SEWING IN TONGUES

I am making progress on my latest quilt. I love the simplicity and the soothing colors. I love antique quilts and this one has the softened feeling that often takes years of wear and washings to achieve. I am a cut some sew some kind of gal, so I am still cutting and still sewing! I try to be careful not to sew too many rows together because if I introduce a new fabric I want to scatter a few pieces throughout the quilt. But I just couldn't wait to see what these blocks look like sewn together. I need seams to get the whole effect!

Meanwhile, I have been stitching on a couple little wool projects. I even finished one! It sure is easier to sew those little tongues in instead of out! I am pretty sure this little pillow is a Whimsicals project. I love stitching on wool. I made a binding on this, just like on a quilt, but it is a strip of an old blanket, so it is pretty thick. Piping without the extra effort!

Sewing in Tongues: You no doubt know the Speaking in Tongues reference, but since I like to play with words, I am Sewing in Tongues - on the pillow, of course. I am sure I don't have to explain that with my quilts I am Speaking in Scraps.

SHOP TALK

A word of warning: If you always read blog comments in your e-mail box you may not be seeing them all. My last post had two comments that I only saw because I looked in the comment section. None of us like to miss what people have to say!

Some of you asked to see more of Sue's quilt made with the Coverlet Collection II from Windham Fabrics. Here is her completed top. It is really great looking! It is on display at the shop (What's Your Stitch 'N Stuff) along with kits! I also noticed when I was there today that they have Pioneer Trail on display along with kits! They have lots of other kits as well, but I am only promoting my own stuff here!(My patterns are available at the shop or my website, if you are interested!)

The second picture shows the Stars and Garters quilt on the bottom and Indian Paintbrush on the top, hanging from rungs of a ladder. Isn't that a cute display? The shop looks great! They have a ton of cute Christmas things out already, and darling wool projects with kits.

I am thinking you have noticed that jacket, so here is a close-up. Prairie Paisley! Can you believe it! For those of you who love that fabric, here is another use for it!

Karen Dianne over at LeeHaven has been working hard to complete her version of Indian Paintbrush. She renamed it Dancing Ladies. It is turning our really nice! Go take a look!

That's all for now!

SPLENDOR IN THE SCRAPS

Well here are the two little quilts for my two nephew's baby boys. They are all quilted and ready to get mailed. I am very pleased with the end result and hope they will be also. I just found out the baby's names. Can you believe this? One named his son Owen, and the the other named his son Ian. I can only think of my friend, their grandmother, calling to these little ones: "IanOwenIanOwen". It kind of has an "einymeanyminymoe" thing going on. Pretty funny, I think!

I have been playing with a new design. I play with ideas on EQ and sometimes it is months later when I go back and play some more, and finally get to where I want to give it the "textile test". Of course that means I actually cut and sew to see if it works.

My plan was to make this quilt in blues and browns. I have been collecting these color families and they are so pretty. I wanted to make a fairly big quilt, so I made large blocks. After making several, enough to get a feel for it, I decided that I really wanted to make smaller blocks. So I cut everything down, sewed it back up and took another look. I then decided that the blue and brown looked really blah. (Sew Primitive Karen says I am color starved.) So now it is open season on any fabric within reach, or even out of reach. You have heard me complain that my sewing room is such a mess. This is why. And I know I don't have to explain to anyone who makes quilts. There is just no easy way to deal with choosing fabric for a scrap quilt. I was just mentioning to Julie Q. (she is also playing with scraps) today that my favorite method of cleaning my sewing room is to pick up scraps and sew them together. It is a slow process, but gratifying! I mentioned to my husband that I could have a sign in my sewing room that says, "Please excuse the mess, things are under construction". Well, it's true. I am constructing things. He's not falling for it.

Meanwhile, I am finding scraps to use that have been around for a long time. They are pieces left from other scrap quilts. I almost think that if you looked at all my quilts you could find a DNA strand that connects them. I love throwing new pieces of fabric into the mix as well. So I am very happy on several levels! I even had a stash of flying geese that were just the right size to add. I LOVE when that happens!

I hope you are finding splendor in the scraps at your abode. ( If you get that, it really dates you!)

Have a happy scrappy day!

STAND TALL AMERICA

Stand tall America. Stand tall and never forget. Never forget what our country suffered on September 11, 2001. Stand tall as our flag still waves over our land declaring our freedom, our pride in our country and our gratitude to our Heavenly Father who still watches over us.

I always get a thrill when I see our flag waving in the breeze! When I was a child we pledged our allegiance to the flag each day in school. We sang songs about our flag and our country and we were taught that we lived in a land that valued freedom and fought to keep it. Everyone deserves to live in freedom, and everyone deserves to have a flag that waves over their land declaring their freedom and representing what they believe. Freedom isn't just an American value, it is a human right!

