LOOSE THREADS

Hexagon Flowers

2012-01-25T21:45:00.000-05:00

I am trying to get back into some of the things in blogland that I was part of last year because I think it helps to keep motivated on some of those long term projects that I've started.

One of those things is One Flower Wednesday sponsored by Karen at Journey of a Quilter blog. Karen keeps a sign up sheet for those of us that are working on long term hexagon projects. I've started hexagons in several different "flavors". Here are the ones that I just finished:

These are some that I made from an older Civil War line called Cocheco...probably from around 2000.

This is a hexagon project that I would like to make but can't quite decide which fabrics to use. This quilt is from Quiltmania magazine.

Also sometime last year I signed up for a Hexagon Charm Quilt piece along at Texas Freckles blog. Here is the link to the Flickr group. There is lots of inspiration here.

So for now I'll just keep making hexagons until I decide on a project. I hope you are finding some time to do some stitching today.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Scrappy Saturday String Blocks

2012-01-21T22:58:00.000-05:00

I'm joining the Rainbow Scrap Challenge over at Soscrappy blog again this year. Last year I got in over my head and tried to make an entire quilt top a couple of the months during the challenge. So instead I've decided to just make a few blocks each month this time.

I love making string blocks, and after making part of the string blocks for the Orca Bay Mystery quilt I made these red string blocks that will finish at 3 inches. I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but I love the way they look in all of the Orca Bay quilts I've seen.

See the links to other rainbow scrap challenge projects at Soscrappy blog.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Orca Bay Design Wall

2012-01-16T23:06:00.000-05:00

I'm a little late (really quite a lot), but I've started the Bonnie Hunter Orca Bay mystery quilt. I've changed the colors and substituted yellows and golds for the red that Bonnie used in her quilt.

I'm glad that I took photos of the blocks, because from far away the blue block in the bottom right and the one in the far upper right (photo above) doesn't have the striped look that the rest have so I'll probably change them. I love making string blocks, but I think I'm going to go back and start with step 1 and continue the mystery steps in order.

So much for not starting any new projects in the New Year. That lasted almost 2 weeks unless you count the little houses from Building Houses from Scraps that I posted earlier.

Visit Judy's blog to see what others have on their design walls today.

I hope that you're finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks to my followers and readers. I haven't posted for awhile because I've been having some internet problems this week. I appreciate you stopping by for a visit.

Retreat Gifts

2012-01-11T08:12:00.001-05:00

I am so excited that I have some Cath Kidston!!!! While we were at the Dear Jane retreat in Shipshewana, IN, last November, Fiona from Country Threads blog brought these gifts to me. She has been fortunate enough to be able to attend the last 8 fall retreats. It is always nice to spend time visiting with her. She does beautiful applique' and loves Baltimore Album quilts and 18th century quilts. She has some beautiful photos on her blog from the DAR Museum.

I love this tote bag, and the egg is a Cath that holds fragrant soap. The fabric is African. I'm saving it for a special project.

Fiona brought this pincushion to me last year. I keep it sitting here on the table by my chair. It is one of my favorite quilting tools. And I stick my pins on the back side so as not to stick them in the flag.

This gorgeous stack of Kaffe fabrics came from Vicki who lives in Minnesota. She also brought me this coin purse made from juice boxes. Vicki and I usually sit together at the retreats because....well we talk a lot, hardly sleep at all, and occasionally we break out in song. We do sew sometimes, too.

Each of us at the retreat received some of the new Dear Jane fabric line. When we signed up for the retreat, we were asked to tell how many retreats we had attended. This last retreat was number 20 for me, so there is one fat quarter in my stack for each of those 20 retreats.

This is an older draft of a post that I forgot to publish. You are probably worn out hearing about the Dear Jane retreat and Shipshewana. Many of us only see each other there twice a year, but in many ways we are like family and have become good friends. I look forward to spending time with these ladies each and every retreat.

Thanks for stopping by.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch!

Round Robin 2011

2012-01-08T11:22:00.002-05:00

I wrote this post earlier and then didn't publish. I was in a round robin in 2011. Here are the photos of the round robin quilts for 2011 that I worked on in the order that I worked on them. I know the ladies in this round robin through Dear Jane groups either locally or at the retreat up in Shipshewana.

We had until February 1 to make a center, gather our fabrics, and mail to the next person on the list. As the year progressed and the rounds became larger, we had more time to work on the rounds. Then we exchanged our quilts at the Dear Jane retreat at Shipshewana in November.

This one belongs to Nancy Z. Her center is a likeness of the five of us that worked on her quilt. I'm the one dressed in green. :-)

Next is Claire's quilt. I really like the snail's trail blocks as an outside border.

This one belongs to Edith. She used the Marie Webster fabrics.

This one is Nancy K's. I love the dresden center, so I put the smaller dresdens in my round.

This one is Vicki's. She is known as the Cheddar Queen and loves cheddar and red together.

This one is mine. I used mostly Moda's Fresh Flowers line with a few other fabrics from my stash mixed in.

Here's a closer photo of my center block.

I am sitting out for this year, but I have really enjoyed the last couple of years sewing with these talented ladies.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you are stitching today!

Houses Built from My Scraps

2012-01-04T05:59:00.001-05:00

Have you seen all of the little 3 inch house blocks that are showing up on blogs everywhere? This project is called Building Houses from Scraps and you can follow the link to read about it and to download your own free pattern for this little house block. This was all started by Jeanneke, and you can check out her blog at the link.

The plan for this project is to make one of these houses every day this year, and you will have enough to make a quilt by the end of the year.

Here is my first house. This really is a great way to use up your scraps.

I had a lot of fun looking through my scraps to find something to put in the windows of the houses.

I made one in all red fabrics.

Or you could just sew one house a week and make a wall hanging.

I drew the pattern in Electric Quilt and paper pieced these first houses.

Whenever you print the pattern from the Building Houses From Scraps blog,
if your printout is like mine, it will measure just short of 3 inches. There is a setting in EQ where you can change the setting from inches to centimeters. Then you can draw the house, change back to inches, and then print it out.

By paper piecing you end up with a couple of extra seams on the background. I plan to try hand piecing the next few houses.

I hope you are all finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for visiting!

It's Almost 2012

2011-12-31T12:20:00.000-05:00

Our New Year will be starting out on a sad note. My father-in-law passed away yesterday, and we will be attending his funeral on Monday. He was 94 years old and the last of our parents to pass, so I can't help having the feeling that we are now officially the older generation.

I wish you good health, happiness, and lots of sewing in the New Year!

I have really enjoyed getting to know so many of you this past year. Thanks to all of you for stopping by and reading my blog.

Christmas Gifts

2011-12-28T01:19:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas. Here are some of my presents.

From my son and daughter-in-law I got the two Material Obsession books. I love the quilt on the cover of the first book. The red polka dots really make that quilt sing.

This quilt is from the second book. Each block has 72 pieces. I think I'll put
this on my to do list. Maybe I'll try just one block and make a pillow.

My daughter gave me this book of Crochet Borders. There are some great ideas in this book, and I plan to use one of the borders in this book on the afghan I'm crocheting now.

I also got this Jennifer Chiaverini book, too. I plan to reread the rest of the Elm Creek series before I read this one.

We didn't have a white Christmas, but we did have a little bit of snow today. It had already melted some when I took this photo, but I always love the way our woods looks when it snows.

I hope you all had a nice Christmas and that you are finding some time to do a bit of stitching.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T19:03:00.000-05:00

I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas Eve celebrations. I'm about ready to leave for church to sing in the Christmas Eve service. My son is music director and he, my daughter and daughter-in-law will all be in the choir loft singing carols this evening, so it should be fun.

The thing I love most about Christmas is how the lights look after dark. We leave them up as long as possible...They usually come down the day after New Year's Day. Here are just a few of my favorite Christmas ornaments:

This is one I made from back in my cross stitch days.

This log basket is even older. This is from my needlepoint phase.

My daughter knit this darling little Christmas stocking.

And here's another one she made.

This is our family room tree. It isn't a beauty, but it is all full of happy memories from family and Christmases gone by. I crocheted the tree skirt several years ago.

This is the blue tree in the dining room. I put this one up pretty quickly and not all of the ornaments made it out of the box, but I love how it looks after dark when all of the blue lights show. I crocheted this tree skirt from the same pattern as the other one.

I always think of my parents at this time of year and remember our holidays together. My Mom loved to make these beaded ornaments from kits, and I have a lot of these to enjoy on our tree every year.

This crocheted Santa was made by my husband's Grandmother. I imagine this ornament is about 35 years old.

A friend of my Mom's made these Wizard of Oz ornaments. There is a lot of work on these.

This one came from a former neighbor that was a Lucy to my Ethel. She got into some mail order clown sewing scheme and ended up having to pay her way out of the mess. She bought this musical clown ornament as a reminder of the laughs we had over that.

I wish all of my followers and blog readers a very Merry Christmas. I appreciate each and every one of you stopping by Loose Threads.

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S!

Christmas at My House

2011-12-22T00:15:00.001-05:00

These are some of my favorite Christmas things ........

The candle ring in the photo came from a shop that I discovered while shopping in Shipshewana. My daughter crocheted the doily underneath with the green trim. I love these new Cottage magazines. They come out 4 times a year, and the Autumn and Christmas issues were just beautiful.

This lighted quilt shop came from friend Jackie V. from Washington.

This beautiful garland of gingerbread men and hearts was made for me by Roswitha - Blauraute blog. She had a contest on her blog, and I guessed closest to the correct number of spools of thread that she showed in a photograph. I love this hung in the center of our mantel between our stockings.

This wreath was made by a distant cousin. Underneath is a wire wreath form, and there are three layers of little fabric "pillows" that are stuffed with polyfil and then tied onto the form with a ribbon. These are really easy to make and are a great use for your Christmas or red and green scraps.

These are favorite Christmas quilts. The top one is from back in my Thimbleberry phase. I don't recall the name of the pattern, but it was easy to put together. I hadn't had my Bernina very long, and I practiced couching some gold glittery trim around the ribbon.

The second quilt is a combination. The center was a feathered star block that I made as the center for a round robin that I was in, and I changed my mind and made a different center. The blocks that surround it are from a Dear Jane Christmas swap that same year.

The bottom quilt always makes me smile. My friend, Gini, and I got together at her house and made a couple of huge stacks of large nine patches to put together for charity quilts. It just happened that we piled some of the red and green nine patches together, and I remarked that they would make a great Christmas quilt. In a few days Gini came to my door carrying the quilt on the bottom of the ladder. I machine appliqued' the candy canes in the alternate squares and on the corners, quilted it, and put the binding on.

