The Good Old Days

Elegant Migration 2008

I shared this old traditional quilt on IG last week and was quite surprised by the positive response.

I guess you can't ever go wrong with a classic.  I was inspired by this quilt.  You know, I wish I had done the double yellow striping.  I am not sure why I didn't.  Maybe I didn't have enough gold?

This is one of my all time favorite quilt books.   Did you know that my friend, Barbara was a co-author?  If you are not reading her blog, it is wonderful see it here Quilts, Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors.

Here is another oldie by goodie from 1994. 

This was my husband, Rich's, quit that he hung in his office.

the backing was fun.  I just cut along the buildings and appliqued it by machine to a backing.   I wish I took more time like this to make creative backings.  Maybe I will.

I'm working with solids a bit this week.

TIP:  it is good to grade (or trim) the back so that solids don't show through the white. 

aren't these sweet

I am working on this too.  I am following Kelly's Tree Tutorial.  She makes it looks easy, but it takes practise.

I've already chopped down that one on the left and have re-done the left side.  It looked to controlled and awkward.

We had a fun weekend here.  Hanna came home for a 5 day visit and we celebrated Rich's 60th. 

 I had to move all my truck show quilts to the sewing room.  Today I'll sort them and put them away.

I found this sweet little clump of crocus in my yard.  If I hadn't looked I might have missed them.

Spring is surely coming.....

xo

Fun For Friday - Somewhere over the Jello Rainbow

Happy Spring Friday!  I hope you are having lovely spring weather, except for my friends in the snow belt - hang in there!

Last week I had a Birthday luncheon party for my friend, Norma.  I love to have "ladies lunch" and sit and sew and gossip, chat.

The hit of the party was Jan's Rainbow Jello.   It was a masterpiece of patience and beauty!  If you want to try one yourself, you can find one of many on line recipe like this one here.

Jan lives a few blocks from me and recently sold her home.  It was so nice to have her support and help.  Thanks Jan!

Lunch was simple, Rubens, chips, pickles and soda and the Rainbow jello - yum!

Norma requested the Orange Crunch Cake that I recently posted.  I decorated it with cuties orange sections and a paper parasol.

Flying Fiesta! 

On a recent post I asked if anyone could guess what the "keys" were to my scrap flying geese quilt.  I had over-heard someone say "She just throws all those colors together and somehow it works".   I took it as a great compliment, but it's not exactly true.

Successful scrap quilts nearly always have a some unifying elements.

Exchange Rules:

Solid colors
Modern Prints (so this ruled out repros, pastels, muddy colors)

Construction Rules (mine):

Take the exchange sets (4) and piece them into strips.
Make color blocks by pairing blocks with similar background colors.
Make all the blocks the same:
   Geese flying down on the right and up on the left.
Alternately turn the blocks.

The next time you see a scrap quilt that you really like, take a little time to study it and see if you can come up with the unifying "keys" to the quilt.

Lastly, look what I made!  I've always wanted to know how to make a Cathedral Windows and our friend, Ruth Ann, gave our sewing group a tutorial.  She has made several bed sized Cathedral Window quilts.  They are Stunning!

I'm planning to make exactly 1 doll bed sized quilt.

Happy Weekend and I hope it involves some sewing!  I'm off to the Northern Star Quilt show and will share photos next week.

Fun For Friday - Candy Land

Happy Friday Again!  My Lollipop Garden Quilt header is perfect for today's theme.

Last Friday I was busy making a cake for my son's Birthday.  I was able to take a photo just in the nick of time before it gone!

FYI - I use home made butter cream frosting and added the zest, instead of the tub of frosting and cool whip.

 

Here is what I made with all the candy that laying around the kitchen last week.

It is a Candy Bouquet!  Here are the steps to making one.

Find a large vase and fill with with some candy.  I used Hershey's kisses.
Cut a swimming noodle to fit in the neck of the vase.

Using a couple squares of tissue paper wrap the noodle and insert into the neck of the vase.

