Vintage Quilt Progress

I woke up at 1 am, and listened to the rain falling outside. That’s the difference between spring and winter. You may here the wind howl occasionally, but you never hear snow fall. Rolled over and awoke again as Don got called into work at 3am. At 4:30, Ransom and I got up and had cinnamon toast for breakfast.

Still praying over garden seeds--- Some from Stina and San and some I’ve purchased. Don says I can’t walk by a seed stand without picking a package.
So far, I haven’t gotten a package to grow anything to eat….glad I don’t depend on the harvest for survival. But life is way too short to live without flowers and pumpkin gourds anyway. I still plan on purchasing carrot, beans, cucumber seeds along with pepper, broccoli, and tomato plants.

We hadn’t chatted this week, so I wanted to check in. The Sunday School conference was outstanding. I learned tons of new ideas for working with four year olds. My favorite part was when other teachers had problems on how to handle different situations—I had ideas on dealing with the issues. I guess after fifteen years of teaching experience starts playing a big role in it.

Linda sent me a friendship gift that popped up in my mailbox yesterday.
I plan on using some tonight while I watch television. She’s a great friend for keeping me “grounded” through family trials – her response has always been, “ Go to God…” sounds easy, but it’s something I’m really working on. She’s a keeper. I cannot purchase DMC floss in my hometown. In fact I have to travel a good 60 miles before coming close to finding some, so skeins of floss are pretty special.

What have I been working on? I’m calling it my vintage porch quilt. Here’s a sneak peak at the squares. On one hand I get a little nervous--- what if it turns out ugly???? But then I look at the blocks again, and I’ve been studying other vintage quilts and I think it’s going to be wonderful. We’ll keep you posted.

I was looking for a background to photograph the blocks. It’s raining, so an outside shot wouldn’t work. My house is full of the cabin colors of pine green , khaki, and cornflower blue. So I went to my linen closet and peeking out was my baby quilt my grandmother made me. After three years of journaling I laugh at the thought of there being anything left to talk about. But this is really cool stuff. Think about it--- this quilt is close to 50 years old--- getting closer all the time….. I was suppose to be a boy, hence the blue and yellow. I love the detail and the muslin background. The fabric has gray bunnies on it. And the buttonhole stitching around the appliqué is done by hand.
Looking closer I could tell, she basted the edges down and then went back and buttonhole stitched to attach it to the quilt block. I love the reverse images--- who am I kidding, I love everything about it… because my grandmother made it…..

Gratitudes:
Cinnamon toast
Raindrops melting snow
Slippers from my Mom

The Weekend

The weekend is here. I made it….. with a horrific cold. First one of the winter, so I can’t complain. Work was quiet, so I suffered peacefully alone. Decided I had to work it out of my system, so Ransom and I hit the woods. The snow is down to inches--- from feet---so I really have to start learning the markings versus just footprint path in the snow--- Fun Stuff.
I am up to date on My Baskets of Life Block of the Month.
Even though the colors are warm, they don’t look like winter to me.
I have a teaching seminar for Sunday School tomorrow. I tried to bow out of it, but they want me--- germs and all. And I will be glad I went, once I get there. Plus I can stitch, on the two hour drive up and back.

Gratitudes:
Kleenex—the lotion kind
Nyquil –it does every thing the commercials say it does
Ransom who is not scared of catching anything

Four Leaf Clovers

Plenty of Porch Swinging going on in the U.P. as the temps have been warming up. We have metal gutters so it’s like music hearing the melting snow trickle down the columns. No complaints in our house.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. A friend in my office gave me fat quarters and packaged them even prettier than the fabric.
Also included in the package is chewing gum. It’s for those days that it’s tough working with rooms full of men. You have those moments when, even in anger, tears come and you completely don’t want it to happen--- that’s why at holidays we always give each other chewing gum.

I’ve been catching up on my BOM blocks. Hopefully I’ll have photos in a couple of days.

