On the 25th Day of Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!

On the 24th Day of Christmas

Antique Star

On the 23rd Day of Christmas

1850 Ohio Star

On the 22nd Day of Christmas

Tea Rose

On the 21st Day of Christmas

Tulip Basket

On the 20th Day of Christmas

Star of Bethlehem

On the 19th Day of Christmas

Princess Feather

On the 18th Day of Christmas

Tulips

On the 17th Day of Christmas

Hexagon Crib Quilt

On the 16th Day of Christmas

Album

On the 15th Day of Christmas

Hands all Around

On the 14th Day of Christmas

Four block Tulip

On the 13th Day of Christmas

Crib Quilt

On the 12th Day of Christmas

1894 Drunkards Path

On the 11th Day of Christmas

Tulip Variation

On the 10th Day of Christmas

1890 Cockscomb

On the 9th Day of Christmas

Flowering Almond

On the 8th Day of Christmas

1850 Floral Applique

On The 7th Day of Christmas

Mohawk Trail

On the 6th Day of Christmas

Pots of Flowers

On the 5th Day of Christmas

Rose of Sharon with Pomegrantes

On The 4th Day of Christmas

Rising Sun

On the Third Day of Christmas

Thistles and Currants

On the Second Day of Christmas

Mississippi Oak Leaf

The 1st Day of Christmas

It's that time of year again!

Family/Vacation Time

I have been working like mad trying to get these 2 1/2" square blocks done before I leave on vacation. You see lucky me my oldest son who lives out west is flying down to meet us then coming back home and staying for 10 days so I had to get my other sons room cleaned up from all my quilting stuff. Since he is away at college I have taken over his room and loving getting some sewing done. This is all my 1st set of blocks done. This is a mystery quilt all done out of squares. After my son leaves I will set up again and try to get the next set of blocks done before his brother arrives home for the summer. So yes I am headed out for warmer weather. Well at least I hope it is warmer, today it is 68 degrees here, I couldn't ask for better weather then this.
I have also been working on a bedroom makeover. I found this awesome (to me) bedspread and it just took off from there. Now I have a chair for reading in the corner with hanging lights and a new rug, I am going to get my son to paint the wall behind my bed while he is home and that should finish it off. It is nice to get a facelift every now and then.
I also was able to sew the center of my Bitchy quilt top together, all but the tea towel as I am worrying about it raveling out. So next up is the lettering.
Oh and on one more good note I have someone coming to stay at my house with Bullvye while we are gone. I am so glad he doesn't have to go to the kennel. He will be stressed enough with us gone. So I will see you all in a few weeks, off to spend some time with two of my wonderful kids!

"The family isone of nature's masterpieces." - George Santayana

Birthday Blocks, taxes and travels

I know it has been awhile for me. But I have still been out here quilting along. This month is always a crazy one for me as I do taxes for quite a few family members so that has kept me busy. I am glad to say I have them all done.
My kids have been traveling around also. My middle one is now in Florida playing baseball so I have been trying to keep up with his adventures. My oldest one has spent the winter traveling all around out West and in the Southwest. He is going to fly to Florida to meet up with us over spring break, I can't wait to see him as it will have been almost a year. One of the places he visited was Roswell, New Mexico. That has been on his list for quite some time. I was so excited that he finally got to visit has we have spent years watching those sci-fi movies of an alien nature together. He also spent large spans of time in numerous national and state parks hiking and kayaking so I hope that he remembered to take lots of pictures.
I have still been receiving birthday blocks from friends. I apologize that my batteries are going on the fritz so my camera is not taking good pictures (see how I blame the camera). But you can get the gish of all these wonderful blocks I have been getting.

Snow Days

I am now on my third snow day from work this week. Yes I am loving it and at the same time getting nothing accomplished. I have spent the majority of my time on the couch catching up on taped tv shows. Very slugworthy of me I know. I did have good weekend at Miss Mary's quilting cottage with my friends last week. I worked on my squares quilt and the above is one of the block patterns that I was able to get done. All the parts are sewn together and now they just need to be sewn into blocks. It was a good weekend with good friends!

