Secret Project Revealed

People have always said that I am just like my Grandmother. I take that as a compliment. She is a very special lady. She is a strong but loving woman who has always been one of my biggest cheerleaders no matter what I have attempted.

I remember spending time with her and my Grandfather every summer. She was a golfer so while she played golf at the country club we got to swim. I say "was" because she is now 93 and doesn't spend much time on the course anymore. She was actually pretty good. I always love looking at all her trophies she has displayed on shelves in her bedroom. She is still active at her church in north Texas. She is a "class mom" and loved dearly by all. She played the organ there for many years. We had such fun there growing up. She makes the best pecan pie this side of the Mississippi River. In fact, so far I've found, she makes the best pecan pie on either side of the Mississippi!

When my Grandmother turned 90 my mother threw a huge party for her. During the party I collected signatures for a quilt to commemorate the occasion and her life. Unfortunately, it has taken me 3 years to finally get those signatures into a quilt. Fortunately, the quilt is now finished!! This trip to Texas is to deliver the quilt.

I used the "cracker box" square to set off the signatures. The fabrics are an assortment of '30 prints that you can read about here.
















I hope that people will always compare me to my grandmother. In my estimation, you would have to try very hard to top that compliment. I admire and love her deeply. Sorry it took so long, Grandma.

Eleanor Burns

If you ever have the opportunity to see Eleanor Burns with her Victory Quilts show don't miss it. She is a hoot. Her new book Victory Quilts is out and she has put together a fun show that highlights WWI with quilts. Here are a few highlights from the show.

This was just the introduction. You can see a little of the sampler from the book behind her.










As you see, she changed for the show. Behind her another of the quilts from the book.

















Her son, Orion, was a big part of her show. Here they are doing the Victory Polka. He was a lot of fun. He and Cindy, her store manager, ran the booth at the show while she taught classes daily.












She would show up at the lunch break to sign books. I have been wanting her Egg Money Quilts for sometime now so I bought it and had her autograph it for me. This picture, however, was taken Thursday night after the show.









As you can tell, I really had a great time at the quilt show. I took a machine quilting class the final day and had a blast. I'm not sure my machine will be as easy as the Janome 6600 we were sewing on but I'm gonna give it a try.
Thanks for stopping by.
Happy Quilting!

Hand Quilting

The first day of the NQA quilt show I took an all-day class on hand quilting taught by Darlene Christopherson. Her hand quilting is amazing!! Here is a picture of a couple of her quilts that she displayed for teaching. Not the best picture but the work was so good I hated not to show it.

The wonderful thing about an all day class is that you have plenty of time for learning about all the necessary supplies as well as one on one time with Darlene. She spent the morning talking about fabrics, battings, thimbles, needles, threads, marking tools and quilting hoops. She introduced us to wool batting and I am sold! I have always been partial to Warm and Natural. It was the easiest to hand quilt that I had found. The wool batting was like pushing that needle through butter. What a difference.




















She spent the afternoon helping us get the hang of rocking the needle in and out. I never got it!! I hate to admit it but I have always hand quilted without a hoop. Therefore, I have to unlearn as much or more as I need to learn. I know that I could have smaller, more consistent stitches and that my poor, old, arthritic hands would not ache as much if I will re-learn it this way. I will need to find a different thimble. I use Nimble Thimble which is a leather form fitting thimble. What I need in order to get the hang of her method is a metal thimble with a raised ridge on top to hold the needle in place while rocking. She let me borrow her thimble and it was much easier. I can tell it will take mucho practice!!

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

On the Road Again

As you are reading this sweet kid #3 and I are wheeling down the road on our way to Texas. We are cruising on down for a quick visit with my mom and grandmother. The visit will be great but after living up north for several years I have gotten quite spoiled to the cooler summer temperatures. This fat, old girl just can't handle those 90 - 100 degree temps any more. I think we will spend most of our time inside.

While I'm away I am going to work on the Coneflower wool penny rug that I started in my class at the NQA quilt show last week. It was taught by Pat Sloan. You need to check out her website and blog. She has been blogging about the quilt show also. She is a wonderful designer of quilt patterns and fabrics. We had so much fun in her class and learned so much about wool. Below is a picture of Pat and me in front of her design Folk Art America. Yes, I did bring the pattern how with me.


















