True Blue Quilting Nana

Paper piecing

2012-02-19T15:38:00.001-05:00

It is a nasty day in ENC. Snow is predicted to the north and west of us. We are on the snow rain line, lots of cold rain. A good day to stay in and sew! I finished the placemats for my daughter in law. I was really pleased with the way they turned out.

I was really taken by this quilt but I had never paper pieced. I tried to piece it on my own. I am not even going to show you that. I went to YouTube. Did you know you can find almost anything on YouTube! I followed a couple of videos and this is my first two attempts at paper piecing.

I need some good advice on paper piecing. I honestly had a fit with it. I think maybe I didn't cut my pieces big enough. HELP! I would love to make that quilt!

I have always wanted to do a value quilt. One where the blocks are arranged by color and value. To be honest this looked better on the wall than in the picture. This may have to wait until another time.
Somehow this is harder than I thought it would be.

We took the grandkids to the circus. Who enjoyed it more, the adults or the kids? A good time was had by all!

I am working on finishing a couple of things. First the quilt for my other daughter in law. This is the scrappy nine patch.

This picture turned out so nice I decided to show it again.

The back.

This is the quilt I made for my daughter in law's Relay for Life team. They are going to sell chances on it. I love the way this one turned out.

The back.

I spent Friday cleaning out more of my mothers stash. If you have ever wondered what will happen to all those projects you never finished stay tuned!

Creative Energy

2012-02-06T18:25:00.000-05:00

My aunt and I got together for a quilting weekend this past weekend. When I cleaned out my mothers house I found about 130 nine patches that she had made but never put together. I wanted to share these with my aunt. She inspired me to begin quilting. I will never forget her showing my Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking!

These are the blocks laid out on the bed. This was ok but didn't really speak to us.

I tried a piece of Persian Blue as striping. WOW! It made such a difference. I wish I knew more about how colors relate to each other.

Mother used several pieces of plaid seersucker. She has a bunch that were a red and blue plaid on a white background. This is a close up of some of the squares. I sewed them together in groups of 4 and set them on point.

Now all I have to do is to finish sewing all these blocks together and come up with some cool border. I was thinking maybe a spiky sawtooth but I am not sure. Maybe I should do something with blocks. I was thinking I would do something with solids.

This is the view from my aunts front porch. This view might be the reason for all our creative energy, so beautiful. We had dinner with our husbands at night and a great brunch on Sunday. It was close to a perfect weekend.

The idea was for my aunt to have half the squares and both of us will have a quilt that mother started. It is our way of honoring and remembering her. My aunt is going to use the square in a square idea and bright colors.

Darn! I hope I don't like her quilt more than mine!!!

She is also working on a Grandmother's Garden quilt. She likes to have some hand work and she is doing all of this by hand. Her quilt group gave her some floral prints to use. Very cool.

It is unbelievable how inspiring and motivating it is to work with a talented quilter. My aunt and I would love to do this every few months. We both got so much done and feel so motivated.

Real Happiness

2012-01-30T09:05:00.002-05:00

"To get a dopamine "hit," make something that pushes you to the furthest edge of your ability, where you're not only focused but learning and perfecting skills."

This is a quote from a wonderful article. I had never heard this before but it is true for me. I was in my "studio" yesterday and it was so relaxing and healing. I love making these placemats. I would offer one word of advice. Plan Ahead! I used raw edge applique for these trees. I am not sure I will do that again. I thought it would be easier than piecing.

Also added a border to the Starry Nine Patch #2. I found this fabric in my stash, sort of a orangy pink batik. I wish I could remember where I got it. I am almost out and I love using it. When you put the nine patches together you come up with some very interesting combinations. I pay very little attention to arranging them. If two patches that are alike end up next to each other then fine. You can see that happened a couple of times. That just adds to the patchiness (is that a word).

Here is a close-up. I am having camera issues. Something happened to my trusty Nikon Coolpix. The camera store says the lens is broken but I have no idea how that happened.

I have had the print in the background for literally years. I really want some placemats for myself.
I pulled these fabrics to use. I have no ideas yet but pulling fabrics is fun.

Tonya mentioned this book and I could not resist. Believe me I was not disappointed for a second. The quilts in this book are not only gorgeous but so so creative. I am sure the women that created them experienced a "dopamine 'hit'". I don't usually enjoy reading commentary about quilts but the one by Joe Cunningham is so interesting. He points out wonky components of several of the quilts. It makes you look at them in a new refreshing way.

So square!

2012-01-22T15:54:00.000-05:00

My aunt told me she was cutting squares so not to be left out I have been cutting squares from my scraps. I thought I would go one step further and not just stuff them into a box but sort them according to predominant color. I can tell you that I now get it. It makes it so much easier. I also got some cool boxes from Target. I feel so organized!!

I am making a baby quilt for a friend of my daughter-in-law that is on her traveling team. I have used this idea before, make random nine patches and stars. I also inserted squares of a fabric she selected with some of the places where they had traveled. I love the way this is turning out. It is on my design wall. I like to leave it for a few days to see if I want to move anything around. I stole this idea from my aunt. It is so versatile. I can't decide on a border.

This is the back, last year they traveled to Asia and she wanted something to represent the time they spent there.

My other daughter in law fell in love with the placemats I made for the boys and she wants some for her house.

Working on small projects is very satisfying and I love doing houses.

This is the set up in my sewing room/studio. In the background you can see my new design wall with the starry squares quilt on it. I can sew, cut and iron without getting up from my chair.

When I moved things around a couple of months ago I bought a table from Overstock and put my sewing machine on it. I lowered it and put the quilting table on it to give me a big flat surface.

I find it so relaxing to be engaged in creative pursuits. I try to look at what I do and not compare. I feel that you can lose focus if you start comparing. It is hard not to compare with all the great quilting ideas on the internet.

A quote that I find very meaningful to me. Does this speak to you too?

Courntey Carver: It's usually when I don't know exactly how to do what I am doing that I do my best work. Don't let process and perfection get in the way.

Overflowing

2012-01-11T14:37:00.001-05:00

This is how I am feeling these days. I am overflowing with ideas.

IDEAS > TIME! A little of my math geekiness comes out sometimes.

I finished this quilt top over the weekend. It is a very interesting pattern with lots of possibilities. It was fun although I generally like being more liberated and free form. I enjoy using a pattern but it is so much fun just to start and see where you go.

I see all these folks organizing their fabrics and I just had to join in. It seems most folks organize by color but what other ways do you use to organize your fabric.

I would really like to combine all these fabrics into one area but I don't see that happening right away. This pie safe has some of the first fabrics that I started with 5 years ago. I really enjoy going back through my stash and remembering what I did with each piece.

I saw someone who made some I Spy placemats and I cannot remember who or find the post. I LOVE making Tonyas letters. If you have not tried it please do. Pick up a copy of her Word Play Quilts if you don't already have one. I need to work on my W. Making letters/words is addictive. These placemats are for my house. I would really like to make them some more and make the letters smaller. There is a lot you could do with this idea.

The back is a fun fabric my daughter in law gave me a couple of years ago.

I am really getting into this placemat thing. I have some houses I made a few years ago and I have never done anything with them. I am wondering how they would work in placemats. I also want to explore negative space. I also have a quilt to make for a co-worker of my daughter in law.

See what I mean, more ideas than time!

I talked to my aunt the other day and when she has a few spare minutes she is cutting squares out of her scraps. I really need to do that but I am wondering how other folks store their squares, boxes, bags, what? Also, what sizes do you cut or do you cut various sizes.

Do you or don't you?

2012-01-03T18:29:00.002-05:00

Do you make New Years Resolutions or don't you? Do you assess the last year or don't you? I notice a lot of bloggers showing all the quilts they made this year and it is very impressive. I lost my mother in 2011. Someone else is living in her house for the first time since 1962. I didn't go to her house on Christmas Day for the first time since 1962. But as they say you have to keep on keeping on.

I made 14 aprons for Christmas. This is a group of friends I have had since the second grade. We all started at a brand new elementary school in the second grade. My oldest grandson will go to that school next year! They are wearing the aprons I made them. We are all very different but respect those differences and are great friends.

I also made my two precious grandsons smaller aprons. Notice their aprons are Tar Heel aprons!!

I did a little quilting after I cleaned up the Christmas mess. My daughter in law has a Relay for Life team and she asked me to make a quilt to raffle off. This is a pattern from Esch House Quilts. She was offering this pattern for free at one point. I love it.

Happy New Year to all. Someone commented the other day that it was amazing how much a comment from someone you had never met meant. I almost said someone I do not know but I do feel like I know many of you. I do appreciate all my blogging friends.

Why?

2011-12-14T18:02:00.000-05:00

Why do you blog? I have noticed lately that a lot of blogs are plugging products. It seems that some young mothers are making money blogging so they can stay home with their young children. I applaud folks that can do that but it is not for me.

I blog for the creative interaction of other quilters. I love hearing from quilters from all over the country and the world. It is so gratifying for me. Thanks to all of you that read my blog and comment.

These are a couple of pillows I made for my new couch. I am discovering how much fun pillows are to make. Yes I am into lots of color these days.

When we cleaned out our attic in the fall would you believe I found three lamps that my uncle had given me. Here is one and it fits in perfectly with our new look.

This is my winter project. I am hand quilting this lap quilt. I used mostly solids in the colors of my new room. I found a quilt online that I loved and sort of copied it. It was absolutely free pieced! It is the way I love to work, so much fun but also very challenging.

Last but definitely not least one day last week my grandson and I were in my sewing room. He started cutting scraps and putting them on my design wall. He had a ball! Said it was the funnest afternoon ever! Can you get better than that?

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope you all spend time with your friends and family. We are looking forward to everyone being home even if it is for short time.

Again thanks to all of you that take the time to read my blog.

I'm Back!

2011-11-28T14:17:00.001-05:00

We have been back in our house for about a month. I have not done much sewing. If you have ever had any drywall work done in your home you will know how much dusting I have had to do. It is like talcum powder everywhere you can imagine. I have also had a lot to unpack and put back. It was a fun job but didn't leave a lot of time for sewing.

We visited our daughter in Indiana for Thanksgiving. She entertained 18 people for dinner. She did a wonderful job. She used china from both of her grandmothers.

She has a long sun porch which was perfect. I like it when everyone can sit at the same table.

This is the table she used for the food. Complete with the guinea hen they brought back from Africa.

She used some greenery to decorate each chair.

This is a quick quilt I made for a young woman who we have known all her life. She just had her first baby. She is a very special young woman that has overcome some pretty tough obstacles but is in a very good place right now. This is a cute way to put a baby quilt together. The big square are 8 inches square.

And I left the best till the end. My daughters fiance has an auction business and he found this in a basement! I love it. I have a great sewing machine repairman. He was not too enthusiastic about my new baby when he saw her but when I went to pick her up he was beside himself. The only thing he could not fix was the light. Oh well, she has a beautiful stitch and I hope to use her a lot in the coming months.

I am READY to SEW!!!!

Sewing up a storm

2011-10-04T08:43:00.000-04:00

I am in a sewing zone. I am having a ball. I am putting my frustration and impatience with our repairs into sewing. I made these squares on Friday and loved them.

Then on Saturday afternoon on Pinterest I found this quilt and was totally fascinated. I played around and found that I could order a kit or a pattern. I have only used one pattern in my quilting career. I honestly don't know how I feel about a pattern or about selling a pattern. I want what I make to be mine. I respect those who have the ability to put together a pattern and/or a kit but it is just not me. I find the quilting community to be so eager to share with one another.

