I am keeping my promise!

I seriously can't believe I am actually getting these quilts done! 

This is exciting, and refreshing.

I like walking into my studio and seeing now 3 less unfinished tops!

Should have done this a long time ago.

So

here is February's finish.

As you can see, it's a traditional sampler.  I used this to teach at our local quilt store. 

It hung in the shop, unfinished, all the years I taught.  We are talking about 10 years ago, now. We chose to make it out of timeless fabrics.  It is made with templates rather than rotary cutting, and I machine pieced and quilted it.

I love the border fabric, wish I could find more like it today.

This one is March's finish.  Several of the fabrics are from the Lewis and Clark collection of several years ago.

I think it looks masculine and may give it to our son in law.  

Well, that's it for now.

I have chosen the April  quilt, but still have to purchase the back for it.

I'm on the hunt.

One of the downsides of finishing a quilt quite a while after you have pieced it is, it's not always so easy to find fabric that works with it for the back and binding.  I'm not all that into matchy-matchy, but I like it to look as though it belongs, like I put some thought into it.

What are you favorite online places to buy fabric?

See ya soon,

Linda

So, here's the deal

I made myself a promise at the beginning of 2014.  

It's not a resolution, I don't think we, well at least I, take them seriously enough.

I won't break a promise to myself.  

This is it:

I am going to finish one UFO every month this year.  

I am going to dig it out of the pile, buy whatever I need

and

FINISH IT!!

I can see your all-knowing grin from here!

Well,

so far,

so good.  

Here is the first finish of 2014.

I bought a couple charm packs and a bit of yardage to go with it a long time ago.

I  love the purple, green and the leaves. and the dragonflies.

But when it came to piecing with it, I really wasn't interested in doing anything spectacular with it, so I decided to try making blocks which required very little if any cutting of the charms.

This is what I came up with.

It's done,

and I like it.

TA DA!

Now to choose the February project!!

What are you working on?

Linda

Good Morning!

I have missed you.

This has been a crazier than usual period of time and I have not even been online as much as usual.  Not that that's a bad thing, timewise, but then I don't get to see what you all are doing.

So, tell me, I'd love to hear from you, what's been happening?

In the past year, our grandson turned 1.  Oh, how delightful he is.

They were here for 10 days for Christmas.  This was the first time in 6 years we were all together for Christmas, so you know my heart was singing! 

It was also the first time our youngest daughter and her family met our oldest's fiance and the baby: the first time both our grandchildren were together!!

What joy!

A dream come true!

Oh, I hope these visits are much closer together.

Most of my projects ended up being for the kids' presents during the year.  No matter the promises to self, I never finished as many UFOs as I'd planned.  

Because of that, this year I told self and family I will be finishing, ie sandwiching and quilting, one UFO per month. 

Don't laugh!

Who wants to hold me to it??

I really want to get these done, don' t you?  

The Mancuso Quilt Show is this weekend and I am thoroughly looking forward to it.  

Last year, I never made it to any, so I am ripe for the picking,

 my pockets that is, 

of cash.

I hope the vendors are exciting, I'm sure the quilts will be.

Have you ever been to one of their shows?  

This is one finish from last year.

Nancy Allen, of Bountiful Heirlooms, whose link is in my side bar may recognize this.

It's Victory Garden from Oley.

She's not quilted here, but all the hand applique is done.

Phew!

Hope you all are staying warm.  

Linda

Hi Ya'll

I know it's been forever.  And it's not because I don't have anything to share.  Lord knows, I'm a chatty person.  But, I have been having beaucoup (sp) problems with the blog.  

Tonight, I finally figured it out!!

Yay!

But,

I don't have much time to post, 

So

I'm just dropping in to say 

Hi, 

and

I've missed 

You!

I'll be back!

Linda

Celebrating a New Life

He is Here

Yes, the long awaited grandson, first boy in our family in a long time, and our second grandchild has arrived!!!

He had a rough start.  Mom had to have a section since she didn't dilate past 4, and he followed up with low platelets.  

They left the hospital today after 5 days in.  The new family gets to bond and relax now.

They are in Ct. and we can't wait to hold him and smother him with kisses!!

Finished this quilt this weekend.  It's made from Moda Vintage Modern.  I fell in love with this line, and had to make something  with it.  We didn't have it on the bolt when I bought the nickel pack.  It was a challenge to make something interesting, but keep the cutting simple without wasting fabric.  

The green on the left with be the back.  I will be quilting it myself.

