Getting Some Things Done!

I just got a quilt back from my friend and long arm quilter Kat McCarty, proprietress of A Thread Runs Through It, but I don't want to reveal it. It is a wedding quilt for Scott and Erin.

Yesterday, I finished two, count them, two tops!

We had a sewfest at our Snooze You Lose mini-group and while sitting next to my friend Angie, I got the rest of my Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery Quilt together. I love this top so much that I'm thinking that I'll sign up for the 2009 version.

And, I got the dreaded scalloped border on my Verna Mosquera Happy Hauntings BOM finished! WooHoooooooo! I'm going to have this quilt basted by a long armer so I can take my sweet time and hand quilt it. I used Darlene Zimmerman's EZ Scallop tool and her instructions from The Quilter's Edge for appliqeing scalloped borders. I wasn't thrilled with Verna's scallops and I was shorted a bit on the inner border fabric, so I opted for the shallower and wider scallops using Darlene's method. I'm thinking that I may mirror the scallops for the outer edge, too. I'm loving this quilt!!!

We Interrupt this Quilting

For a visit with my big sister and her hubby. I haven't seen her since 2005, so we had a great visit in between her jaunts to a family wedding on his side. She lives in New Orleans part of the year and Cayucos, CA part of the year.

It was so great to catch up with her and to love on her beautiful golden retrievers.

More Vintage Goodies

I am the vintage goodie in this post!

This is a picture of me with the block I made at the workshop with Sally Collins in May. Sally spoke at our guild and gave a six hour workshop the next day. Her quilts were utterly amazing, and when I asked her how long it took to make one of her miniatures, she told me that it was pretty much the same amount of time as a full-scale version of the same quilt.

I learned some amazing things in the class, not the least of which was to measure, measure, measure. She had us measuring each piece as it was sewn in place to make sure it was correct before moving on. It was a light bulb moment for me....Duh....I've been quilting for over 35 years and did I ever do that? No. I'm here to tell you that it does make a difference.

If you ever have the chance to take a class with Sally, jump on it. Even if miniatures are not your thing, you will learn lessons you should have learned from the get-go.

More vintage goodness tomorrow,

More From the Magic Box

One of the real treasures in the box was a catalog of quilt patterns available by mail order. I've only begun to examine this lovely little book, but a cursory exam revealed something peculiar and terrifying...... and that would be a pattern for an appliqued rat. A RAT. I ask you, who, in their right mind would applique a rat on a quilt? (Insert ex-husband jokes here.....)

Some possible quilt themes:

• A quilt for the 650th anniversary of the black death
  
• Sinking sailboats with rats deserting same
• Delightful addition to childs ABC quilt
• "Friendship" block for the guild troublemaker
• Sofa pillow for the kitty
  

I can't even think about it because I hate rodents so much.

How would you use a rat block?

More Vintage Goodness

More pictures of the goodies inside the mystery box. This is such a great time capsule of quilting in the old days when ladies would see a block they liked and make a sample to keep for reference and the quilts that the newspapers published every week.

Opening the lid provides a hint of things to come.

We must have pins to make a good block!Blocks: Devils Claw, Drunkard's Path, and Corn and Beans to name a few.

Mystery Box

Several weeks ago at a meeting of the Santa Rosa Quilt Guild, I found an interesting box on our silent auction table, looking a bit like an old board game. I thought I'd take a looky-lou at it because my Son-in-Law is a diehard gamer and collects same.

A couple of other members and I opened the box and I nearly fell over when I saw the contents.

This box was apparently some quilter's box of sample quilt blocks and patterns--most likely a quilter who is long gone. Included were several patterns purchased from the newspapers, pins, a worn thimble and even a lump of old beeswax. I went to the overseer of the silent auction, offered her a donation for the box and home we came. Over the next few days, I'll be posting some pictures of the goodies inside. Here's a little teaser, the thimble, posing on a quilt block.

This is my 300th post~stay tuned for some kind of giveaway soon!

Yeah, That's Me

Yep. Guilty.

It has been six weeks since my last blog post. Blame Facebook. Blame live music. Blame family and friends. I've been busy.

I've taken quite a few pictures intending to post them, but I'm a slacker.

Reformation is coming.......tomorrow........I promise.

I'll Be Back

After the weekend celebration.

The boys and their parents are coming as is Auntie Sarah and we are going to celebrate my birthday (Sunday) this weekend.

I'm coming up on my 300th post, so will probably have a wee bit of a giveaway next week. January through June is crazy-hectic in our family because EVERYONE save my SIL and DS have birthdays before mine on June 14th. We like birthdays in this family, so we've been celebrating and often that means either house guests or out-of-town travels. I'm thinking that more sewing will be done and blog posting as well now that the birthdays are pretty much done for now. Of course, there IS that wedding coming up in October....




