Oh how we wish for Sunny Days

Does this guy just make you want to smile.

You've probably noticed I have been going back into the archives of my old quilts.

You see I have been making a real effort to document all my quilts.

Took me long enough now didn't it?

:-)

This pattern was in a quilt magazine many long years ago. 

Now if only I was as good at keeping track of that!

Don't forget how important it is that you track all your quilts.

Some day, someone is going to want to know.

Now your probably asking what the heck was that post title all about?

Can you see it?

Right out my front window, a tornado.

This was on Monday as I was heading to work.

One out in front of the house, and one out in back. 

Thank goodness we had no damage. 

There was very little for anyone else either.

Today its rain, rain, rain.

Making me wish for Sunny Days!

til it's hot and I start complaining about that!

;-)

Ahhh, the joy of whining.

LOL!!

 

Mosiac Quilt...Reflection

Colors...

I don't know about you, but my favorite color schemes seem to change almost as much as the direction of the wind.

Long was I a huge fan of the primitive look.   Brights came along, but they just did not appeal to me, at the time. So many of my early quilts have that old, more drab  or lets say primitive look to them.

While cleaning up my quilt stash the other day, I ran across this one.

 

Mosiac Quilt

I have to smile, when I can relate quilts to a time in my life...

I know exactly what happened when this was made. 

I went to work one day, and the airline I worked for, had ceased operations the night before. They closed their doors forever.  It came out of the blue, not even a hint. My co-workers were like family to me, and we were all in a state of shock.

Suddenly having all this time on my hands, and dealing with the feelings of loosing my family,  I chose to bury myself in making a quilt.

Still pretty new to this whole world, I found that I had taken on way more than I realized at the time.

I laugh at the stripes that don't all go the same direction, or the crazy color combinations that I put together....oh who knew?  :-)

But it was the challenge my mind needed then.

 I was listening to the 60's on 6, on Sirius radio recently. They had an interview with the

 Dave Clark 5.  A comment they made has really stood out in my mind...

 "Imperfection is what lead to perfection"

Hummmm....

It was one of those sobering comments that really,  just about says it all doesn't it?

So applicable to so many parts of our life.

It sure doesn't mean that there is anything about this quilt, that is perfection. But I think it gives us all reason to rethink some of the things we do, and not be so darn hard on ourselves. 

When it comes to quilting, most never see our imperfections, and if it's really big...well it's all quite possible, it will be the next big quilting craze.

LOL!

This bed doesn't seem to complain about the ugly quilt on it.

Lets be kinder to ourselves. 

It's quite likely that the only one who sees imperfection, is ourselves!

 This encompasses all parts of our lives don't you think?

 ;-)

The Pattern is out, the Pattern is out...

Memba that famous movie scene with the phone books?

Well, that is just how I felt, when I saw the post over at BeaQuilter.

Yes, Bea has gone and done it again...designed another pattern.   Boxes!   This is just the most versatile and fun pattern you can ever have. Best yet, it stitches up like lightening.

 

I'm 

  You can find this pattern right HERE  on her Craftsy page and it will soon be on Quiltwoman.com

I was one of the lucky ones who got to pattern test for her.  Never did I expect to be able to put the fun fabrics I collected a few years back, to such good use.

 

I'm not even sure just why I bought it, but the crazy ole cowgirls just struck my funny bone.

 

Then there was that border print to match...

 

I was a gone-er and had to have it!

 

I threw in a bright orange 

(cause it so needed more bright...right)

LOL!!

 

And my quilt came out like this...

 

 If you check in on Bea's page, and it's linked up top for you, you can see all the different quilts that the testers made. Each and every one is so different and so much fun!

I'm telling you... this is a gotta have pattern!

:-)

Thanks Bea!

Rainbow 9 Patch

I see that Bea has posted what she has been up to lately, so I am guessing that it is OK for me to share with you too!

 

Yes, I have been pattern testing for BeaQuilter

Is this pattern not just to die for?

When I saw it, the first thing that ran thru my mind was all my hand dyes.

What a perfect pattern for them.

I don't know if it was more fun to pull together my fabrics or stitch it together.

It just came to life as I sewed, and I love projects like that.

:-)

 

The flower gave me a place to play with a little free motion quilting...which lead to much more.

 

 

 

I went crazy with the pebble quilting. 

If you want to have a good time with this pattern, you can find it HERE 

 

Thanks Bea for letting me play with this wonderful pattern!

;-)

Memories from My First Official Quilt Class

The year was 2002...

