IT'S TRUE, WE GOT SNOW!

 

Let me introduce INCA GOLD! You have seen pieces of this as I have been constructing it, and now it is completed and off to the quilter this week. This picture shows just a portion of it hanging on the deck. It is actually 69" x 89". This is my first full sized quilt this year, and my quilter actually has another one that I finished piecing last year but have not yet revealed. Hopefully I can show you both before too long!

And look! Snow right here in Virginia Beach, VA! We have lived here for ten years and never had more than a dusting of snow. This is our side yard, and below the snow laden branches on the live oak tree in the front yard. I think we got at least five inches at our house.

 

And in case you were expecting me to run down to the beach for a photo, forget it! I have not left the house! In fact, if you look real close you can see the screen on the windows from shooting the camera out the windows! I am a native of the northern clime and I know snow, and I don't need to shake hands with it. Been there, done that!

CHEERFUL CHEDDAR DOLL QUILT

Again it has been a busy week. I thought I would post this darling little quilt sooner, but life keeps heading me off at the pass.

Many of you will recognize this quilt from Lori's blog, Humble Quilts. I fell in love with it when I saw it on her blog months ago. Apparently I wasn't the only one who loved it. Lori decided to work out the directions for us, and they are on her blog. Of course I had other things in the works, but decided to drop everything and make this sweet little quilt while it was still fresh on my mind. Otherwise it would run the risk of landing on the wish list that may never come true. My quilt ended up being a bit brighter than Lori's. I just couldn't help myself. This was so much fun to make. It is such a clever pattern and goes together like a pretty little calico puzzle! Thanks Lori!

Meanwhile, there may be snow on the beach tomorrow. That just doesn't seem right does it?

 

JUST FLYING BY

The weekend is once again slapping us in the face. "Wake up", it says, "your life is flying by"! At least that is how I feel. At least I can say I got some things done this past week. For those that are interested in my newest little pattern, Feathered Friends, it is available on my website and you can click on the little picture of it on my side bar to take you there. Thank you for giving me such positive feedback on this little cutie!

 

I am frantically working on another larger quilt that I want to have ready for the LQS, What's Your Stitch 'N Stuff, by Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest in February. It is going to be awesome! The little blocks I showed in my last post have grown into bigger blocks, as shown above.

 

And I have border strips completed and ready to be added very soon. I love designing quilts and creating them, then writing the directions isn't even that bad any more, but the whole thing is such a long process! I keep wondering how the "big girls" do it all so seamlessly?

Have a great weekend everyone!

THE LIST

I am checking off things on my TO DO list. Yesterday I got this quilt mailed off to my son with the bare wall. I made this quilt in 1999 when I was just beginning to try my hand at designing. I love this quilt. It was so fun to make, and not so big that I couldn't finish it. I even hand quilted it, which is something I rarely do these days. I have often thought I would like to re-make it using the beautiful fabrics that are available today. You may recognize some of these old fabrics from the 90's and earlier.

I also ordered and quickly received Triangles on a Roll. This is my HST maker of choice. I have tried other brands, but I keep coming back to Triangles on a Roll. And I found that they had free shipping if you order $25 or more. So I stocked up. A very lucky to find free shipping, but then this is my lucky year!

Also, I have a new quilt in the works! I am very excited about this design. I hope you will like it too. And I want to thank Jo Morton for the luscious array of golds that she brings us time after time. I seem to have collected a few. Are they cheddar? Gold, brass, cheddar, whatever they are I must like them! I keep buying them! 

And now for a grand finish! Yes, I completed this wall hanging, Perfectly Perched, by Lynda Hall from the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine, Dec. 2009 issue. I loved it when I saw it, and then Lori made it, and then Libby made it. I was hooked. I did my applique in wool.

This one is Libby's. She made hers into a big pillow and shows it here alongside her Church Cat pillow, a Cheri Saffiote Payne design. Libby and Lori are two very prolific and fabulous bloggers. You probably already read their blogs. They are two of my favorites among so many favorites!

MY SUNDAY EVENING

Here I am at the computer while my husband watches football and reads a book. He is not really immersed in football, but he doesn't want to miss the good parts, so he reads until he hears the crowd cheer, then he looks up to see what happened. Meanwhile, the TV with the DVR and all my programs are held hostage. Last night I woke up at 3:00AM and came down and watched Castle. Am I really that desperate? No, I just couldn't go back to sleep for a while. 

Castle, by the way, has a great cast, and my favorite is Susan Sullivan. I couldn't place her at first with the red hair, but she is sensational in this role. You may remember her from Dharma and Greg a few years ago, plus a million other things.This role is great for her, as was the Dharma and Greg roll. Plus she looks fabulous!

