One Day At A Time

Its been a while, I know that. Time marches on, one day at a time, and before you know it a month (or more) has passed! Suffice it to say that the days have been busy ones, and it's all good. I'm going to hit the highlights with loads of photos here, simply as a way to catch up. It's good to be back! Augie is now two years old! That hardly seems possible. He was proud to receive a blessing from Pastor at an outdoor service honoring St. Francis last month. 

The birthday boy with his new toys.

Augie isn't the only one celebrating; both Lucy Ann and Gregory have each recently observed their 14th birthdays!  Those of you who've been longtime readers will remember (seemingly not that long ago!) them as babies, see what I mean about time flying by and losing track as the days evaporate one into the next?

In the studio: a memory quilt for my SIL is s-l-o-w-l-y taking shape on the design wall, it's going to be made up entirely from her husband's shirts. I hope to have this one pieced, quilted and ready for Christmas.

My side-kick thinks that the bin of deconstructed shirt pieces is a comfy spot especially for him. 😬

Nope, I don't think so.

🎂

 I'd like to wish a special friend a very happy birthday today! 

She shared with me yesterday that she was born on the very day that 

Herbert Hoover was elected; here's hoping your day is a great one, Mary! 

Life is Good!

DeRailed

"DeRailed" was a departure quilt for me; something completely out of my comfort zone. I picked up a stack of fat quarters that I had been hoarding for a while and copy of the book Cultural Fusion Quilts by Sujata Shah after seeing a quilt using this construction method on Quiltdivajulie's's blog: Me and My Quilts, Exploring the Possibilities. I knew right away that I wanted to give this pattern a try, this blogging buddy of mine always has the best ideas. At that time I had been stalled, creatively, and needed to give my piecing a jump start. This did the trick, it got me back on track! I chose to use the Rail Fence pattern from the book, there are lots of others too that employ the very liberating technique of free-cutting gentle curves with the rotary cutter and stitching the curves together into unique, distinctive units. My blocks ended up 16"; the quilt, a generous 64" X 80" overall.

A close up of the vibrant colors and quilting: "Splashing" panotgraph by Beany Girl Quilts.

And the back side: precious rabbits, paired up two by two, in that distinctive green color; this fabric is what I used for the binding too. It was a beautiful day for snapshots today on the patio.

And one more thing-- this plant. It is also a distinctive green, I love it; it's pretty to look at and wonderfully scented too!  It was labeled a "mosquito plant" at the nursery, it is citronella. It should repel insects when we're sitting outside in the evenings, let's hope it works.

Life is Good!

This, That and The Other Thing

There's been lots going on: random things-- this, that and the other thing; think of this as a potpourri post, a way to catch up all at once. I wanted to brag on my daughter-in-law. She's been having lots of fun with her Cameo Silhouette electronic cutter; she's created wonderful iron-on transfers for T-shirts, dresses and household items as well as labels for everything... I asked her if she would make me a "water" label to differentiate this spray bottle that I use for thinning royal icing from an identical bottle of homemade granite cleaner for the kitchen (I wouldn't want to mix up those two!). She rose to the occasion, creating word art at its finest! I love this water bottle now, there's no doubt as to its contents.

While on retreat at the beginning of this month I stitched up a whole heap of pretty little Charger Cord-Wraps for myself and for gifts. My drawers are pretty again, no more charger cord tangles! I found the tutorial here.

The storm of last week loaned itself to some lovely photo-ops, I got lucky with this one; our state bird.

Before the snow flew our neighbor completed a gorgeous picnic table and bench for his family; he was proud to take it home. Ben has been a woodworker's apprentice in Mr. Goodneedle's workshop for over a year now. He seems pleased in this photo with the finished product, as does his mentor!

In preparation for The Quilt Block Bible (book by Rosemary Youngs) Study this week, I have completed and written up directions for five more blocks. I'm chipping away, block by block.  These were pretty straight-forward piecing. I have a pile of applique blocks to catch up on. I will do those by hand and am saving them for road trips and down-time handwork.

Through the piecing of "Rustic Rails" (see yesterday's post) and the aforementioned Bible Study blocks I have been adding to a second tumbler charm quilt top (the first was completed last summer) it is also being sewn Leader-Ender (thanks, Bonnie!) style, this one has grown by leaps and bounds as other piecing is accomplished.  I plan to keep both of these quilts in the cars in case of emergencies; one never knows when a quilt might be needed.

Pre-cut tumbler scraps, lights and darks, reside in their own little bins right beside the machine ensuring that every time something passes beneath the presser foot something else is accomplished simultaneously. Can you say efficient?  That's it for this random catch-up post; hopefully subsequent posts will be more single-subject structured and easier to keep up with!

Life is Good!

The Learning Curve

Metro Rings pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful.

My classes have concluded, block #1 is done,

eleven more to go... 

Life is Good!

Lucky 13

Can you imagine, in your wildest dream, being given thirteen quilt tops that are masterfully and beautifully designed and stitched? It's hard to believe, but this is the gift recently received by our Quilt Ministry! One of our members brought these to us after visiting with her parents in Minnesota. Her Mom and Dad are former longarmers; they've given that up due to the physical strain associated with loading and unloading quilts, they are of advanced age and simply couldn't do that anymore. Her mother, however, cannot stop piecing quilt tops... and, so, we are the beneficiaries of her talented hands and generous heart! It just doesn't get any better than this. Quilt dreams really do come true.

