A few October quilts

I love this Celtic quilt Holle made for her daughter. The borders were done with stencils. I learned an important lesson, air erase marks do not like rain lol. The marks were disappearing in seconds. I could only mark about 5''s at a time. I finally decided to try again the next day with better weather. What a difference! I could mark 1/2 a border at a time with no worries. (As usual, click on photo to enlarge)


And the back...


I've quilted this quilt pattern for Lynn a number of times but never in a flannel. And it's a Shabby Chic to boot. I love it!!!



This last quilt was quilted for my dear friend Carrie. When I called her to tell her it was finished she said "Oh how fun, I totally forgot about it". Ack, how long have I had this one, lol? Quick check of the paperwork made me feel better lol. Not only was Carrie excited to come get her quilt but she agreed to be my dead bride in the haunted house this year. I'm lucky to have such a great friend. Not may people would say "Do what ever you want to my quilt, when ever you have time..... and yes I will be your dead bride".

A few August quilts

A quick picture of Lynn's latest quilt for the Quilts for Kids auction. I love this quilt and hope it brings in a high bid for the kids. I really admire Lynn's dedication to this organization.


It was fun to quilt and makes me want to make a bright cheerful quilt of my own. Hmmmm maybe I ought to just finish one of the many I've already started lol. Surely there's a bright happy one in the mix. (I just noticed the arched lettering looks crooked in the picture. It's just the way it's hanging. Darn, wish it was still here to get a better picture)


I really like this customers quilt. Isn't it pretty? The very last corner quilted was the bottom right....Ughhh a turned block. (It's actually less noticeable in person, but I still can't believe none of us caught it. Even after 10 minutes of looking her friend still couldn't find it. YES!) The customer decided to leave it as is. She said "No need to flip it, it's OK to not be perfect". Great attitude to have in life!

Oops I said a few...so here are two more august quilts ....or is a few just 3?

(Click on picture to enlarge) I love the simple borders on this one.


It's hard to see but this one has concentric circles on the circle fabric. I love the whimsy in this quilt. She's one of Lynn's good friends and I can't help but wonder if Lynn suggested the polka dot fabric. It's a very "Lynn" thing to do lol.

Fabric give away

No I'm not giving fabric away, Sarah Fielke is! While waiting for a coat of paint to dry I started perusing some of my favorite blogs tonight and came across her give away. It's fabulously fun fabric!! head on over to her blog and check it out! The Last Piece.


Oops, I almost forgot the name of the fabric line..... "From Little Things."


Cute isn't it? I absolutely love the happy colors and designs. Gotta love a little whimsy =)

Quilt, paint or make arms?

The butler finally has a bride. So much to do and so little time to do it. Quilt, paint or make arms for the bride?


Every time I see this dress it makes me think of my friend Carol. She made the dress for a Titanic dinner party and then retired it to this dress form. It stood in her guest room for years until she gave it to me a couple weeks ago. She's a life saver as I didn't know where I was going to find the time to make a period dress. I rolled it into the Halloween room and saw my Butler holding the head Chad bought me. YES! The perfect match. Now all I have to do is make/buy her arms. I think they make a cute couple. Don't you = )


She is a huge improvement over his first wife, who's bubble wrap body with slightly square bosoms kept sliding down her pole. I'll repurpose the pole with a clown for the nursery.

Charity quilt

I wish I had written down the name of the book Lynn's art quilt depicts. It's a wonderful children's book. The quilt will be auctioned off later this year at the Quilts For Kids charity event. This was my first time quilting something with tulle laid over the top, so a bit of experimenting had to be done. Once I realized not all of the tulle could be removed so I could quilt underneath it, I decided on much lighter quilting. I think in the end it matched the light feel of the clouds better anyways. Lynn's work is amazing!


I love this Africa themed wall hanging. Nadine did an amazing job piecing it. It's artistic yet whimsical and was FUN to quilt.


This is another quilt of Nadine's, I had a hard time saying good bye to this one lol. Love it!



And last a close up of a border I had a lot of fun doing. I hope I can quilt this design on one of my own soon =)

Some August quilts

Click on photo's to enlarge.

I liked this quote

So I thought I'd share.

