Karen is Hosting a Swap Meet! Fun!

Karen at Sew Many Ways is hosting a Swap Meet!  Pop into her blog and check out the stuff other bloggers are wanting to swap!  Maybe there is something there that you've been looking for.  She just started it this weekend, so it's very new, and there aren't many swappers yet.....but give it time.....I'll bet there'll be a bunch of stuff within a week or two!

Here's what I am wanting to swap right now.  It's several pieces of cotton fabric.....all kid prints (well, one I'm not sure of, but it looks kid like to me!).  These all came from the stash of a friend who passed away, and there isn't anything I can put them with in my own stash.....they need to live with someone who makes kid quilts!  The yardage is listed after each pic.....I'd like to do these as ONE SWAP!  But if needed, I can split the grouping up.  I'm easy!

For postage estimates, I live in Maine.

What I'd like to swap for:  a few fat quarters of civil war fabric, or a jar of homemade preserves (we like anything blackberry or raspberry!), or maybe in your grammy's sewing box there is a darning egg that nobody is using!  I collect those!  Or maybe something else.....we'll talk!

Planes/boats/trains/cars fabric:  2 yards.

Hat fabric:  1 yard.  I'm not sure if it's kid really....but looks like it to me.

Cow jumping moon - cat fiddler fabric:  24 inches.

Stars and hearts fabric:  1 yard.  Please note the second pic shows there is fading on the folds....it's about every 10 inches throughout the piece.....but there are good sections about 9" to 10" square between these fades that could be easily used.

Ok.....that's my swap for the week.  I'm going to start going through my stash and see if there's anything else in there that needs to go!  I know I have a boat-load of teddy bear making stuff somewhere....I just need to find it!  Oh boy!  Making room for other stuff.....woohoo!

regan

Sue and Sam, and a Amish Wedding

I haven't been doing much sewing, except for the hand piecing at our little group last night!  Our last 3 meetings were canceled due to icy roads.  It was really great to be back at the group, even though it was just 3 of us who showed up!

Prior to the meeting, I went to the town office to sandwich the Sue and Sam quilt together.  I love that I can use the big long tables in the meeting room, shove 3 together, and sandwich any size quilt!  Pinning the middle is tough, and hard on the back, but at least I'm not on the floor!

Here is the Sue and Sam with pins all over!

And yes, it's pieced so it lays long-wise horizontally.  I did it on purpose, as this will be for my MIL to wrap herself up in when in her chair, or can lay it across the back of the couch when not using it, and this way, all the Sues and Sams are standing up!  She pretty much lives in the living room.  When my FIL was alive (he passed several years ago), he needed to be propped up in bed, because he had a laryngectomy, and if he lay flat, he could choke.  So he pretty much got the bedroom, and mom stayed on the couch.  This was life for them for the past 20+ years.  So I think she is set in this way, and I hope that the quilt will make her spot on the couch a little nicer!  As I've said in my blog before, she turns 80 in March, so this will be done by then!  I have over a month....woohoo!

And as I was piecing last night on my flower garden pieces, I was thinking that I was nearly finished hand piecing the top of my Amish Wedding Ring!  This morning, the search began for where it was hiding!  I finally found the tub, and when I put it on the design wall......YES!.....it is nearly finished piecing!

The white tags are my markers for not getting it mixed up when I brought it to our meetings to work on.  When I started piecing it, I never gave too much thought into where the different colors sat.....it's a total mix.  But when the circles and slivers came together, I found a lot of same color right across from each other.... it took many hours of moving stuff around one day, to come up with the placement so it was still random!  And there was no way I was going through that nightmare again, hence the markers!  They aren't coming off until the whole thing is in one piece!  This top was started when I lived in Hull, Massachusetts......13 years ago!  Sheesh!  But I still love it!

My plan for the wedding ring is to attach black borders with a 1 1/4 inch strip of mixed squares between them.  The ring pieces are 1 1/4 inch wide.

As with so many other bloggers right, I too, have been purging the stuff in the house!  I went through several stacks of my quilting/crafting magazines, and found many that are of no use to me now!  Post-its on pages got yanked when I realized "I don't even like that now!".....and sooooo many magazines had no post-it at all!  I went page by page, just in case, and still found no reason to keep it!

I'd given up all of my quilt and craft mag subscriptions when I realized that I had at least 6 subscriptions, and months would go by with nothing of interest in any of them!  What a waste!  Does this happen to you?  The gals at the meeting last night were of the same consensus.