After seeing this quilt I went back and took all my 9 patches apart. Yes I took them all apart and redesigned what I was doing.

Here are a couple of combinations. It is so much fun to put these squares together in different ways. I am almost confused.

I am thinking this will be a throw for the back of my new sofa.

And of course I could not resist a wonky star. This will most likely become a pillow.

We rode home on Sunday to look at our house. I am not sure that was a good idea. It is really strange to think of someone else in your house all the time moving and rearranging stuff.

Hopefully we are on the downslope.

Busy by the Sea

2011-09-30T09:38:00.003-04:00

Our contractor told us that work on our house would go quicker if we would leave so we are at the beach trying to be patient. If you have ever had work done on your house you know it is very frustrating and requires lots of patience. One bedroom will be completely redone because the walls and floor got wet. Furniture in most rooms in the house will have to be moved. Thank goodness my sewing room was not damaged at all. Everything had to be moved out of the attic.

We are very fortunate that our insurance company has been good to us. We have heard horror stories of certain insurance companies not wanting to pay up. We are also taking this opportunity to paint and put in hardwood floors which I have always wanted. And the best news is new furniture!! I am working on some quilted pillows to go with my new sofa which is very colorful. Also the hand quilting helps me to focus on the end results and not the inconvenience.

I think I will machine quilt this one in parallel lines to give some texture.

I did this yesterday and I am not sure what to do with it. Could be a cute pillow or maybe the beginning of a quilt to use in my new room. I have some fabrics with me but inspiration has not hit me yet. I am thinking of maybe doing some 6" squares in different patterns, log cabin, 9 patch, etc and then putting them together.

Any suggestions?

I had to include this picture of my precious younger grandson on his quilt. Notice the boots, it was in the 90s that day. Do kids get any cuter than this?

I found this quote and thought it fit what I was feeling.

I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.
Duane Michals
I am trying very hard these days to concentrate on how our house will look in a month and not the way it looks right now. I am also trying very hard to be grateful that someone else took the stuff out of the attic and I didn't have to. Believe me only about 25% of it will go back. I am going to take this opportunity to purge!!

I am also loving playing with Pinterest these days. So much fun to look and see what other folks are looking at. It is very convenient for me with my redecorating.

Starry Nine Patch

2011-09-24T11:52:00.000-04:00

Progress on our house is very sloooow. They came and worked really hard two weeks ago and then we didn't see anyone for 9 days. It is frustrating. The room upstairs will have to be stripped down to the studs to be sure there is no water damage in the walls. The good news is our insurance company has been very cooperative and we will be able to do some overdue updating.

Thankfully my sewing room was not damaged at all. I have been doing a little sewing. My daughter asked me to make a quilt for a co-worker of hers who adopted a baby girl. My aunt did something similar with nine patches and stars.

Here is a close up.

My husband wants a quilt for the young woman who cuts his hair. I found this idea at Film in the Fridge. What a great idea. I am going to use bright solids between the rows.

Some of our furniture was damaged by the water coming in the house. We have made a lot of decisions in the last few weeks. Hopefully this mess will only last a few more weeks.

The Wrath of Irene

2011-08-29T18:02:00.000-04:00

Hurricane Irene paid us a visit Saturday. DH and I are fine but a couple of pine trees from the back of our lot fell and clipped our house. One of the branches went into an upstairs bedroom and damaged the roof. We had rain pouring in most of the afternoon!

This tree fell first and hit the other one breaking it off. They both clipped the house.

This is the tangle of trees next to our sun room.

This is the ceiling of the room upstairs. The hole in the wall is where the branch came through!

The trees blew out the window in the room we were sitting in. My husband was sitting right by the window. We have thousands of pieces of glass in the carpet and on the furniture in that room. We were lucky. All over town there are trees down and houses damaged. Ours is not nearly as bad as many others. Around the corner from us a huge tree fell on the house and half the house is crushed.

This is a car that was parked in our neighbors driveway. They moved their other cars to the street!!

The strength of Mother Nature is amazing! I hope everyone else all along the east coast survived.

Good Bye Irene!

2011-08-25T08:03:00.000-04:00

Bad news for the east coast! Hurricane Irene is on the way. We have tied down, bungeed down, put up and are on the way to the grocery store to buy bread, milk and wine (the essentials). She is a nasty looking lady.

We are trying to be prepared. Lets hope it won't be as bad as it looks like it might. Yesterday we thought it was going to the east of Cape Hatteras but this morning it looks like she will go between Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout. Right now it is a wait and see. I wish I had a battery operated sewing machine.

We had an earthquake earlier this week! Crazy weather week.

Check out the challenge quilts

2011-08-04T16:01:00.000-04:00

Lori at Cottonfields has hung the challenge quilts. Her rules were use the two pieces of fabric and birds. Look at the different ideas. They are posted on her blog Talk is Cheap Quilts. Mine is the one with the Freddy Moran chickens.

My cousins daughter is raising money for a adoption for a friend of hers. I told her I would make a quilt and she could auction it. My aunt gave me these squares several years ago and I never did anything with them. I can't decide what background to use.

I don't have any more of the orange print but I have some of the stars print. What do you think of this idea? Here the star squares blend into the background.

The other problem I have is that even with a 4" border the quilt is only 30" wide. Any ideas about how to make it wider.

The other day I found a site with a tutorial about quilting as you go QAYG. I am fascinated by the idea of making a big quilt and only quilting each square. Have you ever tried it? I did this square early in the summer but got distracted. I would love for this to be the beginning of a big quilt. Any ideas or suggestions?

Four finishes

2011-07-27T16:23:00.000-04:00

Almost four! I finished the twin quilts. They are bound and ready for my daughter in law. I am almost finished with this one.

I posted a picture of this one some time ago. I was not happy with it at all. I visited with my aunt a couple of weeks ago and she suggested adding the yellow dots in between the squares in a wonky way. I used the same yellow for the border and then bound it with a bright red! I love the way it looks.

The best is the back! This cute cute circus print. I added a square of the coordinating print on the front. This almost makes two quilts in one.

And this is my challenge piece. Cottonfields, our local quilt shop sponsored this challenge. You had to buy two pieces of ugly fabric and then create something that involved birds. I used Freddy Moran's chickens for inspiration. My piece is called Chicken House. The quilts are due August 1 so I am a bit early so don't show it to anyone!!

I hope everyone is having a great summer. Try and stay cool. Can you believe this heat? Here in NC we had 5, yes 5 days of 3 digit temps last week.

Hot Summer Afternoon

2011-07-12T16:39:00.000-04:00

So so hot here in the South. So what to do, how about machine quilt the twin quilts. Fix a big tall glass of ice water, turn the radio on, make sure the AC is cranked up and sew. The two quilts are similar but different. Sort of like triangles we studied in Geometry!

This is the second one. Do you see the difference?
The mother and maybe the father, I am not sure about that, went to Virginia Tech with my daughter in law, so you see the Tech square?

This is a close up of the quilting. I used a varigated thread in oranges and yellows.

They both have the same back. The couple these are for live on a farm in Virginia and my daughter in law asked me to do something in a farm theme. Now to bind them.

I went to my quilt group yesterday. There was only one other person there so Lori at Cottonfields helped me pick out a back for the other quilt I am doing for my daughter in law. This picture is either not very good or I really don't like how this started. I am going to work with these squares and add something.

Sometimes an idea just does not work out like I think it will. Does that ever happen to anyone but me? Maybe I will add some strips of color to make this wonky. I want to use these square in some way.

This is the back that Lori helped my pick out. I LOVE it!

I just had to include this picture from early in the summer. My grandson wanted to be buried in the sand. As you can imagine it didn't last long. That boy does not like to be still!

Ok now what not to do on a hot summer afternoon, mow grass, walk around the block, work in the garden, in other words, nothing outside!!

Family minus one

2011-06-22T16:28:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful weekend with the whole family minus our daughter!! We have several birthdays in May and June so our older son did a Low Country Boil for us Saturday night. What great fun! You put everything in a big pot. When it is done you dump it out on the table and dig in. It was really good. We had crabs, shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and corn.

I have been working on the twin quilts this week. I wanted to work at the beach but my little toe and the end of the bed had a run in! How can something that seems so minor hurt so bad!

I finished the yellow twin quilt this week and put borders on both of them. This is the blue one.

This is the one with the yellow print. I have a cute coordinating print for the back. The back of both of them will be the same. The stars are the same in both of them too.

One question: Is it twin quilts or quilts for twins!!

A couple of weeks ago I had a high school class reunion. If you want to get in touch with your place in the world, go to your high school reunion! It was wonderful. How can folks that grew up in a small southern town following WW2 turn out so different. It is amazing and a tribute to our parents and our community. We were all fairly sheltered but so many of us have branched out and are doing fantastic things with their lives. I don't regret still being here. I regularly see folks I started school with. I am very comfortable with where I am.

Happy Summer to all!!

Summertime is calling me!

2011-06-12T16:15:00.000-04:00

To me summer is Beach, Baseball and Being with family! We had the greatest time at the beach with my cousin and her family. I can't wait for them to come back next summer.

So enjoyed seeing our oldest grandson at his tee ball game yesterday. If you want to laugh go to a tee ball game.

A great time with all the family. My husband cooked hamburger and hot dogs. Why is a hot dog so good at the beach?

I have been doing some quilting. I showed this one before. I guess you would call this a commission piece. I am doing two quilts for my daughter in laws friend who is having twin boys. This is the first one. I need a border. I am thinking a rich royal blue. What do you think?

My daughter in law and her friend are both Virginia Tech grads so I had to include their logo.

I also attended my high school reunion this past weekend. What an experience! I have stayed here but so many of my classmates have been lots of places and done lots of things. It makes me feel a little boring. It was so interesting to hear what everyone had done. I reconnected with several classmates and hope to stay in contact with them. We are all so different than we were in high school-Amazing!!

So what is everyone doing to beat this heat? Sewing, relaxing, reading, watching TV?

Challenge Quilt

2011-06-01T19:53:00.000-04:00

I am doing my local quilt shop, Cottonfields challenge. This is my first challenge and yes I know I am not supposed to show it but I am so excited about it I cannot keep quiet. This is part of it. I have had so much fun with it. You know I love making stars.

This is another part of, including the border. I am enjoying spiky sawtooth borders these days.

June is going to be such a busy month for us, full of family time and beach time. My cousin from Tennessee is coming with her family this weekend. I have my high school class reunion the following weekend, don't ask how many years. Fathers Day weekend my son from Charlotte and his wife are coming. I am already tired!! By the way, my son won his neighborhood pie contest with a Key Lime Pie. I hope we can talk him into making it for us. The last weekend in June our daughter from Indiana will be here. I love summer!!

I like to post pictures. Since I could not show you more of my challenge wall hanging I will show you my huge hosta. Somehow I have not done much yard work this spring.

Thanks for all the suggestions about my found nine patch squares. I have several things going right now and I am not going to do anything with them until next fall.

Back from across the pond

2011-05-25T20:18:00.000-04:00

My friend and I are back from London. We had a great time. The first thing we did was get on a "hop on hop off" bus and we got to Buckingham Palace just as they were changing the guard!! I could have come home then and been happy. Who does not want to see the changing of the guard?

On Friday we took a day trip to Stonehenge. It was so so impressive.

A view of the London Bridge.

This is a picture of some tapestries in the Cathedral at Bath. They were so quilt like.

We had a great great trip although it was short. I even learned to use the Tube to get around, not bad for a retired grandmother!!