The Bernina 200 has been broken for over a year.  I put off the repair, knowing that anything Bernina can get pricey.  I was thrilled when the tech told me it would only need a part soldered, costing 79.95.  

Yay!!

You know where this story is going don't you?  

I brought her home, turned her on, Wa La  ---How do you spell that??

Turned her on a second time, 

Nada!!

Brought her back,.

She needed the main board.

378.00.

Sigh!

Upside, I made several more burp cloths for our grandson, and was able to do other sewing while she purred along.  

What price we pay, huh??

Hope you all are well, 

sewing the summer heat away!

See you soon,

Till then,

Linda

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea...

Oh, we surely date ourselves with certain songs, don't we? 

 Are you telling me to speak for myself?

Insert Big Smile!

We are fortunate enough to go the beach weekly, most of the year.  

When I am ready to leave Fla. and that is guaranteed to happen every September, I think about the beach.  As much as I miss the woods and mountains, and I seriously drool when you post pictures of Fall, Snow, and great scenery,  I don't think I ever want to live landlocked again.    

All you Grammarians out there, was that a run-on sentence?

The rest of you, do you even remember what that is?

Me either!!

Back to the beach.  

We usually go for a walk down the shoreline.  

Some days there are very few shells, but this last time, we happened upon these two beautiful specimens.  

The one on the left is one of the most perfect spirals I've ever seen.  Not one chip, and I especially like the tiny gold dots evenly spaced all around it.

The one on the left is a perfect image of a dragonfly.  It's on both sides, so when I first picked it up, I kept turning it over to see if it had a hole as for a necklace chain.  It's so unusual, I have to wonder where it came from.  

I hope if you try to enlarge the picture, you can clearly see what I'm talking about.

I have been playing with this pattern for table runners.

One of the gals I work with at the quilt store told me how much fun it was to work with, so I had to try it.

Good thing she pointed it out, since the picture on the front would never have caught my eye.

You start out with border fabric.

The pattern is well written and easy to follow.  

The technique is all about how you cut the fabric and sew it together to create just 5 seams, and hopefully an interesting design.

There is no need for binding.

Where the triangles meet, it would have looked a lot better, I'm sure, if I'd done more fussy cutting to get all the motifs aligned.  

It was a lazy day!!

In the spirit of learning, I wanted to share it with you anyway, in all its imperfection.

If you try this, I'd love to see how yours turned out, and please share anything you learn along the way.

See you soon,

Till then, be safe,

Blessings,

Linda

Sewing for Grandchildren

Well, Hi there!

I know it's been a super long time since I've posted, believe me, I've been knitting and sewing my fingers to the bone, gardening too, when I can get out there.

  How have you all been?
I hope you're well and getting lots of studio time.  That's important in our lives, I think, to help us relax, exercise our minds.

Our grandson is due a week from today.  Momma is having lots of aches as everything stretches.  Do you remember those days.  We are so very excited and can't wait to hold him.  They live in Ct, so it is a much anticipated trip.  

I have gotten a few things made, knitted a sweater and blanket to match.  I'd love to share them, but they were sent for the baby shower.  

These are some burp pads I made for them.  A bunch went up for the shower, but I'm continuing to make them, since as we know, you never have enough.  Gratefully, I have an embroidery machine, so I can whip these up quickly.

Here are waterproof pads, could be used as lap pads.  Are you familiar with the newer cloth diapers which come with a waterproof outside attached?  No more rubber pants.   Our youngest used them with our granddaughter, and I think they are terrific.  You can purchase the waterproof fabric at Joanne's, and make diapers and all manner of useful baby items.  There's a book of great ideas, even one on making the diapers. Oh, how things have changed!!

Since this is about sewing for grandchildren, this is a picture of a dream come true.  As she's now 3, it's time to share my passions with her, at least on a small scale.  I had several charm pieces left over from other projects, and I asked her which ones she liked.  Of course, she chose all of them!  She was very good about keeping her hands away, and loved learning how to pin.  I didn't really show her, she just watched and copied what she saw me doing. Oh, how she wanted to get her hands in there, and kept drawing mine away, telling me to be careful.

Don't we all dream of teaching at least our granddaughters how to sew?  I can't wait till we can actually work together, I hope she loves this as much as I do.  

Well, my friends, it's' time to get dinner on, scallops tonight. We love our fresh seafood, do you?

Drop me a line, I love hearing from you. 

 Be safe. 

Till next time

Linda