I wanted to show a frame in honor of Saint Patrick’s Day. About eight years ago, we took our kids tubing down the Pine River. It was a lazy river close to home that bends and twines around trees. We’ve seen bear, beaver, birds of all kinds, and deer. On this particular day, Don loses his car keys in the bottom of the river. There were other people At the dock where we pulled in, so they gave Don a ride home to get the spares. That left the kids and I there with four inner tubes and a ton of mosquitoes. After spending 20 minutes reassuring Chelsey that Dad wasn’t talking or messing with “s-t-r-a-n-g-e-r-s”… We set out a way to pass the time. I remembered how my Mom and I used to look for four leaf clovers. She always found them--- I never did. I saw some patches of clover and we set out on a mission. Well, lo and behold--- we cleaned up on 4 leaf clovers! The kids were totally impressed and the time flew by. I saved them in this frame as a memory. OK—maybe they aren’t shamrocks or even clover, I’m not a plant authority… didn’t matter. We thought they were. I felt incredibly lucky that day… and still do.

(I always wonder – did I start finding them because I’m a Mom now, Or Did I just get “Lucky” now because I’m a Mom?????)

Sunday - My Birthday

The view of my front porch on Sunday—my birthday. The wreath was a birthday gift to remind me Spring is on it’s way. The temperature made it to 54 degrees. We ran Ransom in the woods without snow shoes. Pounding through the melting snow was an incredible work out.

Stina sent me this apron, monogrammed for me. I still keep saying it’s too pretty to use.
When my father-in-law was alive, he use to build furniture. I made the comment one day with my husband that he did a wonderful job—it looked “store bought”. I was quickly corrected that that was an insult and it was so much better. Stina—This apron is beautiful, even better than “store bought”. I may just have to hang it on a hook for display.

Saturday we took Eric shopping for Suits in Appleton and I stopped at a shop and picked up two signs with birthday money from my sister-in-law.


OK—I’m 46, and feel pretty good about it…I just feel like things are looking up.

Gratitudes –
A nightgown from my Mom with pleats and tucks.
A key with the word Grace engraved on it
My daughter cooking supper Saturday night—in spite of the smoke-filled kitchen… I thought it was wonderful.

Every Bunny Needs Love

After playing with Libby about her Bunny, it got me thinking about mine. So I decided to share. She was created in 1992. Remember I live in a small place that considers itself lucky to have a Wal-mart. This bunny was created before the Wal-mart days.
I had seen a pattern similar to it in a Shopko store and totally disregarded it as ugly. I went to visit my sister-in-law and she had just purchased a wreath with the same bunny for an ungodly amount of money. I loved it. Sometimes, pattern photos don’t things justice. I studied it and came home and made my own.

It’s made from Muslin stripping and a Styrofoam ball. The ears were created from muslin on the sewing machine. I don’t know what it is---but the bunny just charms me… I’m in need of some signs of spring so the bunny is coming out of the chest…

I’ve had Eric home for the week for Spring break. He has come down with a cold. Totally angry about the entire thing, he says it’s just not fair. I keep telling him he’s looking at it the wrong way and at least he’s sick at home and isn’t juggling classes and being sick at the same time. And I am getting an entire pharmacy course in over the counter medications from my pharmacy student son---totally educational. We had vicious Scrabble games last night and laughed until our stomachs ached. It’s good having him home.

I guess I’m chatty this week --- it’s my 3rd post. We're back to sub-zero weather early in the morning. But it warms up to the 20's by afternoon. Tomorrow's friday -- maybe that fabric will get cut into this weekend. Thursday night--- Chinese take out night....

