were a few that called my name and said they had to go home with me. I found the perfect thread to use for the machine quilting of my red & white quilt, some stencils that I may modify for that quilt, and intriguing patterns. Another neat find that I will post more about on another day is a ruler that allows you to make perfect flying geese patches. The yellow and orange flying geese patches that you see was made with the new ruler. I couldn't wait to see if it really worked. It is called "Mini Fit to be Geese" ruler put out by Open Gate Quilts. There is a bigger flying geese ruler and a square in a square ruler too. Their web site is http://www.opengatesquilts.com/ if you want to check it out. I promise...I will post more about this ruler another time.

It's good to be back in the blogging world!

Ever Have A Day Like This?

2008-12-29T12:56:00.004-06:00

Have you ever had a day where things seem to take way longer then they should to complete? How about when you finally felt like you were making progress you ended up stopping in your tracks because of a big goof? I have been working on this wall hanging off and on for quite a while. This story behind this wall hanging is a post in itself and I won't go into detail about it here. I was machine quilting a little while ago and look what happened!

I had just repositioned the quilt under the machine and thought it sounded different as I was sewing. I thought I had better stop and check it out. Yikes! This is a first for me - sewing a quilting template to the back of a quilt! For non quilting readers this is a heavy piece of plastic that has slits cut through it so a quilting design can be marked on a quilt prior to quilting. After I found my new design addition I decided it was time for a blogging break before I took the stitching out and started over. Quilting through a stencil is a first for me, and I hope a last!

In my last post I mentioned that my Father had open heart surgery. He is doing well now and is home recovering. The weather cooperated enough to allow my Hubby and I to travel down to see my Father. It was a snowy, icy drive, but we made it safe and sound. My Father was able to go home the day after we arrived and we were able to help my Mother settle him in at home to start the recovery process. Thanks to all who prayed for my Father. We so appreciate it! One thing that helped pass the time in the car and while sitting at the hospital was the scarf that I am knitting. I have about two thirds of it finished. I am using a Debbie Mumm yarn that I bought at Joann's. I like the way the colors flow into each other, but I do not enjoy using the yarn. The best way to describe the problem is that there seems to be a center core and the outside part kinks up. It comes off the skein kinked and that makes it difficult to work with. It will also kink while working with it. I doubt very much if I ever buy any more of this type of yarn again. I have found it easier to work with the yarn after I rolled it into a ball (as I was able to work some of the kinks out of it while winding). I will be taking one skein back to the store because I ran across three knots put in the yarn by the manufacturer. After the third large knot I quit winding and decided that I would be taking it back to the store. I don't want a knot in the middle of the piece and the color sections were completely off by the new yarn tied to the old. Ugh! I am glad I bought extra yarn as I was able to put out a fourth skein to work with, but I will be taking any of the unused yarn back as I don't want to make anything else with it. I stopped at Hobby Lobby on the way back home Saturday and bought some yarn to make a pair of socks with...I hope it is easier to work with!

I guess I should go and "unstitch" my machine quilting now and put the quilting stencil in a safe place before I begin quilting again!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-22T22:21:00.003-06:00

I know this is a little early, but I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year a little early! Just when I think life is returning to "normal" I find that circumstances have changed. I enjoyed my week with Stephanie last week. We had a lot of fun decorating cookies, trimming the Christmas tree, going to see the movie Bolt and shopping for Christmas presents. We had planned on our family getting together this past Saturday to celebrate Christmas but that didn't happen. My Father had heart surgery this past Tuesday so all of our plans changed quickly. He is doing well tonight, and we hope that he will be able to go home from the hospital tomorrow. It was very difficult not being able to be with my parents during the past week. The surgery happened so quickly and the weather didn't cooperate to allow me to make the trip down to where my Father was. I will be going down to my parents house soon, so I must say once again if you don't see posts from me for the next week or so you will know that I am fine, I am just helping with my Father's care. I know many of you believe in God's healing powers and his care for us. Please say a prayer or two for a speedy recovery for my Father. Thanks!

#4 Challenge

2008-12-22T21:56:00.011-06:00

Paula has tagged me with the #4 Challenge. Here are the rules:*Go to the fourth photo file on your computer
*Choose the fourth picture in that file
*post it and explain
*tag four people to do the same

Here is my photo:

This is a photo of a couple of tote bags I made this past Spring. The darker one in the background is one I use all the time and is made with Civil War reproduction fabrics. The pastel one in the front is the gift I gave my Mother for Mother's Day. I posted about them here. This was a fun challenge. Let's see, I am going to follow Paula's example and pick four people who commented on my last post. I am tagging the first four. So...Jane, Bren, Rose Marie and Myra consider yourself tagged for the #4 Challenge! Can't wait to see your photo!

Where Have I Been?

2008-12-12T06:17:00.013-06:00

Well, after an unexpected break from blogging I am back. I have missed reading the blogs I follow let alone posting on my own. Life just got a little, no make it a lot crazy at times. I came down with some type of a 24 hour stomach virus a day before we left to spend four days with family for Thanksgiving. By the time we left I was feeling better, but it had been difficult to get ready for the trip. I did get some quilting done on "The Monster" because that is all I felt like doing. Here is the latest photo of "The Monster" aka "The Monster In The Living Room". Even though this quilt in progress isn't in the middle of the living room I still consider it to be "The Monster". I have a repair to make on this quilt before I can consider it smooth sailing. I will share about that another day! All I can say is Ugh!!!!!

Life has seemed to be at a run or at least a jog ever since we got back from visiting with family. I laid down my quilting needle to pick up the knitting needles after what I have figured to be at least a twenty two year hiatus. I knitted a baby sweater set for my nephew and just never picked up the knitting needles again. Can't say for sure why, but that is what happened. I have had the desire to knit a pair of socks for a while. I have no clue where that desire came from, but it did. Dear sweet Hubby said, "Don't you even think about learning how to knit socks until the Monster is out of the living room." I thought that was a reasonable request. Well, the Monster has been out for a while now and the desire to knit socks has not gone away. I decided that I had better brush up on my knitting skills again before I even attempted knitting socks. I am surprised at how much I remember, and what I didn't or wasn't sure of I found tutorials online that answered my questions. I decided to knit some dish cloths and give a few away for Christmas presents. Yeah, right! The knitting has been going fine but there hasn't been time to do much knitting! I have finished two dish cloths and am working on number three. I was hoping to have at least six finished and now I am not so sure this will happen. If it doesn't, it won't be the end of the world, but oh I would like it to happen! By the way - can anyone recommend a great sock pattern/book that I can be on the look out for?

