Flourishing Palms

Blast from the Past

2012-01-27T15:00:00.000-06:00

The year 1976 was the year of our country's bicentennial. It's also been said that 1976 was the year quilting first began to reemerge as a pass time. I was a teeny part of that resurgence.

In 1976, I was a 23 year-old, stay-at-home, new mom. We lived in a rented townhouse in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I didn't know very many people because we had moved to that city, from Wisconsin, less than two weeks before our daughter was born.

Never able to be idle for long, I needed something to do. I'd already been sewing, done some crewel embroidery, and joined in the macrame craze - it was the 70's after all! I needed something else to occupy myself during naptimes. That's when I took a three-week adult education class on quilting.

Everything we learned was done by hand. We drew templates and cut them out of cereal boxes. (Rotary supplies hadn't yet been conceived.) We pieced and quilted by hand. The only quilting book I could find to buy was this one, a Dover publication originally printed in 1949.

Our teacher taught us how to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden block. I appliqued mine to the back of one of hubby's denim shirts. Ha! What a great guy he was to humor me by wearing it, even though he looked like a walking target.

We didn't keep the shirt, but what I still have is the first quilt I ever made.
It's also my first UFO.

Variable Triangles, 84" X 93"

The pattern is Variable Triangles, and it's made from all found fabrics in my house at the time. Curtains, Jill's little dresses, and my old maternity tops were fair game for being cut up and put into this quilt. I'm sure that not all the fabrics are 100 percent cotton.

After hand piecing it, I hand pieced widths of muslin for a back, sandwiched it with polyester batting, and started hand quilted it. The quilting isn't finished.

After all this time, I can't think of any good reason for finishing it.

But I will keep it.

Until now, this quilt hadn't been photographed, but since I've been inventorying all my quilts, it's one I'm glad to document. On a spreadsheet, I'm noting things like the quilt name, pattern used, colors, dimensions, and year made. When I'm finished, I'm looking forward to knowing how many quilts I have!

This evening, in spite of the snow, I'm heading for a sew-in with members of our Modern Quilt Guild. We'll be sewing all day Saturday too. I've got a goal: to make and add the last round to my medallion quilt. There. I've said it. Now it will happen. Right? Linda

Ribbons

2012-01-26T21:35:00.003-06:00

What do you do with awards you've won? And don't tell me you've never been recognized for anything! I'm sure you have.

This week I decided to spend a couple hours sorting through ribbons. They've been accumulating since 1964 when I received my first "Style Revue" ribbon for modeling a 4-H outfit at the Fayette County Junior Fair, when was 11 years old. My family lived in Washington Court House, Ohio then. Oh my but handling these ribbons have been a trip down memory lane.

I have ribbons from Van Cleave Prep School, Troy, Ohio; the Dodge County Fair, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin; the Iowa State Fair; and Des Moines Area Quilters Guild, Des Moines, Iowa. If nothing else, they're certainly indicators of a few of the places I've lived.

Muddling through what to do with them I recalled ribbon pillows and ribbon wallhangings I've seen. Nope, not for me. I settled on listing each one on a spreadsheet, indicating the event, year, placing and description of the item that received the award. Then, I laid out all 85 ribbons and took pictures. They're certainly colorful!

It's a bit shocking to estimate the hundreds of hours of stitching and sewing these represent. And what about all those entries that didn't receive ribbons!?

These ribbons were earned for Hardanger, counted cross-stitch, pulled thread embroidery, duplicate stitch, smocking, sewn wool clothes and aerobic wear, and quilting. Oh, and some bread and brownie-baking in there too. Of course the ones I'm most proud of are the rosettes, for "sweepstakes" and "best of."

I'm dusting my hands of these. They're old glories and it's time for them to go. The spreadsheet and photos will satisfy as proof enough of my efforts. One more task ticked off a long list of items to sort and purge. It feels great! Linda

Excavating

2012-01-24T20:58:00.001-06:00

It's been quiet here for a week. But only here, not in my house! There's quite a bit of sorting, excavation and purging happening in our basement. Everything is topsy turvy. I thought that after several weeks of this I would have touched, examined, considered, and made decisions about what to do with this or that, but I have not! My slow progress might be blamed on caring, perhaps too much, about who is getting this stuff. I want to find good homes for my UFOs, patterns, books, magazines, yarns, craft items and such. They must go to places where they'll be valued, used and appreciated. This is a much more time-consuming way to purge oneself of stuff, but it makes me feel a little better.

As I unearth each treasure I find myself shaking my head at younger me asking, "What were you thinking to buy that?" How could I not have foreseen that there's a price to pay for 23 years of living in the same house and accumulating!? Oh, I've given away many things, but there are even more things I've clung to for no sensible reason. "Just in case" never happens. Still, why is it so difficult to simplify?

In between pondering how one, who doesn't think she hoards, can acquire so much stuff, I have taken snatches of time to ignore the mess and focus on sewing. It's restorative!

These Blogger's BOM blocks are from December. I'm still liking my pink and green combo. My quilt will be called "Strawberry Fizz and Lime Pop."

I spent a good chunk of time scrounging through a large bin of small pieces so I could cut loose and mindlessly sew 36 funky Ezekiel blocks. In Stitchin' Mission we make them into New Life quilts. I don't bother with precise quarter-inch seams, just sewing a bunch of pieces together until I make a hunk large enough to cut out a 6-1/2" square.

I needed 36 blocks to make a small sashing and cornerstones quilt.

I put it together, quilted and bound in the past week. It's 49" X 49".

Hope Quilters is hosting a Quilt-a-Thon on Friday and Saturday, February 3-4, so we can teach others how to make Ezekiel blocks that we'll sew into 48" square to 50" square quilts that have been requested by Mercy Children's Center, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, here in Des Moines.

Whenever I make a donation quilt, it's an opportunity to try a new-to-me free-motion quilting design. The idea for this free-hand spiral design comes from Fran-tastic Stitch Witchery. I like it, and it was easy to quilt. No marking needed.

It makes me happy to have made this quilt back from my stash. I used up one whole piece of fabric and some orphan blocks.

For "fun," as I've been writing this blog post, I'm scanning photos on our home printer. After learning that our photos, stored in adhesive photo albums since the mid-70's and 80's, are damaged, we've decided to remove them from the albums and digitize them for safe keeping. With approximately 18 albums that hold about 80-90 photos each, and scanning at 600 dpi at the rate of one minute per photo... It's taking days to do! Though it will be totally worthwhile in the end - both our kids will get CDs of their own - gosh, I'd way rather be ~~sorting, excavating, purging,~~ sewing! Linda

Reentering Reality Since Retreating

2012-01-17T09:14:00.000-06:00

Three days and two nights of almost non-stop sewing, away from home, were invigorating and draining. It's invigorating to be with 12 quilters who have different tastes, and fun to see them utilizing different techniques for creating quilts. Draining because I stayed up too late, including until 2 a.m. Sunday morning, sewing!

Here are some of our Hope Quilters, minus one quilter who could come only for one day. That's me, lower right. Would you believe, there are FOUR Linda's in this picture!?

The quilt on the wall behind us is none other than my still-progressing Friendship Medallion quilt that I'm putting together according to instructions parceled out by Patchwork Pumpkin, in Australia. I've completed seven steps now. Part eight will wrap it up.

It has, most assuredly, been the scrap-buster quilt I hoped it would be. But I still have heaps of those colorful 1-1/2" cut squares, used in the nine-patch blocks. I have a basket of them that I'm sewing into my first-ever Leaders and Enders project.

Here are pictures of what a few people were working on. Lola is showing us the quilt from Elm Creek Quilters, Sylvia's Bridal Quilt.

Lola and her mother have been working on this together for the past five years. It's just stunning!

Jodi worked on this creation using a collection of Kaffe fabrics.

And she completed this creative quilt top.

Rachel used Ezekiel blocks to make this New Life quilt that will be given to a mission.

Help! I've ~~fallen~~ sewn blocks together incorrectly, and I ~~can't get up~~ can't take so many apart by myself! What better place to make a mistake and have friends help deconstruct lots of patches? That's what good friends do!

These are 60-degree diamonds. I began making them with Carla when she and I attended a November retreat. At our Hope Quilters retreat I finished sewing all 225 diamonds for Picket Fence. Yay!

I put only some of the blocks on the design wall, so I could again marvel over the optical effect. Isn't it something?! String-pieced blocks are so easy to sew together, but it's the value contrast - dark, medium, light - that makes this design so striking. It will be just plain fun to lay out all the pieces and begin sewing them together!

One of our quilters brought along a sack of zippers from which we could take whatever we wanted. I had to giggle when I saw this zipper. First of all, check out the price for a metal zipper. Only 55 cents! Second, see the color name? Tango. This year, 2012, is the color year for Tangerine Tango. Ah, what once was old is new again. Now if we could only go back to those prices!

Reality this week means it's back to Bible study, taking my VW Bug in for servicing, getting my annual check-up, choir practice, and house purging. The list of to-sell and to-giveaway items continues to grow while the piles do too! Pretty soon I'll be needing to actually, physically, move these things out of the house. I'm trying to find deserving homes.

Our three Kansas City grandchildren came for an overnight the day I returned from retreat. They so seldom visit us - we're most often going there - that it was a treat to see them toddling through our house. Is there anything much cuter than little boys wearing fire truck sleepers? Linda

Tay 28 months; Aesa 14 months

A Few of My Favorite Things

2012-01-12T19:55:00.000-06:00

Last week, Marlene of StitchinbytheLake had the most interesting post about her favorite things. Reading it, you quickly grasp how grateful she is for simple blessings in her life. Shouldn't we all be? Certainly! Here are a few favorite things for which I am grateful.

Sleeping in. Not everyone gets to do that - there's that thing called "a job." I'm grateful to not have to go to a job, though I usually rise between 6:15 and 6:45. How do I know what time it is the moment I open my eyes? The clock time is on the ceiling! It's a projection clock. I'm so used to it that I really miss it when I'm away from home. The numbers are foot-high, so I can even see the time without my glasses. See how late I slept in? Goodness! Lounging in bed until 6:10 a.m!

Bible reading, and practicing memorizing Bible verses is a favorite thing. I'm not as diligent as I could be, but I try. I have index cards, cut in half, hole-punched and put on a ring so I have palm-size verses to flip through. I'm in a womens' Bible study: "James: Mercy Triumphs," by Beth Moore, so James is the focus of my memory work.

Once I'm up and about, I make a small pot of decaf coffee for myself. Yes, decaf. Last August the doc diagnosed hypothyroidism and told me "no more caffeine." I had the devil to pay to go cold turkey from six cups of coffee a day.

Using my favorite mug, I make the coffee even better with french vanilla soy creamer. I love it! It adds a touch of creamy sweetness that, I swear - and this is just me saying so - curbs my appetite. I think I'm less hungry when I've had soy in the morning.

Have I told you that my husband is an awesome cook? He really is one of my favorite things! A man who watches all the cooking shows, does all the grocery shopping, shops at Penzey's for the best seasonings, and then cooks up the most tantalizing foods.

A pizza recipe he picked up from the chef at Wine Country Inn in St. Helena, California, where we stayed for a week last September, is his latest cuisine triumph. This "white pizza," as we call it, begins with his from-scratch, healthy, herb and wheat crust. Pizza ingredients are: pesto, green onion, red bell pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, and two cheeses: brie, and monterey jack. Before it goes in the oven, it looks like this.

After baking on a metal pizza pan - the one with holes in it so the crust can crisp up - this is what it looks like in its yummy deliciousness.

I always eat too much of it!

No big surprise, whatever happens to be my current quilting project is my favorite. I've been sewing these foundation paper-pieced Circle of Geese blocks for a colorful wall hanging.

Another favorite thing is winning giveaways. Stephanie from LoftCreations emailed me to let me know I won her new bag pattern, "All About Anna." I am certain I'll make it. Thanks, Stephanie!

After such a week, what more could a girl want? Well, I'll tell you. It's one of my favorite things. A quilt retreat! This weekend Hope Quilters are are heading north to Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp for three whole days of indulgent sewing time. A quilt retreat with 13 Christian friends. Is there anything as fun? Maybe it's time for a good 'ole Iowa blizzard.

By the way, we're planning a Hope Quilters event - a Quilt-a-Thon. If you live in the Des Moines area, please join us! I bet it will be your "favorite thing!" Linda

Stitchery-Lovers' Alert

2012-01-08T13:41:00.000-06:00

I've noted on others' blogs that January seems to be the month for getting oneself organized. Here in Iowa, winter's snow and extreme cold would normally keep me happily ensconced in my sewing area. Instead we've been experiencing unusually mild and record-setting weather, like a high of 62C/16C last Thursday! Still, everything I need to do is indoors, so I've still committed myself to doing some knee-deep purging and reorganizing.