So now, when I'm in the bookstore, I flip through the mags, and if there is something I just MUST make, then I'll buy it.  But no more subscriptions!  I'm finding I get a lot more inspiration from reading the blogs of other like minded quilters (antique/reproduction/traditional) and looking around on Ebay.  As it is, I've NEVER followed a pattern exactly as written....I've always changed something about it to suit my taste/need.  I've never liked the idea that I was making the same exact quilt as a 100 others were.  That kindof bugs me.  That's one reason I really love scrap quilts.  No two are alike, even with the same pattern.

And with that said, I'm heading back to the sewing room, cuz there are leader/ender squares to prepare for my next project!  (I hate starting anything new, without having those squares ready to go.....Bonnie Hunter is a genius!)

regan

A WIP and a game of tag!

It seems everyone is doing  a hexie quilt!  And I have loved seeing everyone's pics of their progress.  So I thought I would post a few pics of the one I've been working on.  I started it over 10 years ago, but it sat in a box for the last 9!  When I started the quilting group at our town office, I figured I needed a 'go to' hand project, and this came out of hiding, and I'm really loving it now!  I'm at the stage of putting on the pathways.....they are in a mottled deep purple.  The flowers are a total scrappiness.....no plan, so pattern, just anything goes!  I started those flowers long before I really had a stash, so it was mostly acquired scraps from friends.

 

None of the blocks are sewn together yet.....I realized that some of the flowers don't get the entire surrounding of the purple path.....so I guess at this stage it needs to stay on the spare bed, so I don't get crazy and add too many purples!  I'm not sure what I will do for the edging....making half blocks to straighten it, or attach it to a background.....I don't know!  I DO know that I'm NOT putting a binding on a hexie edge!  NO WAY, NO HOW!  I've seen it done, and bless their hearts for doing it, but I'm not gonna!

 

And now......I couldn't believe it, but, I’ve been tagged!

And I didn't know what it was all about.  But apparently its purpose is to spread the word about smaller blogs.  Cool....I like that!   A giant 'Thank You!' to Maureen at Pursuit of Quilts for tagging me.....I feel so honored!  Visit her blog and see all the beautiful quilts she's made!  They are wonderful!

So now it’s my turn to tag fellow bloggers.

Jamie at Living the Good Life is quite crafty!  And all of her crafts are full of style!

Sada at Idle Hands, Empty Brain is a wonderful quilter, and she does beautiful hand quilting, to boot!

Heather at Life as Just Me is also a quilter and her work is simply beautiful!

Please visit these blogs, if you haven't already!  They are definitely worth a look!

Now for the rules to these 3 gals - if you choose to participate:

1) Tell your readers who tagged you.

2) Add a link to their blog.

3) Award 3-5 bloggers who you think deserve this award.

Inform them and post directions to your blogspot. Please don't tag people who already have 300 followers. The goal of this award is to get more publicity to blogs that are good, but not so well known.

Well, I'm off now to finish cleaning up the sewing room.  I've been trying to tidy it up after each project finishes, and I still have a bunch of crap stuff from the spiderweb top all over the place!  Makes it really hard to start on anything new!  And I really need to get cracking on that Sunbonnet Sue top for my MIL.  I love deadlines, but I don't want to push it!


regan

It's a very good day!

I'm feeling back to my old self today.....that devil cold is over, and I've so much to talk about now!  Thanks for all the well wishes, too.....they worked!

So, yesterday, my bud Brenda and I went to the slots casino in Bangor, and had a ball!  I even left $12 ahead, which is always good!  Brenda.....not so much!  But she won over $400 last time we went.....so she's ok with that!

On the 2+ hour drive up there, she mentioned how her hubby was wanting them to go on a 14 day tour of the midwest.....and that she knew she wasn't up for that kind of go, go, go for so long, and that she wasn't going!  I asked how much a trip like that cost, and she said around $3,500 per person.  I thought that was a lot, and said so, but she said it was a group thing that her husband's lodge was putting together.  So then I asked, "What if there was an 8-day quilting cruise to the islands, and it was under $1,000?  Would you consider that?"  and she said "OF COURSE!  I'd go in a minute!"

So I told her all about Bonnie Hunter's Quilt Cruise (which I had looked at, and only thought about in my dreams!) and when we got home, I talked with my hubby, and......

THIS MORNING I BOOKED IT!!!!!!!  WOOHOO!!!!!

I'm going on the quilt cruise!  With Bonnie Hunter!!!

LIFE IS GOOD!

I am feeling so lucky these days......I love to travel and this year is going to be full of it!

