June, July.. We've been busy !

  Time sure fly's when you  busy! This hasn't been updated since  May.. wow.
That combined with my PC skills loading pics is tricky for me. They aren't in proper order this time... o well..
 We've finally redone the back patio that had 3inch cracks and was hard for me to get around on.  Jacob did a fabulous job getting this done.

  We took a week between rains, lawn mowing, and garden to camp in Nashua.  Love the lake views !

 ..along with new cement  Jake built a larger landing and steps to the back door.. perfect !

 Since receiving donations from Kansas Girls I did two braided quilts in country colors . Plus one in Bright! all three were made from the  bits, 'fabric not foldable' 2x 5 size makes a wonderful way to use up  smaller skinny scraps and mix them up well !

  next project was using up a big box of varied turquoise, teal, aqua, mint, accented with coral...

  The patio with a new table set.. paradise....

  I attended two fairs this year. Hampton is my favorite 3 blue ribbons were won. shown with  comments.....

  Christmas Joy 2015 is a whole cloth quilt, I used colored thread and drafted it two days before leaving Texas last spring This quilt has traveled the country before going to Nancy's home. It recvd a blue at both fairs.

  This is my 'Dare to be Sassy' green n purple batiks,, all drafted in the camper while in TX.. pieced while there,  Quilted on the big machine when I got home. 2 blues after both fairs.

  This is a Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt. I tossed in the Fair pile simply because its BIG, It fit a category on their list... it won $15 award from the local guild, blue ribbon.


personally I don't like it.. it is her pattern, her colors, her design.. there is no ME in it.

 the Judge ladies really look close sometimes.. here they are looking at the skinny points,  flames and circles within the  quilting...

 This is a very scrappy chain type pattern using every yellow and tan in my box.. 'You are my Sunshine' recvd a blue

  We got to watch 7 hot air balloons inflate and float away one night. That was fun.

  We had a 40th class reunion.. of 32 -34 kids 8 of us showed up ! Only 3 of us were somewhat local with under 50 miles to travel.. Anne from Holland really made the distance,, was nice to see her!

 We partied near the Lake the night before...

Two of the  teal , Aqua, coral quilt were assembled.

As we move into August..  I'm in paradise on the patio,, trying to  get some goodies from the garden.....

This month I'm working to use some donated Hoffman Fabrics.. I might even  get few more tops quilted to the DONE stage.... ideas !! so many Ideas,,,, 

April & May Spring Madness !

Wow!,, April got started off with a Bang..  I got the house clean and a fresh look in March,,  left with a bit of a perk to go to the Basement and  rummage/fondle the fabric bins,,  maybe even put some order to the Chaos there,  sorry No Pic of the mess there.. LOL

 I did find baggies of pre cuts.. ala  Bonnie Hunter style.. There is a lot of fabric in a gallon baggie. First one was started for me already with 1.5" strips bargello . Nancy was here to cheer me on with that one.

  While she was here and we were talking donated fabrics,, She came up with the idea that her Kansas  group does a scrappy donation.. They also had a place for GoodDeeds to the Shriners down that way.....  OKKK  That will be this years big send off.  Above is an ez and fast one, I did three of this.. and trying to draft pattern with instructions for the Kansas girls.

  I tried doing feathers on the Big quilty machine,, Tis a  small blessing that they are  hid within the  colors... and piano key lines for the borders. ---- FYI those lil squares are 1 inch size.

  Nancy and I  did a very FUN trip to Cedar Rapids Machine Quilt Convention and took classes from Claudia Phiel of Germany.. lots of ideas ! and oooOOO Wow the fancy quilts shown there.     Very fun  trip... took me a week to recover ! lol

  On arrival home,, I had  25#  package of colors from Hoffman International fabric company.... ALL SKINNY RANDOM STRIPS,,, ohh my,, this will be a challenge..  trash to anyone else,, Loot for me ! THANK YOU Hoffmans !

 a few things got finished this month   and the Pile is growing..  just wait till Fall to see how large it grows.

                                            Mothers day flowers

 I had every surface in the house filled at one point... here I'm drafting an idea to use both Hoffman strips and  some curtain samples... stay tuned.....

 #1 from the Hoffan bag of strips a bargello using rectangles from wider strips and softer collection of colors called 'Simply Eclectic'

 ..from a precut scrap baggie of  cream, pink, burgundy, greens,,,

                                        My DivaDarling will be 10 in Sept.

 It seems Nancy has been busy too. While at her house she pulled 3 big boxes of fabric brought home from Kansas girls packed into my car! THANK YOU !


 Diva helped when I dumped it on the floor to sort into  brights, solids, holiday.. foldable size and bits.....

 ... she had attitude when I shooed her away after folding...

 .. back to the drafted project..... paper  piecing an old fashioned spider quilt.  This technique was used in the 30s by stitching any useable bit to newspaper.

  Remember Plan A-Plan B?? I got it quilted.. it will be gifted soon.

 from theClaudia Phiel class, She taught using cursive as a design. can you see cursive 'u'..' i'.... ta daaaaa..................

  I'm so blessed with donations,, but  a bit of chaos & madness follows.. with  things sorted into ideas,   I have flats boxes everywhere..
Here I'm cutting the group of  Country Bits into  Braid size for the next Good Deed using Nancy's Girls fabrics....

And the drafted pattern,, The Spider web.. using curtain samples as the star colors.... and the Hoffman International Simply Eclectic as the web.  I think it looks like a Ferris Wheel .. A very fun one !

June is here. I'm finishing piecing on a Country color Braid quilt ( I think I have enough cut for two).. and cutting my way thru a large box of brights for another Braid quilt.. possibly three in that box..... I think I need some kits ready to put in the RV should we get a crazy idea to fire that up.. there's a machine out there too ! ....

 Enjoy the Summer !

March Finishes !

  Its been a busy month!  I'm battling a bunch of Spring Fever.. and  fussing around to keep the mind busy  after  couple years of Kid Krapp.


 So a friend requested a Fidget Quilt for her dad w Alzheimer's I hustled to get that done and in the mail. It was a fun project

    In a  current market flyer I spotted cute fabric  for  updating the front room.. as the way with most things by the time I got there the  promotion had changed  or I cant find the product shown.....typical... after  a week of  snooping ALL shops in the area I settled on these  prints.... and got to work.  The blue is for valances in both rooms.

  The Jazzy print with coral is the kitchen valance and pillows.

  Its amazing what you can do with a ruler and pencil !... and sewing machine.

 ... even found some hot pink flannel for the backs of the pillows.....

  I cant change the red rug .. but I lightened up the rest the place.

  I started doing the Pinterst thing.. What a time consuming deal.. but also what an amazing source of ideas!

 This is a child size quilt.

  Over course of the month I set up The Dare Quilt from Nancy... (I need a better name for it )...

 .. But I got brave,, I  scanned pinterest for a few ideas and how to.. The jumped in !!
 Its by NO Means a Show Quilt.. but I had fun doodling on it.

 We will go on the premis that Finished is Best!

  Ive been organizing a few closets,, and the stash bins down stairs were snooped thru. Im finding bundles of  colors for inspiration.. along with Old projects in baggies that are calling me...


The inspiration here is a Salesman sample card with  nice floral.  I used everything imaginable of those colors.

 This is a nice lap Size quilt

 .. From another Baggie with pink & green strips a RailFence quilt was assembled.  I had cut this out as a kit for the RV back in 09- 10?? when we purchased the RV.

 Easter was a quiet day with Party for Two.

We finished the month with a visit from Nancy.. Lots of sewing ,, shared ideas,, chatter,,

We can FIX the world in a matter of 3 days in our talks !

... LOLLL

One of our topics fell into using  the stash.. and where it all goes.. WHO needs  quilts.. Where to send the GoodDeeds.. Well theres  no end in sight of places to donate. That's a fact.  But mention was made of the Shriners Hospitals.

I'm thinking this is the Year for the Shriners.

My new roll of batting is just the right width to use for kid quilts.

 I have plenty of ideas and time.....

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 I will still take donations of cotton fabrics or larger yardage & sheets for the backing..

Buzz me if you have cotton fabrics !!

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