Life is Good!

And Sew It Goes!

How would you celebrate two recent quilt finishes? A party? No! Start a new quilt? Of course! I have another grandchild turning two years old next month and you know that that means: another Picture Play Quilt! (When I told you that this book is the most used book in my quilt book library I wasn't lying!) This will be Gregory's bedspread in his soon-to-be "big boy" bedroom, as he will be vacating the Big Bird nursery before too long to make room for his soon-to-be baby sister! The piecing on this one is going quickly, the blocks are stacked in order and joined together as time allows, row by row! And sew it goes...

Life is Good!

Quilting Quadrathlon

For the morning warm-up: a few laps of machine quilting...

 It dawned on me last evening when I settled down to hand quilt on my  Crumb Baskets quilt project that I had been working on FOUR different quilts yesterday; yep, count 'em,  four!  According to Wikipedia:
a quadrathlon (or quadriathlon) is an endurance sports event composed of four individual disciplines. All four disciplines are completed in succession and the lowest overall time decides the winner. 
Okay, so maybe I'm not competing for the lowest overall time, or fully completing each event, but my quilting endurance consists of four individual disciplines performed in succession!

Before lunch all the squares were trimmed and placed in position, some design work...

A machine appliqué block springs to life in the afternoon...

Cooling down... after a full day of various techniques,
some hand quilting to end the day, for centering and balance.

Yes, I'm a quadrathalete alright, one of the quilting variety!
Life is Good!

What's For Dinner And Other Excitement

We were delighted to learn that our nephew, his wife and their two young daughters are planning to stop by and stay with us for a few days on their way back home to the midwest after vacationing at Myrtle Beach. I've  been pulling out some recipes for meals to fix while they're here when my husband enlightened me (after speaking to his brother, the girls' grandfather). Their favorite foods are: popcorn, potato chips, ice cream, macaroni and cheese and Cheerios. Oh, good... that's  just exactly what I was planning on serving! ?! 

Just when this Nana's heart is full to overflowing comes the
joyful news that there's going to be one more... the heart expands, and love grows!

...as does this GIANT quilt top...
just wait until the North and South arrive.
Life is Good!

Bow Tie Beauty!

This quilt was made by my mother last year, parts of it are pieced by...drumroll... hand! When's the last time you heard that? Sundance and I quilted it for her and it is going in the mail and off to her today. She'll bind it and be snuggling under it soon, I'm sure it will be a happy reunion.

Life is Good!

Puppy Parade!

I hope these puppies are patient, they're going to have to wait their place in line ("down-stay"!) before they get their date with Sundance. This flimsy measures 50" X 60" and is from the pattern Nickel Dogs by Me and My Sister Designs. My pups are stitched from some of the leftover charm squares that didn't make it into my Postage Stamp Basket quilt from this past summer. Even though I have had a few false starts on this one, (reading the written directions is always a good idea!) I loved every minute of working on this quilt. I'm going to need to ponder some quilting ideas, perhaps it will "speak" to me, at some point, in that regard! If anyone has any thoughts, I'm listening...

Life is Good!

Read Those Directions!

With a severe case of tunnel vision I had been piecing together this quilt top, using left over charm squares, from the pattern Nickel Dogs by Me and My Sisters. These puppies have been on my design wall for weeks and I kept thinking that something didn't look quite right, but I convinced myself that all was fine and pressed on. I had the blocks all completed, and the rows joined, I was in the process of adding the borders when I realized that there was a mistake(!) in the instructions. The given measurement for the top and bottom inner border was five inches too long! Hmm. I whacked off the excess and stitched them in place anyway. My husband made a passing remark as he glanced at what I was working on, something about the dogs and their positioning being, *ahem*, impolite. Huh? Finally, I saw it, my mistake was glaring; I had failed to insert the vertical spacer strips between the rows! Arrggh. I picked apart this puppy parade, row by row, and began reassembling it. Suddenly, the instructions for those inner borders, top and border, were correct! Go figure. Take it from me: when all else fails, read those directions! But, if you can't do that, at least look at the pictures!

Life is Good!
For the record: the placement of the yellow dog, lower right, ( marching to his own drummer) is intentional!

Finally, A Flimsy!

The top is complete, at long last! This one has been a piecing challenge, making sure that none of the baskets became turned or flipped within each row. Whew! But, it was a lot of fun~ more fun than a barrel basket of monkeys! Yep, there is one... the quilt named itself! Can you find it? There are 113 (4.5 inch) "Postage Stamp" basket blocks made from 226 charm squares for a lively mix of colors, patterns and textures. The pattern is from Alex Anderson.

"More Fun Than A Basket Of Monkeys"
58" X 58"

Life is Good!

Row One Is Done...

Row one is done, I'm having fun.

And then came two, lots more to do...

Stitched them together, the more the better.
Stay tuned for more, rows three and four...

All of this and a BONUS, too:
While doing the piecing, above, I am putting another top
together at the same time, leader-ender style:

Meet "Miss Alaynee" (as in the noun, meaning "a collection of miscellaneous things"),

she's half done. (The pattern is a version of "American Spirit" from the book Cookies 'n' Quilts by Judy Martin. From my scrap bins I used 2.5" and 4.5" pre-cut squares

and combined them with 2.5" X 4.5" bricks.)

Life is Good!