Time, was finally going to allow for me to take a class and learn about this crazy quilting kick I was about to venture into.

 

An Irish Chain Quilt

 

We had to pick out 5 fabrics and our background...

We loaded up our embroidery machines and headed to the shop.

 

 

I will never forget watching the instructor, tap dancing around telling me my color choices were horrible.

 

She hated the grayish purple fabric, but I knew it "all" then. After all, I had never really had any real quilt training before that. So at that point I really did think I knew it all...  LOL!!

 

My crazy quiltin' sista, Ruth had a new long arm, and was all to willing to quilt it for me, silly girl. Wonder just how straight it really was? I think for a long arm newbie, she did a fabulous job.

 

Now about those colors!

I must admit, while it probably is not the best choice on earth, I still love it.

Maybe it's just that "first quilt" high we all get!

LOL!

Sorry quilt instructor, Kate!

I know you were right, but I just didn't know it at the time!

:-)

 

 

 

 

 

Thru the Woods

It's done.  Yippee, it's really done!

Even after the debacle last week with my stitching the border on upside down, I managed to recover from my snit, get it picked out and put together correctly. This is a stellar moment for me. Normally, I would toss it in a corner and let it sit for... well in some cases forever! LOL!

This one was just too pretty to let sit though, I trudged thru fixing it. I really can't say with a smile on my face though! I'm not that good!  Tee hee...

  

Don't you just love the colors?

I am so proud of myself. I actually used fabrics in my stash. I had to purchase the background black fabric, and a few extra greens, but my goal was to stash bust, and I kept to that for this quilt.

The solid fabrics are my hand dyes. 

This was a BOM last year from Project House 360. 

I loved this pattern so much, that I made sure I downloaded each piece every month.

There was a little something for everyone. The center is paper pieced as well as the trees.

 A little traditional piecing...

Some Log Cabin

 Rounded out with some fun applique

 

I know that most would do needle turned applique, but I just don't have the patience or talent to do it. I did fusible and a little thread play on it. Since this will be washed, I made sure I used Fray Check on all of it. 4 bottles worth! :-)  It's a must, if it's going to "ever" be washed.

I rounded it all off with some fun quilting.

 

An update on the panto info...

it is available at

http://www.lorienquilting.com/shop/index.php/alfresco.html

It's called Alfresco. I've had it for awhile, but not used it yet. After doing so, all I can ask myself is WHY did it take me so long. This was so much fun to do. It's got a great rhythm to it, and was so much fun to do! It was a great, pop on some good music and get into the groove panto!

I do love that. 

It got me to thinking... just about all of my favorite pantos come from Willow Leaf, and I need to go shopping with them again real soon!

:-)

So there you have it... and for what I learned from all this is...

What the heck was I thinking? A black quilt with all this cat hair!!!

Murphy is that you?

On my final note...

 

See this? 

I am not sold on these new Bounce Dryer Bars. This is the stuff you get on your things, if the dryer is too full. I can control it when I dry normal things, but when your trying to fluff up a king size quilt, and de-thread or in my case "cat hair" a quilt, you really don't have a choice of the volume in there.

I just need to remember to pull the bar out of the dryer, but did I? 

Guess not!

It does come off with a wet wash rag, but it's just another one of those things...

This quilt seems to have had it in for me from the start!

:-)

Smooch! I love it anyway!

 

 

 

Turkey Time

Well, the count down is on. Soon the ovens will be cranked up and the pies and turkeys will be cookin! The beginning of our eat-a-thon holiday season!  I feel my thighs expanding as I type!  LOL!! 

I have finished up my little fall quiltie from Kaaren over at The Painted Quilt. It's Autumn Blessings from her First Friday Freebie. If you have never visited Kaaren, treat yourself to a visit. She is so creative and sharing of her talents with us all. And for those who love Raggedy Ann's there is a block of the month that will knock your socks off. I was all caught up on my months till this last month, and Christmas projects got in my way, but I will be back on track real soon, I promise Kaaren!

