Babies and Quilts

I had a very nice weekend puttering around in my sewing room.

I finished up some commission work

and made a little gift for my sister.

My sister asked me to make a couple of baby quilts for her

to gift.

This one is for a baby boy

Old Glory for this little one

And, one for a girl

My sister requested flowers

So ... Flora and Fauna ... 

and a hedgehog or two

Because my sister gets me ...

I made her a new little mug rug.

These colors match her living room decor

💖💖💖

#wearefamily

Still Puttering

I'm still at it ...

Just puttering around ...

I love scrap quilts!

I spent some time cleaning up my sewing room and getting a few things organized.

I found these cute scraps in a scrap bag I was organizing and decided to make

a quilt as you go mug rug for my sister.

Sewing My Stash Scrap Quilt # 11

47 x 51 inches

As I was sorting and organizing I found these beautiful jewel toned fabrics, odds and ends leftover from previous projects. Once I had them all sorted, I realized I had enough for a small lap size quilt.

I made 12 log cabin (ish) blocks and ended up with enough fabric strips to add sashing in between the three rows of four blocks. Again the lighting in my sewing room is not the best but, I'm very happy with how this little scrap quilt turned out.

 I purchased this quilt top years ago and did some tack tie quilting on it.

It was a gift for my brother and sister-in-law.

She gave it to me months ago and asked me if I could repair it.

I've made a new quilt top that I'm going to tack tie to the existing quilt.

Leaving the much loved quilt top in place ... just hidden under the new

quilt top. I really love the thought of leaving the old quilt as part

of the new one.

It has been a scrap happy day!

Puttering

What a great way to begin a 3 day weekend

... just puttering around with no real plan ...

Is puttering actually a word? Anyway .....

I finished piecing one of four Moda Love Charm blocks.

I'm using Alison Glass fabrics and I love how this one is coming together.

My points aren't the best on this block. I wasn't as careful as I should have been

when trimming the half square triangles for this pattern.

But I'm happy ... enough ... with the results.

I gathered a pile of fabrics scrapes and got them trimmed and organized.

These will end up being another Sewing My Stash Scrap quilt.

It was a lazy day for all of us in the sewing room. 

Jezebel, living her best life.

Booker, too!

Then I was sent this picture of the very happy fur baby with 

his newly repaired favorite toy.

I'm sure today will be equally as enjoyable!

3 day weekends are the BEST!

Face Transplant

There is a 3 year old German Shepard fur baby who is very happy tonight!

I have never repaired a stuffed animal before ... ever!

I'm not sure if this started out as a bear or as a monkey?

The face was completely gone ... and there were no ears?

And, all of the stuffing was gone from the head ...

First I stuffed the head ... area! Or the portion that was left ...

I reconstructed the ragged face pieces ....

I had an old tan t-shirt piece that I used to make up the rest of the face and hold the stuffing in.

Then I decided that there needed to be eyes and a nose to go with the smile that was on the portion of the face that was left ...

So, now it looks a bit more ... friendly ... like a friendly little gorilla ...

Then a nose ... and the face transplant was a complete success!

Becoming Brave

Becoming Brave and more confident in my gardening skills ...

😎😎😎

Thanks to my brother's willingness to teach me the fine art of gardening.

Maybe because I am a quilter, my brain sees the art and patchwork of gardening.

How each row of vegetables and flowers will make a beautiful earthen quilt of color and texture.

One row at a time, each row will sprout, bloom and produce at it's own pace lending to a continually changing quilt of many colors and textures.

I'm looking so forward to seeing how all of the vibrant colors and textures come together.

Armed with the little knowledge that I have absorbed thus far, I decided to plant a small container herb garden beside my deck near my grill. 

I love terra cotta pots, I love the simplicity of them and how they age. The older and more weathered they become the more beautiful they are. Or at least I think so.

I have sweet basil, Italian Parsley, Cilantro, sweet mint and lavender.

I see added flavor to a lot of summer salads and mint for tea and desserts.

For the other side of my deck I decided to purchase a new terra cotta strawberry pot and planted it full of hens n chicks and aloe. I am not disappointed!

Gardening 101 Bravery!

BAM!!!

Gardening ... Who Knew??

Gardening ... Who Knew??

My brother pretty much has this gardening thing down to a science. He has planted various types and sizes of tomatoes, various types of peppers, cucumbers, various types of squash, beans and potatoes. He asked me if there was anything that I wanted to plant but I couldn't think of anything outside of what he has already planted. The beauty of this is that over the years my brother has narrowed it down to planting what we all actually eat. So many other vegetables could be planted but in our case ... probably not eaten. Waste not, want not.

I did ask if I could plant some sunflower seeds and flowers, he graciously agreed and tilled rows on either end of the garden for me to plant.

On the sunny end of the garden I planted the row of sunflowers and on the partially shady end of the garden I planted marigolds, zinnias, cosmos and the herb lemon balm.

Now ... it is just a waiting game ... in 14 to 21 days, hopefully the seeds will have sprouted and will be well on their way to thriving and producing beautiful flowers.

My Grandma Dorothy always had a row or two of flowers in her garden. Flowers are great for attracting pollinators to help the garden grow. I think that I recall that my Grandma Dorothy always planted marigolds at the corners of her garden. I wish I could remember all of the types of flowers that my Grandma planted. Her yard and garden were always such a beautiful sight to see.

These are the beans that we planted the first evening I went to help in the garden.

It takes 70 days seed to being able to pick beans, so around the first week of July we should be able to pick a mess of beans. I can't wait!

