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?

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.

A July Recap

July has been a less than productive month for me, at least as far as quilting and blogging go.  We relocated to the cooler mountain air at the end of June, and my daughter and granddaughter soon joined us.  At first, there was a ton of spring cleaning to do, both in the cabin and in my perennial garden.  Most of you know that I am an early riser and in the wee hours of the morning is when I get most of my quilting done, as well as read and comment on the blogs I like to peruse.  It seems my granddaughter is also an early riser; so instead of sewing, I spent my mornings reading books, playing games and watching her discover chasing grasshoppers in the field.  Needless to say, I feel July was idyllic, even if my projects are way behind! 

During nap time, my daughter and I did manage to piece the center of Izzy's I Spy quilt.

I love the hexagon shape that my daughter decided on for setting them!  Such a fresh take on the quilt.  A solid border is the next thing to go on.

Now that I have settled back into my normal rhythm of life, I have made a little progress on those WIPs.

I have started piecing the sunshine blocks for my Pennies from Heaven quilt.
You may notice that it is smaller than the original.  I know myself and the only way this one will ever make it to the finish line is if I make a scaled down version.  Besides, it will be perfect on the wall in the cabin.

Now, the rest of this post is non-quilt related, but I like to share a few pictures of our adventures for those who like to see what we have been up to.

Learning to play in the creek...

and Daddy teaching us to play mini golf.
My daughter also helped me identify and catalog a few more wildflowers,

including this Giant Lousewort growing at around 10,000 ft. elevation.

This week I am madly appliqueing the vine on my It's a Grand Old Flag.  It was supposed to be done this month.  If I work real hard, I should have the cotton applique done by the end of the week and will be back with pictures.  I need to get it done so I can get back to working on Snowbound in the month of August.   Many of my quilting friends are expecting to see it when I return to TOWQS in fall.

Hopefully, I will also find some time to catch up on a few blogs so I can see what everyone else has been up to this month.  Can you believe it is almost August!!!

Atypical, divergent, unrepresentative...

...just a few of the words used to describe my latest project.

It certainly isn't my standard, normal or usual modis operandi,
but was so thoroughly enjoyable!
It will be a surprise for my daughter.
It was made from the scraps of the hexie quilt I am still working on. I knew this one would get to her much faster than the other!
I am calling it 'Working Nine to Five.'

I finished up last month's and this month's PFH blocks.

I used one of the stitch variations on the middle maroon flower.  I like the way it came out using a variegated Valdani thread.

I changed this block slightly by substituting another twig of bittersweet.
The original had a large circle with a star in it.
We are getting down to the last two smaller blocks and
I am real anxious to start setting them.

I'll be working on hexies today...top of my WIP list.
Hope you find time today for sewing too.

In between decking the halls,

baking, and making the laborious trek to the post office,

 I have managed to start a new applique project.

Many months ago, Deb brought this project to my attention.

Country Whig Rose by Kim Diehl.

I have the first block prepped.

I have block #2 halfway prepped and all but the circles done on block #4.

I am trying to get all the fabrics chosen and the fabric requirements calculated so that TOWQS can kit it up for a class I have scheduled to teach in February.

Needless to say, after they are all prepped, I will be stitching, stitching, stitching!

This morning I will be finishing off this X-stitch stocking for my granddaughter.

I love how my DD copied her first stocking!

And finally,

this month's PFH block.
I love the stitch we learned for the stems...it is a keeper.

Hope everyone is enjoying the season!
It finally got cold here, so perhaps it will really feel like Christmas!
Would be nice to have some of the white stuff on the ground,
but only for a day or so.

This and That

I am on a winning streak!

This time it is this awesome pattern from Linda of 

Quilts in the Barn.

Click on her blog name to see the quilt up close. 

Both her design and the quilting are exquisite.

Her pattern reproduces one of the quilts from the 

Infinite Variety Show.

Perhaps this will inspire me to finish my red and white quilt.

The weather cooled down dramatically and I mustered enough energy to sew the binding on Pinwheels for Caroline.  I love scrappy bindings, so I chose to do this one in black scraps...perhaps not my best idea. However, I am using up my stash, which was my original goal with this quilt.  The one good decision I made was to go with a wool batt.

I love the texture and it hasn't been washed yet!

Ignore the dark stripe running across the quilt...poor photo.

Block 4 of PFH is done.

The BOM instructor gave us a new stitch for the stem.

She plans to show us a few more variations, 

so I will try all of them and then choose my favorite.

BTW, the #42 teal I ordered was the wrong color.

  It is so hard to tell from the pics on the computer the true color of the thread.  

So, my clorox lightened thread will just have to suffice...it is the thread on the darkest petals.

Company is coming!

Next week my DD and I will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner, as well as out of town guests.

Lots of work to get the house and all the meals prepared.

So, I will wish everyone a 

Happy Thanksgiving

now.   

Just a little finish...

 Punkin Seeds,

designed by Little Bits by Joan.

My versatile hubbie made the primitive frame for me.

While I was at it,

I made Woodland Winter #303 as well.

Both projects were quick and easy to do.

I am procrastinating yet again.

Pinwheels for Caroline came back from the longarm quilter and is ready for a binding. 

 I'll use the still warm weather as my excuse for not tackling it just yet.

Of course, I am itching to start something new, so I picked up one of the new

 Little Bites by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. called Tidbit.