Binding the Four Seasons

Last night I worked on the handwork portion of the binding of my Four Seasons quilt. I always say it gives me a permission slip for television watching. I was focused on the having the batting and the backing for the BOM quilt when it was completed, but gave no thought to the binding. When it came time to create and attach the binding I had to pause for a second.
I had left-over backing, but it was a homespun yellow and I knew I didn’t want a yellow binding. After “auditioning” a couple of colors, I chose this homespun check from my stash. As quilters, we talk of getting rid of our stash of fabrics, lowering the yardage. There are articles and even books written on busting through the yard goods we stack on our shelves. While I don’t have a closet full of fabric I do have a cabinet full and have photographed it in prior postings. I was really thankful for those shelves of fabric because I went to the shelf and chose fabric that worked--- without traveling through an ice storm, without added postage. It felt pretty good, that after working all day, I just open a cabinet door and had fabric waiting for me. Bindings aren’t my favorite part of quilting, and after committing to the project I was lucky enough not to be slowed down.

Here is a photo of a quilt my Grandmother made roughly forty-two years ago. The binding on this quilt is the backing folded over twice.
All of her quilts were made this way. How did I know how old this quilt was? There is no label – but this block is made of fabric from the dress my Mom made me from my first day of Kindergarten. So, by my estimation--- I’m in the ballpark. Muslin was always a staple in her quilts.

When I first started quilting, I read anything and everything I could find on the subject. That’s when I learned that it was better to make separate bindings because that is one place that a quilt gets most of the wear and tear. Think about it--- it’s where we reach to tuck loved ones in, cover ourselves up when we’re cold. Bindings made separately can always be replaced. I have a couple of my Grandmother’s quilts. I’ve studied the hand-quilting in detail. I’ve investigated the way she created her appliqué, and I’ve look at the worn bindings carefully…realizing she must have tucked many loved ones in with those quilts.

Good memories.

Gratitudes:
Warm socks
My lunch box
My rocking chair

It's Monday---

It’s a Monday. When you have a good weekend, it makes the day almost tolerable. My mailbox was filled with goodies on Saturday, Fabric and Flower seeds from a friend.
My favorite is a patriotic print with words. I love holidays and birthdays. But there is just something special about receiving a gift just ---- Because.

I made this journal cover a while back.
I’m not real crazy about how it turned out, but it’s kind of growing on me. Trust me, I’m not fishing for compliments—I guess I’m just trying to say that sometimes you sew things and they just don’t turn out the way you want them to. But you don’t give up. Nobody died. Just try something else.

Kind of like life sometimes… maybe……

Holly Hobbie

I had received a letter from a close friend. We have been friends since the fourth grade. She moved away from my hometown in the 9th grade.Her name is Tenza. She was made of honor in wedding. We had kids around the same time. And even though I can count the number of times I’ve seen her in the last 35 years on one hand, we have tons of memories along with phone calls and letters that have kept us friends.

When we were in the 6th grade, Tenza started an embroidery brigade at recess. It centered around this 1973 Simplicity Pattern – Holly Hobbie.
It was an iron transfer. A group of us bought boys’ chambray work shirts and began stitching. We added doodles to the cuffs and pockets. But it was Holly Hobbie on the back holding flowers that I remember most.

Until a week ago--- I had never purchased anything on Ebay. No particular reason, Maybe the fear of losing, I don’t know, I just never had. On a whim --- I put in a bid…. And won the pattern. I received it, wrote a letter, and forwarded the pattern on to her--- not an email, but a letter that I hope she reads over and over again with the pattern and gets at least a week’s worth of smiles.

I don’t know what ever happen to my shirt. Wish I did. I guess I didn’t appreciate it enough. That’s one thing I’ve pressed upon with my kids is the appreciation of a handmade item. No—the stitches may not be as even or as tight as if a machine had done it—but wow --- think of the time and effort that poured over the needle and thread.

I’ve tried bidding on another Pattern 6005, one for myself, but didn’t win…. But I know without a doubt the pattern I did win was meant for her….

