On Saturday the mail man delivered a package to me. It was the x-bag that I won in Myra’s give-away! As if the bag was not enough, she also sent three beautiful fat quarters and a pattern for another bag. I am over the moon. She also included the sweetest little hand-made card. I feel so lucky. Myra, you are the greatest!
PS...Please excuse the not so great pictures. The glare from the flash doesn’t let you see how cute the bag pattern is. I know I should not use a flash on my pictures, but I was too lazy to go outside and take them in natural light…….

Circling Swallows

As some of you know, I won the circling swallows project on the recent ink-lingo giveaway. I got lucky again! The mailman brought it on Saturday. I started on it on Tuesday and thought I would show you my progress so far. Not all that much but quite a bit of sewing none the less. It was what I needed to get me going as I have been in a slump for a couple of weeks. I will show you further progress as it is made. Thank you again Sandy for sending me this wonderful project.

Itsy Bitsy Hexagons

I just wanted to see if I could do hexagons this small, and the answer is yes! The hexagons are .25 inches. I english paper pieced these!! After I sewed the hexagons together I appliqued it on to a 5 inch charm square. I can't decide if I want to make a picushion with it, or do three more and make an itsy, bitsy quilt.

Storm

Before

After

Amanda searching for the globe to the yard lamp amongst the fallen maple tree branches. This girl really needs to touch up her dark roots.
@#%$*!!!!!!!!!

Friday morning we had a terrible storm go through our area. It wasn’t a tornado, but they have said we had 85 mile per hour straight line winds. There are so many beautiful trees damaged and destroyed. My favorite tree on my place is, or I guess I should say was, the maple in my front yard. It was split in two and had to be cut down. It also blew over the privacy fence in the back yard and knocked some big limbs out of the trees back there. One of them fell on my car and put a hole in the windshield. I can’t park my car in the one car garage that we have, because my husband has to park his old Corvette in it! So Monday is dealing with the insurance agents. Such fun! This morning something happened that did cheer me up. I won Myra’s giveaway! She is going to make me an x-bag. How great is that???

Swine Flu Prevention

What not to do!!

Kathy sent me this pic and I thought it was funny in a gross sort of way.

Just for Fun

This was on the front of a birthday card given to my son, Daniel. It made me smile and that is a good thing, as Martha says.

Pincushion Finish

This is the finished pincushion I made with the inklingo templates. I guess I shouldn't toot my own horn, but I really like the way it turned out. I am making another one out of the same fabrics, but I don't think I will like it as well as this one.

...And the Winner Is...........

I had to wait a bit this morning before I could turn on my computer because we had some pretty severe storms come through and more are on the way. Now to get down to business…..the winner of my giveaway is Pat. Her blog is “Bits and Pieces”. Congratulations and I hope you will enjoy the little prizes. I will get them in the mail ASAP. I wish I could have given something to all of you. Keep tuned………..I may have another giveaway in the not too distant future. I have this idea…………

Post Number 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made it! It is hard to believe that I have made a post for this many days in a row. It is also hard to believe that I have been blogging for an entire year. I am not that great at math but if I have made 100 posts in a year that means I have averaged almost 2 posts per week. Blogging has been quite an adventure for me. Through it I have been able to get to know some really great ladies, found wonderful crafty, quilty ideas, participated in my first swap, traded a pattern for fabric, learned a lot about different countries, and in general feel that I have expanded my universe in a wonderful way. Thank you ladies, for making my blogging experience a most happy one. Tomorrow I will pick the winner in my giveaway. The winner will be notified on my blog and also by e-mail.

Post Number 99 and a Pincushion Start

Yesterday I finally downloaded the free inklingo templates and spent a lot of time figuring out how to find what I wanted to print. After doing that I had to go downstairs and find the freezer paper and pick out the fabric I wanted to use, then wash it, cut it, cut the freezer paper and then iron the fabric to the freezer paper. I then printed out the inklingo templates for the diamond shapes. That process went amazingly well. Just the right amount of ink. I then cut out 8 of them with my scissors. I had printed out 16 of them on an 8 x 10 pieces of fabric. It didn’t take all that long to sew them together and this picture is the result before pressing. Now I have to pick another fabric and repeat the process for the squares and triangles that will finish the block. I am thinking I will use a red fabric. I wonder which ink color will work best on red. Maybe yellow?

Post number 98 and a Giveaway

I was reading a few blogs this morning and found that Cathi has posted about a wonderful giveaway of some inklingo kits. If you have been to Cathi’s blog, you will know what great projects she makes with inklingo. I have wanted to try this method, and if I win one of the kits, it will make a nice trial run. Click on the logo below and it will take you to the blog where the kits are listed. TTFN........

Post Number 97 and a Pincushion

I made this pincushion last week. It is four and one half inches square. The churn dash block is a finished 3 inch square. This was a fun one to do.

Post Number 96 and More Bunnies

It appears that if I want my 100th post to be in April, I must make a post every day until the end of this month. That will be a real record breaker for me, but surely I can think of something to post about for the next few days.

This is bunny three of four.