This past week I have been working on getting my house ready for the holidays. Yikes! I have never enjoyed cleaning, and I probably never will. Of course it is great when the house is tip top shape, but to be really honest that doesn't happen too often. I would rather be quilting or doing other things then cleaning any day! The Christmas tree is up, the garland on, but no ornaments to speak of. Why? Because I have a special helper when it comes to decorating my tree, and I have been saving this event for next week. Why put off decorating the tree? My special helper will be coming here to stay with us for a week while her parents are off celebrating their 25th Anniversary. Yes, I will be the "Mom In Charge" of a 15 year old teenager for a week! I am looking forward to having Stephanie here. I am sure we will have many adventures and share in lots of laughter. She is very special to me, and I am looking forward to her visit! We sure have a long list of places that she has to be, but there are down times too that we will fill with shopping, cookie baking, present wrapping, playing computer games, oh the list could go on and on. I will do my very best to not let it be such a long time again between posts, but if that happens I know you will understand why!

I've Hopped On The Shirttail Wagon

2008-11-22T10:27:00.006-06:00

Okay, it is official. I have hopped on to what I call the Shirttail Wagon. As I dropped off two big bags of clothing to the Bible Thrift store yesterday (This thrift store uses it's profits to buy Bibles for Missions) I went inside and bought four men's shirts to cut up for quilts. I bought Bonnie Hunter's new book while I was on vacation. At first I had no real intentions of buying men's shirts to add to my quilting stash. After all, I have a fabric stash to pull from right now. But the more I read through the book the more I changed my mind. I was thrifty and just looked at the larger and Xlarge shirts - after all I wanted the most bang for my buck! I also found some fabric yardage that called my name. I believe it is an older Thimbleberries fabric. I got 1 1/2 yards for 90 cents. Cool! I did feel a little funny as I was checking out though. The nice lady at the register said more then once, "These are really nice shirts!". I thought about telling her I was going to go home and cut them up for a quilt but I just couldn't do that.

Ready for some more vacation photos? We once again visited the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo. It is a very small zoo, but so much fun to visit.

Of course there is the Reptile building. What zoo would be complete without snakes. This is the first time we were there that these big snakes were actually moving around. I won't bore you with the other photos we took of the snakes, but I thought this one was a little funny.

This year they had an added feature. You could buy a cup of "Zoo Puffs" for $2.00 to feed many of the animals with. Hubby asked if I wanted one, I said no. Why did I want to feed the animals? Well, you know how it goes. We were standing in front of some sheep and goats and I reached down to pick up one of the pieces of food that was in the middle of the sidewalk. I gave it to the sheep, or is that lamb? Boy that animal had big teeth! That was fun. I reached down and picked up another zoo puff (I think that is such a funny name) and did it again. Okay, I was having fun. Hubby got a kick out of me having so much fun. A cute little girl walked up to me and asked if I would like the rest of her zoo food. She was leaving the zoo and still had about half of a cup of food left. Of course I thanked her and said sure!
I sure had fun with the zoo puffs! I don't remember what this little animal is called but it looked like a little deer but of course it wasn't. I fed a swan that wanted to eat my fingers as he took the zoo puffs and many other animals. Next year I plan on buying my own cup of zoo puffs and having double the fun!

My weight watching plan went out of the window quite a few times during our trip. We stopped by a little place called Pattie Cake in Foley, AL. Oh boy!!! We ate a half of a sandwich so we would have room for dessert. I enjoyed bread pudding that was made from their cinnamon rolls and Hubby had a piece of coconut cream pie that had tons of meringue on top.
We took a two day old pie home (they were half price and just as yummy) with us. This was a chocolate cream pie. Check out that meringue! The pies are made from scratch and talk about wonderful. I have a feeling we will go back there in future trips. I am so glad I don't live close to this place. I would have a very hard time ignoring it.

Don't you wish there was a way to eat goodies like this and never gain a pound? I sure do!!!!

What's New

2008-11-19T14:00:00.011-06:00

Well, I think things are back to normal around here, or for at least a while anyway! Hubby and I went on a wonderful vacation to Gulf Shores, Alabama. It is one of our favorite places to go and have a relaxation vacation. Think about this: the ocean with it's beautiful waves crashing on the beach. Watching the dolphins and stingrays swim by and jump up and out of the ocean every once in a while. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets. A fresh ocean breeze wafting over you as you take a nap in the afternoon. The sounds of the waves as you go to sleep at night. I could go on and on, but I had better quit. It just makes me want to go and jump back in the car and forget about the snow flurries that met us as we came home! Ugh! Here is one of the sunsets that we enjoyed.
I am not a fisherman (or is that fisher woman?) by any means, but I did reel in a couple of fish this time around. I even have a story of the big one that got away! Hubby had a great time fishing this year and I kept him company a few times and gave him encouragement to catch some big ones - and he did!
We stay at the same condo each year. It has a fantastic place for me to set up my Featherweight machine and sew away when the weather doesn't permit beach combing or I am just in the mood to sew. I can sew and look out at the waves and the people walking along the beach. Sometimes I spend more time watching the waves then I do sewing. Oh well! I have shared about my sewing space last year in this post if you want to check it out. I shared in my previous post the photo of the scrappy Diamond Dazzler that I made to give the pattern a try before I cut into the jelly rolls I bought. After I made the first top I was able to make the wedding quilt top (also known as Diamond Dazzler 2).

I like the way the top turned out. I like it soooo much I have thought about buying more jelly rolls so I can make one for me! I was asked to share more info about this quilt top. The pattern "Diamond Dazzler" is from the "On A Roll Again" book by Heather Mulder Peterson. The inside cover says to check out the authors patterns and books you can visit her website at http://www.ankastreasures.com/

I visited three quilt shops and came away with this:
I love those reproduction fabrics! I was also able to purchase Bonnie Hunter's new book "Scraps & Shirttails: Reuse, Re-purpose, Recycle! The Art of "Quilting Green"" It has been fun looking through this book and trying to decide which quilt I want to make first!

I will be sharing more photos from my vacation, but right now I must try to catch up on a few more blogs and finish unpacking!

Diamond Dazzler 1

2008-11-09T08:42:00.006-06:00

I have been able to get some sewing time in this past week! I worked on my scrappy Diamond Dazzler. I am working with the pattern from the book "On A Roll Again" and it states that this is not a beginner pattern. I agree. This is one pattern though where the bias edges seem to be your friend not foe. That is always good news! I am making a wedding gift with this pattern, but before I cut into the jelly rolls I wanted to do a dry run so to speak with some fabrics from my stash. I was worried about cutting into the jelly rolls because I had never bought jelly rolls before and the local quilt shop does not carry this fabric line. (Just in case you don't know, a jelly roll is a precut roll of fabric that is 2 1/2" wide. It usually consists of one of the fabric lines that a company puts out. The Moda rolls I bought had 40 different fabrics in each roll.) If I goofed up I would be one upset gal because I couldn't run out and easily replace fabric! I am glad I did this as I got confused a little in a couple of places, but all came out well in the end.