Removing the lids of bins of craft supplies, yarn, smocking fabrics, orphan quilt blocks, Hardanger embroidery, and counted cross-stitch UFOs has nearly been my undoing! It's been appalling to find and count the incomplete needlework pieces that have been languishing for a dozen or more years. They're a testament to how my interests have changed.

Hopefully you'll find this is to your advantage. You see, I'm giving away these UFOs to anyone who will love them as much as I once did.

If you'd like one of these UFOs for yourself, or will give it to someone you know who loves needlework, and do your best to finish the piece, all you have to do is comment and tell me the number or name of the project you want. I'm offering them first-come, first-serve. The postage is on me.

Update: I knew that interest in these projects would come from people in Australia and New Zealand, but I didn't expect that so many would come from there. Due to the high cost of postage - certainly more than each project is worth - I find myself needing to change this giveaway to US commenters only. Please forgive my change of heart. Thanks for your understanding.

In no particular order, these are the eight incomplete projects I want to give away.

Project 1 - Colorwheel Square This is no longer available.
This is counted cross-stitch with a few other stitches worked in too, per the included instructions. The design area already stitched measures about 3-3/4" square. Twelve floss colors come with this piece.

Project 2 - Hardanger Table Runner This is no longer available.
There was a time when I was heavily into Hardanger embroidery, even winning a couple blue ribbons at the Iowa State Fair. This is a Hardanger table runner started in the mid-80's. Though the picture shows the 22-count Aida cloth as gray, it's really more of a "Williamsburg" blue. (How many of you remember that trendy color!?)

The design area already stitched measures 26" X 13". The person who gets this will need to do the cutwork part of Hardanger.

The perle cotton needed to stitch this is DMC #809, sizes 5 and 8. One ball of #809 size 8 is included in the bundle, along with the book.

Project 3 - Reindeer Ornaments This is no longer available.
At one time I made Christmas ornaments every year. I guess I didn't finish the one planned for this particular year... in about 1990.

One reindeer design, 3" X 3" is stitched and only needs the glass beads (included in the bundle) added to his antlers. Another of the same reindeer design has been started, and is included, as is the book to make this and other ornament designs.

Project 4 - Christmas Village This is no longer available.
Oh, don't I still love this! It's a Stoney Creek Design called "The Village Tree." It's stitched over two threads of 28-count white Oslo, perhaps? The area already stitched - with metallic threads in the ornaments, I might add - measures 6-1/2" X 8." No DMC floss comes with it, but you get the book. This one will be a really pretty finish.

Project 5 - Serenity Prayer This is no longer available.
I started "Serenity Prayer" in the 1990's. The area already stitched measures 10" X 11" and is all half-cross stitches. It's stitched on 28-count Aida cloth over two threads. DMC floss for finishing it isn't included, but the book is.

Project 6 - Silent Night
Still love this one too, but my eyes can't see to stitch on 18-count black Aida as well as they once did. It's another Stoney Creek design called "Silent Night." The area already stitched measures 5-1/2" X 7-1/2". No DMC floss comes with this, but you get the book.

Project 7 - Easter Eggs

At one time I annually put up an Easter egg tree. I have lots of smocked ornaments for it, and I guess I intended to add some counted cross-stitch ones too!

Both of these Easter eggs have been stitched and only need finishing... to be sewn around a styrofoam egg (not included in the bundle). I've included the ribbon and pins I meant to use to decorate the eggs. The pattern book comes with this, of course.

Project 8 - Winter Pines This is no longer available.

Quite honestly, this may be the piece no one wants! It's very fine stitching - a variety of stitches - done with silk thread. I took a workshop with Catherine Robinder (now deceased) in 1992 to make this "Winter Pines" Japanese-themed piece. The area already stitched measures 1" X 2-1/8". The bundle comes with instructions and silk threads. The piece is mounted on an 11" stretcher frame, so for that reason - the size and weight of the frame - I'd prefer to give or mail this to someone closer to Iowa. Thank you for understanding that.

After seeing these - my once insane interest in needlework - you might figure out that at one time I owned a shop, "The Stitchery Niche,"where I primarily sold counted cross-stitch patterns, fabrics, floss and supplies. For several years, from 1980-1983, the shop was in the upstairs of an old farmhouse (since torn down) on the north side of Altoona, Iowa. It was my hobby business when I was a young mom with five and one year-olds.

I hope that offering these UFOs doesn't offend you... like you're getting my cast-offs. Rather, I couldn't bring myself to trash the hours of stitching already in, what I consider, lovely pieces. Giving them to you, to a good home, would make me very happy.

Please leave a comment stating the number and/or name of the piece you want. I'll be in touch to get your snail-mail address. Thank you! Linda

Fat Quarter Bundle

2012-01-06T14:42:00.000-06:00

If I was a famous quilting fabric designer, and was highly sought after for my remarkable fabric designs, and in demand for putting together wonderful combinations of prints to make astounding quilts
these would be 15 I'd choose.

I really, really wanted to make a collage of these (like everyone else is doing here, and here, and here) but after spending hours - seriously, hours! - on trying to get Picasa to play nice with Google+ I just gave up. It's ridiculous that I can't collage these images since in December I had no problem making several collages with camera photos.

UPDATE: My thanks to Laura who put out this challenge. She commented to suggest I try making a collage in Mosaicmaker. It worked! Thank you, Laura!

The challenge put out by Laura at QuokkaQuilts is to go to the Fat Quarter Shop and choose 12 prints and 3 solids that you would like to see in a fabric bundle. The ones I picked, that you see above are:

Grand Bazaar Breeze Dancing Dragonflies by Patty Young for Michael Miller
Heirloom Dandelion Opal by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit
Mimosa Orange Chevron by Dear Stella Fabrics
Bright Owl Blue Stripe by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures
Orange Crush Punch Large Stripe by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures
Treasures and Tidbits Marigold Circle Dots by Piece 'O Cake Designs for Robert Kaufman Fabric
Bright Owl Blue Star Doodles by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures
Kaffe Classics Cantaloupe Aboriginal Dots by Westminster Fibers
Going Coastal Green Sand Dollar by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller Fabrics
Girls World Vibe Sky Anastasia by Jennifer Paganelli for Free Spirit Fabrics
Flora Leaf Feathers by Lauren and Jessi Jung for Moda Fabrics
Orange Crush Lemon Waves by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures
and Kona Solids in White, Grass Green and Zucchini

The two green solids were the most difficult to pick. I really don't trust the colors I'm seeing on my computer screen.

But did you notice that I picked up on the 2012 trendy color of the year - Tangerine Tango? At least it's an orange approximation of it.

Linda

Sew Scraps Along

2012-01-05T12:24:00.002-06:00

Go here to learn more.

Jodi at Pleasant Home blog is hosting an every-Friday "talk about scraps."

How to organize them.
What colors to use.
What qualifies as scrappy.
Do you like your scraps?
Are you afraid to sew scraps?

The information will no doubt be inspiring for scrap bin reduction. That's what I'm thinkin' for 2012. You too? Linda

Crazy Idea?

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

For Christmas, our grandson Tay received this Fisher-Price magnetic drawing board from us.

It's fun for doodling.

Just start drawing.

Oh my goodness. I can draw feathers!

I can draw feathers to fill a space.

I can try other designs.

Gosh. Free motion quilting designs!

This is a kids' toy with only a 7" X 10" area for drawing, but...

...has anyone realized how effective a tool this can be for quilters who want to practice FMQ designs?

Just draw, erase, and draw some more. No wasted paper. I'm looking for a big one for me!

A Google search turned up a 16" Easy Writer Doodle Magnetic Drawing Board that might be just the ticket. Too bad they're out of stock. But, I'm not giving up.

Anyone else thinking to ~~snitch~~ borrow their grandchild's magnetic drawing board? Linda

2011 Collage Time!

2011-12-31T11:15:00.001-06:00

I've been reading blog posts and see that 'tis the season for recapping finishes in 2011. Quite a few of those recaps are pretty darned impressive! Check out Snippets 'n Scraps, Jackie's Stitches, Oops-Lah, and Freshly Pieced... among many others. Or maybe not. They might make you feel sluggardly!

Creating my own collage turned into multiple collages so I could categorizing finishes. First, the quilts I made just because...

My big finish, Snowflake Medallion (top left), was special because it won a blue ribbon at the Iowa State Fair, and was juried into the Pacific International Quilt Festival. Three of these quilts were given away: Jungle Friends; I Spy; and Jungle Safari (all, lower right).

Through Hope Quilters or Stitchin' Mission, these quilts were donated. So 14 quilts made, all tallied. Not too bad.

These 17 photos are of the "things" I made: potholders; purses; a mini wall hanging; a skirt; candle mats; sunglass cases; a selvage pillow; soft balls; coin purses; pouches; a pillow case; and insulated bottle carriers.

While I didn't make these two quilts, I did quilt them for friends. Lola's quilt and Carla's quilt.

Snowmen A to Zzz isn't a finish, but there's steady progress embroidering blocks that will be sewn into a quilt. Letters A through N, and the letter S are done.

I also made blocks each month of 2011 for One Block Over, and starting making two blocks each month of the Blogger's BOM. They do add up, don't they!? Given how much traveling (by car) we did this past year - the Ozarks; Napa Valley; three trips to Florida; and nine trips to Kansas City - I think I did okay.

Looking ahead to 2012, I'm challenging myself to some finishes. In the order I expect to tackle these quilts they are:
Friendship Medallion - Quilt-along with Patchwork Pumpkin (Australia)
Circle of Geese - foundation paper-piecing
Disappearing Four-Patch - tutorial here
Roll Roll Cotton Boll - Bonnie Hunter's 2010 mystery quilt
Picket Fence
Christmas Stockings - Pat Sloan/Emilie Richards 2009 BOM
Periwinkle Star - hand-piecing/hand-applique
Candied Hexagons - hand-piecing/hand-applique
Starfish - hand-piecing
...and several more.
No doubt a few more projects will creep into the line-up, so that's more than enough to keep me busy for a year! Are you feel as optimistic as I am right now? Linda

Gifties For and From

2011-12-29T11:00:00.000-06:00

I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating when a friend is such a good friend. Carla and I met through our blogs more than a year ago. Since our first face-to-face meeting, we have remained fast friends. Whether we attend a KCMQG meeting, visit a quilt shop, go on a day long retreat, or meet for lunch, whenever I'm in Kansas City it's nice to spend time her.

Anticipating that we'd meet sometime around Christmas, both of us did as blogging quilter-friends do. We made something. We waited until the recipient received it. Then we blogged about it.

Carla made, waited, and blogged here about the gift she gave me. It's this "Dumpling," a charming, zippered pouch.

She explained that this Ty Pennington print was as close to palms trees (one of my favs) as she could find in her stash. I love it! The bird print side is so Carla. And who doesn't love lime green and gray?

The inside is especially pretty with a fabric print of life-related words.

~~Without the package of Werther's chocolate-covered caramels inside~~ With all the traveling I do, the Dumpling will be perfect for a few toiletry items. Thank you, Carla!

It turns out that Carla and I saw and liked these these Dumplings simultaneously! I too made several of them after seeing them here on Doris' blog. Dumplings are from this tutorial by Keyka Lou. The pattern is in two sizes, but I made only the larger, easy one. Whichever size you make, you need a 14" zipper. Dumb me... I bought zippers for $1.99 each, less a couple of 40 percent off coupons from Joann's, and afterward learned about these colorful zippers at a much better price.

That VW Bug fabric is from a precious, small amount I have left from ten years ago, when I purchased several yards at Wal-Mart. Being a VW Bug owner, this fabric is as dear to me as my car. Did you know that my Bug was a surprise college graduation gift from my husband? My graduation and the car arrived in April, 2000. The Bug has 71,000 miles on it and I've enjoyed every one of them. If you're ever a passenger in my car I'll ask you to sign the guest book I keep in the glove compartment. In the 12 years I've had my Bug, I've had more than 80 passengers including an Iowa state representative, and celebrity quilters Erma Gail Hatcher, Harriet Hargrave and Sandi Cummings, among others. Can you tell I was once program co-chair for the Des Moines Area Quilters Guild? Ahh, but I digress...

Granddaughter Celina received the Dumpling with the VW Bug print.

Each Dumpling I made has a different fusible interfacing because I kept trying to find one with the right amount of stiffness. Pellon's "heavy" interfacing was too light and a suit weight interfacing was too heavy. A piece of extra heavy interfacing I unearthed was just right. Though I gave away each of these Dumplings, none of them went to Carla.

So it's my turn to say I made, waited and am blogging about what I gave her.

I came across this little cutie called a Snappy Coin Purse. Carla received the one in the middle with the typewriter letters print.

Just a little hand sewing is needed to join each of the corners into a box shape.

Snappy Coin Purse from the back

Isn't in wonderful how accessible and darling these patterns are? I appreciate every idea and tutorial that I might make... and that I might also receive! Linda

Post Christmas Post

2011-12-27T15:02:00.000-06:00

A friend commented that my blog has been a bit quiet lately. She's right. Between spending several weeks with our daughter Jill, and family, and having access to only snippets of sewing and embroidery time, not only has my productivity been drastically reduced, but so has blogging time.