My daughter in law has a friend who is having twins boys in August and she asked me to make them quilts. Is this too bright? I want both quilts to be similar but not exactly the same.

In cleaning out my mothers house I have found so much fabric and I found these squares she made.

Any ideas on how to use them. They all have the plaid or print in the corner squares. There are 109 of them. What a strange number? For one thing it is a prime number so you cannot make it into a rectangle.

This was one of my ideas, put a solid of the same width as the square between each one.

I have a pet peeve that is really bothering me. I read lots of blogs. I try to comment on as many as possible. If you comment on my blog I do my best to respond. I have commented on several blogs lately and did not get a response. I even sent one blogger a personal email and didn't hear from her. I love my blogland friends. I really appreciate all of your comments and I feel like I should acknowledge the fact that you stopped to read my blog. Is it wrong to think that consistently not responding is rude?

NC Ferry

2011-05-08T11:26:00.000-04:00

Happy Mothers Day to everyone. I got these beautiful strawberries in the mail from my daughter. I would rather have had her but the strawberries are good.

We decided to ride the ferry on the way to the beach on Friday. North Carolina is so fortunate to have a great ferry system and for the time being it is free. This is the ferry from Minnesott Beach to Cherry Branch. It takes about 20 minutes and it is a beautiful ride. It is a great thing to do with the kids.

We are meeting the ferry going the other way.

My aunt is always an inspiration to me in so many ways. She is the one that really inspired me to start making quilts. She introduced me to Gwen Marston and I will be forever grateful. She encouraged me (pushed me) to go to my first Gwen workshop and I was hooked. Since then we have worked with Gwen two more times.

My aunt is making a quilt for her daughter's friend who adopted a baby. I just had to post these stars she made.

And now look how great these stars look in the quilt. My aunt is into a phase of doing 9 patches with 3" squares. The stars look like they are just tossed on the quilt.

My daughter in law asked me yesterday to make quilts for a couple of her friends, one who is expecting twin boys!! I think I might try this idea.

Fun with Friends!

2011-04-30T17:43:00.000-04:00

What a great week. Thursday my cousin and I visited her friend who has a long arm quilting machine!! I had never seen one in use before and I was fascinated. Here is my cousin pinning the back of my quilt to one of the bars.

Here is my black and white quilt being quilted on the machine.

This is my black and white quilt with shots of color. I have not put the binding on yet but I hope to do that this weekend. I am very excited about this quilt and how it turned out.

Here is the back. My $1/yard Elvis fabric!!

A close up of the quilting, Betty did a great job.

For the Royal Wedding my friends and I got together, wore our hats and watched. Darlene took the top off of her Easter tree and put it on her hat.

Our hostess did a great job of making us feel very English. Her table was beautiful. Of course we had to have ham biscuits.

Here are all of us in our hats! What a hoot, we had a great time.

New Things

2011-04-23T11:11:00.000-04:00

We have been at the beach for the last few days. I finished my black/white quilt top. I don't have my camera with me so I will post the pictures of that later. I finished the sawtooth border and it looks great. My aunt saw it and said the pictures don't do it justice. She had not seen it in person before. I always feel a letdown after working and thinking so hard about a quilt. I worked on those black and white blocks during the winter of 2010. It is a good feeling to finish but still you have so much thought invested.

Our new quilt group, Non-traditional quilters, met last Monday at my dear friend Lori's quilt shop, Cottonfields. She has a great blog too. There were only 4 of us, hopefully there will be more this week. She showed me curved piecing! I know should have done it before but I am scared of curves!! Since I was trying to motivate myself this morning I decided to try it. Wow!! It isn't hard at all.
This is some of the fabrics from my black and white quilt and "shots" of color. Now I have to decide what to do with it. I think I will piece the back of the black and white quilt and use it there. I have some great Elvis fabric for the back. I do love pieced backs.

I have some great starfish fabric that I have had for years. I was playing with it yesterday afternoon and made these blocks. Maybe I will make a few more. It would make a charming quilt. I thought about black and white log cabins but I am honestly ready for some color.

Did you see Tonya's post on Unruly Quilting? She is trying to do without her rulers!! I am not sure I am ready to be that liberated!! I am sure my grandmother never used a ruler or a rotary cutter and she made great quilts. Tonya also has some links to other blogs with very interesting stuff. Daintytime is very interesting. I really like her ideas about Mod Mood Quilts. I think the first one I posted is sort of a Mod Mood quilt.

Thanks

2011-04-14T19:39:00.000-04:00

I so appreciate all the comments about my black and white liberated quilt. I have been very busy this week. My son and his wife went on a cruise so we have the grandsons. I have been able to sew a little bit but not much. This weekend I am going to devote myself to making more liberated sawtooth and see what happens from there. I got some more of the black from my local quilt shop, Cottonfields.

I ordered this cool book. I found it on some other blog and honestly I can't remember what blog. It is a great book with tons of ideas for modern quilting.

I like making log cabin blocks and it seems like I am in sort of a black and white period.

I made this little star the other day. My aunt is really into 9 patches and stars are a great combination for 9 patches.

A few crazy 9 patches with stars.

One more thing, when I got back from my first major quilt workshop with Gwen Marston I was so excited to be part of a guild. There were several groups there from guilds and they had such a good time together. I have been trying since then to find a group and have not found one where I feel comfortable with my liberated style. At Cottonfields I talked to Lori about starting a group and she was very excited. She doesn't waste any time. We are meeting for the first time on Monday!! I could not be more thrilled.

Liberated Confusion

2011-04-07T12:58:00.006-04:00

One finish this week. For a friend of mine whose daughter is expecting her first child.

Last Friday a friend of my cousin called and said Hancock had a dollar table. WOOHOO!! Elvis fabric for a dollar a yard. Notice I didn't tell anyone until I had gotten all I wanted!

I have discovered this last week that being liberated at times is confusing and definitely not easy. I put together this black and white quilt top last winter but never finished. I was imagining a sort of piano key border. My cousin's friend has a long arm machine and offered to do a quilt for me. I started thinking, how about spiky sawtooth. What do you think?

I thought spiky sawtooth at the bottom and top and then make a border of stripes. I cut some strips and put them together. This DID NOT speak to me at all.

At this point I am very frustrated and feel like I have wasted time putting together a border that I am not going to use. I decided to go to the master of liberated quilting (Gwen Marston). I had been using her Liberated Quilting 2 as a guide for the spiky sawtooth. I randomly turned to a page and saw this sampler!

Talk about a AHA moment! This is it. I will make more spiky sawtooth and put a star at the corners. This is just a random block at the corner. Really another idea I tried.
What do you think?

I love liberated quilting but honestly following a pattern and knowing what you are going to do is easier at times. I also feel like I wasted a couple of afternoons of precious sewing time looking at options that didn't work. I also don't have quite enough of the black and white print so

Rainy Afternoon

2011-03-30T17:10:00.003-04:00

Mother Nature played a trick on us! She made us get excited and think it was spring. This week it has turned back to winter. We had cold rain today and it is predicted for tomorrow and maybe Friday. What a good excuse to hide away in the sewing room. My grandsons were very cooperative today and I got to spend a couple of hours sewing. I am in a very liberated mood.

I am always interested in how others work so I thought I would show the progression of this project. I am thinking it will be a wall hanging. I have not done a wall hanging before. Do you have quilts hanging all over your house?

This was sort of the beginning. I pulled out some scraps that I had sewn together and some houses that I made and some that I made over the weekend.

I added a little bit to the left side.

I added my little star that I did over the weekend.

I realized I would need something to fill in so I used one of Gwen Marston's suggestions and made some sawtooth. I like to use similar colors for a subtle combination.

Somehow I did not like the house on the bottom right so I exchanged it for some stars and sort of flipped the right side.

So what do you think? What ever you think it was tons of fun to do. I love love working in the liberated style. As Gwen says you just work it out as you go along. That is truly what I did with this piece.

One, Two, Three, Flow

2011-03-27T14:42:00.002-04:00

Flow! What is Flow? Here is a wonderful article on creative flow: http://zenhabits.net/creative-flow/. I love the blog Zen Habits. This article has wonderful suggestions for encouraging creative flow. One suggestion is setting a time limit. Victoria at Bumble Beans started a group called 15 Minutes of Play which goes right along with these ideas.

I was definitely in the Flow this weekend. I sewed a binding on three, yes three quilts. Including the quilt I made in Texas last year in the workshop with Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran. I hand quilted in with liberated fans!

This is a disappearing nine patch that is off to a friend in Indiana. I love the back.

This is my Rhymes in the Cabin quilt made for my daughters manager.

I am going to finish these bindings tonight during the Carolina-Kentucky game. Maybe I won't be as nervous if I have something to do with my hands!! We love those Tarheels!!!

I finished putting this one together. I love the way it turned out.

Here is a close up and the fabric for the back.

My creative juices were really flowing. Here are some houses I put together out of scraps. I love putting scraps together but I am not sure what to do with them. How do you use your scrap blocks? Wall hangings, in a bigger quilt, what do you do with them?

I made this tiny star. I really enjoy making them and they make a big impact but they can be tedious because you are working with such tiny pieces. Sometimes my hands don't work as well as they used to.

One more thing GO HEELS!!!

Moving On

2011-03-23T13:47:00.004-04:00

We had a great time in Chicago. We visited the Field Museum and my grandson got to see the skeleton of the big dinosaur Sue. It is very interesting flying with a 4 year old. He was very good but you sure have to be patient.

I am getting back into the swing of things. I am working on a quilt for the grandson of a friend of mine. He is due in May, so hopefully I will get it done. My inspiration is from Lady Havratine. Go look at her tutorial. It is great, goes fast and I love the way it looks.

I finished hand quilting my Texas quilt last night and I have started on quilting my other grandsons quilt. I am doing the big stitch. Lori at the closest quilt shop to me quilts this way. It goes faster and looks pretty good.

Please visit Lori's website. She has a great quilt shop and an online shop. She does it herself so the service is very personal.

I also have a very good friend who is doing children's clothes. You have to look at this site. She is a very talented young woman. The dress is so so cute! She is trying to get started so please go look. We drop the kids off at preschool and walk in the mornings. Well, as many as we can. The weather is finally cooperating.

We are all into basketball this time of year. Cheering on our beloved Tarheels. If you don't know who to pull for then pull for them. They have overcome some adversity this year and are really playing as a team.

Thanks so much for all the kind words from my blog friends.

Off to the Windy City.

2011-03-10T10:30:00.003-05:00

Off to the Windy City in the morning. I am taking my 4 year old grandson. I love to see people's expression when I tell them that just the two of us are going. It is either "Have you lost your mind?" or " That will be great fun!"

My daughter lives in Valparasio, Indiana. We are going to visit her.

This is what we saw when we went in June! What kind of city lets dinosaurs walk around everywhere!! We are going into the city to the Field Museum on Saturday. My grandson is very excited about seeing Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Does anyone know of any wonderful quilt shops in that area? I might be able to persuade my daughter to let me have a few minutes in one.

Thanks also for the condolences on my mother's death.

Changes

2011-03-06T18:49:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted in a long time because my mother died in late January. After Christmas her health declined and she stopped eating. We had Hospice and they were so helpful.

She was a beautiful person.

The last months were difficult for mother but Hospice made it so much easier for all of us. I am comforted by a song that my aunt told me about. The Far Side Banks of Jordan by Alison Krauss.

And I'll be waiting on the far side banks of Jordan
I'll be waiting drawing pictures in the sand
And when I see you coming I will rise up with a shout
And come running through he shallow waters reaching for your hand.

