Tonya

It's all about Tonya today!!!

Sew some words together!!!

Celebrate!!!

We all look forward to seeing her

new book...IN OUR HANDS!

I made the quilt above this past year

as I quilted along with her in the

liberated amish quilt challenge.

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!!!

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.

pluggin' away.

I haven't mentioned this quilt for a while...

but I'm still pluggin' away at it.

A few stitches here...

A few stitches there....

One of these days there won't be
any more stitches needed!!!

Can't. wait.

That's my S-L-O-W project.

Here's a quick one.

It doesn't even require a needle and thread!!

Some fabric.....
I like that part....

and a couple of tools:
screw driver. upholstery nails. hammer.

There were only FOUR screws holding those padded seats down.
Simple.

I covered these chairs for some friends
who thought it would be a hard job...
SSHhhh.

Thursday morning.

Almost every Thursday morning I get together with friends.

Nice, huh?

They come over and bring their projects.

We work.

We talk.

Compare notes.

It's always an inspiring morning.

Today Jenn added a border to her quilt!

AND

we pinned it...ready for quilting!

I stitched a little on my baskets.



Ellen (the expert Knitter) clicked away on her new socks!


Jenn showed us her C-u-t-e Bib!!
She said it was easy...
but I don't know about that part!

Maybe for you knitters it is....??


We pondered this little knitted cap.
Why is it so big if the pattern says it's for an infant??


Cute, though.


Well...
Chloe kind of wanted to do something too.
Were we leaving her out?


Wouldn't want to do THAT!!


" Here we go Chloe.
A sewing project just for you."

Can she do it??

Yes she can!

She had some fun!!

Sewing begins at an early age around here!!

Hey!

I was even inspired by my knitting friends to

take up my crochet needle again.

I made these last Saturday during an all day conference.

So glad I could use the time doing something crafty!

My kitchen will LOVE them.

And so will I!!

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

Run and around blogland and get inspired!

can't put this down.

I began quilting this yesterday

and I can't put it down!!!

This is my liberated amish basket quilt.
I've already begun quilting the third basket out of 16!
I did not mark this quilt.
I'm just following along with the piecing.

Wow!
This big old fashioned quilt stitch goes fast!!




I looked and looked for some smaller weight perle cotton...
I was patient...(amazing but true)...
and finally found some 20 weight thread at
Hobby Lobby when I was visiting my daughter.
YEAH!



Love the back!!!
I'm using wool batting.



And I'm definitely enjoying myself as I quilt away!!


I'll add this to Amy's show and tell...
then I'll go around and see what everyone else
has been up too!!
I'm always inspired!!

one year ago.

About one year ago I went on a driving trip

and took this quilt along.

This is one of my handquilting projects.

You know...you can't speed through those!

I knew when that driving trip was over that I was

CLOSE to being done...but this beauty went

into my "get to it later" areas at home here.

I had NO idea how close I had come to finishing.

well.....would you believe it??

20" left!!

I'm not kidding!

What a shame it had to sit there and wait for me that long!!

I pulled it out because I want to begin another

handquilting project.

My liberated amish quilt.

Here.


Except I think I'm deleting that applique...




And handquilting simple diagonal lines.
The jury's still out for those of you who like to share
quilting wisdom. ;)


I was thinking of using a dark thread (black)
or some different colors.
Maybe I'll even use some embroidery floss.





I splurged and bought this wool batting that
I've heard is nice to hand quilt.


So....before I begin this one...
I'd better finish the last 20" on my other quilt.
Right? Right.

Here's an update on this one.

Thanks to those of you who sent some suggestions...

but I had already sewn half of these corners in!!!

I loved the input...but don't love to rip out!

My next step, I think, will be to add a brown border

top and bottom and then maybe a little more pink

to make the quilt rectangular instead of square.

Keep your comments comin'...

It sure helps keep me goin'...:)

Words

You probably knew what they were.

But, just in case,

I spelled it out for you.

And Now I think I'll.....

:)

houses & baskets

V over at Bumble Beans is collecting!

How many houses do you think she'll get?

I've only made 3 and the first one is a little small....

so I may have to keep that in my orphan block drawer.

These were fun to make...but,

I didn't read the directions well enough....:(

She said we could use any color.

OOPS!

I thought I was supposed to use the same colors!

I've decided that important jobs belong to someone else.

I'm forever missing those little details!

I think that's why I like quilting so much!

If I make a mistake....I can just go with it!

Then I got these baskets together

for my Liberated Amish quilt.

I'm now going to think about borders and words!

No rush!

Isn't quilting fun?