He's Here!

Jeff arrived last night and what a sight for this mom's eyes! He's on leave and spent last week in Columbus, Ohio. Last night he drove up on this. He told me the name of it and all that, but I don't remember. I just know that it it very shiny and looks like it was made for him. Hmmmm....looks like a new tatoo!




He looks just great and we had a wonderful dinner (thanks Dan) with Jeff, Kale and his girlfriend, Denae. (I probably didn't spell that right, sorry!) I can't wait to meet Jeff's Dané at the pool party at Julie's on Friday.

Stashbusting Report - 7/7/08

Fabric Added This Week - 10 yards (Backing Fabric)
Fabric Added Year to Date - 44.625 yards

Fabric Used This Week - 10.875 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 227.125 yards

YEAR TO DATE TOTAL: 182.5


I'm still heading in the right direction, but had to purchase some backing fabric that was on sale at Hancocks of Paducah for $1.99/half-yard.

Plaid Shirts

Yesterday, I finished the binding on the 2nd plaid shirt for Mae. The shirts belonged to her late husband, Bill. My friend Dottie pieced them for her and I quilted and bound them. I think I showed a small part of the first one a few weeks ago, but here are the full shots of them.



Look how different they look with a darker background:

The Music Mystery UFO

I started this quilt several years ago and my plan was to give it to Dan in honor of his garage band, "Generations." CJ's Quilt shop was sponsoring a mystery quilt and while shopping for the fabric, I came across this with musical instruments and knew it had to be my focus fabric. The band, which consisted of Dan on guitar, his son on bass, my grandson on guitar and vocals, and my son-in-law on drums played during a March of Dimes Walk America and I was proud as ever of them. They did a super job. The band disbanded when my daughter and her family moved about an hour away and little Andrew was on the way. Both of those things made scheduling practice times difficult. There is still a drum riser and probably enough equipment to compare money-wise to my quilting stuff (not counting Mabel, of course)!

Anyway, back to the quilt. It got burried in the UFO corner and I finished assembling it last year. It's been hanging in the longarm room for months, so when I decided I wanted to do something a little bigger than the ones I've been quilting, this was the one. The panto is Interlocking Music by Dave Hudson (great pattern), PermaCore Natural thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting.

Here's the front,



and a close up of the music fabric,



and the back



This afternoon I delivered the sock monkey parts to Dottie's house so she can stuff and sew them together. We made some project holders with potholders, (that I don't have a picture of, dang it) and a baby hankie bonnet. It's the cutest thing and it goes along with a cute poem. There are dozens of them online, but I can't seem to find the one we used right now.

Happy Independence Day America!

It has been a great morning here....First of all, I slept until 8:00 and then Dan went off in search of blackberries with his friend Tom, who apparently knows the best places to get them. He left hours ago and said he'd be back with some that I could put on my cereal. Good thing I didn't wait on him, as it's almost time for lunch now and I haven't seen him yet!

I cut out and stitched the pieces for 2 sock monkeys that Dottie will be assembling.



I made and stitched on the binding of this little baby quilt that I quilted last night. My next door neighbor has a granddaughter that is expecting a little girl in August, so this one will be finished just in time. The blocks in this quilt were my samples for a paper piecing workshop that I taught. Each one was finished to a different step for the class and it was a breeze to finish them all and add a strip pieced border.





I stitched on the binding of this happy squares quilt that doesn't yet have a home. I just liked the pattern and heaven knows I have plenty of bright scraps to make several of these.


I boiled a dozen eggs to make deviled eggs to take to Julie & Jim's 4th party this afternoon.


Last night I made a test block for quilterscache.com that turned out really nice. I'm very tardy in making this one and I'm sure if I didn't have this blog that Marcia would think I wasn't around anymore. Can't show a picture of the block yet, as it hasn't been posted to the website.
I also finished putting the borders on this quilt top. I would say that I've once again used a good amount of stash this week.(and the week is not over yet!)



Have a great day and remember....if you go to a pool party, like I am, be sure to take something to stitch while you watch all the youngsters in the pool.

Pumpkin Swap

The Pumpkin swap top is assembled and I only changed my mind about the border, oh, about 5 times. I settled on the points facing the center, thanks to all your comments and emails. I really appreciate the comments to my blog, especially when I can't make a decision.



These pumpkin blocks were part of a block swap coordinated by Pumpkin Patch Primitives from last year, well, it was supposed to be from last year, anyway. The blocks were due by October 31 and I think they were finally sent back to us in February. They turned out to be very nice blocks and I am excited to have it finally put together. Several of my friends had their completed pumpkin quilts at the retreat and it was fun to see how differently we all chose to assemble them.

The border looks really dark in the big photo, so here is a closeup. It's a fall looking homespun.

Sit 'n Stitch

Last night my guild had a sit 'n stitch night. I had never been to one, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Now let me tell you, it was great! It was so enjoyable to sit and chat with people that I really don't know, while I was stitching on bindings.

I finished the binding on this cute little garden quilt while I was there.



I filled out my form and paid my deposit for quilt camp in September. I'm really looking forward to attending. It's at Camp Tecumseh, which isn't very far at all. A beautiful setting with nice rooms and good food(but I do hope I get a bottom bunk).