An old dog CAN learn new tricks!

The classes with Annie at http://simplearts.com/blog/ is so good for me, although the blocks we've done so far, are ones I've done before, Annie is making me ***PIN EVERYTHING*** and ***SEW ACCURATE .25" SEAMS*** (AACCKKK) so this will be the most perfect quilt I've ever made, it's not all the way perfect, but it sure is a lot closer than anything I've ever made before!!! The class coming up today is hand applique, and I can't wait!! That is one thing I've never done, and I'm soooo anxious to learn. A couple of my blogging friends do such beautiful, stunning applique, and I've asked them for tips, but have never leaped over that log. Now is the time, I guess, and I'm ready! What a nice take-along project for the camper, or waiting rooms at Dr.'s offices, or road trips when I'm not driving. I like the machine applique just fine, but then again, you're tied to the machine, and although I LOVE Bessie, but she doesn't like traveling in the car, and it is nice to do a project on my own, I hope she understands....

And......whoa, Nelly!! Look what the mail lady brought me today! Aren't these little girls just the pretty kids on the block?

Kelly from http://kankerdoodle.blogspot.com/ sent these scraps because I was an "almost winner" again on one of her giveaways! she sure is a generous blogger, just look at all this loveliness!! I'm positive she looked into my heart and found some of my favorite fabrics to send!! Don't you think these beauties will play nicely in my scrapbox?

Hope all your scraps are finding new friends to play with!

lyn

A "Thanks For Sharing" Giveaway!

I have been sewing my leaders and enders all year, (if you haven't already done them, go check out quiltville.com/leadersenders.shtml) It is a loooonnnngggg process, you could just whip up a basketfull of HST's, but then you still have to use a scrap to start strips on other quilts. So, my thrifty nature is drawn to this system. and, after a ton of scraps, I have acquired enough HST's to make a full size quilt for the guest room. I LOVE the scrappiness of this project, and I was anxious to get it done. I sewed squares into blocks, blocks into strips, laid it all out on our bed to make sure no two adjoining squares had the same fabric...

and BOOM! Mr. Wonderful dropped a bomb, he announced, in a pleading tone, that he rreeeeaaalllyyy loved this one. The best one yet, wouldn't it look good on our bed? Did I have to make it for the guest room? Nobody would be able to enjoy it unless we had guests.

So, plan B.....make it larger to fit our bed, which is a California Queen, back to the old scrap bag!

That meant I had to start a new quilt to produce more Leaders and Enders, right?

I started a matchy-matchy blue Irish Chain. Every so often, I veer from the scrappy and I have to do a matchy-matchy to renew my sense of order, and to show off some of my favorite fabrics. I stripped, and I blocked, and I was merrily ironing along, When I stumbled upon a disaster...EEK! What the...........surely, Mr. Wonderful must have gotten up in the middle of the night and tried to sew blocks, because "I" would not do this. "I" was careful. cautious, vigilant!!! "I" fastidiously made sure ALL of my seam allowances were lined up PERFECTLY! Of course, he denied all accusations.

Girls, you have all helped me soooo much, through all of my foibles, frustrations, and fretting, so would you continue to help this old gal out? I will share a beautiful Cinderberry Stitches pattern and 3 fat quarters, if you'll leave a comment in answer to this question:

"Would you un-sew this seam and return it to it's perfected state? Or would you leave it, and pray the Quilt Police never lay eyes on this quilt?"

To get a second entry in the giveaway, post this on your blog, so I can get other opinions. I will have Mr. Wonderful pick the winner on Friday.

Here's hoping all your seam allowances are straight!

lyn

Busy times for little ones...

School has started, so we had our last camping trip for the summer,,,which is always sad, for the kids, AND for Granny and Papa.

We have to wait for the weekends to take them, and if they have sports or cheerleading, we don't get the extended time with them.






But on days when Jakey has to go in for his chemo, Mom and Dad bring him into the city the night before, so he can get his spinal tap early in the mornings. (The staff has requested a minimum of people in the clinic, because of the H1N1 virus.) So that means Granny and Papa get the delightful company of Elizabeth and Jonny, (who really is a little angel.) He is the best 2-year-old I've ever known. And I've known quite a few. Today is Jakey's first day of pre-school, and he was just a little nervous last night. He just had his treatments on Friday, and he is pumped full of chemo, steroids, and antibiotics, which magnifies any stresses in his little body. He was a little excited this morning, so we have Jonny today, just in case Mommy had to stay at the school for a few hours.