While at Jill's house, I've continued to make these for "Friendship Medallion." Jill has my old Bernina QE153, so I can sew whenever I'm at her house.

I embroidered another "Snowmen A-Z" block, and the letter "O" for ornament is underway. I think this alphabet quilt may be a 2012 finish!

The kidlets have been my focus - a happy way to consume my time.

Tay, Aesa and Celina

We always take formal holiday pictures...

... but with two little ones (and a frustrated big one), smiling faces are not always easy to capture.

Just before Celina and her dad departed for their Christmas eve flight to the United Arab Emirates, Celina paused for this picture showing off her new Sperry "Angelfish" shoes - a gift from us. For one week, she and her dad are there to join a family gathering of his family.

Tay with his new backpack, standing on the "I Spy" quilt I made.

Not-yet-talking, 13 month-old Aesa says "auh-oh," and manages to communicate everything else by sign language and "ah-uhn?" sounds.

In Florida, grandson Austin is who we didn't get to see in person, but we're grateful for Skype so we could watch him open a couple presents on Christmas morning.

Austin

By email we received this photo of Austin and his friend Daphne. According to our son, "they could be heard in the next time zone." Santa's jolly humor, and patience, is very appreciated.

I read on another blogger's post that she received push-back from a reader about putting up pictures of her family. It's difficult to understand such a complaint when a reader is free to not read a blog post. While I enjoy blogging about many things, particularly quilting, this blog is also about the people in my life. In four more days I'll be wrapping up 2011 posts, and then, for the third consecutive year, I'll order a printed blog book from Blog2Print. For me, it's the best way to remember the things I deemed most important. The book is a tangible record of my interests - a diary, if you will - for my descendants.

By the way, my Christmas present was a gift certificate for a haircut from my favorite - I-trust-her-implicitly - hair stylist in Kansas City. Check out my blog profile photo to see my new, shorter do. Here's how I look from the back. I love the way it lays and moves, and of course, I'm hoping I can make it look like this myself!

I'll leave you with this chuckle. Last week, Jill, Celina and I went to lunch together at a Kansas City Mexican restaurant called Salty Iguana. Inside the door was this sign. Do you 'spose it's a typo, or is there such a thing as "Quiltless Quesadilla"? What does one look like? More importantly, aren't you glad you can get one 50 percent off!?

Linda

Christmas Ornaments

2011-12-23T08:11:00.000-06:00

After seeing ornaments on others' blogs, and enjoying the "history" behind them, I thought I might share a few of my homemade ornaments. I made and gave these to my parents for their tree. After mother died, in December 2002, they were passed along to our daughter, Jill, where they now hang on her family's Christmas tree.

The gingerbread girl is a reflection of my counted cross-stitch years - the early 80's when I owned a needlework shop called "The Stitchery Niche."

Then came a good half-dozen and more years of smocking. Jill wore pretty smocked clothes, as did a few other children I outfitted for a small income. Smocking also took the form of Christmas ornaments, and Easter eggs for an Easter tree!

Throughout the years, I've dabbled at crafts. These red felt skating boots are one of my favorites. The blade is a large paper clip!

For the days ahead I'm wishing you beautiful memories of times past, and much hope and faith in the promise of eternal life through the birth, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have a merry and blessed Christmas, dear friends. Linda

Selvage Blog Giveaway

2011-12-22T06:53:00.002-06:00

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED
Karen, at SelvageBlog is hosting a giveaway of a 2012 AQS Quilt Art Engagement Calendar. It just happens to have one of my quilts in it!

Check out April 30, 2012.

If you'd like to try to win, head on over. Tell Karen I sent you. Linda

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED

Holy Family

2011-12-20T08:39:00.001-06:00

I'm not decorating for the upcoming holidays. No. I'm not a Scrooge.

Our children aren't coming home for Christmas. With great distances to travel with little ones and all the necessary paraphernalia associated with 13 month-old, 19 month-old, and 27 month-old children, it's just plain work to go anywhere. So, without the need for a Christmas tree, I pulled out my favorite seasonal wall hanging, put it in the entryway quilt rack, and called it enough.

Dilys Fronks of the UK is the designer of this 2003 piece: "No Crib for a Bed."

It's batik, and one of the few pieces where I've used decorative stitches to enhance the design.

The star rays are stitched with gold metallic thread. The horizontal line of what appears to be colorful beads is a decorative stitch made with variegated thread.

These silhouette-type nativity scenes were offered each year, from 2003 to 2006, in the magazine Quilt It: for Christmas, when it was still being published. I have the 2003 and 2006 issues. "Holy Family" is the 2006 design and I think it's my favorite. I have only a picture of the one I made; I gave it away. Someday, I'd like to sew another one for myself.

In my mind, a nativity is the best and most significant reminder of this holy and blessed season.

A couple more of my four very special blessings...

Aesa, 13 months

Aesa and Tay

Tay, 27 months

Linda

Blocks for This and That

2011-12-12T14:57:00.000-06:00

In the five days I've been at home since our Florida trip, I've spent some time at the sewing machine. Yay! I also spent two days sewing with Hope Quilters (read about our day here).

For myself, I played catch-up on the November 25 release of the third block in the Bloggers' BOM. Pink is outside my comfort zone, and putting these particular colors together is a first, but definitely fun. It's an unusual block, don't you think? I'm making two each month since they're only 8" X 8" when finished.

These two 12" X 12" star blocks have been sent off to join other star blocks to make a quilt for a special someone who's having health problem. 'Nuf said.

Martha Washington Star

Broken Star

Upon request, and following certain guidelines, back in August I made and sent this 12" X 12" Single Wedding Ring block to someone who was going to sew collected blocks into a quilt as a wedding gift for one of my blogospheric buddies. I haven't heard a word about the status of that quilt and that makes me feel disappointed. Should I be? Update: The new bride has received the blocks; it was never intended that a quilt would be given to her. She - Shannon at Pieceful Kwilter - will post about the blocks when she has a chance. She's a busy professional longarm quilter - understandable given that it's pre-Christmas, giving time.

I've also been crazily sewing tiny 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" squares into these cute nine-patch blocks - only 72 of them needed for my Friendship Medallion quilt. It does seem to be taking a long time.

Linda

Perpetually Stitching

2011-12-11T20:00:00.000-06:00

Even while on the road for hours and hours, and wherever we're traveling, I'm not entirely content unless I have something to work on. An otherwise tediously long trip by car can be almost pleasant while listening to an audiobook and stitching. During our 23-plus hour drive each way, to and from Florida, we were entertained by "Valley of the Horses," the second book in the Earth Children series written by Jean Auel, published in 1982.

While listening, my hands were busy with this embroidery piece. It's one of the latest designs by Crabapple Hill called "The Night Before Christmas." It sews into a pillowcase.

Before leaving on our trip, I prepared everything including cutting the three fabric prints for the pillowcase. For the embroidered part, I used my light box and a Sewline pencil to trace the design onto a tone-on-tone snowflake print fabric.

Thanks to my Aussie friend, Tracey, I was able to embroider the design with a lovely, hand-dyed, variegated Australian thread made by Cottage Garden Threads. Tracey mailed it to me from South Australia and in exchange I sent her my New Life Quilt pattern. A great swap, I'd say!

The six-stranded thread is quite pretty with short color variations from cherry red to burgundy. I stitched with two strands.

I began stitching on the way to Florida, and completed it shortly after arriving. Then, was able to sew it into a pillowcase on my traveling Featherweight sewing machine.

I finished it in time to mail to Kansas City as a gift to our granddaughter, Celina, for her 13th birthday.

Later, she thanked me sincerely and reluctantly told me she isn't using the pillowcase! Because she showers at night and goes to bed with damp hair, she doesn't want to ruin it.

How sweet is that? I guess I'm glad to know she likes it enough not to want to risk damaging it.

During the car trip from Florida back to Iowa, I completed these stitcheries.

They're part of a long-term project, "Snowmen A to Zzzz," also by Crabapple Hill. When I first started stitching these, I worked on the alpahbet letters I happened to like best. Now I'm just working my way through the alphabet. The letter "M" is already stitched, so "N" is next. As always with UFOs, it's good to see progress. It might even be a quilt by Christmas 2012! Linda

Quiltin' and Stitchin' in The Villages

2011-12-08T21:19:00.001-06:00

For the two weeks we were in The Villages, Florida, we had guest passes to every activity that a resident might enjoy. While Dan was inclined to participate in physical activities, I leaned toward more leisurely, familiar activities like quilting and needlework.

Because 12 quilting groups in The Villages meet weekly, on Tuesdays only, I was able to attend only two of them: a morning Laurel Manor quilting group, and an afternoon Allamanda quilting group. Each group is named for the recreational center in which they meet. This is the beautiful Laurel Manor recreational center.

I can't tell you how pleasant it was to make the scenic, 15 minute golf cart drive to this recreational center. This is how I left my golf cart in the parking lot. I can't get over how charming this seems!

Once inside, I was directed to the room where the quilters meet, and had no qualms about walking into a room full of strangers. With the commonality of quilting, there's nothing to fear. I was welcomed by the group president and then sat next to a friendly woman who kept me apprised of some of the group's recent activities. They had just come from a weekend retreat and had these stack and whack table runners to show for their time together.

Another lifestyle visitor like me, showed this quilt. She was visiting from Alabama and had made this quilt top for a niece attending Oklahoma State University - school colors, orange and black.

Here are three of the quilters I became acquainted with. All of them are permanent residents of The Villages. Pat (in the visor) is from Michigan; Kristen (wearing pink) is from Wisconsin; and Jeannie, the president is from Delaware.

Laurel Manor quilters have secret sisters. They opened gifts and this bath towel/washcloth reindeer was one of the presents given. Isn't it cute? It's meant to be hung across the back of a chair as decoration. I've never seen anything like it.

I also attended Allamanda quilters, but might not have done so if it weren't for Karen (I don't have a picture of her!) who waited on me when I stopped at the Peterbrooke Chocolates in Market Square. Karen inquired about our lifestyle visit and in an open, friendly way told me about being from Minneapolis and involved in several groups, including Allamanda quilters. As soon as I learned that, I wanted to attend myself. Karen quickly said, "See? It's just that easy to make friends in The Villages."

She couldn't have been nicer. As soon as I arrived - by golf cart, of course! - at Allamanda, she was waving and beckoning me to sit near her. Dan and I also ran into Karen and her husband at the December 1 Christmas tree lighting event. We spent considerable time discussing how one decides whether to take a leap and move to The Villages. They were very helpful.

December 1 tree lighting

In any case, thanks to Karen, in no time at all I struck up conversations with several Allamanda quilters, learning their hometowns, how long they'd been making quilts, and what projects they were working on.

Janice, from Mississippi, was needleturn appliqueing a Hawaiian quilt block. She and I made a couple connections - her grandchildren live in Waukee, Iowa, one suburb away from me; and she drives a Volkswagen Bug, just as I do!

Sorry about the tipped picture!

After such good times with quilters, I unhesitatingly attended a Thursday morning needlework group. All types of needleworkers are welcome. I saw lots of counted cross-stitch, wool applique, crocheting and knitting. I got such a kick out of this piece - a knitted alligator scarf!

The two grapefruit were from a backyard tree. They were brought by one needleworker for another needleworker who makes them into grapefruit pie! Have you ever heard of such a thing? After I inquired about the pie ingredients - cream cheese, grapefruit, and a cooked sugar/grapefruit glaze - it didn't sound half bad!

Thank you ladies, every one of you, for making me feel welcome.

We were very sad to leave The Villages on Monday, December 5. However we did make a very pleasant overnight stop in Kansas City before returning to Des Moines. I never miss the chance to see these little boys.

Thirteen month old Aesa has a mischievous, toothy grin. Other than saying "mama" he isn't speaking yet, but he does use sign language to make his wishes known.

Tay, at 26 months, talks up a storm. For his age, the thoughts and compound sentences that come out of his mouth boggle my mind. He offered me his best smile for this picture. LOL

And he can sing. Take 37 seconds to enjoy this classic nursery hit, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Linda

In Florida's Friendliest Hometown

2011-12-08T06:02:00.001-06:00

Where to begin? I dislike being secretive, but for security reasons, I didn't divulge that we've been away from home for almost three weeks. We left very early in the morning on November 19 to make the long, 24 hours-plus drive to Florida. First we visited our son and his little family, spending two nights with them in their downtown Tampa condo.

We sure have missed being around this guy, 18 month-old Austin. He definitely prefers Bapa to me, but when Bapa isn't around, Austin is content to come to me. Second-best is acceptable.

On the Monday before Thanksgiving, we went here for the next two weeks.

