A Baby Shower, Popcorn and a Handy Tip

We hosted a baby shower for our Pastor's wife here at the house on Saturday. It was a glorious occasion, well-attended and the Mom-to-be was showered indeed! Their little one will be warm, cozy and well dressed for the foreseeable future!

Naturally, I was especially touched to see her receive three handmade quilts! A beautiful string quilt that is meant to serve as a play mat for tummy-time and dragging around, as directed by its maker.

A sweet flannel quilt; oh, so warm and cozy.

I made her a pinwheel quilt from the scraps left over from their wedding quilt four years ago. That quilt had some rose-tones and pinks in it, which I pulled out since the baby is a boy. If they have a girl sometime in the future I can make her a pillow, perhaps a small one, as that bin of leftovers is almost depleted now! There were so many lovely gifts; handmade bibs which I need to see if I can get the pattern for and a gorgeous hand-knitted blanket.

Sew, what else have I been up to? I will report back as there are a few surprises that I can't reveal right now but "Sew Berry Sweet" is loaded on the longarm. This top was made using the Hex N More ruler back in 2018, it was offered as a block-of-the-month at our LQS. It's been hanging in the stash closet for the last eight years and I finally got around to getting a backing fabric and moving it to the the front of the TBQ* line. I deliberated for days on end as to how I would quilt it. I drew up elaborate custom quilting designs and finally decided to ditch those plans and quilt it with the Popcorn pantograph from Willow Leaf Designs. I'm happy with the results, I believe that this is a whimsical and fun design and the popcorn only adds to the fun!

This is my Bernina 125 Activa machine that I take on quilting retreats. It's a perfect portable machine,but as you can see the "case" that it came with is nothing more than a glorified dust cover. It has pockets on either end for the power cord and foot pedal. Very basic and it isn't protected all that well for travel. 

So, I  had seen on Instagram that Trader Joe's had these insulated cooler bags in for the summer months at the almost unheard of price of $8.99. They were being touted as the perfect size to hold, and protect, a sewing machine. I ran by there to today to check it out.

Yes, one followed me home. Does it fit? Like. A. Glove.

Perfection!

I don't know how they can make these and sell them for $8.99

(it seems like I'd have that much invested after buying just the zipper)!

You're welcome. 

Life is Good!

*TBQ = to be quilted

Stitch by Stitch...

Stitch by stitch, evening after evening, my own version of Sarah Barker's sampler is finally complete 186 years after Sarah finished hers. I began this piece in January. Everything about working on this sampler has delighted me. If you've been a reader here for a while you may recall a post that I did many years back regarding a thimble that my grandmother gave to me. I am including the link here, for context. A friend discovered this sampler pattern and alerted me to it a few years back. I have done some research through my hometown document center to see if this sampler could possibly be one made by the original owner of my thimble. The dates align. There were six nine year old girls named Sarah Elizabeth Barker living in the United States in 1840. Considering the fact that this child had her own gold, monogrammed, thimble; and the high quality of needlework skills exhibited in this piece of work, chances are high that this sampler was made by the same person as the one buried in my hometown. I am going with that. I have switched out the colors of mine from the original. Now to look at framing options. Here is the pattern as printed:

Moving on from handwork to the longarm~ "America 250"  is finally quilted and the binding has been prepared. I ran into a huge obstacle on this one! Somehow my upper thread path became undone somewhere along the line and while advancing the quilt to do the next row I discovered a huge tangled mess of threads on the backside. That one single row that took, maybe, 15 minutes to stich took me 2 days to pick out!  Lesson learned~ slow down, pay attention! Groan. This quilt will be the ultimate patriotic picnic quilt, take a look at the backing fabric; isn't it just great? Just add fried chicken and lemonade!

"America 250" ~ pantograph is "Becker's Shooting Star" from Urban Elementz.

God bless America!

SEW, what's under your needle these days?

Life is Good!

From Our Home to Yours

Life is Good!

Midnight Munchers and Other Happenings

Yesterday morning I sat down on the front steps to tie up my walking shoes and suddenly stopped... where there had been abundant Geranium blooms only the afternoon before, now there were only chewed-off bare stems!  Groan. The midnight munchers (deer) have been at it again. I use a product that works well in the perennial garden but hadn't even considered our front steps! I've never known them to eat Geraniums before either. I mixed up a batch of "I Must Garden" after our early morning walk was concluded and discovered the Hosta blossoms and the entire Clematis vine climbing up the lampost just behind it had been torn apart as well. Time to be proactive and spray around everything. The product is linked above; I've been using it for a few years now and find it to be highly effective. I just need to remember to be diligent in its use.  

So, while I am trying to repel some living creatures from our yard...

...I'm also determined to bring others back! The Goldfinch had been conspicuously absent this year; until a neighbor told me about feeding Sunflower Hearts & Chips. Well, what do you know? Slowly, a few more each day, they have returned. They absolutely love this seed... maybe a little too much! $$$!! My plan is to switch them back to Thistle seed, which I already have on hand but now I'm worried that they may leave again if I do that. I just don't know.

