pinning

Early this summer I invited you to join me

in a striped challenge.

One more week remains!!!

I'm pinning away wondering.....

How am I going to quilt this???

diagonal lines?....

stippling?......

Maybe straight lines across and down....?

Hmmm.....

I know Miri finished a lovely quilt.

Marilyn and Sarah did too.

LeeAnn said she's working on something....

How about you?

One more week of stripes.....

Then.... I think I'll join that quilt along over at

Fat Quarterly.

When School begins I am

DEFINITELY

going to get some quilt tops quilted!!

....I hope....:/

how many?

I began this quilt with Victoria's 15 minutes.

Scrappy blocks and

square in a square blocks.

I used lots of scraps...

but believe it or not...

I still have some left!!!!

I also used my vintage linen stash!

Yeah! for old sheets!!!

How many 6" blocks did it take to make a twin size quilt?
65 scrappy crazy blocks....and....
65 square in a square blocks!!!

130 total!!
I'm glad I didn't figure it out before I began...
I may not have begun....

I didn't even get to the magic twin size with that!!
I was lazy and added a border.
Now the quilt measures 65"x85".
I think that's a respectable twin size.

I like this scrappy quilt.


And since it's a make do kind of quilt...
I made do...
and used some fabric in my stash for the border.
Probably NOT what I would have purchased...
but it works.

I had imagined using one of my bigger vintage sheets
for the border...but what it looked like in my mind....
was NOT very good in real life!!

I'll add this to Amy's sew and tell
and also to the vintage sheet blog.
They are giving away some lovely fabric over there!!!

twice.

I was able to pick up a needle and thread only TWICE this past week.

Pretty.

I worked on this mainly in the air on my way home.

and Practical.

I received some dimensions for this sofa from my

daughter's roommate last month.

I sewed up the covers for those big cushions here in

California...then....

I slipped them on Sunday and handstitched the openings

in Georgia.

The girls were so happy to have the ugly cushions

covered up! Even if these didn't fit perfectly snug.

I also found out I have a sewing-soulmate

in one of my daughter's roommates.

Aren't these cute???

One for each of the girls in the apartment.

This roommate also makes homemade bread!!

I sure am missing out on that this year!!

Can I go back in time and become a college student again??

Please???

A Friendly Road.

I traveled a very friendly road this past week

And missed almost a week of blogging!!

It was l-o-n-g week in blog time.

I guess you could say it was long week in People time too. ;)

I sure enjoyed the sights as I drove along, though.
It was a beautiful drive, and since I drove only in the daylight...
I didn't miss a single thing!!!



One of the things that helped me pass the time
was when I looked forward to stopping at shops like this one.

When I walked in here, I instantly felt AT HOME.
The Busy Bee quilt shop in New Mexico
knows how to make a body feel welcome.


This was my first "fun" stop...so my purchases were
pretty conservative.
"Maybe I'll be stopping at a WHOLE BUNCH of shops.
I'd better save room in my bag for all the purchases...right?"
I have dreams of someday making
a quilt with some reproduction fabric and those
solids are wonderful...don't you think?

I drove quite a few more miles before I found
(with my husband's help via the internet) this shop in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma Quiltworks.
OOOh! I went a little wild here.
Maybe it was the heat??!
It WAS a scorcher.

I found the sale bin and that's where my
trouble began!
I have a hard time resisting that word....
Sale!!!
It was fun and I love all my little bundles.

The last "fun" stop was by far the most fun
because it was SO unexpected!!!

As I drove along I needed one of those all important
bathroom breaks.
I saw a sign for the Tennessee Welcome center in Brownsville.
That sounded like a good place to stop.
It was.
WOW! What a welcome center.
They even had a little museum inside. It was Great!!

Guess what was taped inside the stall of the restroom??
A little flyer with some local businesses listed.
I saw "Pat's Fabrics and Collectibles".
Hmm...maybe that's a quilt shop???

I asked. Got directions. Viola!!!


All Quilting books 50% off.


Yes! Score!

Little bags of fabric...$3.

There I go trying to get a bargain again!

Oh! it was fun!!

Like I said. Even more fun because it was so

unexpected!!!

That was it for purchases this week.

It almost didn't fit in my bag for the trip home!

Here are a couple of the quilts that I just admired!

Isn't it beautiful?

Someday I'm going to make one of these...

someday.

I also liked this simple. wonderful. 9 patch!!!

I spied these quilts on the LAST day of my drive

in a wonderful place called Bell Buckle.

Thank you Sarah!!!

I was little ahead of schedule and had time to

swing by this little tiny town and gawk at the antiques!!!

Fun!!!

You know what?

I'll probably never again drive across country

all. by. myself.

I was a little worried about the long days,

but they seemed to go pretty fast.....

especially when I had the friendly stops along the way!

Aren't quilt shops the best of friends???

We know most of the fabric that lives there.

