This and that...

I wanted to share this customer quilt with you. It was a block of the month which she set with large 4 patches on point and I really liked how it turned out. The colors are so soft, the florals were very pretty. She didn't do the border that was supposed to be on it because she liked it this size. Just wanted to share with all of you sampler lovers!

The next quilt on the machine will be a dresden plate made of 30s repros. It's very pretty.

I'm almost done handpiecing my carpenter's wheel block...I just have the background to stitch on. I love how it's turning out. I'll probably find a border fabric for it and make it into a wallhanging for my bedroom.

Presents for Puppies...

I had the most relaxing weekend. I swear I did not leave my sewing room except to sleep and eat! Tomorrow is the day I start my quilting project with the 5th grade class I assist. I spent yesterday cutting out the fabrics that we will be using...about 25 muslin squares and about 60 fabric squares. As I was pulling fabrics for the colored squares, I decided not to use more than one square of a fabric. Did I have any trouble finding 60 different fabrics? NO!!!! Many of them were small pieces and were 5-10 years old, but they were still quilt shop quality fabrics.

As I was cutting, I decided that I would cut what was left of the smaller pieces and older fabrics into strips. I reduced the size of my fabric stacks quite a bit and have lots of 2.5", 2" and 1.5" strips to play with! Then I came across a stack of small pieces of flannels that were left over from projects or I had received in swaps. I cut them into 4" strips and did a quick strippy quilt for the dogs. They love to lay in my sewing room when I'm working, but don't like laying on my hard floor. I had a ratty Mickey Mouse fleece throw on the floor, but felt they should have a quilt. I put together the top, put it right sides together with the back and 2 layers of poly batting, sewed the edges, birthed it and just quilted in the ditch in every other strip. As soon as I lay it on the floor, both dogs came in the room from the carpeted hallway where they'd been laying all day and lay down on the quilt together. I felt like such a good mom! :o) Sam came back later and posed for a picture.

Other than cutting, making this little quilt, a little bit of cooking and church, I have done nothing all weekend. That's all kept me quite busy! I'm going to work on my hand piecing tonight...if I don't fall asleep first. All that cutting can be tiring!

Thank you!

I want to thank everyone who suggested that I hand piece my carpenter's wheel block. I started piecing it on Tuesday and I can't believe how well it's going! The bias is not a problem so far and when I pressed what I had done this morning, it lay perfectly flat. I'm enjoying this so much. I especially love how the back looks.

I know...I'm way to excited about this! :o)

Another finish!

A few years ago I flew down to Texas to visit a dear friend. Another friend flew in from Minnesota and we went to a cabin in Louisiana and spent a few days quilting. We all made Ricky Timm's Convergence Quilts. This is one of the 3 I made. Over the weekend I finally put borders on the quilt and today I quilted and bound it. It will live in my studio as a quilting sample.

My son went back to school today, so now I can go steal the log cabin quilt off of his bed, measure it and see how much bigger I need to make the 25 patch quilt for the other bed. I'm hoping I can make it the same size by adding an extra border or two, rather than having to make more rows of blocks! Next on the machine are some customer quilts, then I hope to find time to finish another of my own. I'm really enjoying finishing things for a change!

And so it begins...

Tonight we had our first Canoe Carnival 2006 meeting. What is Canoe Carnival? It is a festival, particular to our little town. Every summer, we take two canoes, wrap them in plastic so they can't take on water, put a 16 x 20 foot aluminum platform on top of them and build some sort of ridiculous float on top. About 15 groups in town do this, then on the first Saturday in August, we parade them around one of our lakes after sunset, they are judged and someone wins. It's a huge party all summer, involving lots of beer, wine, food, water, power tools and bandaids. We joined a new float group 2 years ago and this was our float from that year. "King Tut" was our theme, our music was the song by Steve Martin and my son played King Tut and danced on the float all the way around the lake. I made his skirt...along with a camel who spit water, but is not in the picture!