As I was at my mothers bedside I am certain that my father was waiting for her and came running when he saw her.

Rhymes in the Cabin

2011-01-11T17:23:00.003-05:00

I am making a quilt for one of my daughter's co-workers. This is a second baby and they are choosing not to find out the sex of the baby. I have made several nursery rhyme quilts .It makes a neat gift particularly if they are not finding out if it is a boy or girl. I found this neat nursery rhyme fabric at Wal-mart. Now let me say up front I am not a fan of Wal-mart but I love this fabric and it is very reasonably priced there.

I wanted to do something with the log cabin idea so I fussy cut the fabric and put the motifs in the middle.

This picture did not turn out as well as I wanted. A couple of these need a few more logs. My vision is to make the blocks the same width and then fill in ala Gwen Marston with sawtooth or just blocks.

I would love some feedback.

I have these neat yellow fabric that I could do something to fill in with. Ok blog friends give me some good ideas.

We have had such bad weather this winter. Snow and ice yesterday and today. The man that lives here that I am married to took out the garbage this morning and promptly slipped on the icy steps!

I also made some fantastic chicken soup yesterday. So good that it is all gone. I added a box of Uncle Ben's wild rice along with the seasoning pack. I also added a can of cream of chicken soup. I like a thicker soup and this was really good. My sweet grandson cut up the carrots and celery for me. I was thinking about posting a recipe but I can't give you the proportions I used. I just added stuff until it looked and tasted right.

I have had such wonderful comments lately. Thanks to all of you that read my blog and a special thanks to those of you that comment.

Happy 2011

2011-01-02T11:04:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone is looking forward to a great 2011. I hope you had your black eyed peas and collard greens yesterday to bring you happiness and wealth!

Back in November my aunt asked me to take her to the yarn shop. All the way there I was saying to myself, don't buy any yarn, don't buy any yarn. I have done some simple knitting but not much. My aunt asked the owner about some unique yarns and she showed us this silk and wool yarn made and hand dyed by a women's cooperative in Uruguay. I was sold! I love the idea of women helping other women.

The brand is malabrigo. I knitted a scarf for each of my daughter in laws and my daughter. This one is for me! The colors are luscious and so soft and warm.

That is the reason I didn't do a lot with my quilting during November and December.

If you have not gotten a copy of Word Play Quilts you are missing a real treat. Visit Tonya's blog. I know that many of you already follow her blog but she is a wonderful liberated quilter. She is so so creative. Her explanations in this book are amazing.

By the way, the "JOY" on the left side is mine!! I also sent her some letters that she is including in her Student Letters Quilt. So exciting to be included.

Her book inspired me to add my grandson's name to the quilt I am working on for him. I am ashamed to say he will be 2 soon and this is the first quilt I have made for him.

There is so much color and movement in this quilt I kept his name more controlled. This is the top of the quilt. I really enjoy doing HSTs. I make them by the square method where you cut the square diagonally. I have a special tool that makes them fairly easy to do.

I love the black and white for him. Now I just have to decide whether to hand or machine quilt.

I am leaning toward hand quilting although it will take a long time. If I do then I have to decide how to quilt it! So many decisions so early in the year.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T17:14:00.003-05:00

What an interesting holiday this has been. We had two of our children and their whatevers here. A wonderful time was had by all (I hope). I did a lot of cooking and they did a lot of eating.

I was so surprised when I opened my Christmas gift yesterday. Vintage Fiestaware!! I love all the colors and I love the fact that it is old and someone else used and enjoyed it. Isn't it fantastic?

We live in an area that does not get a lot of snow but when a coastal low forms we can be surprised. All of the weather reports yesterday were warning of 6 to 10 inches and they were not wrong. We woke up to snow this morning and it has been snowing all day.

Our daughter and her boy friend from Indiana were scheduled to fly out Monday but they became concerned yesterday that they might not be able to leave. So we spent Christmas day taking them to the airport. I was so disappointed that they had to leave but what are you going to do.

I hope all my blogging friends had a wonderful day and I wish you great sewing in the New Year.

Dressing or Stuffing?

2010-12-22T11:09:00.003-05:00

Do you stuff your turkey or make dressing? In this part of the country we make dressing. I made the best dressing at Thanksgiving I have ever made. If you want good recipes, go to Never Enough Thyme. I sort of followed her recipe and mine turned out great. Go to the top to the recipe index.

I am also making some of her other recipes this morning.

This is the Redneck Toffee. My daughter in laws mother usually makes this and I love it. It is on the counter cooling right this minute.

I also did the Rolo candy and pretzel thing. So easy and also delicious.

This is my table. My daughter is flying in tonight and she will probably want to do more with it when she gets home. I really enjoy having a beautiful table at special occasions.

Merry Christmas to all of you in blog land.

I haven't done much sewing lately but I plan to hide in my sewing room as soon as this madness is over. Right now I have a refrigerator full of food so if you need me check in the kitchen. We are having a standing rib roast Thursday night with stuffed potatoes. Friday night we are having turkey and dressing and all that goes with it. Christmas morning we will have our traditional breakfast casserole and maybe Mimosas!

The best to all of you. See you in the new year. I have to get back to the kitchen!

Still here

2010-12-05T17:13:00.004-05:00

My daughter called and said mom, you haven't posted in a month!! I am still here, still sewing but busy with lots of things this time of year as every one is. I finished a flimsy yesterday using my beloved Disappearing Nine Patch. My DIL gave me some charm squares. I used them and some additional fabric.

Not sure I will get this finished before Christmas. I usually use my dining room table to put together my quilt sandwich.

My dining room table looked so nice at Thanksgiving and I am sort of reluctant to undo it. I have to use it more often this time of year.

When I have had a few minutes I put together some scrap squares. I have no idea what I am going to do with them. My aunt says to keep putting them together until I have a piece big enough for a quilt for my bed!!

I included a star or two . I love how these random scraps go together and make more shapes and designs that you didn't anticipate.

I had to include this precious picture of my older grandson at his preschool Thanksgiving Feast! We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We had 12 here for dinner!! So much fun!

Very cool app

2010-10-28T09:36:00.002-04:00

Wow! I can't believe I am blogging twice in one week. I just have to share the app I found yesterday. First of all, I love technology. My middle son got me hooked on computers way back in 1995. We bought one from Staples, paid more than you would for an I Pad today but loved it and it worked great for years. I now have a laptop, an I Pod touch and a Blackberry!

Anyway I was looking at apps for the Touch, which is my favorite! I found this amazing quilt app, called BlockFab and it is free. I can't even begin to describe all the things you can do with it. You could play with it for hours. You choose a block and then it pictures it in multiple ways and colors. You can also combine the block you chose with any other block and see what it would look like. Go check it out!!!

I had a wonderful day yesterday, no kids and no husband!! I brought my sewing machine down to the dining room and quilted these two. I didn't do anything fancy just parallel slanted lines. The first one is for the young woman that grew up in France with the fabric that Helen sent me. The other fabric on the back is some that by DIL brought me from her mother. It is perfect.

This is the quilt for my daughters friend whose son was born a few weeks ago in the Chinese year of the tiger. I have shown you this one before, actually I have shown both of these before. I call this one Tiger in the House. I am showing them to you again so you will see that sometimes I do finish a project. Well almost finish, I do have to do the binding.

One more thing, everyone seems to be into scraps these days. What do you suggest with this scrap? It is too big to throw away. Would you fussy cut the animals or ignore the print? Give me some creative ideas!
I have more if someone could use it.

Interesting weekend

2010-10-24T19:13:00.003-04:00

Friday was a very interesting day. Neither of my grandsons go to preschool on Friday. The oldest one came in complaining about his tummy. Before I knew it he had thrown up. He seemed to get much better and we went to visit my husbands aunt. She of course gave the boys a little snack. Before we got home the oldest one said Nana I don't feel so good and he threw up all over himself, the car and me!! I knew we were in trouble when the ginger ale came back up. Fortunately he is fine now!

I got up early Saturday morning to go to the quilt show with my aunt and two cousins. But first she had to show me what she had done. She worked the last two weeks and made all four of these quilts. I posted them before but she has now put them together and put a border on two of them. Aren't they fantastic?

I love this border.

Look at the way she extended the little strip she put in this one!

Darling quilts.

My aunt does not like the color of this one as much as I do.

We had a great time at the quilt show. I will post more pictures later. This is the grand prize winner and unfortunately I didn't get the name of the quilter. Can you believe this? Amazing.

I am working on putting the binding on Tiger in the House. What do you think? I stole the border idea from my aunt! SHH, don't tell.

Tigers are in the house

2010-10-21T17:35:00.003-04:00

I have been plugging along with making my houses with the tigers in them. Unexpectedly I had a few hours this afternoon. I finished this house.

I made this one the other day. I have six houses with tigers in them. I want to fill in with squares and stars. At least that is my idea.

This is the first arrangement.

I made a couple of more stars and a couple of nine patches and this is what I have now.

Tell me what you think? I am drawn to the subtle colors. I want the houses to stand out not the stars or nine patches. Now I have to come up with a border. I am thinking maybe a green or blue, maybe a solid.

My creativity is really kicking in lately. I have all these ideas swirling around in my head. Does that happen to you?

I should have even more inspiration this weekend. I am going to the Durham Orange County Quilt show on Saturday with my aunt and cousin. I am so excited to see what other very accomplished quilters are doing.

My Aunts quilts.

2010-10-17T18:52:00.005-04:00

I didn't realize it had been so long since I blogged. We have been loving this beautiful fall weather. I had a wonderful morning yesterday with my aunt. She is working on four baby quilts at one time. She has a very interesting technique. I just love it.

This purple one and the green one next to it are for twin granddaughters of a friend of hers. She is going to add a green border to the purple one and a purple border to the green one. They look fantastic.

Notice how she added a 9 patch to each one and a big patch of a print, such a neat way to make a quilt. Sort of a take off on "I Spy" quilts.

I finished the top for my zig zap quilt. I have always wanted to make a zig zag quilt. This is for a friend of my son and daughter in law whose wife is from France.

I got some time to start a new project this afternoon. My daughter has a friend at work from China who has just had a baby. This is the year of the tiger so she wanted me to use a tiger somehow. So I made these houses today. I love making houses. I think I will make two more houses and fill in the gaps with squares. I am liking making squares in similar colors. I love the subtle look. I might also use some stars.

Here is a close up of one of my tigers houses. The name of this quilt is going to be Tiger in the House.

Rainy days

2010-09-29T12:47:00.002-04:00

After two months with very little rain we are being deluged! The weather man is even forecasting a tropical storm tomorrow. Every where you look there is water standing, in the street, in the yards, every where.

Thank you for all your kind comments and thoughts about my mother and her situation. The Hospice folks have been wonderful so far. The chaplain came yesterday, a wonderful young man, who seems to understand what we are dealing with. I have a lot to be grateful for. I have wonderful help in place. They love my mother dearly and do a wonderful job. Mother has trouble feeding herself so they put her meals in a burrito wrap so she can pick it up. These folks really go above and beyond.

The last two days I have been making scrap blocks. the number of blocks is directly proportional to my stress level. Can you tell I was a math teacher? Making the blocks seems to use both sides of the brain and is very relaxing and distracting. It is so interesting to see the unplanned shapes that emerge. I love it.

My question is this: do you make the blocks and then sew them together or sew them together as you go along? I have been sewing these together as I go along, sort of in strips.

I used a subtle sawtooth at the bottom of this one to fill in a space.

I also cut a lot of 2 1/2" blocks yesterday. It was great to go back and recall what I had used the fabrics for.