Cottage Fabrics

OK—The photo does not in anyway do the fabrics justice. They’re just wonderful.
I justified the purchase as needed therapy, my contribution to economy stimulus, and cabin fever rebellion. Saturday Don was feeling “antsy”. It was gorgeous outside but with a scheduled high temperature of 13 degrees we opted for a lunch date in Green Bay. The Quilters Connection was having their end of the month deals. Just looking at the displays will inspire anyone. The quilt I’ll make with these fabrics will definitely have scallops I’ve decided, and probably lay on the porch swing through the summer. The colors are quite a contrast from the browns, reds, and greens the keep me warm through the winter.

Walking to the register, I look at the checkout girl, “ That’s my husband on the cell phone by the door, please just ring this up and do not say the total out loud…It doesn’t hurt if he doesn’t know….” She grinned I paid for my fabric and Don lived happily ever after.

“So, how much does a trip to the quilt store cost?’’

“Don, you really just don’t want to know…”

We’ve been trying different wines from Door County Wisconsin. We went and picked out a couple of new ones. We stopped at the meat market on the way home and picked up pork chops for grilling. It was a great day.

Yesterday I finished quilting my Four Seasons Quilt by JoAnn Mullaly. It just took a week. I started to attempt a fancier pattern, but I had studied hers in the photos and she had just done a meandering pattern and it was something that I didn’t have to think too hard on. The quilt speaks for itself. It didn’t need dressing up. Several have contemplated decisions on whether to quilt over the embroidery. I quilted right over mine. Here is a snapshot. I really like the look and don’t think the quilting took away from it at all.

I’ve got bulletin boards to set up for my Sunday school class this week as a new quarter begins. I’ve opted for a cabin theme this quarter…”You’re never out of the woods…until you Know God…” Maybe I can share pictures later in the week.

I’ve got a little girl with Chicken Pox in class. So I think that definitely merits a new box on crayons for her. I’m off to Wal-mart today.

Gratitudes:
Fresh pot of Soup for Supper tonight
Ribbon
A 20-year-old embroidery hoop

“What doesn’t break you…. only makes you stronger…” It’s written on the gift tag for the bag I’m mailing Chelsey today. It was a request from my daughter. She had seen a gift bag I had made earlier and she wanted it twice the size and bought ruffle fabric and a button for me to create it.
I’ve been trying to get it made since New Year’s Day. Well, yesterday afternoon I made it and she’ll have it for your trip to visit an Aunt for Spring break. It’s not a great picture (taken in a hurry) but you get the idea.

Thank you for your notes and prayers. Some burdens are too heavy to handle alone and I appreciate every one of them. Our family is definitely going through “Character defining moments”. Please keep us in your thoughts.

Friday night we went to a dinner theatre to raise money for the Women’s Shelter in town. The play was a good Cause and a fun evening for everyone. Saturday night we had supper with Friends. Quiet and Comfortable are the two best words to describe it. One of those nights you have so much fun you want a “do over”. She’s a new Quilter so it was fun chatting with her. I made a lunch bag in about fifteen minutes and brought muffins for dessert. I brought a copy of the free pattern also. It’s fun to share.

Saturday for lunch we made a pot of Italian Potato Soup. I’m an incredibly picky eater. I think it goes back to the way I grew up. Food was expensive, so eating out and at home—you never wasted it, so I was never very adventuresome. Don and I made this together and it was delicious, I’m totally addicted to it. I’m even bringing to work for lunch today.

This is not an original idea,
but saw it and fell in love with it. I want to get better with the camera and search for items to practice on. So I set up my latest animal feeder off the porch. I don’t care if I get pictures of birds, squirrels, or chipmunks.
I just love the idea of them perching on a graniteware soup ladle. Now to only catch them in the act….

Time to head off to work. Our days are getting longer; it’s almost daylight on clear mornings now. We are officially on the downhill size of winter.