 

So back to quilts, here  is what I am teaching at the shop this session. Feathered Friends is a 21" table topper. The center is fairly plain, waiting for a centerpiece. As you can see, it is surrounded by pretty birds. I have to say it was inspired by Corry at Dutch Blue who seems to always have pretty birds mingling with the darling things she creates. Please check out her blog. You will love it!

This is a quilt that I made a few years ago and it was a great success as a class, so I thought I would try it again. The classic four-patch on point! I took this quilt off the wall at my son's house when we were there at Christmas with a promise of sending him a replacement while I borrow this back. Yesterday he sent me a photo of a bare wall. He is so impatient!

This final quilt I did not make. Mary Brandt of St. Michael, MN made it for Becky and Travis, pictured above. Becky is our granddaughter--both of us! And we are both quilters. Isn't that great! So the kids got two beautiful quilts from their grandmothers when they got married in October 2009. Aren't they adorable!

That's all for now. I gotta go see if the football game is over and I can catch up on my programs and do some hand stitching.

Later friends...

THE CORN WAGON

The Corn Wagon, a quilt shop in Springville, Utah, was featured as a Top Shop in American Patchwork and Quilting a while back. I have been wanting to visit this shop for quite a while! In fact a couple of bloggers have offered to take me. But since it was during the rush of the Christmas holidays, I didn't contact anyone other than family while in Utah. I really hope to meet a few of you Utah bloggers at another time!

My darling daughter-in-law drove me to this shop on a cold and snowy day in December. The exterior is old looking and beautiful. I love this big porch on the front!

 Can you see the flurries of snow coming down? It was really quite pretty. Also take note of the Beehive. I love this symbol. Aside from the fact that it is just plain cute, it is also meaningful. The paragraph below, taken from a website about Utah, tells you why.

The Beehive State

Most of the nicknames associated with Utah are related to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, that first settled in the territory. Deseret, in The Book of Mormon is actually a honeybee. Early Mormon settlers have been described as having carried "swarms of bees" with them. This nickname commemorates the industry of the people of Utah. The beehive was adopted, in 1847, as an official emblem and represents the qualities of industry, perseverance, thrift, stability, and self-reliance, all virtues respected by the region's settlers. The beehive is the centerpiece of the Utah State Flag and the Utah State Seal.

Naturally, I found things I needed at this shop. I bought a few Japanese FQs that have a really neat texture to them. Someone out there probably can share the name of the type of fabric that this is. I don't know what to call it, except that it has raised threads in the weave and it looks so old-fashioned that I couldn't resist it, even tho it was twice the cost of American FQs. Not something I want to get into the habit of doing, but it will add some nice old-fashioned texture to this new pattern I got while there.

 You all know that I design patterns, but this doesn't stop me from being inspired by the designs of others. I fell in love with a quilt that was on display at The Corn Wagon. It is an old-fashioned album quilt with names embroidered in the center of each block. The fabric choices were wonderful and took me right back in time. I decided I want to make it to take to a family reunion next summer and embroider our ancestors names on the blocks. Here  is the darling thing about this quilt that won my heart. All around the inner border were hand embroidered "Blessings". Things like, "Faith - Hope - Quilting", and "Song of Birds, Pioneers, Prayers and Flowers".This was irresistible to me! The designers are Leslie Ison and Norma Whaley from Salt Lake City. I couldn't find a website for them, but The Corn Wagon has their patterns (801-491-3551). Be sure and tell them that I sent you! I am hoping they will buy my patterns as well! :0)

MY LUCKY YEAR!

I actually meant to post this yesterday when it was my actual birthday, but here it is, a day late and a dollar short, as my Grandmother always said. Call me crazy, but isn't this an unusual date? My birthday date, 01-02-2010.  The numbers reverse half way thru. Are these my lucky numbers this year? Is this my lucky year? YES! Yes, I say! Bring it on!

My granddaughter, Becky took this picture of me on Christmas as we were preparing dinner. I know it is silly, and that is why I say "Call me crazy". So here it is, more lucky numbers: I am now 64, and oddly enough, that is the year I graduated from high school, '64! It gives one pause to reflect. Who was I then and who am I now? Well, I am not going to write that book of life between '64 and 64, but let's just say I am still happy, I still make stupid jokes, and I am still glad I am me. Could I be better? Sure! Could I be thinner? Sure! Am I going to change? Not likely! But if I am, then it will happen this year because this is my lucky year!