Last year our theme was "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". We had everything from Lucy to the newspaper taxi. Our Tangerine Trees had a little problem though. They were about 20 feet tall and as they were paddling around the lake, one of the trees hit a branch hanging over the lake, and as you can see in the second picture, it is not quite as tall as it started out!

We will be determining our theme for this year's float at our next meeting and it will be kept secret until we put the float on the lake in the last week of July and others can see it. Tomorrow I promise I'll post something quilty...just wanted to share our little carnival with you!

I've been tagged...

by Jeanne! So, I guess I'll answer this meme...

Four jobs you've had: 3rd grade teacher, adult school calligraphy instructor, church secretary, longarm quilter and teacher's aide. (I know, that's 5...and there are more!)
Four movies you could watch over and over: The Lion King, 10 Things I Hate about You, any Harry Potter movie, Tortilla Soup
Four places you've lived: Collingswood, NJ, Sicklerville, NJ, Brentwood, NY, Medford Lakes, NJ.
Four TV shows you love to watch: I don't watch much TV, but will occasionally watch HGTV and House. I've noticed a trend here...
Four Places You've Been on Vacation: Beaches in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Vermont (my favorite place!), Hawaii, Newport, RI.
Four Websites You Visit Every Day: Stash Quilt webring, Mavericks webring, Medford Lakes Schools website, then I go wandering...
Four Of Your Favorite Foods: homemade macaroni and cheese, beef stew, chocolate chip cookies, mashed potatoes (comfort foods!)
Four Places You'd Rather Be: Vermont, on a quilting retreat, in a cabin in the mountains, or at home...I like it here. :o)
Four Albums you can't live without: Garth Brooks- Double Live, any John Denver, Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack, Les Miserables soundtrack
Four People you'll pass this on to: Finn and anyone else who may be interested!

Godspell

Two of my favorite 70's soundtracks were "Godspell" and "Jesus Christ Superstar". My kids listen to Superstar all the time. So for Christmas, my daughter decided to get me the movie. She didn't get the 70's version, but one made in 2000 which was almost a biker version. Quite interesting. This led us to Amazon, where we were able to get both the 70's version and a copy of Godspell. They arrived yesterday.

I loved the Jesus in Godspell. I thought he had a great voice. So, I looked at his name and saw it was Victor Garber. That didn't ring any bells, so I googled him. Turns out he's the same guy who plays Jennifer Garner's father in Alias! I can't believe it's the same guy, I never would have recognized him. It's amazing what 30 or so years can do to a person. I think he has aged rather well! :o) So, last night I sat and watched Godspell while I worked on hand quilting some old blocks from a swap many years ago. Quite a pleasant evening!

Pretty in Pink

Just finished the little log cabin baby quilt for a customer and it was so sweet I thought I'd share.
Last night I cut all the alternate blocks and side triangles for the 25-patch quilt and started putting it together. When I finished I was 2-9.5" squares short of fabric to make the corner triangles! I should have enough to piece the squares together so I can finish the quilt. I guess that's what happens when you work from your stash. I did find the fabric I'm using online, but don't want to add it back into my stash, so I'll do the best I can with what I have!

New Project

How do I let myself get talked into things? I'm an instructional assistant in a 5th grade classroom, with the teacher who my two daughters had for 5th grade. She's a wonderful lady and I just love being in her classroom. The students started a chapter in geometry today. What goes better with geometry than a quilting project? So...you guessed it, I'm in charge! I've decided we'll be doing a stretched star quilt. It will be easy for the children to sew the squares on the diagonal for each corner, then we'll trim them, flip them back and be done with the blocks. The blocks will be 10.5" unfinished, which will leave the muslin centers big enough for their hand to be traced with a Sharpie. Then they will color them in, I'll take them home to press them and bring them back in for the kids to sew them together. This quilt will be tied so that the kids can do that too.

The best part of it is that each week, if the kids get all their work done, they receive a treat. From now on, if they earn a treat, they will also earn a raffle ticket for the quilt. At the end of the year, there will be a drawing and one of the children will win the quilt. As soon as I have some pictures I'll post them. It should be a fun project!

Decision Made...

