It's a Barn Raising!

I have been busier than a bee trying to get all 9 barns stitched for the Shoppe sample of Kathy Cardiff's pattern,

'Where the Cows Come Home.'

Each new one I stitch becomes my new favorite.

This next one is my friend, Lin's, block, but mine looks identical.  

I just don't have the embroidery done, which you all know is not my favorite part.

Might just sweet talk someone into doing it for me...wink!

I also found some time to do the December Petite Patchwork quilt.

This is from Lori Smith's Small Quilt Squares #3.

And who could resist the freebie projects over at Buttermilk Basin's Blog Hop.

And today Stacy posted her sheep ornament...yes, the wools are all pulled!  Hope I can get a few made for presents in the next 10 days.

It has been a crazy holiday season!

And I have nothing done yet!

Tree is up.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year filled with health and prosperity.

See you next year.

Queries about Where the Cows Come Home

For those of you who expressed at interest in this BOM, it is being offered at

The Olde World Quilt Shoppe.

The barns are woolens appliqued on to cotton backgrounds, many of them primitive Diamond Textiles' homespuns.

The registration fee is $15 and the kits are $15 per month for 10 months.

The book is $35, payable at time of registration.

Registration is open until Dec. 30th.

The program starts in early Feb.

If you are interested, call the shoppe at 480-473-2171.

Finally, a WIP is done!

And here it is...my version of Pennies from Heaven.

Off to the quilter she goes!

This will be a perfect spring table topper or a permanent display in my green guest room. I will add some beading after it is quilted. Most importantly, it is a flimsy!

I have finished a few other projects for the clubs at TOWQS.

The December Basin Banner.

A big thank you to my go-to-gal for stitching and embroidery, Debbie, 

for all her help with these little guys.

And this one is my favorite!

The December Petite Patchwork quilt from Lori Smith's Quilt Squares #3.

She is in my quilting queue, and will be finished soon.

I am excited to get these projects done because I can hardly wait to start working on a new BOM that will be offered at the shoppe:

We will be starting the BOM in early Feb. 

Woolen applique on homespun backgrounds. 

I want to make that winter red barn today!

Geez, it is mid November already.

I might have to start getting ready for the holidays, which I will host at my home this year. My mother is coming to visit for the holidays, so probably not much sewing will get done once she arrives.  I don't know though...she sleeps in and I am up in the wee hours of the morning!

My favorite time of day.

Are you ready for the holidays?

This and That

So much for will power!

Looks like those WIPs will go back in the infamous closet for awhile.

I have been busy with new projects, which will come to no surprise to those who know how easily I am tempted...the samples for the

Petite Patchwork Club at TOWQS.

Here is the October mini:

And here is the November mini:

Both quilts are from the patterns, QUILT SQUARES, by Lori Smith.

If you want info on the club,

go  to www.theoldeworldquiltshoppe.com.
It was so fun to do some small scale piecing again! 

With a little bit of help for a wonderful stitcher,

the November banner for the Basin Banners Thru the Year Club is also done and hanging in the shoppe.

Next up are the new BOM programs we have planned.  I'll be back with them as I make progress. I am especially excited about the Farm Girl Finery quilt, designed by Kim Diehl and appearing in her new book, Simple Appeal.

I am keeping up with my little letters though!

I have motivation. I need a baby quilt.

My grandson was born the day after my birthday.

What a wonderful present!

Around the World Blog Hop

I was invited to join in on the Around the World Blog Hop by Michele of Island Life Quilts. I have been following Michele for a long time and enjoy seeing her bright, modern quilts. I especially love all the little bags she makes.  The quilting motifs she uses to quilt her own quilts are always inspiring.

Why do I create?

For one thing, it keeps me off the streets and out of the bars...LOL.

But really, I just love it.  

My favorite part is selecting the fabrics for a project and then I like the challenge of piecing the quilt as best I can. 

Quilting also provides me with a community.

What am I working on?

What am I not working on! I just want to make them all. 

Here is a sampling:

'All Hallow's Eve'

This is a Sew Along I designed for The Olde World Quilt Shoppe blog. 

Anything small really makes me happy!

I am a big fan of Kim Diehl and just finished stitching down 'Penny Garland.'  Wool applique has really become a favorite medium for me. Here is another work in progress designed by Kim Diehl and using wool applique.

Finishes are not my forte, but here is a recent one that even has a binding...my least favorite part of the process.

'Snowbound'

Oh, the list of projects is endless, and I always have a new one brewing in my mind.  I recently took on a part time job at my LQS and my duties include selecting patterns and fabrics.  Boy, am I in heaven!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time today to stitch and create too.

A Quick Fix

Nothing like exploring a inviting, friendly quilt shop when you are tired of sitting in the car.