This is the fourth and last bunny. Now to figure out how I am going to put them together.

Another Giveaway....and It is MINE!

April is my 1 year blogging anniversary month, and should be the month when I reach my 100th post. I am going to celebrate this “Double Whammy” by having a small giveaway. I think I mentioned before that I would be giving away the cottage stitchery I made some time ago. I finished it as a small (13+ inch square) mini quilt. As usual the picture is lousy. I think it looks better than this.

I am also going to include a small pincushion,
and some embroidery floss.

I don’t know if I am using the proper etiquette for a giveaway, but this is what I am doing. Most bloggers are looking for increased traffic to their blog when they do a giveaway. I am not. This time I don’t want anyone to post about this giveaway on your blog. Don’t get me wrong. It tickles me to death to have a new person comment on my blog, but this giveaway is more of a reward for the ladies that have commented on my blog with some frequency. I have appreciated your interest in my blog and feel that you are my blogging friends. Anyone that comments on my blog during the month of April is in the running. This might include a few new visitors, but I doubt there will be many of those. There are a couple of names I have included that have not commented this month, but there were good reasons why they couldn’t, so they are in the draw with one entry. You will have one entry for each comment you have made during April. I am going to use the number generator thingy to choose a winner on the first of May. As forgetful as I am I better make that “around” the first of May. LOL. For someone who doesn’t talk or type much, this post is getting rather long. The End.

Bunnies One and Two

I decided I didn’t like the button hole stitching on the first bunny I did. Here she is without it.

This is a picture of bunny two. Only two more and I will be able to put them together in a wall hanging. It would be so cool if I would actually get a hanger to hang it from, rather than folding it up and putting it on top of the other hangings waiting for me to buy a hanger. I hate going shopping for anything. Maybe I can find one online.

A Tisket A Tasket April Block

I wish I had been able to find a nicer fabric for my basket, but my stash is low on blues. I like the fabric Kathy used for hers, but I didn’t have any of that one. All in all, I am ok with this block, but it is not one of my favorites.

Veranda Views BOM Block Four

I have finished the April veranda views block. Mine are printing out a little smaller than she says they should be. I don't think it will matter if I trim them to the size she calls for. I will just have a bit more unworked area in the blocks. I thought this one was really cute. I do think I made the blooms on the tomato plant a bit to big, but it doesn't bother me enough to redo them....

Another Little Project

Kathy made one of these bunnies and when I saw hers, I wanted to do one also. I think they are so cute. I am going to make a small wallhanging for which I will make four of these. Kathy is going to make a table topper and she is going to make nine bunnies for it. We will have it ready for easter.........next year.

Another Nifty Giveaway

As Randy says...Check it out......At Don't look now

A Nifty Giveaway

Hurry, Hurry. Check it out at the Quilt Nook

Veranda Views BOM Block Three

I just checked and the new installment of the Veranda Views BOM is on the site, but I couldn’t see the link to down-load it. I probably just didn’t look in the right place. Will check again in a bit. Anyway……..I realized that I hadn’t posted a pic of the last block. So here it is. These little blocks are such fun to do. I like the feeling of having finished something, even though it is just a part of something larger.

Quilting in Strips

A couple of readers have asked how I quilt in strips, so I will do my best to show how I do it. Before I begin, I must tell you that I am lousy at explaining things. Maybe this will help me learn to be better at it. I hope...........

First I will show you the quilt I am talking about. It was quilted in four strips. The first strip is the row of piano keys, plus two blocks long and the width of the quilt. The second is just two blocks long and the width of the quilt, and the next strip is the same. The last one is the same as the first, only with the piano keys on the bottom instead of the top.

Next you need to quilt the strips. On the first one you would quilt it to the edges, except for the edge that will be joined to the next strip. On that edge you would leave enough room to be able to quilt in that unfinished edge. I usually quilt in a fairly large meander, so I leave about 3 inches or so unquilted along that edge.

On the next strip you quilt all the way to the ends of the strip, but you would leave the long edges on both sides unquilted for the same three or so inches. Are you with me so far? Now it is time for another picture………

Take both strips that you have quilted, this picture shows one of the strips, and along both unfinished long edges, fold back and pin the batting and backing out of the way. Now with right sides of the two strips together, and matching seams where needed, pin and sew that long seam.


After the seam is sewn, I press that seam open as well as I can. I think it helps reduce the bulk of the seam, and makes it lay flatter. I then press the right side of the quilt where the seam is so everything is smooth and flat.
This picture shows the quilt, right side down and the backing and batting with the pins removed. The first strip is at the top and I have smoothed out the quilt and then smoothed the backing and batting of the first strip down over the seam just made.


Now I smooth the batting from the strip I am adding to the top strip, and there is about a half inch of batting that needs to be trimmed so that the batting from strip one and strip two butt up against each other. My trimming is never exact. A little over-lapping is better than cutting away to much and you wind up with a gap between the two strips of batting. Don’t ask how I learned that.