Make sure that you check out the Christmas Quilt Show over at SewGalCal's. There are some incredible bloggers with fun things to share. Just clink on the link of the right side of my blog, grab a cup of coffee and prepare yourself for motivation to keep us stitchin for many moons to come!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will be thinking of you all while I work my 16 hr day that day. It's all good. No cooking or cleaning for me this time around!!  And better yet they cater Thanksgiving dinner to us who have to work. So it's really a win-win for me and my pay off is that I don't have to work any of the other holidays! :-)

Enjoy your day! Don't over stuff yourselves!! :-)

Bear Paw

I have finally taken a little time away from the Hidden Wells to make a quilt for my son who moved into a new house in Alaska. One of my favorite blocks is the "Bear Paw", and with the outdoors life that he leads, I was able to combine that block with a fusible applique design and come up with a quilt that I love. So much so, that he almost didn't get it!   :-)  :-)  I was good though, and did in fact give it to him. I even allowed myself to be talked into making curtains for his new place and some matching pillows and a bath mat and hand towels set. I have stitched my fingers to the bone, and cleaned for him, so now, I am taking a well deserved break and going fishing tomorrow!

"HIDDEN WELL" crazy

Hidden Wells that is. Someone posted a link for a freebie pattern on the Stashbuster group, and leave it to me to have gone nuts for this pattern. This is my first time playing with this fun pattern. I was so enchanted with the designs that emerged, that I couldn't help but wonder what it would look like if I changed out the sizes and placements of the strips. So a second one just had to happen!

I learned that the top and bottom strips really controlled what the blocks focal point would be.

Also that keeping a wider strip toward the middle would keep from those little micro points that emerge and are a beast to piece from happening. A closer look at the top quilt shows the tiny little piece in the middle of the orange. Not so fun when they don't match up perfectly!

Since this pattern uses strips of fabrics, scraps is all you need. I used an assortment of 1 1/2 to 3" strips. All I needed for this size was 5 strips of each color (if your using the full width of your fabrics). I have a ton of old fabrics that I just can't seem to get rid of. Some are at least 15 years old. I had to get up and dig thru them yesterday, to see what I could come up with. And yes! There is a 3rd quilt now. These  fabrics that were definitely dated and while they weren't horribly ugly, I really didn't have any idea just what to do with them until now, and I am so thrilled with this little picnic cloth.

I admit that I am a Stack and Whack addict. I just love seeing the patterns come together, but this is so much better, it takes so little fabric and the thrill is just as great! I see many of these little guys happening soon. I have enough fabric in my stash to probably make one for everyone on the planet. Wonder if I will get tired of them before I get that many made????

If you are wanting to take the challenge and play, here is the link for "Hidden Wells".  Make sure to make your "best friend" starch. You will be glad you did! Nothing is hard, but your working with a lot of bias edges.  Enjoy!! 

Yikes that's Bright

OK! So the Mariners of days gone by, probably would be running to get their pair of sunglasses on, I know! But I just had to play with my fabric dyes and see just how outrageous I could make this Mariners Compass quilt. I do say, I think I have succeeded in that task! I happen to love it, even though it takes a bit of getting used to. A pair  of cool shades "do" help the situation.  :-)   It's a flimsy as of now. I am trying to decide just how to quilt it. I am guessing that trying to downplay it with thread is not going to really help this guy! Any ideas out there?????? I would love to hear your advise! Please put on your thinking caps for me will you!

Day and Night

Oh Eleanor Burns you have done it again. I had so much fun putting her new Day and Night quilt together, and seeing the designs emerge as you work on it. The special ruler comes with the book, which I particularly loved. You can save the extra pieces after cutting out your blocks and get a "bonus" table runner size quilt too. I added some hand dyes to come up with this little guy!

Speaking of hand dyes. I have a truck coming today with 110 yards of fabric on it for me to start dyeing. I can hardly wait!  :-)  I've been working on dyeing some color wheels and creating colors, and hope to have some photos up real soon. It's been a busy time in the dye tub!

Blazing Stars

Here is my project from last week. Pieced, quilted and bound in a week. That is a record for me anymore. It was so much fun to see come together I just couldn't stop. Of course a weekend of thunderstorms, tornado's, hail and generally miserable weather made it nice to stay indoors and sew. This is a Kaye Wood design. I love the finished product, but I am less than enchanted with the $20  Star Maker ruler we had to buy to make it. It was way over priced to begin with, but then the center of the ruler is cut out???? I am sure there is a reason, since she has a multitude of patterns that utilize this ruler, but the hole in the middle catches on your fabrics as you move it and make for a big mess. Your cutting on bias edges as it is, so you don't want any movement, but good luck on that, with this ruler. No talking bad about Kaye, but give me a break!  :-)

The end is definitely worth the means for this quilt. I adapted my borders a bit. I didn't have enough of my hand dyed fabrics for it, so I pieced a row. Nothing like being able to adapt your needs. That's why I love quilting.