I am using the squares to make random 9 patches. My aunt got me re-interested in making 9 patches. She has been doing it and has put together a couple of quilts this way.

One more picture of fall flowers. This is from my mothers front yard. I think you call it a beauty berry. I love love the purple with the green. What a vivid beautiful color combination.

All the rain makes for nice quiet afternoons sewing!!

I am an idiot

2010-09-25T12:43:00.003-04:00

Let me make it clear what an idiot I am. I was feeling very neglected by my blogging friends because I didn't have any comments on my last two posts. This morning I decided to go back and look and I have no idea what I did but I did something that made the comments not show up in my email! I thought I was semi-computer savvy! I could not believe that my blogging friends would desert me! And you didn't!

Thanks for all your comments and support. We met with the Hospice nurse and social worker yesterday and will have a follow up on Monday. As of Friday mother is covered by Hospice. She will have minimal help to begin with. Basically a nurse will visit once week to monitor her vital signs. When she and/or the family needs more than that they will provide it. I am sooo relieved. I did not want her to go to the hospital and it is very hard to get her out at this point.

My husband and I are at the beach this weekend for a wedding of the daughter of a cousin of his. Beautiful day here but too hot for this time of year.

Fall flowers and life.

2010-09-22T11:00:00.004-04:00

It has been a long time since I blogged. My mother has had a setback and we are dealing with it. She is having trouble with her speech. It is difficult to see her struggle. We are working toward getting her into the Hospice program. I have heard good things about Hospice. If you have any information please let me know.

My husband and I are walking as many days as we can. We love seeing the fall flowers. The first picture is actually the flowers in my yard!

We often walk down a road near us that has a field on one side. For some reason the farmer did not plant the field this year. Look at the beautiful flowers that came up on their own. How can you not be inspired by nature!

This is the quilt I am making for my youngest grandson. Poor guy! Nana hasn't made him anything yet. I deviated from the pattern by putting half square triangles in the border. I am going to put his name in liberated letters at the top and maybe finish it off with more hsts.

I have always wanted to do a zig zag quilt. This is for my son and daughter in law to give as a gift. This has been soothing to work on. After a stressful day it is so relaxing to go upstairs and just sew! I am going to put a row of red and then last a row of purple.

I am still reading blogs and trying to comment when I can. I love our blogging community.

August Finish

2010-08-29T17:53:00.003-04:00

Back to school, back to work, it must be the end of August. I have my grandson's back so sewing has taken a back seat to looking after those boys.

I have been working on this small quilt for a good friend of mine who has a special birthday soon. I did the quilting last Sunday and got the binding on. It was such a fun quilt to work on. It will go in the mail to her today. I cannot give it to her in person. I would fall apart. Good friends are so special.

I used a lot of liberated techniques and ideas in this quilt. In this second picture you can see the fabric on the back.

I used Tonya's liberated letters for the FRIENDS part.

I am making a quilt for my second grandson using a pattern my good friend Helen sent. I just fell in love with this pattern.

I think I will put some HSTs as a border and his name at the top. It is fun to do liberated quilting but also relaxing to do something more traditional.

All of the wonderful giveaways! I can't quite decide how I feel about the GO everyone is crazy about. I guess I don't do enough to use one.

I hope everyone is having a great start to the school year. I still get twinges at the beginning of school. I miss my friends and the excitement of a new school year.

One more thing, my son has a friend whose wife is from France and I am making a baby quilt. Does anyone know where I could get fabric with French words on it to use for the back?

Back to reality

2010-08-17T09:07:00.003-04:00

We have been at the beach with family for the last week or so. We had a ball but I am exhausted. I am ready to get back to my life and my sewing.

I finished this before I left. There is a lot of yellow!

My friend Helen sent me this pattern and I love it. I am doing this for my second grandson. Don't tell but I have yet to make him a quilt.

I love doing liberated but it is relaxing to do something traditional occasionally.

This is my very favorite block. If I ever made a quilt with just two fabrics it would be these two.

Got these great black and white fabrics. I love the summer but the rhythm and routine of regular life are great too.

My little boys are back with me today. I am not sure if I will find time to sew but I will have a good time with them.

More liberated stars

2010-08-01T17:45:00.003-04:00

I have had a wonderful Sunday afternoon. I have been busy with family goings on for the last couple of weeks but now I am doing what I want to do!!
We are having a break in the weather. It has been wonderful this weekend. I pulled some weeds yesterday and I have decided that you never finish weeding you just stop! There are always some more.

This star was made by taking an orange rectangle and cutting it into irregular blocks. I love this method but it can be tedious to be sure you put the square back in the right place.

I love this star, the purple worked out beautifully. I also added the sawtooth to make it work. This is a technique I learned from Gwen Marston. She encourages you to use similar fabrics to make them "overflow". I also had to add a strip to this one to make it fit.

This is one of the panels. I used pieces of fabric and sawtooth to make things fit. I didn't put a lot of contrast in my sawtooth this time. I like the subtle color changes.

This is the other panel. I used the sawtooth in this one too.

I cannot show you the whole thing but this the central part of the quilt. Yes there is a word but i don't want to show the whole word right now. It is a surprise for a special friend.

These colors really speak to me!

Starz and more

2010-07-17T15:24:00.003-04:00

I have been sewing like a demon this week. I have spent hours in my sewing room and having a ball.
I love making these stars and today I was visiting Marit's blog and saw these cross blocks. I think they really complement the stars. They are easy to make but have a big impact. Visit her blog and look at the great things she has done.

I love the way these are turning out.

I also made some Broken Dishes blocks. I love the ways you can put these together.
I am disappointed in this picture. They look much better in person, more impact. I might use them for a border or to fill in spots.

One of my favorite little stars. I am experimenting with using rectangles rather than squares for the stars. Gwen Marston has some examples in her Liberated Quiltmaking II book.

I am using mostly scraps for all the stars I have made. Fun to use them up.

My sweet Gus. We have a big bad summer thunderstorm coming and he does not like storms. He really does not like the thunder.

I am making parts and my aunt and I are going to put her parts and mine together for a couple of quilts. I am planning some sawtooth and some spiky sawtooth border.

We are expecting temps in the high 90s, maybe even 100 this week. I am staying in and sewing!!

Collaboration

2010-07-13T08:38:00.006-04:00

My aunt that introduced me to Gwen Marston showed me this Gwenny style top she put together. Very cool!!

Her choice of colors is always great. She does quilts for all the babies in the family and for friend's babies. We are having a baby explosion in our family this spring and summer. We have decided to do some collaborative quilts.

These are some squares she did. Aren't they great?

I love the way she did this four patch as a square in a square. Also, notice the saw tooth she did, very subtle but effective.

After a very busy Fourth of July will all my family at the beach I have had some time to retreat to my sewing room and work. I have been doing the 15 minute thing and that is really fun. I love putting scraps together in random shapes.

I could not resist doing a few stars.

I hope everyone is having a great summer. We are burning up!! It is hot, humid and dry. The kind of day you do not even want to stick your head out!!

She's a star

2010-06-24T09:01:00.003-04:00

I don't usually name my quilts but this is for the daughter of a special friend. She is a star in every way, she has a scholarship to NC State University next year and she deserves a special quilt.

My husband chose this backing. I had something else with lots of color and he said oh no. This is the man that usually doesn't notice my quilts at all. He really likes this young woman and has been so complimentary about this quilt. I used my beloved D9P but added a couple of liberated stars for visual interest.

When I was at my daughters a couple of weeks ago I was looking at a quilt that I did for her a couple of years ago. I machine quilted it and when I looked back at it I thought that's not so bad. I brought my machine downstairs yesterday and put it on my dining room table. I had lots of room and the table supported the weight of the quilt. I will definitely do more machine quilting. This was just a random pattern but it was fun.

The temperature is supposed to top 100 today. It is a good day to stay inside and sew. I am working hard to get my mojo back. What do you do when you get in a slump and are not motivated?

Garden Views

2010-06-16T09:06:00.003-04:00

I love my daylillies! They are so easy to take care of and so spectacular.

I dug these double oranges up from my uncles yard. They spread like crazy.

This lantana came back from some I planted last year.

My gardenia bush is huge. I cut it back every year and it always comes back. I have to tie it because there are so many blooms. You walk out the door and you can smell them.

I won!!

2010-06-09T09:01:00.005-04:00

I finally won a giveaway. I only enter giveaways if it is something I want and I have never won one before. This bag is from upstatelisa. She has a very cool blog and does very creative work.
I am in a sort of black and white phase so this is perfect.

Look at the cool inside. The other neat thing is that this bag is a perfect size for my Kindle. The other day I was thinking I need to look for a bag to carry my Kindle in. I came home and this was in the mail. Thank you so much Lisa, it is perfect.

I promise this is the last time I will post pictures of my grandmother quilt that I found but I had to take a few more with my good camera. I wanted you to see the pattern. Does anyone have any idea what this is called. It is sort of an interlocking nine patch.

My aunt and I are trying to figure out how it was put together.

I am sure she started with the center nine patches and the borders around them. My grandmother used alternating fabrics for the center nine patches and the same fabrics for the border but after that it seems the fabric selection is random.

There is no light next to dark and there are two squares with red plaid right next to each other. In the square here in the center she used several prints and to the left plainer fabrics. This is clearly a utility quilt.

I just had to post this last picture. It seems that my grandmother was liberated! If she got to the end and the squares didn't match she just put them together anyway. If you look at the edge you can see that some squares were cut off!! So cool!!

The back of the quilt is a solid denim color cotton. It is hand quilted in sort of a herring bone pattern. My aunt says it is called elbow quilting. It looks like several people must have done the quilting because some of the lines meet!! My uncle says he remembers my grandmother having a quilt frame that could be lowered from the ceiling or raised when you were not using it.

Fabulous Find

2010-06-04T14:48:00.004-04:00

You will not believe what I found this morning. I was looking for something to put in the bottom of the Pack and Play to make it more comfortable for our little one and I found this quilt.

The minute I saw it I remembered it. I am sure that my grandmother made it.

I even went out and bought a camera so I could post these pictures. I left my good one at home.

It is hand quilted in a very interesting pattern, I don't really know how to describe it.

I am getting together with my female cousins tonight. We are all supposed to bring something and I am going to bring this quilt.

The daughter of one of my cousins is studying textiles at NC State and she will be there. These fabrics will be very interesting for her to see.

I even have a small piece of this same pink fabric.

The blocks are absolutely amazing. It is a nine patch square in a square. It is beautiful and to think of the work my grandmother put into it means so much to me.

Memorial Weekend at the beach

2010-06-02T16:46:00.002-04:00

We left Friday afternoon with the dogs and kids. We decided to take the ferry. It is out of the way but it was a beautiful day for a ferry ride. It is short, about 20 minutes, but always fun.

The weather was beautiful. Our little one is not as interested in the beach as the rest of us.

Our older grandson loves the water just like his dad. He wants to be a surfer like his father.

This huge tent was put up on the beach on Saturday. Saturday night there was a big dinner held under the tent. We could not resist the temptation to walk by and look. Sunday night was the wedding and reception under the same tent. It isn't unusual to have weddings on the beach where we are but I have never seen a tent this big set up out there.

Back to sewing. I always have trouble putting together my batting, quilt top and backing. I noticed that a lot of folks use and recommend the binder clips. I looked for them but they just were not big enough for my dining room table. I have tried tape, using the floor everything. The other day I was in the dollar store waiting for the girl that cuts my hair and I spotted these hair clips. They worked great. I wish I had gotten the bigger ones but I got more by getting this size.

