Taking a Back Seat

Some of my regular readers will be wondering where I've been lately, and what I've been up to. Well, my fall semester stint at OU-C begins today, and I have been focusing on getting my syllabi prepared! I think you all know the world-class procrastinator I am, so it won't surprise you to learn that I've put these off until the 11th hour.

It's an affliction I'm apparently going to have to accept. If after 35 years in the classroom, I haven't figured it out then I hold out little hope that I ever will.

So once things get adjusted to the new normal of class and papers and such, I must put my quilting aside. *sniff!*

I will show you what is waiting in the wings for my attention when the school year settles down. One of the items on the Ten Things list is about to be checked off. This quilt is the wedding gift quilt. My friend Terry quilted it for me, and now I need to finish it off by getting the binding on.

The mother of the bride (MOB), Cheryl, came over several weeks ago and from the quilt tops I thought the bride might like, MOB selected this one. I made it from a kit back earlier this year with French General fabrics. You can read about it here.

And, I have to also let you know that today my oldest turns 31! YIKES!! How on earth does that happen?? Yes, we just had DD2's birthday on the 17th, and now on the 27th, we have DS's. They are 10 years and 10 days apart in age. I will be in class all afternoon and evening, so the celebrating will wait until tomorrow.

Hang tight, quilter friends. I shall return.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Quilt Tour of Monica's House

I have done a few "quilt tours" before - Sharon's, Kay's, Terry's, Sheryll's. As mentioned previously, I was at Monica's on Monday, and quilts were everywhere!! I thought you might like to take a little tour.

A corner of the basement sewing room.

Wall-hanging in the sewing room.



This was Monica's first quilt. It hangs in the sewing room.

Compare that first quilt to this! Quite an advancement!

Another wall-hanging for the sewing room.

Courthouse Steps.

On Monica's bed.

Many stars with a sawtooth border - I love it.

Simplicity! Quilts don't have to be uber-complex.

Many small pieces; I would consider this uber-complex,
but mostly it's just time-consuming.

On a large family room wall. Very striking.

Gosh, I love this. So simple and scrappy!

Hanging in the family room.

On a ladder near the entrance.

Dining table where we had lunch.
Love the simplicity of the table runner and placemat.

Another striking quilt; this is in the entry.
Monica entered this quilt in the NQA show that was in Columbus in June.
I wrote about it in this post. It's near the end.

Thrown casually over the couch.

Currently under construction. Wool. I've not ventured there, yet. Many quilters are, however.

There's your tour of Monica's quilty house. She definitely has a flair for the primitive-repro-traditional look, doesn't she? I love them, too.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Study in Contrasts

One of the things I find most fascinating about quilts is how a pattern can look so different when made with different fabrics. I have a good example to share with you, although I think the best example is the way our retirement quilts all have their own distinct looks even though all have been made using the same Thimbleberries pattern.

On Monday while I was at Monica's, our hostess was working on this quilt. I do not know the name of it, but she had a pattern and I hope I can get it so that we can document its name and maker.

Big blocks made with big pieces - a nice, fast quilt. She was just whizzing away at them and constructed nearly this entire quilt on Monday.

Now, by coincidence, Cherie, another quilter with us on Monday had the same quilt in her car. Just look at how different hers looks from Monica's.

Cheri's quilt is made with 30's prints. It looks so soft and quaint. Monica's fabrics are largely reproduction/Civil War fabrics. Quite the contrast!

I like the idea of making quilts like this just because you can see such fantastic results so quickly. This pattern might just have to go on a to-do list one of these days!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

HST Borders

I spent the day sewing at Monica's yesterday - my first time there. I've sewn with Monica several other times, at other people's houses, and I've spoken of her here on the blog. I will show you her lovely quilts soon, and I will show you the various things we worked on, as well.

Today, though, it's all about me. Sorry for being so self-absorbed, but I just have to let you see the HST quilt with its borders.

Several recent comments left here have been encouraging me to finish it up without borders. While I definitely liked that idea, it would have just been too small. That would have meant making more blocks and adding on. I was just not in the mood to do more, so borders were a necessity.

I took this border project with me to work on at Monica's, never expecting it to take the biggest part of the day to complete. However, there was a significant amount of measuring and adding involved. I do struggle with numbers, you know, so it was an involved process.