I'm content that God be God. I wont instruct him on his duties to us. I know he lives and loves us, that he is God. He's not unmindful of us. We don't suffer out of his view. He doesn't inflict pain on us, but he sustains us in our pain. We are safe in his love.

Finally quilting again after a two week break. Will post soon.

The Zookeeper's Wife

I finally finished The Zookeeper's Wife. Great story, horrible story teller. I was able to get into it by the end, but man the beginning was torture. I usually pause my audio books if I have to leave the room. Not this book, I left it running and hoped the story had moved on to something interesting by the time I s l o w l y came back.

I just started the Hunger Games and 10 minutes into it I am intrigued. Lets hope it stays at this nice interesting pace. I'm in the mood to be entertained.

Latest quilts off the frame

I love this baby quilt and it was fun to quilt. What grand child wouldn't love to get this from their grandma. Sadly it's not mine but I wish it were, my grand kids would love it.

The same customer made this wonderful charity quilt. I admire the time and effort put into charity quilts and this one is great! I hope they get all they are hoping for out of it.

Front
Backing (love this back)

Marcus goes to the ER

I'm hijacking my daughters facebook post about my grandson Marcus and his run in with Farm Grandma's table.

Our first trip with a child to the emergency room for stitches last night! Boy, that was not what we were planning on doing yesterday. Poor Marcus! He was so tough and handled it like a trooper though.

He was running full speed and went right into the corner of grandma's dining table. He cut a pretty decent gash above his eye that was too deep for butterfly band aids. We drove him to the emergency room and he got three stitches. He was so cute and hilarious for the nurses and doctor. He asked them if he would have a scar like Harry Potter! And when they told him it would hurt to get the shot to numb the area for stitches he said, "It seems like I was just birthed to get hurt all the time!" That broke our hearts AND made us laugh. Finally, when they gave him the stitches and he just laughed and talked through it, the nurses told him he was brave and he said, "This is the bravest day of my whole life. I think Jesus is giving me brave power!" It was an adventure and I'm just really glad if it had to happen, that it happened at grandma's house because we had family here to watch the other two kids and Marcus got our full attention.

Marcus called me from the ER to tell me all about the magic medicine that makes you not feel anything. He was so excited to tell me his story. But that magic medicine really excited him. He thought it was the coolest thing ever. The way he words things is hilarious. And the words he uses, I don't know where he comes up with them. You never know what he'll say next..

Blast from the past triggers the ole brain

One of my customers dropped off a quilt last week and said "Quilt it like the other one you did for me". Of course there is no such picture in her folder and it's not in my file of quilts from the the last 10 years. I remember doing it, arghhhhh. Just my luck I didn't get a picture of it.


However I did come across a few past quilts that brought back..... odd memories.


I must have the worlds worst memory but the strangest thing happens when I quilt while listening to music, audio books or a movie. I can stop quilting on Friday night and as soon as I start quilting on Monday I can tell you exactly what song, part of a movie or even what line was being read in an audio book. It doesn't happen if I start quilting in a new place, only when I go back to the spot I left off.


While looking at the photo's I remembered what books I was listening to on these four quilts. Just popped in my head. Strange!! It only lasts a second and then it's gone. Any body else?

Finished!

I never tire of red batiks. And Lynn put them to good use in this quilt. Lynn's a whiz at fabric selection and tweaking quilt patterns to get the look she wants. This one was perfectly flat and square, a quilters dream.


Another of Lynn's creations. Simple piecing and simple quilting make for a stunning piece of art work.

And finally, I'm finished! I love this quilt, it'll be hard to give it back to Marsha. I'm also loving curved crosshatching, it's addictive. I'm wanting to piece a quilt just so I can do it some more.


This quilt was so perfectly pieced that I could have set my channel locks for the 1/4"ing. Perfection!

Missing the rain

I found me a little rain to enjoy......I miss the rain! I've always wished I could rig my house to have rainy windows like the haunted mansion at Disneyland. That was one of my favorite parts of the ride as a kid, and still is. Makes you all cozy inside.

Fine Line Rulers

Last month I was lucky enough to be a beta tester for Fine Line's new CC (Continuous Curve) rulers. (As soon as I can figure out how to do it I'll attach her link) Anyone who knows me knows I love ruler work, so this was fun! I'd never worked with Fine Line rulers before and was surprised at how much I liked the little handles. I thought they would get in the way but I found they were great for stabilizing my grip.


