Here is the Heart and Friendship quilt finished top. I just sewed the borders on and I'm happy to say it is ready for quilting (just as soon as I find a backing for it. I'm real happy with how it turned out and I didn't have to buy any fabric for it. It is all from my stash. Boy does that feel good.
The hearts have been in my stash since 2001. I ordered them from Keepsake Quilting. I didn't know what I would do with them except that I knew my daughter loved bright jewel tone colors but never got around to using them. I have the hearts in 1930's fabric also and that quilt will be finished next. That quilt has nine-patches instead of friendship stars but is put together the same way.
Because I used my stash and I wanted to use the turquoise fabric for sashing and I only had 1-1/2 yards I had to make my sashing 1 inch instead of the 2 inches I intended to use but it all worked out because I love the way it looks. The 2 inch might have made it look chunky and I like the way the blocks are the focus. What do you think?
I also have 5 more 4-patch blocks that I was going to add to the bottom row but it would have made it out of proportion, long and skinny, so I chose to not put them on. Now I have 5 orphan blocks. I'm not sure what I will do with them but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Well it's time for me to go. Hope a great day everyone!

Quilt til your arm falls off...

This is a picture of the blocks I have been working on since before Christmas. There are 70 friendship stars and 70 appliqued hearts. There will be sashing in between the four-patched hearts and stars. I'm looking for just the right batik to go with these brights and jewel tone colors. Maybe it will be too busy with a batik. Maybe I should go with a solid. What do you think? Any suggestions? It is a very busy quilt. I have another one I am working on that is exactly the same except it is in 1930's fabrics and the friendship stars are nine-patches. I am looking for a fabric for the sashing on that one too. I will try to get a picture of that one on another day. I love all of the colors in this. The quilts are for two friends of mine that are stepdaughter and stepmom to each other. They are wonderful people. Always friendly and uplifting. Good friends. That's all right now. Have a blessed day.

Today is guild day. I go to the morning and night meeting so it is a long day. Today we will have someone from a local quilt shop come to show us the new things she/he found at the Quilt Market and Festival in Houston. We will also have some of our members that went do a show and tell of things they bought. It ought to be interesting.

The quilt below is a quilt I made in 2001. The year I learned to quilt. While I was taking quilting classes I wanted another project so I started this one. It is from a book by Melissa Rae Hawley called "Fat Quarter Quilts". I just used some fabrics I had here at home (some are probably not even all 100% cotton--OH, for shame). I call it my ugly quilt because of the bright pink and green together, that is the first thing I thought when I finished it. Now it is the most used quilt in the house. We cover with it in the evenings. I need to think about changing the name. I don't even have a label on it (shame, shame, shame).

Quilt til your arm falls off...

I'm back...

I took a much needed break. My surgery went well. The recoup time is still ongoing but not bad at all. There is still some swelling and I need to use saline solution religiously. The ear is still stopped up which concerns me. The doc says the swelling needs to go down more before it drains, I hope he is right. I have my doubts only because I have been stopped up since August. I don't know what it would feel like to have it clear. If it doesn't work, I'm not sure what the next step is. Oh well, cross that bridge when I get there.

I hope I have not lost some of the readers from my absence. I have not felt well enough to post. I really did not feel like posting anything as of late. This morning I decided I missed it all and thought I would post some more pictures of past quilts.

This is a quilt I started working on for an auction that was being held for a person that needed help paying for her medical bills. She was very sick. It was someone my brother in law knew and asked me to make it. I started work on it and my Mom was very sick with lung cancer. She died while I was working on this and while finishing it I was grieving. I could not let it go. It is dedicated to her. So I started another one for the auction. The picture below it the one I gave away. It went together very easy. It is a Crossroads to Jericho pattern.

This is a quilt I made early on in my quilt life. It is made using bandannas. You place a piece of batting on top of the bandanna and then start laying your pieces of fabric on top (kind of like crazy patch) raw edges overlapping. Then you sew the fabric edges down using decorative stitches on your machine. I used red thread mostly and some jean and blue fabrics with red highlights. It is heavy and we use it for outside on the ground, picnics and such. Its not a real good picture of it but you can see some of the colors and if you click on it, it will become larger.

I also bought me a new sewing machine (well I bought it used but it is still new to me). It is a Janome 6500P Memory Craft. I wanted a sewing machine for quilting and piecing. So far, I like it. I bought it from a lady in our quilt guild. She wanted a smaller machine to bring around to classes. This one is heavy. If anyone has this machine I would like to hear from you. I can always use feed back. Do you like it? How do you use it? Have you ever had trouble with it?

That's it for today. I will try to post more tomorrow.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Today I am getting some sewing done. I cut out the sashing and borders for the home of the brave quilt and I will be sewing the sashing strips on today. The picture is of the blocks and side borders with some of the sashing up on my design board. This quilt is supposed to be made with civil war reproductions but as usual some people can't follow directions and used what they thought looked like reproductions. From a distance it is OK but, it is sad that these quilts are going to families that have lost a loved one and the people that participated in this project can't get it right for them. Just sad. I don't know why people do that, participate but don't follow the rules. (I know because for a year I was in charge of the lotto blocks for our guild and you never knew what kind of blocks you would get even though you gave specific instruction. Enough whining about that. The quilt will over all be beautiful in the end.