I crocheted this Christmas afghan years ago from a pattern from a good friend from Michigan. I love this shell pattern.

I also crocheted this Christmas ripple afghan...don't remember where the pattern for this one came from.

These bubble lights have been in my family for a lot of years. They are always in the center of my mantel.

I hope you are enjoying some of your favorite things this Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Early Christmas Presents

2011-12-20T01:07:00.000-05:00

In last weeks mail I received a surprise parcel from Roswitha from Blauraute blog for Christmas. Roswitha and I have become friends through email and have exchanged parcels for awhile now, but this one came as a wonderful surprise.

I really love this beautiful crochet doily that she made. I'm not sure what this is called in German, but I call this filet crochet. This is one type of crochet that I haven't tried, but I really like how it looks.

This doily looks so pretty on my kitchen table underneath this Christmas cake stand that belonged to my Mom.

Roswitha also sent me this cute redwork snowman pillow. Since he is a snowman and not just for Christmas, he will stay out so I can enjoy him through the winter months.

Here is a view of the back. The pillow fastens with 3 heart shaped buttons. I really enjoyed this package Roswitha. Thank you so much for the lovely Christmas surprise.

Then a few days later I got another surprise parcel from my friend, Val in Canada. She made me this cute bag with kitten faces. This little bag is just perfect for holding everything I need for a redwork project.

Val also included these two balls of yarn. She knows how much I like to knit and crochet, and I'll have some fun making something from this pretty yarn. Val is really an awesome knitter, and you can see some of her projects here on Ravelry. Thanks for the surprise, Val.

I hope that your Christmas is full of surprises, too.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Christmas Present Wall Hanging

2011-12-17T21:42:00.001-05:00

I just got back in town this evening from helping my daughter pack some of her things in preparation to move. She has just finished her Masters Degree in Statistics from Purdue University and will be staying with us for awhile while she is job hunting.

Before I left to go help her pack, I did a bit of Christmas decorating. I finished machine quilting this Christmas Present wall hanging, and just finished sewing the hanging sleeve on before I left. This is the Charming Christmas Present Wall Hanging that I showed and gave cutting instructions for in this post. The link to the instructions is also listed in Tutorials and Patterns on my sidebar.

The angel in the photo above was made by my Mom when she did ceramics. I'm so glad to have these things to remember her by to display at Christmas.

I love this Flurry fabric by Kate Spain.

I quilted an all over paisley design on this wall hanging.

UPDATE: Go over to Jeanne's blog, Luv2Stitch, and look at these three friends that I met years ago in Shipshewana. They have each made their own Christmas Present Wall Hangings. Wow! They are all wonderful!

Christmas Eve is a week from tonight, and there is still an awful lot to do. I'm hoping to get a lot done this coming week.

I'll write a tutorial for how to make a hanging sleeve and sew it onto the back of a wall hanging or quilt soon.

Thanks for visiting.

I hope you are prepared for Christmas and have time to do some stitching.

Fabric Shopping

2011-12-10T11:58:00.001-05:00

Here are some fabrics that I bought while I was at the retreat a few weeks ago. I haven't had a lot of time for sewing lately, but if I did I think I would love to cut into some of these things that I bought.

Both of the quilt shops that I frequent in Shipshewana (Lollys and Yoders), had big displays of black and white fabrics with both yellows and reds. I kept coming back to the black and yellow combination, and here is what I brought home with me. I don't really have a plan for these yet. Any ideas?

Here are some red and white fabrics that I bought to go with some of my redwork projects.

I think they will look nice with my Norwegian Christmas Hearts project. I finished the last two heart stitcheries at the retreat.

This jelly roll of Kaffe Fassett is from fall 2011. I have no plan for it yet. It was just pretty.......

I have a little pattern that I want to do in bluework, and I think this will work for that. I really do try to buy fabrics with a purpose in mind, but that doesn't always happen.

I hope you are spending some time this weekend in your sewing room.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Design Wall Quilt Basting

2011-12-05T06:23:00.002-05:00

There hasn't been a lot of sewing done here this week, but I have done some quilt basting using 505 Basting Spray on my design wall. This quilt is called Nine Patch and Hourglass from the book Quick and Easy Scrap Quilts by Leisure Arts.

This fall tree is from several years ago. The idea for this quilt came from an old watercolor quilt book.

This is a two color applique' wall hanging from Pacific Rim Quilt Company called Sunflower Fields. These quilts are really a lot of fun to applique'.

I drafted the pattern for this quilt from the HGTV show Sarah's House. This is taken from the antique quilt that hung on the wall of her guest room at her summer house.

I made this table runner to show different ways to use churn dash blocks.

Be sure to visit Judy at www.patchworktimes.com to see what is on others design walls.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Fall Table Topper Finish

2011-12-02T19:16:00.000-05:00

While I was in Shipshewana, I finished sewing the binding on this fall table topper. I just took it off the kitchen table today, but I don't have the Christmas topper finished yet.

Here's a close up of the quilting. I've been doing this same paisley pattern on a lot of the things I'm quilting, but I like the way it looks, it's easy, and I enjoy quilting it. The pattern is from one of the videos on Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project Site.

When we went to Ikea north of Cincinnati in October, I bought this basket. I have it in the corner of the breakfast nook to hold some of my finished table toppers.

There isn't much sewing going on here right now, but soon.....

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Rebeca's Arts and Antiques Shop

2011-11-28T22:40:00.000-05:00

I spend five days in Shipshewana when I go to the Dear Jane retreat, and I have attended this retreat twice a year for the last ten years. So by this time I know most of the owners of the shops that I frequent by their first name, and I've learned the best places in the area to visit. Rebecca's is an adorable shop with lots of vintage quilts, quilt tops and quilt blocks, old world Christmas ornaments, and other interesting things. I took several photos of Rebecca Haarer's Arts and Antiques, and if you are ever in the area I hope you will stop by this shop for a visit.

There are a lot of interesting shops in town.

Here is a cute cat quilt done with embroidery. It is a crib sized quilt which are hard to find in good condition.

I love this string quilt. The drawers in the background are full of all kinds of antique quilt blocks. They are reasonably priced, and you can buy as few or as many as you want.

Lots of wooden spoons and kitchen gadgets, dishcloths, books, rag rugs and baskets.

Antique quilts and paintings by local artists.

There are layers and layers of quilts to see. Everything here is for sale.

When we want to have a long look at a quilt, Rebecca spreads it out on the bed in the shop.

Here's a beautiful red and white bow tie quilt. I love the basket quilt hanging on the wall.

This nine patch is striking.

I love the setting. I could only make a guess as to how old this quilt is...maybe 1930s?

Colorful rugs and flying geese quilt.

Cute dolls and stuffed animals.

This is only a portion of the old world Christmas ornaments. There are also Jim Shore figurines.

Rebecca Haarer's Arts and Antiques is located at 165 Morton Street in Shipshewana, and you can also find her on Facebook. It should definitely be on your list of must see places when you visit.

Thanks for visiting today!

Christmas Decorating

2011-11-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had our traditional after Thanksgiving get together. Our son, daughter-in-law and daughter were here for a big turkey dinner with all of the usual dishes: turkey, sage dressing, apple-cranberry-yam casserole, mashed potatoes, noodles, gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, pistachio salad, rolls, and 3 different types of pie. That was the main course.

We also had a spread of snacks with dips, veggies, and crackers. My daughter makes a great pumpkin dip. Here is the recipe:

Pumpkin Dip

1 bar of cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

1 can of pumpkin (15 ounce can)

Cream the powdered sugar and cream cheese with mixer, then slowly add the pumpkin. Mix together and serve with graham crackers.

While I was getting ready for dinner, the family started testing our outside Christmas lights and by late afternoon they had finished putting them up. Here are the results:

They decorated all the way around the house, even the sides.

Many years ago I asked my father-in-law if he could weld. I still remember the look he gave me. I asked him if he would make a Christmas Star to hang on the front of our house. He made the frame, and I wrapped it with 600 lights. It's one of my most treasured Christmas decorations.

To keep the group energized while they were working, I baked cookies and served them warm from the oven.

This was my Mom's recipe for Oatmeal Ice Box Cookies. She was notorious for having a roll of cookie dough in her refrigerator so that when we stopped over she could quickly bake a pan of cookies, and we could have a cup of tea and a warm cookie. I had made my cookie dough the day before just as she used to do, so all I had to do was slice and bake. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Ice Box Cookies

Makes about 60 cookies.

1 cup shortening (Butter Crisco)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

3 beaten eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups quick cooking oatmeal (uncooked)

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Mix all together. After mixing you can either bake right away or make the cookie dough into rolls, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate. Then slice thin and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. NOTE: I bake at 365 degrees for 9 minutes with the oven on convection so the cookies are chewy.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T02:16:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate. I am counting my blessings and have a lot to be thankful for.

There hasn't been much sewing done this week, so I'll share some more of my photos from Shipshewana. Here are a few photos from the places I love to visit while I'm in Shipshewana and the surrounding areas.

This is The Kitchen Cupboard in the Davis Mercantile Building. I get my lattes here while I'm in town.

Right next to The Kitchen Cupboard is Jo-Jo's Pretzels.

One of the shops on the first floor.

Here is a photo from the Civil War room at Lolly's.

The Lang Store.

The Garden Gate (aka The Cupcake Place).

A Little Bit of Lollys. It is lots of fun diving for fat quarters in the boat.

This is the Cuddle Room in the lower level of the Davis Mercantile. Cuddle is a lot like Minke. The selection of color and pattern is just wonderful in this shop.

This is A Stitch in Time in the lower level of the Davis Mercantile. This shop has yarn, knitting supplies, buttons and wool.

The Blue Gate Restaurant decorated for Christmas.

We went to lunch at the General Store in Emma. The food was just great; they had cupcakes, too.

This is the Soda Fountain in The General Store.

Yoder's Popcorn. There are free samples of popcorn and apple cider.

This was my cupcake at The Garden Gate.

Blessings to all of you. I hope you are all spending some time today with family and friends. Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Back Home and Show and Tell

2011-11-21T13:07:00.000-05:00

I'm back home from Shipshewana, and I had a great time. Here is the pile that I brought back. I had taken some things out of the pile, but I did end up bringing back more than I left with.

Here are a few photos of quilts from show and tell on Friday evening. The quilts were just amazing.

This is my personal favorite: Stars and Sprigs by Eileen. I have the pattern and have one block ready to applique'.

Here is another of Eileen's quilt. I know this quilt but at the moment can't recall the name. Anyone?

Brenda's Texas Star quilt.

Trudy's 9981 quilt. My photo doesn't do justice to the vibrant colors she used.

One of several Dear Jane quilts shown.