I keep a protective pad on my table and these worked well holding the batting and backing down.

Back to the beach this weekend. All my female cousins (well almost all) are having a weekend together. I am so excited. My aunt is going to be with us too and a cousin's wife. It is a women's family weekend.

Quiltlet

2010-05-27T17:45:00.004-04:00

What is a "quiltlet"? It is a little quilt that is made for a big brother who does not want to give the new baby the quilt made for him!! You might remember that I made a quilt from this fabric and sent it to the my friend's new grandson. The big brother wanted it so I said hold on I will make him a small quilt of his very own. I heard from the young mother today thanking me for the little quilt. She said there was only one problem, big brother wants both!!!

So much fun to make, dogs, trains and Tarheels on the back.

The daughter of a very dear friend of mine is graduating from high school and going to North Carolina State University. Such an accomplishment deserves a special quilt.

I used my beloved Disappearing Nine Patch pattern. The black and red is stunning. My husband saw it and was very complimentary. He rarely says anything about my quilts but he loved this one.

He also did not approve of the fabric I had chosen for the backing so off to Walmart we went and found this dot fabric and actually he is right. This is perfect.

This is what is on my design wall. I worked on this last winter, put it aside to get ready to go to my workshop in Texas and now I have brought it back out. My idea is to put it together alternating the dark and light squares and add a fabulous border. Any ideas? Please feel free to make suggestions. I was thinking a spiky border with black and colors. Each square is unique. I am very excited about this one and it might just stay with me.

Off to the beach this weekend with the family. We are taking the grandsons and the dogs early tomorrow. We are taking them on the "scenic" route to the ferry. It is a short ferry ride but that is always exciting for kids. Having extra folks for dinner Saturday night. It will be fun. Next weekend all the female members of our family are having a beach weekend. I am really thrilled about that.

Finally finished

2010-05-21T10:08:00.004-04:00

I am not officially part of the Bloggers Quilt Festival. Somehow I missed the info about it but I wanted to post my recent finish of which I am most proud. Please don't ask me how long it has taken me to finish this quilt, I won't tell!

I am most proud of this quilt because it is for my older grandson. His room is done in whales. It is all free pieced and done with liberated techniques. And to top it all off I hand quilted the whole thing! I had a lot of fun doing it, and it was my first hand quilted piece.

Here he is pretending to surf like his father used to, well like he still does. Isn't it amazing what you can do with a box.

This is his very tall father, also known as my oldest son. Notice the different blues at the bottom. Gwen would be proud. I used Tonya's letters for his name. It is meant to depict the whales swimming along the surface of the water and the other sea life in the deeper water below.
I did wavy lines across the bottom to represent waves.

This is the back. I ordered fabric for the back and when I was ready to put the back, the batting and the front together I discovered that I didn't have enough. I ran out to Hancocks and got this fabric. I absolutely love it, much better than what I had to begin with.

Measure Twice

2010-05-17T17:54:00.002-04:00

A couple of years ago my darling daughter gave me some fabric for Christmas. In my own sentimental uptight way I have never been able to cut into any of it. I really wanted to use the Yoga Monkeys on the back of my Texas quilt. I measured and it was not quite wide enough or long enough so I thought I would add a piece of aqua. I cut the aqua and sewed it and it was not wide enough. So I took it out and decided to add purple, I cut again and again it was not wide enough!! So I measured twice and cut three times! This is the way it ended up.

It is different but I think I will like it. I am hand quilting this one.

I am doing free hand fans. If you have never hand quilted I would encourage you to try it. It is so relaxing when you get in to the rhythm of sewing.

I had a finish this weekend.

This might be my very favorite quilt ever. I read that many folks wash their quilts for that "old" look and I did that with this one. I love the way it turned out and it is now on the way to a brand new baby boy. I hope they enjoy it.

Bittersweet weekend

2010-05-11T16:49:00.004-04:00

What a wonderful weekend. We went up to stay with our daughter on Friday. There was a very nice party Friday night. It was wonderful to meet so many people from all over the country, really all over the world. One of our daughters friends is a couple from Israel.

Saturday we even got in some shopping at the local quilt shop. Saturday afternoon our son and his wife came and I gave my daughter in law her birthday quilt. Be careful when you go in my sewing room and admire what I am working on, it might soon be yours. Not everybody would like this color combination but I think she really liked it.

I really loved working on this quilt.

We had a great dinner Saturday night and Sunday at lunch we were all together. Our other son and oldest grandson had lunch with us. Don't you think climbing a tree is a great way for a boy to spend mothers day? I loved having all my children with me on mothers day.

Then it was off to the graduation ceremony. We didn't go to the big one, only the one for the Masters in Business program. I was so thrilled that my aunt and uncle could be with us for this special occasion.

Her graduation was in the Dean E. Smith center on the University of North Carolina campus.

We are soooo proud of our baby girl.

Monday morning her boy friend loaded all her things up, including her car, and took her off to Indiana. I am happy and thrilled for her but really sad that she is so far away. She has a very good job and so many in her class don't. She is very fortunate.

I never thought he would get the car in!!! It was tight but they got it all.

Cousins

2010-05-05T12:36:00.005-04:00

What is better than lunch and an afternoon with your cousin? Lunch and an afternoon quilting with your cousin! Our grandmother always quilting and my cousin is getting interested and finding she is obsessed too! We both agreed that we would spend hours working with fabric and quilting if we could.

One of my cousin's daughters had a baby boy in February and her other daughter is having a baby boy in June so she will have her hands full. This first quilt is for the one that is already here.

She did a great job. I love love the red sashing. It just makes the squares pop!

This one is for her grandson that is coming in June. Her daughter had used the plaid to make some tabs for curtains for the babies room. Another quilting friend helped her with this one. She had made some blocks and her friend cut it and turned them all on point! It looks great. Her other friend has a long arm machine and did a wonderful job of quilting.

We are hoping that the three of us can spend a day quilting soon. Of course my cousin and I laugh and cut up so much I am not sure how much we will get done.

Family is so important to me. When ever I feel down I think about how fortunate I am to be born in the family I have. We are a big southern family and we love getting together.

I could not resist showing you my best Hosta. I love Hostas, the others are not big at all but this one is beautiful. My day lillies are healthy and I hope will bloom soon. They are my very favorites.

Big weekend planned. Our baby is getting her MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a job in Chicago and is moving on Monday. I am happy for her but very sad that she is leaving. I want her to fly but I wish she was not flying so far away.

Progress

2010-04-22T09:27:00.003-04:00

I am surprised at how quickly this cars and trucks quilt top went together. I tried to use some liberated ideas. I really like the big blocks of color. I am ready to put the quilt sandwich together this afternoon and hopefully start machine quilting soon.

Lately I have been machine quilting parallel lines. I do wish I could become more proficient and learn to free motion. I have tried it and maybe all I need to do is practice. I don't want the quilting to dominate the design but highlight.

I am not showing all of this quilt because it is a gift. I need to do the binding and this will be finished. I love the design and I hope the person that is getting it will too!!

A bit of good news. My daughter in law is on her way home from London! We will all be relieved when she gets home.

Cars and Trucks

2010-04-18T08:18:00.003-04:00

Several weeks ago I was thinking about a quilt for my friends second grandson and I remembered a darling quilt that KT made. I just loved the cars and truck fabric. I emailed her and asked her where she got it. It is an IKEA fabric. I searched and searched and could not find it. KT generously offered a swap! I was very excited. She wanted pink fabric and I had some that was perfect for her. For some reason everyone is having boys these days.

The fabric came Friday and I decided to have my own personal quilt retreat at the beach yesterday. What a wonderful place to work. Sew, look at the ocean, walk the dogs, drink a little wine, what more could you want.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I loved what KT had done with the fabric. What can I say!

I will go home today and arrange these blocks on my design wall. I made 20 blocks yesterday. I don't know when I have completed all the blocks for a project at one time, maybe never. This is going to be a really cute quilt. Thanks KT!!!

I did not measure these blocks. I am going to put them up and fill in with fabric, just like Gwen and Freddy would do.

This is the quilt my aunt made in Texas to take to her friend in Holland for her birthday. She and my uncle were scheduled to fly out this morning but their flight is canceled and the next flight they could get is the following Saturday and they would miss the birthday party. The red line represents the connection between their houses! Notice the martini glass on the right.

Needless to say it does not look like they will be able to go. My daughter in law is also stuck in London. She has been there for 3 weeks and was supposed to come home Monday. She may be able to get a flight on Tuesday but at this point who knows. Fortunately she was able to keep her hotel room. She says the hotel is a madhouse!!

Freddy and Gwen Quilts

2010-03-30T07:54:00.005-04:00

I know that a lot of you have seen Gwen and Freddy's collaborative quilts but I thought I would post some of the ones they showed at the retreat. I love seeing them in the book but seeing them in person is fantastic. You see a lot of details that you don't see in the book.

This one above is one of my favorites and shows a truly collaborative effort. Gwen sends Freddy big boxes of squares she has made and when Gwen comes to Freddy's they put them together. Here they use the technique of putting them in columns.

I loved this one in the book and loved it in person. They each started in a corner and worked toward the middle. Notice the pieced border.

Here they used the serpentine border. I didn't try it but several did and they say it is easier than they thought.

Here is a detail of this quilt, again they arranged the squares in columns. If the strip was too long they cut it off or two short they added a piece of fabric.

It is a very interesting use of 16 patch. What a good way to use up scraps.

They did quite a few quilts with this panel, I think it is Lady of Guadalupe.

Here is the House in the Wood. The little house in the middle represents Gwens house on Beaver Island.

Here they are all together, what a riot of color!!

Texas Quilt

2010-03-22T17:18:00.005-04:00

Here are Gwen and Freddy at the retreat. I keep saying it but they are so much fun to work with.

This is the quilt top I made. I thought I would start with mine and show you some of the others later. I made a lot of the "parts" before I came. They like to use lots and lots of black and white sawtooth. Notice how it frames the central part of the quilt.

This is the center, made up of broken dishes in blues and oranges. I really like the way other patterns are created when you put the broken dishes squares together. Freddy emphasizes value, she likes to use darks, and lights rather than colors with the same value. She says if you use the same value of colors they look "mushy".

On one of the design boards that was across from me someone had done a lot of 4 patches and put them on point. The more I looked the more I fell in love with that technique. They have a really neat way of putting squares on point. Don't you just love the little star in the corner.

I asked Freddy for advice on which fabric to use and she said use them all!!! So I did.

When I put my squares up on my design board there were some gaps. Gwen loves to use sawtooth to fill in the gaps. Look at what she suggested I do in this corner. It looks like it was planned but it wasn't.

Gwen also likes to use strips of fabric for gaps. If you will notice here the strip of fabric flows into the other squares and provides interest and surprise.

I put the four square on point on three sides. I had made some spiky sawtooth and I really wanted to use it so they suggested I use it on the bottom. I had a liberated log cabin that Freddy and Gwen both liked and wanted me to use. My spiky sawtooth was not the same height as the log cabin square so I inserted the strip of red.

Here is another strip and some sawtooth inserted to fill in a gap. Notice how the purple triangles of the sawtooth and the purple of the square provide a little surprise.

Freddy and Gwen like surprises in their quilts. They like for their quilts to be interesting to look at, so that every time you look at them you see something new. They taught me so much. I wanted share some of their ideas and tips.

Home from Texas

2010-03-20T09:33:00.004-04:00

I got back last night from my week in Texas with Gwen and Freddy. It was an amazing week. I have over 100 pictures to share but I could not wait another minute to show you this one. This is Gwen Marston at MY featherweight!!!!