When we walk in the door, even though we don't know the

shop keepers, we know their merchandise and it

feels homey. I think.

Glad to be back in the land of blogs

and happy to be home safe with family.

I'm blessed.

summer

The taste of summer.
The beauty of summer.

and in this case I'd say...
A picture is worth a thousand words!!....

NOW if you came here to see something quilt related...

Run!!

Don't walk....

over to see Marilyn's striped beauty!!

Isn't it bee-UUU-teee-ful??

I'd love to see some more striped beauty before the beginning of

September. Wouldn't you??

Now....

I've got to take a short break from this

Fun blog hobby of mine! :(

The open road is calling my name!!! :)

perky.

I'd say these scraps are looking kind of perky...

wouldnt' you?

Right now I'm basting this hoping to include it

in my overnight bag.

The real reason for this post:

I will be driving along interstate 40 this week

delivering a car to my daughter.

2000+ miles.

Whew!!!

So.... quilting friends...

Do you know of a great place to s-t-r-e-t-c-h my legs

that involves quilting???

very near the interstate???

I would really appreciate your thoughts......

Other than the fact that I'm crazy for driving so far...:/

day and night....

Night and...

Day.

Made for Dena at the modern quilting bee.
:)

playin' around

The beginning of a fun project!!!

It started with a crazy scrappy block....

a black background.

Then.....

I started appliqueing circles!!!

Lots of circles!

This was a great take along project on my recent

camping trip.

I'm hoping to add something....

flower centers..?.

a border....?

what else...?

We'll see.

I'm having fun as I go though!

creative frustration

I was frustrated last night.

Then I was frustrated this morning.

This little baby quilt.....36"x36".....

saved my sanity.

I kept walking over to the sewing machine

and stitching my frustration out!!

I used some flannel scraps.

See those four yellow blocks in the middle?

That's what I started with.

Then...I added some more blocks....

a couple of borders...

AND...

EVEN some rick rack!!!

Flannel backing.

The binding's even on!!!

Productive frustration!!!

Sewing therapy.

The best kind.

turquoise and brown

One BIG quilt top.....

for me that is.

87"x97"

whew.

I thought I'd be adding some applique to that white border....

but no....

I don't think it needs it...do you?

I'll be showing it to it's new owner tomorrow.

Then I'll have to quilt it, of course. :)

Next up...

Find a nice backing fabric.

Or...

should I piece some things together???

Ahhh....

The wonderful things to think about when quilting.

It fills my mind with happy thoughts!!!

basket time

The quilting is done.

The binding is on....
almost.

The back is nice and textured.

The lines are nice and wonky...

wobbly....

wonderful!!!!

I did have to rip out yesterday and sort of straighten out

a few lines around the words.

They were very hard for me to eye-ball.

After reading jacquie's blog this morning

I now have a name for these straight lines that aren't marked.

organic line quilting!!

I'm happy to be soooo close to the finish line.

Just the binding now to finish off.

woo hoo!!!

I've got so many other quilts calling my name!!

I'll add this to amy's sew and tell today.

forward. backward.

Friends came to sew today.

Nice.

Lori moved forward with her lovely 16 patches.

Jenn wants to make another one of these....


so SHE moved forward with blocks....

and more blocks.



I moved backwards.

I spent the morning ripping out.
:(
I realized that the only way to get straight lines...
is to MARK staight lines!!!!
I really didn't want the lines to be perfectly straight...
but I did want them to meet up somewhat regularly at the edge!!
Not an easy task when you're eyeballing it.
I took some of the quilting out that wasn't straight
and then I marked some lines.
Why didn't I do that in the first place????
I'm lazy and hopeful...that's why.
I hope I'm not so hopeful next time!!!!

oh good.
It's lunch time.

I'll forget my quilty troubles with a simple lunch.

I wondered if these two would go together.

??????

I spread this on the roll before toasting.

Yes.

They go together

JUST FINE!!!

bricks and stepping-stones

Lots and lots of turquoise and brown.

Lots and lots of chain piecing.

I'll be leaving the pattern very soon

as I attempt to add a border with some applique.

Wish me luck!!!

striped updates.

My striped quilt top is finished but I'm still

dragging my feet with the quilting part.

I found a backing....that's one step closer, huh?

I did run around and peek at what you other

striped quilters are doing.

I found out that we have some lovely things going on...

In fact Sarah has her quilt top finished!!

Marilyn has a REAL beauty on her design wall

and is going out to get more fabric.:)

I saw works in progress over at

Amy's and Jewel's creative spaces.

How is everyone else doing?

One more month of summer.

One more month of a striped challenge.

I might even have another striped quilt in me!!!

Before I finish a quilt though...

I always seem to need to have another one started.

Why is that????

I saw a quilt over at Debra's blog

and I love hers!!!

I think it will be a great pattern for

a brown and Turquoise quilt someone requested recently.

I now have a little stack of pieces.....

Ready to be sewn together.