I have started the wedding gift quilt and so far so good. I goofed a little bit with a set of dark strips, but it was not a difficult fix - thanks to my making of the first quilt top I knew just what to do. I combined two fabric lines from Moda as I thought it would add interest to the quilt and one jelly roll wouldn't have been enough to make the quilt. I used the Portobello Market and the Heritage Collection For A Cause fabric lines. Since I am such a reproduction fabric fan I have loved working with the Heritage line. It is reproductions from 1846 and Moda is donating funds for Ovarian Cancer research from the sale of this fabric line. I think of this as "Two, two, two mints in one!" Remember the old commercial that had that saying? It seems like it was for Wrigley's Double Mint gum. There were two twins each holding gum in their hands and they bumped the gum together while they said the two, two, two mints in one thing. Okay I guess I just told everyone how old I was...if you remember the commercial too fess up! Anyway, when I get to work with reproduction fabrics and support a great cause at the same time that is double fun for me. I thought I would show a photo to explain a little better how this quilt goes together.

In a nut shell, you sew strip sets together, cut goofy triangle shapes and then sew them together to make a rectangle block. The tricky part is that there are mirror image shapes going on here and you must stay organized in your cutting and piecing or you are lost and can come up with some pretty weird looking blocks that won't work at all. When I saw this book I thought, cool, I will use the precut jelly rolls and that will save a lot of cutting time. I found that not to be true with this quilt. You must take the 2 1/2" strips and cut them down to 2 1/4" widths to make this pattern work. Okay, it was a little easier then cutting into yardage, but it still made extra cutting time. I also bought some fourth yard cuts of some light backgrounds and a couple of darks where I bought the jelly rolls just in case there were not enough lights or darks in the jelly rolls to suit me. I was glad I did, as I cut into each of the extra fabrics that I bought. Did I absolutely need to add to the jelly roll? I did for the lights but I could have gotten away with the dark fabrics in the jelly rolls if I had to. The wedding is in March, but I would prefer to give this gift at the shower. Time will tell if this will be a shower gift or a gift at the wedding itself!

What's Been Going On

2008-10-30T20:28:00.010-05:00

It has been a crazy week around here. I know all of you have weeks like that too! I was able to send out my PIF (Pay It Forward) gifts. I first talked about it here. I was able to send Julie's gift off to her, but my friend Char was close by. I was able to deliver hers in person. My other friend Jessica is no longer blogging, but her gift is waiting for her. She should be getting hers soon. As you can see the gift was a fabric basket and a little pillow. I will admit that I did not make the pillow - but I did make the basket! I saw the pillows at the store and since they were so cute they just had to be tucked inside the baskets. Thanks girls for being part of my PIF! It was fun!

I haven't had much time lately to sew. Last week I taught a Beginning Machine Quilting class and a Hand Applique class. That was a lot of fun. I really enjoy teaching and I always come away learning something new too! I was able to do a little sewing Sunday afternoon. I started to work on this scrappy quilt, Diamond Dazzler. I talked about this quilt in an earlier post here.

I bought a couple of jelly rolls to make a quilt for a wedding gift but I wanted to try out the pattern before I cut into them. I took some precut 2 1/2" strips that I had and made some of the blocks. I figured I would rather play around with my scrap fabrics and make sure the directions and measurements were correct before I cut into the jelly rolls. I liked the way the blocks are turning out. I am going to make a quilt top with my strips and then cut into the jelly rolls. This quilt doesn't seem like it will be hard to make, but you have to be very careful how you press those seams so they land where they are supposed to.

As I have mentioned in an earlier post I am the Program Committee Chairman for my guild. I have been working hard on lining up speakers & teachers. I am so excited because it looks like my guild will be able to host Bonnie Hunter (from www.quiltville.com ) in 2010. Yippee! I guess you could say I am just a little excited! If you are not familiar with Bonnie and you are a quilter you must go and check out her web site. The wealth of free patterns is amazing and she is so generous with her quilting knowledge.

There will be a lot going on in the next couple of weeks so I don't know how much I will be able to post. I will try to keep up with the blogs I follow. Sheesh! I am already behind in reading them! Big sigh! When I sign off here I am heading over to my Google Reader to see if I can catch up. I will try to post now and again, but if you don't hear from me in the next couple of weeks please know that I am returning soon!

Mmmm Good!

2008-10-17T12:08:00.003-05:00

My dear Hubby came home from a business trip to Belgium and brought many goodies home for me.

I had given him two requests. Since he had a layover in London I asked that he bring me something that said London on it. I have always wanted to travel to London and take in the sights and I was a little jealous that I couldn't go. My second request was that he bring me back some Belgium chocolates. What sane chocolate loving gal wouldn't love some Belgium chocolate? This is what was in the packages!
From London (really the airport) he brought me an ink pen that has the flag of England on it and a tin that looks like the red buses that travel around London. The tin "says" London on it so he fulfilled my request! The tin is filled with yummy English Toffees. Someday I hope to really ride in one of those red buses in London. From Belgium he brought me chocolate all right! A box of assorted chocolates, a jar of yummy chocolate sauce and a dark chocolate bar. Yummy does not describe the taste of these beautiful chocolates! I am savoring each one. I have limited myself to one a day. If it is a big piece of wonderful mouth melting chocolate I cut it in half to even make my chocolate bounty last longer. I have been known to share with Hubby too. Honest! I haven't broken into the chocolate bar yet but I have tasted the sauce. Mmmmmm! Are you laughing at me yet? It's really ok if you are. I am! As much as I love the things he brought home to me I love having him back home more!

Look What I Received In The Mail!

2008-10-17T11:50:00.004-05:00

Marlene from Stitching By The Lake celebrated her birthday with a giveaway. Look what I received in the mail! Thank you so much Marlene! It is a very special book as it contains her story of her Mother. Of course, I had to read the chapter written by Marlene first! I am looking forward to the reading of the rest of the book. Thanks again Marlene!

The Fall Into Fall Winner!

2008-10-15T07:50:00.006-05:00

I used a random number generator to find the winner of my Fall Into Fall Quilter's Blog Giveaway. The winner is......Myra of Gr8dame's Place! Congratulations Myra! This has been a fun giveaway. I have enjoyed visiting many of the commenter's blogs, and I still have many more to visit. Wow! I did not expect this many comments. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment!

Monster Report!

2008-10-14T17:21:00.005-05:00

If you haven't read my blog before, no the monster isn't a Halloween monster. I had a ivory, pink and green monster in my living room for 18 months. Yep, that is a looooong time. My second post when I entered the blogging world was about the Monster. You can read about it here if you wish. I won't go into great detail again on this post. In a nut shell, it is a reproduction of a Marie Webster quilt. The era is 1930's. I hand appliqued it, and am in the process of hand quilting it.

Well...guess what!

