I Can't Believe My Luck!

I won a raffle quilt last Saturday!!

Susan and I attended the Greater Hartford Annual Gathering.    It was a great event with 2 lectures, raffle baskets, door prizes, lunch and vendors.  Here is the label on the quilt.  I still can't believe it I won it.

Here is the quilt on the guest bed - lovely for Autumn!  Fred T Bear likes it :)

I was able to add to my collection of  Creative Grids rulers.  These are my favorite rulers.  I'm replacing all the sizes I have with these a little at time.  They are pricey - but worth it to me .

I also picked up forked pins.  These pins are terrific.  They don't slip or shift.  I'm the kind of piecer that needs all the help she can get.

And here is some more great luck that came my way.  My blog buddy, Janet, picked me in her recent give away - hooray!  I got the lovely hand quilting book, fun fabric, a lovely card and special halloween candy - from Canada.  Thanks so much Janet I've been enjoying it all so much.

Quilt Show Countdown

Our guild is in the final week of our quilt show, which opens on Friday and runs through Saturday.  It's a busy, busy week.

You can find all the information about the show here on our website:  Brownstone Quilters .  If you come, be sure to say hello!

I pulled out this quilt that I finished in 2004 for the fall season.

Here and There Churn Dash.

I swapped churn dash blocks with my friend, Diane, of Persnickety Quilts.  Maybe she will post a photo of the quilt she made.  We used shirting prints and civil war reproduction fabrics.  Here is a close up of some of the blocks.

I machine quilted it with a feather border.

Plain small print backing and my label.

We were inspired to make this quilt when we saw this in Quilters Newsletter Magazine Jan/Feb. issue in 2002.

I'm continuing to make rag balls.  It's really easy when you trim away the batting and backing after attaching the binding. I also find it's a fun little "journal" of quilt backs.  My Abe quilt backings are the 2 on the left, and the pink one is from my Mother's Garden quilt.

Here is a new pile from my recently finished "A Passage to India" quilt that needs to be rolled and glued.

Saturdayday is the big drawing for our Raffle quilt, Friendship Garden.  I can't wait to see who wins this beautiful guild quilt.

I'll be back soon with photos from the show.  In the meantime, have a fun week!

p.s.  I never did get the "you might also like" button to work, but if you click on a label subject you will see the related posts.

Indoor Gardening

Happy Weekend!

I've had my head down to sewing for most of the week and the 2011 Brownstone Raffle Quilt, "Friendship Garden" is finished!  Yoooray!  I took it to the 2 holiday parties yesterday to show the guild members who did such a great job on this project.

I'm so happy that the top is finished!  It took a guild and 3 special friends, but it was completed in 2 1/2 months.  One of our talented guild members will be doing the quilting on her new long arm and I'm really looking forward to seeing it finished.


This quilt was inspired by Florence Peto's "Calico Garden" quilt that is owned by the Shelburne Museum.  It is rather small, only a crib size and was made in the 1950's.


Instead of nine-patches I decided to do the 16 patch to maintain scale with the larger applique' blocks.  We added a vine border and then finished the quilt with the small squares on point.

Each year I like to plant some indoor bulbs.  The amaryllis is a favorite.  Some years it does better than others.  This year I chose an orangy/red one.  I only got 2 blooms instead of the three, but it was lovely in the sun yesterday.

I also like paper whites, or Narcissus.  They have a wonderful, if not powerful scent.   I plant mine in fish gravel in this tall vase so they don't fall over.

And finally, after the evening guild Holiday party, they sent me home with this lovely pointsettia from one of the tables.  Thanks, ladies!  I'm starting to get in the Christmas spirit, I made a few Santa kleenex covers this morning.

I can't wait to make a house block for Beth's drawing.  You can find out about at her blog:  Love Laugh Quilt.  How fun!


Have a great weekend, and I hope you find some time to stitch.

Busy, Busy, Busy.....

Good Morning!

This Autumn I've been using a doll quilt that I made my daughter for Christmas 2002.  I made it for her Kaya doll, an American Girl doll.  I really like the scrappiness combined with the solid background.  This is one of those doll quilts that would make a nice full sized quilt too.

Back

Hooray, I finished my first mini-auction quilt.  I quilted it with silk thread.

The back.  Aren't these dancers joyful?

On Saturday, my guild had a member sew day.  It was great.  Susan made homemade pralines and we had salad and pizza and my chocolate cherry cake.  I spent about an hour on non-raffle quilt work to set a few of the 9-patches from Julie's recent swap.  I am going to use 3 different setting square fabrics.  This will eventually by our new "king sized" bed quilt; my first king.  Did I say eventually?

Raffle update.  Can you believe all the blocks are here and accounted for?  In only 1 month.  What a wonderful and speedy job these women did - bravo!   (This is not the final arrangement, just added them as I received them for counting purposes.)

These are the borders I designed.  Thanks to Susan, Pauline and Elizabeth we have them ready to add to the body of the quilt.

I need about one hundred 4 patches for the second border.  Thanks to the sew day, they are done.  Now to string them together.....

And finally, a little coco.  She is exhausted.  She has decided that dog beds, which I've purchased 2 of are not necessary when there are couches around.

In an effort to avoid the paparazzi she has turned away from me.  What a stinker!

Whew!  I've been busy.  And so have all my blog friends, I'm still catching up on my reading!

What is She Doing in There

Good Morning -

First I'd like to that everyone who is kind enough to take the time to leave me a comment.  It is very encouraging and I love hearing what you like to see on the blog. 

Non-reply bloggers:  I have been getting comments from nice readers who have a setting as "non-reply" blogger on their profile.  I am sorry that I can not return a short email to you, please know that I really appreciate each and every comment.

You may be wondering what is she working on??  I have not shared much since Abe was completed.   Here is a dolly quilt that designed on Saturday.  I was taking a break from the guild raffle quilt.

I was inspired when I received my 9-patch exchange packet from Julies's Blog.  It is a wonderful collection.  I have to say I particularly love the mixed up ones!

I can't wait to make something with these.

I found a great blog the other day;  Fresh Lemon Quilts.   She is from my favorite town; Chicago.

There is a wonderful post on Broderie of a recent quilt show, you do not want to miss this.

Here is something I've been putting a lot of time and energy into.  It's a sneak peak at the guild raffle quilt.  guild members are making the blocks from kits I put together with Susan and Pauline.

I'm in the middle of working on the borders - yes, plural.  The girls are coming tomorrow to help - thank goodness for friends!

Tip of the week:

I treated myself to a new sock wardrobe at Macy's this weekend.  Some of them came on these little plastic hangers.  They are perfect for fabric strips or bias stems, etc.  They are so light you can pin them up on your design board.

Have a fun sewing week*