Stash Talkers

So, how was your summer? Mine went fast. I feel like time is slipping away from me. I will never ever catch up and am not really trying anymore. On the bright side, that does take the stress off!

My friend Marae in Arizona does a lot of quilting for me. When she quilted Diamond in the Rough she fell in love with it and made her own. Her colors are a little softer than mine and it is lovely!

Marae and her twin sister belong to a sewing group that they call Stash Talk. Follow the link to their blog and you can see lots of fun projects, like this one below!

 And this one above!

This is Marae's daughter Michelle and she has completed my Indian Paintbrush pattern. I never get tired of seeing my quilt designs made by others. Beautiful job Michelle!

 Michelle is a pattern designer and her designs are wonderful. The one above is called Zipper. She has an Etsy shop called Red Bucket List where she sells her patterns, plus fabric packs and some kits. It is a great site. I know you will love it!

Hope you had a nice weekend and got in a few stitches! 
And thanks to all of you who LIKE me on Facebook!

 **** I have just been corrected! The Zipper design above is a pattern from Thimble Blossoms. Follow the link for lots of darling patterns!  (9-17-13)

Frosting

For those of you who love to piece quilts, like I do, and then send them to a long-arm quilter to be finished, you know what a thrill it is to have your quilt come back even more beautiful than you dreamed! I am blessed to have a short list of terrific ladies who are very talented indeed! Mary Flynn at Quilt Hollow is one of these! Not too long ago I sent her two baby quilts for the upcoming twin boys that my granddaughter is bringing into the world. She sent me photo of the one that she has finished so far.

Mary's brain is on a totally different level than mine. Just look what she has done with my simple little quilt! My brain simply cannot come up with these kinds of patterns. Much better to leave this to the experts and let me focus on what I can do!  I was surprised that she stitched those little arcs inside each square in the border. Those are one inch squares! I told Mary that no matter how good the cake is, it is the frosting that sets it apart and makes it exceptional. Mary makes great frosting!

Check out Mary's blog and see more photos of this quilt and lots of others!

 

Meanwhile, the babies are coming along!

HONOR GUARD

Finally something quilty to show! I was afraid you were going to kick me out the the ol' quilt bloggers club if I didn't post something about quilts soon! Well, things have been in very slow progress. I don't know why I seem to have so many distractions in my life. Part of the blame lies with you other quilt bloggers who distract me with your wonderful posts. I showed a piece of this quilt a while back, and have been waiting until I finished the directions to show the entire quilt. I still need to get the covers printed, but look! I got a photo! That is half the battle for me! Yesterday was an overcast day and perfect for picture taking.
Look how cute this is as a table topper! And each eagle has a word of advice: Honesty, Kindness, Gratitude and Faith. I have struggled with a name for this quilt and today it came to me. HONOR GUARD! What do you think? I hope you can see the quilting. It was beautifully done by Rosemary Skinner of The Quilted Fox in Virginia Beach. Thanks Rosemary! Her quilting is the perfect finish. I love designing and making the tops, but that is as far as my talent goes. I am ever so grateful to each talented quilter who completes my work!

On another note, Granddaughter Becky was talking on Skype with her boyfriend Travis who is in Utah. Becky has still not gotten a job, although I have been thrilled to take advantage of her computer skills in creating better images for my new pattern. Travis remarked to her that maybe she could do batting for me with my quilts. She said, "Do you even know what batting is?" No, he admitted, he did not. I am sorry Travis, if you are reading this, but I keep having fits of hysteria as I imagine what a batting job might entail. Beating the quilts with a bat perhaps? Or maybe me getting to a certain point in the quilt and calling out, "Hey batta-batta-batta-batta"! Got any other suggestions?

Time to go. Batter up!