Teenagers at Play

My teenagers at play (well the 3 girls anyway)! Oh OK, and technically Holly is no longer a teenager but a grown up 21..... but in my eyes they will always be my little girls.

Imagine my Surprise!

Imagine my surprise this morning when I read Annie Unriens (By Annie patterns) email that sent me to her blog and there in the middle of the post are my thread organizers! I met Annie at the Chicago show last spring and I had told her all about the thread organizers I had made for gifts for friends. And that I was in the midst of making the small version for Paducah gifts for our group that goes to Paducah every year. She wanted to see pics so I emailed her these. I met up with her again in Paducah last spring!

All I can say is I love her quilter's gifts and thread organizer patterns. I"m in the midst of making the needle cases and name tag money holders right now. Need to get ready for the spring quilt show circuit!

If you want to see even more pictures of some of the thread organizer's I've made click on the label Thread Organzer or Thread Dispenser in the Label. I"ve gone back and found most of them and labeled them.

Christmas Memories

I was reading my friend Karen's blog about her memories of watching Seasame Street with her girls and the happy song of taking a Llama to the Dentist. This made me remember the Christmas clips we always saw at Christimas time here in the midwest on Bozo, Ray Rayner and Garfield Goose. Remember Hardrock, Coco and Joe? (Even if Santa is a bit scarey looking I love the song)!



And Suzy Snowflake?



And then I got playing around with youtube and found an old Disney Cartoon of Sant's Workshop! What fun memories these are!

I got my doll quilt!

Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Look at my doll quilt! It is absolutely stunning! Sossy had my name and made this beauty for me! She loves crazy quilts and candy. Does this just not say Sossy! It is amazing! I was just floored when I opened my package. I wish I could have gotten better pictures, but I had a terrible time trying to get a good picture. They just don't show the color as beautiful as it is.

I also got this wonderful peppermint candy she made - is this just not awesome!

Wishing you all happy holiday and wonderful new year. I won't be back until after all the festivities.

Another Doll Quilt finds it's home!

Another doll quilt from our exchange has found its home! Laura made this quilt for Sossy! Sossy and her family love Halloween, and so does Laura! So this was the perfect idea for Laura's surprise to Sossy! Oh and if you have ever read Sossy's blog you know that CANDY plays a big part in Sossy's life too! She is candy crazy!

December Blocks

Yes it is that time of year - busy, busy, busy! Emily and I did marathon xmas shopping Saturday and then today we baked cookies all day. I"m exhausted! I've been so busy I never got a chance to show you my Dec swap blocks - stars. Aren't they fun! I love how they turned out!

Follow the drinking Gourd!

Lanna got her doll quilt from Heather yesterday! Isn't it wonderful!

Go check out Nan's Follow the drinking Gourd quilt! Isn't is beautiful! She is the one that got me going on these blocks!

Finally! I get to share!

I finally get to share what I have been working on for the last 2 months or so! The weekend I went to Sossy's house, Sossy, Laura, Heather, Lanna and I all drew names and decided to make a doll quilt for our name for Christmas. Well I worked away on my quilt - but I couldn't share my progress because "someone" might see! Well I couldn't stand it anymore and I finally got it all finished and mailed off!

And Laura got it in the mail yesterday! Go check it out on her blog too! I loved it so much that when I got her top done I had to make one for myself too! But mine is kind of sad looking compared to hers! It needs a lot of work! And I can't wait to find out who has my name! This was so much fun! I think we all are having a good time with it!

Men at Work

I FINALLY got my Men at Work quilt top done and even got it pinned today! I started this quilt 2 years ago at a quilt retreat and got all the blocks made and the blocks pinned into rows. Then it sat. And sat. Last Jan at my sewing weekend with Linda and Laura I got all the blocks sewn into rows and a couple of rows sewn together. And then it sat, and sat and sat! So last night I hauled it out and got the top done! I went to sew with some friends for the day today and there was a big empty floor - perfect for getting it pinned! So it is all pinned and ready to be quilted! I"m a very happy girl!

The block is really called "Darting Birds", but doesn't it look like those Men at Work signs when you turn the block the other way!

And look what I got in the mail today! My friend Linda G. found these and sent me one - just because! Wasn't that sweet! And isn't it cute! It is by Cherry Designs.

