What Happened Here?

I love books and at one point in time I even had a software program that I had entered everything in my collection, and kept an updated list in my purse to avoid such a scene as this. Then having the quilt books in 3 different cases is also not good, so as I was going through starting on the organization project this is what I found, sigh, I have to say if you enjoy scrap quilts then Tried and True is an absolute must have! There is not one quilt in that book that I don't like and thankfully they came into the collection by using the 40% coupons.

The Ultimate Book of Quilting is equally as impressive and I enjoy the inspiration that comes from it as well. And the same can be said for the Amish Small quilts.

So I am thinking about sharing them, I am just not sure yet how to go about it. Maybe if there is one you are interested in you could leave a comment on it and I will seperate each into bowls and draw a name! Input?!








A friend of mine recently made a Pink and Brown Turning Twenty Top that was just absolutely gorgeous! I personally haven't favored those colors until recently, now I have two projects planned using them! I have added 2 more colors to the bunch this past weekend but I had already taken the picture so will have to show them later.

But first I need to finish up the Denim Circles, it is a little slow going but will be worth it when it is competed, the Girls are thinking it should go to one of them as a Wedding Quilt, I laugh in their face! ;0)

Quilt from Hades

This quilt has been on the list to get completed for far too long, it has just been easier to work on something else than to just deal with it!









Here is why I put it aside, when I stitched the rows there was a hole because the lines I was following didn't cover it all! No big deal right? At the time is was because I let it stump me and defeat me. Well not anymore, I got tired of moving the basket it was in last night so grabbed it up and decided it was time to conquer the beast!

I simply ran another seam to take care of the problem and felt the victory slowly starting to rise, so grabbed the glue stick and slathered it on to hold the flannel in place. What I don't show is the denim I used when trying to decide which stitch to use, it looks pretty cool and is currently holding my coffee cup.

So here we are working on the first row and I think it is going to be ok! I think it will need a little doodling in the center to help stabilize but so far I am liking how it is turning out. Only been moving that basket for 2 years~

When Chad was first starting school he would get so frustrated if he couldn't do something just right the very first time, we went through reams of paper because he would mess up and crumble it. I knew that trait must have come from his father! After realizing that is exactly what I have done I can safely say that Chad and his Dad must have rubbed off on me after all these years! Hehehehe!

One Cool Give-Away!

Jaye over at Just a Mom is having a Contest that I really don't want to tell everyone about because it will just make it a little more difficult for my name to be drawn. Just kidding, a little, so pop on over and check it out!

~William~

This here is my boy William! He is the Cutie-Patootie of the family and wears the badge well! A week (or two) he decided he wanted to do some piecing with me. And the machine I was going to get him going on was already on the table, would just take a minute to get moved for 'em! Easy peasy!

I just needed him to give me a minute to finish whatever it was I was doing. 24 hours later he asked if I was finished doing whatever it was that I was doing and I pleaded for just a few more!

48 hours later he smiles and says, so you think we might get the machine moved? Yes! Just let me finish this up, it will only take a momento! and in his little sing-song voice he says 'Mom! I have already given you 3 days of minutes', then he happily skipped away to play a round of Halo with his big brother.

So after I scraped myself up off the ground I not only got it moved but cleaned oiled and threaded up so he could go to town on some muslin! And he is doing great, it is fun to watch his hands operate the hand crank and fabric. He is about ready to start on some simple blocks and I just happen to have some denim squares he can play with, I will just set the gauge up to give him a bigger seam allowance.

The machine he is using is (one of) my favorites, a 201k, can't recall the year at the moment but it has the most beautiful stitch and it has pieced many of my tops with a faithfully perfect stitch every time! It had been in a treadle cabinet so it could be used either way but since getting the longarm I had to move a few of them out so popped it back into a case and plopped it onto the cutting table for whenever the urge would strike to use it.

When we first moved here I would set up on the veranda and crank away while watching the kids play, and with the days getting nicer I am thinking it might be time to do so again!

Wonky Rails and Flying Geese

Finally got to get the wonky rails quilted, I was going to try out a new template but decided I liked the old faithful Baptist Fan better!









The backing was a fun one to do, just kind of let the blocks fall where they may, the top blue is bigger, it is just laying over the bar and not getting a full shot. I can't wait to get the binding on it now to see how that will add to it all.









I met a new gal from the Quiltville's Mystery Group, Andee from The Modern Diary, she made this sweet top for a gal who is in the hospital and she had mentioned she was going to tie it and I volunteered to quilt it for her! So she sent it to me and here it is done ready to head back to her first thing tomorrow morning.









Here is a shot at the cute little label, I was tickled to have seen my name added to it! How cute is that?!








Then here is just a closer shot, we are all enjoying the bright fresh colors while it is still hanging in the studio. I am just amazed at the friendships that I have made from the Blogging community, I still have a ways to go in leaving comments and letting everyone know how inspiring they are to me! So if you are reading this, considered yourself told! Thank you very much for it all!

I also got another denim quilt done, there is still a good pile left of squares so am going to put aside the flowery ones for some good ole' fashion plaids and stripes, which I just love! If the weather cooperates I want to get a shot of them lined up on the veranda railing but that will have to be tomorrow as well.

It is way past time to update the Stashbusting Tallies and I am excited to see what all I have gone through this past month. I have added a few pieces of flannels that were 50% off but I am also happy to say they are already cut up and ready to be used!

Still in March!

I am trying to get into April but I am still wandering around in March! It's been a two weeks since tinkering with this top, I still need to add a final border to seal it off. The patterns just called for the center rail fences but it was a little to square for me and not long enough to enjoy as a snuggle quilt.









