Recently I had my bedroom repainted. Have I ever mentioned that I HATE picking out paint? The room was yellow, but kind of had a sharp edge to it, if you know what I mean. It wasn't a nice soft yellow. I had lived with it long enough and so it was off to the paint store. I found a lovely color that looked perfect on the paint chip. Not so hot on the wall, however. I walked in when the room was almost done and said to the nice painter man, "I hate it"! He was so sweet. He encouraged me to go find another color and he would repaint it. It took two more cans of paint before I got it right. The above colors are close to what my walls looked like in the three stages. The final color, Fairmont Lobby Cream, is the final color, and it looks quite lovely. It is from Lowe's. I highly recommend buying the tester jars that they have available now. It costs a small amount and will save you a gallon or two in the end.
Time to change quilts and put on something pretty for summer. This is one I made about ten years ago. It is from a book called Buttermilk Farm, by Black Mountain Quilts. Teri Christopherson is the designer and she creates beautiful quilts. I am sure the book is out of print by now. Becky Krauss of Bellevue, WA quilted this for me. She is a wonderful quilter!
This is how it looks on my bed. Also, notice the framed pictures above the bed. I just added those as well. I photocopied these birds from this old bird book that I have. It is copyrighted in 1896. The pictures are rather odd by today's standards, but that gives them charm. I found frames at Michael's for about $7-8 a piece. They copied very well and I am pleased with the outcome.
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!
THE RAVEN by Edgar Allen Poe - 1845Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more."
Becky and friend Lauren (are not Quakers) have an interesting family history connection. They both have ancestors that came over on the Mayflower! Lauren is descended from William Bradford, the well known leader of the Plymouth Colony. Becky is descended from Joseph Rogers, who was 17 years old at the time of the crossing. His father Thomas passed away that first winter and William Bradford took Joseph into his home for several years. Odd that we should even know that, isn't it? But this is all a matter of recorded history. It does make one wonder how many of our ancestors have crossed paths in the past? Or for that matter, with whom of our ancestor's descendants have we crossed paths? That's OK. I can't even keep up with the family I know!
Mother's Day, it seems, was always more about my mother than about me. So I wanted to just write a note about my Mom, who has been gone for 9-1/2 years now. My mother was an amazing woman, and I try not to ever compare myself to her lest I fall short. The above photo was taken in 1944 when Mom was 21 years old. That was the year she married my Dad.
Mom was very artistic. The above little picture is an example of the type of thing she would create as baby gifts for friends. This one she made for me the year I was born, in 1946. It is done in pen and ink with watercolor accents. It is very faded and aged at this point, but I still treasure it. I didn't really realize how much until I was an adult and one of my cousins told my Mom how much she loved hers and that it was still on her wall. I hadn't thought about it for years. I found mine and hung it up! It is homemade and sweet and sentimental. Recently I wrote a post about my Mom on my family blog, PATCH-IT-ALL, if you are interested.
This picture of Mom was taken a few months before she passed away from breast cancer, January 1, 2000. I wrote a post about her a couple years ago HERE so I won't go into more detail. Just that on Mother's Day I am thinking of her and missing her. She may well be in a better place, but I know she is missing us too.
My darling granddaughter Becky (blue) and friend Lauren (yellow) are here for the summer, or most of it. They met in college and became fast friends. They have been running all over looking for jobs, so far to no avail. It is not easy to find jobs I guess, although I expected they would find something as it is very touristy here in Virginia Beach. In fact, each summer the town has quite a number of Russian and Polish students who come on work visas. We enjoy visiting with them when we go out to eat, as they work as waitress's, etc. I have told our girls they need to be a little more aggresive and ask to speak to the manager. Who could resist them? It is fun to have them here. 
The future is here! The one where they talked about actually seeing the person on the phone while you spoke with them. The one where we all thought, "Oh no! Not for me!" I must be the last person on earth without a camera on my computer. But now I think I must have one! I talked to my little granddaughter, the Plumpkin, the other day and I watched her as she sang to me and we laughed and blew kisses. 
Look what I just got back from my quilters! I made this little quilt quite a while ago when I first came out with the Wintergreen pattern. I made a couple extra blocks for teaching the class, and then finished it up for shop display ('cause sometimes they prefer a smaller sample) or for my own use ('cause sometimes my big quilts are on loan and I miss them).
You may remember last summer when I made the above quilt from the Wintergreen pattern, only used Minnick and Simpson's Prairie Paisley line by Moda. I am convinced that anything would look spectacular in that fabric, and this quilt sure does. It is a favorite of mine! 
Just thought I would travel back in time and show you the very first quilt I ever designed. I called this one Scrappy Patches, and it won me a ribbon in the Block Party guild quilt show that I was in at the time, in Bellevue, WA. This was about ten years ago, and before we were blessed with so many wonderful reproduction fabrics. I find it interesting to note that the quilts that I design today are not unlike that first one. My preference in quilts has not changed, although I do believe I have learned quite a bit along the way.
I can't remember if I showed the above photo before, and I am too lazy to check back through my blog right now. These are my friends here at home that I pal around with when possible. The photo shows Sue, me and Joan at the Olde Green Cupboard booth at Mid-Atlantic Quilt Fest. We just couldn't get enough of that booth! Gloria, the shop owner, and the other gals there, were just so friendly and fun that we wanted to keep hanging out with them. Also, notice that they made up my Indian Paintbrush pattern (in background) and had kits! They are traveling around to different shows, so if you see them in a show near you, stop by and say hello, and buy a kit! Yes, I am shameless, but truthfully, they had other really great kits too. So you could buy Indian Paintbrush and another kit as well!
This darling notebook was made for me by my friend Sue. Wool applique, as you can see. It is darling! Don't we all love friends who know just what we like?!