Half of the gang!

The other half!

Linda and Michelle

Joan modeling her just made scrub top

Now I am off to do some handquilting and catch up on The Virginian!

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

Cutting

I would like to be playing with creating words for my Unstable quilt but instead I have spent the past day and a half cutting 2" squares. For the love of Pete I have forgotten how time consuming cutting out a large project is. Thank goodness I have coffee on my side or I would have long given up. I have cut for hours and this is all I have to show for it.
This all started because I needed a small piece of fabric for an applique I was working on last fall. I have a very small square footage home so all of my fabric is stored in totes in my garage. When I went to pull that piece of fabric that whole tote full of fabric smelled mildewy. So, I have spent the past few months washing all my fabric in vinegar and baking soda, then pressing and putting it back away. You can't imagine how much time this really takes to do. Lucky for me none of the fabric was at the point that it was more then just a slight smell. No stains or anything like that. In the process I came across so many small pieces of fabric that I just didn't want to continue storing. So I looked for a couple of scrap quilt patterns and found one that is made only of 2" squares. Perfect. The plan was to get it cut for my quilt retreat the end of January. Well that is next weekend and here the procrastinator that I am I will be cutting up until the point that I leave. But hey I am cutting again, I am sewing again, that has been a long time coming!
Last night my daughter and I had a movie night. We made little artichoke snacks, turned all the lights off and watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind. What fun. We love alien movies in my house and she and I got a kick out of it that the two places the aliens were visting was Indiana where we live and Wyoming where my son who loves sci fi movies lives. I hadn't seen that movie since it came out in the 70's. Richard Dreyfuss was so young looking and we kept thinking that the other main character was so familiar to us but we couldn't place her. Well it was Melinda Dillon who played Ralphie's mom in A Christmas Story. It was a fun night.

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life. -Daniel J. Boorstin

Unstable and Bitchy

I was working on my computer this weekend, actually I was trying to load my ipod with new music which is always a hassle for me as I am technically challenged. Anyway, I kept glancing over at all the piles of unfinished projects that I had tossed on my son’s bed and my Unstable and Bitchy blocks were staring back at me. So I went and grabbed a tablecloth and hung it up on the wall and started arranging the blocks. Less all the fillers I will still have to do I think I have it where I want it. This is the result of a tea towel a friend bought me in Paducah one year.
I plan on putting a border on the left side and the bottom with the Lucille Kallen quote: A man’s home is his castle, and his wife is the janitor. This has sat for a couple of years so I am glad to get moving on it again.

“Good humor makes all things tolerable. “ – Henry Ward Beecher

Sewing Again

Woo Hoo! I got my sewing machine out again. That has been a long time coming. As soon as my middle child left to go back to college this past weekend I pulled it out and set it up in his room. I then dumped all the bags of unfinished projects on his bed and went through them. Nothing called out to me to finish. So I pulled a couple of tubs of fabric in from the garage and started cutting 2” squares from my smaller pieces. I kind of have a plan but we will see if I follow through. If I don’t at least I have the quilting bug again. Once I started cutting I went and grabbed the tin that held the pieces for a T quilt that I was working on and I started trimming the pieces up for it. So let’s hope I keep this momentum going. Oh and look at this awesome lamp my friend Linda’s husband made. I love it, as it is full of new and old notions.

I did get out of the house for a few hours and went to see the new True Grit movie. As most of you know I love, love westerns and I also like Jeff Bridges so it was a definite must. I did like the re-do of this story. I like John Wayne but he isn’t my favorite western star. He seemed to be the same character in most of his movies, John Wayne. So I enjoyed Jeff Bridges take on the Rooster Cogburn character.
Snow is here! I plan to do some hand quilting tonight.

