On the 25th Day of Christmas

I have seen this 1845 wool applique quilt in various books and it remains a favorite of mine.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and an enjoyable holiday with your family and friends.

Every time we love, every time we give; it's Christmas. - Dale Evans

On the 24th Day of Christmas

I love the colors of this 1970's holly quilt.

On the 23rd Day of Christmas

Wreaths with flying geese border.

On the 22nd Day of Christmas

1860 Red and White Feathered Star. Love the snowflakes in the border!

On the 21st Day of Christmas

1860's Pots of Flowers quilt.

On the 20th Day of Christmas

An 1860 Penny Rug Table cover. You wouldn't need a centerpiece with this table cover.

On the 19th Day of Christmas

Rose of Sharon variation.

On The 18th Day of Christmas

A mosaic star quilt.

On the 17th Day of Christmas

Hawaiian Breadfruit quilt.

On the 16th Day of Christmas

In my book the rich colors of this crazy quilt would make it a Christmas season quilt. Well heck, truthfully if I owned this puppy I would display it year round!

On the 15th Day of Christmas

1860's applique quilt. Fabulous border!

On the 14th Day of Christmas

1860 wreath crib quilt.

On the 13th Day of Christmas

This is one of my favorite applique quilts. I love the huge roses.

On the 12th Day of Christmas

Blue and white snowball quilt.

On the 11th Day of Christmas

A 1910 wool utility quilt. At my previous home I decorated in purples and greens at Christmas. This quilt would have fit in perfectly.

On the 10th Day of Christmas

1800's North Carolina Lilly with fabulous border. Love all the little berries and the soft colors.

On The 9th Day of Christmas

An 1850 Eagle Crib Quilt.

On the 8th Day of Christmas

I love the simplicity of two color quilts. This is a great example of a pine cone/pine burr pattern.

On the 7th Day of Christmas

A pretty red and green Martha Washington wreath.

On the 6th Day of Christmas

I love this folk art style crib quilt!

On the 5th Day of Christmas

An 1865 Mariner's Compass - it almost looks like peppermint candies.

On The 4th Day of Christmas

A pretty with pink Jacob's Ladder quilt.

On the Third Day of Christmas

The black really adds to this variation of the Rose of Sharon pattern. Look at all those berries in the border.

On The Second Day of Christmas

1900 pieced basket and applique quilt. I love red and green quilts that have a touch of gold in them. This one is stunning.

On the First Day of Christmas...

I had to start out with one of my favorite quilters and one of my favorite quilts. This is a Gwen Marston quilt that I just love the border on. It is so simple but also makes a statement.

Tomorrow starts the 25 days of Christmas. I will be posting a picture of an antique or older quilt that I think would be wonderful to own and display during the Holidays. The 25 days consists of the days that I know I will be able to post on, therefore the reasoning for starting on November 16th! So here goes...

Scenes from Quilt Camp

We had another fun and productive quilt camp. Here are a few pictures of what was happening. I worked on birthday blocks that I was behind on. The first block is Lela's who requested barns.

Next up was Ginny who wanted something in Khakis, purples and greens.

This is our wonderful master quilter Esther and her gorgeous quilt!

This one is for Viki who wanted a paper pieced flower. I don't paper piece so I did the most basic one I could find.

Sossity asked for churn dash blocks in 30's prints

Linda asked for tans, pinks and browns.

Mel's absoulutely exquisite Winter Wonderland top.

Dawn busy at work. She was my tablemate.

St. Louis Trip

 

I journeyed to St. Louis with my family for the Labor Day weekend. First up was the Cardinals/Reds game and it was definitely a good time as the Cardinals came out victorious. After the game my son’s college team played a game on the Busch field and they didn’t do so well. But he did great as it was his first game in a year since having the Tommy John surgery. I didn’t realize how much I missed going to baseball games until I didn’t have any to go to. I am glad to have baseball back on my agenda.
Tonight is a get myself in gear night as I have quilt camp this weekend and so far I have nothing prepared to work on. I need to get the different birthday blocks patterns ready and kitted up to take with me. Hopefully this camp will get me back in the quilting mood.

“If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.” - Bruce Barton

Summers End

The long hot summer. That is what we have bequeathed this past June through August. It has been so hot that I even have to leave a fan on during the day while I am at work. As you can see from the picture Bullvye has taken his place in front of the fan and you can find him there most days. I certainly have one smart puppy!
One fun thing I did this summer was see my 3 favorite bands. I started with Pearl Jam in May, then Tom Petty in July and ended with Creed this past month. And to make it more fun, each time I went I went with a different group of friends so it made all 3 shows a different experience.
The kids are now back in school and it seems like summer is coming to a close. We are heading to St. Louis for the Labor Day weekend to watch baseball at Busch. Then the following weekend brings quilt camp. I have no idea what I will work on. Possibly all the birthday blocks I need to catch up on. Maybe camp will give me the boost I need to get quilting again!

