Rainy Afternoon

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.