The Villages is a city of approximately 86,000 people comprised of 55 small "villages" - neighborhoods full of similar-aged people, 55 years and older, who're like-minded about retirement, wanting to live their senior years. The Villages is located next to the city of Lady Lake in central Florida. It's little over an hour northwest of Orlando (home of Disney World, Epcot Center, Universal Studios, Sea World, and the like), and about a half hour southeast of Ocala.

It's a beautiful, idyllic place that has been called "Disney World for adults." Someone else likened The Villages to "being in eighth grade, without the homework!"

Photo taken while driving in a golf cart, on the golf cart road

View of Lake Miona from Market Square boardwalk.

Dan and I first visited The Villages one day last May. He attended a simulcast John Deere retiree meeting while I strolled and shopped the retail shops in Market Square. After his meeting we went to the sales office to learn more about The Villages. We were delighted with what we heard and left there with a strong desire to learn more. Hence our return visit these past weeks.

Just as we did, anyone 55 years or older is invited to make a "lifestyle visit" to The Villages, staying four to fourteen days in a furnished home. We were privileged to stay in the Lakeshore Cottages village, in this fabulous three-bedroom, two-bathroom, furnished house.

Hogan, our dog, came with us.

Our stay included use of two bicycles and this, a golf cart! Whether you're a golfer or not (we are not), this is the primary mode of transportation for anyone living in The Villages. After a lesson and some practice, I found it an excellent way to get around and enjoy the beautiful scenery and gorgeous weather. A golf cart gets about 45 miles to the gallon!

During the two weeks of our lifestyle visit, we had every opportunity to enjoy the amenities and we tried very hard to do so! Every single night of the year (except Christmas), there's free live music in both of the city squares - Spanish Springs Square, and Market Square, the latter of which was within short walking distance of our house. We took advantage and attended each evening except two, sitting outdoors listening and dancing! We don't dance often, and certainly don't know formal dances, but when the music played is mostly from the 60s and 70s, we couldn't resist.

Depending on who's performing, the Market Square can be a hoppin' place! Rocky and the Rollers are a particular favorite.

As well, every other night vendor booths are set up to sell things: jewelry, outdoor signage (residents of The Villages often display their names in front of their homes), designer soap and sporting goods.

On this particular evening, Thursday, December 1, the square was especially busy because it was the annual Christmas Tree lighting, the most well-attended event of the year.

Check out the hundreds of golf carts parked along the streets!

Many of them just made me smile.

You can see here that we enjoyed our golf cart too. Our Tampa family visited us, staying for four nights over Thanksgiving and the weekend. This is how we went to church Sunday morning!

With more than 1,800 groups within The Villages, there is no shortage of opportunities to share interests and be active. While we didn't try out any of the 504 golf holes in The Villages, we found activities that interest us. Dan got to play cribbage, a card game he's loved since being taught by his grandfather and that he hasn't played for years. He also played badminton, platform tennis and tried pickleball, the most popular sport in The Villages. I think I could hear his creaky knees after that week.

Dan, on the right, at platform tennis lessons.

As for me, well of course you know I visited quilt groups. The Villages boasts 12 groups that meet weekly! All of them meet on Tuesdays though, so I couldn't attend many of them - only two: Laurel Manor Quilters and Allamanda Quilters. Then, once a month all of them meet as the Quilting Guild of The Villages and have about 500 members. I met some pretty nice people - Honestly, are there any not-nice quilters? I also visited a needlework group and they were just as nice. The Villages isn't called "Florida's Friendliest Hometown" without reason. (In future posts I have more to share about attending those groups.)

We made sure that Hogan would be comfortable riding in a golf cart. He was!

Suffice it to say we had a fabulous time, one that has instigated serious discussions about how we'll spend our retirement years. During our long drive back home, we spent considerable time accessing our living situation and lifestyle. We agree that we're ready to make a change and this may be it.

Dozens of neighborhood heated swimming pools are open year-round.

Streets and properties are well-maintained with gorgeous landscaping.

Even though we don't golf, these course views are impressive.

Lots of planning lies ahead, and God-willing, we'll find ourselves spending the next 20 years living like this. Factored into decision-making is my unwillingness to physically further distance myself from young grandchildren. I've been praying earnestly about everything (Can we sell our house?), and will continue to do so.

As I've been pondering, I do find it serendipitous that I like palm trees so much - that my blog name and my favorite Bible verses (Psalm 92:12-13) are about palm trees. Doesn't it seem right that someday I might live where palm trees do? Linda

Christmas Mats

2011-12-06T13:00:00.000-06:00

When I saw one of these on Beth's blog, LoveLaughQuilt, I knew I would make and give them as pre-Christmas, holiday decorating gifts for my daughter, and daughter-in-law.

Beth has a very nice tutorial here, calling these "Holiday Hexagons." They sew up quickly, and look as festive as I'd hoped.

Thank you Beth, for sharing this with me.

Those little red and green ornaments are actually salt and pepper shakers! I enjoy using them each December. Linda

Fun with Dick and Jane

2011-11-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

Last April, my BFAB Carla, organized a swap of 5" I-Spy squares. With three little grandsons, I knew I'd need a lot of blocks, so I swapped three sets. Even though I was very pleased with the squares I received, I continued to pick up fat quarters here and there. Then, a very good friend, Norma, simply gave me a whole lot more squares that she had from the same swap! Thank you very much, Norma!

One of my little grandies, 26 month-old Tay, is talking up a storm. He's speaking in complete sentences. For example, he recently said to his mom, "Talk to Nana on the 'puter." (Skype). He's learning so quickly that I decided that by Christmas he will be good and ready for the fun and challenge of an I-Spy quilt. And his little 13 month-old brother will benefit too.

With inspiration from Robin who made this quilt seen on Carla's blog, I made this quilt top one evening.

incomplete quilt top, 45" X 54"

I inquired how Robin quilted hers, and then agreed with her assessment that an all over design is the only way to quilt such a busy top. This is my first quilting attempt at big, loopy bubbles. I like them!

Finished I-Spy, 48" X 57"

I couldn't leave out a square of UNI Panther (University of Northern Iowa) fabric. A couple years ago, I bought four yards of it when I came across it at a local quilt show. Last year, I went to the UNI campus to look for it in the University Bookstore, I learned that the fabric had been printed without legal permission! I've since been very particular about where and how I use the precious amount of fabric I have left.

For the back, I came across the perfect fabric in the bottom of one of my bins. It's Michael Miller's "Dick and Jane" fabric that I bought when it came out about five years ago.

It will be ideal in helping teach alphabet letters and perhaps a few words. After all, Dick, Jane and Sally - Spot and Puff too - taught me to read!

The quilt front has 99 squares, so with Christmas tree beside the label, that makes 100 blocks for the boys to I-Spy.

I can't wait to play it with them. Linda

Space Crystals

2011-11-23T09:00:00.000-06:00

While telling students in a recent Stitchin' Mission class about binding, and how it can be sewn to a quilt in many different ways, I recalled this quilt that hasn't seen the light of day for several years. It's another older quilt that's tucked into a pillowcase in my quilt cupboard.

"Space Crystals," 40" X 40"

When I teach about binding a quilt, I explain how it can be sewn to a quilt using a variety of methods. (If you haven't already, be sure to check out my tutorial for non continuous sewn binding.) And a few different enhancements can make binding more of an accessory to a quilt than just a finished edge.
Susan Cleveland's Piping Hot Binding tool makes piped binding an easy enhancement. While it's not appropriate for every quilt, it can add a little pop. My challenge is to remember to keep yards and yards of cording on hand for whenever it strikes me that "this is a quilt for piped binding."
On this all batik quilt, a small purple batik piping contrasts with the black-blue background.

Also, instead of the usual mitered corner binding, I sewed binding on a curve drawn along a sandwich plate. Much easier than mitering!

I did this quilting without a stitch regulator, on a Bernina QE153, which I no longer have. These days I'm quilting on a Pfaff Grand Quilter... without a frame; while sitting down.

"Space Crystals" was made during a 2006 class with Sara Nephew whose geometric designs have always appealed to me. Though I like this quilt, there's absolutely no suitable place for it in my home, nor the homes of my kids. It earned a second-place ribbon at the 2006 Des Moines Area Quilters Guild annual quilt show.

40" X 40"

Linda

Zig-Zag

2011-11-21T16:00:00.000-06:00

Recently, when going through my quilt cupboard where I have too many quilts folded-up and tucked into pillowcases, I came across this made-in-2006 quilt. It's one I created and wrote a pattern for when I began teaching quiltmaking. Because of its effective use of scrappy lights and darks, it's a good lesson in starting to understand value as it relates to color.

"Zig-Zag," 48" X 60"

Quilting is easy with a simple stipple design, and effective with variegated thread.

Big, double loops give interest to the border.

Since none of the five Stitchin' Mission lessons I teach are about how to sew on the bias (except for joining binding strips), this pattern allows Stitchin' Mission "graduates" to try sewing on the diagonal to make half-square triangles.

48" X 60"

If you like Zig-Zag, the free download is here, on the Stitchin' Mission website. Linda

Was Ugly. Still Ugly?

2011-11-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

In September, quilters who wanted to participate in our DSMMQG (Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild) "One Fourth Ugly" swap brought in a sack with a quarter yard of fabric, or equivalent pieces of a quarter yard of fabric, and took home someone else's fabric. We had two months to make something using that ugly stuff, and can keep what we made. Last night's DSMMQG meeting was our big reveal.

Here's mine.

"Ugly," 31-1/2" X 31-1/2"

The single piece of fabric in my sack was the tone-on-tone dull aqua print. It appears as wedges in each circle, and as binding.

Flipping through my trusty Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, I came across this "Snowball Wreath" and proceeded to figure out how to make it.

Piecing and machine applique were both used to make four 15" finished blocks.

I quilted with bright yellow 50-weight Aurifil thread.

The quilting designs include lots of channel quilting marked with a Hera marker, and free motion bubbles.

Because the challenge was to use ugly fabric I made that perfectly clear on the quilt back! Since winning a giveaway that included the book "Word Play Quilts," (Thank you, Madame Samm!) I'm having fun finding places to put words.

indoor photo

Three more of my own ugly prints were used up in this backing too. Yay! This print, that I finally used up, was bought sometime in the mid-80's. I've heard, but can't find any supporting evidence, that it's considered "a classic." It was one of Concord's (?) most popular prints and was available in several colorways. I also have it in lavender.

Though I didn't use to be, I'm now fairly diligent about making sure my quilts get a label.

For this quilt, I probably didn't need a label at all since this really says it.

Check out more of our uglies on Doris's blog. And even more pictures of uglies and our holiday swap items are on our modern guild website.

The antithesis of ugly is this - what our front yard looked like a couple days ago. It was quite literally "raining leaves"... pretty golden-colored ones from a maple tree.

However, by the end of the day the tree was bereft of leaves, and after several passes with the mulching lawn mower, was a mass of golden compost. Such a pretty end to autumn. Linda

Friendship Medallion - Part 6

2011-11-16T18:39:00.000-06:00

There's not much to say about Part 6. It's large blue and white half-square triangles added to the top and bottom of this square quilt, making it a rectangle. It's 67-1/2" X 76-1/2" now, with two more parts to go.

Part 7 will no doubt take a little time. Hmm, only 288 one-and-a-half inch white squares, and 360 one-and-a-half inch medium and dark squares to make 72 three-inch square (finished) Nine Patch blocks!

To be perfectly honest, I've had a happy accident, and am further along on Part 7 than I would have expected. You see, in October I decided to make my first ever "Leaders and Enders" project. If you don't know what this is, go here to Bonnie Hunter's site to read more about it.

Basically, it's a way to make a quilt while you're working on something else. You only need to have a whole bunch of fabric pieces cut out so that you can start (leaders) and end (enders) every seam of your current project with Leaders and Enders pieces to sew together. It's a secondary quilt to the primary quilt (or project) you're working on.

This is the basket of 1-1/2 squares I've been cutting for several months as I have systematically been working through my fabric bins to downsize. These 1-1/2" squares in my rectangle basket are the smallest ready-to-sew size I've been cutting before tossing scraps into a bag.

The Leaders and Enders patches I started sewing together in October are 1-1/2" squares. I've already sewn heaps of pairs and tossed them into this round basket.

So all those 1-1/2" cut squares - in the rectangle basket - are exactly the size needed for the 72 Nine Patch blocks in the Friendship Medallion quilt! How fortuitous is that?! I'm tickled about it because in just a couple days I've gotten a good start on Nine Patch blocks that will look like this for Part 7 of Friendship Medallion. It's a Nine Patch in a Square.

5-3/4" X 5-3/4" unfinished

Have I mentioned before how much I'm lovin' this project?! I think so. Hmm, maybe once or twice.

The colors! It's amazing to me how all my old traditional prints - many purchased in the 1980s and 1990s - look almost modern when neighbored with bright colors and a white (mostly) background. They play well together, and I love these color groupings.