Photo is from my 2nd birthday.......55 years ago!

But Wait, There's Even More Applique!

I'm still busy and not getting a lot of machine time, but I have been doing more applique as you can see.

This is the third finished block for Pearl Pereira's Baltimore Halloween Block-of-the-Month. I have 2 more blocks in process and another will arrive next week, so I'm a bit behind on this one, but I'm getting there.

I am caught up on my Bunny Hill FREE BOM, the basket quilt and I just love how these sweet little blocks are turning out. It is so generous of Anne to share these with us. Every month, I'm digging through my Mom's old buttons to try and find a couple that work and this month I found a set of four square mother-of pearl buttons, so I used two and have two for another month.

Last Friday I was fortunate enough to take a class with Sally Collins and I'll tell you about that tomorrow. She is amazing!

Back to Quilting

It has been a busy week with my MIL and FIL arriving on Mother's Day and staying through Thursday, and after a day's respite, my stepdaughter Sarah and friend Eddie arrived for another evening of celebration of hubby's birthday. Needless to say, we collapsed last night and will continue to do so today!

Two years ago, I participated in a round robin inspired by May Britt's group and we finished our projects just after the first of the year. We were so pleased by the results that we decided to play again this year. We had a few dropouts and added a few new faces, some gals I "knew" from other mini-quilt round robins or swaps. You can see them all by following the link on the sidebar for Round Robin Bloggers. I decided to have a soft "Be My Valentine" theme this year and present now, my starting block. Quite a switch from the last one, isn't it? The initials are for Jan Brackett (my maiden name) and Mike Andrews. Should be a cutie when finished because the gals in this swap are very, very creative. You won't be seeing it again until I get it back as a finished quiltlet in about 15 months because we've decided to keep the progress a secret again. Stay tuned.

And Yet More Applique

I'm also working on Bunny Hill Designs (Anne Sutton) FREE Block of the Month and am now caught up!

At right is the block for February.

I just happened to have a yard of a great Nancy Halvorsen background for all of these blocks and the rest have come from the old scrap bin. The blocks are great because they use up tiny snippets of fabrics. Stash diving is such fun!

The second block is for March and features a couple of buttons from my Mom's old button box.

Finally, the April block is the chocolate bunny and I just love him. I'm not happy with the cheapie ribbon on the chick's neck and will be searching for something better.

Some April Applique

As I said before, I have been appliqueing my little heart out.

This is block one of Pearl Pereira's new Baltimore Halloween BOM, the Owl. I tried using Pearl's method on this block, and have to say that for small concave and convex pieces, I really prefer my old standby, needle turn using a sharp toothpick from the Cracker Barrel Restaurant.

I did a few modifications to the block by adding the buttons and watch chain to the owl's rather plain vest.

Block two is a huge basket of fruit covered with a spider web and very complicated, so I'm working on it a bit more slowly and I jumped ahead to block three, Spiders and Bats.

This block was a complete disaster using the freezer paper on the back and fold the edges over method. So much that I had to redo the wings using my own fabrics. All in all, I think it turned out pretty cute. This particular kit gives "just enough" fabric for the appliques without a whole lot left over, so when I mess things up, I have to go stash-diving. So sad to have to fondle all of my fabrics.

Some Finishes for April

My finishes for April are Alex's birthday card quilts for his first and second birthdays--caught up at last!

The quilt for his first birthday is kind of a play on words--the old saying "Baby Makes Three"--but because big brother Benjamin was a wee bit jealous as a two-year-old new big brother, Alex took a few hits early on.
"I didn't mean to hit baby," Benj would say with his big blue eyes wide. So Mommy and I used to joke that if Alex made it through his first year, he would be invincible. We second kids have to be tough, you know!


Well Alex (whose brother still often calls him "Baby"), turned out to be tougher than we imagined. He's a daredevil. Standing on chairs, climbing things, giving his mother heart failure, etc. So, I decided to commemorate that by having him dancing on a chair for his second birthday quilt.

And, any resemblance to Charlie Brown you might notice is purely intentional and Mommy finally found the shirt to prove it!

Pathetic!

Or just busy and not in the mood to blog? Who knows?

I have been stitching, largely by hand these days and I'll post the pictures over the next few days.

I did go to Visalia and visit these characters:




While visiting we did a lot of this:



(He is having fun, in spite of the facial expression....he kept telling me: "Wing! Wing!"

We played Candyland and Benjamin beat Nana on his very first game.

And after all the sweaty yard play, we had to take several very splashy baths in the brand new tub! Thank heaven for Sham Wow.


And finally, when the fun-meters got pegged out, we had a minor meltdown. He is wearing his official "I'm two and there's nothing you can do about it" shirt, so we'll give him a pass on this one. Mom has obviously been here before, ya think?

Happy Easter