Gratitudes:
Homemade Soup
Crisp clear mornings
I guess times in our lives to see what we’re really made of

Baskets of life---Here’s my Valentine’s Day gift . The BOM project is from Country Loft. I debated on whether to take on this project because it was so similar to last year’s project. I just enjoyed it and thought I could always give it away or pass one on to my kids. They’ve been on “quilt demand” here lately. Never really asked for one before. I just know what quilts mean to me and wanted them to have an appreciation and respect for them. That doesn’t me that I don’t want the quilts to be used. It’s just that there’s a difference between use and abuse. But it’s like Judy once wrote and I’ll never forget the words, “ When I create a quilt for someone else, I make it and give it away. I let it go and never think about it again; it’s theirs now.” And she’s right.

Work days have been good days. Another example of getting out of something what you put into it. We’ve got a snow storm predicted starting tonight. I’m hoping it holds out until I get home and run Ransom. The weatherman says snowfall could total 7-8 inches. It’s that time of year, it’s supposed to be snowing.

Gratitudes:
Chocolate chips
Pancakes for Breakfast—Ransom got the leftovers
Phone calls from old friends

They were great therapy for me this weekend. They are exactly 12 ½ inches square, consisting of 45 pieces each. These blocks will be on their way to Australia for quilts for the fire victims this past week.
The best way to get your mind off of your problems is to focus of something else. Here’s my weekend detour. When I decided to make blocks I left the computer and went to my book shelf instead.
It was a great opportunity to realize how many books and patterns I do have ---that I’ve never been applied to fabric. To me, the blocks just say "hope". And I guess that is what we want for all those people losing things in the disaster last week. Not everything was lost--- they still have hope.

I used my scrap basket for the fabric. It’s amazing how fabric in the basket seems to multiply even when you don’t add to it.

Ransom and I continue to enjoy the winter. I thought I’d point out a few of my favorite things. I don’t have flowers or garden vegetables but I have bark from the birch trees that I do love.
It “ravels” itself into the neatest curly streamers. I never get tired of looking at the trees …even without leaves. On our trail home there is a mushroom-like fungus on a birch tree.
It stands there as a mark that I’m on the right way home. It’s frozen solid and I count on it being there marking our route.

Several asked how the girls liked their gifts. I think they loved them. Neither left them behind. I don’t think it’s a birthday either will forget.
President’s day tomorrow… no mail, I guess my blocks will go out on Tuesday…. Everyone have a good week.

They were sitting on the shelf on the close out bay in the department store-- four of them. I just couldn’t leave them sitting there. None of the matching pieces were left.
They sat all alone – four of them that no one else wanted---Discounted from $20.00 to $3.00 a piece. I can just picture them with yellow and red napkins. Food just has to taste better on stoneware trimmed in plaid. I can just imagine dinner on the porch when spring arrives – If and when spring arrives.

Haven’t sewn a stitch this week. Serious family problems. No need in dragging anyone down with the details. But the reason I type this much is to hold up the looking glass and say--- no family is perfect. In fact, families are built on a foundation of imperfections. But it’s the heart of that family that cements them together despite imperfections. I hope above anything else, I’ve never given anyone the illusion of perfection. I do hope people realize happiness can be found in rising above the catastrophes.

Warming temperatures into the 40 degree range have melted much of our snow. Ransom and I still trudge through the woods daily --- it’s great therapy. I guess we have gotten our January thaw in February. Temps are supposed to drop back to the 20’s this weekend, the normal range for this time of year.



I have a weekend ahead – Needle and thread calling me.
Remember to count your blessings. I try to every day.

The girls will be home tomorrow. I picked up items to make them a birthday cake yesterday, so I’ll probably tackle that tonight along with wrapping their gifts I made.

The first gift if a three ring binder cover.
Not an original idea, Kim had created one a couple of years ago and emailed me a set of instructions.
It was a Thimbleberries Club project. We have a little Thimbleberries, Fig tree Quilts, Kansas Trouble quilters, along with a few others to make up the strings. I have always like the Heartstring quilts but never truly appreciated them until this project. Sewing the strings one at a time is INCREDIBLY labor intensive—not to mention ironing each down after the seam. I really liked how they turned out. But for the time---it just seems like the project would be bigger…..