After a great deal of consideration, I've sent the Batik Stars quilt off to Keepsake Quilting to be sold. If it doesn't sell, then I'm meant to keep it. Thanks to everyone who gave me their input on whether or not to sell it. Since it was made with selling it in mind, once I got past the emotional "I love it!" I realized that I could let it go. So, hopefully I've made the right choice...if not I'll just have to make another star quilt!

Thanks also to everyone who offered me hand piecing advice. I've decided that I will hand piece the Carpenter's Wheel block and see how it goes. If it's not going well, it will be back to the machine!

Internet is back!!!

I'm a happy quilter today, our wireless internet connection is back! Our new router arrived yesterday and my son spent about 3 or 4 hours on the phone with various tech support people until he finally got it working.

This little quilt is one that I did several years ago and it hangs in my sewing room. It was a round robin...I made the center compass and appliqued the tulips and vines. It moved on from there. It's not a very clear picture, sorry about that, I should go take another one! I machine quilted it and it's one of my favorites.

I was reading Judy's blog about doing pantos and I have to admit, I'm panto challenged! I've done a few, but really have a hard time with them, mainly because I'm a migraine sufferer and the laser light gives me migraines. I also just can't seem to follow lines...does that make me maverick if I can't stay in the lines? LOL

I haven't had a chance to quilt in 2 days and I'm going through withdrawal. I've got a customer quilt to load on the machine, but want to vacuum the house first, so that's out of the way. I also pulled out a "Carpenter's Wheel" block that I had cut out when we lived in New York...ohhhh...8 years ago! I just cut out one and it's beautiful. I'm thinking of hand piecing it, but I've never hand pieced before. Are there any tricks I should know about, especially since most of it is diamonds and triangles and there are LOTS of bias edges to be sewn? I could also pull out my featherweight for this. I've had it for a year and a half and it hasn't been out of its case. :o(

I think I'll also make a dessert so my family won't disown me...

New Project...

The girls are back to school, my son spent the night at a friend's house and isn't home, I've cleaned the house, done 3 loads of laundry and I'm ready to leave for work...so I have a minute and the computer is all mine!!! Since I haven't gotten much computer time, I've put in a lot of time in my sewing room. Pretty good trade off! I've taken my 2" strips from the log cabin quilt and started the quilt for the other bed in the room. I've made 30 - 25 patch blocks and need to make 5 more. I'll be setting them on point with a tan fabric, then hopefully use the same inner and outer border as I did on the log cabins so the two quilts sort of match. Everything will be from my stash!

I haven't even started thinking about my UFO list...that will come soon. I know I don't have too many and most of what I do have just need quilting and binding. Okay...need to have a quick lunch before I leave (leftover honey mustard chicken and rosemary risotto, yum!). Enjoy your day!

Happy New Year!

I wish all of you a peaceful and blessed new year! I've found the many posts on goals and aspirations for the new year to be inspiring. I'll be posting more soon, however we're having some computer problems. Our wireless router went bad and only the PC has internet access right now. So, I can't log on from my laptop, nor can my son from his. As you can imagine, computer time is at a premium around here! Our new router is expected to be shipped on Tuesday, so hopefully the problem will be resolved by the end of the week. In the meantime, I'll be reading everyone's blogs and hopefully will steal a few minutes to say hi now and then!

Starting New...

Our wonderful, relaxing Christmas has passed and it's time to move on into the new year. Yesterday, while my husband was home to help, we took down all the Christmas decorations and tree. I love them before Christmas, but it's nice to have the additional clutter be gone after! I decided that it was time to do some quilting for charity.

Each year, I sign up with Rosie's Calico Cupboard to quilt for Camp Reach for the Sky. The camp is for children with cancer (they also do a camp for children with siblings who have cancer). Each child who attends either camp receives a quilt of their own to keep. I commit to quilting 12 quilts a year for the children and I donate the batting for them. I try to bind as many as time allows also, although they do have a group of women who bind quilts for them. I pulled out the quilt tops and backings today and found this one which I am posting because I thought it was very unique. I love the way the blocks are all curvy, I thought it was a very cute quilt! It was all made with oriental fabric.