With the kids in school, I have been putzing with my scrappy "Jacks in Six" (thank you, Finn, for telling me the name of this block!) I now have enough to make a queen size quilt, so I'll be stitching them together soon.

I did get my Friendship Bag Swap package out to "Anne" last week, (ssshhh! its a secret, so don't tell her) and I think she will be getting it in the next few days...I hope she likes it! I hopped over to her blog, and she does a lot of crochet and knitting, and in one of the pictures, she had her yarn in a plastic store bag. That gave me the idea to make her a bag that would hold 3 or 4 skeins of yarn. The ones in the tutorial were tiny, but I'm sure the "bag police" would not arrest me for giving a larger bag...???...

I know I'm early on this swap, but I never know when I'll get a minute or two to play with Bessie (my machine) so that is done and I can start on Christmas gifts,,,,EEK,,,did I say the "C" word? It is looming up fast here, and I have a lot to do. time flies! the older I get, the faster it goes!

Hope all your 2-year-olds are angelic!

lyn

Cuttin' a Rug

Getting the strips together is the most time consuming part of the process. I started sewing them by hand while watching TV, and crocheting them as I went. Tread a needle, sew strips till the thread ran out, attach strip to the last one on the rug, crochet the strip, sew strips. I got a little rhythm going during Desparate Housewives and Dancing, and I added a black stripe to contain all the scrappiness of it all. (sorry about the rotten pic)Then, I got to really looking at it, and decided I could do better, and I had a major bump in the middle that I tried to stretch out, but it always came back. So, I gave up and ripped it out, started all over, and this time it is going so fast because I (finally) followed Finns advice and sewed the strips on the machine. And now look, even Cubby likes this one better! She can't wait till I leave it on the floor for good, she thinks I lay it down just for her.

In between, I tested a theory. I wanted to put a flannel backing on the Ethnic Star, but I wasn't sure how it would wash. I had visions of the flannel shrinking and getting so soft, and the front, not shrinking as much, so it would be wrinkled, puckered, and old looking,,, sounds wonderful to me. What a wonderful, warm, cozy effect that would be, right?

So I cut a square of flannel, and a square of cotton, put a simple grid on it, and bound it. Threw it in the washer and dryer, rubbing my hands together the whole time, thinking how clever I was, I was going to make this quilt look a hundred years old! Pleasure oozed out of my pores.
Until I pulled it out of the washer. It did not look a hundred years old, it did not have the wrinkled, softly aged look at all. It just had the puffy look of the 70's & 80's. I was so disappointed. I hung my head as I brought it up to show DD#3. I handed it to her and tried to explain that I had other theories we could test out......She didn't hear a word I said, she was squeeling with delight! "OH, That is exactly what I wanted!! Look how old that looks! It's perfect!!! Oh, Mom, I"m going to LOVE it! Thank you so much!" Needless to say, I (like any of you would have done,) pretended that was exactly what I wanted it to look like.

Why is it, I think the 80's are out of fashion, and now my daughter thinks of the 80's as "retro." Go figure...

Hope your day is wrinkled and sofly aged!

lyn

I'm a Stackin'...

and I'm a Whackin'!





We are definately tired of the cold, blowing snow outside, so a little Spring inside would be great, Right?
So we brought out the blooms! I got the book, Stack-N-Whackier by Bethany S. Reynolds, from our little library and it is soooooo easy!



I would love to get a triangle (like Starmaker 6) and have a whack at it,(pun intended, tee hee) But all I have are squares and rectangle, so I just made QST and...viola!

I have my favorite, whaddya think?








four little opportunities to practice my quilting!














Don't look too closely, when i'm eighty years old and am perfect on the quilting, I'm going to blame all these "littles" on the grandkids ;-)



We are now in the middle of spring, and the lady bugs are going about their business!

Have a day full of pink and purple blossoms,

lyn