I've had fun doing a variety of curved crosshatching with them. I tested the 6 1/2" and the 10". They will be coming out with a 12 1/2" as well which will be great for those larger areas. (Yes I will be ordering one, I'm hooked lol)

They've got me thinking outside the box again. Which is a good thing, ruts are never good!! Makes me want to go to another convention and see whats out there and get those new ideas flowing some more.

Quilting again

I've been quilting again and testing a few new rulers. I LOVE them! (Will post more about them after the testing period) After a couple weeks off it feels like forever since I quilted, I feel renewed. Here's a cable border I haven't done in a while. I forgot how much I like this treatment. Nice and clean.

I never tire of clean lines.

I've quilted many lighthouses before but never any like these. Fun!! Gotta love a little whimsy in life.


A little more whimsy....... love me some jumbo flowers. (New rulers for the sash)


Amoebas....hard to see in this small picture, but their there. (click on pictures to enlarge)


And finally a full picture of the first quilt. I am loving the border on this quilt! I am so lucky to get such fun quilts to work on. What a variety = )

Hands

The other day Kay posted a picture of her "Gramcrackers" hand. (great name!)) I loved it! Hands in a photo really speak to me, and hers was just precious. You could feel her spirit and imagine the life she led. It made me want to know more about this wonderful woman.

Here's a photo my niece Cassie took a few years ago. I love it. Hands tell such stories, don't you think?


And here's an oil that my sister Robin did of my daughter Amy's hands holding her daughter Emma as she met her new little brother Liam for the first time. You don't need to see more than a mothers hands to see the love she feels.



When I was little I loved my grandpa's hands. I loved how they felt and how he was missing most of his finger tips from woodworking accidents. (Once when he cut off a finger grandma cut a hole in a little box and stuck her finger up threw the hole and laid it on some cotton with a touch of ketchup. She'd ask us kids if we wanted to see grandpa's finger and then wiggle her finger when we lifted the lid. Ahhhh memories. Grandparents are the best!)

Book club report

Typical B&B book club meeting. No one read the book so we're postponing the discussion until December and the person who was assigned to bring food thought it was next week. So we ate yummy fruit, giggled and planned a girls lunch date for next week and a BBQ with the men next month. We are SO not about the books. Oh and of course we discussed going to the midnight showing of Eclipse. No wonder all our brainy friends quit on us lol.

June's book

I finally decided to start listening to this months book for book club (since we discuss it in 3 days). I hope everyone is reading it, it should make for a great discussion.



I love book club! I look forward to seeing my friends, eating, laughing, telling stories and occasionally even discussing a book. I don't think we have ever had a month were we all read the assigned book but we sure have fun!! I think we're more about the giggles and field trips.

Ah-ha momment

While driving home from Costco and discussing some of my newest food allergies Chad laughed and said "Maybe your just allergic to all foods now". Brilliant! I blurted out " Oh my gosh I'm not fat! I'm just really swollen from food allergies, the more I eat the more I swell...and if I quit eating the swelling will go down"! So there is my answer. I will never diet again. I will just handle my allergies better. Tee hee. Now doesn't that sound better than a diet?

Pin Cushions

I love pin cushions! But I hate clutter so I haven't allowed myself to indulge in them. But with all the cute pin cushion patterns out there I just can't stand it. I'm going to start making a small collection, starting with a pear pattern I found. I hope this doesn't turn into yet another un-achieved goal in life lol.

Will post pics as soon as I actually make one. Wish me luck : )

Happy Mothers Day

I hope everyone is having a splendid mothers day today! You deserve it : )

Can this weekend get any better ? I spent yesterday watching my daughter Amy run her first half marathon. It happened to fall on her youngest son's first birthday. I can't imagine running a marathon just a year after having a 10 lb baby lol. Way to go Amy!!! After crossing the finish line she walked across the park and set up a luncheon / birthday party for Liam. Oy to have that kind of energy. I couldn't have been prouder. Way to go Amo and Happy birthday King Liam! (We call him King Liam as he was in a 3T by the time he was 11 months old...he's one big boy!)