So I pulled out the Dresden Ruler and seen the wonky tumblers on the package and thought it would be a perfect addition to the top and bottom. I just love the colors, my stashbusting tallies need to get updated as I purchased a set of fat quarters of the Kansas Troubles Autumn to do this in, plus added a yard of what I had in the stash to build on it.









These little Raggedy Dolls are some I purchased to represent Levia and Courtney a couple years ago at a little tea shop in Boulder City, they do an outside quilt show which happens to be coming up in May and one of the local gals Vida makes them. And see that little blue pincushion in the background? That was the one that the pups used as a chew toy and couldn't be found when I was gathering them all up, found it tucked behind the machine when I was dusting!

And the quilt the dolls are on is Blake's Baby Nursing quilt, I was still fairly new to quilting when I made it so there is a combination of hand and machine quilting to it, I did use it as well with William but it will go to Blake when the 'passing of quilts' time comes!









I have been getting backings and bindings together and just finished up the solids for the wonky rails, it is currently loaded on the machine but I enjoy the process of doing the bindings and especially when I can incorporate strips that were used in the quilts! The front one is what was left of all the darks for the above quilt and the same for the solids, not sure how they will fall once on the quilt but it will be a nice surprise!

Traveling Group of Youth

Three of the Kid's headed off to Lancaster California yesterday for 3 days of a Youth Conference at Westcoast Baptist College. Chad and Levia are standing next to each other in the back row and Donnie is the first one kneeling, Courtney was due to go as well but with the 3 working at the same place and she is the low man on the totem pole she stayed back to fill in. Plus she is excited that she will have a check for this week and they won't!

It took some time helping them get all their things together, from shopping to washing and packing, I was ready for a break myself from it all, and to top it off we had a guest speaker at Church this week so being the Hostess it meant being there an hour before setting up for the little snacks we had before each service.

So I only have Blake William and Courtney at home and I have to say the quiet is rather nice at the moment! Figured by the time they come home we will be ready to have them back! ~smile~









So I came home and finished the first of 3 denim rag quilts that I have going, got it washed and all and am pleased as punch with it! Decided to shake things up a bit and place a big X in red and put the flannel on top instead of on the bottom, it has the feel of being a picnic blanket so thought the denim on the bottom would hold up much better, also took the time to double the stitching in the seams for extra durability. Those cute little tootser's belong to William!









I also don't fancy to clipping the raggy part, kind of like the frayed edge like a nice pair of worn out jeans! It still needs to be taken out and given a good shaking to get rid of all the loose strings and will probably do that once it warms up some outside, I'll give a rug beater to the boys and let them have at it!

Silly Kid!

Not long ago we decided to add the texting package to our cell phone plan. I personally didn't think it would be something I or Don would do but I tell ya what, we have a blast with it! But it is (now was) a little tiring trying to figure out what all the abbreviations meant, Courtney to the rescue! She found this poster for us and I am going to get a frame for it and hang it somewhere!









These are some of my favorites, especially the DGTG (don't go there girlfriend)!









Then here is silly Ki-Ki, he was tilling the dirt in this pot a few days ago and I thought he was going to use it as his poddy and shooed him away from it, then yesterday Don came and got me to see him and realized he was just fluffing the dirt!

Mary Ellen is the Star for this Project

I had the honor of producing 2 baby quilts from a set of 20 quilt blocks that a 103yr old Great Great (there may be one more Great in here, can't remember) Grandma made, it was a pattern that she must have tinkered with herself as there was really nothing definite that I could put together with just the blocks.









And from this photo you can see how wonky the seam allowances are thus making no two blocks alike and with the help of Mary Ellen's Press they came into a little submission, at least long enough to be cut down into a uniform size!









Here they are completed, they are being gifted to a Grandchild who just delivered twins this past week!









I quilted them using a pretty purple thread and did the Baptist Fan on one and Double Swirls on the other, it was one of those projects that was just plain fun to work on, they are going to travel to see GG(G?)Grandma before making the trek to their new home and hope a little bit of love from me will rub off onto the little ones!

Baby has a New Pair of Shoes!

Back a couple weeks my machine had a little accident, Don was doing some maintenance and in the process it rolled forward causing one of the wheels to break. My heart dropped into my chest as I was in the middle of a massive king sized quilt, since he is pretty mechanical he just turned the wheel over so I could continue working, of course there was a note to self to not let him near the machine when am working on something! ~smile~

So the next challenge was deciding to just get a single replacement or going ahead and upgrade to the Edgeriders, well after 24 hours of deliberating the executive decision was made and another one for the bobbin winder was tossed in there as well, I mean I have been very good in not doing any fabric purchasing and he did feel terrible about breaking the wheel and all.....

So here he is with Chad putting them on, I really think now I will be able to quilt faster and make the absolutely smoothest feathers and circles and whatever else my little hands can do so much better! Hehehe.

Last week was filled with company, Sara came up with a few of her siblings for a visit and she and I went up to Lake Havasu to visit Scott, when we got there they were still doing PT so we got to see them in action. It was about 6pm and still 80 degrees out so that asphalt had to hurt! But one look at his girl and he was all smiles! The poor group was having a hard time getting things timed out and needless to say they didn't get to quit until they got it all together!

Levia was suppose to be my date, but she had to work late so I grabbed a book and enjoyed the time with myself, glancing over every so often watch Scott and Sara interacting. Very sweet to see

them together!

Then as soon as they left for home the phone rang and my Mom and Rog said they were coming up! So got everything put back in order to prepare for them, thankfully the weather has been beautiful as Mom tends to get cold very easy and I just had the boys get all the wood starting paraphernalia put up for the year and the veranda ready for the summer sittings.

In all the activity I still managed to get a few projects done so will end this post and start uploading some more pics!