I love how the dark pink stops the active center of the quilt. I did go ahead and use the leftover blocks for the outer border corner squares. I am pleased with that. The leafy outer border picks up just about every color in the center. So I am very satisfied with this quilt top.

Another finish! Yaa! I still have lots of KF scraps that I want to deal with, so I am next going to be cutting out more tumbler/crumbler blocks to stitch up. One way or another, this mess of scraps will be eliminated!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Borders For My HST Quilt

Just finished walking this morning - 5.23 miles! My longest walk yet. One of these days, I will do a post about my walking.

Today, however, I want to quickly just show you the borders I've decided on for the HST quilt. With a trip to Athens later on, I have stuff to get done. So, short and sweet today!

Originally, I'd wanted to go with a yellow-orange inner border, but when I saw this deep pink, I knew I'd love it. I think this will work out very nicely, and I might just get busy on it Monday.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Birthday

Twenty-one years ago on this date, our youngest was born - Emma Jean. She came into the world about 2 weeks early and only weighed 5 lbs. 15 oz. She was an easy birth, but a worrisome pregnancy. I was 35 years old, and the concern for gestational diabetes was high. The doctors watched me like hawks!

Emma has always been my goofball.
Maybe if she sees this she will send me an attractive picture!

 

She has been living in Athens this summer, so we are not with her to celebrate today. We will go to see her tomorrow and take her out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner where she will order a margarita! I think she is looking forward to it.

I spent a good amount of time in the sewing room yesterday making more curtains for her house, and new pillow cases that match the curtains.

 

Remember these two pillow cases I made last August? Well, these pillow cases are being retired, and the new ones match those curtains you saw a few posts back. Click here to re-read the post about the Kaffe pillow cases. Click here to see the new curtains. 

 

 

The new pillow cases. Not nearly as fun as the KF ones, but they do match the room a lot better.

 

 

This is her bedroom here at home. I put the two new curtain panels across the bed, and added the pillows so that you could see the entire "package." I've sent her pics already, and she approves.

 

So tomorrow afternoon we will deliver the birthday goodies. I have a quilting date on Monday, and a family outing on Tuesday. The week is starting off busy!

 

To counter that busy-ness, I am off now to spend an afternoon with a friend at her pool! Ahhh, relaxing!

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

 

 



A Thing of Beauty

Is a joy forever. That is a well-known poem by John Keats. You can click here if you'd care to read it. Nowhere in the poem is there a mention of a Kaffe Fassett HST quilt, but still...

Even though it still needs borders, I wanted to show you the pictures of my HST quilt. I am so loving it!

I don't know how carefully some of you look at pictures on these blogs, but I will tell you right now that I've discovered not one, but TWO blocks turned the wrong way. Dangit! I had it laid out on the bed and carried them to the machine so carefully!! I will "get the ripper" (there's an inside joke that will make my mother and sister giggle) and correct those wayward blocks.

I turned the bench around the way it is supposed to be (DH moved it when he mowed), but the lighting was better when the sun was behind me. Now the sun is behind the bench and that gives me a shadow. Oh well, it is still a very pretty, lively quilt; I am thrilled with it!

Now I mentioned borders, and frankly, I have not even given that a thought. I suppose at least 2 are called for. I'm thinking yellow and blue. I have some HST blocks left over, so I could use them in the corners. That would be fun. Well, I am off to make some decisions.

Before I close, here's just one more picture of my happy quilt.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Spontaneous Rendevous

I had the most fun Saturday afternoon and evening, and it was totally unplanned and spontaneous. I'd been texting with Sharon P. and  after a couple of exchanges, I asked her if she was free for the evening. After a bit, I get the message that she was! Yippee!

She got here about 5 or so, and we headed off to a free event sponsored by the Greenfield Historical Society called a Cemetery Stroll. Several Society members had researched some of the long-deceased resting in our cemetery, created a booklet of those deceased, and guests could stroll through the cemetery, looking at the stones and following along with the history outlined in the booklet. It was a very enjoyable event, and the weather was perfect for a stroll.

Our main event of the evening, though, was getting to sew together! She has been missing in action for several months, as I outlined in this post from a few weeks ago. I thought she would dive right in to that Three Coins project that she'd been working on, but she took out her new Charm packs of Lario by 3 Sisters/Moda, and made a bunch of 4-patch blocks.

Aren't these beautiful? We ogled them for a long time. They are all gorgeous - the entire line is one I'd like to have - in mass quantities!