The Bluebirds have returned to raise a second family already.

And this, from the orchard. Our first ever apple. But, on the entire apple tree, only the one! Why? Maybe it's the same old story as I started with... perhaps it's the midnight munchers; they're particularly fond of our peaches out there too. It's hard to keep up.

Meanwhile, back inside the house... is there a quilter in this country who's not working on a R,W & B quilt in celebration of America 250 this year? Count me in with all the rest. 

Even the trimmings are patriotic!

Work on my version of the Sarah Barker sampler continues in the evenings; seemingly with no end in sight. When I embarked upon this project I had no idea it would take forever; however, it is actually larger than I had envisioned as well as a labor of love; I must say that I am truly enjoying the slow pace and the results. It's a pleasure to return to night after night. Undoubtedly, I will be sad when it's completed, she and I have become a good friends. 

I've got a surprise (WITH ATTITUDE!) loaded onto the longarm right now (speaking of projects that have dragged on for an eternity) and am eager to reveal it soon (I hope)! Someone is keeping an eye on me while I work, it's good to be held accountable. 

SEW... what's new with you?

Life is Good!

Queen B

Let me introduce you to Bernita, seated, in this photo; here she is with her quilting buddies yesterday. Bernita is a resident in a local care facility, a lifelong seamstress and crafter who was bitten by the quilting bug in 1961 when she was gifted a Sunbonnet Sue baby quilt at a baby shower for her soon-to-be-born daughter.  

                                                         The quilt that started it all!

Yesterday Bernita was honored at her residence by presenting a one-woman quilt show; wonderful in absolutely every way! Bernita showcased a body of work through the years that could be rivaled by none. Amazingly, and to her absolute attention to detail and organization, she has documented each work of art with the quilt's name, date, where she was living at the time, who the quilt was made for and what inspired its creation. This documentation is such a gift in itself! I am so happy that she had this opportunity to share her love of quilts with all of her friends and loved ones in such a special way! 

As you can see here, her many quilts are varied and exceptional,both in craftmanship and detail. I asked her if she felt like "Queen For A Day?" She smiled and said "yes, you can call me Queen B"! I will do that, for sure! I'm including the poem that she recited below, maybe some of you are familiar with it. It is precious. I've been bitten by that same bug and am so thankful every day that there is no known cure. Congratulations, Bernita! You are an inspiration!

Life is Good!

While We Were Away...

We traveled to western Illinois last month for the funeral of an extended family member. Beautiful country nearing the Mississippi River; rich soil, sprawling acreage dotted with family farms. There was a quilt in the Fellowship Hall there, this one commemorating the church’s 150th anniversary back in 2009. I'm drawn to them. While the guests that day were enjoying a lovely reception of foods prepared by the ladies of the church I was studying the church's history, Immanuel Lutheran in Altona, as it was portrayed through this beautifully crafted wall quilt. I've said it before; every quilt tells a story!

This church has great sentimental connection for my husband, 

Mr. G's grandfather was called here as the pastor from 1946-1955; 

he has many memories from this place.

From western Illinois we traveled east to Buffalo and then on to New Hampshire to celebrate my Dad's 98th birthday with him in his home. It was a very special day!

The next day we took Dad down to his hometown in Massachusetts, the the Historic Document Center there where he recorded an oral history for posterity. Although he looks deep in thought in this picture he had a wonderful time remembering his many and varied experiences on the highway department, the fire department and even had a few stories (that I'd never heard before) about growing up as a young boy in town, the adventures that he had and mischief that he got himself into! It was a wonderful day!

We returned home to an abundance of Iris in bloom, a newly hatched family of baby bluebirds, an abundance of strawberries at a nearby farm and Peonies ready to pop! That's about it for this catch-up account of where I've been and what's new (one of those afore-mentioned posts that I had composed over and over in my mind but never committed to). 

*As I write this today, Mama Bluebird is sitting on a second batch of eggs 

for the season; the babies shown above have already grown and fledged. New life abounds!*

What's new with you?

Life is Good!

Are You Still There?

In my last post, well over a month ago(!) regarding breathing new life into these quilts I asked you to stay tuned... and then I, seemingly, evaporated! Nothing terrible has happened, we've been away for a bit but life gets busy and this blog has been back-burnered for weeks. Not that I hadn't thought about posting, I had written many drafts; but only in my mind.

Last week our DIL came over, we got all three of these tops (see full story here, in previous post) loaded and she quilted them all; in one day! The next day she made the bindings and attached them to each one. She’s determined and focused! 

I snapped this picture of one of the blocks, look at that center square... no piece was too small. Nothing, even the tiniest scrap, was overlooked; it was stitched together and used!

Our DIL worked tirelessly and all three of these quilts were presented on Sunday! 💗

Speaking of quilt presentations on Sunday...  we recognized our high school graduates at church, they were presented with gifts from the congregation and quilts representing the chosen schools where they will continue their education. These were finished just in time! 

It was an occasion to celebrate!

Life is Good!

Thanks for your patience with this absentee blogger.

I'm still here and if you're reading this, you are too!

I am grateful.