This is what my living room looks like now!!! Yippee! I have to admit that I did a little happy dance when I was able to take the quilt out of the frame last Friday night at 12:30 a.m. I even yelled Yippee a couple of times. Not only was I excited that the Monster was out of the living room but that my Hubby was coming home after a two week business trip the next day. Getting the Monster out of the living room before he came home had been a goal of mine. I thought that it would make a perfect surprise welcome home present for him, and it was! He was not only happy to be home, but to be able to sit down on the couch was an added bonus. I had quilted my "fingers to the bone" to get the quilt out of the frame and it paid off. Now I just have to finish up some of the cross hatching lines at the edge and then quilt around the applique motifs. This can be done in front of the television, not in the middle of the living room. Can I say it again? Yippee!!

I will be posting soon about the goodies that hubby brought home for me and the neat giveaway prize that I received in the mail recently. So much fun!

A Giveaway!

2008-10-14T16:58:00.002-05:00

Michelle at "Michelle's Quilts and Stuff" is having a giveaway to celebrate her birthday. Happy Birthday Michelle! Check out her blog and wish her a Happy Birthday. Tell her I sent you!

How Does He Do That?

2008-10-09T19:55:00.008-05:00

Today I took a little trip over to Shipshewana, IN. Talk about great quilt stores! Hubby is out of town on a business trip (he will be home soon - Yippee!). He told me to do something fun while he was gone. Was that a wrong thing for him to tell me? Not in my book! I really needed some popcorn. There is a great bulk food store there that has great popcorn. I can't buy popcorn like that in the local grocery store... honest! I also like to stock up on frozen meat from Yoder's Meat Market too. My ground beef was running low. Why do I like to buy it there and then put it in a cooler to keep it from thawing before I can get it home? It is hormone free and the price and quality is great. Besides, it is much more fun to do a popcorn/meat run to Shipshewana then the local grocery stores. The local grocery store does not have a quilt stores near it! I have posted before about Shipshewana. You can find one of my posts here if you would like to read it.

I found a lot of neat fabrics today! There were many new fabrics in the reproduction section at Yoder's Department Store. I found most of what I bought today there. My dear Hubby is always very patient when he goes to a quilt store with me on our trips. He will wait in the car and sleep or read a book. At Yoder's Dept. Store there is a big hallway between the different stores with rockers that hubbys can sit in a wait for their wives. My Hubby can be there snoozing or in the car but the minute I take the credit card out of my purse he appears right by my side. How does that happen? How does he know I am ready to leave? I have often wondered. In the post I mentioned earlier I wondered if there was an alarm that goes ding ding when the credit card is removed. When I walked up to the register today I thought, "Ha! Hubby can't come up and see how much I have spent today!" With a smile on my face I handed the sales clerk my credit card. Ring! Ring! My cell phone starts ringing. I open it up. It was Hubby! How does he do that????? To make matters even more funny, he is in Belgium. There is a 7 hour time difference! When I told him where I was he said, "I figured!" He knew I was going to Shipshewana, but of course he didn't know when I was going to be ready to pay for my fabric. Or did he? How does he do that?

This is the fabric I bought for my stash today.

Of course I took this photo when I got home tonight on my diningroom table so the colors don't show to their true beauty.

I also found a pattern and fabric today that I will be using to make a wedding present with. I had been looking for the right quilt to make the happy couple but hadn't found it. Today I found it and the fabrics. I am using two different jelly roll fabric lines for the quilt. I haven't used jelly rolls before. I was worried that I didn't have enough lights or browns so I bought a little bit of yardage just to make sure.
The pattern is called "Diamond Dazzler" and it is from the book "On A Roll Again" by Heather Mulder Peterson. I have a project that needs attention before I start a new quilt. I sure want to start it though!

I have been working and working on "The Monster In The Livingroom". I will be posting about that soon!

October 1st Giveaway

2008-09-30T18:41:00.015-05:00

On Wednesday, October 1st I will be participating in the Fall Into Fall Quilter's Blog Giveaway. I will be giving away this fabric basket that I made and the three Jo Morton fat quarters that you see tucked inside of it.

To enter my Giveaway leave me a comment on or after October 1st (not before)about your favorite thing concerning the Fall Season. Any comments that do not include this requirement will not be counted. If you do not have a blog you may still enter this Giveaway, but you must leave your email address with your comment so that I may contact you if you are the winner.

A list of all participants in the Fall Into Fall Quilter's Blog Giveaway are listed here. Make sure to visit them all and enter each of the drawings!

I will be drawing a winner on October 15th!

P.S. You can find a tutorial on how to make your own fabric basket here . Thanks Pink Penguin!

Decisions And Being Self Centered

2008-09-26T16:51:00.006-05:00

Today I had to sit at the car dealer to have what they call "Major Service" done to my car and have new tires put on it. (Basically it was draining fluids, replacing them etc. but when they call it major service they can charge major prices!) What was I going to do for three hours? I didn't have a hand project that was easy to take along right now, so I took my laptop and worked on a quilt design. I have the EQ5 quilting program that I have always meant to learn it, and be able to use it well. I have done a few quilts on it, but that has been about it. That program is not easy for me to learn or execute. I'm not saying the program is in anyway bad, it just doesn't always make sense to me. I took along a reference book that I bought to go along with the program and decided that I would work on the layout for the log cabin quilt that I have been making blocks for. I couldn't figure out how to draw my blocks in it so I used some that were already in the program that were close to mine. This gave me a good idea of what my finished quilt could look like. If I knew how, I would post a couple of designs that I like, but as of right now, I don't know how. I know it is possible, but not for me today! The log cabin blocks finish up at 4 1/2" square. I played with using even smaller blocks in the border. I like the idea of using off center log cabin blocks to make a curved illusion. Well, the blocks would have to be 2.25" square to do what I had in mind. Yikes! That is a small block! Since I had spent so much time working on the quilt layout this morning I had to try a small log cabin block to see if I even liked it and to see if it was a workable design. I have never made such small block with such small pieces before. Well, I tried it and I think I like it. Talk about some itty bitty pieces! I was able to use some of my very small scraps in those itty bitty places so that of course made me happy. Now to decide what I really want to do with the border. The pattern I am using doesn't call for borders, but it just seems to me that one is needed. So, border or no border that is the question!
I did find a way to speed up the process of foundation paper piecing the other day. I was doing quite a few blocks of the same design. I use to do one whole block at a time. That means after each seam I was trimming up the seam allowance, picking up the iron, ironing the seam, setting the iron down and then do it over and over until the block was finished. This could take quite a bit of time. I found that I could do more of an assembly line while doing multiple blocks. I now sew the seam and while the scissors are still in my hand from cutting the thread away I trim the seam allowance. Setting that block aside I sew the next seam, trim the allowance etc. After I have all the blocks stacked up I pick up the iron and iron all of them at one time. This seems to save a lot of time in the long run. This especially works when doing a log cabin block and you have to stop to think, hmmm light or dark fabric next? I found I made less mistakes to as far as putting a dark fabric where a light one was supposed to go. Are there other quilters out there who do this and I just didn't know about it?