After the batting is trimmed from the second strip and butted up against the batting of the first strip, smooth out the backing from second strip over the top strip. Turn under and finger press a quarter inch on the edge of the backing on the second strip. Pin to the first strip, taking care to keep everything smooth. If you pull too much on the backing to pin it in place, the front will not be smooth and you will get puckers when you go to finish up the quilting around the seam. After you have it pinned, check the front to see if it looks nice and yes, smooth. If it looks right to you, you are ready to sew the seam joining the two backing fabrics together. I use the ladder stitch to do this. This link shows you how to do it, if you are unfamiliar with that stitch. Ladder Stitch. I hold the quilt in my lap, and pinch up a bit of the quilt in my left hand, sew that portion, then grab another pinch of quilt and continue across until I have the seam finished. Then you flip that puppy over and finish the quilting where the two pieces are joined together. Go through that process two more times and your are ready to put on the binding. Of course you can make your sections any size you want, and make the sections go side to side or up and down. Whew! I think it was harder for me to write about it than it was to actually do it! I hope I have explained how I do this in a way that can be understood. If there is something not clear to you, let me know and I will do my best to explain it better. Wow! I think I have just written my first, and probably my last, tutorial...............Oh, yes. If you click on the pictures you can see larger versions.....

A tisket a tasket block for March

I finished the march block from the bunny hill bom. It won't be long before the next one is ready. I wonder what the one for April will be. How would you draw an "April shower"?

String Quilt

I have been busy during the day doing some meandering on my string quilt. I had this first strip finished over a year ago, before I fell and broke my shoulder and pelvis. I only have one more strip to do before I start joining them together. I can’t wrestle with a whole quilt, so Kathy and I quilt our quilts this way. I was thinking I would send them all off to a local long arm quilter, but when I got my flannel quilt back from her, I decided I would do them myself. I was not happy with her work. Mine is far from perfect, but a least my edges come out straight.

A Touch of Spring

What strange weather we are having. Near 80 degrees on Sunday and now on Tuesday night they say it is supposed to get down to 25 degrees. Kathy’s Bradford pear is about to bloom and it will probably be ruined for this year. I picked some daffodils, hyacinths and a few sprigs of forsythia yesterday. I am going to pick the rest of the flowers this afternoon. I might as well have them inside instead of leaving them to freeze. I am showing a picture of the bouquet I made yesterday. I had to get out my favorite vase to put them in. LOL…

Pincushions

Thank goodness we are not issued fines for not posting frequently. I know I couldn't afford the fines I would incur! These are some lousy scans of the pincushions I made the last couple of days. They were made by the English paper peicing method. I appliqued them on to a charm square after I sewed the peices together. I had never tried it before and it was fun! The pincushions are four and half inches. I filled them with walnut bird litter, which I read about on a blog somewhere. I found it at Pet Smart. It gives a nice weight to the pincushions. When I have my 100th post giveaway, one of these will be a part of it.

Another NPNT Block

It has been a week since my last post. The time just gets away so fast. I have been busy, and that always makes the time go faster. I have finished several of the NPTP blocks. They are so much fun! I have also been working on the quilt that Kathy and I are doing. Will show a couple of the blocks from that quilt soon. It is made with 30's fabrics. I may not have been posting, but I have been reading my regular blogs. A lot of you have some really neat projects going. This blogging thing is a real wonder. So many nice people to visit and so many beautiful things to see. Now I must go and cut more strips. My back said for me to take a break, but the break is over.

A Tisket A Tasket February block

This is just a little quickie post to show you my February A Tisket A Tasket block.

Veranda Views BOM Block Two

Got this finished a couple of days ago. It is not a very good scan. Or it is a very good scan and I just didn’t get the fabric pressed very well. Now for the wait to see what the next stitchery will be…….

Noah's Ark is Finished

Well, it is done! I really enjoyed doing this BOM and I am pleased with the way it turned out. I purchased a jelly roll at a local quilt shop. It is not a fabric line. Just some very pretty coordinated prints that they put together, and I thought they would be perfect for the borders on this little quilt. When I started cutting out the stitcheries to finish this up, I decided to cut them a little bit larger. I cut them one half inch beyond the embroidered line that goes around each block. I cut my 2 ½ inch jelly roll strips in half to add the borders. I thought I had it all figured out, but as you can see the blocks came out a size that didn’t allow them to be put together like they should have been. I considered adding borders to the little quilt, but every thing I tried seemed to take away from the stitcheries, so I just did a bit of hand quilting, put the binding on and called that good. Even though mine is a little bit different, I plan to keep it! Now I need to find a nice hanger for it. If you click on the picture, you should be able to see it in a bit larger size...

The Ark

This is the last stitchery in the Noah’s Ark BOM. I suppose it is being greedy to hope that Lynette will start another one soon. This one was such fun. I have the stitcheries done and sewn together. All that is left is to sandwich it, do a bit of quilting on it and put on the binding. Will show a picture of it when it is all done!

Nice People, Nice Things......block two

This block went together rather quickly. I have decided not to do the sayings that are supposed to be on the back of each block. Just doing the fronts will be time consuming enough. I am also going to join the seams on the back of the quilt, instead of on the front. I hope that having one block a week ready to show will keep this project...FUN..