Margaret's Blessing quilt. This pattern is on my to do list, too. I just love this one.

Gorgeous red apple core quilt.

Pam D made this Christmas stack 'n whack.

A group of ladies each did their version of Aunt Millie's Garden. This is just one of several that were shown.

This is my Roll Roll Cotton Boll from Bonnie Hunter's 2010 on line mystery.

I have lots more photos to show from the retreat. Right now here in the US we are getting ready for Thanksgiving Day and the dinner that many of us cook.

More soon. Until next time...

Thanks for visiting!

Sights Around Shipshewana

2011-11-18T11:06:00.000-05:00

It's another beautiful day in Shipshewana, but the weather has been cold and windy. So most of my photos are taken inside.

Here is just a part of the Kaffe Fassett fabric display in Lollys located in the Davis Mercantile building.

The Moda room:

A beautiful quilt on display in the hallway.

Here is a beautiful Cuddle quilt on display in the Lang store.

Christmas decorations in the gazebo outside of the Garden Gate restaurant (also known as The Cupcake Place).

Today a group of us are headed out into the country on an adventure to the town of Emma.

I hope you are having a good day today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Tuesday in Shipshewana

2011-11-16T00:20:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Shipshewana this afternoon, and everything is just as wonderful as I remembered. I've seen several friends that I haven't seen in ages. By the time I checked into my room at the Farmstead Inn, I only had a little over a half hour to check out Yoders. This is the first time I've been there since they expanded their fabric department. Many of the buildings in town are all decorated for Christmas both outside........

and inside.......

Here are some photos of the fabric department. There is a lot to see, and I know I missed a lot this first time there, but this will give you an idea of what the expanded fabric department looks like. We can walk to Yoders from the sewing room at the Farmstead, so most days we are there and at Lollys so there will be more chances to take photos.

Yoder's yarn department has grown since my last visit. I love this knit scarf. The yarn to make this is available in lots of different colors. I might have to make one of these.

These quilts are hanging in the entryway of Yoders. The baskets on this one are pieced with cotton, and the applique' is wool.

I finished the evening with dinner at the Blue Gate with a good friend. And, of course there was pie. I had raspberry cream tonight. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo. I might just have to have another piece so you can see what it looks like.

This is the tree at the Blue Gate Restaurant.

More tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Ready to Retreat in Shipshewana

2011-11-15T09:14:00.000-05:00

I'm getting ready to finish packing the car to head north to Shipshewana, Indiana, today to get ready for the Dear Jane Retreat that officially starts tomorrow. I think there will be nearly 100 of us there this time. Many of us go early to get settled in our rooms, and let's be honest. We go to scope out Lollys and Yoders to check out the fabric, to have a little sampling of the Amish food, and to see old friends.

Here is my "pile" of things that I have out to take so far. No, this doesn't include my clothes. Somehow those are the things that always get packed last.

For those of you that don't know, Shipshewana, is a small town up in northern Indiana almost to the Michigan/Indiana state line. The quilt stores there have some of the best selections that I've ever seen. The food is just wonderful; homemade Amish pretzels, chicken and noodles, fresh donuts. Well, you've got the idea. There are many Amish that live in the area, and at any given time you can see a horse and buggy driving down the side of the road along with cars and trucks. This trip is like a step back in time but with all of the amenities.

So I'm going where there will be Friends, Fabric and Food. You can't ask for much more than that.

If there is anything that you would like to see photos of there, let me know. I will have my laptop along and of course, my camera, so I'll be posting updates while I'm there.

I hope you are doing some stitching today or packing to come to the retreat. I'll see you all soon.

Thanks for visiting!

Redwork Christmas Hearts

2011-11-09T21:36:00.000-05:00

The past few evenings, I've been working on one of the redwork hearts from the Scandinavian Christmas Hearts tablecloth pattern. This is heart #2.

I haven't worked on this project for quite awhile. I did heart #1 twice because as you can see by the photo, these hearts are to be stitched on point. I was so excited to start this project that I traced it and stitched it completely with the heart square on the block. That block will either become the center of another quilt or a pillow cover.

This is heart #1 and #2. I had this fabric left over from another project and wanted to see how it looked with the redwork. I think a little bit of it in the tablecloth might be nice.

Roswitha sent me the pattern for this tablecloth. You can see her finished stitcheries and tablecloth here. Also Hanne has finished her tablecloth, and you can see it here. I love both of them. I'm working on the third heart now and hope to have my tablecloth finished in time for Christmas.

I hope you are finding some time to do some stitching today, too.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Baskets and Back Basting

2011-11-05T00:22:00.002-04:00

I've been doing some sewing this week but nothing that I can show because I'm finishing up my border on the round robin that is due in a couple of weeks. We will be getting our quilts back when we meet at the Dear Jane retreat in Shipshewana the week before Thanksgiving.

I found these little baskets in a bag and have been working on them. They are from When the Cold Wind Blows by Blackbird Designs except these baskets are 3 1/2" high instead of the 5" baskets that are shown in the book.

I just have a few of these smaller baskets prepped in 30s fabrics, and then I may make them into a little quilt.

I have prepped all of these 30s baskets using the back basting method. I know a lot of people are sold on back basting, but I think I still prefer tracing the shape onto the applique' fabric and then doing the needle turn method. But, since these baskets are already back basted, I'll finish them.

Here is how you back baste for applique':

1. Turn your background piece to the wrong side.

2. Trace the shape that you are going to applique' on the wrong side. If the shape is directional, be sure to reverse it.

3. Pin the piece of the fabric that you are going to applique' onto the right side of the background.

4. Sew on the traced lines on the wrong side of the background piece. I use a bigger than normal running stitch . I use a big needle and heavier thread in order to perforate the applique' line.

5. To applique', cut the applique' fabric around the sewn line making sure to leave 1/8"-3/16" seam allowance. Clip two or three threads ahead of where you are stitching, and needle turn applique' using the perforated stitching line as your guide. I usually clip my threads farther ahead than just two or three stitches, but I only pull out 2 or 3 at a time.

I think this method works better if you baste your applique' piece and then wait a couple of days before doing the actual applique'.

Here is what the basket block looks like from the back after it has been basted.

Here is my next basket block ready for applique'.

I have a house guest for a few days. This is Squeaky, my daughter's cat. My daughter, my son and daughter-in-law have gone to Raleigh, NC, to attend a hand bell conference this weekend. As near as I can figure there is a big room full of hand bell players that play some music all together and then some in different groups, and the Raleigh Ringers are a part of this. I know this is something they all enjoy, and it is a beautiful time of year for a road trip. My son composes hand bell music and has written pieces for the Raleigh Ringers. They have been invited to a get together at the home of one of the members this weekend, and they are thrilled to say the least. I've met several members of the group before, and one of the gals is a quilter.

This is an older photo of Squeaky, but this expression on her face really suits her personality.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch.

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

Jennifer Chiaverini's New Book

2011-10-31T18:49:00.000-04:00

Jennifer Chiaverini's new book, The Wedding Quilt will be out in book stores tomorrow. I'm not sure where this postcard came from, but I received it in the mail a few days ago. It reminded me of the time that Jennifer came to speak at our Dear Jane retreat up in Shipshewana, Indiana, so I thought I would share a few photos with you.

In December 2005, Jennifer's book, The Christmas Quilt had just been released. A lot of us had read it as well as her other books. She told us what it was like to be an author of not only her fictional works but also her quilt pattern books and to design fabric lines for Red Rooster.

After she spoke for awhile, she finished the evening reading to us aloud from The Christmas Quilt. You could have heard a pin drop.

It was a perfect evening complete with a light dusting of snow on the ground.

This is the Bergstrom Christmas quilt.

The Delectable Mountains quilt is referred to in The Sugar Camp Quilt.

And, it was a thrill to see Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.

At the end of the evening, Jennifer autographed our books and posed for pictures with each of us. She answered questions until there were none. She was most gracious, and I'm so glad to have been part of that evening.

Notice her jacket is made from her fabrics.

Happy Halloween!

Thanks for stopping by!

Table Topper Finish

2011-10-30T19:49:00.000-04:00

I finished putting the last stitches in the binding on this table topper last night. This is one of the Flower of the Month series from Northcott. I'm not sure which month this is, but I'm sure it's one of the summer months.

Here is a different photo that is more muted, but I think you can see the machine quilting better.

This quilting design is one that I found in one of the 365 days of quilting by Leah Day.

And another picture of my feet.

Hope you are stitching today. Thanks for coming by for a visit!

More Trick or Treat Baskets

2011-10-27T09:10:00.001-04:00

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your kind comments on my last post. I am feeling much better each and every day. I really appreciate your concern.

I haven't felt like doing much machine sewing, so I've been stitching on a few more Trick or Treat Baskets from the book When the Cold Wind Blows by Barb Adams and Alma Allen.

The original quilt from the book has 300 of these baskets. I haven't counted how many I have, but I don't think I'm even close to 100 yet.

Jeanette, one of the gals that comes to our Dear Jane retreat has finished her basket quilt, and you can see it here on the Blackbird Designs blog. I just love looking at these basket quilts, and hers is gorgeous.

Here is what fall looks like in my back yard. I love walking around the yard and listening to the crunch of the leaves. This is my favorite time of year.

This is my Granny Stripe Afghan that I'm doing as part of the Granny Gone Wild Crochet Along.

You can read more about the crochet along and this pattern on my crochet blog.

You can see photos of the crochet along on the Flickr site here.

Hope all of you are finding some time to stitch or crochet or knit today.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Gees Bend Quilt and Blogger Award

2011-10-23T13:26:00.000-04:00

I usually don't write anything medical on my blog because I want this to be a happy place to see quilt and yarn projects. But, yesterday I spent the morning in the emergency room after having some problems and passing out here at home. They are pretty sure that I passed a kidney stone, and there will be more poking and proding to come this week. But, there is a quilt connection in all of this. This all started before 8 am yesterday morning, so my husband went to the cafeteria to eat some breakfast. When he came back he showed me his cell phone. He had found a quilt and taken a photo. So after I was dismissed we went back so I could see the quilt. It turns out it was made by several Indianapolis Quilt Guild members. Some blocks were quilted in big stitch with perle cotton and others were machine quilted. I'm glad that I was able to see this work of art.

I love the last line:

Fabric donated by our community as a special gift in honor of loved ones and precious memories.

In the last couple of weeks I have received the Versatile Blogger Award from two of my readers.

I first received the award about 3 weeks ago from Marta at http://polkadotclassic.blogspot.com/

Then last week I received the award from Raewyn at http://stitchingfarmgirl.blogspot.com

When Marta gave me the award I linked back to one of my posts last January when Staci http://theconfusedquilter.blogspot.com gave me the Stylish Blogger award. All of these awards ask that you tell 7 (or 8) things about yourself, so since I've gotten the award twice just recently, I decided to put the 8 different things about myself here for you to read.

