On The 25th Day of Christmas

I saved my favorite for last! Isn't it a wonderful quilt~ I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. I will be spending the next week and a half with all three of my children. I will see you all after the New Year.

On The 24th Day of Christmas

I really enjoy two color quilts and this Schrenschnitte quilt is an excellent example of one.

On The 23rd Day of Christmas

I love all the little birds on this one... only 2 more to go.

On The 22nd Day Of Christmas

A perfect quilt for the holidays.

On The 21st Day of Christmas

Another mennonite quilt. Look at all that detail on each heart wreath.

On The 20th Day of Christmas

Simple Beauty.

On the 19th Day of Christmas

Rose Tree is the name of this quilt pattern. Notice how two of the blocks have a flower missing. I wonder what that was all about?

On the 18th Day of Christmas

Beautiful quilting on this one which was labeled as a Mennonite Snowflake.

on The 17th Day of Christmas

Holly and Berries, a perfect quilt for Christmas!

Karen - I wish I had a clearer picture of the Eagles quilt - I can't help you with the flower centers. Sorry.

On The 16th Day of Christmas

Another gorgeous 4-block applique quilt. I wouldn't want to applique those tiny little stars.

On The 15th Day of Christmas

I just love this abstract crib quilt! They were really thinking outside the box while making this one.

On the 14th Day of Christmas

This one had a date with it of 1890 and listed as a Sawtooth Diamond pattern with applique. I like the simplicity of the applique and the touch of gold.

On The 13th Day of Christmas

It is snowing here this morning so I thought I would show a snowblock quilt.

On The 12th Day of Christmas

I can't imagine appliqueing all those tiny little berries. Once again the border is fantastic plus I always love a 4-block quilt.

On the 11th Day of Christmas

Beautiful piecing and Beautiful redwork. This one takes the prize!

On the 10th Day of Christmas

I really searched for some nice pieced quilts this year. Of course I really like the border on this one so I guess the applique does draw me towards the quilt. The piecing is exquisite on this one that I believe is a Wild Goose Chase.

On the 9th Day of Christmas

Numerous things caught my eye in this old applique quilt. First do you see that the maker has embroidered their initials? The applique leaves for the border and the beauty of the curving stems on the flowers. Then it looks like they about had it finished but there was some empty space left so they appliqued plumes in the corners. A nice quilt!

On The 8th Day of Christmas

A really nice bars quilt. I like the multiple bars used instead of one large one.

On the 7th Day of Christmas

I know I have shown this pineapple quilt before, but I haven't shown it during the 25 days of Christmas and it deserves to be on the list of 25 great quilts! Happy Thanksgiving

On The 6th Day of Christmas

A Traditional Pieced Pine Tree Quilt. I believe the solids really make this quilt stand out.

On the 5th Day of Christmas

I believe this applique quilt has a quiet beauty to it. Nothing jumps out at you with the calm colors. A really pretty quilt.

On the 4th Day of Christmas

Cockscomb and Currant - This is in my top 3 this year for sure. I love how her border loops are so off. I always change my border if they call for anything swag like as I am afraid they won't all come out looking the same. I think the wonkiness of this border makes the quilt.

On The 3rd Day of Christmas

I love this irish chain with the applique. I like how they positioned the birds on the vine.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas

Cherry Wreath - wow look at all the work involved in this one. I think I would much rather just enjoy the picture of this antique quilt then tackle the actual project of making one myself.

On the 1st Day of Christmas

A gorgeous Prairie Flower quilt. I just love the gold in this one.

The 25 Days of Christmas

Tomorrow I will once again start my version of the 25 days of Christmas. This 25 days is based on my calendar and the days I will be able to post between now and Christmas. I have chosen 25 fabulous antique quilts that could easily be displayed during the holiday season. I don’t own these quilts they come from the pages of my inspiration notebook. 25 women that were way ahead of their times made these little beauties. Please feel free to comment and let me know which are your favorites and why. And above all else please enjoy your holiday season! Happy Holidays!

“ Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do…but how much love we put in that action.” - Mother Teresa

Sossity

My friend Sossity is such an awesome person. She is a fantastic friend, wife, and mother to Donovan. She lives in a big country home that is decorated with antiques and items that Sossy has created herself. She is so talented when it comes to creating. She is also the queen of organizing and a pretty awesome quilter. She and I hit it right off upon meeting. She is raising Donovan a lot like I raised my kids; out in the country and just keeping it plain and simple.
She has such a big heart and is always doing for others. I have been the lucky recipient more than once of her beautiful handwork. We share a love of Halloween so last year she gifted me with pumpkin head embroidery. I put a border around it and made a little mini quilt. This is what I hand quilted while going through my divorce proceedings. At quilt camp last week she had another gift for me. I love my little Christmas candy quilt. It is so Sossity. Sossity loves candy, candy fabric, candy whatever. It is also beautifully hand quilted. What a treasure this is to me. Thanks Sossity!!!! I am blessed to call you friend!

“To love and be loved – this on earth is the highest bliss.” - Heinrich Heine

Everything Gwen

I was cleaning my desk out and came across some more pictures I had taken of Gwen Marston quilts while attending a one woman show of hers in Flint Michigan back in the 90’s. Gwen is an absolute favorite of mine, I was lucky to be able to take a class from her a couple of years ago. Recently on a couple of blogs I read they have posted some pictures of her and Freddie’s quilts. Check out Valori Wells blog and Sue Spargo’s blog. You might have to scan down to an earlier post. Here are a few of the pics I have found.


“Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.” - Denis Diderot

Farmers Market

This weekend I did something for the first time since moving into my little place last Thanksgiving. I pulled my sewing machine out and set it up on my dining room table and sewed. It actually wasn’t as much of a pain as I thought it would be. Set up and take down didn’t consist of much time and I didn’t have the mess I thought I might have. Our guild is having our annual retreat this September. Our theme this year is “Patchwork Pantry” and one of the projects we have been working on in advance is Pat Sloan’s Farmers Market quilt. I wanted to have mine done in advance so I needed to get my blocks together so I could appliqué the border next. So the picture above is my center all sewed together. I haven’t decided yet exactly what fabrics I will use for the borders. So far I have purchased nothing for this top it all came from my stash and I hope to continue with that theme. The couple of blocks I haven’t shown yet are the strawberries and the vase of flowers. I am worlds worst yo yo maker and to think I want to make a yo yo quilt. I have since purchased the Clover yo yo makers to help me form better ones.
On another note I have decided I am not happy with my paint colors (and I haven’t even shown you my living room yet) so I am going to start painting the kitchen and living room again tomorrow. This might take me a bit but before I paint the living room I will snap a picture and then I can show you not only the first before, but the second before. (Does that make any sense?) Hopefully I can get it right this time around!

“The home is a human institution. All human institutions are open to improvement.” - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Favorite Quotes

I have been keeping busy with summer stuff and work. I thought I would pass on a few of my favorite quotes today that I have collected over time to share with my children. The picture above is one my oldest son took last summer.

"The best thing to spend on your children is time"
- Arnold Glasow

"There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets
the future in" - Graham Greene


Life's up and downs provide windows of opportunity to determine your values
and goals. Think of using all obstacles as stepping stones to build the life
you want. - Marsha Sinetar

Daughters are like flowers, they fill the world with beauty, and sometimes attract pests. ~Author Unknown

Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be. – George Sheehan

By the time a women realizes her mother was right, she has a daughter who thinks she's wrong.

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would have preferred to talk.

“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid of standing still.” - Chinese proverb

And my personal favorite of this group:

Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what the hell
happened. -Cora Harvey Armstrong

Graduation Day

Two down one to go! T graduated this past weekend. I am so proud of him. What a tough year we have had and through all of it he has kept his act together and not given me a bit of trouble plus he brought his GPA up! Did I say I was proud! We have had many blessings in our life and we can add another to that list. He is going to be continuing his education on a full tuition baseball scholarship.
So I am a happy mama for the moment.
We have a big weekend coming up of baseball, and a family wedding. Because of graduation parties this will be the third weekend I will be spending with my extended family. We are all having a great time with that!