My sewing in the Summer Palace might be at an end for this season. While the weather is still warm enough to be outside, there seem to be enough mosquitoes to suck a person dry of their blood in minutes! You see a couple of weeks ago we had a huge rain fall that gave us about 10 inches of rain over the weekend. My friend Char blogged about this so if you want more details just look here. A river reached record heights and flooded many neighborhoods. The devastation in some areas is just so sad. This morning I heard on the news that a neighboring town has 500 homes that are uninhabitable. My heart goes out to them, and I have helped in ways that I could. All of the water that sat around gave the mosquito population a boost that just isn't funny. It is to cool down in a few days so maybe the mosquitoes population will go back to normal levels. At first I was upset that my sewing days outside might be over and then I remembered the families that can't live in their own houses and have lost all of their possessions. How can I complain about stupid bugs! I felt so convicted and asked God for forgiveness for being so self centered. I have been blessed not to have water damage and because of that I can help those who have.

Guild Day

2008-09-16T16:36:00.004-05:00

Once again today was Guild day. I had remembered to take a box of flannel fabrics that my Mother had given me to be used with our "Kid's Quilts" projects. I had remembered! I had gotten a box out of the basement! Picture me patting myself on the back. Now, picture me bringing home the fabrics you see in the bag. There might not be as much in the bag as I took, but I still brought fabric back. You see, our guild makes quilts for children who are in group homes, children who are ill etc. We call it "Kid's Quilts". Today was Kid's Quilt day in which after the regular meeting some of us stay and work on quilts. My friends and I were going to work on string blocks. We were told that there were strings and foundations ready to be sewn. Okay, that that was in May. Things have changed since then I guess because we couldn't find them and the gal who is in charge of Kid's Quilts was out of town today. Hmmmm...what do do? I ended up going through some of the fabrics that have been donated to the guild and pulled out small pieces that I will cut into strings and fabric that will be used for the foundations. I will cut strings and foundations and have them ready the next time we get together to sew Kid's Quilts. My friends are doing the same so we should have a nice assortment of strings to work with. Another guild member told me she has saved a bag of strings and told me to come by and pick it at her house. I guess we are in business!

Speaking of my quilting guild, I am the new Program Chairman (or is that Chairwoman?). I have some fantastic fellow members who are going to be on this committee with me, so I will not be doing everything by myself. While I have lined up speakers for church functions before, I haven't done anything like this for the guild. I am sure I am going to learn a lot!

I did stop by the local Quilt Shop today and I have a really good reason! There was a coupon for a free fat quarter if you purchased at least $10 worth of merchandise. Well, that isn't hard to do. I found this neat pattern for a tote bag - boy did I need that! I also found some fabric that called my name. It said, "Buy a half of a yard of me - you need more cheddar color for your stash!" The second fat quarter was free too! The local Quilt Shop is celebrating their 11th year and they gave a free fat quarter to everyone at the guild meeting today. Fun! So, I guess in the long run I took more fabric to guild today then I brought home, so there shouldn't be any guilt there - just a pat on the back!

Another Turn On The Quilt Frame

2008-09-08T11:10:00.007-05:00

Yippee! I was able to turn the "Monster In The Living Room" down in the frame last night! I am soooo happy! Can you tell? I see the end sight, I will be able to get the Monster out of the living room soon! I don't remember how long of a heading I sewed onto the edge, so I don't know if I will be able to do all of the cross hatching on the frame, but it will be close. I plan on marking the rest of the lines today - oh the end is in sight!
I have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather we have had lately. I have sewn in my Summer Palace as much as possible. The Fall season will be upon us soon and the Palace will be coming down, but until then I try to take advantage of my favorite sewing place. As you can see I have been busy. I am working on a log cabin paper foundation piecing project and slipping in Civil War Diary blocks from time to time. I love the way the yellow and black CWD block turned out! I haven't trimmed down the log cabin blocks yet, so they will look better when I do. I am doing the log cabin blocks in Civil War reproduction fabrics. It has been great using up some scraps that I can never seem to throw away.

Unexpected & Expected Purchases

2008-09-02T18:25:00.006-05:00

Today was my first guild meeting for '08-'09. We always take a Summer brake off from regular meetings. A guild member passed away over the summer and her family was selling a lot of her quilting supplies and fabric. I had been wanting to add to my homespun stash and look what I picked up! The price tag for this was $13.00. I can handle that! That was an unexpected purchase.
There is a quilting store in the same town that my guild meets. I hadn't been there all Summer so I decided that I needed to go there to see what was new. I also wanted to pick up a few autumn type fabrics. Well, I found the fabrics I wanted (the expected purchases) and I also found a book that seemed to call my name. It wasn't an autumn inspired book, but a Winter/Christmas book. Well, it was over 90 degrees outside today and the snowman was really nice to look at. The book had to come home with me too. My unexpected purchase. Come Winter I may wish for the Summer weather again, but today cold sounded good!

And The Winner Is...

2008-08-30T14:54:00.006-05:00

I want to thank everyone who left comments and sent emails for my 100th post celebration drawing! Hubby assisted in the drawing. I have enjoyed meeting new bloggers, reading comments from those who do not have blogs and emails I have received. If your blog is new to me and I haven't visited yet, I will be soon! So, I guess you want to know who has won the little quilt? Ok!!
It is Lori (Mountain Woman At Heart)! Congratulations! Lori send me your mailing information please! Once again I would like to thank everyone who took the time to leave a comment or send an email. It is so much fun to read all of them. I try to email a comment back but if you have the noreply setting of course that is impossible! I did write quite a few emails and hit the send button to only realize then there was a noreply setting in place. Yikes!

Born Free!

2008-08-28T20:09:00.009-05:00

Yes, the critter has been set free! When Hubby got home tonight from work he got right to work getting this raccoon ready for transport.

We drove for over a half an hour to the perfect wooded area for this critter to roam free. Hubby used long boards to open up the trap. I stayed in the truck and took the photos...someone had to stay in the safety of the truck!

The critter is seeing it's first glimpse of freedom. Boy did it take of fast! I couldn't get a photo of him taking off out of the trap.

If you look closely at the middle of this photo you will see the striped tail. I was able to get a photo of the raccoon waddling off into the woods! As the raccoon disappeared from view Hubby and I sang "Born Free!" If you are old enough to remember the movie about the lions you will know what we were talking or guess I should say singing about! Hubby is setting the trap again tonight just in case the raccoon had a buddy!

The Critter has been found!

2008-08-28T09:51:00.005-05:00

Look what was in the live trap this morning!

