transition time.

In a couple of weeks one of my girls will be

heading off to college again for the next year.

:(

That's the transition I've got to get used to.

She's also got a transition in store for her!

She's moving UP in the world.

Out of dorm life....

Into apartment life.

:)

Four girls.

One kitchen.

Four aprons.
I wonder who will be the

chef in this bunch!

Which one of these aprons will get dirty?

Hmm....


I also gave them each....

A simple corsage of "flowers".

yo-yo flowers.

One of my favorite kinds.

:)

simple

I have some unfinished projects at my house that were

"handed down" to me.

I didn't choose the fabric.

I don't have the instructions.

But I can't give them away.

If I did give them away

I imagine they would be thrown in the trash.

So.....

I kind of feel like I'm saving those precious projects

that someone else didn't get to finish.

This is one I ran into yesterday.

Chop. Chop.

Sew. Sew.

One little quilt top ready to go!!!

Simple quilting lines.

back and forth.

I even had a fun backing for this one!!

I just doubled my donation goal!!
I figured I could make one donation quilt a month.
I finished TWO this week!!!
yeah!!

I'm adding this to amy's sew and tell.

Tuesday.

This week so far....

I've been sitting in waiting rooms working on this project.

I don't love this project anymore...

But, on the bright side....

I am happy to have something to do during those
L-O-N-G waits!!

Only 15 blocks done.

I'm not even going to go back and remind myself

how many of these I'm supposed to make!!!

After appliqueing them down on squares

I still have to go back and somehow applique them onto
something else!!!!!

I began this one sometime last year.

Can you tell I'm a wee bit discouraged?

I guess I'll keep pluggin' away though...

I also made a donation quilt for my guild.

A great No THINKING kind of project.

It's also one that doesn't take more than

a YEAR(s) to finish!

I worked on this as a leader/ender kind of thing

as I was sewing other projects.

I was sooo happy I had this little box of 2 1/2" strips.

It sure came in handy for the binding on this one!!


I used a few scraps from that bin and think this
blue stripe is my favorite with this quilt.

Then I took this pack and.....

made a rain coat.

;)

My husband will be leaving soon on a

2 to 3 week trip.

He thinks there may be some rain...

so now....

He's covered!!!

O.K.

That's what I've been up to.

This is what I haven't been doing.

And you know what I WANT to be doing????

Beginning a new quilt....

crazy, huh?

stripes and pinwheels!

My striped quilt top is complete!!!

How are you doing striped challenge friends???

You're right.

I still need to quilt it.

Details.

Details.

Let me know how you're comin' along on

YOUR striped project!

barely bees.

Two blocks for the modern quilting bee.

These are for Annette who took her inspiration from Jacquie.

Thankfully....I had enough of that white.

I just BARELY made it!!

I don't think I have the SAME white in my stash....

so I was sweating it out at the end there!

I did run out of Annette's printed fabric,

so I added a couple of rows of something I had

that I think matches o.k.

oooh....I wish I would have planned better.

Look!!

I laid it next to that vintage fabric I bought yesterday.

I kind of like the way they look together.

Hmmm...do I see some NEW fabric in my future?

Then I worked on these blocks for Ruth.

I ran out of her pretty fabric too.

:(

Maybe I'm having an OFF day.

:/

Ruth said this might happen.

Oh well.

You win some.

You lose some.

May YOUR quilting fabric NEVER run out.

May you have joy in your stitching...

and

May you find peace as you trim and press!

I'm adding this to sew and tell friday.

treasure.

This is my kind of treasure hunting!

oooh...I love finding things like this.

The selvage doesn't give me any clues about....

year....

designer....

colors....

Like the fabric does these days.

Only 36" wide....

But it's 4 yards long!

Woo Hoo!

an old friend.

I've been away from home the last couple of nights

and let me tell you...Heavy sigh...

I'm happy to be home.

Oops! maybe not....

my husband just called and said

no hot water until tomorrow!!!

Guess I'll be back at my relative's for hot showers

and I've got things washing now that will need a dryer!!

UUUGGGHHH!!

O.k.

Here's the happy note.