November's Blocks

I got November's Blocks done - the theme was curves. I went the simple route for November because I"m doing a really cool block for December.... wait and see!

Working on odds and ends

I have several odds and ends projects I need to catch up with now that my Christmas presents are made. One is the reproduction blocks swap I"m in. I have Sept - Dec to get done! Well I got Sept's basket blocks done now and Oct's triangle blocks done! I even have the pattern picked out for Nov & Dec! But those you'll see later!

15 blocks done for Follow the Drinking Gourd

Here it is - 15 blocks done! I"m not sure how many I want to do yet. But I"m pretty much through my stash for variety of fabrics, so I may just wait now until after Christmas and pick up some FQs when I got to sew end of January with Laura and Linda. I have plenty to keep me busy until then anyway!

Just Elf'ing Around

Lucy, Laura, Bonnie and I just love Christmas! Mostly we LOVE being Santa's little Elves. Go see us in our wonderful Elf Glee!

Oak Goblinshimmer

Well who knew! I'm Oak Goblinshimmer!!!!

Your fairy is called Oak Goblinshimmer

She is a bringer of riches and wealth.

She lives in forests of oak and lime trees.

She is only seen when the first flowers begin to blossom.

She decorates herself with leaves and berries. She has gentle green wings like a butterfly.

Get your free fairy name here!

Follow the Drinking Gourd...

A friend of mine in my Monday night sewing group starting making the pattern "Follow the Drinking Gourd" by Barbara Brackman a few weeks ago. She emailed me to see if I had any dark blues and butternut colored reproduction like fabrics she could have to give her quilt more variety. It made me realize how many browns I have and how few dark blues! But I fell in LOVE with the picture of her quilt in progress and picked up a few blues to share and she in return shared some of her blues so I could make my own version! The pattern is 15" blocks, but she sized them down to 12". She also figured out the sizes for an 8" version. Well I decided I was going to do the 8" version. So above are my 6 blocks so far. Not too bad considering I really didn't sew to much this week with the girls home.

We had a great Thanksgiving and had a lot of fun. Of course we did some shopping, mostly for stuff for them! And we went out to eat and to a movie "Dan in Real Life" with Mark's sisters. That was a great time. Now I"m sitting home just kind of sad and lonely. I always have this big let-down when they are gone. I miss them already.

I found out that Gypsy Quilter gave me the Community Blogger Award! Now how nice is that! Picture from The Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library.

"The Community Blog Award celebrates people who reach out and makes the blogger community a better one."

In turn, I get to pass this on to 3 folks - this is always the really tough part for me. There are so very many blogs I could choose! So don't feel bad if I didn't choose you this time, because there is no way I could list everyone!

Lucy at Quilting with the Past - Lucy is so very talented and sweet. And this week I received a special envelope with some vintage dutch mourning fabric for a secret project I'm working on right now. It is so perfect and I would be so lost without her friendship and support.

Laura from Pine Ridge Quilter - Laura is another of those friends you can't do without. I"m lucky enough to know Laura in person and she is always there for me when I need a shoulder to cry on and a sounding board for my quilting. My trips to go visit her are my highlights throughout the year.

Nancy at Tom Miner Folk Art - I"ve been online with Nancy since it seems the beginning of time. Nancy does wonderful folk art quilting and live in the middle of nowhere Montana. Oh I envy her house and area! She always has some great story about her husband Jim and his follies! It keeps me laughing!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

As you've noticed I've been a bit quiet lately - doing lots of "secret projects" for Christmas, and the kids started arriving home last night! So it will be at least a week before I'm back with anything to show.

So - until then - Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Star Garden

I enjoyed Sarah's Quilt so much that I had to get the next book - "The Star Garden" by Nancy E. Turner. I"m only about 20 pages in and already I love it!

And since what I"m working on lately I can't share because it is a surprise Christmas present - I thought this was the perfect time to do the meme on Jeanne's blog.

Open up the book you’re currently reading to page 161 and read the sixth sentence on the page, then think of 5 bloggers to tag.

I"m just going to let you volunteer to do this. I"m totally bummed at my result though:

"Why, she didn't know who he was."

Now how is that going to draw you in!

