Giveaway!

Thank you all for following along with my rather low key blog here :-) I have enjoyed being in this quilting blog community. Sew...to celebrate 208 posts and 110 followers, I have gathered some treats that I found at the latest local quilt show.

I will pull two names so if you would like this sweet turtle pattern and some fabric to sew it up OR if you would like these fat quarters of birds and butterflies please leave a comment and tell me which gift you would prefer.
If you are in the mood...I would love to hear about where you live and what you look forward to in the fall.
I will select winners next Monday. Thank you for including me in your quilt blogging.
Last winter I started working on a flannel snowman quilt and had to put it aside. So I have pulled it out and am enjoying being deep into my plaids and flannels.
Background and the pieces for some blocks.

Happy September y'all!
 

home vacation and about that giveaway!

well...part of it was at home. I traveled north for a visit to my sister where we took in beautiful sites (and food!) in Half Moon Bay as well as a couple of movies that were very enjoyable. 2 movies about chefs...One Hundred Foot Journey and Chef. I would recommend both although the second had some rather rough language in it. The story however was sweet and the fun.
I returned home at the same time as my best friend showed up for a planned mini vacation here in Cambria that included massages, delicious dinner at the SeaChest and a horse back ride!  It has been about 40 (!) years since I had the pleasure of riding a horse. Such amazing creatures.
Here's a picture of our trail guide getting Sam ready for my ride

Here's a happy me!

And here we are at the ocean view. I could see my neighborhood from here. Such an amazing place to live!

Sew...about that giveaway! Instead of celebrating my 200th post...I'll go for celebrating the 207th or maybe having 110 followers :-)
Next post I'll have pictures and the plan. Thank you for reading along with me. Blogging world has some lovely quilters (and their pets :-) in it!

wild color post

I finished the wild color/plaid quilt. Found some less than exciting backing for it and loaded it on my longarm. I quilted one row and got the silly idea I should finally adjust my needle up/down positioner...Whaaaa! I messed something up in the process.

But fortunately, I got the right help :-)  Randy at A-1 diagnosed the problem, sent me instructions of how to make sure that was actually the problem and then sent me the parts to fix it. It took about a week to get it all taken care of but did not break the bank...which pleasantly surprised me. And then I got to quilting this wild quilt again.

I think it looks better in person but it is obviously not a fancy quilt. It is mostly about letting my friend know that I'm praying for her and her sister.
The quilting pattern I chose had dragonflies in it which is why I chose it. But although I am not a person for dense quilting....this pattern is sparse! It was fun to quilt and fast but I'm not sure I would use it again because of this.

 

Here's Elinor helping me sew on the binding...with a peek at the backing.

 

Pets on Parade 2014

The parade started yesterday (I'm late to the party!) It is a fun annual event to see quilters work with showing animal themes in their quilting...or like me, just using it to show off how cute their pets are :-)
I couldn't figure out how to make the button active so follow this following link to Pets on Parade to enjoy the quilts, the animals and PRIZES! Pets on Parade 2014
My entry is a photo dear mostly just to my own heart as I found my current goldens sitting on our love seat just like the brothers we lost years ago use to sit. Silly perhaps but it made me smile.

Luke and Sabra on Plaid Crazy Quilt

 

shout out to Julie in Texas :-)

I need to make a quilt fast for a co-worker whose sister has just had the bad news of cancer metastasis. I thought about giving the blue on I'm finishing. But these girls are strawberry blondes and their personalities are so much like sweet sunshine when they walk in the room. I need something bright.
An email from the AllPeopleQuilt group included a quilt pic that I'd seen before but never thought about because hey...I'm more into the dark side of color ;-)
So I need to go shopping right?
Looked online and found a charm pack of Kaffe Fasset but oh wait...it's not available yet. Well, I'll check my LQS on Tuesday when I have a half day at work.
Well...you could at least look in the cupboard...
Hmmm. what's that?

Oh my! look at these fabrics from the shirt scraps Julie sent me!

These are exactly what I need!
Thank you again, Julie. What a treasure :-)
















Crazy, I know...from nothing to 2 posts in one day!
more later...

buckeyes

 

 

I finished putting on the borders of another quilt last night and noticed only when I looked at the picture...there were 2 blocks I forgot to include in my count and left on the design wall. So apparently, I will be making yet another of these quilts :-)

though this is not a surprise. I apparently like this block a lot!

I use to think Courthouse Steps was my favorite or Ohio Stars but I have only made one or two courthouse step quilts and have only made a few Ohio Star blocks. But this buckeye block keeps showing up.

There's this one called Plaid Madness. It's my first time to use this block and where I learned just how much I had to learn about color value :-) and also just how many mistakes I could make in making blocks and placement! It is still my favorite quilt however...I love all those plaids in there and the pieced border.

Another was a huge king size quilt...which I can't find a picture of!

Found it...well, I thought I did but this was a smaller one I made with the leftover fabrics.

 

 

And then here's another that was actually supposed to be set differently but I preferred this..

See that gorgeous plaid backing?

This was in a Moda line. Finally someone including plaids! (back in 2006 or whenever :-)

Then the blue ones here and a few others...Note to self: organize your photos with better titles!

Anywhoo...I'm having a good time here but it's back to work tomorrow.

more later :-)

it's about time...

that I got back here with an update :-)
The past 2 months have been full. I finally got to sewing something a couple of weeks ago. I had some leftover blocks from the my blue quilt and took those as a way to get going again.
We have been working to get my mom's little house ready for some painting, etc....painted by professionals...not me! And that started today, so to celebrate I am sewing blocks into rows and am enjoying time in my sewing room again.
Looks much like the last quilt...

Today's quilt help is brought to by Marianne

and Sabra

More later...