The other picture is what is now hanging in my living room in place of the wool quilt. I just could not stand to look at that bare wall. This is an example of the quilts I usually make. Lots of fabric and very scrappy. I usually don't have to worry about matching things up that way --it's easier--especially if you use a neutral background. OH-OH, I may have a hard time hanging the wool quilt back up. I really like looking at all the fabric...what's a girl to do?

Quilt til your arm falls off...

This is wool quilt that I made last year. It hangs in my living room (except right now because it will be hanging in the "Quilts on the Teche" quilt show that I mentioned previously). This quilt took me a whole year to make. I worked on it mainly at our "woolies" group meetings. My friend was also making one. We fell in love with this quilt that another friend of ours was making and decided to make one. All three quilts are similar but not exactly alike. I love looking at all the different things in this quilt. It was a labor of love and it has many things about my life in it, like the crawfish and crawfish net. Here are a couple of close ups.

Today I am dragging my feet on a project I need to get going on. Just don't feel like starting. It is so much easier to sit at the computer and play. I have a "woolies" meeting here tonight and am all done with the housecleaning and making the refreshments. This is what I made. It is an Angel Food cake with a coolwhip frosting (the coolwhip has a dry packet of lemon pudding mixed in and a little bit of lemon filling mixed in) I cut it in three layers and spread the coolwhip then put some lemon filling on top, put on the next layer and repeat all the way to the top. Spread the rest of the coolwhip all around and put the rest of the lemon filling on top and let drip down sides. It is lite and yummy.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

I was up very early this morning. Not sure why but I was able to get an early start on the computer. We have a birthday party to go to today. It is at a children's pizza and party place. One of my least favorite type of parties to go to. The only good thing is being able to visit with family but it is a little difficult in that atmosphere to visit. My son however will probably have a great time and I guess that is another good reason.

I did not get to the selvages yesterday but I am getting right to it after this...I promised myself.
The picture below is some of my quilts on display in my home. They are on the railings of my baby bed (all my children used it too). My husband removed some of the rungs on one and left all the rungs on the other. I can put the thicker blankets in the wider space that way. I just love reusing something in a different way that it was not meant to be. Especially since they were just sitting in storage never to be used again.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Good Morning

I love Saturday mornings. I sit and enjoy my tea by the window and watch the birds and trees. It is very soothing and comforting. Much anticipation of the day ahead and what it will be filled with.

I have a small meeting here at home this morning. It is for our retreat next year. I am chairman and my best friend is co-chair. We will talk about some of the things we have planned and here from the committee their ideas. I love this quilting retreat. I have never been to any other, just this one, so I have nothing to compare it to but it is very relaxing and I also get a lot of sewing done. You get to see members of the guild in a new light and get to know them better.

I am also baking sourdough bread today. My husband's grandmother used to make it all the time. Just before she passed away, a member of the family video taped her making her bread. What a great treasure for me to have today. She showed me how when she was alive, but I could never get the hang of it. I started, at the beginning of spring, trying really hard to get it going (sourdough uses a starter that you have to make yourself, just water and flour that ferments for about 2 weeks, and that is what makes the bread rise, you don't add yeast). I was successful with it and now I keep it going and share the bread with family members to keep her tradition alive. I can't make it too often--I eat too much of it! I love fresh homemade bread right from the oven...ummmm!

Maybe I can post a picture of the bread later after it comes out of the oven (if it doesn't get eaten first. HA!

Here is another scrappy quilt I recently finished. My daughter wanted it when it was done so it is now living at her house. I am trying to tackle all of my UFO's. It is not easy but I did scratch off 9 projects on that long list this year. Yeah!

I have to go now. I need to get refreshments for the meeting made.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Tonight I am tired.

I had lunch with a friend of mine today. She treated me as a birthday gift. We had fun. A lot to catch up on. We don't get together as much as we used to. I also ran a few errands and went to get a haircut. When I got home I had school work to check (from homeschooling) and I couldn't get on the computer because my mouse was acting all weird. I think it was possessed or something. It seemed to want to do it's own thing. My husband bought a new one this afternoon and installed it this evening.

I also called the doctor today. My sinuses have been acting up and it is causing fluid to not drain from behind my eardrum. I had to get a prescription for some sinus and allergy meds to clear it up. It is leaving me feeling a little tired and worn out this evening.
Am I whining? Yeah,maybe a little.

I did get a little hand quilting done this morning. I have 4 fans left to quilt then I can put on the binding and call it finished. I can't wait.

(Just because I didn't want to have a no picture post)--- I will leave you today with a few pictures of some quilts I have made in the past. Scrap quilts. My favorite type.

Sorry some of the quilt pics are blurry.
Don't you just love the legs that this quilt has grown?
The second quilt is a signature quilt I made for a friend that was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is doing well today and cancer free. Yeah!

This quilt is very scrappy a lot of strip pieces were used for this. I believe I got both of these patterns on Bonnie's web site. They are both great patterns. I made the second one for a cousin that got married.

Quilt til your arm falls off...