I had pulled a couple of different patterns for other projects, but read about Mary finding this Terry Atkinson design.
So after a trip to the dollar store for pens and paper, I whipped these to up. Totally fun, quick, and easy.
The Pattern said use interfacing as a liner. I knew the kind of lugging around and use – Hopefully—these babies would get so I lined it with Peltex, the stiff interfacing used in fabric postcards. I really like’em. I may have to make one for myself.

I had wanted to create something with ruffles, but there will be another holiday coming up. Tomorrow the weekend will be at my doorstep. I can’t wait. Sleeping late – 6:30 am for me--- Snowshoeing with Ransom and of course quilting….

Monday Morning----Early. But I’m already dressed for work and started a pot of stew and put on a load of laundry. Amazing the power of caffeine in a strong pot of coffee.

I did some sewing this weekend but still have handwork to finish. In my last post I mentioned that Chelsey’s birthday is this week and in our house, you don’t have birth days—you have birth festivals. She’s bringing a friend home this weekend who also has a birthday but lives too far from home to travel. I was fretting that I didn’t want Chelsey to open all the presents and this poor girl sit back and watch. A friend I work with reminded me it wasn’t about money—it was about thought and getting clever. So I went home and flung open the fabric cabinet doors. While I don’t have fabrics that are really Chelsey’s type—I think I came up with some compromises and have worked this weekend on gifts for both girls. Pictures will come soon.

The remainder of this post is type for memories…..not quilting.

My Sunday school class was outstanding yesterday. We started out reviewing last week’s lesson. Jesus walking on water with Peter. I had a pail of water and we played a guessing game whether things from Don’s tools would float—nails, screwdrivers, Allen wrenches –no….wood blocks, crayons, pencils yes--- We ended with a kid, shoes and socks off stepping into the water… I had them totally captivated and drove the point home on miracles. Miracles for a four year old isn’t an easy concept to grasp. This week’s lesson was Jesus feeding the five thousand with fives loaves of bread and two fish. We held an indoor picnic (complete with red and white cloth of the floor and my burgundy graniteware) of goldfish crackers for fish and oyster crackers for bread. It may have been twenty degrees outside but it was warm in that classroom and we had a ball. Not every week does the lesson just “click” but I felt like at the end of class those kids would not forget today’s adventure…. Man, I love teaching that class…..

Gratitudes:

Homemade stew of supper tonight
Don’s willingness to share his junk
Goldfish crackers

I wanted to type a few lines. We had a great time shopping over the weekend. I have to take some photos. I did complete my gift bags and they’re going in the mail today. The Stitchery is by Gail Pan. While I'm not doing the quilt project, her pieces can be used many other ways.
Valentine chocolate for my folks and tea bags left over from a Sunday School project fill the bag. It’s not an original idea, but tons of fun for the kids to make Mom a gift.

While my stitches aren’t perfect, they’re improving. This piece gave me plenty of opportunity to work on the French knots.

I friends sent me a yard of Boyd’s bear fabric. I didn’t even know they had a line of fabric. I have an entire Christmas tree that gets filled with Boyd’s bear ornaments. I immediately went to cutting and made my Sunday School class cards that will be popped in the mailbox today.
Everyone loves mail and the bible verse “Love Bears All Things…” (1 Cor 13:7) could not be passed up.

My daughter’s birthday is next week and she’s bringing home a friend who shares a birthday really close to it, but lives far from home. So while the piggy bank may be low, My fabric closet is full and I’ve got a couple of ideas for the birthday celebration next weekend. We’ll keep you posted.