Something else that's fun to do and might make you happy too... A dear friend sent me the link to a color test - a hue test - which I found quite interesting. I'm happy to say I scored perfectly, a zero. To take the hue test yourself go to: FM 100 Hue Test. I recommend you're in in a well-lit area when you take it.

What this test tells me is that even though I can perfectly line up a graduated series of hues, when it comes to choosing colors of fabrics to go together, I can still fail miserably. But maybe this Friendship Medallion is an exception. That remains to be seen. Linda

Friendship Medallion - Part 5

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

The first five parts of Friendship Medallion are done and it's now 65-1/2" X 65-1/2". It's too big for my design wall, so that's why it looks a little ripply on the right side - part of it is masking-taped to the concrete wall. But boy, am I likin' this or what!?

Friendship Medallion

If you're thinking this is a great project for stash-busting, you're right. I can now get the lids back onto a few of my fabric bins!

If you'd like to join in, do! It's free.

There are no time constraints for making this quilt, just a few simple rules:

No buying fabric! Make it from your stash.
Swap fabric with friends for greater variety. Hence the name "Friendship Medallion."
To get instructions for each step, email a picture of your finished previous step to the Patchwork Pumpkin quilt shop.

To register, just go here to Patchwork Pumpkin. Then, Therese will email you instructions to begin making part one, the checkerboard center.

Therese emailed me to say that quite a few people are making FM since reading my blog. The world seems a little smaller for knowing that I'm sharing this with some of you. I hope to see more FMs started in your blogs that I follow.

I have FM part six in hand. What color next? Probably blue. Then two more parts to go. Funny how it works. Each part seems to take just a little longer than the previous one.

Check out my friend Kerry's quilt at ALittleStitching. Hers is an assortment of scrappy colors. So pretty! Linda

A Stitchin' Mission Quilt

2011-11-12T08:03:00.000-06:00

The last of five Stitchin' Mission lessons was Thursday evening. Besides teaching about quilt labels, I turned in the quilt I made that will go to House of Mercy here in Des Moines.

This quilt is sewn with fabrics donated to Stitchin' Mission by members of Faith Lutheran Church in Clive, where our lessons were held. The design is one I call "Stairs to Heaven," and it uses only "loaves" - 3-1/2" X 6-1/2" rectangles.

"Stairs to Heaven," 48" X 60"

Whenever I have a leftover fabric I want to use up, I cut 3-1/2" X 6-1/2" loaves. They have many design possibilities for sewing into mission quilts.

See more photos of Stitchin' Mission quilts here, on the SM blog. Sixty-plus quilts were made during this series of five free beginner quiltmaking lessons! Wow! You can see the quilts in person next weekend, November 19-20 when they'll be displayed in the sanctuary at Faith Lutheran Church on University Avenue next to K-Mart, in Clive.

By the way, that is snow you're seeing in the background of my photos. We woke Wednesday morning to three inches of the stuff. Winter is officially here. Linda

Getting Away, to Kansas City

2011-11-08T07:51:00.003-06:00

For four days, over the weekend, we were in Kansas City.

On Saturday I went on a day-long, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., quilt retreat with my good friend, Carla. It was our first time sewing together, and - no surprise - we had a great time. We met up, and I rode with her to Bucyrus, Kansas, where our quilt retreat was in a church building on the grounds of this beautiful old church.

Queen of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Bucyrus, Kansas

The retreat space was very large with banks of windows on three sides, and good overhead lighting.

Retreat space

Carla and I had a special project planned to work on together.

Carla

Robin joined us, bringing along her hand embroidery. She also rotary cut Carla's sewn strips since Carla is a little hand-icapped from a tumble down the stairs. Though Carla assured us she could rotary cut, watching her use her elbow to stabilize the ruler didn't reassure us!

Robin

The retreat coordinator was sewing binding on this quilt. It's a solids only quilt made from a Kaufmann Kona charm pack. What an effective, dramatic design. It's quilted with circles within circles.

One of the especially prolific quilters I became acquainted with is Nikki who blogs here. She recently finished this Spider Web quilt top.

Her Spider Web has some unexpected details.

Nikki's hand embroidered spiders!

Carla and I both sewed a design called "Picket Fence." It's from an Elsie Campbell book String Quilts. Picket Fence is design in which assorted width strips are sewn together according to lights, mediums and darks, and then cut into 60-degree diamonds.

The diamond blocks Carla is happily "ta-dah-ing" on our design wall are a mix of diamonds each of us cut and sewed from our own strips stash.

Before we parted company, we swapped light, medium and dark-colored diamonds with each other, so each of our two quilts will be even scrappier.

I'm on the left; Carla's on the right

Though, based on just my strips, I don't think I'll have much trouble making my Picket Fence fairly scrappy!

After the quilt retreat, an unexpected activity found us very literally quaking in our boots! Saturday night, while at our daughter's house, were awake at 10:53 p.m. when the 5.6 magnitude earthquake rumbled three miles below ground near Prague, Oklahoma. Even in Kansas City, 300 miles (428 K) away, we felt the bed tremble and listened to the closed bedroom door rattle in its door frame. Though I knew what it was, having felt a similar tremor back in 1965 when living in Ohio, it's still not something you expect here in the Midwest. Tornados? Yes, aplenty. But an earthquake? Certainly not!

Another reason for visiting KC was to celebrate this little guy's first birthday which was Sunday. Would you believe he wouldn't eat birthday cake?! He'd never had cake, and even after a couple attempts were made to put it in his mouth, he refused it.

Aesa and Bapa

Last year I started washing and saving containers from my favorite yogurt: Yoplait. These containers are durable for chewing on, and throwing around without a chance of hurting anyone - great fun with little ones, building towers and making roads. My grandsons know I'll play "stacks" with them anytime. Here's one of their favorite things to do.

Linda

Putting it All on the Table

2011-11-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

There's nothing like "company's coming," to get me motivated to take care of details that I've meant to do anyway, but put off for too long. A couple weeks ago I expected a houseguest for several nights. Sadly, she wasn't able to make it, but I'm ready for the next time!

Place mats. Have you made them? It seems a lot of bloggers are offering place mat tutorials. They're nice place mats. Pretty. But not designed for a round table! I've tried using rectangle place mats on our round, drop-leaf table and didn't like them. And I certainly couldn't serve my guests on a bare wood table! What to do? Design my own of course!

From a piece of freezer paper, I made a place mat template that matched the curve of the table. The place mat measures approximately 14" X 16". I figure I needed one yard each of two fabrics for the front and back of four place mats.

In my never-ending endeavor to reduce my stash, it seemed best to make some fabric from my scraps. This is what I unearthed as I was looking for the dark reds, burgundies - "wine-colored fabrics" sounds better - to coordinate with our burgundy-colored stoneware.

After several hours of sewing, this is the piece of fabric I made. It has a smattering of golds and greens too.

The place mats that would be sewn primarily from Kona Snow solid, so with my newly-created fabric I cut a decorative insert - a trim. Using a freezer paper insert pattern piece (3"-wide), I pressed it to the fabric and rotary cut.

I cut apart the place mat template and used the two pieces to cut two pieces from Kona Snow. I pinned and sewed the fabric insert to the Kona pieces. A gentle curve like this isn't difficult to sew.

Thermore batting is inside each place mat. I chose Thermore because it's very thin. For something like these place mats, it's the best batting to use so drinking glasses and wine glasses have a stable base.

When the first place mat passed my approval, I made three more. Most often, this is what our table will look like.

The place mat backs are just as serviceable as the fronts. Perhaps more so because they'll hide someone's sloppy dribbles!

The place mats can be rotated and still look nice. A few lines of staggered curved quilting is all that was needed to hold it all together.

I think these make a pretty table setting in our kitchen eating area.

What's for dinner?

Linda

Last Color Hurrah

2011-11-02T13:02:00.000-05:00

We're counting yesterday's weather as a bonus day. It's rare that November 1 in Iowa is so beautiful, with the afternoon temperature reaching an unusually mild 75 F (23 C). We've enjoyed brilliant autumn colors, and haven't had to go far to appreciate them.

My own yard! In the foreground, a burning bush.

Maple trees in the backyard.

That's Dan, and Hogan the dog, walking on the sidewalk.

In the afternoon we drove to Saylorville Lake, Sycamore (boat) Access, and walked along the trail, soaking in the day.

It's a good thing we did! If we had waited until today we'd be soaked! It's not only raining, but looking and feeling very dismal. With a 30 percent chance of snow overnight, hurrah for color while it lasted. Linda

Pillow That Selvage!

2011-10-30T19:56:00.000-05:00

On Friday my friend Michelle came over for another sewing day. We continued working on our selvage projects, agreeing to make 20" pillows from four "Homeward Bound" blocks from the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns by Barbara Brackman.

I sewed on my Pfaff Grand Quilter, attempting to chain piece selvages directly from my selvage box onto fabric foundations. It worked... sorta.

Michelle sewed on my Bernina 830. She was a little pickier choosing selvages because she wanted colors to coordinate with her new living room sofa.

Isn't Michelle's block gorgeous!? It's even prettier in person. She took the time to make sure the background fabric stripes were arranged in a balanced pattern. Very well done.

Michelle's 20" X 20" Sawtooth Star block

Without color limitations for my own block, I just sewed whatever my hands happened to touch. As you can see, when the Homeward Bound four-patch block was joined to three other Homeward Bound blocks, a Sawtooth Star formed.

By end-of-day, I had a pillow finish complete with a corded edge and an envelope back. I have to say, I love it.

It was especially enjoyable to make it alongside a friend. Now that we've gotten our feet wet - sew to speak - we're planning our next, larger, quilt project. Oh boy! Linda

My Quilt in the Blogger's Quilt Festival

2011-10-29T00:26:00.002-05:00

The bi-annual Bloggers' Quilt Festival for Fall, 2011, runs from October 28 and through November 4. The event is a reason to share and talk about a favorite quilt, even if it's one that's been seen chatted up in a previous blog post.

I'm taking this opportunity to talk again about "Snowflake Medallion" a quilt I finished in June of this year. It's very special to me, for several reasons.

Photo by Craig Anderson Photography

"Snowflake Medallion" is a pattern I purchased while in Australia, visiting our daughter who at the time lived in Sydney. I adore Sydney, and actually know it better than I know our capital city! If I ever win the lottery, this is where you'll find me... permanently.

In May of 2009, Dan and I flew from Sydney to Melbourne. We rented a car, and I'm the one who drove us around Victoria for seven days since left-side-of-the-road driving was more than he could handle. We stopped at several quilt shops, but mostly ogled the beauty of Australia's southern coast. It's simply astounding. Whenever I close my eyes to recollect a favorite view, I envision the beautiful day when we were blessed to see the "Twelve Apostles." Much like the overwhelming majesty of the US Grand Canyon, Australia's coastline is the most ruggedly beautiful scenery I've seen. (Doubtful Sound on the south island of New Zealand is another.)

We spent a night in Ballarat, Victoria. That's when I visited Ballarat Patchwork and met the young proprietor, Emma. Her shop is filled with modern fabrics and bright, fresh quilt designs that, at the time, were quite new to me. One of her quilts captured my attention: "Snowflake Medallion." It's the pattern I returned home with, determined to make.

Emma's "Snowflake Medallion"

Fabrics for my Snowflake were purchased here in Des Moines, but in my mind it's still a 100 percent Aussie quilt. Another reason that Snowflake is a favorite quilt is that I hand-appliqued mine while my Sydney friend, Di, was doing the same with her own Snowflake Medallion quilt. She's also the clever person who came up with an ingenious method for hand-appliqueing teeny, precise 1 mm circles, using sequins as "templates"!

After completing the 78" X 78" quilt top, I pin-basted it, and let it languish for a year before I finally put my mind to quilting it. Quilting isn't my favorite thing to do. That's not because I can't do it, but because I always struggle with what to quilt. Designing quilt patterns isn't my forte. Still, I put my best efforts into Snowflake, at one point using a pizza pan as a template for the large, scalloped feather circle feature in the center of the quilt. Many hours were spent, sit-down free motion machine quilting to make this quilt as special as I could.

quilted using very pale green Sulky thread

from the back

I entered Snowflake in our 2011 Iowa State Fair and was extremely gratified to win a blue ribbon, my first ever Iowa State Fair first place ribbon in at least 15 years of entering quilts in the fair! Stiff competition there.

Then, in October I was again honored to learn that Snowflake was accepted into the juried Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, California. Snowflake didn't earn a ribbon, but I still consider it a supreme honor to have had it displayed alongside quilts created by extremely talented, celebrity quilters.

More importantly for me though was receiving, for the first time in my 30 years of quiltmaking, an honest and thorough judge's appraisal of my work. To be perfectly honest, I have room for quilting improvement. Still, my journey with this quilt - from Australia to Iowa to California and back to Iowa - has been one I wouldn't trade for any amount of kudos or prize money.