Here are the 8 things about me:

1. I am an only child. I am really envious of those of you that have siblings, particularly those of you that are quilters and have sisters that also quilt. I would even settle for a brother that would appreciate one of my quilts, but it wasn't meant to be. When my parents both had passed away, I somehow had the feeling of being an orphan. I know that's probably silly, but I think it was just that there was no more home to go to.

2. I went on my first date with my husband on January 18, 1973, and we were married May 19, 1973. That was a short courtship by most people's standards, but it was right. We were married 38 years this May.

3. I have two grown children; both of them are amazing people. My son composes music and to date has about 50 published pieces, and is music minister at their church. He also works part time in an elementary school media center. My daughter has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Math and will soon have her Masters Degree in Statistics. She worked in Alabama for 2 years, and now she is at Purdue and is almost finished with her Master's Degree in Statistics. She played with the Purdue handbells last semester. Both of my children are musically inclined, and their Dad and I can barely play the radio.

4. I taught ESL (English as a Second Language). That was an interesting job. People ask me how many languages I know. I know just enough Spanish to ask for a drink of water and for directions to the restroom. Well, ok, I know a little more than that. I love it when my Spanish speaking blog readers leave me a comment or send me an email totally in Spanish. I do my best to figure out what it says before I cut and paste it into Google Translator. If I ever post a tutorial and you feel like I am explaining it as if you spoke a different language, this is why. It was a habit for several years!

5. I've quilted for 16 years or so. Before that I made a few hexagons, but had no idea what fun it would be to learn so many different quilting techniques and just how many good friends I would make along the way. Last year I entered a couple of my quilts in the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show held in Bloomington, Indiana. I was awarded a ribbon for Judge's Recognition. I had never entered anything in any quilt show before-not even a guild show-so getting the ribbon was quite a thrill.

6. I am equally as addicted to knitting and crocheting and collecting beautiful yarns as I am to quilting and collecting fabric. You will hardly ever find me just sitting somewhere. I am always working on some applique', redwork, knitting or crocheting.

7. I had a total knee replacement in June 2009. I spent a lot of time working with a physical therapist, exercising and strengthening that knee both before and after surgery, but I'm pain free and if I had to I'd do it all over again. That was one of the best decisions I've ever made, and it has definitely changed my life.

8. I love technology. I almost didn't get a convection oven because I thought I wouldn't be able to figure out how to cook with it. Boy was I wrong about that. I love my Droid phone, and I'm finding out new things about it every day. But, if you are still reading my deep, dark secret is that I love video games (and some computer games). When the Wii was just coming on the scene, I had sold a bunch of collectibles on EBay. I took part of that money and stood in line at Fry's Electronics before they opened one morning when I knew the new shipment was coming in so I could buy a Wii. I claim that I got it for the Wii Fit so I could exercise....oh really? I got it to play Mario Kart, and I love Guitar Hero. I even have 2 guitars in case anyone comes over and wants to play. If only I could play games and quilt at the same time.

9. I'm going to add just one more. Our first grandchild is due at the end of March, and I don't know which baby quilt to make first!!!!!!

Here is a photo of my quilt that received the ribbon. It's called It's Just A Nine Patch. The nine patches are 1 1/2" finished and there are 964 in the quilt.

There are so many great blogs out there that I find it impossible to pick just 15. One of my favorite things to do while blog surfing is to go to a new to me blog of someone wholeft a comment on one of my regular blogs. I just love seeing what everyone is working on and what fabrics they are buying.

I really appreciate all of my followers and those of you that leave comments. I try and get around to visit all of you if there is a link back to you, and I try my best to respond to your comments whenever I can.

Thanks to Marta and Raweyn for reading my blog and giving me this award.

Thanks to everyone for stopping by and

visiting today!

A Unique Quilt Display

2011-10-19T23:59:00.001-04:00

I know with all of the quilts that some of us have, we are always looking for new and unique ways to display our quilts. This little lady was standing in the corner of our mountain cabin. A chaperone maybe? That is the kind of chaperone I would like...one who would stand in the corner and keep quiet.

I didn't have a thing with me to use to measure her, but I wanted you to see this idea of how to display a quilt.

The quilt is gathered around the neck with a pipe cleaner (or you could use any sort of rope or cording) to match the background color of the quilt, and then a small silk floral arrangement is tucked in at the center.

As you turn her around, you see that she is fashioned on one of the metal easles that are used in the cemetery as a way to display a wreath. Most people wouldn't know and neither would I if I hadn't turned her around to see how she was put together. These easels are pretty inexpensive and can be found at several craft stores.

The quilt is tied around her neck and the ends of the quilt droop to make the arms.

One side view.

The other side.

I think it would require some work to get the quilt arranged just right, but I thought the idea was clever.

After it rained one afternoon, there was a rainbow over the mountains.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Machine Quilting by Iva's Quilt Shop

2011-10-17T21:58:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed my visit to The Cherry Pit quilt shop and bought a nice little bag of goodies. Then I found a comment on my blog from Linda, The Quilted Pineapple, telling me that Machine Quilting by Iva's quilt shop was not to be missed, and she was right. This is the view from the door.

Linda mentioned that there were lots of pre-cuts. I could never have imagined that there could be so many charm packs, jelly rolls and layer cakes all under one roof.

And there were more pre-cuts on the next aisle. At the far left you can see they were on both sides of the aisle.

This was one of the separate rooms. You can see more pre-cuts. There were more in this room that I didn't photograph.

More fabric and patterns with lots of samples.

More fabric. I love the fall table topper in the lower part of this photo. I bought the pattern for it.

A different view into that same room. There were buttons, more patterns, and some small quilt hangers.

Here is a close up of the cross stitched pillow behind the cutting counter.

And....I have no shame. This lovely quilt is hanging in the bathroom. I used to have a piece of that batik in the border, and I just love what they did with it.

The quilting on this quilt is just gorgeous. Iva has a long arm machine at her home and does quilting there.

These guys were standing in the corner. Even the bathroom had lots of eye candy.

This is what Machine Quilting by Iva's shop looks like. I mentioned that it would be nice if they had a web site, and they said they plan to work on one soon. In the meantime, they told me that they would be glad to ship anything so if you are looking for something, just give them a call. After looking at these photos, I realized that I didn't take photos of the 2 rooms that were on the opposite side of the store.

Thanks to Iva for allowing me to take these photographs to put on my blog so you can see the inside of her shop.

One day after it rained I looked out and saw this rainbow over the mountains.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hope you are finding some time to stitch!

Cherry Pit Shopping

2011-10-14T09:30:00.006-04:00

Here is my little bag of goodies from The Cherry Pit. From the comments I received, a lot of you know right where the shop is and have either visitied and shopped there or are involved in one of their Block of the Month programs. There was a lot to choose from. I love using charm packs so I bought 2 Sophie and 2 Butterscotch and Roses. I also bought 1/3 yards of 3 pieces of the Sophie line. I wanted to bring home one of the Pit Designs patterns from the store, so I chose the Autumn Banner. At first I had 5 of the tea towels picked up for purchase but decided that was a bit ambitious, so I bought just one and 2 of the large spools of quilting thread. I came to my senses at the last second and remembered I was trying hard to finish up some UFOs before I left home a week ago.

I bought the magazine at Wal-Mart when we went in to buy a new mouse for my laptop because my other one died. There was a shop sample at The Cherry Pit that looked quite a bit like the cover quilt on this magazine. They had used batik scraps in their quilt, and it was gorgeous. I love this scrap quilt, and it looks easy to cut and put together.

You are probably tired of mountain photos by now, but here is an early morning photo of the fog lifting before the sun comes up. I would never tire of this view.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!!

I hope you're finding some time to stitch today!

A Visit to The Cherry Pit

2011-10-12T18:50:00.000-04:00

When I found out that we were fairly close to The Cherry Pit Quilt Shop and that they had been named one of Quilt Sampler's Top 10 Shops in 2005, I put them on my list of places to see this week. This shop was well worth the visit.

The outside of the shop looked inviting with the Cherry Pit on the front of the building and a pretty fall wreath on the door.

And the cute window display....

I love these huge containers of flowers all over the streets.

And the inside was everything I'd hoped it would be. Of course there was lots of fabric, but there were also lots and lots of shop samples.

These quilts were in their classroom.

This quilt was pieced by Angela that works at the shop. It is called Four Seasons at Minglewood and is a new block of the month they are starting. It is just gorgeous and was oh so tempting.

Next was the Christmas room with more samples and a nice selection of fabrics.

I love a quilt shop that has a bed inside where quilts are displayed. This shop not only had one bed....

They had two beds.

I love The Great Pumpkin quilt on the bed and the Anniversary Tea quilt on the wall. These quilts are available on their web site as either block of the month programs or patterns.

Lots of eye candy in this shop.

This room had a huge display of tea towels ready for applique' or any kind of decorating and lots of towels with examples of ways to add a little applique' or a border print of fabric.

As I started to leave I looked behind me, and these 2 characters were sitting in the corner. They reminded me a lot of Bert and Ernie.

Thanks to Jane, the owner for allowing me to take these photos for my blog so you all can see some of the goodies in her shop. You can visit their web site here. Many of the things you see in my photos are Cherry Pit exclusives.

This big container of flowers was across the street from the shop, and I couldn't resist taking a photo. I love how they have used red, pink, lavender and green together in this container.

The leaves are turning more each day we are here. The view from my porch is mostly green, but it is still breathtaking.

What? You are wondering if I bought anything with all of the temptation at The Cherry Pit. Of course. It's nearly dark so I'll take photos and post them tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by today!

My Design Wall Today

2011-10-10T08:30:00.000-04:00

I've left my design wall behind this week to take a little vacation in the mountains. Here is the view from my balcony.

When I travel I usually pack one of my quilts to sleep under. This quilt is called Fall Foilage Spectacular from Judy Martin's book Cookies 'N Quilts. I set my blocks a little different so there would be 4 leaves in the center instead of having a log cabin center.

I quilted this quilt on my home machine. I bought a leaf stencil at a quilt show and then practiced drawing it on a sketch pad until I felt ready to try and quilt it on the quilt.

Everything here is decorated for fall. Here is a display from the welcome center where we stopped.

I hope you are all enjoying fall (or spring) and doing some stitching today. I've brought my crocheting along and will show my progress soon.

