Playtime Fun and Project 3!

I needed to make a red/white/blue star for quilt camp. I started thinking - what should I make? And then I remember I just bought last week a book called Stars by Magic by Nancy Johnson-Srebro because of a post Kathie made about seeing it at a quilt show. It intrigued me, so I ordered it, and once I got it I was so excited. You can make 8 pointed stars without set-in or Y seams! And the points turn out so nicely! And I couldn't believe there are patterns for like 30 different stars in it! As you can see the one I made last night without even trying turned out wonderful! And that was on a whim at midnight when I was tired! I was just going to cut the fabric but then was too anxious to see it done! So I didn't try to hard to match things up and it still looks good! Can you imagine how it would look if I tried!

Yup, I"m going to make more!

And I also finished packaging up project #3! Can't even tell you what this one will be because it is a mystery Laura is doing for camp!

Project 2 cut....

Small pieces and a lot, but it is a small quilt and shouldn't be too hard. Libby knows what this one will be.......

One down - two to go...

I"m getting ready for quilt camp in a week and a half and I got one project all cut and ready to go! Pieces are labeled and bagged so all I have to do is sew, sew, sew!

I have 2 more to get ready now. We'll see how long it takes me to get around to it!

More of the Underground Railroad Rest Area

To see this marvelous rest area travel East on I80 in Iowa. It is on the eastbound side about 15 miles before Walcott in Eastern Iowa. To continue the "theme" the sidewalk into the rest area is layed like railroad tracks, and post line the parking area with railroad type laterns.


They also have a 2 sided plaque explaining the story of quilts and the undergound railway and on the other side the meaning of the blocks.

Inside on the floor they have a "map" of places that were part of the railway, and on the wall by the women's bathroom is a wall quilt sampler of the blocks.

Back outside notice the needle and thread that winds around the building.

Each little picnic table shelter has a quilt block on it and then a plaque for the stops on the railway.

The coolest rest stop in America

It was such a bittersweet day. We got Jenna all moved into her new dorm - and she got one of the best on campus, one of the few with air conditioning! As we looked out at the other dorms around her with fans in the window and temps in the 90's and horrid humidity, I was so glad she had this one! The kids we passed from the other ones were just like wet noodles! Her dorm was the first of the dorms to be renovated. So furniture, paint, carpet and air are all new this fall. Any way - I sidetracked - we got her all moved in and met one of her 2 roommates. She shoved us out the door ready to begin college. Course as a mom I hated to leave! I wanted to partake in all the new fun! But Mark pulled me into the car and off we went 6 hours home. She didn't seem sad at all that I was leaving, and swore she would not miss me. Holly says to wait - once she has to start doing everything herself she will miss me! Was that cool of her to say! I miss Holly too!

So the only bright spot of our trip home was I made Mark stop at that really cool rest area dedicated to the underground railroad! This time I took pics on my phone! So here are a few pictures of it. I'll share more tomorrow.

Top picture is to the left of the entrance, Quilt blocks in the side of the outer wall. And below that picture is the right. A closeup of one of the outer wall quilt blocks. And in the entrance way to the rest area are quilt blocks with their names in the tile floor! More pics tomorrow......

I forgot how hectic is it for a girl....

I forgot in the last 3 years how hectic it gets preparing a girl for her first year of college! Everything has to be "just right". And this one going off this year is my girly girl - so we have shopped and shopped and shopped! However she is also the one who keeps saying, we can do it later, or is "too busy right now". She also "dinks" when she shops! So of course we have done marathon shopping in the last week! But we are ready - I think! Tuesday morning we head out for Des Moines - the hot spot of the midwest! Maybe things will calm down then? (OK I can dream can't I?)!

I did however manage to make one small quilt top this weekend. It is a Lori Smith pattern which I"m using this year for my LQS "Our Gang" group that I teach once a month. I decided this year to do small quilts and do many techniques. I also thought that maybe people would like a break from the big projects and just do some fun small ones. So the above quilt is September's sample. I like how it turned out. Now just to get it quilted quick so they can hang it up! I used one of those nickel charm packets of fabric to make all the small Broken Dishes blocks.