I could not resist it when I saw the 3 little quilts made by Carrie Nelson for the October meeting of the Miss Rosie's Club at TOWQS.  If you want to see them, go to Carrie's post here.

I finally got the nerve to tackle the embroidery on my PFH BOM.  

Block #1

Block #2-the hardest part was getting the straight stitches of the sunburst equal.

Must have ripped them out 10 times.

Thank you, Anne, for suggesting a sunburst instead of the smiley face!

Block #3

I have been using seed beads instead of colonial knots where indicated,

but stopped after adding them to the aqua petals (the bottom two petals have the beads.)

Decided to wait until all the blocks are made to see if perhaps these beads are too much for my taste.

Next month's block is predominately aqua/teal, which has created a slight problem...

I don't own the perfect medium teal Valdani perle cotton.

They make it, but I cannot order it directly from them.  

You have to find a shop that carries it.    

Snowflake Memories has a good selection, but no #42.

So I cut off some of a very dark teal I did have and tried to lighten it in a bath of dilute Clorox.  When they said it was colorfast, they meant it. 

 It lightened only slightly even after drying it in direct sunlight. 

After all that, I did find the thread at Primitive Gatherings. 

Should have looked there first! But now I know it is truly colorfast!

Thoughts and prayers to those dealing with the aftermath of Sandy!

Fall Frenzy!

Our weather here in the desert southwest has finally gone into cool down mode!

Our nighttime temps are in the 60's and our highs are under 3 digits!
The next 8 months are why we tolerate our sizzling summers.

To celebrate the arrival of FALL,

I have gone into pumpkin overload.

October Brings,
by JoAnn Mullaly,

graciously gifted to me by my friend, Deb,

is in the process of being machine quilted.
Wish you could see the stitchery better.

Primitive Pumpkins,

designed by Rita Briner, of the Quilters Station,

is officially a finish and

adorns my dining room table.

I purchased #308 Punkin Seeds

from Little Bits by Joan

and plan to start on it soon.

Should be a quick and fun project and will look great on my sideboard!

TOWQS has samples of several of her framed wool creations on display
and I want to make one of each!

Amidst all this fall frenzy,

I continue to stitch away at my Pennies From Heaven BOM.

Introduced the first aqua wool in block #3.

Did you notice I actually did a little embroidery...the stems.
The inner black circles are not embroidered yet...I am a chicken.
Struggling with the little lazy daisy stitches.

I have also started on Izzy's park quilt...

one cannot live on handwork, quilting and binding alone!

Inspired by Lee Heinrich's interpretation of the Cathedral Square block,

#469, from the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Blog Tour.

I don't know how many blocks I will make or how I will set them yet,

but I am enjoying playing with bright fabrics for a change.

Lee plans to publish a pattern for her setting in the future.

Last week we took a needed vacation on Maui.
The diving was not all that great,
but that is the foot of my flipper in the upper corner
and I hope you can see the dolphins that swam next to us.

What a thrill!
However, the best part was getting to see my granddaughter experience the ocean for the first time.

FMQ Fun!

Primitive Pumpkins is quilted!

Remember when I said I looked forward to doing the borders?

Well,

this is how I did them.

I cut templates of oak leaves from freezer paper,

ironed them at 4" intervals in the border 

and then quilted, 

using them as guides.

After the outline of the leaves were quilted,

I turned the quilt over and did all the fill work from the back.

I did the same thing in the body of the quilt,

using the 3 pumpkins as my theme.

After I was done,

I showed it to my hubby, who exclaimed,

"A work of art!  You should hang it up backwards and forget all that piecing in the future!"

Men!

After much deliberation,

I have gone a new direction with my Pennies From Heaven.

Here are the first two blocks.

I changed the background to a soft brown print and

went from lime green to a blue green wool called Meadow,

by Weeks Dye Works.

I am so pleased with the changes I made that I have almost all the stitching done.

That is, except the embroidery....

not my best skill.

Cannot wait to add some of my vibrant aqua wool to the mix!

Short, Sweet and Finished

And does it not look fabulous on my kitchen table!

Short and Sweet by Kim Diehl.

I kept the quilting simple...

Cross-hatching in the center and echo quilting around the border.

And, 

here is the gratuitous picture of my precious granddaughter on it.

Progress to report on Primitive Pumpkins.

The leaves are not in their permanent spots yet. 

 I like to sew down the vine and pumpkins before I iron them in place. 

 They tend to come off when I am stitching.

The hardest part has been finding wool that will contrast with such a dark background.  

I seldom buy kits, but it might have been easier to buy one from The Quilter's Station.

I shrank the quilt down to 2" finished squares, but did not change the size of the applique shapes.  I wanted them to be more prominent.

Cannot wait to do the leave quilting motif in the borders.

I have the first block of my Pennies from Heaven prepped.

  It is a BOM, but I know this will come as no surprise...

I want to change up the colors, but I am having a hard time committing to the bright lime green petals.  

Risky business, for sure.

Well, off to another buttonhole stitching marathon.

Short and Sweet

Nothing like a new book full of inspiration,

and some free time

to get the creative juices going again.

My version of Kim Diehl's Short and Sweet from her new book,

Simple Charm.

This is what it should look like when I finish.

I did resew Primitive Pumpkins, 

and with the help of a my friend,

Deb,

now have all the wools collected for the applique.

So between the two projects,

there will be a lot of button hole stitching going on around here.

In addition,

I start my BOM, Pennies from Heaven, tomorrow.

Wool, wool, glorious wool!