Weekend Wrap Up

This was my home away from home this weekend.  We had a family campout as part of a church program that our kids are involved in.  The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time.  I got a little hand stitching done which I will show tomorrow.

I came home a little early from the camp out because my three year old had reached her camping limit.  That was fine by me.  The first thing I did today was make a fun breakfast for the little one and I.  Roasted mini potatoes topped with a fried egg, and a whole pot of cinnamon spice coffee.  Bliss.  I had several hours to work on a sewing project that I'm hoping to have finished later this week.

Salmon salad for lunch.  I was feeling very spoiled.....

.......Until the campers arrived bearing seven loads of laundry.  :-)

My weekend got off to a wonderful start thanks to a really special surprise from my friend Wendy.  In addition to being a talented quilter, Wendy can work magic with a crochet needle.  We were brainstorming a few weeks ago about things we could make for Christmas gifts this year.  I told her about crocheted slippers that I used to get when I was a little girl.  My Tante Anna used to make them for me.  (Tante is German for "Aunt".)  She always used to make the slippers out of variegated yarn, and she would add a little pom-pom to the top of them.  They were the coziest things EVER, and the objects of some very sentimental memories.

So, Friday morning Wendy came by to help me lay out a quilt I'm working on, and look what she brought for me and Emma.  She could not have thrilled me more!!  I am so touched that she made these for us.  Emma's are pink (of course!) which means they were an instant favorite.  Mine are an ode to my love affair with BRIGHT ORANGE and I could not be more excited.  

Orange crocheted slippers.  The ultimate.

Look at the beautiful flowers she made to adorn them; complete with orange button centers (mine) and pink flower buttons (hers).  I'm so incredibly lucky to have Wendy in my life.  She most certainly knows how to make my life colorful, cozy, and oh-so-sentimental.  Thank you, Wendy!!

We are now happy campers with happy little feet!  :-)

No Reply Blogger???

Is there anyone high tech reading here?

And by "high tech" I mean do you know how to do more than hit the "publish" button?  Because if so, you have surpassed me.

I have had a few people tell me that they have tried to email me, but that my email is set to "no reply".  I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out how to solve this problem and I'm stumped.

Can anyone offer a quick and simple explanation?  Because I sure would love to get email!  :-)

Thanks~

(I would learn something about my mac, but it might cut into my valuable sewing time.  Ha!!!!)

3-D Fabric!

Have you seen it?  Crazy stuff!  

This certainly ramps up the cool factor, from the perspective of a 12 year old boy, of being dragged to two quilt shops in one day.

He was in favor of adding some to my stash.

I took a pass.

But these newbies from Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company?

Another story.

They came home with me.

In all their 2 dimensional glory.  :-)

I thought I'd have them on hand for this blogger's block of the month quilt along.

Inspiration

Do you know of Sarah Jane?  She is amazingly talented.  Her artwork has a gentle sweetness to it that I find irresistible.  I love her fabric designs.  I love her prints.  I basically love everything about her.

When Emmie moved into her new big girl bedroom I decided to let Sarah Jane be my inspiration.  This lovely goodie arrived in the mail from Sarah Jane a few weeks ago, and I had it professionally matted and framed.  I picked it up this afternoon and gave it a little smooch when I saw it.  (Then I took a crooked photo of it!)

This is just the kind of thing that every little girl should gaze at while daydreaming of picnics and tea parties and frolicking with friends in fancy frocks.  I want Emma to have sweet dreams under this sweet scene.  The colors look a little harsh in this photo, but in real life it is a very gentle shade of pink.

I currently have a store bought quilt on her bed.  OH THE HORROR.  It hardly seems right, I know.  We need just the right covers for all these sweet dreams to take place under, so it's time to start planning. I'm thinking pinks and reds and aqua, and a tiny hint of green, to match the pretty walls.  Maybe some of Sarah Jane's lovely prints?  With a little Bliss and Ruby thrown in?  We may just need to add a splash of gray to compliment Ellie the elephant.  She is a very important fixture in the nighttime routine these days.

I found some cute little wall decals that look amazingly like hand painted murals.  They are from Pottery Barn Kids, the mother ship of cuteness.  :-)

She has a cute little forest of birds in her reading nook.  Did you catch the homemade quilt in the chair?  Thankfully the fourth child isn't totally deprived.

I'm thinking we may need to add some fabric bunting.  And some throw pillows.  This new artwork has set a plan in motion.  A long term plan, for sure, but those sweet dreams are already starting! 