Amy, thanks for telling me how to do links...it worked! :o)

I plan to do one or two more charity quilts before taking on the customer quilt which was just dropped off. That way I can send them to Rosie in California in small batches...it's very expensive to send them all at once, and the box weighs a ton!

Merry Christmas!

I wish all of you, my friends, a blessed and peaceful Christmas.

Love,
Carolyn

Another Finish...

This was the project I chose to finish after the log cabin quilt. Thank you so much for all of your kind words about my quilt! My son came home from college and was very happy to have the quilt on the bed...he said it did keep him warm. It must have, he didn't have loads of blankets piled on him the next morning!

This batik star quilt is one I started as a block of the month when I worked at a quilt shop a few years ago. I added a lot of my own fabrics, bought the outer border and backing and finished the top about 2 months ago. I quilted it this week and hand stitched the binding down last night while watching "Holiday Inn" with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. They just don't make movies like that anymore!
I've included a close up of the quilting...I had lots of fun with this one. But...here's my dilemma. My original plan was to join Keepsake Quilting's club and send this up to NH to be sold. Does anyone have any experience with this? The problem is, I LOVE how it turned out and I'm not sure I want to do that anymore! :o) I've been to Keepsake and they have many beautiful quilts on consignment. I've found that as a machine quilter, I've really missed piecing tops (I'm not as organized as Bonnie and Judy...can't seem to fit in piecing time, although maybe the part time job and 3 kids have something to do with that! LOL) I thought selling quilts through Keepsake would be a good way to keep making quilts from start to finish and maybe I could quilt fewer customer quilts. I'll have to think on that. Time to head to work...

Finally Finished...

Here it is...finally! I'm very pleased with how it turned out. My son should be home from school in an hour or so, he very kindly decided to come home today instead of Thursday, so I was able to get the binding on. I pieced the back too, out of two different fabrics that I found in my stash...so this quilt is entirely stash fabrics. I'm so proud! :o) Now to decide what project comes next...

Log Cabin Update...

Here is one more little Christmas quilt I had laying around. I hadn't found a home for it yet, so it was sitting in my sewing room. I think it will be going on my kitchen table now that I've gotten it out!

Thank you, everyone, for your opinions on my log cabin quilt. Last night I finished the top, up to the inner border. I had planned on having it done before my son got home from college for winter break...until he told me he'd be home tomorrow! This morning I hope to get the last border on and will put it on the longarm tonight. I think I'll just meander it since it will be a utility quilt and get a lot of use and laundering. Oh...which setting did I use? Barn raising, of course!!!

Alternate Setting...

I played with the blocks and put them in a barn raising pattern. I think I like them better this way...what do you think? Thanks!

Tree Skirt

As promised, here are the pictures of my current project and my tree skirt. The first is of the skirt under the tree. Of course you can't see it very well, so the next one is of the skirt BEFORE it went under the tree. See, I'm smart that way! The pattern is a Thimbleberries pattern that I got about 7 years ago and I loved. Several of my friends and I had a retreat at a cabin in Pine Top, Arizona in November of 2000 and that's when this was pieced. Of course it wasn't quilted for a long time after that! This was the first project that I ever took the triangle trimmings and made hourglass blocks out of. I just used them recently in a quilt...finally!

This is my current project...the log cabin quilt for my son's bedroom. I had forgotten how tedious log cabin blocks are if you are doing them scrappy. I have half of the blocks done and I'm pretty sure that the quilt for the other bed in his room will be made with the same fabrics but in a different pattern! I'm not sure if this will be the final setting of the blocks, once they are all made I will play around with them some more. But, I'm liking this so far. I've also been taking the short pieces of strips and sewing them into four patch blocks. I'm thinking I'll set them on point in a strippy setting and see how they look. They would also make nice centers for sawtooth stars. Guess I'll need to think on that a while longer!

I'm heading back upstairs to sew...it's been such fun this weekend!

Oh Christmas Tree...