If you want to read more about our Granny Gone Wild Crochet Along, go to this post: http://luannsloosethreads.blogspot.com/2011/10/granny-gone-wild-crochet-along.html

Here is the link to our Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/grannygonewild/

If you are crocheting on anything "granny" feel free to post a photo of your project on Flickr. We would love to see what you are working on.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Granny Gone Wild Crochet Along

2011-10-07T19:47:00.000-04:00

I recently finished this giant granny square afghan as part of Sucrette's giant granny quilt along.

There were four of us that started that quilt along about the same time:
Cyn of Cyns Quilted Travels, Elly of Mad4Patchwork, and Katrin of Cattinka. We enjoyed sharing our progress and our photos over on Facebook and on our blogs and decided that we wanted to continue crocheting and sharing our projects. Cyn of Cyns Quilted Travels and I have been talking about starting another Crochet Along and here it is. I hope you will grab some yarn and crochet along with us.

Here are some ideas of projects you can do.

This is just a regular granny. It can either be a giant granny or individual squares.

This is a log cabin granny. This was a sample I made...not sure I am completely happy with it.

This block is from a pattern called Pokey Dots Throw in the free pattern section of Red Heart yarn. I first saw this pattern over on Judy's blog, Gramma's Quilt Room. Click on the link to see her post with photos of her afghan.

Here is a granny square done from the pattern in the Leisure Arts booklet called Grannies Gone Wild. The chain 3 loop round is done in the same color as the following round.

This version is called mosaic crochet. I saw the idea for this on Sucrette's blog. Her version has the chain 3 loop round done in white each time.

This is called African Flower, and the pattern is available on Ravelry.

Here is a rectangle sample I made.

Check the Flickr group to see Cyn's gorgeous rectangle granny photos.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/grannygonewild/

So grab the button in my sidebar and join us. Post your crochet photos in the Flickr group so we can crochet along. I'll be looking for your photos there.

I hope you are finding some time to crochet or do some kind of stitching this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Fabric Shopping

2011-10-05T20:25:00.000-04:00

I have had my eye on this new line of fabric by Lauren and Jessi Jung for Moda called Flora since I first saw it at The Fat Quarter Shop a couple of months ago. I have a plan for it (really), so I went ahead and ordered it. The UPS man brought it this afternoon. It's even prettier in person than on the web site.

I also ordered these 2 Ruby charm packs by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. I don't have a plan for those yet, but I know they will come in handy.

I'm still spray basting UFOs and doing some machine quilting. I hope you're stitching, too!

Thanks for visiting!

Fall Table Topper

2011-10-04T00:31:00.000-04:00

I have been around to visit your blogs, but for some reason I can't seem to leave a comment. It has been this way for several days. This is the prompt that I get when I try to comment.
Cookie value is null for FormRestoration

Blogger doesn't seem to recognize me even when I'm logged in. So when I comment I have to log in with my name and type my whole blog address in another window...and sometimes this doesn't work. I ran Crud Cleaner and SpyBot on my computer today, and that didn't help either. I'm wondering if this isn't a blogger problem....... If you have any idea what I can do, please let me know. Thanks for letting me vent.

I am still basting quilts and table toppers with my 505 baste spray. I'm still on the first can, and I'm getting quite a bit of mileage out of it. Of all the table toppers I have, there wasn't a fall topper so I made one. Here it is all basted and ready to quilt.

Here are the directions on how to make it:
Floral - I bought 2 1/4 yards so I would have enough for the backing
Rust - 1/2 yard
Yellow - You need about 4" so scraps work here
Green - Again you need about 4" from scraps
Blue - Scrap piece about 4" wide
White - Scrap piece about 4" wide
Binding - Choose 1/3" to 1/2" of one of the above fabrics. Yardage depends on how wide you prefer to cut your binding.

Floral: Cut (2) 12" squares. (Cut in half diagonally)

Cut (1) 6" square for center.

Cut (4) 4" wide strips for outer border

Rust: Cut (2) 5" squares (cut in half diagonally)

Cut (4) 3 1/4" squares

Cut (4) 1 1/2" strips for inner border.

Green: Cut (8) 3 1/4" squares for connector corners

Yellow: Cut (4) 3 1/4" X 6"

White: Cut (4) 3 1/2" squares (cut in half diagonally)

Cut (4) 3 1/4" X 6"

Blue: Cut (4) 4" squares for corners.

Using the 8 green squares and the 4 white 3 1/4" X 6 rectangles, sew the connector corners as shown.

Lay the pieces out as seen below, and sew into rows.

Here is the center unit.

Sew the floral triangles on each side.

Add borders and quilt.

This is what's on my design wall today. Visit www.patchworktimes.com to see what others are working on.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit. I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.

Quilting 101

2011-10-01T00:35:00.000-04:00

I am really excited about the 505 Spray Baste I ordered, and I am basting everything in sight. But before I got too carried away I decided I'd better try quilting one of these basted quilts. I'm still hand sewing the binding down. Here is the result:

I quilt on my trusty Bernina sewing machine, and the past few days I've been watching machine quilting videos by Leah Day, Patsy Thompson, and You Tube videos by Karen McTavish. These ladies all make it look so easy. They all recommend that you baste a practice quilt sandwich and start there, but I have at least a dozen of these table toppers like the one in the photo above, and I only have 2 tables so I figured why not just practice on one of those. Most times when I sit down with a quilt like the one above I draw a blank and don't know what to try and quilt in which space. So I just kept watching videos and jumped right in. I tried some paisleys in the yellow, and just a little meandering in the white, and I don't know what that is in the square but it looks like it went very wrong.....but it does fill the space!

I know there are a lot of mistakes, but the only way to know if the spray baste did its job was to give it a try, and I like the results so much that I've ordered a second can. I love watching the videos on McTavishing. This is supposed to be Leah's version of McTavishing. Instead of hitting the point on each swirl she only hits the point at one end and then echoes a quarter of an inch on the other end. This was really a lot of fun. It's kind of like a puzzle in a way because when you work yourself into a corner you have to figure a way out.

I would really love to learn to do feathers. When I go to quilt shows I love to look at the stencils, and I buy a few. I mostly look for the ones that could be quilted with a continuous design. But, I don't trace my stencil designs onto a quilt. Instead I do this......

I trace the stencil onto a sketch pad, and then I use a marker and trace over and over those lines until hopefully my hands and my brain have that movement before I work on a quilt. Then I prop this drawing up against the wall in front of my sewing machine just like I'm taking an open book test.

And this is how it ended up on my quilt. These look more like droopy balloons than feathers, but it's a start.

In between crochet projects, I've been doing a little hand quilting, too.

I thread basted this redwork Santa top (wall hanging), and I marked the lines with the red Frixion pen. These are the pens from Staples that disappear from fabric when heated with an iron.

Earlier this week Marta at Polka Dot Classic Blog awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you so much Marta.

As part of receiving this award I'm supposed to tell seven things about myself. I received the Stylish Blogger Award back on January 20 of this year and in that post I told 8 things about myself. You can read those here.
I'm also supposed to tag 15 of my favorite bloggers, but I have a list of you a mile long that I love to visit and couldn't possibly pick just 15. I love visiting your blogs and reading each and every one of you.

I hope all of you are doing a little stitching today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Halloween Pinwheel Quilt

2011-09-26T09:45:00.000-04:00

This is my Halloween Pinwheel Quilt so far. I did some rearranging from the last photo I posted so the black sashing would line up. I turned the orange border into a flange so that I could keep the orange color around the stitchery without adding to the measurement of the inside block.

Here is how I make my pinwheels:

I either use charm squares for the pinwheels or cut 5" squares of background fabric and focus fabric.

Take one square of background and one square of focus fabric and place right sides together.

Sew all the way around the outside of the square with a 1/4" seam. Here are several 5 inch squares sewn together.

Cut the square on the diagonal both directions.

Press the half square triangles open toward the darker fabric.

I know making HSTs this way puts the bias on the outside of the block, but I feel that I can better match the midpoint of the pinwheels with this method. Also when I am chaining a lot of HSTs through my machine I always get them tangled and have to spend time looking for 4 that are alike to make my pinwheel. This way the 4 blocks are always together. If you press your block carefully it won't be distorted.

Here are more blocks ready to assemble.

Here are the blocks that are on my design wall this morning ready to go into the quilt.

Visit Judy's blog to see what others have on their design walls.

I hope you are all finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for stopping by!

Basting Quilts with 505 Spray Baste

2011-09-24T22:52:00.000-04:00

I ordered a can of 505 Spray baste after seeing a post on SewCalGal's blog about machine quilter Patsy Thompson . Patsy has a lot of free videos and downloads about machine quilting on her web site plus patterns and DVDs for sale. In one of the videos she showed how she bastes her quilts with 505 Spray Baste on a vertical surface. She made it look so easy that I went right to Create for Less and ordered a can. It came by FedEx yesterday, so today I watched Patsy's video again and tried my hand at her method for spray basting this afternoon.

I'm basting on my design wall, and just as Patsy did in her video I pinned newspapers on the wall to catch the overspray around the edges of the quilts. I also put a bed sheet down on the floor to protect the carpet. Then I pinned my backing on the wall with the wrong side out just as you would when making a quilt sandwich. In this photo you can see the backing with the batting already spray basted to it.

I basted several quilts this afternoon. I started with a couple of small ones.
This one is a table topper from a block of the month series I did a few years ago. This was one of the spring months but not sure which one.

Next I basted another table topper from this series. The batting in these two is like a thick piece of flannel.

Then I basted my Peppermint Twist quilt from the Jo Morton book Remembrances. I used an 80/20 batting in this one.

Next I did the Christmas Presents wall hanging that I made from a Flurry charm pack. You can see my directions for this wall hanging here.

I basted one more after this but forgot to take a photo. Tomorrow I plan to start with one of the table toppers and do some machine quilting to see how the spray baste holds while moving the quilt around under the machine. I found my sewing machine manual and know how to adjust the presser foot pressure in case there is too much drag on the quilt.

So far I'm impressed with the baste spray but I'll know more after I quilt some tomorrow. Until then.....

Thanks for visiting!

Giant Granny Square Afghan Finish

2011-09-22T22:00:00.000-04:00

I've taken some time out from working on my Halloween pinwheel quilt the last couple of days to finish my Giant Granny Square Afghan that I started as part of Sucrette's Giant Granny CAL.

Here is my afghan on our king sized bed.

I used a variety of worsted weight yarn in about 30 different colors.

The border was round #70, and it took almost an entire 3.5 oz. skein of yarn for that outside round. The border is called Ole-Ole, and the chart is on Sucrette's blog.

It was fun doing this afghan with a group, but it was especially nice to get to know Cattinka, Cyn and Elly better since we all started the crochet along at about the same time.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you are doing some stitching this evening!