Wish me luck on the move out to Des Moines! My husband is just hoping to keep Jenna and I from killing each other! :)

Nice Matters....

Well, I've been so busy getting child #3 ready to go off to her first year of college and meeting child #1's boyfriend for the first time I haven't had any quilting time, and therefore didn't have much to say! Course I could go on and on about the kids - but then they roll their eyes and say "Moooommmmm!" And now at least I can let you all know I"m still alive!

Well tonight I was trying to look at a few blogs and saw that Libby was so NICE and gave me a Nice Matters Award! How awesome is that! I've never won a blogger award like this before. I just feel bad that I don't have more time lately. I wish I had more time to spend with each and everyone of your blogs. Hopefully once school starts again and "IF" work slows down a bit I will be able to again! Of course now I don't feel so nice! How in the world am I ever going to pick only 5 people.

So I decided to pick some that I know haven't recieved the award yet, and to leave Libby off since she gave it to me. Not that even that helps much. So please know that there are so very many of you who I would love to give this to - but that would make the post way too long. So hopefully you'll visit these people who I know in person, and make some new friends.

Lucy at Quilting with the Past

Laura at Pine Ridge Quilter

Sossy at Sossy Quilts

Nancy at Tom Miner Folk Art

Betty at Firefly Needles and Threads

Linda at Tippeca-Needle

Bonnie at Quiltville's Quips and Snips (of course since she got me started on all this)!

OK, so I listed 7 instead of 5 - oh well!

It was a good mail day!

Look at what I got in the mail today! I had ordered the pattern and kit for Libby's Kentucky Wildflower she made from Primitives of the Midwest. And it came today! What surprised me was the size of the box. Why would a pattern and fabric for such a small wall hanging come in such a big box?

Well look what I found! They had it all packaged in this adorable wall basket! And tied with a fun ribbon and flowers! I was afraid to open it! But of course I did because I wanted to touch the fabrics!

Now my only problem is finding time to make it. I never have done well with needle turn, but I just might try it on this since there are not so many pieces and because I can make it look primitive. We will see! I really would love to learn how to do it better, so I'm thinking this might be a good thing to practice on.

Sorry Betty - I know you live in KY, but this one is for me!

Quilt on my sidebar...

The quilt I"m using on the sides (or background, sidebar - whatever you want to call it) is called Martin's Pennies. I made it and finished it last December. You can see my post about it here.

It is a Carol Hopkins pattern. I love her stuff. I've made so many of them, but this one I hand quilted and love the effect. And I rarely do anything in blue, and I just love the brown and blue in this quilt.

Glad you are all enjoying it!

Current sewing....

I got my Buggy Barn Triple Stars quilted and bound. All ready for the charity pile for our guild. It made a nice small toddler size quilt.

The other thing I've been working on is Paducah 9-patches. I need about 40 of them. I'm still 16 away from done! I'll surprise you with where I'm putting them! And sorry about the blurry picture! It looked good on my camera! Don't worry, there will be more and better pictures of them down the road.

A wonderful few days in Wisconsin!

Just returned from a few days in Wisconsin at the Kalahari Resort. I had such a great time! This was an awesome hotel and the waterparks it had were wonderful! They kids loved all the water slides and wore me out climbing up all the stairs to go down! And they talked me on a few that scared me to death - they got a good laugh at me!

They also wanted to minature golf and go-kart, so I let them to that also. But my favorite was just sitting by the pool and reading a book while having a foo foo drink!

I really hate to think about going back to work on Monday, and I sure hope I"m recovered by then! I am exhausted! I forgot how energetic a 13 yr old boy is! I"ve got my nephew shipped home to Delaware and I"m trying to catch up on my sleep and hopefully some quilting yet this weekend!