I slept under this old friend the last couple of nights.

:)

I used to make simple quilts like this as gifts.

This one is my niece's.

See the simple squares?

The yarn ties?

AND she still uses it!!

Hooray for quilts!

It was so nice to be welcomed with this one!

This was the project I had along with me the last couple of days.
I made some progress!!!
The sewing machine wasn't calling my name like it does at my house.
All I had was this quilt....
One needle....
scissors and some thread.
I also had a wonderful "mom" to talk to.
Quilting and talking...
mmm. mmm. good.

This capital B made me happy.

I'm getting soooo close to done!!....

I can feel it.

leaves and things

I love this quilt.

It's definitely one of my favorites...even though it's not quilted yet!
I'm sharing this one because today

the termite men are coming with their big tent!!

Do I have all the sewing essentials I need??

Maybe I'll do some hand quilting while I'm "homeless".

I DO need to work on that basket quilt!

I also have this going on at my house!!

Does anyone else have this problem??

My family is kind of tired of this....
But, I try not to let anything go to waste.
We even had leftover chicken chili with cooked zucchini for a topping.
I called it zucchini frosting.
They didn't believe me!

saturday.

One hour before leaving on a trip, my daughter decided she needed

a computer sleeve.

She chose the fabric.

I added batting with THREE long quilted lines.

Remember I was in a hurry!

I added a very simple lining.

Here's the BEST part.
A hairband sewn in for the button closure.
Isn't that a neat trick???



It was then up to her to sew that button on.
She struggled a bit....but she did it!!

No picture of that...sorry....she had to catch a plane.


Now I can get back to my 15 minutes....
cough, cough, sputter, sputter.....
of quilting.

solid ground

Camp is over.

I'm back on solid ground.

Straight seams.

Pajamas.

No shoes.

Aaaaah!

A simple nine patch ready to be cut up for a

disappearing 9 patch.

Getting my simple quilt groove back on!!!!

days 3 and 4

I was priviledged to spend two whole days with

Lura Schwarz Smith.

What an inspiration!!!

And YES! I'm as tired as I look here.

It was fun!

But driving back and forth....

doing all the family and household things...

plus...art/quilt education

makes for one tired mama!!!

This is the beginning of my project in Lura's class.

A 23 year old photo of my firstborn.

Isn't he cute?

Way back then we had a lovely window in the front of the house

that he LOVED to look out of.

He was always dreaming of going out to play...

when he wasn't already outside playing!!!

Lura gave great instruction.

And let me tell you...

EVERYONE went home with what I would consider

a masterpiece!!!
In this picture I used ink and pencil on muslin.

Lura had a whole slew of art mediums to use and

experiment with!

FUN!

Let me tell you though.....

faces are really not my thing.

I took the class hoping to learn how to use

inks and whatnot....and....guess what?

I learned something!

Here's another one of my boys about

15 years ago.

Cute. Love that dirty face. ;)

I need to work on this one some more....

But you know what?

I'm kind of missing my sewing machine!!!

Maybe tomorrow I'll relax and just sew some seams!

It's amazing to me how Lura can take her artistic skills

and weave them into such stunning quilted creations!!

You should pop over to her web site and look at some of her work.

WOW!!

day two.

Sue Nickels.

Quilter extraordinaire!

And...

I got to take a class from her!

Here's my little practice piece of

Raw edge machine applique.

I don't have the blanket stitch on my machine...

so I zig zagged it.

It looks pretty messy though, huh?

aah! That's better.

I left all those threads hanging...
then Sue explained that I could...
use a
self threading needle
Pull the threads to the back and then...

tie them together!!

What a great idea!!!

If you try this at home,
be sure your threads are nice and long!

Two more days of quilt camp!
woo hoo!!

Look at this little guy enjoying the flower.
Can you see him?

I'd like to sit in a pretty place like that too!

By the way, it's Tuesday.

Oh...you knew that.

Today's the day to pick a winner!!

Drum roll please....

Happy Cottage Quilter gets

some vintage linens!

Yeah!!!

give aways are fun!

Thanks for helping me celebrate 100!!