Hannah's Graduation Quilt

My daughter sent me photos of her graduation quilt to share with you.  These were taken in her dorm room.  The pattern is a chain design, and the rainbow colored fabrics are all reproductions.  Hannah has admired these fabrics for a long time and has always wanted a "vintage" quilt made from them.  I really love how this design turned out, although I must say it was a challenging lay out that required lots of crawling around on the floor!

My girlfriends helped me cut this pieces out on a lazy Saturday afternoon while we were at a used book sale.  The sale wasn't very well attended, so I ran home to get cutting mats and rulers and set my fellow quilting cohorts to task.  They were such good (and hard working!) sports, and it added a fun memory to the sentiment of this project.  (Not to mention the fact that it enabled me to actually get it done by graduation!)

I had some sweet little stitcheries on hand that I had made to use for mug rugs.  I knew as I was piecing the back for this quilt that this would be a better use for them. The colors blend well, and the old fashioned sweetness of the scenes is a compliment to the flour sack inspired fabrics.

This is a strip of the pieced back incorporating all the embroidery.  It is hard to see from this picture, but they are flower, sunshine, and bird designs.

This quilt now lives in Tennessee, where fall is officially settling in across campus.  I know it will do its job of keeping my precious daughter warm, and reminding her how much I love her and how very proud I am of her.

Thanks for sending me the pictures, Hannah.

An Elfish Impulse

Here's the thing about quilting.  The ideas multiply faster than the free time does.  And those clever quilt shops.  They are never short on tempting treats.  Here's the scenario....

I wander (innocently) in to the shop on Friday to buy that mere 2.5 inch strip of binding fabric that I so desperately need.  It truly is a need.  A legitimate purchase for a nearly completed project that had an immediate use.  It was all very on the up and up.

I'm not two feet in the door and I spy this elfin piece of goodness.  Right inside the door!  Like a booby trap, I tell you.

Who was I to think I was getting out of a quilt shop for under $10??  It wasn't like I had a choice to leave this fabric behind.  Who could possibly resist?

My precious Grandparents were from Germany, and they had German garden gnomes in their yard.  For some reason, this fabric reminded me of those childhood memories.  I think the coordinating fat quarters that I found to go with this fabric have a bit of a Scandinavian flair to them too.  It's my European Christmas look.

Elf fabric by Beth Logan for Henry Glass & Co

In any event, this cute stack now sits happily upon the shelf in my sewing nook.  It will have to wait until some other projects get completed first, but it's something to look forward to.

One last thing, last weekend was a tad overwhelming for me, so my sweet Mom surprised me with a little pick-me-up.  She brought me this fabulous turkey to live on my new runner.  How cute.  I just love him, and he makes my coffee table look like a happy place.  :-)

Halloween Runner

This silly runner has become an exercise in what can possibly go wrong with a project.  I started it even though I had a dozen other things I needed to be working on, so I intentionally tried to keep it simple because I needed it to go quick.  You know how that goes!!!  It's like begging for troubles.  I laid out the binding and found I was eight inches short.  Eight inches!!  So, I drove thirty minutes to the only store in town that carries that candy corn fabric, and the sweet shop owner let me buy one 2.5 inch strip off the bolt.  Very sweet.  Then, I was machine quilting and ran out of orange thread with about a five inch corner left to quilt.  So, I drove to Joann's in a driving rain storm to buy another spool.  I was bound and determined to get this thing on the table for supper club last night.  Well, determined at least.  It did make it on the table....but unbound!  Ha!  When I got home from the quilt shop with that 2.5 inch strip, I discovered that my 3 year old had twisted and stretched the rest of the binding that I had made to use it as a leash for her stuffed bear.  Good grief.  I have yet to see if it can be rescued.  

This was my attempt at being cute.  I swear that is lint from the batting and not a nasty hair ball from my house.  I also solemnly promise that it isn't visible to the naked eye, given that this was on my dining room table in front of guests.  My zoom lens is showing me NO mercy.  :-)

Just keeping it real.

No, last night wasn't as bad as the last supper club I hosted.  The one where my dog climbed ONTO THE TABLE and licked the butter.

Table runner hairballs are nothing.  :-)

Anyway, it looked cute and festive and I completely squelched the urge to point out to all of my guests how it was completely unfinished around the edges.  I kept it all very classy.

I had the boys drag my fall decorations down from the attic.  There may be sweat on my pumpkins instead of frost, buy by golly, I'm bound and determined for fall to get to the south.

This afternoon my friend came over and kept me company while I cut out my next quilting project.  The boys were all at church, so we had a few quiet hours and work and visit.  It's so much fun to have quilty friends!