25 Things To Do...

... Instead of playing Scrabble or Spider Solitaire on the Internet:

1. Sew buttons on DS's shorts and pants. DONE!
2. Finish hand-quilting brown/pink quilt.
3. Put Civil War patterns from last year's Brackman-sponsored quilt-along into sleeves and binder.
4. Finish hand-quilting Schnibbles.
5. Make book covers.
6. Work on Wendy's pillow.
7. Work on Robin's pillow.
8. Sew batik leftover strips into a quilt top.
9. Make Farmer's Wife block(s).
10. Make Civil War block(s).
11. Stitch decorative designs on white jacket.
12. Finish curtain for closet.
13. Make little book bags for twins. DONE!
14. Cut out blue/beige quilt.
15. Cut out floral stars quilt.
16. Cut out Thimbleberries red, gold, blue quilt.
17. Cut out red and white quilt.
18. Cut out pastel triangle quilt.
19. Finish Adam's t-shirt quilt.
20. Work on Lone Star quilt. DID SOME!
21. Begin Pink Lemonade doll quilt-along. FABRICS PULLED!
22. Clean off sewing room dresser.
23. Finish 5-pointed star quilt.
24. Get a package ready to send to Amie for her postage stamp quilt.
25. Work on Mom's signature quilt.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Big Plans

You've probably heard the saying about one's eyes being bigger than one's stomach? Well, that's the same idea applied to quilting projects for me. I wanna do 'em all!!

I've already got my start on the Lone Star Quilt-Along. Hoping to see lots of pretty quilts and inspiration from that.

Now, I've just read Lori's blog, Humble Quilts, and I know she always starts the new year with a doll quilt-along. I've done 2 of them and I simply adore them! So, of course I am going to do this one, too! It's been given the name Pink Lemonade as its primary colors are pink and yellow. Go take a look at it and see if you can resist!

One other quilt I really want to get going on is the signature quilt from my mother's 75th birthday party. I put it on hold through the holidays and now I'm psyched to get it going!

Image from Google.

In other business...did you know I got an iPad for Christmas? I was entirely suprised. My dear children and their father DH were the responsible parties. Gosh, I wish I knew all the cool uses for it. It takes pictures and videos. I've downloaded a bunch of apps for it. It can be both a Kindle and a Nook. I don't know 1/100th of what all it can do. I'm spending a lot of time playing games on it so far, but I want to make it do useful organizing and creative things. Any suggestions, readers?

Image from Google.

And, my new camera came. I've been trying to learn it in addition to the iPad. Techno-overload for me! Let's just say teaching an old dog new tricks is a process.

I've taken just a few pics on the new camera, getting a feel for it, you know. Here are some Christmas pics that turned out okay.

Our tree. Red and off-white quilt for a tree skirt.

This yo-yo table topper is from a Thimbleberries book. It was a lot of fun to make. Guessing: I made it about 12 years ago(?).

This throw pillow is one I made many years ago. It's over 20 years old since I remember having it at our old house (we moved here in 1992). I hand-pieced and hand-quilted it.

Finally, I'll show you this jolly guy. My dear friend Kay made this squishy Santa for me even more than 20 years ago! I used to have him sit in the little rocking chair that my kids had, but now that they are all big kids now, he sits in the big rocker.

Wish me luck on executing these big plans!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Challenge to Begin the New Year

Happy New Year, Quilting Friends!

Whew! What a whirlwind couple of weeks we've had around here!

We had 29 here for dinner on Christmas Day - my mother, siblings, their spouses and children and grandchildren. And a few extras, too - boyfriends, brother's in-laws, etc. Christmas with family - a blessing beyond measure!

Just after Christmas, we traveled a couple of hours across the state for a 2-day visit to my father-in-law's and got a chance to see very nearly everyone on hubby's side of the family. Again, it was a wonderful opportunity to visit with family.

On Friday, I hosted the Frankfort girls here for our regularly scheduled get-together.

Then we had our annual New Year's Eve party with 2 other couples. Those 2 couples have been doing New Year's together for 25 or 26 years; we have been a part of it for the last 18 years. The three families rotate homes each year for hosting duties, which makes it nice.

In between all those functions, there was the usual hustle and bustle of preparations - fixing special dishes; wrapping; decorating, and then keeping up with the cleaning and laundry of having extra family in the house - these sure can keep a gal hopping!! But NOT sewing, doggone it!

I will make up for the lack of sewing and quilting by getting right to work now in the new year! Oh, the promise of a new year!!