The tree is finally decorated, I took pictures and realized that I have to iron the tree skirt and get it under there...I guess I'll post a picture of that tomorrow!

Today was a nice day. This morning while my daughter was at karate I finished wrapping all of the gifts. Yeah! Once she came home and we had lunch, we headed to our local animal shelter www.awanj.org where we volunteer for about an hour a week. Today was their annual open house. Grace went into the community cat room and played with the kitties while trying to convince people to adopt them. I floated around the shelter and helped people who needed help. We have some beautiful animals there who really need good homes. Several cats went home today, as well as one dog. Many of the other animals had applications put in for them today and once they're processed they should be going home too.

As for yesterday's quilting...I did manage to make about 11 more log cabin blocks and cut lots more 2" strips from some old fqs. I'm heading back upstairs now to sew more blocks, I'll post pictures of my progress tomorrow along with the tree skirt.

I'll have mine on ice...

Our big snowstorm petered out quickly, leaving only about an inch of snow. Then the freezing rain came in and put a glaze over everything. It's beautiful outside, but treacherous! The upside is, we got the day off from school (I'm a former teacher now working as a part time instructional assistant) and once I do a few things around the house, I can play in my sewing room! I'm very excited...hopefully tonight I can check back in and show some pictures of what I've accomplished. Now to get to work....

Favorite things...

I've recently discovered a new favorite thing. Browsing our library online. Apparently within the last year our county library has gone online. I never seem to get to the library as often as I'd like and once there, often can't get a computer to browse for favorite authors, subjects, whatever.

Well...not only can I browse online now, I can put in requests for books and they will call me when they're available! This is the most wonderful thing...today I got a call that two books I had requested over the weekend were in and I could pick them up. All I had to do was go there, card in hand, and ask for them. Voila, they were in my hands with no time wasted! The other nice part is when friends tell me what books they have read and recommend, I can go right to the website, put the book on hold and pick it up when it's in. We have about 6 or so libraries connected, so often I'll go to the local branch to get a book and it's not there. Now that's not a problem...

Okay, I know I get excited over the little things, but this is great! :o)

Time to relax...

The last customer quilt for the year is finished, now it's time to relax! This customer has done several yellow and blue quilts and they are all gorgeous. This one got an all over feathery meander.

Because of all of the previous posts, I was thinking about how I accumulated my little stash. Shortly after I started quilting, I found out about Sweet Treats from the Pincushion Boutique in California. http://www.sweettreat.com/index2.html
I subscribed for about a year and got the most delicious sets of 8 FQs every month. Around the time I started with those, my husband started traveling quite a bit. Whenever he came across a quilt shop and had time to stop, he would go in and buy me bundles of FQs. After awhile I had too many FQs and I convinced him to buy me half yards. :o) I would also occasionally go into a quilt shop myself and pick up what I needed...always buying more than the project required, so I'd have extra to add to my stash.

About 7 years ago, we moved from Long Island, NY back to NJ. I still don't buy much fabric, but I love to take my husband to the quilt shops with me because he will push me to buy more than I would myself! He still travels and buys me fabric and about a year ago, I signed up for the Sweet Treats again because it was time to replenish my stash of FQs. I'm now trying to use up some of my older fabric so I can replace it.

We never did manage to get the string of lights on the tree lit, so we just bought another string and put it in the dark spot. We now have the silver garland on it and will enjoy it for a few days before the ornaments go on. Once I finish the Christmas cards and gift wrapping, my time will be my own again and I can quilt...guess I should get off the computer and get busy!

The stockings are hung...

So now you know what I've been busy doing the past few days! The stockings are hung, the decorations are up and the tree is up. HOWEVER...two years ago we bought a prelit tree after Christmas. We'd love to have a real one, but my daughter is allergic to them. So, we got this lovely tree, put it up last year and managed to get it lit with no problems. We pulled it out today and there is a strand of lights out. I've wiggled and jiggled the wires and bulbs, but there is still darkness in the pine. What do I do? Replace every bulb? Test a bulb in each socket? Prelit trees are wonderful when they work, but there is something to be said for testing the lights BEFORE they go on the tree! Oh well, I'll figure it out, or I'll go buy a strand of white lights and fill in! Decorating the tree is at a standstill until the light issue is solved. Oh...the stockings are all counted cross stitch except for mine which is crewel work. I made mine before I had a hubby or kids. I also made them before I started quilting and even though they are very juvenile, I'm not allowed to make new ones. They want THEIR stockings. :o)

Twins...