I learned so much and I had so much fun but I am really tired. I have so much to tell and show.

Ankle Drama pt. 3

2010-03-10T18:43:00.003-05:00

No sewing lately, nothing but sitting with my leg up. The good news is my ankle is not broken and the bad news is my ankle is not broken. I understand from the doctor that it would heal faster if it was broken. I have a severe sprain. At least I have a walking cast now and can do some moving around. I am not running any marathons but at least I am walking.

My husband has been very good but was getting tired of waiting on me. Have you ever noticed how many things you see that need doing when you can't do them! It drives me crazy. I got a lot of reading done. I read a really good book Roses by Leila Meacham. I also read Caravans by James Michener, it is about Afghanistan and very interesting.

These are some Broken Dishes squares I made before my fall. I am still off to my retreat on Sunday. There was no way I was going to miss that!

Thanks for all the great thoughts.

Ankle Drama pt. 2

2010-03-02T15:19:00.002-05:00

I went to the orthopedist today expecting to get one of those walking boots with velcro straps and this is what I came home with. Not what I was expecting at all.

I am to put no weight on my right foot for a week and then I will get a walking cast. I am to keep it elevated higher than my heart as much as possible. How in the world do you do that? Does that mean you lay on the couch all day? That is not my style. My bedroom and my sewing room are upstairs. I am not happy at all!!

My husband got me this rolling cart that you prop your knee on and roll around. Anyone that is so clumsy that they fall taking the dog out certainly isn't adept with this thing.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice please let me know.

News

2010-02-28T19:01:00.002-05:00

I found out today that what John Donne said is very true. "No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main,"

So many of you commented and told me to get to the doctor so I bit the dust about 5 and went. I am now on crutches and I have a prescription for one of those boots. My ankle has a chip and I have a grade 2 ankle sprain.

It means so much to me that many of you took the time to comment and show your concern. Thanks to my blogging buddies!! You are the best.

Good News/ Bad News

2010-02-28T14:38:00.003-05:00

I am coming along with my squares for the workshop. I love these square in a square. I love making the stars the most but the square in a square goes fast.

This is what they look like with the rest of what I have done.

I tried to make some houses but these don't speak to me at all. I am not sure what it is but I really don't like them at all.

I made these Broken Dishes yesterday and I love the look of these simple squares. I hoped to make some more today but...

In cleaning up my work area yesterday I decided to sew some strips together and got these neat blocks. I did not cut one strip or square for these, I just used what I had on my table. It is so much fun to work that way.

And the bad news is I fell this morning taking one of the dogs out and my ankle looks like there is a goose egg under the skin. I can barely walk on it and I am not sure whether to go to Urgent Care with all the sick people or just put ice on it and hope for the best.

92 Years young

2010-02-15T09:23:00.003-05:00

My mother was 92 yesterday. She is doing very well. She is at home with full time help but otherwise is doing well. We had a small party for her on Saturday with Krispy Kreme heart doughnuts!

In her day my mother was a great seamstress and quilter. Her quilts are traditional and beautiful.

I have been busy with mother's party and a sick grandson. Also, we had snow Friday night. We woke up to gorgeous snow Saturday morning. It was a perfect snow, about 4 inches but wet and fluffy. It didn't interfere with anything anybody had to do. The kids could get out and have a great time.

I have not done much sewing, I made a little black and white sawtooth border yesterday. My sewing machine is getting lonely.

Mini retreat

2010-02-05T16:46:00.004-05:00

My aunt and I had a mini-retreat this week. I went to see her on Tuesday so we could make some of the squares we are to take to Texas.

I did these last weekend. Gwen suggested making some black and white sawtooth. She said Freddy likes to use that to break things up.

This is 4 Broken Dishes put together. I love the way this looks.

This is a 4 blocks that I will use for a Wild Goose Border. These blocks are actually fairly small so I will need a bunch more.

My aunt and I made some Liberated Shoo Flys. Her fabric was beautiful.

This is my first liberated shoo fly.

We also did some spiky saw tooth border. This is great fun and so liberated.

My shoo fly blocks.

I just love the look of the Spiky Border with the Liberated Shoo Fly. I am trying to be totally "Gwen" in my choice of fabrics.

My aunt and I had a great time. She had made a delicious carrot soup and for dinner we had a southwestern chicken soup. She wanted something easy so we could spend more time sewing. I was also able to visit with my daughter. My daughter is always so much fun to be around!

My goal this weekend is to do some black and white 4 patches and put them on point to possible use for a border. We have rain today and maybe some snow tomorrow.

Is winter ever going to be over?!!!!

SNOW!!!

2010-01-30T08:40:00.004-05:00

We have snow! That is a very unusual event for us. It is sleeting and snowing this morning. It is also very cold, well cold for us.

If you are used to snow you would really laugh. Everyone is freaking. The grocery stores were slammed yesterday. No one is going anywhere today, everything is closed! What in the world do you do with the dogs when the weather is like this?

We have plenty to eat and plenty of wine. I made a big pot of my own version of pasta fagioli that delicious soup from Olive Garden. I took my own chili recipe and added celery, carrots and small pasta. YUM!

Thanks to Tonya for suggesting I call Gwen with my questions. I talked to her yesterday afternoon and she is so gracious and fun to talk with. I am so excited about working with her for a week. The website says the class is still open if anyone is interested. This is the link to Quilting Adventures.

And our sweet little boy is walking!! He will be one on Tuesday. He and his brother are so precious. The other grandparents are here this week so we get a break.

We are expecting snow and sleet the rest of the day. Guess I will just have to sew!!

Very Important Question

2010-01-24T18:11:00.003-05:00

My hubby and I have had a wonderful weekend even though we are both fighting a cold that we got from the grandsons. Friday night we had dinner with my uncle and my cousin and his wife at the neatest restaurant about 30 miles from us. It is a very uptown place but in a small town. Great food and always a lot of fun. Saturday night we went to eat steamed oysters with my cousin and his wife. I love steamed oysters although I know that a lot of folks don't. It was a very rustic place. You sit at a bar and someone opens the oysters for you. You have a hot sauce and melted butter. You have to have saltine cracker and beer with them! It is great.

I did have a chance to work on this quilt for a young woman in my Bible study. I really enjoy that group because there are all ages. By the way those clips that look like hair clips are great when you are sewing down the binding. I used flannel on the back. I have never done that before but I really like it.

I also made my version of chicken corn chowder this afternoon. I don't like cream based chowders and this was actually turkey. I used lots of brown rice, carrots, celery and onions. YUM

Ok here is the question. My aunt and I are doing a workshop with Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran in March. You have to make some squares and take them. The directions say "Make at least 6 of the suggested blocks and make no less than 12." Does this mean make 12 of each block you choose? For example, make 12 liberated stars.

Has anyone ever done a The Parts Department workshop with Gwen and Freddy or do you know someone that has? We really need some clarification on what to do.

We are getting together in Chapel Hill this weekend so we can work together. I would really appreciate any input you might give us. Thanks.

Fun Weekend

2010-01-17T17:45:00.004-05:00

What a fun weekend. I really wanted to make a quilt for one of my young Bible study friends. I had already fussy cut some nursery rhyme fabrics. This went together so easy and I love it. I want to put a small yellow border in addition to the blue. I made one similar to this last spring but used white as sashing.

Guess what came in the mail Friday!!!!! Oh yes Liberated Quiltmaking II.

Gwen has done it again. This new book does not take the place of her first Liberated Quiltmaking but it is very good. I absolutely adore reading Gwen. You can hear her talking when you read it. She does not take herself too seriously. One of my favorite quotes. "This isn't rocket science, all we are doing is sewing pieces of fabric together. " Isn't it the truth? Who cares of the points match? If it is too small add a strip, too large cut it off! You have to get this book!

This is one of Gwen's liberated star quilts.

Gwen spends a good deal of time on her basket quilts. I have to say it doesn't really speak to me right at the moment. I have seen some great basket quilts and maybe it will soon be something I want to try.

We also had a very good service at church today.

I will need to remember my good weekend this week. I have a colonoscopy scheduled for Tuesday. YUK!!! I hear the procedure is no big deal but what you have to do before is pretty bad! Wish me luck.

Busy Boy

2010-01-14T17:57:00.002-05:00

I haven't been sewing much and this is why. Our little one is so close to walking. He can crawl faster than you can walk and he is into everything!!! He is helping me sort the mail!

How can you get upset with someone that is that cute?

What is more fascinating than Nana's cabinets? He sure can make a mess!!

I am still working with my blacks and whites. I made a quick trip to the quilt shop yesterday to find some more prints. I love these. Maybe I will have time this weekend to work a bit.

We started a new Bible study last night. We are doing Beth Moore's study of 15 psalms. We are looking as Psalms 120-134, they are called the Psalms of Ascent. Beth went to Jerusalem to film some of the intros. I am very excited about looking at the psalms in detail. One thing I really enjoy is that there are women of all ages in our group. Some of us have been together for a year. One of the young women is having a baby so I thought I would make her one of my nursery rhyme quilts. I have the nursery rhyme fabrics already fussy cut so it is fairly easy to put together.

Happy Birthday to the KING

2010-01-08T09:46:00.004-05:00

Today is Elvis's birthday. Lets all pause and remember! Listen to Hound Dog or Love Me Tender or Jailhouse Rock today.

This is my black and white quilt. I am so pleased with the way this is developing. Each square is a little composition. My husband even commented on it and he never says anything about what is on my design wall unless I ask him. He walked in the other day and said wow that looks great. I am trying to put a little color in each block. I would like to make two black and white quilts for the single beds in one of my bedrooms. It will be a long term project, each of these squares is 7 1/2 so I will need at least 88!

I haven't had much time to sew this week. I got my boys back and we all had to get back into our routine. Do you notice my sewing machine calling to me?

There is a great Quilting and Fiber Arts Marketplace in Sanford, NC on Saturday if anyone is in that area. My local quilt shop owner told me about it. They are bringing about 35+ small shops together in one place. Should be fun.

Good Bye 2009!

2009-12-30T18:03:00.002-05:00

My cousin had this quote on Facebook:

There's an ancient Chinese curse/blessing that says "May you live in interesting times!" That's the way 2009 has been, and I for one am EAGER for the new year! May all your wishes come true, all your resolutions turn out well, and may you live a year of hope, joy and service!

I could not have said it better. I want to say I am glad 2009 is over but it sounds so much more positive to say I am looking forward to the new year.

Our holiday was great. We had family here and a crowd the day after Christmas. It was so much fun. We got together with my husband's mother's family last night. My aunt, her daughter in law and 3 grandchildren came today. They had a blast with my two grandsons. My aunt said we used to spend the week between Christmas and New Years visiting and we don't do that any more.

My kids went together and bought me a Kindle. They know how I love to read. Does anyone else have one and how do you like it? The funny thing is we gave our daughter one too! She is going to be traveling with her new job and she thought she would really use it.

My daughter in laws mother sent me a huge bag of remnants. There is nothing a quilter loves better than free fabric. There are lots of very interesting fabrics, different from what I would buy and I like the diversity.

I got some time to sew today. I have wanted to do something with black and white. At first I had thought I would do a snails trail with black and white but I think I am going to do something more graphic. What do you think? I trimmed the blocks to 7 1/2". I might use them for bedspreads on the twin beds in one of my extra rooms.

Happy New Year to everyone!! I appreciate all my blogging friends, thank you so much for your support.