Now, let's talk about that challenge I mentioned in my title, shall we? Last fall, my blogging friend Sue Abrey at Quilt Times shared a UFO that she had a hankering to finish. I chimed in with a comment that I, too, had the same quilt in UFO condition that I would love to finish. So we've cooked up a little quilt-along. Read about it here.

Step into my sewing room and take a look at my shelves with project bins (and other stuff) lined up there on the wall.

Locate this bin on the top shelf.

The stuff on the top shelf is the really old stuff. My Lone Star UFO is around 20 years old. I was spurred to make it when my then-ten(ish)-year-old son admired the quilt in a book I had, and told me I could make that quilt for him. I began it in the summer time, possibly at a quilt camp at CHS.

As you can see, I have made some progress on this. I remember that I was running into trouble with the bias edges. I think I have improved in my abilities in 20 years, so those biases won't intimidate me as much as they did back then.

Here's the inspiration photo from that long-ago book (still on my shelves).

So, the quilt-along is on! Thanks to Sue for the prod I needed for getting this UFO out after all these years! I hope others out there will join us! There are no complicated instructions to follow; just sew along with Sue and me! Here is what Sue has on her blog:

1. We will not be providing patterns or instructions, but we will try to suggest places where patterns are available;
2. You can write posts about your progress on your blog, and then sign in to a Linky on one of our blogs on the first Saturday of the month, so we can see each other's progress (or not);
3. There are no other rules/timescales/competitions/etc. except Rule 4 below;
4. You have to encourage me cos I think I might struggle with this quilt.

Sue is putting an awful lot of confidence in me that I will be able to do things like Linkys - I'm not at all sure that's such a good idea, Sue!! My computer skills are not as advanced as yours! :-)

I have added the Lone Star QuiltAlong button to my sidebar; feel free to grab it and join us, won't you?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Bit of Old Business

Everyone probably feels the same rush to get things done before Christmas, so I imagine the fact that I've got a few things to get done today comes as no surprise to anyone. But, I also wanted to blog about some recent things that I just didn't want to put off until after Christmas. If we were having a meeting, this would fall under the category of Old Business. Let's dispense with it now.

A week ago this morning, the Frankfort girls met at JoAnn's house for our regular sew-together. We set our calendars for the entire coming year. We also penciled in a couple of quilt shows and a breakfast. Very productive. We took stock of the families - 2011 found additions for 3 of us: Terry gained a daughter-in-law; Sharon gained a grandson; JoAnn gained a granddaughter from one son and twin grandsons from the other son! Three grandbabies born in one year - how's that for productivity??

Grammy Jo had to make stockings for these new little ones.

We have an "understanding" that we don't do Christmas gifts, but Sheryll bent the rule a little bit and gave each one of us a nifty glasses case - or a rotary cutter case, however we want to use it, I suppose. Really nice! Mine will definitely be used for glasses. I just love it!

In other quilting news, the above quilt is (the other) Sharon's current project. Again, she has chosen one that is going together incredibly fast. She is making it one row longer and two rows wider and is not using the mitten appliques. This is what she accomplished in our time together on Monday.

It is going to be sooo cozy.

Finally, an oxymoron in old business: a new business!! A New Quilt Shop!!! I stopped in there on Tuesday, just to check it out and to buy a gift certificate for one quilty friend who shall remain nameless for the time being. *cheesy grin*

Old Town Fabric Shop is newly opened in a historic building on W. Second Street in Chillicothe. Owner Cindy Henderson and daughter Kelly Henderson have quite a beautiful shop - filled with primarily modern fabrics such as Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler and reproduction fabrics. I don't think I have ever seen so many Kaffes in one place!! It was heaven!

I got a big hug from Kelly as I entered the store-she was a student of mine back in the nineties. And a special one, at that!! I did love that girl! We clicked, as sometimes happens between teacher and student - I am so glad to be reacquainting with her!

I took a few shots from inside the store. However, you'll note that my camera is behaving badly, so the quality is lacking, for sure. I will have more to say about this later in New Business.

The Kaffe wall - sigh, heaven!!

There's the lovely Kelly at the cash register!

A bed displaying several reproduction quilts. (Terrible pic!!)

That's Linda cutting kits. Look at how roomy this place is! Since I had only a few minutes to just look around, I didn't get to investigate really closely. That will require a return trip, for sure!  It's quite a thrill having a new quilt store to come to town. We have one, Creations, which has been here for at least 20 years, and now we have Old Town Fabric Shop. They should fill every quilter's needs and/or desires! I hope the word gets out that we have these 2 gems; I so want them to experience success!!