This week, I am going to be quilting quite a bit so hopefully I will have some new fun things to show you soon. Until then! Keep on stitchin!

MooseStash Quilt

While I do apologize for the photo of this quilt, I do have to say, it has become one of my favorite projects lately. A bear skin rug was stolen off the wall at the lodge my son works at. What was left was an image of where it had been, left on the log wall, from years of the sun shining on it. Something was needed to take it's place and do some camouflage. This is what became of that challenge. I dyed fabrics to make the background, then used one of my favorite BigFork Bay Cotton Company patterns for the moose in the corner. A search of birch tree leaves, online found a great line drawing that I was able to enlarge for the leaves, and there we have it. I just didn't have my usual place to hang it, for the photo. Combining designs opens many new doors for quilting possibilities. Hope it stirred some ideas for you too! Enjoy  your Memorial Day weekend, and please take a moment to remember those who have fought to keep us safe!

Time to finish those pesky PIGS

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter. It was quiet here. The boys were gone so I took the weekend to finish up all the little projects that have piled up over the years. I decided it was time to address those bags boxes, and piles of past projects. You know, those we just had to start, only to become enchanted with yet something else, so they get stacked up and pushed into a corner. While cleaning out thoses corners I found stacks of fabric, that I distinctly remember carefully picking out, but now I have no idea what it was even for! I have racked my brain, to no avail!

So no more for me. From this point on, I am putting my projects in Ziplock bags, with the pattern and anything I bought for the project. Not that it is going to help me with what I have already managed to collect, but hopefully as I get thru all the projects my mind will remember where some of these other things go!  :-)

In the mean time I have logged quite a few of the unfinished PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) and posted them on the the left side bar. As I finish them up I will log them as done, and my goal is to get thru this list this year. It's a hefty goal! I am the queen of "side track" when I see a new quilt in my local shop or at a show, but I am going to put my best foot forward and try to get thru these things. I will be posting my results as I go. I find that having a commitment helps me. Hopefully in my quest to finish up things, it will inspire some of you too. I get such great joy in reading blogs from quilters and find so many motivating ideas thru them. Let's all dig out our PIGS and dig in! I'll show you mine if you show me yours!  :-)  Anyone up to the challenge??

My first finish is this Purple Mystery Quilt from Patchwork Planet July 2009. The piecing has been done since that day, and I can happily say that it is now quilted. While it took way too long,  the timing is great with Spring on it's way. The flowers are just starting to come up in my garden and the snow is finally gone!  :-)

Color Choices

Remember the free pattern that Harbour Quilting Company had in January? Well, I finished up these little projects this past week. I decided to play with color and was delighted to see how different things look when you change your color palette.  I dug thru my stash and came up with these two very different versions of the same pattern, changing each a bit from their original design to accommodate a wall hanging I wanted and a square table mat instead of the table runner.

It's really quite fun to take a pattern and make some minor changes to it. You will find that it is really very easy and it can open many doors to your creative spirit. As for myself, I tend to want to over think things, and that is definitely a lock on the door. Just sitting down with no plan, a pair of scissors and a rotary cutter is my best option. Grab some stash and a pattern you love and give it a try. You might just amaze yourself!

By the way, this little mat is heading into the mail this morning. It's for Quilting Gallery's Winter Mini Quilt swap. Hope my swap partner likes it!  :-)

Happy Belated Turkey Day

I sure hope that everyone got their fill of Turkey and the fixin's, because I know I did. Time goes by so fast that it was great to spend some quality time with friends and family.

While I haven't managed to get to posting lately, but I have finished a couple of Christmas quilts. Both of which I am very excited about. The first one shown here, is McKenna Ryan's new "Once Upon a Star" quilt. With my love for the arctic and anything that McKenna Ryan comes up with, this was at the very top of my "have to have" list when it was released this spring.

I will keep you in suspense with my other one for a few days! :-)

Did anyone get up and do some Black Friday shopping?? I looked thru the ads and decided that I really didn't need anything, but my annual pilgrimage to JoAnn's fabrics just had to happen. I needed nothing, but managed to come out of there with 5 sacks of stuff that I didn't need. How do these things happen??????? I did stock up on quilt batting and thread, and I bought fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's new Carolina Christmas quilt on Quiltville.com, but I still have no idea how this happens. It's a sickness I tell you. It really is! :-) :-)

Have a great weekend. Hope you get to some of those holiday projects yourself. The clock is ticking and time is running out. I can't believe Christmas is less than 1 month away now. Yikes!