“The years teach much which the days never knew.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Few of my Favorites

We all have those favorite blogs we love to go to for inspiration or a good read. I thought I would share a few of my favorites. These are my go to ones. The ones I can’t pass up. The blogs that will always inspire me.

Victoria is the most prolific quilter I am come across. Her Bumblebeans blog is full of quilts, full of color and also full or her generosity. She also has some great tutorials you won’t want to miss and to top it all off she lives in beautiful New York City and is always sharing pictures of her jaunts around town.

Lila is one of my favorite designers. Her clothes are so cute, heck she even has a pattern for boots and her fabrics are full of fun color.

Tracy is my go to when I am having the blahs at home. Her decorating sense is so inspiring. She also has an antiques business and shares that with her readers also at her A Cottage Industry blog.

I have always believed I could actually live the life of a hermit. I love staying in and doing only the things I enjoy. I live a little of that through Lisa at Black Bear Cabin. She is a busy mother of a little girl but they live in the woods in a Log Cabin and even though she could possibly have a neighbor within site I would like to believe that her little cabin sits in the mountains away from all hustle and bustle.

Valori Wells is the full package. She designs fabrics, quilts, and clothing. She is an artist with her paintings and drawings and she is a professional photographer. Add to that mother and wife and creator of all things beautiful and you have one fun blog to read.

Nancy lives in the mountains of Montana and not only does she make wonderful primitive quilts and all things gorgeous in wool she photographs the wildlife around her cabin. Her blog is called Tom Miner Folk art and it is always worth a visit.

Color, color and more color. That is Sue Spargo and her wool quilts, bags, etc. I met Sue many years ago when she was first getting started in the business with Jan Patek and she is has just grown to be the most amazing designer. She also travels the world and shares those travels with you. Plus to add to all this; her business is a family business and you get to see the workshops and beautiful wools and threads they dye. If you ever need to get inspired with color this is the blog you want to visit.

And last but always first in my book is Tonya over at Lazy gal. She is my big inspiration! I love her use of words, words and more words and also her fabulous use of color. Plus she always gives great reviews on television programs.

I hope you get a chance to stop in and visit my friends that I live vicariously through out there in the blog world. It will be time well spent!

Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground....

Civil War Quilts

I have long been a lover of civil war style quilts. The picture above is one I did back in the 90’s. Barbara Brackman is a quilt historian located in Lawrence, Kansas. She has started a new Civil War Quilts blog site to commemorate the 2011 Sesquicentennial of the start of the civil war. She is offering a free block of the month and great stories to go along with each block. I don’t know if I will actually do the blocks but I love reading the stories so I know I will follow along. The first block has already been posted. It sounded like too much fun not to share!

Kiss your life. Accept it, just as it is. Today. Now. So that those moments of happiness you’re waiting for don’t pass you by.

A Busy Week

Thank you for all the nice comments on the quilts for the Christmas Season. I always enjoy pulling 25 from my picture archives. I wish I could let you know what book or site they came from but I never save that information.
I had last week off and I spent it watching Westerns and doing some hand quilting. It had been awhile since I had quilted so I had to get my fingers calloused again. They hurt for a few days there. I very seldom use a thimble. If I do I use one it is a soft leather thimble. I worked on 5 different quilts. I get bored working on the same one so I just switched around.



I would work on an area and I when I got that area done I would move on to another quilt. Four of the quilts are just small ones around 18 x 20 and one is a crib quilt size. I was able to finish one and I have all the appliqués quilted on the remaining 3 small ones and the larger one has even more quilted on it.



I also finished the appliqué on a small quilt and got the binding done on another that has been quilted forever but just needed that finishing touch.



It was a good start for the New Year. As for making resolutions I have only made one; to be the best person I can possibly be, honest and true to myself. Happy New Year!

“If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others.” - Anne Morrow Lindbergh