Hubby had been putting peanut butter and marshmallows out at night and in the morning the bait would be gone but the trap not sprung. We didn't know which kind of critter was enjoying it's nightly feast, but something needed to change! I had so many fellow bloggers offer baiting ideas to catch this critter but A Simple Quilter actually did a little research and found a list of foods that attract different kinds of critters. It seems that the spice Anise has a very strong pull for raccoons but not for skunks or other furry pets. Hmmmmm...sounded good to me. I bought some yesterday and look what happened! Hubby also worked on getting the trap to spring a little easier, so I guess the two combined did the trick! The raccoon is now sleeping away the day under the tree where it will be in shade all day. Tonight after Hubby gets home from work we will be relocating this critter to a wooded area where it will be much happier. I will be too!

Don't forget about my 100th post give-a-way that I mentioned in my earlier post!

100th Post!

2008-08-27T11:52:00.004-05:00

Wow! This is my 100th post and I am celebrating with a give-a-way!

This is a small wall hanging that I made with 30's reproduction fabrics. The picture doesn't quite do this little quilt justice. I used two different cameras, natural sunlight, shade and indoor shots to come up with photo that at least showed the fun colors of this piece. Some days it seems like I can't take a good picture no matter what I try! So, back to the give-a-way! All you have to do to be entered into a drawing that will be held this Saturday (August 30th) is to leave a comment on this post or email me. Feel free to mention this give-a-way on your blog. Let me know about it I will enter your name in the drawing five more times!

I am now off to sew for a couple of hours in my Summer Palace. Nice weather is almost over here and I am trying to take every advantage of being out in the Palace that I can. I have been working on some log cabin blocks that I will be posting about soon. Thanks again for helping me to celebrate my 100th post!

Is There A Critter Around?

2008-08-21T17:19:00.004-05:00

We are on the Critter Patrol around here. I picked up this live trap the other day in hopes to catch that rascally raccoon that paid my Summer Palace a visit a while back and gave it some extra ventilation. If you are new to my blog or have no clue to what I am talking about you can read about it here. We have had evidence that the raccoon is still around, so maybe we can relocate this critter to a wooded place that it will be happier in. This morning Hubby reported that he caught something over the night. It was a cat. Hmmmm wonder if that same cat will be back to get more tuna? Time will tell!

Aside from quilting away on The Monster I was able to get a few more Civil War Diary blocks done this past week. I am disappointed in the green and purple block. Is is the top right block. The photo doesn't show the true colors. I tried three different locations to get a clearer photo of the blocks but this was the best I could come up with. Anyway, there isn't enough contrast between the purple and green fabric to do this block justice. Oh well, I doubt if I make it over again.

I will keep every one up to date on the Critter Patrol! Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't become a cat fest out there!

As The Quilt Frame Turns,,,,

2008-08-09T18:02:00.005-05:00

Yes! I was able to turn "The Monster" down in the quilt frame this week! I always feel that it is an occasion to celebrate when ever I can turn the quilt down the frame, but this time it was even more fun then usual. I can finally see the border heading my way to be quilted. Yippee!

I had quite a bit of time to quilt away on the Monster this week. Tuesday evening I was quilting along when the power started to fade in and out. That happened a few times and then the power went totally out. I realized that a thunder storm had moved in, and quickly. I had been watching/listening to a DVD and didn't realize we were in a storm watch. I went to the door and was amazed at the strong winds blowing the trees, the constant lightening and the neighbor's recycling garbage flying down the street. Dear Hubby joined me in watching the storm. When we saw the sky turn green we decided we should be down in the basement. We stayed there a little bit and headed back upstairs to watch the storm some more. At midnight a tornado warning siren woke us up and we headed to the basement again. In the morning we were still without power, and to make a long story short, a tornado touched down about two miles away from us, and there were many downed trees just a few blocks away from us. The tornado destroyed about 20 homes and damaged at least 300 more. Some people had their power restored just yesterday. Aside from loosing power for about 15 hours the only damage we received was the power supply in our main computer was fried. That can easily be fixed. For this I am very thankful! While our power was out I had to stick around home and babysit our generator that was keeping our freezer and fridge going. What was I to do? I quilted away on "The Monster". I didn't need power to do that! If life gives you lemons - make lemonade!

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I was able to spend some time in the Summer Palace and sew on my Civil War Diaries quilt blocks. This photo does not do the fabrics justice, but it was the best I could come up with today.

So, three more blocks down. I refuse to even think about the number of blocks left to be made. I just want to enjoy the process and not worry about when the finish will happen.

Look What I Received In The Mail!

2008-07-28T15:42:00.010-05:00

Oh look at what I received in the the mail the other day! I had signed up for Linda's PIF (Pass It Forward) challenge and this is what I received. Should I make you scroll down to see what is in this cute package?

Maybe a little more?

It is a adorable folder or a binder cover. I just love it! It is even better that it came from a blogging friend who took such care to make a beautiful gift. I have a Linda original and I love it!
I have been having fun thinking of the different ways I can use this.

I will need to get a binder that better coordinates with the cover colors, but I just couldn't wait to try it out. Thanks again Linda! Now to buckle down and get my the PIF gifts made and sent out. I have given the gifts much thought and have changed my mind as to what to make just as much! Not good!

I received this neat award from Nancy Rose the other day. Such an honor! Thanks Nancy Rose! She felt bad that my Summer Palace was ruined by a pesky critter and wanted to give me a little boost. It worked! I am to give this award to those who I believe deserve it too, but it is very hard to single out fellow bloggers. There are too many out there! If you are reading this, and have your own blog consider this award yours also!

I have been working and working on "The Monster" lately. There have been two main reasons to account for the progress I have made on this project. Number one, dear Hubby was out of town so that gave me more free time to spend on it. Number two, I aggravated an old knee injury and that has kept me from doing the other things I wanted to do while Hubby was gone. Oh the plans I had...they will just have to wait now. I have been propping my leg up and quilting away. If I can't do much walking or standing I can at least quilt! I have about 1/4 more quilting to do before I can turn the quilt in the frame. Oh I can't wait for that! I will post another picture of "The Monster" then as you should be able to see the border. Yippee!!!

Back To The CW Blocks

2008-07-22T21:05:00.005-05:00

It was a beautiful afternoon here, and I was able to totally enjoy it by sewing away in my Summer Palace. I have been working hard on "The Monster" so I felt like I deserved a break and treated myself to a session in the Palace. It has been quite a while since I worked on blocks for my Civil War Diary quilt. I have one row completed and you can see the post about it here. Since there are so many blocks in this quilt I decided to sew the rows together as I went along. I thought it would help with the fabric selections for the blocks. In other words, I will be able to tell if I have two or three blue blocks next to each other, or if I need balance out the colors I have used. The block you see on the table is actually the second block in the second row. I decided that for the first block I wanted to use cheddar and blue fabrics. Well, the cheddar I want to use is one of the newer pieces I have purchased recently and it isn't prewashed yet. Did I want to take time out from sewing in the Palace to wash, dry and iron it? No way! So, on to block number two. I was able to work on the third block today too, but that picture didn't get taken. Guess you will just have to wait on that one. It was nice to work on this project again today, especially since I was able to sew in my favorite place.

Monster Report & My Blue Heaven

2008-07-17T14:09:00.005-05:00

Yeah! I finished the borders on "My Blue Heaven" today! I enjoyed working on this scrappy quilt and taking a break from my much loved reproduction fabrics. I threw the top over The Monster for lack of a better place. (More to come about The Monster!) This pattern is from Bonnie Hunter's web site Quiltville.com She is one of my favorite sources for quilt ideas and patterns. If you haven't checked out her web site do it soon!

On to the "Monster In The Living Room" now. As many of you know this pink and green quilt has been in the middle of my living room floor for a while here... okay...for over a year (aside from a month long break at Christmas). I won't bore you with the original details. I will just give you this link to read my first posting about it here. This baby is wearing out it's welcome. I can happily report that I have two more rows of blocks to quilt and then it will be border time. Yep, the next time I turn the quilt the border will be showing. Yippee! Along with a heat wave that we have going on right now that is keeping me out of my Summer Palace, my dear Hubby has a long "Things To Do" list coming up so I have decided that this is the perfect time to work on this baby. This will be on top of my "To Do List" now, or at least for the next week! I have checked out a DVD set from the library of the television series "JAG" and will be happily listening/watching the DVD as I quilt away and enjoy the comfort of the air conditioner.

Oh No!!!!!!

2008-07-10T17:54:00.005-05:00

I walked out my back door today to check on my flowers. I was met with this sight. We believe a raccoon decided to have some fun last night. Well, the raccoon may have had fun, but I sure didn't! There are holes ripped in each screen panel all around my gazebo, a.k.a. Summer Palace. A week ago this same animal tore two small holes in the screening. I decided not to patch them because that way maybe the animal wouldn't make more holes, he could just use the ones he already made. Well, guess two were enough. Every time I look at it I just get upset.

We were going to retire this palace at the end of the season anyway so I guess I shouldn't be that upset, but the season is far from over. The screen mainly kept the cotton wood that flies through the air and the big bugs out. I guess I should try to be positive and look at it this way, I have windows now. I may look into getting a live trap so this animal can be relocated somewhere else. It would surely be more happy in a wooded environment instead of a city one. I know I would be happier!

Since I was outside with my camera I thought I would share some photos of my flowers. They are prettier to look at then holes in the Palace screens. I grew some of these flower from seeds.I posted before about that here. The Sweet Peas are the flowers in front. This is the first year that I have planted them. The seed packet said they were mounding flowers and perfect for containers. Well, they are perfect for containers, but they are not mounding. They like to climb. When I saw that the plants were climbing over each other I placed a small trellis in the flower pot. They are now much happier and booming beautifully. Guess you can't believe everything you read?

One more photo of a few more of my flowers. I love them!

Stash Busting UFO

2008-07-07T17:47:00.005-05:00

This is the quilt that I have been working on lately out in my Summer Palace. I wanted to work on some of my UFO's (unfinished projects to all of my non-quilting readers), and decided this is the one I would work on. I began this project last fall while on vacation. I talked about starting it here. It is to large to spread out on a floor for a photo, so I just laid it across the couch and took a partial photograph. It will end up being a queen size quilt in the end. I added the blue border earlier today and will be adding a border of hour glass blocks next. It is a Bonnie Hunter design called My Blue Heaven. I am liking what I see so far. My fingers are crossed that the hour glass blocks will fit. This has been a stash busting quilt, which means I pulled the fabrics for it out of my stash. Okay... I bought a few more blue fabrics to go into this quilt, but not many! So, I guess I had better rephrase my statement. For the most part this has been a stash busting quilt. It didn't make a huge dent in my stash, but it did make a small one. I am beginning to think about how I want to quilt this baby. Such decisions!

Happy 4th of July and UFO's

2008-07-04T19:30:00.003-05:00

Happy 4th of July!

I hope all of my American friends have enjoyed a Happy 4th Of July celebration today. My hubby had to work today so I spend the afternoon in my Summer Palace and sewed up a storm. I've almost got the "My Blue Heaven" blocks sewn together. Then it will be on to the borders.

I was reminded the other day of the deadline for entering items in the county fair. I entered for the first time last year and was awarded five ribbons. That was so much fun I was looking forward to this year's fair. Well, when I started to think of what I wanted to enter I realized I only had two finished projects. Wow! I have done a lot of piecing of quilt tops this year, but that is as far as the projects got. Bummer! It really isn't worth my while to just enter two items when I think of the entrance fee and the cost of the gas (It is about a 40 min. drive one way to get to the fair grounds). I will just have quit kicking myself for the lack of finishes and get on the ball so to speak. UFO's had better watch out!

Fruit Slush

2008-07-02T16:32:00.004-05:00

There is a favorite Summer treat around here. It is called Fruit Slush. I thought I would share it with you as it is such a good for you treat and so refreshing at this time of year.

Here are the ingredients:
40 oz. canned fruit cocktail packed in light syrup (I love the Del Monte Very Cherry brand)
10 oz. sweetened frozen whole strawberries
12 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
20 oz. canned crushed pineapple packed in it's own juice
3 med. bananas (sliced)
10 oz. maraschino cherries (I cut mine in half)
22 oz Mandarin oranges (this is the only fruit I drain before adding)

You basically add all of the ingredients together. Make sure to use a very large bowl! I put the frozen strawberries in the microwave a little bit to thaw so they can be broken up easier. Sorry the color is off in this photo - I have never claimed to be a great photographer!
I then package up the fruit mixture into one cup servings and put them into the freezer. Like my mixture of container types? If you are a Weight Watcher like I am, or try hard to be, I have put this through the point finder and came up with a one cup serving as three points. In all reality we can never wait for them to turn into a "slush" as we start eating them right out of the freezer. If you want the juice to be slushy, just let it thaw some before digging in. I ended up with fourteen one cup servings. You may be wondering why I drain the Mandarin Oranges while I don't drain any of the other fruit. Well, I guess it is because I couldn't get them in a light syrup, and I shaved some calories by draining them. Hope you give this a try some time. Let me know if you like them!

I Am Back - Finally!!!

2008-06-30T09:06:00.004-05:00

Wow! It is hard for me to believe that I haven't posted in over a month! Okay - break over!!! Life got really crazy here very quickly and it took a while for it to settle back down. Once life seemed to return to normal I found that I had lost my quilting mojo. I didn't have a desire to pick up a sewing needle let alone turn on my sewing machine. What???? Is that possible? It was for me, and I never thought that could possibly happen. I kept myself busy planting flowers and playing some games on the computer. I didn't keep up with the quilting email lists and got very behind on reading my blogging friends posts. I can't explain it, so guess I won't try. I will blame it on hormones as that seems to be the answer for everything right now. I finally started to miss the "old world" as I had known it. I went out of town with my hubby for the weekend to celebrate our birthdays and I went to a couple of quilt shops. Hmmmmm...was it the smell of new fabric or the samples on the walls? I don't know but I started to feel my mojo coming back. Believe it or not, I only bought 3 1/2 yards of fabric and that was after visiting two quilt shops! My Hubby was quite surprised, and wondered if I was ill. The new fabric was enough to get things rolling though and I have been back at the sewing machine and have done some hand work too.

The weather has been wonderful lately and I have spent a lot of time in my gazebo (a.k.a. my Summer Palace) with my Featherweight set up on a folding table.

I have so enjoyed sewing away and enjoying the outdoors at the same time. You can see some of my flowers too. The shadow you see inside the gazebo is me sewing away.

I have finished the blocks for "My Blue Heaven", a Bonnie Hunter design. Now to get them sewn together! I will be catching up on my blogging friends posts and keeping this blog more up to date from now on! I promise!

My friend Char has been wondering what was wrong with me too - thanks for the encouraging words and gentle (big smile here) push to get back into the blogging world Char!

A Give a way

2008-05-16T15:23:00.004-05:00

Check out Carolyn's neat give away at Ohio Quilter's Journey. I found this neat blog through Paula - thanks Paula!

Back Again

2008-05-16T13:56:00.004-05:00

I guess I have taken a break from the blogging world lately. We went away for a short vacation and I have had a hard time getting back into the swing of things as far as the blog world is concerned. We visited a few of our State Parks. We saw beautiful waterfalls, many different types of wild flowers, butterflies and birds. We had hoped to see some wild life, but the only thing that we saw that I can't see in my own back yard were Wild Turkeys. Not one deer! That seems unusual. On our hikes we only saw one deer track in two different parks. The State Park Inns that we stayed at had Internet access so I was able to read a few blogs here and there, but boy do I have a lot of catching up to do! I am looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to lately. Some of you were surprised when I posted my photos of my trip to the AQS show in Paducah a couple of weeks ago. While I had bought patterns, notions and thread I had bought only one yard of fabric. There were three reasons why only one yard was purchased. Number 1: I only had one day at the show and I wanted to see the latest quilt designs and notions available so I didn't spend a lot of time looking at fabric. Number 2: I didn't want to have to carry the fabric around with me all day. That fabric can get very heavy quickly! Number 3: I knew this vacation was coming up and that I would have more time to look at fabric at quilt shops along the way. This is what I bought along the way! Lots of neat reproduction fabrics!

I guess I got the new patterns and notions out of my system as I only bought fabric on this trip. Not one pattern, spool of thread or needle. Patterns for tote bags and purses caught my eye, but I put them back on their pegs or in their baskets. I need to make some of the ones I recently bought before I buy another such pattern. I was able to visit three different quilt shops and enjoyed each one as you can tell.

I picked up one of my UFO's (unfinished objects for my non-quilting friends) and worked on it while on our trip. It is an apple core wall hanging. I forgot to measure the individual patch but it small! I am hand piecing this as the curve is not a gentle one that would easily be pieced on the machine. I am planning on making this little quilt have 12 rows of 10 patches each. I guess I have 9 more to go! I had only cut a few of the patches before my trip, and had a pile ready to be cut. I cut many of them while Hubby drove. I then was able to piece in the evenings and again on the way home. There are some things I can do in the car and not become carsick and sewing is one of them. Yeah! When there isn't beautiful scenery to look at along the way, sewing and listening to an audio book makes the time fly.

I will post a few photos of the trip soon! Now to catch up on all of the blogs that I have missed!

More Great Quilts

2008-05-02T12:36:00.009-05:00

As promised, here are a few more of the great quilts that I had the pleasure to see at the AQS 2008 Quilt Show.

This beauty won the blue ribbon in the Bed Applique category. The quilt maker happened to be standing by and I heard her say that she did this with the quilt as you go method. She completely quilted each block separately before adding them to each other. I haven't tried this method yet, so I can't say how easy or difficult it is to do. This sure is a beautiful quilt!

This beauty won a blue ribbon in the Pieced Quilts category. Wow is all I can say!

I think this quilt deserves a close up photo so that you can see the detail a little clearer. Think of the time that was put into the creation of this beauty!

This quilt did not win an award, but I thought it was a fantastic quilt.

I love the nine patch blocks she used for the sashing. It has a fantastic border too! Are you tired of seeing photos of great quilts? I hope not because I have a few more to share at another time!

P.S. Marlene you left me a comment on my last post asking that I email you as you had some questions. I am sorry but I can't, you have the no reply marked in your preferences so I have no way of contacting you. You can email me direct if you would like. I like to sent a comment or reply back to everyone who is kind enough to leave me a comment. If the no reply is in place that is impossible for me to do so. I also have trouble at times sending email to people with AOL accounts. I have no clue why...could they still be mad at me for leaving them? I doubt that!

Here They Are!

2008-04-30T07:05:00.011-05:00

I really didn't intend yesterday's post to end up being a tease about photos, but that is the way it ended up. My photo to the left here just disappeared by the time I was ready to write about it, so here it is now! This is my Mother and I showing off the totes I made. I talked about the tote I was making for me but didn't post a photo of it because I didn't want to spoil the surprise when she received her gift. Since I won't see my Mother on Mother's Day I gave her the present early. She likes pastels where I like the darker reproduction types of fabrics. As I made hers I added a little button flap on her bag. I didn't like the way my bag gaped open as I used it so I thought this might help. I will probably add one to mine as soon as I come up with a nice looking way to add it now that the bag has been completed. I think I know how I will do it, now to get it done! The Spring wall hanging behind her was part of a Christmas present I gave her two years ago. I gave her four wall hangings for the different seasons. Seeing her wallhanging on the door reminded me that I don't have mine up. Wait a minute - I might not even have mine finished! Ugh! I had better check!

Here are a few photos from the AQS Quilt Show this year. The first is Diane Gaudynski's quilt that won Bernina's Machine Quilting award. I wasn't able to get a better photo of the whole quilt. There were too many other admirers around to maneuver to a better angle. I have also included a close up look at her fabulous quilting. I love her style of machine quilting and have been fortunate enough to be able to take a couple of classes with her. She is a wonderful teacher and I so enjoyed her classes.

This photo is of the Hand Workmanship award winner. Yikes! What a beauty! The Feathered Star is on my list of quilts I want to make. This was a must have photo for me. What an inspiration! I have a couple more photos that I wanted to share, but blogger won't let me download any more photos right now! Honest! Yesterday my photo disappeared, and now it says I don't have a Internet connection. Weird. So, guess I have left you with another unintended teaser. Sorry! I will try to post the other photos soon!