“I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.” - Harry S. Truman

Cherries

I had a wonderful week last week. It was definitely a week that kept on giving. Last Monday night I went out with my friends for a birthday dinner. That is always fun. I received all kinds of quilty gifts including some fabulous Elvis fabric. I am going to make some pillowcases from it, so I will soon be resting my head on Elvis chest every night. After I arrived home that evening my son and friends threw me a birthday party. They had each bought me gifts, things we needed around the house like wine glasses, a toaster, watering can, etc. It was fun. And the fun didn’t end there, the next day at work they threw me a Cinco de Mayo party at lunch to celebrate my big day, I received two large bouquets of flowers and that evening my daughter threw me a surprise birthday party at our local park. The fun was just endless and just what I needed. Of course the same dear quilt friends who had been with me the night before showed up at my party. My oldest son called me that night and told me my gift was yet to come as it would arrive through the mail. The next day I received two tickets to see Elton John and Billy Joel next week! I love Elton and couldn’t believe he thought of this. It was definitely a memorable week. I have said it before but I will say it again, my friends and family are the best!
This weekend I actually got some outdoor work done. I am now on countdown to get this all done before our graduation party at the end of the month. I also was able to prepare another block for my Pat Sloan Farmers Market quilt. And I have the cherries done!

“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Birthdays

I share a birthday with a good quilting friend of mine. If you would look up “kind and loving person” in the dictionary it would have her name behind it. We always have dinner with our friends and we exchange gifts, this year I wanted to make her something special. I knew it would have to have words on it and be something small that I could actually accomplish. This little pattern fit the bill and I really enjoyed hand quilting it this winter. The fabric on the back is all words also. I always purchase those fabrics with words but never know quite how to use them. This was perfect!
I had a busy weekend of painting, etc. I am not sure I like the result in my kitchen so I think I will sit on it a few days and then possibly pull the paintbrush out again. Those cabinets were a pain and I hate the thought of doing them over but I guess it is only paint and a little bit of hard work. Tonight I am going out with my friends for dinner. I can’t wait!

Once in a blue moon there’s someone who knows it all, someone who knows and accepts you unconditionally, someone who’s there for life. – Jill McCorkle

Baskets and Small Houses

I have to admit that last week was kind of a tough one so not much got accomplished. With that said I am going to show a picture of an older finished project. This is a Jan Patek pattern entitled Jane’s Baskets. I had so much fun making this quilt as I loved making the different baskets, the appliqué was large pieces so that part was easy and I really don’t work in blue’s much and I really liked the end result of this one. This one hung in my old house for awhile and I hate that thought that it is now folded up on a shelf. I used to tell the guys I work with that one of my goals when I retired was to live in an 800 – 1200 square foot house as I was tired of having a big house. Well I am now living with 2 kids in an 1100 square foot house and it is possible. I think if I was to have a smaller house permanently it would be nice to have it built to my specifications as organization is definitely the key to a smaller home.


“I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time.” - Anna Freud

Apples

I am going to town on these Farmer’s Market blocks. Here are my apples. I took my sweet Bullvye to the vet this week. I was really nervous about it as he doesn’t do well with other animals. He becomes aggressive towards them but I think it is more out of fear then meanness. He did so good! We walked right into the office and there were two loose dogs and another sitting with its owner. He sat down as commanded and waited until it was his turn. The trip out of the office wasn’t as easy as there was a little spitfire of a dog yapping at him and it took all I could muster to hold him down and get my check wrote. I am glad that is done for another year. Well we are having a rainy day here today so I think after the daily grind of work I will just go home and relax. Maybe catch up on my MacGyver episodes.

Practice yourself…in little things; and thence proceed to greater. - Epictetus

Grapes

Grapes. Grapes relive so many good memories for me. I am still working on my Farmers Market quilt top provided free at Pat Sloan’s site. When I first saw this top I was reminded not of an actual Farmers Market but my Grandfathers gardens and orchard. I spent so much time at my Grandparent’s West Paris Street home growing up that a good portion of my fondest memories come from there. We were late in life children so my Grandparents were old compared to most children’s grandparents. They were retired the majority of my growing up years so I don’t remember anything but them both being there all the time. Grandpa spent his day in his gardens. They were beautiful gardens all fenced in with a wood picket fence, with pathways through the different areas of the gardens. If you got off the walkways he had concrete paths to let you actually walk through different areas. Outside of the picket fence were his fruit trees. We had cherries, peaches, pears, apples all the major fruits that would grow in our area of the world. Our favorite place was the grape arbor. It was quite large and beneath it was a bricked floor with a hanging swing and the old metal lawn chairs. In the summer this is where we would play as it was so much cooler under the arbor. Grandma would sit out with us drinking her ice tea. When the grapes were ripe we would help pick them as Grandma would make juice and then her famous “grape jell” as she would call it. We would help run the juice through the cheesecloth. I have so many good memories of those days. So this quilt is not so much a Farmers Market quilt for me as a memory of Grandpa. Pat didn’t have grapes on her quilt she had donuts. Grandpa was diabetic and would have never eaten a donut so I had to create my own grape block. It is reminiscent of a hot pad my Grandma had crocheted and always used to sit the hot something or other from the oven on. I wish I still had that hot pad but just by putting the grapes in this quilt I have a little something of both Grandma and Grandpa.