Using Bamboo sticks (I bought them at the grocery store near the grilling supplies). Hot glue the candy to the sticks.  I also included a gift card.  I think photos or a CD would be fun too.  I used varying lengths of sticks but just snapping off a piece from the top.

 Then you insert the candy sticks into the swimming noodle arranging as you would flowers.

 

After all the candy is in place, I tucked pinched squares of tulle to fill in the gaps.  You can also use colored tissue paper.  I used a pre-made bow to decorate the vase.

And there you have it!  Who wouldn't love one of these?  Andrew sure did!

Yay!  I finished my flying geese quilt top.  My goal is to get it basted today.

 

Warm weather has finally reached us in NJ!  I was able to enjoy my favorite quilting location. 

And of course coco is loving the yard time with me!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Wassup?

Popping in to report on the little bit if quilting I've done lately.

Hand quilting update on the Jubilee quilt.

Here is the back view.  You can really see how the wool has great loft and body.  I'm loving it.  Surprisingly, I'm using a size 9 between.  It has great strength and I'm able to achieve small stitches (small enough for me anyway).

If you are wondering if those circles are a pain to quilt, YES they are.  But I like the look with the stuffed berries.

Here is an update on the projects I took to the retreat, which was fabulous!

I got all the blocks pieced on this.  I have to get it on the wall and play with it.

Here are my blocks for my eventual king sized bed quilt.  I'm loving it so far.

and Hooray!  I purchased one of Lori's quilts from AAQI.  I've been wanting to and when I saw this one it really spoke to me.  Lori has done an amazing job toward achieving her goal of $1000. for this worthy organization.

 
That's a wrap for me.  Have a somber and joyful Easter week if you celebrate, and if you don't Happy Spring!

Fun For Friday - I'm LEAVING!!

Just for the weekend.....
This weekend is our annual Shawnee Retreat!  Hooray!! I'm Saved!

But first a little Frida love.  I bought 3 yards of this fabulous fabric at the Lancaster Quilt Show.  Won't this make a wonderful backing?

This is my favorite art book of her work.  She was a talented and fascinating woman.

Little Day of the Dead figures of Frida and Diego keep company with my thread.

Today I'm also sharing a fun note and photos I received from Gwen Marston (my mentor, idol and friend.)  It was such a fun surprise for me.

Here is a photo from 1995, my first Beaver Island  retreat with my dear friend, Mary B.  The theme was log cabin quilts and  I made 1 small quilt a day.

Gwen in on the far left, I don't know who is in the brown pants, then me looking totally dorky in a denim dress and sweatshirt (nice hair, lol) and my Mary.

Here is the log cabin quilt that Mary made.  I loved it then; I love it now.

Here is what I'll be working on at the Retreat:

The Flying Geese project:

And my king sized bed nine-patch quilt (not worked on since the retreat 2 years ago - ooops.)  I even added some more of those chinzy looking brown florals.  Oh yea, I have a backing already.  Now I just need to SEW!

I hope you are doing something really fun this Weekend and Happy Spring!

Cinderelly, Cinderelly

Night and Day I'm Cinderelly.
I'm continuing to clean out, sort through and rearrange my house in preparation for selling and moving.

But First - Hooray!!  At the Quilt Fest, my buddy Jill won a Judges Choice Ribbon for her lovely quilt:  Sweet Emiliee.

I forgot my camera in the car so I only have a few phone photos - sorry!

Here is my Best in Show.  While the subject is a sad one, the memorial quilt is really thoughtful and wonderful.

There was a wonderful Red & White exhibit and this one was my favorite.

And here is an example of really creative quilting on a border.

While cleaning out the attic on Saturday I found several quilts and tops I had forgotten about.   Here is a little paper pieced flying geese that I made in 1997.

the backing fabric is shipping tags.

In the attic I found this school house quilt that I made in 1993, the first year my son went to pre-school.  Wow, I guess it really didn't care how that printed fabric on the borders was cut!  The lattice has quilted school houses in red thread.

I'll have some more "treasures" from the attic to share soon.

Back to cleaning....Have a great week!