And now, we will move on to the New Business portion of our post. A bit of background first, if you don't mind. Just as I was noticing the incredibly poor quality of my photos, I read Suzanne's blog, At Home With the Farmer's Wife. This blog is one of my favorites; it was one of the very first blogs I started following way back about 5 or 6 years ago. Her gentle humor appeals to me, and her outlook on life is quite agreeable to my own, so I read her faithfully. Well, anyway, she posted about one of her cameras biting the dust, and about finding a new one for an incredibly great price. You can read all about it here.

Now, I wonder if you can guess the first topic in New Business??? Yes, my new camera - which I ordered on Wednesday, and which will arrive just after Christmas. Serendipity!! I ordered online from the same store, and got the exact same camera as Suzanna bought. Took all the trouble of shopping and comparing completely out of the equation, and that makes me very happy. Merry Christmas to Me!!

And, I will go back to the new fabric shop and take better pictures to share. Promise.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Cheater Week at Sharon's

On Monday I went to Sharon's to sew for the day. And boy, was I in for a huge surprise! She had been quite a busy little stitcher in the week since we'd last been together! Her focus was using up all the cheater panels she had. What a stack of quilts to admire!

And, I'm sure you'll note that they are not just pieced, but also quilted. Such an accomplishment! We have a lady in town who machine quilts as a business; and she specializes in a fast turnaround on quilts. She does basic meandering designs, and is quite reasonably priced. Sharon would take one in, go back the next day to pick it up, and drop off another! She had all these done this way. The woman even stitches down the binding for you. So, when we want a quickie, we go to her!

Here are the cheater quilts Sharon made this week. Some of these panels, she said, had been in her stash for a very long time.

The last one pictured is not a cheater quilt; it is the Flannel Cascade that she worked on last week at my house. Quilted and bound in under a week! Pretty good feeling of accomplishment, wouldn't you agree?

I was finishing the binding on Emma's purple and gold Bento Box quilt. After that, I cut out some quickie projects for my twin nieces. Hope I have time to get them done by Christmas!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Something for Myself!

n the midst of all that I should be doing for Christmas, I up and make myself a bag. Now, I never have claimed to be a zealot when it comes to focusing on a job, but we are just 8 days out from Christmas, and I definitely have other, more pressing obligations.

But I've wanted to make it for so-o-o-o-o-o-o long! Here's the story:

Quilts and More, Winter 2009.

This "Super Simple Tote" caught my eye from the very moment I saw this issue. I had plenty of Kaffe fabric from which to choose; I found a suitable stripe for accent; I purchased the fusible batting.

Back in the summer, I asked blog readers what to do with this wonky cutting mat.

One suggestion was to use it as base material in bags. That struck a chord with me, so I saved it back for just this bag!

Now let me tell you, that "Super Simple" tote turned out to be quite a doozie of a project. First of all, fusible batting is used on both the outer fabric and the lining fabric - this makes for very bulky work. Second of all, that cutting mat was a killer to cut, and I kept having to shave off sides to get the piece to fit nicely into the bottom of my bag. Third of all, these layers of outer fabric and lining fabric called for quilting before construction, so I got to test out my machine quilting skills (they aren't very good, in case you were wondering).

Before finishing, I told DH that not a single Vera Bradley bag is overpriced!! These things are a lot of work! And this one doesn't have any hardware - no snaps, buttons, zippers, clasps, etc.

Finally, I finished it. And I love it! *big grin!!*

 It needs a good pressing and the lining could fit better, but for me I think it will be just fine. If I were to make another one (and I just might!), I believe I would not put so much batting in it. Pockets don't need batting. Also, if I make another one, I will cut the lining slightly smaller than the outer layer. That will reduce the excess that I am finding in this first version.

Always learning, aren't we?? I am going to watch the Buckeyes this afternoon and work on that knitting project for DD#1's boyfriend. That, and intermittent laundry folding. Later we are going to Hillsboro for Mexican and a visit to Grandma's.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Monday Quilting with Sharon

I will quickly post pictures of what Sharon and I worked on this past Monday when she was over to sew for the day. I take too long when I write, and I need to be devoting time to some other more pressing endeavors!  So for now, pictures will have to do...

Sharon had this top quilted. She brought it to show to me, and of course, I snapped a picture to chronicle here on the blog.

Sharon arrived with this...

...and left with this!

It was a kit of yummy flannels:

After I made the stocking for DD's boyfriend (see previous post), I did some sewing on the French General Stars (shown on several recent posts). I am also working on binding the Bento Box quilt I made this summer for DD#2. I had it quilted a week ago, and need to get the binding done! I really like how it turned out, and I think Emma will, too.

One final note: Today, December 15, is Grandma's 95th birthday!! Happy Birthday, Grandma!!

Happy Quilting, Friends!