Go to this Flickr site to see all the bloggers' quilts in this fall festival. Inspiration awaits! Linda

Little Finishes and Stumbling Progress

2011-10-26T16:30:00.000-05:00

Happily, I've been spending productive time in my sewing room. The October birthday cake for Megan in One Block Over progressed from this picture...

... to the applique on the left,

to the finished piece (o' cake!) on the right.

I drew, stitched (with Cosmo floss), and pencil-colored this owl for my J-O-Y wallhanging.

If he looks a little googly-eyed, it's because I copied him from this Holiday Hoot fabric.

10" X 10"

My favorite print for binding is a stripe. And where is it more appropriate than on a Christmas piece.

The Blogger's Block of the Month comes out on the 25th of each month. After making one 8-1/2" (unfinished) block in September, I decided that each month I'll make two so I have enough to make some sort of quilt when it's finished. Here are both of the September blocks.

And here are my interpretations of the October block offered by Vickie Welsh.

As far as progress goes on my Friendship Medallion quilt, it's been two steps forward and three steps back! The steps to make round 5 of this medallion quilt were:

Cut out 36 pink rectangles from 36 different prints. - Check.
Cut out 40 red rectangles from 40 different prints - Check.
Cut out 152 white squares. - Check.

Sit down to sew together 36 pink rectangles and white squares. - Check.
(It was most enjoyable to sew while listening to an excellent audiobook, The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Berry.)
Press pink and white patches. - Check

36 pink and white patches

Now sew 40 red rectangle and white squares. - Check.
Begin to press red and white patches.... Oh No! They're all sewn together wrong!

They were supposed to have looked like this!

The 40 red patches in the above photo are those I completely re-cut out and sewed to make patches that could be arrange in a zig-zag pattern. Argh! Why do I do this when I know better? I know better. I know better. Apparently it takes a lifetime, to figure out simple stuff like this.

Not only am I stuck with 40 incorrectly sewn red and white patches, I have this big pile of sewn (before they were cut off) half-square triangle squares that are the remains of both the correctly sewn, and incorrectly sewn patches. That's 232 squares that I haven't even bothered to press.

Between the rectangle patches and these squares, I'll have plenty of piecing to do for the back of this quilt because I'm just too frugal to waste perfectly good fabric. Besides, it will be a good punishment for so badly messing up what should have been an easy-to-sew round. Linda

A Whole Lot of Not Much

2011-10-22T12:17:00.001-05:00

Did you FNSI last night? I've got it in my head that everyone pronounces it "fin-see." Am I right?

FNSI is the monthly Friday Night Sew In hosted by Bobbi and Heidi. It's a superb idea for anyone who wants to: 1) squeeze some me-time out of each month for sewing and quilting; 2) know she's not sewing alone. Just think of all the quilters out there doing the same thing, at the same time you are! and; 3) as a bonus, has a chance to win a really nice gift by simply showing off what you worked on that evening!

Though I was in my sewing room for most of Friday, I don't have much to show for my efforts. Too much cutting, and too much flitting... from one project to another. None of them are finished.

3-1/2" X 5-1/2" rectangles for part 5 of Friendship Medallion quilt.

The cake slice needs some more decorative sprinkles.

The October 6-1/2" X 6-1/2" birthday block requested by Megan in our One Block Over group.

Inspired by Selvage Blog, my friend Michelle and I have decided to make Homeward Bound blocks into pillows. I'm not sure which Metro Living Rings print I'll put with my selvage squares, but I'm leaning toward the green.

With my newly won book Word Play Quilts, I'm making a little Christmas wall hanging. The blank space in the lower right is where I'll put a little embroidered owl like the one on the Christmas print.

It was fun having Michelle join me for some late afternoon sewing. After she left, I was back at it on my own. There's no reason these projects won't soon be finishes. Thank for the Fin-See motivation, Bobbi and Heidi! Linda

Friendship, Win and DSMMQG Update

2011-10-19T08:39:00.003-05:00

Progress on my Friendship Medallion quilt meant adding 92 Flying Geese to complete part 4. I've received part 5 and will be digging into my reds and pinks to piece it.

52-1/2" X 52-1/2"

A nice parcel arrived this week from Madame Samm in Ontario, Canada. She's generously hosting daily giveaways - for WantToBe quilters and Quilters - who comment to win on the blog SewWeQuilt.

The only "hitch" is that the winner has to pay postage. I hesitated when I learned that postage would be $30 for a 60"-wide, two yard piece of fabric (at top of photo). It's "Minky Toy Chest Cuddle Zoom Zoom" from Shannon Fabrics. But when Madame Samm offered to make sure the parcel was a good "investment," I took her up on it. Look at the bonus stuff she included with the fabric: the book Word Play Quilts; a spool of white Prescencia thread; three ~~fat quarters~~ half yard pieces (Corrected!) of Riley Blake (Lila Tueller) fabrics; and The Littles "Beach Ball" pattern. How could I not be pleased with my investment in the Canadian postal system!?

On Friday Madame Samm is giving away this! Go here to do it.

Carla of Lollyquilz, my Missouri friend who I expected to visit me this week for four days/three nights and speak to our Des Moines Chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild (Thursday evening) is not coming. A totally unforeseen family medical concern is keeping her close to home, and rightly so. We all know that after God, family comes first. So, we find ourselves in DSMMQG, looking for a substitute speaker for our Thursday evening meeting. Our speaker will be DSMMQG member Eva Marie Evans of Marion, Iowa, who will talk about the quilt-as-you-go technique.

This week in the blogosphere, Helen Stubbings mentioned one of my embroideries in a HugsnKisses post. Also, Laura Nownes mentioned and put up a picture of my wall hanging in last weekend's Pacific International Quilt Festival. Laura emailed me to say, "The tree was a big hit - lots of people stopping to take photos of the beautiful quilting!" Thanks Laura! You made my day. Linda

Put a Lid on it!

2011-10-15T17:17:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, I spent most of the afternoon rotary cutting. See that bin of purple fabric? Before I started cutting, the lid wouldn't fit the bin. It was overflowing with that much fabric.

Now I need to take the rotary cutter to that blue/aqua bin, and the orange/pink bin (lower left.) Hmm, those greens (lower right) might need a reduction too. By the end of the year, I intend to purge, cut and sew enough blocks and quilts to cull one entire bin of stashed fabrics.

First, from all the purple prints I cut squares for my Friendship Medallion quilt, part 4.

Then from the purple prints I cut:

3-1/2" X 6-1/2" loaves for a Stitchin' Mission quilt
1-1/5" to 2-3/4"-wide strips for a Picket Fence quilt.
1-1/2" X 1-1/2" squares for a Leaders/Enders quilt.
and saved every other little bit for a New Life quilt.

Now if this isn't a good use of fabric, I don't know what is! Do you see a strategy to my use of fabrics? I think the term is "frugal." Blame that on my German heritage.

After all that cutting, Thursday afternoon was spent pleasantly sewing the 92 Flying Geese needed for Friendship Medallion, part 4. Friendship Medallion is a free quilt pattern offered by Patchwork Pumpkin. The hitch is that you don't get instructions for a step until you email them a picture of the step you've just finished! Also, you're supposed to use only fabrics from your stash. I'm lovin' this!

See Kerry's pretty Friendship Medallion quilt here. She's up to part 5.

My favorite way to make Flying Geese blocks is this no-waste method. Here's the link to the PDF I've printed, and follow all the time.

This way there's no wasted fabric, except for the trimmings from 92 2-1/2" X 4-1/2" Flying Geese blocks.

92 Flying Geese for Part 4 of Friendship Medallion

For those of you wondering if my voice held out while speaking to 50-plus women at Tuesday evening's Ankeny Area Quilters Guild meeting, the answer is an audible "yes!" Thanks to prayers (mine and yours), a salt water gargle and a microphone, my presentation about Stitchin' Mission went well. I'm always eager to let people know what's happenin' with Stitchin' Mission - and it is happenin'! Lives are being touched and changed in ways God knows all about, and occasionally I'm privileged and touched to learn too. Quilters and quilt recipients are feelin' the love. What an awesome God-thing.

The second Stitchin' Mission lesson was Thursday evening. I'm just about blown away by these newbies! Forty-five people were in attendance! Their enthusiasm for learning quiltmaking is overwhelming and infectious. I want to go home afterward and sew, sew, sew.

One new quilter has recently started blogging at CrashCourseCraft and wouldn't you know, she blogged about Stitchin' Mission! Pop over and say hi to Caitlyn, won't you?

Wednesday, the big show started. The PIQF (Pacific International Quilt Festival) in Santa Clara, California. Two of my quilts are there. I'm not. But with appreciation for her thoughtful gesture, Laura Nownes (the Laura Nownes who co-authored the famous book Quilts! Quilts! Quilts!!!) emailed with her offer to take pictures of my quilts hanging at the show. Curious quilters want to know what the neighbors look like! Bet the show is wonderful. With 800 quilts, how could it not be?

(L-R): Tote It; thermal bottle carrier; Trixie Bag

Today was a Sewing Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with Hope Quilters at our church. After loading my sewing machine, a bag of quilt-y stuff, and my tool chest, I prepared my lunch.

These were on the kitchen counter on my last trip to the car when it struck me. It's a good thing I know how to sew! How could I go anywhere without these colorful carriers? Can you imagine how boring they would if they were store-bought?

Last weekend our Kansas family (sans Dad, who had to work) made an outing to a pumpkin patch.

Celina, Aesa, Jill and Tay

A few days after this picture was taken, Aesa, who will be one year old on November 6, took his first steps. It's trite to say so, but... they grow up so quickly. Linda

New Life

2011-10-11T14:32:00.000-05:00

Yes. This is what you're probably thinking it is. A big piece of wood. To be exact, it's one of two large hollow core doors I acquired about 30 years ago when we had a room remodeled in our first house. I've taken them with me through numerous moves because they've been handy for many purposes. These doors are the reason I didn't do any machine quilting for a couple weeks. That's because they were in the garage where I applied two layers of spray varnish, and then brushed on three layers of high gloss polyurethane.

I was going for a slick surface and I achieved it! Now the doors are laying across sawhorses in my sewing area. They fairly glow! And as I hoped, my quilts slip around easily, almost too easily! More than once a portion has just slid onto the floor. Hmm. Maybe there's something about too much of a good thing?

But no. I love having this smooth surface for quilting. It was worth the time - mostly waiting for varnish to dry - that I had to park my VW Bug in the driveway instead of the garage. My first quilt on the new surface is this purple and yellow "New Life Quilt." The top was finished in May.

Making a New Life quilt is a great way to use small fabric pieces. All color combinations of the smallest pieces and shapes can be sewn together to make Ezekiel blocks which are then joined with sashing. This particular quilt is different than others I've made because I tried making it with particular colors, and I sewed the top together with the blocks on point. I didn't do anything fancy in the way of quilting.

I quilted a fan in the blocks; snails in the sashing and cornerstones...

...and a feather swoop in the outside setting triangles.

54" X 65-1/2"

Thanks Mary for letting me use the pretty front entry to your house for my photo shoot.

Even more Ezekiel blocks are on the back of the quilt. I'm happy to say I used up some good, old fabric for this quilt.

I'm handling a rush of activities around here while battling laryngitis. This is the first time I've ever had such a squeaky voice, and while I would generally be in good humor about it (it doesn't hurt a bit), I've been anxious because of my speaking obligations these past two weeks. Stitchin' Mission, with 40 newbies and 11 helpers, started last Thursday which meant I was talking a lot about making quilts. I think that triggered the decline in my voice.

Tonight I'm giving a Stitchin' Mission program to members of the Ankeny Area Quilters Guild. I'll be gargling salt water before I go! Laryngitis aside, the presenting part will be fun. I enjoy sharing my passion for something I believe in - making quilts for others.

Again Thursday is the second Stitchin' Mission lesson where I'll talk about rotary cutting, chain-piecing, and sewing together a quilt top. I'm sure I'll get through it all just fine... though a few of your prayers are appreciated! Linda

Autumn in Iowa... with Curtis

2011-10-06T13:34:00.001-05:00

If this trail looks somewhat familiar to you, it's because you've seen it before, in August, when it was hot and green.

October 2011

August 2011

Today Dan and I returned to the High Trestle Trail, and bridge, between Madrid and Woodward, Iowa, for an autumn walk.

The fellow up ahead was using a gas-powered blower to blow leaves off the trail! He has a l-o-n-g trail to take care of... as the wind was blowing more leaves.

At each end of the 1/2 mile-long bridge are these pillars. We walked onto it from the Madrid (east) side.

On the bridge, 13 stories above the Des Moines River.

Several informational signs along the trail provide excellent information about the area. This is a picture of the bridge piers. The photo was taken at ground level. See the person standing beside the pier? This gives you a perspective on how high we were above the river bed.

From the bridge, looking out across the river valley, we could see how low the Des Moines River is.

The river meanders to the south (toward the city of Des Moines), reflecting the sun and sparkling in the distance.