We traveled to the cabin this week for a little fall color, some hiking and then closing the cabin for the winter. It is a long ride! Both my husband and I needed to stretch our legs when we hit Cortez, CO and I remembered seeing a quilt shop on the main street.  So hubby took a long stroll and I went in for some retail therapy.

Cortez Quilt Company, located at 40 West Main Street.  

You can visit their website here.

I loved the quilt that greeted me at the door.

Kits are available!

They had a lovely wall of batiks,

a nice selection of civil war era fabrics,

and 

inspiring displays.

The staff was helpful and friendly; and Karen, the owner, was teaching a Bernina Class in the back of the shop. 

I left with a nice package of goodies and a smile on my face.

Now, a few updates.

The AMB license plate quilt is pieced and off to the quilter.

See my block in the upper, left portion of the quilt.

I love the way it turned out. 

And finally,

Penny Garland is all stitched down...yes, one wool piece is missing; but I did not bring any wool with me to the cabin, so I will place it when I get home.
The weather is gorgeous, so up the trail I go to get pictures of the Aspen turning.

Frosting!

That is what Mary @ Quilt Hollow does to a quilt top!

'Lunch Box Social'

I have long admired her quilting and I finally have one frosted by her!

Cannot wait to get it back and bound!

Here is the back...yummy!

I might have to display it as a whole cloth quilt with a pieced backing...haha.

Let's see....... what can I send to her next?

Temptation!

So hard to resist!

I purchased this fabric up in Prescott months ago, and then I saw the Temecula Quilt Co.'s Back to School Sew Along, Little Letters.  Perfect quilt for gifting to my grandchildren!

You noticed I said grandchildren...plural!

My son is expecting his first child right around my birthday...a little boy.

I will make two of each letter each week and have two quilts when all is said and done.

Now that is a BOW I can handle.

And speaking of done,

'Snowbound,'

quilted and bound.

I used a stripped homespun for the binding and cut it on the bias.  I cut my bindings 1 7/8" wide and then slightly tug on them when sewing them on the quilt...something I learned from Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  

Well, I learned something new!  Cannot pull on a homespun binding cut on the bias...it shrinks.  Next time I use a bias homespun, I will cut the binding wider.

I will not meet my goals this month.  Life just gets in the way sometimes.  Last weekend I was in California for the estate/garage sale to help my mom downsize.  It was a huge success, but an emotionally exhausting experience.  On the day of the sale, we also learned that mom's home had sold, cash deal, 20 day close.  We could not be more blessed.  The home was built by my father, husband, and brother.  It was hard to say goodbye, although I had never lived in the home.

The one decision I have made is to focus on one UFO, Pennies from Heaven.

Here is my abbreviated version.

I have worked hard in the mornings getting all the setting triangles done.  Next step is to piece all the blocks together.  I have ordered the border fabric and will decide on what I will do next when it comes.  It just might be to stop here.  It will look lovely on the wall in my 'green' guest room.

This weekend I will be working at TOWQS to help with Shop Hop and then we will head back to Colorado to winterize the cabin, so I am prepping a lot of handwork, including finishing Penny Garland and working on Sunflower Gatherings.  

Back to work. The day is short.

Cracking the WIP!

Summer is over and it is time to get back to some sort of discipline when it comes to finishing up my WIPs. 'In the Meadow' is ready to go to the quilter. I just need to get a backing put together. 'Lunch Box Social' is off to the quilter.  I finished my 'Autumn Pinwheels' by Primitive Gatherings and it is on display at TOWQS.

I will also continue to work on my blockhead projects, 'Christmas Magic' and 'Le Jardin.' And I hate to say it, but 'Sunflower Gathering' will become a WIP.  I will make it my goal to make a block a month. Perhaps I will make Wednesdays my WIP day like many other bloggers have.

But, and this will come to no surprise to anyone, I have to have a new project for the month...

Kim Diehl's 'Penny Garland' from her book, Simple Appeal.

I have been using the Soft Fuse Premium I spoke of before and I can report that it works well on wool.  Not perfect, but what fusible is. It is easy to trace the shapes on to, the paper peels off with the greatest of ease, and it is almost imperceptible since it is so lightweight.  It has one downside...the wool shapes do not adhere to the background as nicely as cotton did, but only with lots of handling do they come off.  Therefore, I can only place 6-7 shapes down at once before I have to stitch them on.  Maybe that is not a downside, since I would tend to place all the shapes and then claim I would stitch them down later...yeah, maybe much later.  I like the design portion of the process way more than the work portion. As a result, all those shapes are stitched and I can now proceed to design the outer border of wool shapes. The middle wreath gives it a Christmas feel, but when the multicolored shapes go on, it will be a year round topper for a round table in my home.

Binge Sewing!