Well, choosing fabrics for my project was as for as it went last night. I was exhausted. Today at the office I was faced with the constant battle of not wanting to be there. But the weekend is here now and I intend to make the most of it.
Here are my fabric choices for the stitchery project.
The green set is my favorite.
Take a closer look at the crème fabric.
It is flower names scrolled throughout the fabric. I’m completely in love with this piece. It was a fat quarter piece from a store closing in Green Bay. I wouldn’t call it beautiful, but there is just something about it that speaks to me.

We’re headed shopping in Marquette tomorrow. The weather has temps at 5 degrees max and 35 below for the wind chills. So we might as well shop until this artic front moves away.

Gratitudes
Homemade burgers for supper
old movies
My rusty old mailbox….who wants a new one?!?!?!

I’m sleepy this morning. Guess the caffeine just hasn’t kicked in yet. Don is working late the next few days so I’ll get some extra quilting time. I just have to be awake to enjoy it.

I’m working on this Gail Pan Block. I found it on line. She’s an Australian Quilt Designer. I wish over her Block of the month that reflects my Favorite Ecclesiastes bible verse. One of the days--- While I’m not going to do the Christmas Wish BOM project I’m using these blocks for Valentine Gifts for my Mom. Something small and simple…. The creativity of some people….She’s a real talented lady. I’ll keep you posted. It is going to become a gift bag.


I backed the piece with a thin batting. It helps my stitching. Gail has DMC numbers for the piece, but I just chose colors that looked similar. DMC floss purchases cannot be made in town. Besides, after the thread goes in the needle, no one knows the number used. The link is on my sidebar.

Gratitudes:
Warmer weather
Text messages from my daughter
Stealing chocolate chips from the bag in the cupboard, Sometimes you just need a quick fix.

January is flying by. Kids are back in school. Life is slowing down a little. We survived the dreadful cold with temperatures down to 17 below zero. A customer told me last week—“Hey, at –40 degrees Fahrenheit and –40 degrees Celsius the temperatures are the same…” “Great,” I thought, “Something to look forward to…”

Yesterday morning it was sunny and 10 degrees above zero. It is AMAZING how warm that can feel after the temps we had last week. I guess it just goes to show you--- it’s all about perspective…..

When the temps are above zero we been snowshoeing. Here’s Don and my feet on the trail.
We’ve got a 3-mile trek set up. Ransom loves it, but by the end of it--- he’s following our footsteps.
It’s quite an endeavor for him to heave the piles of snow. Yes—I’m a little envious of those gearing up for spring. I know I’ve got a good three months of winter ahead--- So I’m forced to find the good things in my own back yard.

My Sunday school kids and I made feeders for the birds last Sunday attached with paper heart bible verses.
We filled the oranges with homemade suet. I’d like to take credit for the clever idea, but I found it here.

Quilting. I’ve got the binding finished on a couple of quilts that I’ve talked about forever. A couple of weeks ago Chelsey was weeding out some old things and pulled out a quilt top she had pieced at about 12.
I can remember always going fabric shopping with her. She’d always ask to pick out a fat quarter or two. She’d pick the brightest, funniest pieces.
Lots of times they had frogs.
As a kid, she’d catch them by the dozen during summers in the U.P. I told her to leave it on my machine and I’d quilt it for her. It’s going in the mail today. She asked--- “What’ll I do with it?” My response—“I don’t know, it’s big enough for a lap quilt. It’s full of memories. It’ll keep you from getting homesick. You’ll have a piece of home with you…” I can’t wait till she gets it.

Other quilting. I finished my Seasons Block of the month from the Country Loft. I attached the borders.
It’s going to be the next to hit the quilting frame. I tried for an outdoor shot, but the snow is just too deep, I kept falling. Its colors fit the fireplace anyway. I recommend their BOM programs. Their packaging and patterns are great. It’s like getting a present every month. I’ve signed up for their program again this year.

While I haven’t posted often this month, I have been reading. I think quilters are being wise to the economy and not purchasing quite as much and being creative with what they have. There are tons of free BOM program on-line thanks to the graciousness of quilt designers everywhere.