I have actually kept to my word this week. Here it is Oct 3 and I have finished up this month, of my block of the month quilt. Yeah haw!!! This is such a beautiful quilt, that I am glad I put the work in, on it. It would be a shame to have this end up as a PIGS project! (Project in Grocery Sack) Next month is a set of Flying Geese, then December is another round of pieced blocks (and those are already pieced) and it will be done. I can hardly wait to see the completed top.

Hope you all find time to realize your dreams in the week to come!

October already--Really

The calendar says Oct 1. Already? Does that mean that we really only have a few more weeks until the holidays are in full swing?? I need to get busy and get on my Christmas projects. Where did this year go?

After the mind boggling, piecing I have been doing the past few weeks, I really needed a fun, fast and very easy project to do. I found the perfect answer this week, in this little gem. It again brought me back to those days of past, when I would dress up and sing that silly little song myself. Apparently I wasn't the only one who drove everyone nuts with it. When I saw this pattern on Angies Bits and Pieces I knew that it was a must. I used some of my precious hand dyes, that I have a horrible time cutting into also. I have no idea just why I think I can't use them. It isn't like I can't dye more, but just seeing them all nicely displayed in my quiltng room, brings such joy to me. Eye Candy, that is so much better for you that the candy we sung that goofy song about. Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! My little project this week, doesn't even require an added trip to the dentist. What could be better. I know I keep bragging about Angies site, but I just can't get enough of her great designs. I hope I live long enough to sew them all out! Thanks Angie for a great blast to the past!

Practice makes perfect

All those little tiny half square triangles, have finally been finished and I am happy to say that the blocks are done. This project would have been much better suited to the block of the month that it was intended to be. Letting things go for 9 months was my own fault, but I am delighted with the end results. Strangely enough that ole saying "practice makes perfect" kept rattling thru my head as I was working on it. I used to hate it when my mother would say that to me. Brought back all kinds of memories of practicing the piano. I learned to hate that, more than life and eventually they gave up and sold the piano. Well ma, I practiced something and I think I am about as perfect as I can get with these little 1 1/2" things.

I have never been a fan of pinning anything. My best friends mother was a seamstress. She would kringe when I was at her house sewing. No pins in sight. She was always so meticulous with her work that I drove her crazy. But I must admit, this was no place to not pin and be as meticulous as my friends mom used to be. It was sure a stretch for me, but the end results made it all worth it. Strangely enough the more I pinned the easier these little guys became. Who knew that a little pin would be so useful??????? By the end of this little exercise in patience, these blocks seemed to stitch themselves together and the pins went where they were supposed to the first time around. Now I am certainly not looking forward to taking on a project of this scope any time soon again. For now I am happy with what I have completed.

In peaking at what Oct 1 holds for this block of the month, I am happy to report that I now get to set these little guys on point and add the the center that is done! Yeah, should be much less pinning!!!

Alaska Shop Hop Quilt

For those of you who know me, or read my blog often, you know that my heart and soul is in Alaska. I have never traveled anywhere that is more beautiful and full of wildlife than there. This summer on my travels up north, I came across the shop hop quilt. A commerative for the 50th year it has been a state. A mother/daughter team from Wasilla, (yep Sarah Paulin's town but no connection I am sure) designed this beauty. Mary Thompson and Heather Griffin. I can not tell you just how much fun this was to put together.

I have purchased shop hop quilts in the past only to be very disappointed when, I found the instructions to be very lacking and/or shortages of fabrics. There is a big bag of pieces and the extra fabric for borders and backing under my stairs, likely never to see daylight again!

This is a quilt that definatly is not in that category. The directions for this was so well written, that even a beginner would have little problem putting the blocks together. I love the combination of blocks with the fusible applique. Many play right off the blocks name. Bear paw, Lady of the Lake the tree block. How cleaver. And how about the log cabin block with the outhouse. :-)

Not only was this so much fun to make, it inspired me to work from the front of my longarm for a change and do some freehand work. I am not at all proficient at freehand work on the longarm, but this was just the quilt to get my juices flowing. My mind is seeing more and more design options daily. Now if my mind and my hands learn to work together, I just might be on to something. LOL!!!

Hope you find your inspiration this week where ever it might come from.

Still hoping to get some suggestions for all those nickel squares I posted last week. I am hoping everyone is too busy to post a suggestion, and not that we are all stumped!

Have a great week.