Here is what I see when I look at our flag: I see the white stripes that declare honor and virtue; I see the red that stands for blood spilled to preserve us against those who wish to destroy us; and I see a field of stars on blue that represent our dreams and aspirations, our yearnings to live up to the dreams of patriots past, and to hold fast to our convictions that peace will prevail.

September 11 will never be just another day. It should make us think.

STARS AND GARTERS part II

In my last post I asked if any of you had heard the expression, "Oh my stars and garters". Well I had quite a mixed response, and I loved hearing that at least a few of you knew the expression. Here is what Di had to say on the subject:

"Absolutely! I've heard it all my life and I googled it and here is probably where it came from: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/55/messages/588.html ". I hadn't thought to google the expression, but Di did. Thanks Di! Good to know!
(Di doesn't have a blog, or I would link to it. Are you planning to join us soon Di?)


The photo here is one I swiped from the blog of our LQS, What's Your Stitch N Stuff. It shows my pattern, Stars and Garters, being assembled by Sue at the shop. I hope you can enlarge the photo and see how she placed that cool Coverlet print in the center of the stars. I haven't got a picture of the whole quilt, but she did complete it. Awesome! So often simple quilts are the best!

Now how many of you have heard the expletive, "Great Caesar's ghost"? Where has our imagination of expression gone? These days all I hear is "holy crap". What fun is that?

Have a happy scrappy day!

OH MY STARS AND GARTERS!

Several years ago I designed this really easy star pattern that creates an alternate Shoofly block when you set it with sashing. I was creating designs to use in class with new quilters. Not my most creative work, but still, it gives a great effect in its simplicity. I came up with the name "Stars and Garters". That was an expression my grandmother used: "Oh my stars and garters"! Having heard that expression all my life I naturally assumed that everyone knew it. Boy was I wrong!


Yesterday (amid strong winds and rain as a weakened hurricane swept through) there was an open house at our LQS, What's Your Stitch N Stuff. Sue G., who works at the shop, made up this pattern in the Coverlet fabric, by Windham. It turned out great! They made it up into kits and held up the quilt to show it to everyone. One of the gals asked about the garters. I explained that it was just a fun name that came from the expression my grandmother used, "Oh my stars and garters". Everyone in the shop was mystified. No one had ever heard that expression.


So here I named a quilt pattern after an expression I thought everyone would recognize and get a kick out of, and NO ONE ever heard the expression before!


Have you ever heard that expression before?

Oh my stars and garters!

Please let me know.

WHAT IS OLD IS NEW AGAIN!

Most of you know the Beckster by now--my 19 year old granddaughter who is now beginning her sophomore year at BYU. Her parents just moved to Missoula, MT, so Becky went to see them in their new home. While there she asked her mom if she could take the quilt on little sister's bed back to college with her. Her mom said, "NO, but you can take your own quilt". Becky didn't even remember what it looked like!


Well, here is the story: I made this quilt for her in 1993. Becky put on a big smile, as the photo shows, but later her mom apologetically told me that Becky didn't want to use the quilt. Really, I didn't mind. I told her to put it away and someday she might want it. When Becky went off to college I did not make her a quilt. I figured that if the day came when she wanted a quilt she would tell me. Turns out that when her mom got the quilt out that I had made years ago, Becky loved it! Well heck, it IS just like new! A happy ending for everyone!


You know I love scrappy quilts and when I first got into quiltmaking I learned this wonderful technique that Sally Schneider developed, that she calls Mary's Triangles. Becky's quilt was made using that method. I have taught it in many classes and, for me, it never grows old. It has a ton of variations. This is what the block looks like. Can you find it in the quilt?



Other family news is that my father finally decided to write on his blog again. Last time he wrote on it was in March 08! Well, since that time Google has gotten serious about having a Google account in order to have a blog. We could not get into that blog for anything. So I opened a Google account for him and a new blog! He has already written two posts. I know a few of you out there have enjoyed his stories, so if you want to read his blog, it has been updated. Also, I have created a link to it on my sidebar down below the Babes in Blogland, that will show when he updates it.
Give him a thrill and leave a comment!


Have a happy scrappy day!

NAME THAT QUILT

Lyn at Bluebird Quilts, in Australia had a contest to name the beautiful quilt, pictured above, that she made. I have been watching the progress of this quilt for a while now, and just love it. It is lovely in its simplicity and soothing blue color. I submitted a name for the quilt, Blessings Remembered, which I thought reflected the name of the original vintage quilt that she was duplicating. Lyn chose my name from a list of many nice names, and sent me a lovely package all the way from Australia!

Above is the darling little box that Lyn sent me, laying on a really pretty dish towel. The little bundle of blue fabric squares are from the Blessings Remembered quilt! What a treat! There were also pretty quilt labels, and sitting on one of them is two little soap rosettes.

I opened the box and found more tiny treasures! Two pretty pins, stickers, packages of fragrance, and a beautiful embossed quilt card. I think I will frame that! I couldn't be more pleased. Thank you Lyn, so very much! Be sure and visit Lyn's blog to see what else she is up to.