YES!!!!

I finished quilting all 4 of the Nativity quilts this weekend! Put on the bindings and sleeves this morning! All I need to do is sew them down by hand now in front of the TV! Cross one more "have to do" off my list!

2009 NLCQG Raffle Quilt!

We had voting Wed night at my quilt guild for the quilt we are going to make for our 2009 Quilt Show Raffle. A member who is as big a Bonnie fan as me had asked Bonnie if we could vote/use her Cathedral Stars pattern. Bonnie in her wonderful giving fashion said yes.

Well the votes are in - our raffle quilt for the 2009 show is her Cathedral Stars! A few of us made up demo blocks for the voting to help members see what it would look like. Aren't they great, even with us just doing them with not a lot of planning!

Another Christmas gift almost ready!

Above is another Christmas gift almost ready! All I need to do is sew down the binding on the back! This was the mystery quilt Laura organized at camp this fall. I have until Christmas to get that done so it shouldn't be a problem.

I"m currently reading "Sarah's Quilt" by Nancy E. Turner. It took me a bit to get "into character" but once I was - I was hooked! I'm really enjoying it! Of course I have no idea what Sarah's Quilt has to do with the story YET! And I see there is a follow-up book out this month to it, I can't wait to get it! That one is called "The Star Garden". (Hmm, looks like there was a book that comes before Sarah's Quilt too).

Anyway, as I was reading I came across a passage that I really loved. (By the way - is that not just the cutest picture above!)

Pulling down a quilt is like opening a package. All you see is the white

underneath, and then as soon as you get it down, there are all the colors.

Just think of all the images, designs and feelings those words bring to you! And all the thoughts of quilts made by hand in small houses by lamp light. Making quilts for warmth and comfort. Quilting out of scaps for necessity, and quilting bees as social gatherings. Can you imagine HAVING to make a quilt and finding time to do it in order to stay warm. Its probably why I love antique utilitarian quilts so much!

What more is there to say!

Busy, busy, busy

Yup, I"m around - just busy, busy, busy! DO NOT mention the words Server, Crash, Backups, Reload, Security to me right now! Yeah, I"ve been busy - but not with quilting. It has been all work, all the time!

But my friend did help me out and quilted my 3 braid table runners I made for me! I was just going to stipple them, but the way things are going, I decided to let her play with her new statler stitcher and do them for me! I"m glad I had her do them! I"m that much closer to being done with them for xmas presents!!!

I got the binding on, just have to hand sew them down now!

More later this week.

Happy Halloween!

Of scraps and crumbs.....

So - you all want to know what I did with my scraps from the table runners? I made this awesome 8-pointed star! Doesn't it look great! Now I didn't take the time to do Bonnie's lovely string 8-pointed star with no seams. Like I said I wasn't feeling well, so I just plain did not want to think or mess with that. But I still like the result. It is 16" square so I"m going to make it a table topper for my friend for xmas.

But then I had these crumbs from the star. Oh no - the process starts again!



So I made this sawtooth star out of those! This one finishes at about 8" square, so I may just put this block in my block bag for now. And NO - I did not have any teeny tiny crumbs left from this one!

BUT - I did get my AWESOME Hawaiian tool caddy from Sharon! All because I named her purse ricki-ricki-timbo-aw-so-rimbo-oo-ma-goochi-gamma-gamma-goochi. And where did I get that name you might say. I have no idea why this popped in my head, but when I saw the hawaiian stuff I thought of a childhood record we had (and I think it was a Disney record actually) that had this story of Nikki Nikki Timbo Aw So Rembo Oo Ma Goochi Gamma Gamma Goochi on it. So that was the name I gave it! Well then I got thinking about this record and did some searching on the web for it. And I found a free mp3 download of it - the version we had on the record as children!

Click here to get the mp3 download.

Now this story IS NOT politically correct at all these days - so no nasty comments about that. Remember this story was back in the 60's - I have no idea when the record came out. Can you believe this was on a disney record! So as a thank you I sent Sharon the story. But you can listen too. Just take it for what it is, a funny chinese story. Or you can see what Wikipedia has to say about the old folktale here. And just a written version of the story if you can't download the mp3 is on this site - but it is much better with the music on the mp3 version.