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I have two new quilts to share.

Austin was published in Make Modern #60.

Good Tidings was published in Annie's Christmas Pattern Book.

Good Tidings

Both quilts were made using Island Batik Fabrics collection Peppermint Sprinkles. 

Peppermint Sprinkles is a beautiful collection - perfect for Holiday sewing. I love that it has elements of the season such as reindeer and snowflakes but it isn't so Christmassy that the quilt/decor becomes outdated by January 1.  It has year round appeal.

That was my thought process as I designed Good Tidings in EQ8.  A fellow quilter/blogger once said that ...

The showers held off each afternoon so I could get good walks -- the state park, a forest preserve, and the nature trail at the end of our block.  

A beaver-chewed tree (one of many along that stretch), a beaver lodge, and horsetails.   

Easter was pleasant. Stevens was able to come to church with me!   I bought a 4-1/2 lb lamb roast. I rubbed it with a mixture of chopped garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil. It was wonderful and we ...

Let me introduce you to Olivia.

Olivia likes the outdoors!

This is such a beautiful collection with a wide range of values from light yellow, through medium red and orange all the way to deep purple. I love these warm colors. Look for Buds and Blooms Layer Cake in your local quilt store.

Here are some more pictures.

Breezy Day

Glowing Fabrics

Gorgeous Fabrics

To make Olivia, you need one layer cake, one focus fabric and ...

Another week of wildlife visits, this small flock of turkeys came by for a meal. I’m pretty sure these are four of the flock of seven that were here last week. They certainly came up running up from the lower meadow just like last time when I stepped out to the veranda and began tossing out some seed to the ground.

I do not know where the other three went, but these guys and gals enjoyed a small feast.

Leaving the house one day this week, the deer were crossing the road as I drove slowly down the street ...

It has been such an interesting week for projects, with a lot of things in the works. I’ve been working on a Quilt of Valor on the frame, my Japanese art quilt in my chair doing handwork, and crafting in between. We’ve had wildlife visits, too. I’ve been cooking up a storm testing recipes for the upcoming Mountain State Fair, so My Sweet Babboo has been eating pretty well. The highlight of the week was a visit by a pretty female hummingbird, perhaps the mate of the male I was able to photograph recently. It was a ...

The lovely temperatures last week made quilting a joy with the windows open. A gentle breeze filtered through the open windows bringing fresh air in the basement. I was able to correct the tension issues, and quilting went fairly smoothly after that.

I worked on it off and on through the week. It was nice to advance to the bottom, knowing I was getting close to done.

The final rows of pantograph went quickly. This one is Fascination from Urban Elementz.

When the quilting was done, I removed it from the frame and trimmed it. The thread color did well ...

I loaded this quilt prior to our trip, and thought I could get a row or two done before we left. I was given the top and batting meant for a Quilt of Valor, but they didn’t have a backing large enough. Well, I knew I had a lot of fabric, and welcomed the opportunity to not only contribute to Quilts of Valor, but also make a bit of headway on my Stashbuster totals. The traditional log cabin pattern in vintage look fabrics looks warm and cozy.

One thing I like to do is check the borders to be ...

Friday and Saturday were both a bit rainy, and I had some time to get progress made on the custom quilting I was doing on the Quilt of Valor. After putting motifs in the rest of the darker triangles and elements of the last blocks, I changed the thread color to an ecru, and went back to the light sections. Doing stippling around the little dog took up the excess fabric and helped to make the embroidery stand out.

I did the same on the eagle.

I did a three loop design in the light sections of a couple of ...

Sometimes our local chapter of Quilts of Valor receives a quilt from someone outside the organization that just doesn’t meet the standard for our veterans. This one was such a dilemma, as it had some gorgeous blocks, but it had significant issues. We loved the quilt idea, the workmanship of the embroidery and the effort of the quilter, but it couldn’t be awarded as it was. Our veterans deserve only our very best.