Love is a fruit in season at all times. - Mother Teresa

Corn

I finished up my corn block from the Pat Sloan Farmers Market pattern. This is a freebie on her site. I have been a country girl my whole life until recently. I have always had a cornfield either in front of my home, behind my home or to the left or right of my home. I always complained about it as the corn would block any breeze headed into our non air conditioned homes. Making this block has really made me think about how I am going to not only miss the corn and soybeans but the sitting on the front porch and enjoying the views for miles around. Listening to the corn rustle in the evening breezes. Seeing Bullvye suddenly pop out of the rows of corn; after having been on some mission to chase something down. We now have new sights and sounds around us. The sound of car doors early in the morning as people head off to work. Dogs barking and kids talking loudly as they head off to the school bus stop. I am sure we will adjust and before long the sound of corn rustling in the breeze will be nothing but a distant memory.

“It is not so important where one settles down. The best thing is to follow your instincts without too much reflection.” - Albert Einstein

Pie

I got my pie block all done; this is part of the Pat Sloan Farmer’s Market series. I am definitely a pie person. I love it not warm like the majority of people but after it has came out of the oven and sat a few hours. Put some whip crème on it and that makes it perfect. If I had to choose my favorite I know it would be banana crème pie. My mom makes the best banana crème pie ever. This would be followed closely by peach and cherry. I also love Sugar crème pie. Sugar crème pie is now the official pie of the State of Indiana. Mrs. Wick’s sugar crème pie is made in Indiana and they are sooo good. We always had them at Thanksgiving along with our pumpkin pie. Wow all this pie talk is certainly making me hungry. What is your favorite pie?

“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.” - Jim Davis

Mr. Pumpkin Head

I finally put a binding on this cute little doll quilt I finished up last year. My friend Sossity knows the love of Halloween that my daughter and I share so she stitched the cute little pumpkin head. I then put the borders on it and handquilted it. The center is crosshatched and the borders are Tonya’s free hand fans. You can still see my markings. I love doing them they are so easy and fun.
Not much going on here. The weather has been unseasonably warm, that has been a nice change from the extreme cold we have been having this winter. Last night a friend and I got out and walked a couple of miles, add that to the mile and half that Bullvye and I had already done and I got quite a bit of exercise in. Our plan is to continue this as the weather allows. It sure felt good to get some exercise in that didn’t include a dog pulling me every which way.
I have been playing some catch up on some of the movies and shows I have taped on my DVR. I am all caught up on the MacGyver series. I saw that is was starting up on the Sleuth channel so I was able to get in on the pilot. It was always one of my favorites. I love Westerns and tape a lot of them, this past weekend I watched “Wrangler” it starred a young Jeff Fahey who now looks old on the tv show LOST. I love almost anything with Jack Lemmon and the movie “How to Murder Your Wife” was no exception. Tonight I work on my taxes, back to reality!

Every time I close the door on reality, it comes in through the windows. -Jennifer Unlimited-

Jam Jars

Sadness does funny things to you. I have found that the things I have loved to do most now seem so un-important and I really don’t have the desire to motivate myself to get busy doing them. This past weekend I decided baby steps were in order. Choose a small project and make myself do it and you know what it worked. I feel somewhat rejuvenated; I actually spent a few hours of my time feeling good about how this time was being spent. I was also able to re-visit a few of my favorite Western movies while I was doing it. Really what beats staying indoors on a freezing cold weekend, doing some handwork and watching old movies? Ok I know that wouldn’t be the berries for some of you but you get the gist. Baby –Steps, this is what it is all about at the moment in every aspect of my life but those steps are adding up fast and before you know it I will have walked miles in this new journey and it won’t be so new anymore but a brand new life.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. – Hebrews 11:1