Quiltathon!

Figured since it was Quiltathon Weekend I would go full force and get this monster top done! Imagine my surprise when I started laying it out and found I was short a row and a half! Now I can be math challenged sometimes but this really got me!

Because I surely didn't want to cut more strips to get the other slew that would be needed out of this pile that I had left over. I had thought I cut way over and was hoping to have some left over to throw into a little scrappy throw.

Then under this pile I found................................

These!! Now I didn't dwell long on how they got there, I was just thrilled to find them and get them matched up, but it turned out I was still a little shy so ended up getting another 36 blocks from that pile to make up what I needed.

Now in the other post I talked about how I wasn't thrilled with it being all blue, I like blue, especially when they are made with these fabrics!! Now I could whip those kinds of patterns out all day long! ~smile~

So here we are now at 9pm, I started them out by two'sies then to four'sies, then don't know why I changed mid stream to rows but it is working out great, all the rows are ready for the final seam then I will go ahead and probably do a thin strip of dark blue to set it with an additional wider border to finish to size.

Right now it sits at 108X96 and since I will use cotton batting and wash it before giving to its new owner I know there will be some shrinkage to compensate for the extra, plus the gal said the closer to the floor the better because the daughter doesn't use a bed skirt. Know how I know? I called to ask if I could make it a little more towards laying at the top of the bed skirt, trying to save her some funds along with some time for myself! But alas, I was doomed to major huge!

Now I know this design has gotten to be pretty popular lately but before the popularity of it Mary had put together a little something of her own and she shared it, since then I have wanted to make one but in a more scrappy version. I need to take a picture of the quilt that inspired my customer, it was in all 2.5 inches strips of nothing but plaids but it was like the fourth quilt I ever made and it was one of Mary Ellen Hopkins designs and although very easy it used a lot of strips for one block! And there was no way I was going to recreate THAT in a 112X100!!

So I did a quick sketch of Mary's Boxed Squares and she loved it! In every shade of blue I could use! Now I was very pleased with being able to pull 80% of the fabric from my shelves, I went on an online clearance of blues hunt and bought one tower of 30 different fat quarters for $26!! I made that work with the rest of what I had then went to a sale at Fiddlestick's and she had some blues on for $3 a yard so grabbed a couple there but the mother load of a deal was a bolt of 24 yards of the ugliest blue that was absolutely perfect for the backing and probably the border as well as the binding if I cut right! It actually wasn't that ugly at all once she started unrolling it to take measurement, then it caught peoples eye, but it was all mine!!! Envision the evil laugh here!

Now I need to finish ironing the beast's rows to prepare for final assembly, am thinking I will finish it tomorrow though as my eyeballs are starting to go a little wonky!

Friday~

There was a gun exhibition going on in Wikiup at a gun range in the area, which is about 45 miles from us. There were to be guns going back to the civil war era up to current day weapons and I thought it would be fun for the boys to see. So we loaded up into the truck and headed out.

Now what I didn't know about was the 10 miles of primitive kept roads that lead to the range........the two photos are just a little bit of what we drove through to get there.

The total disappointment came when we pulled up and gal said get out of the vehicle and fill out some paperwork, umm, ok, we start filling out then she informs us it is $25 per person to be a spectator! There were 6 of us present so you can imagine what we did!

Went home and baked some white pumpkin pies! Now I don't really think Blakes' nose got pushed into them but there were some pickers when they came out of the oven, sticking the knife in to see if it was done wasn't good enough, needed to spoon a little out to make sure!

It should actually be called nutmeg pie with a hint of pumpkin, ever have one of those moments that you cant remember for the life of you what the rule was for fresh ground spices?

That is about all I use when I cook or bake, fresh ground pepper, cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg etc so when the stupid moment hit of "is it more fresh to dry or more dry to fresh?" I chose the more fresh must be it and twisted away!

Now when Donnie did the checking he casually said out loud ~ wow, it sure tastes like nutmeg!~ That was when the bulb went off! They still tasted really really good though!!

Trying to be inspired!

I am in the process of making an all blue quilt in the following design, I chose it from one of Mary's over at Making Scrap Quilts from Stash's site MaryQuilts.com. The gal who I am making it for liked this size of blocks, the bummer is that she wants it 112x100!

Not the best of pictures but the idea is there of what I have been up to besides some quilting on the side. It will be a Christmas gift for her daughter, and wanted nothing but blues, sigh.......

On a fun note I am excited for the pumpkins arrival! We have made soup and pumpkin butter so far but now have to get more for pies, then freeze a good bunch for more soup days!

For Lillian~

These quilts were made by a complete beginning quilter! I tell you what, they are absolutley perfect and it was a lot of fun to quilt them! I got to pick colors and designs and hope she will be pleased with the outcome!

Earlene Fowler coming to Kingman?!

At the show there was a bulletin that Author Earlene Fowler is going to be coming to Kingman in May of 2009! I thought that was pretty exciting news!

The other thing I wanted to make note of was the neat little quilt covers that some of the ladies put together for the legs of the quilt stands, they thought it would help to prevent anyone from tripping. Probably pick and click a photo to see a closer looksee!

Took a trip to Target and found some cute Kittie Bling! Decided to go with Sashi~(pronounced saw-she) for kitties name, she is adjusting splendidly although there are folks in the house who call her a mangy and scraggly runt.


I see a beautiful swan under there! ~smile~

Quilt Show~Final

Little Miss ticket seller! I swear she could sell ocean front property in Arizona!!


a close up of one of the blocks in the antique quilt above.

Quilt Show~3

There are some talented ladies in this group!

Quilt Show~2

More random shots, mostly of things that caught my eye! Maybe next year I will be brave enough to enter something!

Quilt Show~1

This week our local Guild had their Show, the pictures aren't the greatest but at least there is a little idea of what some of the Ladies have been up to this year!

This grouping is the challenge quilts, they were pretty neat inventions/creations!

This here is this years opportunity quilt, the quilting is phenomenal and will try to remember to get some close ups tomorrow before helping break down.

The rest are just some random shots!


This one here is my favorite!

There is probably going to be a few posts of all the different shots that I was able to get before people started showing up.

Craft Fair Pics

This was my first time venturing into the world of selling my wares! It went great and was a good experience but if my Husband and Children hadn't been there I would have curled up in a corner and refused to come out until it was over! :0)

Talking with people is just the hardest thing for me, and what was nice is the people who were interested in quilts were generally the nicest to talk with! And the kids loved that bright wonky pinwheel that is on the corner there, would have loved to have had a few made up and just give one to each who were begging their Moms!

This gal was not the least bit afraid to mingle with the people!



It was a two day event and we tried to keep things rearranged for eye appeal and it was a matter of learning as we went!