Halloween Quilting and A New Camera

2011-09-19T22:33:00.000-04:00

This afternoon I opened the bag of Halloween fabrics I've been collecting and decided that maybe it was time that I made something for Halloween. Here is the fabric:

I've even collected some pumpkin buttons and orange, brown and cream variegated thread so that I can machine quilt whenever the project is finished.

But before I could sew anything I had to play with my new camera. The one I've been using is one my husband bought to use for work. I borrowed it, tossed it in my purse, and the view finder has been scratched since that day. No amount of soft scrub or toothpaste would remove those scratches. So I'm being extra careful with my new one.

It's a Samsung - 16 megapixel, and our TVs and blu ray players are Samsung so we decided why not a camera. So far I'm happy with it. The manual is on CD and is 127 pages so I've only waded through part of it. But here is a feature that I accidentally found.

It has different frames you can use. You can center a photo in the middle of the T-shirt drying on the line.

You can put a photo in the TV set in the old fashioned living room.

Here's a photo on the billboard at the train station.

Here's a photo on the side of a building.

In spite of taking a lot of photos today, I did get some sewing done. Here is what I've made so far from the Halloween fabrics.

I think the pumpkin has his own thing going and needs to be in a different quilt than the rest of the blocks on my design wall.

Here is a bit closer photo of the stitchery in the center. That is a design by Gay from Sentimental Stitches. She had a survey on her blog awhile back, and for taking the time to answer a few questions she sent me the PDF of the little witch stitchery. I think she will make a cute center block.

I think this is what I'll work with tomorrow unless I come up with another idea over night.

Next post I'm going to tell you how I make pinwheel blocks. Until then......you can see what others have on their design walls by visiting Judy here.

I hope you are taking time to do some stitching today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Good Mail from Germany

2011-09-16T19:47:00.000-04:00

It has been a great week for mail here. I entered a giveaway/contest over at Roswitha's blog and won. She posted a photo with spools of thread that were strung into large rings somehow, and there were several of these rings. Then all of the rings were hung over the back of a chair. The one who guessed closest to the number of spools in the photo had their choice of chains that Roswitha makes, and I chose gingerbread men. I just love this chain that she made for me. When I decorate for Christmas these will go up on my mantel with a string of lights and some greenery. In the meantime, I plan to enjoy them year round in my sewing room.

Just look at this little guy. Each heart and gingerbread man has ribbon that says God Jul (Merry Christmas). They were neatly packaged in a bag with polar bears on it that Roswitha also made.

And as a bonus, Roswitha made me the purple bag with the rose decoration on front. There are two pockets in the lining to hold small items. I think I'll use the bag to hold a stitchery project, and my thread and floss will go in the pockets. And, she sent me a German magazine. What fun! I don't read German, but I just love looking through the magazine just the same. The card she sent has a drawing of a village near where she lives.

Thank you Roswitha for the fun package and for all of the work you have put into these things. I will treasure them. I hope you will go visit Roswitha's blog, Blauraute. She is a very dear lady.

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you have a good mail day and find some time for stitching, too.

Goodies from Australia

2011-09-14T22:00:00.000-04:00

Awhile back I left a comment on Leanne's blog. Leanne lives in Australia and posted a picture of Romantic Homes magazine that she had just bought. She was excited because it is published here in the US, and she found it there in Australia. I had just bought the next issue of the same magazine. After exchanging a few emails, we decided to send an envelope with a magazine or things from our country to the other. Here is what was in the envelope that I received from Leanne.

She sent a lot of fun stitchery patterns for me to do, and I love the pretty thread and the fabrics. The buttons are cute. Here is a close up:

The bird buttons are pretty, but I am in love with the kangaroo button and will find a special project to put him in. Thanks Leanne for a fun trade.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch.

Thanks for visiting today!

Duck...Duck....Quilt???

2011-09-12T21:38:00.000-04:00

This is my Garden Fence quilt, and it was on my design wall until I finished sewing the top together. When I look at it all I see is yellow....like a big yellow duck. I wanted this quilt for on the twin bed in our spare room so in order to make the quilt larger in addition to the borders (to be added later), I put 2 inch wide sashing in between the blocks and rows. I think the yellow overwhelms the fabrics (Lovely by Moda). Every other Garden Fence quilt I have seen has either used white or off white. I just thought the yellow would be something different. Well it's different but different isn't necessarily always good.

Here are my options:

I could take the whole quilt apart and substitute white or off white for the yellow. This would take longer than cutting out another quilt and sewing it together.

I could cut the 2 inch sashing down to 1 inch and add the borders.

I could put the borders on this one, donate it and move on.

What to do? I would appreciate any input.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today! And, thanks to Judy Laquidara at http://www.patchworktimes.com for sponsoring Design Wall Monday.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today!

Flurry Fabric Giveaway Winner Is..........

2011-09-11T22:20:00.000-04:00

The winner of my 200th post giveaway is comment number 4: Janet O. I have emailed Janet and will send off her Flurry charm packs and Kona fabrics this coming week. Thanks to everyone for entering and for all of your wonderful comments.

Enter a lower limit:
Enter an upper limit:

Random Number:

200th Post Giveaway

2011-09-07T18:00:00.026-04:00

To No Reply Bloggers

I have had several of you leave a comment who are no-reply bloggers so I have no way to contact you.

Go to your Dashboard page.
Under your photo click Edit Profile.
Check the second box on that page that says "show my email address".
Scroll down to the bottom and click the save profile button.

Then come back and leave another comment.

Some people have written that don't have a blog so there isn't even a way for me to go to their blog and leave a comment there. Another option is to include your email address in your comment. I always feel bad when someone asks me a question or makes a comment that I'd like to respond to, and there is simply no way for me to reach them.
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I can't believe that I've posted 200 times on this blog. I really appreciate all of you stopping by to read my ramblings and look at my photos. I love blogging because it motivates me to keep going on my current projects and to try new things. I have also made many friends and love all of your emails.

As a thank you to all of my readers, I'm having a giveaway.

Since I received such a positive response to my Christmas Present Wall Hanging, I'm giving away enough fabric for you to make one for yourself with enough to make a second project or to make whatever you want. The giveaway includes 1 1/2 yards of Kona White, 1/2 yard each Kona Red and Green, and 2 Flurry charm packs.

To be entered in my giveaway, just leave a comment. I'll close the giveaway on Friday evening and post the name of the winner on Saturday. Good luck!

Hope you are doing some stitching today!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Charming Christmas Present Quilt

2011-09-05T07:00:00.006-04:00

The Flurry quilt by Kate Spain is showing up all over blog land. The project sheet for the quilt she designed is available for download at The Fat Quarter Shop and is made with a layer cake.

Since I had a Flurry charm pack and only wanted a wall hanging this is what I've had on my design wall the past few days. I used the idea from the Flurry project sheet and made my blocks smaller. My wall hanging is approximately 35" X 40".

I really love these fabrics.

Here is how I made my wallhanging. You will need approximately:

1 yard of white fabric ( I used Kona Cotton)
Red and green scraps for the ribbon and bow.
One charm pack or 5" squares of Christmas fabrics.

For the blocks you will need:

1 charm square (or any 5" square of Christmas fabric)
Ribbon fabric (green in the photo above):
   Cut 1 - 1 1/4" X 5"
   Cut 2 - 1 3/4" X 1 3/4"
Background:
   Cut 2 - 1 3/4" X 1 3/4"
   Cut 1  - 1 3/4" X 2 3/4"

Cut the charm square in half. Sew the 1 1/4" X 5" green fabric between the charm square halves as shown.

The green squares will be sewn onto the 1 3/4" X 2 3/4" background rectangle using the connector corner method. Place right sides together and sew diagonally. You can either mark the diagonal line with a pen or chalk, press the square in half diagonally to mark the line, or you can just eyeball and sew from corner to corner.

I trim away the excess fabric at the corner before pressing the corner down.

Now place the second green square on right sides together and sew. Trim the excess and press.

Here is the piece from the back side. When using connector corners sometimes the top triangles end up outside of the original rectangle.

I trim the piece so that it measures the original 1 3/4" X 2 3/4".

Now the units are ready to put together.

These blocks are fast and easy to make.

You could make a Christmas pillow from just one block with a border or two.

To finish the wall hanging cut sashing 2 1/2" wide and cornerstones 2 1/2" X 2 1/2". I quartered charm squares to make the cornerstones. The outside white border is cut at 1 1/2" wide.

Thanks to Judy L at www.patchworktimes.com for hosting Design Wall Monday.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today!

Stay At Home Round Robin

2011-09-02T22:22:00.000-04:00

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted. This past week has really flown by. I've visited my daughter and taken a road trip to a quilt shop I hadn't been to in several months, and I've done some sewing, too.

I'm in a round robin with several gals that I see a couple of times a year at the Dear Jane retreat up in Shipshewana, Indiana. I just finished my round on that quilt and passed it on to the next person on the list.

I have also joined a stay at home round robin. Sunny over at Quilting Dreams blog is our hostess and has set up a page there with our guidelines. She has also set up a Flickr page where we can post photos of our quilts.

This is my center:

The round robin that I just worked on had a Dresden Plate center, and I loved it so much that I could hardly wait to work on my round. So I chose a Dresden for my stay at home robin center, and I'm using the Bliss pieces that I have plus some other pieces from my stash.

Our centers are to be between 12" and 16". The directions for our first border have been posted, and we are going to do a round with 3" triangles. It can be either 3 rounds of triangles that are each an inch, or one row with 3" triangles or hourglass blocks. We have a month to complete each round, and I'm really looking forward to being a part of this.

You can still join in because we've just started. You can go over to Sunny's blog and join in the fun and check out our progress at the Flickr group.

I hope you are all finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Dear Jane Christmas Signature Quilt Finished

2011-08-27T23:30:00.001-04:00

I've finished another UFO - my Dear Jane Christmas signature quilt. On one of the Dear Jane lists someone thought it would be fun to have a signature block swap using Christmas fabrics. This swap took place in 2008, and since this was a "first" I signed up. Here is my finished quilt:

It was a lot of fun arranging and rearranging the blocks. There are blocks in this quilt from old friends that I've known for many years and new friends that I have met through blogging.

I machine quilted this quilt on my Bernina.

I used the striped continuous bias binding from my last post. Here is how it looks against the red border.....

and the green.......

I love doing this leaf quilting pattern to fill in a border.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you are having a good weekend and finding a few minutes to do some stitching!!!!

Continuous Bias Binding Tutorial

2011-08-24T03:05:00.001-04:00

I'm editing this post so that you all know that this method of making continuous bias binding was not my original idea. I found a tutorial on one of the quilting self help sites, and followed it step by step and came up with this. Actually I ended up with 2 of these "hats".....so I wrote my own tutorial.

This is not the traditional way of making continuous bias binding, but I always seem to get the triangles of fabric in the wrong place. So here is a tutorial of a method that I found to make continuous bias binding that I think is quick and easy.

I first bought a 3/4 yard of fabric. You need to begin with a square. My square is 27".

Fold this square in half with right sides together matching the selvages. Sew around the 3 sides using a 1/4" seam. (Don't sew on the folded edge.)

Now you can turn your sewing machine off. This is all of the sewing you need to do.

Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the other.

Clip the corners where you just drew the lines.....

You just need to clip enough in order to be able to get your scissors in between the fabric layers.

Now flip the square over and repeat the last step on the opposite corners (the ones that are NOT clipped yet). After you've drawn this line, clip these two corners.

Carefully cut on the lines being sure to cut the layers separately.

Now pick the fabric up and form it into a tube. Press the seams.

Even up the edges.

Now draw lines on the tube the width of your preferred binding. But, don't draw these lines all the way to the top....stop about 6 inches from the top of the tube.

This is a better photo. With your rotary cutter cut the binding strips stopping approximately where you see the line in the photo below.

Now pick up the tube and rotate it until the uncut portion is centered on the cutting mat.

Draw lines to connect the strips on the bottom with the next one diagonally on the top as shown in the photo below. Next cut on these lines with scissors.

That step is hard to explain but hopefully the picture will help explain it.

Press the binding in half. From 3/4 yard of fabric I ended up with 8 yards 7 inches of binding.

Below is bias binding that I made from a yard of fabric. The piece at the left is left over from cutting the square and can go in my scrap bin. The little pile in the middle is all of the waste from making the binding.

I really like this method and hope you will give it a try.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me at krugla@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Binding A UFO

2011-08-22T01:44:00.000-04:00

I've been machine quilting another UFO. As soon as I get the binding hand stitched, I'll post a photo of another finish.
This is continuous bias binding, and I found a quick and easy way to make it. I'm working on a tutorial to post in a day or two so you can see how to make it step by step. I really like making bias binding from striped fabric because it looks like the stripes wrap right around the edge of the quilt.

I started with a 36" square of fabric. I cut my binding at 2 1/4" wide, and I ended up with a bit over 15 yards of binding.

I've been spending a lot of time working on my border for the next round robin that I have. Here is a bit of one of the blocks.

Stay tuned for my continuous bias binding tutorial.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch.

Thanks for visiting today!

Giant Granny Quilt Along - 50 rounds

2011-08-18T16:34:00.001-04:00

I've just completed 50 rounds on my Giant Granny Square blanket. There are quite a few of us that have joined the crochet along over at Sucrette's blog.

I plan to keep going on this blanket even though it is fairly large right now. In the next photo you can see how large it is compared to the size of the chair. It would already be a cozy wrap at this size. But there is still yarn left, so I will add a few more rounds. Those of you that know me are laughing because you know I always have a good stash of yarn!!!

I'm going to try to come up with a pattern, chart or tutorial that will show how you do a granny square for those that want to make either this blanket or smaller granny squares. I'll post that over on my crochet blog soon.

I hope you are having a good week and finding some time to stitch.

Thanks for visiting!

Garden Fence Blocks On My Design Wall

2011-08-15T23:10:00.000-04:00

You know that there is a lot of temptation out there in blog land. There is always something fun that you can be a part of or some new fabrics you can see (or buy) or a new quilting idea that you can try.

Lately, I've been noticing all of the Garden Fence blocks on some of my favorite blogs. The blocks are all so different, and I can't stop looking at them. So I had a weak moment.

I went over to McIntyre Girl's blog just to have a look around. She is hosting the quilt along. Then I decided maybe I would just make enough of these blocks for a table runner. I know you're laughing. How many times have you said that? I'll just make a few blocks-----just enough for a table runner or small wall hanging?

Here's what I have done so far. These blocks finish at 10", and there are no seams to match. Honest! They go together very quickly and easily.

I may need a bigger table at this rate. I'm using a Lovely layer cake by Moda that I've been saving for something special, and I thought the florals would be perfect for this project. I picked up 3 different shades of Kona Cotton to try out for the sashing. I have more fabric left so maybe I'll make just a few more blocks. The quilt along instructions use either a fat quarter or regular quarter of fabric, but the dimensions work for a layer cake.

Thanks to Judy L. at Patchwork Times for hosting Design Wall Monday.

Be sure to visit McIntyre Girl's blog. Besides being a quilter and hosting the Garden Fence quilt along, she just gave birth to her 3rd daughter.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Bow Ties.....Option B

2011-08-10T18:00:00.000-04:00

After looking at my cheddar and repro bow tie blocks that I've started cutting and sewing for my Leader and Ender project, I decided to make a few using some brighter fabrics. The brights are made from 2 1/2" squares/strips and will finish at 4 inches.

Here are my cheddar bow ties. They finish at 3 inches.

I kind of like both, but I'm still trying to finish some of my UFOs. I'm trying hard not to start too many new projects...even if they are going to be leader and ender projects. You only need to sew 5 seams to make one of these blocks so they go together pretty quickly.

Which do you like best?

Hope you are finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Do You Use Leaders and Enders?

2011-08-08T08:00:00.004-04:00

When I'm machine sewing, there are times when my machine decides that it is going to eat that leading edge of my fabric. This happens because those long threads get down into the hole in the plate and get all tangled up and cause problems.

Bonnie Hunter at www.quiltville.com is the originator of the leaders and enders idea and explains it in full detail on her web site and in her book Adventures with Leaders and Enders. The idea is to always have a piece of fabric under the presser foot. Do I do this? Of course, I always have a piece of fabric under my presser foot. I always keep a little pile of scraps over at the side of my machine. But, I have to admit that what I use is a scrap piece of fabric that I've folded over and over and sewn until there is so much thread that you can barely see the fabric pattern showing through. Oh, I understand the concept of leaders and enders, but I just have never done it the right way.....until now.

Earlier I visited Janet's blog and found a cute post that she wrote about all of the temptations that Bonnie Hunter puts up on her web site. As I read on, she talked about a cute bow tie project. So after I read Janet's post, I went on over to Quiltville and there, sure enough, was the photo of the antique bow tie quilt. There were also directions on how to cut the pieces for a leader/ender project. I went ahead and printed them out just in case I ever wanted to give this a try.

As I studied the directions, I decided that it all made sense and so I just cut a few pieces of fabric. After all this is from my stash, and I have this big piece of cheddar print that I bought for a project and didn't use.

It really does make sense to actually make something from those little pieces of fabric that you send through the machine before and after the quilt you are working on. The big squares are cut at 2", and the smaller ones are 1 1/4".

These bow ties will finish at 3". They are really easy to make. Just sew on the line.

After you sew these little pieces onto the cheddar, you can cut away part of the underneath triangle, and then press them down. Then you sew it all together.

And before you know it, you have made a few bow ties.

I hope you are doing some stitching today. I'm hoping to make a few more bow ties.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

A Fall Quilt Finish

2011-08-05T06:32:00.000-04:00

I have another finished quilt. This quilt is made from the Edyta Sitar pattern called Medallion. I hand applique'd the center and machine pieced the rest.

I machine quilted this on my Bernina. I started out by echo quilting around the center applique'. Then I studied the quilts in Edyta's books Friendship Strips and Scraps and Friendship Triangles and many of her pieced quilts are quilted with an all over free motion quilting pattern. And, I can do a curvy line by machine much easier than I can do a straight line.

For the inner border I did a free motion swirl, and on the outer border I just followed the design in the border print going around the teardrop design inside and along the outside edge and then through the stems and leaves.

It is quilted and bound and ready for fall!

I hope you are all finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for visiting!

Giant Granny Crochet Along

2011-08-03T00:39:00.000-04:00

I'm still working on machine quilting more of my UFOs, but in the evenings I have been crocheting. I joined the Giant Granny Crochet Along over at Le Monde de Sucrette's blog. We are all just making one giant granny square, and I think we are going to try to finish with somewhere between 50-75 rounds or until we run out of yarn.

Here is a photo of my afghan. I have 20 rounds done so far, and I have only used each color once.

I still have 5 more colors left that I haven't used.

So if I have 25 different colors of yarn and could use each one 3 times then I would make it to 75 rounds for my blanket.

I think it would be fun to make one of these in a planned color scheme....maybe I'll do that for my second one.

I've started doing this CAL with some internet friends. Check out Elly's, Cattinka's and Cyn's blogs. There is also a Flickr group where we've posted photos.

I hope you are finding some time to do some stitching or crocheting today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Table Topper Finish

2011-08-01T08:10:00.009-04:00

I'm still machine quilting, and I've just finished this table topper.

I have several of this type of table topper to quilt. The patterns vary, but they are all similar. A few years ago this one was one of a series of patterns offered by Northcott. The patterns were available every month on their web site, and one of our local quilt shops sold the fabrics. Every month a friend and I made the trip to our quilt shop for our fabrics. After 7 or 8 months of not finishing these toppers, I decided that I probably had something in my stash that I could use along with the patterns.

I really enjoy quilting these leaves in the border. I do this design quite a lot in my borders.

And here it is all washed and crinkled.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit, and welcome to my new followers!!!!!!

A Little Quilt Finish

2011-07-30T00:38:00.001-04:00

I sometimes wonder what my neighbors think when they look out their windows and see me standing around our trees and bushes with a piece of cloth and a camera..........

I am still quilting my way through the stack of basted quilts that I showed you on my blog post the other day. I just finished this little flying geese quilt.

If you are wondering what the name of the border pattern design is, it's called "Oh my gosh....I can't believe I've finished 3 things in a week!!!!!!" I started to hand quilt this one, but for some reason the seams were pressed in all different directions. So I ended up just doing some simple machine quilting.

This quilt was something that I made up using some leftover charm squares.
Cut 2 fabrics 2 1/2" X 4 1/2". The pink fabric is a charm square.

Cut the charm square into 4 squares that measure 2 1/2".

Place two of these squares onto the background fabrics as shown and sew diagonally. I pressed the squares so I would have some sort of line to sew on. You could also draw a line on the back side of the fabric for a guide.

Press the pink fabric toward the corner.

Now put the other pink square on the opposite corner and sew.

And you've made two flying geese units.

Here is my little quilt after it was washed, crinkled and poofed.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch and enjoying your weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

Are you a Wantobe Quilter?????

2011-07-28T11:15:00.002-04:00

Calling all Wantobe Quilters?

"Hello friends and followers, I would love to welcome you

to a Wantobe Quilters Campaign over here. ( http://stashmanicure.blogspot.com)

They are having quilting supplies to giveaway 5 x a week for 12 weeks.