The view from the bridge shows what remains of an automobile bridge that was built in 1912. A railing around the top makes it an excellent viewing point from the Woodward (west) side of the bridge.

From the Woodward side of the bridge.

From the viewing platform (seen two photos above), this is the view back onto the bridge.

Bicyclists love it, but then us pedestrians do too!

Now I want to return in the winter, though my husband isn't enthused about that idea. We'd certainly have to be well bundled up! Even on this mild day, the wind was whipping across the bridge, so it's easy to imagine what that would feel like at 10 degrees F (-12 C). Beyond frigid!

So on the way home we stopped at Hy-Vee (grocery store) to pick up a couple odds and ends, and look who I ran into! This is for you - all my Aussie readers and friends.

We get to see good 'ole Curtis every day. All we have to do is turn on the tellie, watch a Hy-Vee commercial, and there he is! You had no idea we knew him that well. Now did you!? Linda

Zig a Cross Spoons and Forks

2011-10-05T13:28:00.003-05:00

I think you like seeing quilts from a show, so here are more from last Saturday's Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild show on the campus of the University of Missouri.

I noticed a couple reoccurring themes: zig zags and crosses. The Zig Zagged quilt is a design by Shea Henderson of Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio. It's a pattern you can find here.

As for the Cross Quilt, the blocks are a design by Carla of Lollyquiltz who will be our October 20 speaker at the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild meeting. Isn't this yummy?

Carla has a Liberated Cross Block tutorial, in case you'd like to make one yourself.

Another quilt that caught my eye, that I think is so retro, is this clever spoons and forks quilt. How does a quilter come up with such an idea?!

"I've got to tear myself away from my sewing room to eat! I'm so hungry. Darn. I can't fix something to eat until I unload the dishwasher. I guess I'll start putting away utensils in the silverware basket. Hmm, look at that spoon. And check out that fork. Gosh, how would they look on a quilt? Forget about eating! I've got to get back to my sewing room!" (Yes, she's a thin quilter.)

This quilt was made by Tammy Vasser of AContentLife and Marmalade Fabrics. I love the simplicity of it.

Isn't this an interesting quilt? It's sort of a Greek key design. And those touches of teal blue are in just the right places.

The quilting really works with the linear quilt pattern.

I just like these quilts.

Bright, fresh, modern and fun! Just the way I am.... err, except perhaps for "fresh," and maybe "modern." A ~~girl~~ woman can dream. Linda

Three Shows

2011-10-02T21:33:00.003-05:00

Hey there quilters! It was quite the week for quilting in our area. Here in Des Moines, a two-in-one show was last Wednesday through Saturday at the Iowa Events Center: 1) the AQS (American Quilters Society, Paducah) national quilt show, and; 2) the local DMAQG (Des Moines Area Quilters Guild) annual quilt show.

DMAQG show in Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, Iowa

Though AQS and DMAQG allow photos to be taken for personal use, those photos may not be published on the Internet.

Photographs of quilts may be taken for your own personal use; quilt photographs must NOT be displayed on the Internet (Web sites or blogs including Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, Webshots, or other personal sites) or used for any commercial purpose without permission of the quiltmaker and American Quilter's Society.

However, another fabulous quilt show had no such restriction. It was the first quilt show of the KCMQG (Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild), which I was able to attend on Saturday, October 1. It was with great pleasure that I photographed nearly every quilt!

The outdoor show was on the grounds of UMKC (University of Missouri, Kansas City), and a more glorious blue-skied autumn day of mild temperature, bright sun, and gentle breeze you could not find! The show was stupendous, and I'm thrilled I could attend.

Though I can't tell you the name of every quiltmaker, I do know Carla made this one - "Love Beads." She has a tutorial for Love Beads that appears in the Moda Bake Shop.

Here's Carla sitting near her quilts. From a distance I thought she looked like a princess on her throne - quite regal!

I asked her to give me a royal wave, and she deigned to oblige.

Here's the quilt she was hand-sewing binding on.

Carla will be the guest speaker at the October 20 meeting of our Des Moines Chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. Her presentation is about the quilts she's made through the Internet: swaps, quilt-alongs, BOMs and the like, and how to organize scraps. When she comes, she's staying with me for a few days. Ya think we'll find anything to do with ourselves?!

A few of others' quilts at the KCMQG show...

A "found and finished" quilt

Aren't these quilts wonderful!? So much inspiration, and I have a lot more to show you.

So why did I attend a quilt show in Des Moines, and then head three hours south to Kansas City? Need I say a whole lot more?

Our oldest grandson turned two, and our Tampa family was in Kansas City for a visit. Angels that they are, it's triple the activity and chaos when the boys are together. I wouldn't trade it for the world! Playing with a ball, and crawling around on the floor to build a road and pushing a truck are meant for younger knees though!

These boys aren't TV-watchers, but they're mesmerized by a favorite Youtube video: "Wheels on the Bus." Every once in a while, we saw hand motions. Just plain cute!

Several to-dos are ahead of me this week. At the top of the list is preparing for Stitchin' Mission beginner quiltmaking lessons. As of this post, 34 people are registered for five free classes. Women, a few young girls and a couple fellas are signed up! Along with 10 helpers (called "Rebekahs" based on Genesis 24) we'll make baby quilts that will be donated to an organization that provides assistance to pregnant women. It's gonna be great! Linda

Embroidered Birth Wallhanging

2011-09-29T14:16:00.000-05:00

On our 4,538-mile drive to and from California earlier this month, I had plenty of passenger-side handwork time. I'm glad I don't get carsick when doing close work. I get so much done when we travel by car! This time I completed all the embroidery on "Jungle Safari," a design I purchased here. I stitched all of the pieces with Cosmo embroidery floss.

When we returned home, I started coloring. I've watch Helen Stubbing's video about how to Colorque (her technique for pencil coloring), and have previously colored several embroidered quilt projects. Ironically, today Helen offers a free pattern and tutorial for her method, in case you like to try it.

Helen says to color first, then brush textile medium over the color to protect it. Then embroider. I chose to embroider first and then color. I'm not using any textile medium because this is a wall quilt that will likely never be washed.

When I think about embroidering first, it's like what I did as a kid when I had a coloring book. I liked to outline a shape and then color in the space. Plus, I have a limited pencil palette of only 24 colors, so I like to layer and blend colors that look good with the floss colors.

I use Derwent brand Coloursoft pencils.

Of course I especially had fun coloring the palm tree. Still love those palm trees!

It took a couple days to work out this arrangement (no layout instructions are provided with the embroidery pattern), and I'm very happy with it. I think it all works because of the jungle fabric that was gifted to me. Thank you, Mary!

20" X 33"

I had fun with free motion quilting too, adding palm fronds to parts of the embroidery...

...and using cream-colored thread to add sand along the bottom of several designs.

On the back I added a hanging sleeve. Instead of a dowel or wood lathe through the sleeve, I inserted a two-inch wide plastic slat from an old set of horizontal blinds. It was easy to cut it to the right length with wire cutters.

We hung the wall hanging over his changing table.

Aesa likes it. That makes me happy, and so does the fact that it's finished before his first birthday!

Aesa - 10-1/2 months

Linda

Hop on Board!

2011-09-25T20:08:00.004-05:00

Strawberry Fizz and Lime Pop

That's what I'm going to call this quilt when it's finished in 2012.

Today it started... the Blogger's Block of the Month is being hosted by Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works. Each month, on the 25th, a different designer will offer her block.

The 8-1/2" X 8-1/2" (unfinished) September block comes from Sherri McConnell at A Quilting Life. It was easy to sew. I probably spent more time choosing fabrics (pick one background fabric to use in all blocks) than cutting and sewing it!

Hop on board! Go here to get signed up. Then go here to get your September block. Linda

West and Back Again

2011-09-21T08:36:00.002-05:00

2 people, celebrating 39 years of marriage
3 quilt shops in: Lincoln, Nebraska (Cosmic Cow); Durango, Colorado; and Napa, California
5 different US National Parks
10 different motels including the Wine Country Inn, St. Helena, California
13 whole days away from home
17 can't-buy-these-anywhere-else bottles of Napa Valley wines from six wineries
4,538 miles on our Nissan Rogue, from Iowa to California and back

That's what I've been doing!

Between September 6 and 19, my husband and I traveled. We drove and drove on a long anticipated visit to Napa Valley, California. We spent more than a week sight-seeing our way through Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, with incredible views of breath-taking scenery, and sometimes cliff-hanging, hair-raising mountaintop roads!

Cliff House, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

While at the Visitor's Center at Canyonlands National Park, we met a couple from Wentworth Falls, New South Wales, Australia. Of course we had a nice chat about family, and places we had in common.

Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Arches National Park, Utah

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Bryce Canyon, Inspiration Point - 8,100 feet
If HE looks like he's sitting on the edge of his seat, he is!
He didn't like having his back to the open cliff!

In between dazzling views in five National Parks - Isn't God a masterful landscape artist? - we passed through Durango, Colorado. Though we'd never been to Durango and didn't have time for a good visit, I managed to convince my husband I needed to visit the Durango Sewing Center. The shop had a ad in a tourism brochure that advertised 10 percent off a purchase with just a mention of the brochure. It's another reason to always stop at the visitor's center in each state.

We stopped, though 15 minutes wasn't nearly adequate to take it all in, let alone decide what fabrics to buy!

Durango Sewing Center carries lots of modern fabrics that include Art Gallery Fabrics. I wasn't familiar with that brand, but I am now! I learned they're designed by the Art Gallery Fabrics owner, Patricia Bravo, and that all the 100 percent cotton fabrics are 200-count. I wanted every one of these Nature Elements prints, but settled on just one... the gray one.

"Nature Elements" collection by Art Gallery Fabrics

A clerk brought out a quilt made entirely of Art Gallery Fabrics and insisted I feel it. The hand is extremely nice.

I especially liked perusing this rack of one-yard pieces of various prints. That's "Wrenly" at the bottom right. I'd seen it on blogs and on-line quilt shops, but hadn't seen it in person. It's odd that I knew it was Wrenly before I checked the selvage to see if I was correct! See how much you learn when you read blogs?

Display of one-yard pieces

The next quilt shop I visited happened several days later, just after we'd ridden the Wine Train - in the Vista Dome car - a three hour-long trip from Napa to Calistoga and back. We started the lunch trip with champagne, and it kept getting better and better, including just about the best food we've ever eaten.

Check out these teeny, unbelievably in-credi-lious hand-made Grand Marnier dark chocolate truffles.

Ahhh, but I digress...

Quiltmaker in Napa, California. I don't know how I lucked out, but all three of the shops I visited on this trip had modern fabrics. I was in my element, gushing over all the bright, retro, fun prints, and wishing I could take home every single bolt in the Quiltmaker shop!

I'm very much into lime these days. It's the new neutral according to American Quilter magazine.

This is what I love to see!

A selection of "Sherbet Pips"

I have to thank the shop owner (above), and two customers, who did their best to keep my husband engaged and entertained while I looked around. When I returned to the cutting table with another bolt of fabric to add to a small, growing pile, he would groan and say, "Aren't you done yet?" Before I could reply, the shop owner had my back: "She's only getting 1/3 yard. That's not very much."

One of the customers saw my selections and said, "I don't know how you can choose so quickly!" Believe me. It's a talent I've had to develop.

I spent only $25 on fabric which I was quick to justify as being much less costly than some of the bottles of wine we bought.

Wines from Reverie - Yes, that's "Ass-kicken" wine. The vintner's last name is Kiken!

It was wonderful to get out and see the natural beauty that the US has to offer. I hadn't been to some of those national parks since I was a kid - like 44 years ago - so it was especially nice to appreciate them more the second time around than I did the first.

And the ambience of Napa Valley is magical.

The ambience of home is comfortable. The dog, who was ably cared for by a close friend, was thrilled to see us again. Who knew that an eight year-old beagle- chow mix can leap three feet, vertically!?

And other happinesses...

I won a giveaway from World of Charity Stitching and have a $50 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop that I must spend.
I learned that Snowflake Medallion quilt and Life is a Celebration: Nature (the red bird in the tree wall hanging) have been juried into the Pacific International Quilt Festival. Though I can't attend the show, if you're in Santa Clara, California, Oct. 13-16... well, lucky you!
I'll be teaching beginner quiltmaking lessons for another Stitchin' Mission - #25! - at a Lutheran church just down the street from me. It will be a large class (no class size limit), so that means many baby quilts for pregnant moms at House of Mercy here in Des Moines. If you're in the area, please join us! We start Thursday, Oct. 6.
We're going to see these three little men and young lady very soon. I can't wait!

Austin (16 months)

Aesa (10 months); Tay (two, Sept. 28)

Celina

What happinesses are happening with you? Linda

Friendship Medallion

2011-09-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Continuing to sew strictly from my stash bins, I cut 72 print rectangles and 288 little squares to make part 3 of my Friendship Medallion quilt.