“One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.” – Sidney Howard

Scary Stuff

 

Facebook can be a good thing, then; sometimes it can not be so good. I love keeping in touch with my son who lives out west via Facebook. He posts pictures of all his adventures, we can chat and message each other and that saves our cell phone minutes. But I hate days that I tune in to see what he is up to next and I see this picture of him jumping from the top of a tree that is growing out of a cliff into a river that from the picture it looks fairly shallow. The picture posted before this one has him up at the top of the tree just hanging out. He is my adventurer and I am sure he was loving every minute of this jump, his message back to my urgent message telling him to stop this stuff was that he does it all the time. No big deal, relax mom. Sometimes we just have to let them live there lives as they want, even though it is tough to do.
“Some family trees bear an enormous crop of nuts.” - Anonymous

Where has Summer gone?

I have been a busy girl this month with work. I have also took some time out for some fun. I went with a bunch of friends to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I have been a fan of their's forever! He is my absolute favorite and everytime I get the chance I go to see him. He always puts on the best show.
I have done zero quilting this month. It is hard to believe that school starting again is just around the corner. Where has the summer gone?

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability - Sam Keen

Turning a Bad Day into a Good Day

Yesterday was one of those days that you hope you only have every few years. It started out okay. My daughter having put off getting her driver’s license for over a year applied for her permit a few months ago and then scheduled a drivers test. Because the law is changing in Indiana today for teenage drivers she needed to take her actual driving test before the end of day yesterday or she was going to have to wait another 6 months. We called all around and it ended up that we had to drive to a BMV over an hour and a half away to get it in by the deadline. So we had a scheduled appointment at 8:30 yesterday morning. We made it down there in plenty of time but when she went to start the car to take the test it wouldn’t start. The instructor told us that she would have to fail her. Uugggh. I had family in this town so I asked if she would give us 10 minutes to get a car as my Uncle worked at the car dealership just a block up from the BMV. No was the answer. So I now have a daughter in tears and a car that wouldn’t start. I called my Uncle and he came over to help us out with the car. He was upset that they wouldn’t let us take the test so he went in and had a few words with them. They then decided that they would try to fit her in. So we sat. My uncle left us his boat of a car for her to take the test in. They are not happy with us in the BMV as he had caused a bit of a scene so we were really feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Then here comes my Aunt with sacks of fast food as she was concerned about us sitting there all day without a meal. We were quite the spectacle. My daughter finally got to take the test and she passed. My uncle jumped our car and we headed out of town but the car died. So I have to walk across town to the car dealership to get help. They came and got the car and got it fixed for us and we were finally able to head home. I thought our story for the day ended there but it didn’t. My sister gave us an older car so my daughter would have something to drive. We went to pick it up and I drove it home. My daughter drove our car and she made a stop so I beat her home. As she was coming home, driving by herself for the first time she blew a front tire going 60 mph on the bypass. She survived it and got it changed and made it home. I told her at this point we just needed to lock the door and stay in for the night. But it was my dad’s 81st birthday and we needed to get to his little family party for him.
At the end of the day I thought about it and realized that it hadn’t been that bad of a day at all. First off we were far from home but we were in a town with family who could help us. We had car problems and my Uncle works for a dealership so we had no problems getting help with the car. We had plenty to eat and then some. My daughter experienced immediately one of the dangers of driving and hopefully her eyes have been opened somewhat and God was watching over her and kept her safe. And we were able to celebrate 81 years of my dad’s life. My healthy, happy dad. A good day indeed!

“For myself I am an optimist – it does not seem to be much use being anything else.” - Sir Winston Churchill

Officially Summer

It is summer, which means that I haven’t accomplished much at all. Having no air conditioning with 90+ degree weather does not put you in the mood to quilt. Add that to all this crazy bad weather we have been having. I have been getting out and having some fun. Over the weekend I went to our local big city’s Taste, which is comprised of good music and good food. I also went to the Water Park with some girlfriends this past Saturday and we just floated on the lazy river and soaked up some sun.
On the quilting front I have finished up the quilting on a couple of little doll quilts. I need to get my bindings ready to put on. I finished the bird on basket a couple of years ago but I had not quilted the border. I wasn’t happy with it so I pulled it back out over the winter and the border is now quilted. I am still appliquéing every day on my little ones in progress. They make a nice project for the summer.




“It is not the hours you put in your work that counts, it’s the work you put in the hours.” - Sam Ewing

Storms

We had a major hail and wind storm last night. It came through fast and did some major damage along the way. They are saying we could possibly have more bad storms today.







“If you can't be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped”