Itchin' and Stitchin'

I thought it was a spider bite, but I was wrong. My husband was afraid it was a flesh eating disease. Thankfully he was wrong too! It seems that I just tangled with plain old poison ivy or oak. It happened a week ago and I am still quite miserable. We have never had it in our yard before that I know of, so it blindsided me. I just reached for it and pulled as I was pulling up other little trees that regularly sprout in our yard. This one, however, fought back!  When it began to spread it took a violent turn. Both arms are covered, some on both legs and on my waist. I went to the doctor on Monday and she gave me some prednisone, which may be helping. I bought something called Ivarest, which has been helpful in controlling the itch somewhat, and it's helping the welts dry out. The skin that is healing looks burned and dried.

Now for the happy stuff! I began making the Cheri Payne Everyday Patchwork blocks and finished them all before I came back to Virginia. I love them! The directions are still on her blog. Scroll back to May 2015. She also has a darling little patriotic quilt on her blog now with the directions. 

The other project I was pushing to finish is a Jan Patek design called Homespun Hearth. Altho the book is on Jan's website, it is still out of stock. Finally Karen- Log Cabin Quilter, offered me her book and so I got busy. 

I have a tendency to change things and so my version is quite different from Jan's. I am pretty happy with it! 

 I like to fill spaces and decided that mine needed a dragonfly and a bird on the chimney, etc.

Another little project that I really got excited about was another Cheri Payne design. Again, mine got changed a bit. That seems to happen as I work and use different techniques, don't follow directions, or whatever. 

So you can see that I have been keeping busy the past few months. You can just think of me stichin' and itchin'!!

The Good Old Summertime!

What a great summer this has been! We have had fun and it has gone fast. Doesn't it always? Below is this really cool horse I found at an antique shop in Minnesota. It is heavy rusted iron. I love it!

I flew from Arizona to Virginia the end of June with a layover in Minneapolis. I was home for a week and my husband and I packed up and drove to Minneapolis! Well, I didn't want him to drive alone. And... we drove through Wisconsin and stopped in Menasha to visit Primitive Gatherings! I was delighted to get to see Lisa Bongeon's shop, tho Lisa was not there. She was off teaching somewhere, of course. Sorry to have missed her, but I did get a couple photos. And you can visit her at her blog by clicking her name. Lisa always has the best stuff!

This is my quilt pattern, Prairie Fire, that was hanging in the shop. It was quilted by Linda Hrcka at The Quilted Pineapple. Check out her blog, she is amazing!

I have to share this cute display. It is an old ladder with little nails on the rungs and primitive designer Cheri Payne's patterns are hanging there. How appropriate! 

We left Menasha and drove a short distance to Appleton, Wisconsin. I went to high school there and haven't been back since. 

We drove by the old house, which I still love. It looked happy and well cared for! I could move right back in! We loved Appleton so much!

From there we drove on to Minnesota and up to the Brainerd Lakes area. We spent about two weeks with family there and loved it.

Here is our darling Katie with the twins.

Here is the darling August James with me! 

My great-grandson!

I will end with a cute little wool pumpkin that I worked on while traveling. I was a fun design to work on and is free from American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. You can find it on their website, All People Quilt.

Favorite Things

Maybe I should write on my blog today. I have fallen into the habit of stalking around on Instagram these days. If you find yourself short of time but still want to stay in the loop, Instagram is the place for you. It's just photos with a brief note attached. You can find me there under "Patchalot". 

I have actually been sewing! I am back in the swing of it now and feeling really good about it. I have done a few wool projects. 

This is Warm Winter Blessings, from Primitive Gatherings. I chose to make the mini version. Those blocks are 4 x 5.5". The 9-patches are 1-1/2 inches. I altered the borders to make mine smaller than the pattern shows. That's what we do right? Adjust according to our own needs. 

The above is a free pattern that I have wanted to make for several years. Again I adapted mine for my own use. I used wool for the appliqué and made mine scrappy. I love it! Thanks to Joanne the Threadhead blogger. Follow the link to her pattern! I pinned mine on PINTEREST for quick reference!

This one I am working on right now. It is a Cheri Payne design. I just love Cheri's primitive style. Especially the wool appliqué, which is so forgiving for someone like me who doesn't really do hand appliqué. Cheri calls her patterns Wednesday's Best Quilt Patterns. The link will take you to her site and you can browse around to your hearts content!

While I am at it I need to post a photo from my trip to San Diego and my visit to Temecula Quilt Company. A very tiny quilt shop with a very big presence! The owner, Sheryl Johnson, is full of clever ideas and projects. Look at that cute display of Valdani thread in canning jars!

Sheryl and me!
The quilt behind us is a beauty and from the book History Repeated by Betsy Chutchian and Carol Staehle

This cute iron bed is front and center when you enter the shop. Loved the shop and Sheryl is delightful! 

Previously I showed a perfectly staged photo of the twins. At my son's house the staging is not quite so perfect. This is the best I could do for a group shot of these three grandchildren of mine. There are not many sit still moments at the Patch house! They are hilarious and I am nuts about them!

We did get a cute one of Olivia on her quilt. And another of her hoping to get a swig of Grandma's Diet Coke! (didn't happen)

This week Danielle was center stage as she graduated from high school here in Mesa, AZ. We are so proud of this girl! She has grown into a lovely young woman. She is charming and entertaining along with being kind and thoughtful. 

Well there is a little sample of my life in recent days. I always say my favorite things are grandchildren and quilts; chocolate and Diet Coke. 

Have a great Memorial weekend!

A Fun Visit At Libby's House!

I know some of you are waiting to see my photos from Libby's house. As afore mentioned, I got to spend some time with

Libby from Sweet and Simple blog. 

Libby is so much fun! It was a delight to meet her after all these years and all those promises of getting together.

The first thing you see when you arrive at Libby's house is the quilt hanging on the gate next to the house. Yes, it is outside! This is California, and I hear things are different there. And this IS the house of a quilter! Of course I love that, don't you? 

I hardly know where to begin, there were darling little vignettes and quilts displayed all over the house. Look how cute on this old ironing board!

A quilt ladder is becoming almost a quilter's 'must have' and Libby has one. 

She also has a fun quilt rack made up of curtain rods. Love it!

This is the bedroom and her gorgeous hexagon quilt that we watched her make on her blog. Also this beautiful log cabin with really small strips--it's to die for! And LOVE the pillows! She is a folk art genius!

Libby is also a big Cheri Payne fan and has made numerous projects designed by Cheri. Wonderful stuff here! 

Libby also pulled this little Christmas quilt out of the closet that I designed and she made a few years ago. Love her version. This is a free pattern on my website, PatchalotPatterns.com.

This little basket is stuffed with little quilts with the crow and flag taking the center stage. So Cute! 

I felt so inspired after leaving Libby's house. But most of all I felt so happy to have spent the day with this wonderful woman! It was just like meeting up with an old friend, even tho our whole relationship has been through blogging. Thanks Libby for a great afternoon! 

If you want to see Libby's projects from over the years be sure to visit her BLOG and just peruse her posts. If you haven't been there before you have a lot to catch up on!

 I forgot to post this picture of Michelle Joyner from Fat Quarter Quilts Shop in Vista, CA in my last post.  She is a doll! By the way, her shop has free shipping on their website. Good stuff!

Thanks to Cheri!

I know, I know. You don't hear from me for ages and then here I am two days in a row. I just wanted to show my little quilt that I made from a design that Cheri Payne shared on her blog. Cheri calls it Sew Thankful. I didn't quite have it ready for the Thanksgiving table, but I worked on it over the weekend.

Cheri's blog is HERE, and you can find the quilt  project HERE.  Cheri is a favorite designer among the primitive crowd. I am not as totally primitive as some, but I do have one foot in it, and I love Cheri's designs!

In order to make it easier for myself, I worked up Cheri's design in EQ. I lightened the background and then printed off the copy. It looks pretty cute in gold too! But after laying the blocks on various colors I decided to go with a really dark olive. I love it! It is made with one inch strips, making each square in each 9-patch a half inch. The 9-patch blocks measure 1-1/2 finished. Thanks so much to Cheri for her great designs and her generosity in sharing!

While Joan and I were at Quilt Market we ran into Cheri's sister, Barri Sue Gaudet of Bareroots fame. It's funny who you meet in hotel elevators! Barri Sue is as sweet as can be and invited us to a book signing where we were delighted to get a signed copy of her latest book! I have made several of her projects over the years, and a good many of you have too, I am sure!

 We also were happy to meet Joyce Weeks and Norma Whaley of Geoff's Mom Quilt Patterns. They were also at our hotel. I kind of wanted to just start knocking on doors to see who would answer! I have been so impressed with the work that these ladies do. Some of you may remember the Ancestor Quilt I made a couple years ago. That was Norma's design before she and Joyce were partners. It was fun to have Joyce recognize me because we follow each other on Pinterest! Isn't the world a funny place!

It wouldn't be market without a stop to see Anne Sutton at Bunny Hill. Her booth is always so sweet, as she is, with playful little characters flouncing around.

Now it is time for me to get to work on cleaning and packing and hopefully sneak in some sewing! Thanks for stopping to visit!