I watched (umm, mostly listened to) four different movies on the Lifetime channel while doing lots of chain piecing.

To make my stash bin search and cutting easier, I've decided to make each part - each round - a different theme color. Though I'd like the next round to be blue, I don't have many blue prints. It might be purple instead.

Friendship Medallion, ready for part 4

Linda

Habitat Challenge

2011-09-15T23:05:00.000-05:00

At the July meeting of the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild (DSMMQG), 13 of us accepted the "Habitat Challenge" being sponsored by Free Spirit Fabrics. We received six fat-eights of Jay McCarroll's fabric, in earthtones, and had until our September meeting to make our quilted items.

Our challenge rules basically stated:

Only print fabrics from the Habitat Collection could be in the piece.
Fabric could be added, but only solids.
All six prints had to be used someplace (front or back) on the piece.
Our piece had to be between 60 and 120 linear inches.
Anyone who didn't complete the challenge would have to pay $8 (the cost of six fat eights) into the DSMMQG treasury.

I'll be the first one to openly say that this was an extremely difficult challenge. I'm not accustomed to working with such busy prints and the color pink as an earthtone (?!) completely threw me. Initially, I had no intention of using the two pink prints on the quilt front. After three different design attempts, I worked out this one, unsewing previously made blocks, basically eeking out every bit of Habitat fabric I could for my quilt.

When quilting, for the first time I used a Pilot brand Frixion pen. I think most kids are familiar with this pen, as it's feature is that the ink is erasable. But what quilters like about a Frixion pen is that all the marks, no matter what color ink, easily steam away! You can see I tried red on this one. I've got pink, purple, and orange at the ready to try next time. Supposedly, after steaming the marks away, the chemical remains in the quilt until the quilt is washed. If the quilt isn't washed, and is exposed to a cold temperature, the marks reappear. Since I usually wash my quilts after binding them anyway, this isn't an issue for me.

My finished "Habitat Wash" quilt is 24" X 24". I quilted with gold-colored Aurifil thread in the top and bottom. Binding is a solid teal color.

Front of Habitat Wash, 24" X 24"

Now you get to see the back of the quilt! This is my first rejected design which I had to put on the back because I can't stand to waste fabric - and work!

Back of Habitat Wash, 24" X 24"

That pinwheel is foundation paper pieced, and I couldn't believe how bulky the center became with all those converging seams. I still liked that part though, but the Flying Geese... they can fly away. The design is too traditional for the style of these prints.

I always label my quilts. Always. I figure that someday my kids will inherit them. Whether they decide to pass them on or not, I've documented myself for posterity's sake.

Linda

Pressing Concern

2011-09-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but I think it's difficult to know which iron to buy.

A dozen or so years ago I had a negative iron experience, so there's one brand I refuse to purchase. And not wanting to have to live with yet another disappointing choice, as with my last iron, this time I did my homework. First I did some online research. Then I referred to a late 2009 report listing the top three iron brands. Numbers one and two were (at that time) economically-priced Black and Decker models. Number three was a higher-priced T-Fal.

Then, I proceeded to stop at five different stores looking for the latter, and not finding it! I finally made a phone call to one more place, the JC Penney Home Store, and there it was. Even better, what is usually a $65 iron was on sale for $35!

The one I've been using until recently is this black one. I just popped over to our 24-hour Wal-Mart early one morning and picked one that looked good. It proved to be a very poor choice, an iron with a design flaw. The cord continually got caught in a space between the sole plate and the base. Every time I tugged the cord back out, the cord's rubber coating shredded. The inevitable happened. A week ago there was exposed copper wire where a piece of rubber was gone. Though I wrapped black electrical tape around it, I knew it wasn't safe. Besides, the iron never removed wrinkles. Whether used with steam or dry, or even with a spritz of my homemade starch, I couldn't get fabric to lay smooth. The old iron was 1200 watts.

My new T-Fal iron is 1400 watts. I don't know exactly what about the high number makes it better, but I can tell this iron has more "umph" on wrinkles. I can use steam on three different settings, or press without steam. Best of all - in my opinion - after eight minutes the iron automatically shuts off. This is good because when I leave my basement sewing room I have seven plugs and switches to unplug and shut off. If I happen to miss unplugging the iron, I have a little piece of mind.

I dislike ironing clothes and put it off as along as possible, But eventually I get to it, touching up after tumbling in the dryer, or ironing particularly those clothes that have dried on the outdoor line. Maybe this little "cord-away system" feature will help.

As for pressing fabric? I'll do that any day!

Fabric: "Wild Garden" by Dan Bennett

By the way, did you know there's a difference between pressing and ironing? If not, here's an enlightening blog post by Lee of FreshlyPieced with some helpful information. Linda

My "One Block Over" Block Tutorial

2011-09-01T10:28:00.001-05:00

Since September is "my month," today is the day that 11 of my fellow One Block Over block-makers receive a parcel from me. They're getting fabric and instructions for making a strip-scrappy block adapted from here.

Here's the tutorial for making these blocks. I'm happy to share it with you too!

Paisley Panache, High Society Collection by Anthology

The only thing you won't get in this tutorial is the fat quarter of fabric I mailed with their instructions! They'll use this Paisley Panache print to choose color-coordinating scrappy strips.

I recommend choosing:

a favorite multi-colored print
strips to coordinate with it
background fabric

When you're finished making the blocks, you can decide how to use the multi-colored print as: additional blocks, sashing or borders.

To make three blocks approximately 8" X 12-1/2" (unfinished), cut:

3 - 8" X 14-1/2" rectangles for background
3 - 1-1/2" to 3" wide strips, at least 16" long

Align a ruler along the length of one background piece, allowing at least 1" of fabric on each edge. Cut.

Sew to insert your selected stash strip between the two background pieces.

Press seam allowances toward the print strip. Trim to remove strip ends.

In random widths from 1½” to 3”, cut straight across the width of the fabric to make 5 to 6 short strips.

Repeat the previous steps with your two remaining background rectangles and two different print strips. For greater interest, change the angle of the first rotary cut of each background piece.

In a pleasing side-by-side arrangement, mix the short strips to make three blocks. Note that I've aligned the strips along the bottom edge. When laid side-by-side, and before sewing, my blocks ranged from 14" to 16" across.

Variety is good! Two rectangles have six strips; one rectangle has seven.

Sew along the short sides to join the strips. Press seams open as shown.

back view

front view

Trim only to straighten the uneven strips. Don't do any squaring-up... yet.

To be completely honest, I haven't made any more than these three blocks. But I do know I'll make more sets. It will be fun to see the variety of scrappy prints in the blocks I receive from my One Block Over buddies. At that point, I'll decide how I'm going to put them all together. I've got several ideas in mind and I'll be sure to let you know. Linda

Winner, and Water Bottle Carrier

2011-08-29T18:03:00.002-05:00

You all just blew me away with your nice comments during the giveaway. Golly, some of you even became new followers when I said you didn't have to! Thanks very much. I think. No pressure to blog about interesting quilt-y things, right?

The RNG (Random Number Generator) picked 8 to win the Marmalade Fabrics $25 gift certificate. In the last post, if you count down eight comments you'll see the winner is Tricia from Ames, Iowa.

Tricia commented:

Congratulations on hitting 152! I have been reading for months but just started following on Monday.
If I won a Marmalade Fabrics $25 gift certificate I would choose loulouthi.

I've recently become acquainted with Tricia through our Des Moines Chapter of The Modern Quilt Guild. Do you think she might let me admire, and perhaps touch, her Loulouthi?

Last month I made several potholders using Insul-bright. When I wanted to make an insulated water bottle carrier, I learned that Insul-bright is recommended for cold too. I found a pattern here, and modified it to suit my needs. The two carriers I made are taller (11") and fatter (3-3/4") to accommodate our store-bought containers.

This one belongs to my husband. Thank goodness for my stash bin of solids because he requested "plain," and he wanted his made with a tab so he can carry it from his belt. See the tab on the right. To make the tab durable, I cut and interfaced a selvage strip of the fabric.

The pattern calls for French seams which add stability, as does the channel quilting.

"Plain" was not what I had in mind for my water bottle carrier! This fabric is Kumari Garden, Sanjay Blue, by Free Spirit. Would you believe that it was purely accidental that the round base has that centered flower print?!

I should have made these a long time ago, for our long walks. It will be interesting to see if they keep our cold water cold.

Last Friday (August 26) my husband and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary. Because he's an outstanding cook, we rarely eat dinner away from home. But for our anniversary, every year, we go to Tumea & Sons, a local Italian restaurant. The waitress, who sees us only once a year, always remembers who we are, and gives us the royal treatment. And boy is the food good. I could rave about my toasted ravioli, but let's focus on those desserts! I took a suicidal leap off the diet wagon for this one: Spumoni cheesecake. It's chocolate cheesecake; pistachio cheesecake; and cherry cheesecake topped with chocolate syrup. He had tiramasu. Both of us ate every decadent morsel.

Hogan celebrated our anniversary by lighting up! Not really, but doesn't his chew stick look like a stogie? He's our going-on-eight-years-old boy.

Because I like funnies so much, I'll leave you with one I like.

A girl went into a library and walked straight up to the librarian's desk.

Girl: "I'D LIKE A CHEESEBURGER, FRIES, AND A SHAKE."

Librarian: "Uh, this is a library."

Girl: (in a hushed whisper) "Oh, I'd like a cheeseburger, fries, and a shake."

Linda

Marmalade for You!

2011-08-24T18:19:00.001-05:00

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED

I intended to offer a giveaway on the occasion of reaching 150 followers, but I blinked and missed it! I'm marveling that 152 of you would be interested in my quilt-y doin's and life. Thank you!

Still, as you know, it's never too late for a giveaway!

Tammy

Tammy, who owns the online quilt shop Marmalade Fabrics, has kindly offered a giveaway through my blog. I'm very excited for you to get to know her. She's not only really nice through her business and blog - A Content Life - I know first-hand that she's a sweetie in person too.

And she has excellent taste in fabrics! I first found Marmalade when I was looking for Kaufmann Kona solids, and boy, does she have them! Check out those Bottled Rainbows. Yum!

See her modern prints in yardages as well as colorful bundles. And be sure to check out the patterns you won't find anywhere else!

Recently I made this Trio Tote bag using Outside Oslo fabrics from Marmalade. (See the previous blog post.)

I'd encourage you to browse her shop and see what you like. Do that. Then come back here to make one comment for one entry to win a $25 Marmalade Fabrics gift certificate! How cool is that... to be able to select whatever you want!?

Complete this sentence in your comment:
"If I won a Marmalade Fabrics $25 gift certificate, I would choose... "

You don't need to do anything else. No need to follow; no need to blog about this giveaway; and definitely no need to Facebook or Twitter! Life's already demanding enough without me sending you hither and yon for a chance to win.

So to wrap it all up, it's:

One chance/one comment to win
Open to commenters worldwide
Ending Sunday (midnight US Central time), August 28

Since I attended my 40th high school reunion in June, I'll leave you with this...

I don't want to brag or make anyone jealous or anything,

but I can still fit into the earrings I wore in high school.

Linda

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED

Triple Tote

2011-08-22T11:58:00.000-05:00

For several weeks now I've been mulling over how to make the bag I saw a woman carrying at the doctor's office. Hers was commercially-made, but I thought it might work using the pretty "Outside Oslo" canvas weight home dec fabric I purchased from Marmalade Fabrics.

I've named my bag Triple Tote because that's what it is - one, two, or three separate bags that can be carried simultaneously or individually. The strap, with swivel hooks at each end, allow me to carry whichever bag I want, or all three at once!

Fusible fleece gives shape to each bag, as do 2"-wide boxed bottoms. To help define the bag shape, I pressed a fold into the bottom and sides that I then edge-stitched. A tabbed D-ring on each side of a bag can be clipped to the swivel hook.

small tote - 10-1/2" wide X 6-1/2" tall

The yellow bag is the smallest at 10" wide by 6-1/2" tall. This is the one I'll probably use most often by itself, when running errands.

The medium bag (right) measures 10" wide X 8" deep, and is made with my favorite of these three Oslo prints.

The largest bag is 10" wide X 10-1/2" deep. It's no accident that this one can hold an IPad2... should I ever be so fortunate to own one.

All three bags are lined and have a divided 6" X 6" inside pocket. The 2" side is for pens, lip gloss or reading glasses; the 4" side perfectly holds my cell phone.

To make the zipper pull easier to grab, I threaded a piece of the Oslo selvage through the eye of the pull. The canvas selvage weave is dense enough that it shouldn't unravel.

It took some time to make a bag - zipper, lining, pocket, D-ring tabs, box bottom and edge stitching - and then make it again... and again. This heavier weight fabric assures me they should hold up well, and now I have a variety of options for actually using them.

The fair is over for another year, so this afternoon I'm off to the fairgrounds to pick up my quilts. Now I get to figure out what to do with my ribbon winnings... all $15 worth. Linda