Most of the plants that we covered to protect during the cold snap didn't survive, but we re-planted on Friday. I'm not sure what we will be up to this week in the garden but I'm looking forward to it all the same.

Who knew garden was so much fun! It is hard work but it is very enjoyable.
I'm enjoying the process.

#wearefamily

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Moda Love Charm Pack Quilt

I started a new quilt project this weekend. 

A couple of months ago I purchased the Alison Glass + Andover Fabrics 100th Anniversary Five Inch Charm Set with purpose!

I knew I wanted to make the Moda Love Charm Pack quilt - actually 4 of the Moda Love Charm Pack size quilts - in order to make one large quilt.

The Moda Love Quilt Pattern comes in three sizes

Layer Cake

Charm Pack

Mini Charm Pack

I love the fabrics and the colors in this charm pack by Alison Glass

The colors are so bright and fresh!

The Moda Love Charm Pack quilt

#1

The Charm Pack size finishes at 

32 x 32 inches square.

Here is the link to Alison's shop if you would like to start a project of your own.

HERE

What a wonderful way to enjoy Mother's Day ... starting a new quilt project!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Gardening 101

Gardening 101

For years I have been wanting to learn how to garden.

My Grandma Dorothy was a wonderful gardener, as well as being quilter.

The quilting she passed along to me ... the gardening she passed along to my brother.

So I asked my brother if he would teach me his gardening ways in return for helping him plant, maintain and work his garden. HE SAID, YES!!!!

This weekend we are supposed to have a few very cool evenings so he asked me to come and help him cover some of the new plants he had just set in the garden.

We covered the peppers and the cucumber plants he had just put in the ground.

After that he asked me if I wanted to help him plant a row of beans.

YES PLEASE!!! 

Molly approved ... (the cute pup in this photo)

I helped plant this row of beans. Around the first week of July I should be able to pick some beans!

I'm so excited! Not only that, but my sister in law is going to teach me how to can beans.

This view ... House Mountain

Needless to say, my little homestead views are NOT even remote as grand and beautiful as this, but I love my little homestead in the making.  As I mentioned, I have been wanting to plant a garden for a few years now. But I also know that I need to learn a few gardening skills before I invest in the materials to begin gardening on my own. I don't want to waste money buying items I don't need and frankly I want my gardening to be successful. Helping my brother will help me learn about planting and gardening skills that will hopefully give me the confidence I need to build my own little garden.

It is my hope that through the summer helping my brother with his garden that I can learn enough to get a few raised bed gardens on my homestead ready for fall planting of some root vegetables and cool weather plants.  I am so excited about this new adventure.

My brother the family gardener and me

Needless to say, my little plot of dirt doesn't justify the purchase of one of these things but after driving this thing around ... I really want one!

hahaha!!!!

For my brother and his homestead it is a necessary gardening tool ... for me, not so much!

But, it is so fun to drive!!!

Hand Quilting

Hand Quilting

Modern Maple Leaf

This quilt pattern can be found online as a free pdf in a bizillion places so I have not provided a link. There are more than a few variations of the Maple Leaf pattern as well.

I did actually make this quilt from a pattern called, "Modern Maple Leaf" but I have long since lost the pattern. And, I actually made this quilt years ago. At least 5 years ago, if not more.

.... so I don't remember any of the details about the pattern ...

I pieced this quilt top using all of the fabrics I had collected over the years, that had "cat" motifs on them. The backing is a 100% cotton flannel from Joann's with "cats".

When I made this quilt I knew that I wanted to hand quilt it because ... well, I made this quilt for myself. I love the soft feel of hand quilting. Hand quilting allows for a softer, fluffier, feel to a quilt. Or at least I think so.

I took a class on Big Stitch hand quilting from Pepper Cory

at one of the AQS Shows that was presented in Knoxville years ago.

I fell in love with big stitch hand quilting from that moment on.

I used to hand quilt all of the quilts that I made but gave way to professional machine quilting years ago. There were just so many quilt patterns that I wanted to piece ... but from time to time I will still hand quilt a quilt that I make.

Last weekend I finally took this beautiful quilt out of the closet to begin hand quilting again.

I'm a little over a third of the way finished ... I'm looking forward to getting back to hand quilting.

Update - HEARTS

Scrappy HEARTS

Just a little update on the HEARTS quilt

100 HEARTS!

This past weekend I sewed together my 5th row of 20 heart blocks!

Just 15 more rows to go ... 

To date I have made 103 HEART blocks, which means I have 297 HEART blocks to go ...

I've been enjoying making one of these blocks each morning and in doing so achieving my goal of making/sewing a quilt block each day. Some days I make more than one and, I have miss a day or two here and there, but on the whole ... I am sewing daily.

I have been trying to focus on making sewing daily a habit for years but was never quiet able to do it.

I think that God's timing is perfect and I think this project proves that for me.

God knew that I would need something special to focus on during this Pandemic, amid all of the uncertainty and worry for all of those whom I love and our world in general.

A special project that would remind me of the good.

Gives me hope and quiets my anxiety and silences my fears.

A project that somehow helps to heal the brokenness.

The making of this quilt will hold a lot of memories and a lot of emotions.

This quilt will always hold a special place in my heart.

💗💗💗 

Red / White Quilt Collection - Tribute Star

Red / White Quilt Collection

Tribute Star

Tribute Star

60 x 60 inches

On Sunday I was able to finish piecing my Tribute Star quilt top and the quilt backing.

My Tribute Star is now ready for machine quilting.

I love this quilt pattern and I'm glad to finally have one of these quilts in my collection.

And ... I'm still very much in love with the fabric I chose as the backing.