Back in July my neighbor had twins. I had to make them little quilts, but couldn't decide what to do. Then I dug through my orphan blocks and found these which were leftovers from an online swap. Perfect! I made these two little quilts, using almost all stash fabrics (I had to buy backing fabrics) and had them all finished when the twins arrived.

A year and a half before the twins were born, she had another little girl, so I made this quilt for her. And of course, I couldn't leave her 8 year old sister out when I made this one, so she got a quilt too. I love this Lucky Star quilt, it was so bright and pretty!
Bonnie, thanks for the vacation rental site, I've bookmarked it and we may look into renting a place next year. I don't know where, but the cabin you are going to looks wonderful!

Leftovers

I've just gone through everyone's blogs and love the things that you have done today! Finn, your little quilt is the sweetest thing and I love how you used the leis...what a great idea. I tend to toss a lot of smallish scraps, guess I'll need to hang on to the now. Bonnie, I'm partial to the layout with the black blocks in the center with the grays and blacks and blocks on point. I felt that the orange and blue backgrounds overpowered the pieced blocks.

I've been diligently working on a customer's quilt today. Okay, maybe not diligently...I've taken lots of breaks to sit by the fire, read and drink tea. I've been sick for the last week and the doctor put me on antibiotics on Tuesday. I feel much better, but I'm very tired and yesterday just wiped me out! I tried to relax a bit today.

Since I never made it up to my sewing room, I thought I'd share a picture of a baby quilt I made for a friend's little girl when she was born almost a year ago. I made a quilt for her older brother too (he's not quite 2) and it seems that I'll be making baby quilt number 3 in May. I used up a stack of fat quarters and made the whole thing from my stash. Does stashbusting a year ago count? :o) This is one of my most favorite quilts I've made...I think I might remake it from my scraps and keep it for myself!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The turkey is ready to go in the oven when the brownies and cranberry-orange bread come out. The stuffing is made, the sides are ready to throw together and the apple pies are done and smell wonderful. So, I thought I'd take a minute to give thanks for the new friends I've made here...and wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Stash Busting

My current attempt to bust stash is laying on my sewing room table.
I've cut most of my Thimbleberries (and similar) fabrics into 2.5" strips and plan to make 2 log cabin quilts from them, for the beds in my son's room. So far I've managed to make 6 blocks...I guess it will be a long, cold winter for him if I don't get moving faster! This is the progress I've made so far. I'm pleased with how they're turning out...just need to find more time to make them! Maybe in this stashbusters group we can share ideas on how to squeeze more hours out of the day? :o)

Friday's Quilt

This is the little quilt that was peeking out under the bear paw quilt. Several years ago I headed down to Maryland to spend a weekend with a quilting friend. She met me at a small quilt shop and while there I found this kit. I'm not typically one who buys kits, but this was just such a wonderful quilt, I had to buy it! By the end of our little retreat I had the top pieced and just needed to add the borders. I got it home, finished the top and figured I'd give it a whirl on my new long arm. This was the first quilt I did for myself on my longarm...I meandered it with a cotton thread that changes from green to burgundy to tan and it came out wonderfully. It's one of my favorites...I guess I like the simple things in life! Looks like it needs to be washed to get that crease out of the middle of it though! :o)

My quilts?

Bonnie, you want to see MY quilts? I'm afraid I don't keep too many, but I'll see what I can find laying around. This one is a flannel bear's paw quilt which I made for my husband for our 10th anniversary. It has become "the quilt" in our house. It's always out and almost always in use. It has gotten so soft in the last 10 years and it's very warm.