I have been home a little less than a week now, all by myself...hubbie will come home sometime this week...and have been doing nothing but hanging out in my sewing room.
That's right...no cooking, no cleaning and no laundry!
I do shower and get dressed each day, but usually not until late in the morning. 

Needless to say, I have gotten a few things done.

'Autumn Pinwheels'

by Primitive Gatherings
I worked 2 days at TOWQS and just could not help but buy a NEW project.

Lots of stitching to do now on the wool vines and leaves!

Thank you, Lisa, for the inspiration temptation.

Pieced the center of 'Idaho Lily' for the Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots Club.
Next, prep the applique and make the 76 half square triangles that are 1" finished.

I made two blocks for a new Mystery Sampler quilt with a spring theme.
Here is a sneak peak:

There is one downside to binge sewing...you just might have an OOPS!

I spotted some "leftover" strips sitting on the ironing board from the first little KD quilt and thought...why not make a small quilt out the them.
As I was cutting into the 6th strip, I noted that they were all nicely cut into 1 7/8" wide strips.
OOPS, they were the strips for the scrappy binding.
Oh well, I had some other scraps to replace them with and now I have this cute 12" x 12" quilt to start my one day, small quilt collage.

Hope you are having fun times in your sewing room, but without the OOPS.

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow!

I took my last wildflower hike yesterday to Fourmile Falls, which is actually 4 miles round trip.  Most of the wildflowers were fall asters, but my DH enjoyed feasting on the wild raspberries.  Then a farewell luncheon at Farrago Market Cafe for salmon tacos...a must do if you are ever passing through Pagosa Springs.

Just like my At Home in the Woods quilt, I started working on a perennial garden 4 years ago.

Here is the result of the years of experimentation.

The Russian Sage, Midnight Sage, and Purple Coneflowers have been steady performers and the Snow in Summer is the best ground cover.  Beware though, the Coneflowers and Sage free seed themselves everywhere!

Spring is predominated by Bearded Iris, but they are long gone now.

Then there is the jewel of our garden:

Colorado Columbines.

My daughter carefully tends these babies when she visits and most have been started from seed.

She has several varieties, including white, yellow and pink ones.

This year I added some red-orange Gaillardia to the mix and hope it is a survivor. 

This entire patch is free seeding volunteers and transplants from the native areas of our land.

Along the border of the property, cheery sunflowers grow.

There have been many failures over the years.  The plants have to tolerate some severe conditions.  Pagosa Springs is a very arid location and the garden must tolerate long periods of drought. Then there is the severely cold winter.  Some years there is no snow pack, which is the hardest on my garden. The snow actually insulates the plants and provides water until we can return and start up the sprinkler system.  But the biggest challenge of all is the deer! 

Now it is time to pack up and head back to the Valley of the Sun.

I will miss the afternoon thunderstorms and the cool nights of sleep, but I am ready to return to my sewing room and community. 

Okay weeds, you can reclaim the garden!

Miss Izzy will miss romping through the grass, playing in the dirt and just exploring the great out-of-doors!

Decorating with Quilts

I started this quilt in 2010 and only work on it while at the cabin.

At Home in the Woods,

by McKenna Ryan.

It will occupy a large, blank wall at the cabin.  

The only problem with working on a quilt over a period of 4 years is you do not have access to the original fabrics anymore.  I have one more long block to fuse and a few accents and it will be ready for the border.  What I like about her patterns is how the shapes spill into the border.  The star of this quilt, in my opinion, is the Aspen Tree in the upper left border.  You can only see the beginnings of it right now. Perhaps it will be a flimsy by Summer 2015.

In order to finish this project, I visited the Durango Quilt Shop. Our local little shop here in Pagosa Springs closed in March...boohoo! The Durango shop has a fabulous collection of batiks! The best thing I came home with though was a new fusible...Soft Fuse Premium.  I am impressed, but have not tried it on wool yet. It is, however, extremely superior for a fusible applique project like this one. Very light weight and strong.

The cabin is the perfect place for decorating with quilts.

 A flannel quilt draped over the chair with a Kim Diehl design on the wall.

 A Kathleen Tracy quilt draped over the staircase railing. See that big blank wall...that is where the McKenna Ryan quilt will hang.

 Bear in the Woods, by Liberty Homestead alongside some of my photography. I am a wanna be wildlife photographer. LOL! The quilt hanger is by Summer Sky Creations. They do a great job at custom hangers!

Seasonal small quilts.

Small quilts on the dining table, designed by Miss Rosies Quilt Co.

A log cabin quilt on our bed, designed by Kim Diehl.

The guest bedroom with another Kim Diehl quilt on the bed and a Jo Morton design on the wall.

Hope you have enjoyed the quilt tour.

How do you decorate with quilts?