Supplies that will have you quilting

before you know it...From sewing machines to irons, to die cutters,

to mats, to rotary cutters, sewing baskets, scissors, batting, needles,

rolled sewing machine bags, patterns, books, magazines...everything

you could imagine to assist you in being a NEW Quilter.

Even if you are already part of this community you can win

quilting stuff too...Tuesday and Thursday are days for us..

All you have to do is give me your name and phone number

and email sew I can submit this to the organizer, because if you win

anything I can win something too.

All you have to do is be my follower and a follower

over at Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure....

That is all! There are over 49 Sponsors involved.

I am pretty excited to be part of this, sew should you.

I love being a QUILTER!

( p.s you will not be eligible to win anything if you do not register

with a blogger where you see this message)

So here is what you need to do:
1. Send me an email at krugla@gmail.com and tell me you want to be signed up for the Wantobe Quilter campaign. Include your name and email address.
2. Become one of my followers
3. Become a follower at www.stashmanicure.blogspot.com
4. Go to the Stash Manicure blog and leave a comment Monday through Friday. This enters you in the drawing. If you put my name in the comment, I can win something, too.

I think this is going to be a lot of fun, and I hope you join in. You only have until August 1 to sign up.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Two Little Finishes

2011-07-26T18:21:00.000-04:00

I have a few quilt tops that I really want to finish. OK. Well, there's really more than a few. The photo isn't too clear, but if it looks like this is a laundry basket overflowing with quilt tops......well you're right.

A few months ago I took everything out of this basket (and the other big Rubbermaid container full of quilt tops that I have) and took photos of each one. I was going to put every one of those photos on my blog under the UFO tab above but decided I couldn't live with the embarrassment. So there are a few photos there but most of the things that are in the basket are things you've never seen.

I've basted a few, and I'm going to try and finish quilting and binding them and then baste a few more. Here are my first two finishes:

These two little quilts are place mat size and are from the book, Little Quilts All Through the House by Alice Berg, Mary Ellen Von Holt, and Sylvia Johnson. That book is copyrighted 1993, so I imagine these two little quilts could be about that old. That really doesn't sound that bad until you do the math.

I love making and starting new things, but I am going to try hard to keep up the finishing momentum.

Hope you are all stitching just a little today. Thanks for stopping by!!!

Quilts & Coffee....what could be better?

2011-07-23T22:50:00.000-04:00

It's been a good weekend so far. Last week I found a comment on my blog from Debbie at Happy Little Cottage blog. We exchanged a few emails, and I went over to her blog to pay a visit. I enjoyed looking at her quilts, but as I scrolled down the page she had a post about making iced coffee. I followed the link to the recipe to give it a try, and it is just as wonderful as she told me it was, and it's super easy. I have another batch "brewing" right now. I add some milk and then a big splash of cream. I think I'm addicted. Thanks Debbie!

My friend, Val, from Canada made the cute coffee mat for me.

Here is the recipe for iced coffee that Debbie uses:

Mix 1/3 cup of ground coffee with 1 1/2 cups water. Let sit overnight or for about 12 hours. Then strain through 2 coffee filters. Pour over ice and add milk, cream, sugar or whatever you like. Debbie tells me that it is really good with sweetened condensed milk added. There's no cooking.....you just stir. What could be easier?

I basted several quilts in the last couple of days. In fact I basted until I ran out of curved safety pins. And, then I thread basted a couple of small quilts.

We also saw the final installment of the Harry Potter movie. A good movie, and I really enjoyed seeing the ending. I love all the special effects.

I hope you are all having a good weekend and doing something you enjoy.

Thanks for visiting!

I Won A Great Giveaway

2011-07-21T11:05:00.000-04:00

I won a giveaway over on Vicky's blog LA Quilter. She gave me a $50 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop. The giveaway was awhile ago, but I wanted to show you what I bought and how I plan to use some of it.

With the Flurry charm pack I want to do a smaller wall hanging size of this quilt. The directions for this quilt are available as a free download from Fat Quarter Shop.

I saw this quilt along with the entire line of fabrics at my local quilt shop.

The Bella solids are 1930s colors. I wanted these to work on a project that I've already started.

After I cut pieces from my Kaffe Fassett fabrics to use in my Hearts and Flowers applique' quilt, I keep the larger scraps. I saw this little basket pattern in one of the Quiltmania magazines and decided these baskets would be a good way to use those scraps.

These baskets are 2 inches high.

This pack of Christmas fabrics by Riley Blake is called Christmas Candy and is a stacker. There are 22 charm squares in a stacker. The stripe will be used for binding.

I wanted the Christmas candy fabrics to use with some other fabrics with Christmas candy that have been in my stash. I've already cut those fabrics into 5" squares.

These pieces are from Just Wing It by Momo for Moda. I have a layer cake of that line so the solids will go into the quilt and the floral will be used for backing. More on that quilt in another post.

Thanks so much to Vicky for such a generous giveaway. I had lots of fun spending the gift certificate and will have just as much fun sewing up all of these great fabrics.

Please go over to Vicky's blog and say hello; she is having another giveaway that ends this Saturday morning.

I also hope you will go on over to Fat Quarter Shop and spend some time there. Besides lots of beautiful fabrics, there are free patterns to download and also photos and information on fabric lines that are coming out soon.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. I hope you are having a good day and doing a little bit of sewing!

Dresden Quilt Top

2011-07-19T09:56:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I worked on my Dresden Plate quilt. In my post of March 13, 2011, I talked about the block that I made. I have had my Dresden ruler for quite a few years and had never made anything with it....not even one wedge. While visiting Anne Marie's blog awhile before that, she posted that she had bought the ruler and showed the fabrics she was going to use. I left a comment on her blog and told her about my template and that it was still in the package, and she challenged me to make something with my template.

First I worked on this:

And then I decided to add some red to make this:

Then I decided to cut into my Fresh Flowers fabrics by Deb Strain for Moda, and I made this block and then and put them all away.

A couple of days ago Anne Marie sent me an email with photos of her finished quilt top. It is just beautiful. Go and take a look at it here. I got busy and started to work on finishing my quilt top. Here is what I have done so far:

I don't have enough of any of the fabrics shown to do the inner or outer borders so I'll have to be creative or buy more fabric. Full disclosure: Except for the center block, the fan blades are basted in there and are not applique'd to the background. I will hand applique' because it looks better than my machine applique'.

Thank you Anne Marie for motivating me to do something with this template. I have always loved Dresden plate quilts, I had no idea how easy these blocks were to make until you challenged me.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today!

Go over to www.patchworktimes.com to check out what everyone else has on their design walls this week.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today for a visit.

How to Use Stash Fast........

2011-07-16T00:11:00.000-04:00

Hello to all of my new followers that found me through my post over on Stash Manicure earlier this week. And, welcome to all of you that have been following here for awhile. It has been so nice meeting all of you.

A couple of months ago I was browsing in one of our JoAnn Fabrics stores here in town and ran into a friend I hadn't seen in quite awhile. We had a nice visit, and it turns out that she also has a blog. We have been following each others sewing adventures since that day.

One day I went to Steph's blog and found a crocheted rug she had made. I enlarged the photo of this rug as large as I possibly could and just sat there staring at it. As I read her post I couldn't believe it. She had crocheted her rug with 1" strips of fabric using a size P hook. I was puzzled because I didn't see any knots or pieces of fabric sticking up anywhere, so I wrote Steph. She works at one of our local quilt shops here, and she told me to come up and bring my hook and some strips and she would show me how she joins her strips and help me get started.

Oh, I know this is starting another project, but I'm using up my stash. And, I can crochet faster than I can do any other craft. I think this is the center that Steph started for me. My daughter was here visiting, and we both worked on this. First we tried single crochets and then slip stitches to see just what looked best. Steph's piece looked so nice. I may have to go back again for a refresher course......

Here is another one that I started.

And, then we started a third one. I like to crochet, but after working with yarn this is pretty hard on the hands and not nearly as fast as I'd first thought, but I just love the way this looks. So I approached my daughter with this new project in the style of Tom Sawyer thinking she would want to do this, but she wasn't having any of it. I really do love Steph's rug and hope to finish one of these some day.

Then I was looking through my photos on the computer and found this.

I think this looks like a pretty neat rug, but where is it? As I kept going through photos I found this.

That rug is the bottom of this crocheted bag. It's finished all but sewing the handles on. They are stuffed inside the bag along with some cute buttons. The bag is made from crochet cotton.

Today I spent time outside in my flowers. I have wanted to put a big pot of flowers in between my garage doors for awhile now. So today I found a nice pot and it's late enough in the planting season that the flowers that are left in the stores are priced reasonably. So that all seemed to take up most of today. I forgot to take a photo of that pot, but these are some red day lillies that I have planted out back.

The stella de oro variety (the yellow ones) of perennial day lillies grow so easily here, that it is kind of unusual to see them in a different color.

I really have been doing some quilt things, but I can't show them. I worked on one round robin and mailed it to the next person on the list. Then the next quilt that I am to work on arrived, and I love the design and fabrics so much that I started working on it right away.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit. I hope you are all finding some time to stitch today.

I'm A Guest Blogger at Stash Manicure Today!!

2011-07-12T11:19:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited that Madame Samm asked me to come over to Stash Manicure and do a guest post today. My post is a tutorial about paper piecing. I must admit that I was a bit nervous. I've paper pieced for a long time, and it is honestly easier to do the actual paper piecing than it is to try and explain it. I included lots of step by step photos in the post as well as photos of some of my quilts that I've paper pieced.

I hope you'll go on over to Stash Manicure and check out my post today and leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Design Wall Swap Blocks

2011-07-11T07:30:00.002-04:00

My goal for the last half of 2011 is to try and finish one UFO each month and to put together some of my blocks that are either from swaps that I've been in or others that I've made and for whatever reason have never become a quilt.

Here is what I have on my design wall this morning. These blocks will finish at 3 inches and are from a swap that I was in with several friends that I retreat with twice a year. Our group consisted of either six or seven, and we each chose 6 different blocks and made one for each swap member. So every 6 months I ended up with either 36 or 42 blocks, all different.

The only rules we had were that the blocks had to finish at 3". There are some holiday and seasonal blocks.

There are traditional pieced blocks and some applique'.

I love these little blocks: there are several cat blocks, an American flag, a grandmothers flower garden block, and a pumpkin.

This is going to be a busy quilt. With an alternate block the quilt will measure around 57" X 66" without borders.

I think I need an alternate block to give your eye a place to rest. What do you think? Would you just use a solid block or a pieced block? What alternate block would you use?

You can go over to Judy's blog www.patchworktimes.com to see what others have up on their design walls today.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you are having a nice day and finding some time to do some stitching!