Sharon's plan is to set these together with a large setting square, or perhaps a HST, or even an hourglass block. Many options, and there's no need to decide soon.

After completing these 4-patches, she opened the Three Coins tub and tried to figure out where she'd left off. The block is so involved with so many pieces; it was like trying to solve a puzzle. She did figure it out, and finished up 2 more blocks! She had 8 done, now has 10, and only needs 6 more to finish this step in the quilt's construction.

I worked on sewing together a quilt top while Sharon was here. I'd had my HST quilt laid out on the guest bed, and it was ready to go.

This picture is of the blocks prior to connecting. I have it laid out at 9 blocks by 11 blocks. After sewing them all together, I realized that it was too narrow, so I have enough cut out for adding 2 more rows, making it 11x11 blocks. I worked on them a bit Sunday, and need to get back to them. They go together so fast, I should be able to have the top done in no time. Then I will have to think about the borders I will put on. I am so very pleased with this quilt and am anxious to count it as a finished top.

So, our evening of sewing ended as the clock was nearing midnight! Sharon was so excited to get a chance to sew. She said she felt like it was Christmas! I hope we can carve out another sewing session in a week or two. I'd missed it as much as she had!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Frankfort Girls

We met at Sheryll's house last Friday, and had a special guest. Shame on me for not getting a picture. Terry brought her 4-year-old grandson Troy with her. He was a sweet little thing, and he entertained Sheryll's husband very well. Or was it the other way around???

Anyway, quickly, I will show you what we worked on. JoAnn was absent this morning, so I will show you what the others were working on. I will show you mine in another post.

Terry was binding this beauty. I remember seeing it once before and I was intrigued by the great design of those black triangles criss-crossing through the quilt. I have asked Terry to find the pattern for me so that I can make it! Her borders are black prints and the entire thing just looks so great.

Sharon O. was quiltng this wall hanging. You may remember that she was just beginning this a few months back - she was hand-piecing the foundation-pieced blocks - interesting.... So now it is nearly finished and looking so fresh and spring-y.

Seems like I am always apologizing for picture quality. Well, this one is washed out because the sun was shining on it. I need to start being more mindful of this. Sheryll was quilting in the setting squares. You can see that she is repeating the basket motif in the quilting. It is brown and pink and is really very pretty - which my picture doesn't really show. Sorry, Sheryll!

We had a great morning and enjoyed our time together - as we always do. We solve a myriad of problems - of both major and minor magnitude. You know how it is, right?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Cutie Pies

We interrupt our quilting posts to bring you two of the cutest little nieces of all time. Anna Rose and Mary Jean are now going on 6, and will soon start kindergarten. Sandy (my sister) emailed me this picture, saying the girls wondered if it might make it onto the blog.

Hmmm, is this a trick question, or what???

The Sunbonnet Sue quilt is Sandy's, and is very nearly identical to the one I have and shared here a few weeks back. That's Mary Jean on the left, and Anna Rose on the right. Sandy says the reason it came out last evening is because Mary Jean asked why she has quilts in a cupboard and never uses them. Good question, Mary Jean!! By gosh, we are using them now, aren't we?!

 They spend a lot of time at my sister's - a farm with cattle, cats, a dog, a pond, barns, and many, many diversions for little girls. I can only imagine the fun.

Here is more from Sandy's email which came last night:

 "Mary Jean is the one who like your blog. We look at it together for anything we can see that is a pretty color. She loved the fish quilt and Erin's blanket.  She looks at the colors of fabric you show and tells me the colors she likes. They are staying here tonight after going to open house for kindergarten which starts Wednesday. MJ wanted to stay, AR wanted to go home but was sad her sister was not going home with her. MJ ran out to give her a hug and say good bye and try to console her. We could not hear the conversation, but before long MJ was wiping tears from AR's cheek. It was so sweet. Then MJ whispers something to her sister and AR comes running back saying she will stay and is ready for Uncle Tim to take them on a 4-wheeler ride! That must have been the whisper."

Oh my!! Is that not the most adorable story??!!

Anna Rose getting ready to shuck corn.

Mary Jean helps her cousin Abby with shucking corn from Aunt Sandy's garden.

Here they are when they were on vacation in Florida earlier this summer. Mary Jean is in the white hat; Anna Rose in the tan.

It sounds like I will get to see them and their parents tonight when we make our regular weekly visit to the Mexican restaurant. Can't wait!

Happy Quilting, Friends!