Happy Holiday

2009-12-22T20:22:00.002-05:00

Our house renovations are complete. Including our porch being closed in! We moved the furniture in today. We are very excited.

I have really enjoyed reading everyone's blog the last couple of weeks and reading about all the holiday plans. Barb is visiting her sons for the holidays. Victoria at Bumble Beans is enjoying the city and had a beautiful snow last weekend. Finn also has neat pictures of the snow, it really looks like Christmas where she is. Even Tonya had snow and a new car even though it is buried under the snow. Lots of you are planning to travel for the holidays and lots are expecting family to visit them. I hope everyone has a wonderful time and remembers the real meaning of the holiday.

I have four wreaths at different places in the house and this is my favorite. I didn't have a place to hang it to I put it on the inside of the front door.

Don't you just love pre-lit trees!

We have a local nursery that sells the most beautiful poinsettias. I remember when you only got them from the florist. Over 35 years ago I so wanted one. My husband came home on Christmas Eve with one. They had some at his work and they drew for them and he won! I will never forget how beautiful it was.

We are having a bunch of family the day after Christmas. We are really looking forward to everyone being together.

Next week when things calm down I am sewing, taking time for myself.

Merry Christmas to all

Holiday Hiatus

2009-12-10T17:34:00.003-05:00

Hiatus: 1. A gap or interruption in space, time, or continuity; a break

After Thanksgiving I had lots of ideas and even started what I thought might be a placemat.

The more I thought about it the more I wondered if making Christmas placemats was a good use of my time. I have not bought a lot of gifts, we are trying to finish up our remodeling project, and I know this does not apply to anyone but me but my house needs cleaning.

We have decided to close in our screened porch. It won't be glassed in it is a new product with clear mylar panels that can be lowered and you have screen or raised and you are weather proof. We are hoping it will be finished by Christmas and I really want some furniture so we can use the room when everyone is home. We have been shopping for our new room. I am really excited.

And there are so many little things to be taken care of. Lights to put up, doors to be painted. Please let them be finished soon. I am tired of my space being invaded.

I did do a little sewing on my black and white snails trail. I am not sure how I like the one with the black on the right.

We are taking our older grandson to Disney on Ice on Sunday for his birthday. His birthday is Christmas Day! It should be fun for all.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with family and friends. Remember all of those who aren't as fortunate. I will see you on the other side. I will continue to read all the wonderful blogs out there. I enjoy everyone's blog so much.

Turkey soup

2009-11-30T18:33:00.004-05:00

You know Thanksgiving is over when you make turkey soup which is what I did today. We had a wonderful holiday. We had dinner with my aunt and her family. Isn't her table beautiful? I love a beautiful table. I think Thanksgiving may be my favorite holiday. There is not the pressure of Christmas and you almost always are with your family. If you don't want to cook you can even order a whole meal from the grocery store! I have done that before and it isn't bad.

The greatest thing for me is that the members of my family are also my friends.

This is what the turkey looked like when my cousin finished carving. My other cousin's sweet potato biscuits were to die for. We had so much food and it was all so good.

My aunt and I visited our favorite quilt shop on Friday and I found some great fabrics. I actually followed a lady around to grab the piece on the right.

These are for my black and white snails trail.

My aunt is giving some of her stash away and I got these two great prints. Aren't they darling?

We got home on Saturday and I got some time to sew on Sunday. I have put together my snails trail but I have no idea where to go from here. I want to add a border but that may have to wait until after Christmas.

I hope to do a couple of Christmas placemats. And I do need to do some shopping!! I can't decorate until they finish with my house. Oh well!!

Gobble Gobble

2009-11-25T08:29:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all. My husband and I are getting away from all the mess at our house. We are having dinner tomorrow with my favorite aunt and uncle. All the kids are off on their own adventures. My aunt and I hope to hit at least one quilt shop on Friday.

I hope everyone has a safe, fun filled holiday. Don't eat too much!!

Mr. Turkey, thanks to my grandson who is obviously an artist.

A Mess!

2009-11-19T17:37:00.004-05:00

Our yard, our house is a big mess! We do have a new roof and they have made some repairs. Rain prevented the people doing the siding working today. But they could have come and picked up some of the shingles they took off the roof.

There was a really bad place outside our kitchen door and they repaired it yesterday. My dining room is on the other side and yes they did come through the wall, UGH!!

And try getting kids to take naps when folks are banging on the roof!

This is not our truck and you can't see it very well but it is full of the old shingles they took off.

There is stuff all over the yard and we have a big yard. It makes things in the house seem so out of order. Oh well, it will be great when they finish.

I did get up to my studio this afternoon. I made a few more snails trail squares. I got lots of great advice. Thanks so much for your help. Some said keep the coral and some said no. Actually in person it sticks out but not like in the picture. I have rearranged them a bit and I really like this. It is more orderly than I had before. Ok now give me some suggestions for quilting these squares. I really like the patterns that emerge that you didn't expect. Yes I know some swirl one way and some another. I did that on purpose.

I think I will use all the four squares I have over for the border.

Now this is my next project and it is hard not to give up on what I have started and work on this. I have seen so many of you do things with black and white. I am going to do snails trails with black and white fabrics only! I am doing a snails trail series of quilts. Last fall and winter I did several D9P. I really enjoy doing more than one quilt using a particular technique. You can really explore different aspects of the pattern.

Where is the sun?

2009-11-14T15:53:00.002-05:00

We have had four days of rain, drizzle, clouds and wind. Every day we wake up and hope we will see the sun but so far no luck. The weather man said sun today but he was wrong! I know some of you would not think it is cold but it is hanging in the 50s and with the wind it feels cold to us southerners!

I did get upstairs to sew a bit this afternoon. I am working on my snails trail and liking it so far but I need some advice. First how do you like the bright one on the upper left. That is not pink but it looks pink in the picture. It is actually a coral. It is a beautiful color but I am wondering if it is too bright. I could take both that square and the purple out and make it more muted.

I am also considering putting the squares in groups of 4 with sashing. Yes I know some of them swirl clockwise and some the other way. Personally I like them that way. It adds some visual interest.

I needed more room on my design wall and moved my houses over. I actually like the haphazard way they are arranged. I wish I had about 2 days to do nothing but sew and make more houses and more snails trails. It doesn't seem like there is enough time.

I do a lot of thinking while I am sewing and I have been thinking about the challenges to finish UFOs before the end of the year. I didn't do any of them because I just didn't know how much time I would have and I didn't want the added pressure. I learned when I was teaching that everyone had a unique level of what they can handle. I also think your level may change as you get older. I used to be able to juggle three children and a full time job. I almost always put a meal on the table that I prepared myself. I enjoyed it but I could not do it now. What I am saying is we should all be more tolerant of each other and easier on ourselves. Almost everybody I know does a great job of handling their life. Somebody may do more than the next person but maybe that person is doing the best they can.

I am amazed at how much some of you accomplish while I am plugging along. I celebrate all of you hard workers and hope you will be tolerant of us slowpokes!

Go Away Rain!

2009-11-11T17:47:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful relaxing weekend. Does this looked relaxed to you? Would you believe he didn't catch a thing! But he had a good time.

We are having some work done to the outside of our house and the first thing that was done was to take out a huge pine tree that was right in front of our front door. I am always amazed at folks that take down trees.

This guy took a chain saw and laid the tree right down in the only place in the front yard where there was enough room! The next thing is to put the roof on but we are getting the remnants of Hurricane Ida and it has rained all day. Good for me because I was in the studio sewing all day. I will post pictures soon! But bad for what we need done.

Flat Boy

2009-11-07T11:54:00.003-05:00

My cousin's son is in the second grade and he has a little friend who we will call Flat Boy. Flat Boy is traveling around to friends and family and keeping a journal of his adventures. We were lucky enough to have Flat Boy spend a couple of days with us.

He met our dog Gus.

He had breakfast with us one morning. You have to look closely, that is him in the middle of the table in front of the sausage.

He even was able to go to school with our grandson one day.

It has been so much fun having Flat Boy stay with us and he is no trouble at all. I am anxious to see what other places he gets to travel to.

I haven't been sewing much this week. I am still working on my Snails Trail. I ran by the fabric store the other day. I only had a minute and I needed one specific color, sort of a azure blue and believe it or not they had the exact color I needed. How many times does that happen?

Charm blocks

2009-10-28T08:09:00.002-04:00

My daughter in law surprised me this weekend with some charm blocks. I have never used them before. I have made several quilts for her to give friends who are having babies. She honestly didn't need to give me anything because I really enjoyed making them. I don't really know how to use them but it seems like endless possibilities. I would love to use them to make a coin quilt.

She also brought me this darling robot fabric. This will make a great back or maybe I could fussy cut some of the characters. Don't you just love the colors?

We had a wonderful weekend. Our youngest grandson was baptized. He did so well. He doesn't like strangers and I was afraid he would cry when the minister took him but he didn't. It was so great to have everyone here even if it was just for a short while.

I was messing around yesterday and did some snails trail. I think the purple is a bit strong. I really enjoy making these blocks. I think I will use some different colors and see how that works.

What was the most fun for me was figuring out how big to make the next layer of squares by using that famous old theorem of Pythagoras. Well you know us old math teachers have weird ways of having fun!! I should do a tutorial. This is one of those blocks that is much simpler than it looks.

Yes I did use a calculator for those nasty square roots.

Thanks so much for all the wonderful suggestions on my house quilt. It is up on my design board and I am just going to look at it for awhile. I think I need to use softer colors if I do sashing. I am also making some different size houses. I can actually add to some of the houses I have already done to make the sizes vary a bit. I love the liberated way of working but it does take a lot of creative energy. Sometimes it is soothing to work on something simple that doesn't require so much creativity.

Whack Whack

2009-10-22T14:50:00.003-04:00

I made these blocks a couple of years ago and they had been in a drawer ever since. They are Jan Mullen butterflies. For some reason they never spoke to me. I would get them out occasionally and look at them but never could figure out how to use them.

I love the fabrics so I thought lets cut them up! So whack, whack and each block was turned into 4 blocks. You can't imagine how liberating it is to whack up quilt blocks!! It releases a lot of tension.

I took the one of the blocks and made it into a house. I may make houses out of the rest or use them is some other way. The angles that are formed when you cut them up are really interesting.

This is where I am so far. I welcome any suggestions. I was thinking of a bold sashing or possibly putting 4 blocks together. All the houses are 8 1/2", maybe I should make some taller or thinner. Maybe a more subtle sashing would work.

I am a doting grandmother and I don't apologize. I have to include this picture of my "helpers". Why are stairs so fascinating to crawlers?

Notice the tool belt! This boy is going to be a hand man!

Two finishes

2009-10-17T17:59:00.002-04:00

I have finished two more baby quilts. One is for a friend of my daughters and one for a friend of my daughter in law.

They will both be here next weekend for our youngest grandson's baptism. I am looking forward to a wonderful family weekend.

I am working on my scrap blocks and making houses out of them. I think I will call this my Sanity quilt and make it for myself. I have never made myself a quilt. Then this winter I can do the hand quilting. I am varying some of the backgrounds. What do you think? I thought I would do the wonky stars for a border. Do you like my new "design" wall? It is a couple of plastic tablecloths from Target.

Did you see the interview with Dan Brown last night? I was fascinated with what he had to say about the Free Masons. I bought his book at Sams Club the other day. I was going to wait and read it later on but it sounds so interesting I am going to start it tonight. Anybody read it yet?

My mother has a young woman with her now. My husband and I visited an assisted living facility the other day. I don't know if that is the best thing for my mother or not. It is so hard to know what to do.