The embroidery was beautiful, just look at the eagle block. But it has significant excess fabric around the motif, and no quilting.

The pretty dove ...

 

On Friday we had lunch with our friends Ann and John at Hackney's in Glenview. Stevens and Ann were kindergarten classmates in Summit, NJ, in 1945. Ann is a wonderful keeper-in-touch and found us through Rotary several years ago. I hadn't been to Hackney's since I was in high school.

AAUW-Waukegan Area Branch met in person (yay!) on Saturday.  The program was about the African-American Museum at the England Manor in Waukegan.  After her presentation we all look forward to touring it.

Today I will be at the Veteran’s  picnic at the Patriot’s Park to award two quilts of valor. I don’t know too many details; I have been working with the VFW and the DAV to get this done…..more details to come. I just know it will be an honor to present the quilts.

Another month has gone by, and we are halfway through the year of using up some of our stashes. Did you do well this past month? I had a momentary lapse, but did get a little bit done.

I picked up my Dahlia quilt from Asheville Cotton’s charity show, and took the opportunity to spend the gift certificate I won. I seriously considered getting a new ruler, or a book, just so I wouldn’t have to count fabric in, but ultimately caved when I saw these beauties on the sale rack at 70% off. So I bought what ...

The weather this week has cooled off and the humidity is down, so there was a lovely day to open the windows behind the longarm and get this quilt done. It was 58º at dawn, when I got up, and by the time I began working on this QOV, it was still in the 60s. Fresh cool air filled the basement as a gentle breeze wafted through the lace curtains.

I finished quilting it in just a few passes, using white Glide thread on the top, and Bottom Line in the bobbin. The pantograph is called Blue Star.

I checked ...

Once again, we’ve had a busy week with yet one more quick trip to Atlanta among appointments and planning a big event that was held yesterday. I’ll have more on that for you in a day or so. In the heat this week, my daylilies decided it was time to start their show. I got out early one morning before the heat hit to get a few photos. This peach one with the yellow throat is huge. I like the ruffled edges of the petals.

Nearby, a dark purple one is blooming.

I thought I had pulled up ...

Note: Giveaway now closed. I actually selected two winners because I found enough for two kits. Winners have been notified. Hope to hear from them soon so I can mail off their prize!

Good morning all! I intended to post this before Memorial Day. Somehow it didn’t happen so I am writing it this morning. No worries though. While patriotic projects are good at any time of year; May, June and July usually put people in the mood for red, white and blue with Memorial Day, Flag Day and Independence Day during these months.

Doesn’t ...

Veterans Day was a weekday this year, so the British Car Club committee for the Veterans Drive planned an event for the Sunday after. Three British car clubs from North and South Carolina gathered for a lovely autumn color drive in the mountains. We had 33 cars, and most of those had two people, so a big group.

We started in Brevard and wound our way around beautiful trees on back roads for over an hour.

Mountains seen between the trees show beautiful color all the way up to the top.

We brought picnic lunches and chairs, and the club ...

After all that cutting you are probably itching to get stitching. I know I am!

First we’ll make 4-patches.

To create each 4-patch you need two colored pieces and two background pieces.

Stitch each colored square to a background square. Pause a moment and press the seam allowances towards the colored piece. It really does make a difference.

Next stitch the pairs together, putting the colored pieces on opposite ends and nesting the seams.

The next step of pressing has many options. I prefer to press this seam open. It gives the benefit of reduced bulk without the fussiness ...

Have you got your scraps gathered? YAY! Let’s get going!

These directions are for a quilt finishing at approximately 60″ x 80″. Useful on a twin size bed, as a throw or couch quilt, or as a donation quilt. Or, you can make it exclusively because it is beautiful and makes you happy. That might be the best reason of all.

1. Divide your scraps into two piles: Colored and Background. My Colored is all red/blue. My Background is cream or coordinating low volume prints.

TIP: Generally, when cutting scraps, cut the largest piece you can/need first, then ...