Thanks for stopping by. Happy Quilting!

Mail Call! Coming and Going

Earlier in June, Cheryl from Willowberry Designs had a give-away and I won! The package arrived today and look at all the goodies. The Cute as a Button pattern was what I won but she also included with it a quilt label design all ready for scanning and personalizing; a couple of cards of buttons (very appropriate for "Cute as a Button" winnings, huh?); and some fabrics. Aren't they great!! Thanks so much Cheryl! I think I'll be making this pattern really soon. I know a couple of special little brand new girls who could use quilts.

And look at what I have been busy with today. These little stacks are on their way to Scotland for a postage stamp swap.





There are 35 (actually 36 - one for me to keep) stacks of 1 1/2" squares of 50 different fabrics. I'll be swapping with 35 other quilters from around the world. I have wanted to make a postage stamp quilt and now this will become "Postage Stamps Around the Globe". I'm not sure how big it will be. I might use only what is swapped and have a wall hanging or add to it and make a bed size. I'll have to see what I feel like when I get back all those sweet little squares. Quilting is soooo much fun!!


I also finished the binding on a quilt but haven't taken pictures of it yet. I'll share those later next week. I also still have loads of pictures and stories from the NQA quilt show from last week. Thanks for stopping by.
Happy Quilting!!

Today I thought I would show you some of what came home with me from the NQA Quilt show. It's always so hard to decide what to actually buy. There are always such beautiful fabrics, patterns, kits, threads, notions, ....I could go on and on. As you can see, Lily is taking her job as fabric guard very seriously. Just try to get a smile out of her!


It's quite an assortment of fabric, I know. But I loved them all.




I especially LOVE christmas fabrics. I stick pretty close to the traditional reds and greens. The fat quarter pack did have some pinks but I'll be surprised if they end up in a christmas project.
I'm not sure what I will do with this jelly roll.



I am considering using it with these. Quilt Patis are the brilliant invention of Ohio quilter Pati Shambaugh. They come in various sizes but I bought the 3/4". You can check them out at her website here. I think a contemporary grandmother's flower garden might be fun. There sure wouldn't be much cutting involved!!



























I have loads more to share but will save it for another day. Unfortunately, since sweet kid #3 just returned from 2 weeks of camp, the laundry is calling.
Thanks for stopping by.
Happy Quilting!

I'm home from the Quilt show

I don't even know where to start. I had such a great time at the National Quilting Association's quilt show in Columbus. The weather was fabulous. The show was fabulous. The shopping was fabulous. My classes were fabulous. I think there is a theme here!!

The only sour note(but quite funny now) of the whole trip was when the fire alarm went off in our hotel at 3 am. Yes, I said A.M.!! It was VERY disconcerting since I was on the 10th floor of the hotel. I now wish I could see a video tape of me jumping out of the bed trying to put my hands on my robe and then turning circles in my room wondering what to do next. I can't imagine how funny I must have looked. The alarm stopped within 2 minutes and since I didn't hear or see any commotion in the hall I just went back to bed. Needless to say, it took me quite a while to get to sleep. When I returned to my room the next evening there was a message on the phone from the hotel's general manager apologizing for the alarm. It seems someone was having way too much fun(you can read that - way too much drinking!) and thought they would pull the fire alarm. Poor woman! I wonder how many phone calls she had to make?

I'm sure it will take me days to show you all the loot I brought home, all the quilts that were absolutely amazing, and all the fun I had in my classes. I will start with several of my favorites from the quilts themselves.

I loved this quilt. I know you should never say never but...I don't think I will ever make a quilt like this but they just amaze me. How you can use fabric to get such a real image is waaaay beyond my skills. Just wonderful!!


I thought the sentiments on this quilt were so cute(click on the photo to enlarge it). I knew my mom would like this one!! She is such a dog lover.

And what quilter cannot identify with this one? Such cute embellishments on it (knots, frays, tangles, etc.). She even has an earring on (not that you can tell from my terrible photography).

I have so much more to share but this was getting long. Check back tomorrow for more.
Thanks for stopping by.
Happy quilting!