Back 10 years ago, we were living on Long Island in NY. We had an Irish Setter and I used to board dogs. One friend had an Irish Setter that I boarded...they also had a cabin in Vermont. We borrowed the cabin several times for vacation and on our trips there we would stop in a little quilt store. That's where my husband picked out most of these flannels. Others were obtained in internet swaps. He was so proud of himself for choosing the flannels and going into quilt stores that I knew I had to use them for a quilt for him. Of course, he is the one person who never uses the quilt...when he wants it, one of the kids has usually claimed it! In this picture, Sam sat down on it the second I laid it out...smart dog! He's been shaved since the last time I posted a picture of him...he looks like a different dog.

So, there's one of my quilts...the next one I post will probably be the one you can see peeking out on the arm of the loveseat!

Almost Amish

One of my customers left me this beauty to quilt. I've quilted several Amish style quilts, but they were all brights on the black background. This one (can this be my sampler quilt contribution? LOL) has much more muted colors against the black and it's just gorgeous. I did an all over swirly, feathery design in the background and some of the blocks are treated with curved lines, feathered spines and assorted other things. This was one of the fun ones to quilt!

I've been thinking a great deal about the changes to the Mavericks. When I joined, not so long ago, I enjoyed the easy cameraderie amongst the members and how, with our own little differences, we were all basically on the same journey with our quilting. As new members were added, although I love art quilts, I was losing interest in many of the blogs and would skip right past them, unless they focused on their lives or quilts...not their quest to be quilt artists. There were a few I enjoyed immensely, but those I've kept links for and can visit them. Change can be a difficult thing, but sometimes it is necessary. As Judy and Darcie stated, if my blog becomes too non-quilt related or if I suddenly become an art quilter (which I doubt will happen!) I'd like my blog to be in the right place. If the Mavericks is not the place, I can handle it. But for now...I don't want to be anywhere else than here!

Last Roses...

These are the last roses of summer...I'll miss them when they're gone! The first is a Queen Elizabeth rose and the second is a Rio Samba, which is my favorite. The buds are yellow with red edges, they open up to yellow and red, then fade to this soft pink with yellow. At any time the bush will have yellow, red and pink roses...it's just beautiful! Nothing quilty has happened in my house this week. I emptied my son's large bedroom, painted it sage green and moved my 11 year old daughter into it and out of her "babyish" room. Then I painted her old room a cream color (although I did leave her blue ceiling with the sponged clouds on it...I just couldn't paint over it!) and moved my son's things in there. I put 2 beds in it, just in case he wants to bring a friend home from college. Both rooms turned out very nicely, although now I have to make 2 quilts for my son's room instead of one! I'm hoping to finish cleaning up from painting, etc., make a quick cleaning run through the house and get started on those quilts later today. I've cut 2" strips for log cabin quilts so they should go pretty quickly...I hope!

Treasure Hunting

While wandering through the antique shops in the next town yesterday, we came upon this little treasure and I had to take it home with me! The tag said, "Circa 1890" and the fabrics do look like they're from that era...pinks, browns, blues and greens, set in an on point rail fence pattern, and hand quilted in a half inch grid. It was just too pretty (and reasonable priced!) to pass up!














Here is a close up...

Life Goes On...

Our real estate agent's assistant stopped by yesterday with contracts to extend our contingency on the lake house for another 2 months...until the end of December. I spent a long time talking on the phone to my husband last night and a decision was made not to sign the contracts. So our little venture into moving to the lake is over and our contract, which expired on Halloween, is null and void. Our house has been removed from the market and life goes on.

Surprisingly, I'm not nearly as sad as I thought I'd be. I'm actually kind of relieved and I'm not sure why. I loved the lake house with all its quirks. I loved the idea of a studio separate from the house. But then again...I love my new kitchen with its barn red walls, maple cabinets and granite countertops. I love my little sewing room. I think putting this house on the market made me see how charming it is and how much work we've put into it. So, although I'm sad that there won't be a lake in my backyard, I'm happy that I'll be in this house. And I'm also happy that there won't be any more showings and my house can looked lived in again! :o)