In March, we are heading for San Diego for my MIL's 80th birthday.....we are spending a week so we can play some golf, and see old friends (we lived there about 14 years ago!), and eat in all those great restaurants!  (San Diego has the BEST food ever!  I really miss that!)

One week after returning from CA, we are headed to NYC for the Red/White quilt exhibit being sponsored by the Folk Art Museum.

It's a collection of 650 quilts....all red and white.....from one collector!  Can you imagine!  I can't wait to see it!  There are also two other museums with special quilt exhibits during that time, so I am doing the exhibits alone.....with no pressure or time limit!  I'm telling hubby, and our cousin (who lives in Long Island and always joins us in the city) to do what you want.....walk that Brooklyn Bridge, see a show, whatever.....I'm doing quilts!  I'll see you at dinner!  HA!  Two full days of quilts......I'm feeling so lucky!

Then in June, we are driving down to visit our son in VA, and see our grandson graduate from high school!  More golf, a lot of sightseeing (I've never been to VA) so we need to see Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello, we'll stop at the Smithsonian again on the way down (can't get enough of art!), and hit some of those great quilt shops that everyone keeps talking about in that area!

And then, two months later, the cruise!  Sheesh!  Someone pinch me, cuz this MUST be a dream!

Oh, and did I mention that when we go to NYC, we are staying at the Waldorf Astoria!  Holy Cow!  Our American Express card is the Hilton Honors one.  If you don't have this card......get one!  We always use our points and stay at the Hampton Inn hotels whenever we go anywhere, cuz we love the beds and the buffet breakfast, but sometimes there is a Hilton, and they are wonderful, too.  And the Hilton is affiliated with the Waldorf, and for just 50,000 points, we can stay there!  (The NYC Hampton Inns and Hiltons were 40,000 points!)  Sheesh!  We just couldn't pass this up!  When will we ever get this chance to stay is such a posh hotel!?!  Of course, my immediate thought was that I need new clothes so I don't waltz in there looking like some hick from Maine!

I'm so giddy right now, I don't think I can sit still enough to sew!  But I'll try!

regan

P.S.  If anyone hears me complain about ANYTHING this year.....you have my permission to give me a good, swift kick!

Not A Fun Start to 2011!

I've been sick with a nasty cold for the last 4 days.....was in bed the whole time!  I did manage to do a little hand piecing.....freaking out the whole time that I might lose a needle or pin in the bedding.....kindof sucked the fun right out of it!

I was feeling a bit better today, so I finished up the Spider Web top!  Yippee!  I love love love it!

I'll be putting the quilting of it on hold for a bit.  I need to start working on my MIL's quilt.  She turns 80 in March, and there is going to be a huge family reunion in San Diego for the event!  Folks are coming from all over the country.....can't wait to see everyone!

So, as a gift to her, I am finishing one (or maybe two!) of the quilt tops that my late FIL's mother had made back in the 30's/40's.  There are 5 of the tops, and my MIL had them since about the 60's, when the lady passed away.  Since then, they had been in a big lump in the corner of the garage!  I remember seeing them (before I was a quilter) and thinking what a mess!  Of course, my MIL at some point thought it was a good idea to wash them.....in the washing machine and dryer!  Well, on our last visit out to CA, my MIL handed them all to me and said, "You quilt now.....you can finish these!".......Ok.....sure!

Since I knew she had washed and dried them, I put them in a closet and never really looked at them, cuz I knew they were probably just a big wad of thread now!  Well, a few months ago, I pulled them out, and really looked at them.  And they are not so bad!  Most of them were not pieced very well, and don't lay flat at all!  But there is a LaMoyne Star that only needs a bit of fixing here and there, and that will quilt up fine, I think.

Then there were a bunch of Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam blocks....in all phases of completion.  I managed to find 15 decent (not too much staining) and completed ones, and pieced them into a top.  Now I just need to quilt it up.  This is the 'for sure' one that I'm doing.....mainly because my MIL has always LOVED the Sunbonnet Sue block......every time we'd go to a quilt show......that's the ONE quilt she would oooh and aaah over!  It's never been my thing.....but this quilt is for her.....so I'm doing it!

When it's finished, I'll post a pic.  I'm not sure how I'm going to quilt it......there are really large open alternate blocks to fill with something, and they are solids, not prints.  So, like the one I did at xmas, I'm going to have to do something special in the blank spot!

Maybe it will come to me in my dreams!

Ok, I'm taking my Nyquil and box of tissues back to bed now!

regan