March 29, 2009

Tyler Quilt Show

The following are some pictures from the Tyler Quilt Show.
This was the wearable arts section and I LOVED this top---made of vintage linens.


The following is Psalm 23; beautiful quilt.

I am not a big fan of the Turning 20 pattern, but check out this one: It is all about Texas with embroidery in the blocks. I really liked it.

Here is a close up of some of the blocks:


Loved this quilt. I've been fighting myself NOT to buy the pattern. Can you tell from these pictures, that I'm "really into" embroidery these days????
There were several Christmas quilts in the show.

Nice pink/brown in repro fabrics.

Handembroidered quilt "Angel of the Month: I was really nice.
If you are a fan of Leanne Beasley, you will like this quilt. The maker added more blocks to make the quilt larger.
Another Christmas quilt made from log cabin blocks with embroidery in the centers. I overhead a man in the crowd say "it needs more green". I think so too.


This story quilt about fishing caught my eye since my hubby is gone on a fishing trip.
Roosters, of course!

This fall quilt was really pretty with the use of the colors.

This qpplique quilt was made entirely of wool.
I liked this feather star with the delectable mountain blocks surrounding it.
This quilt is "Tulip Time" incorporating machine embroidery and piecing. I have started this same quilt, but nope it's not finished.
That's All Folks!

Wackies on the Move!

The Wackies were on the move yesterday....Well about half of them anyway. We loaded up and went to the 28th Annual Azalea Quilt Show in Tyler, Texas. Annie, Jerri, Kathleen and myself met at the local Brookshires at around 9 a.m. and the Wackiness began. Now, if you have followed any of the Wackies' blogs, you know we can be pretty crazy. We all donned our glitzy, wild, and oh so beautiful Wacky shirts. We were so cute! On the way, we had to stop at "the little store" to pick up Rhonda -- she lives out of "town", but on the way to Tyler. We get Rhonda in and we are really off this time. I'm driving my suburban -- now that's a big truck, plus we had ALL THAT WEIGHT in the vehicle.....I mean NOT that we are Heavy....hehehe, but the wind was TERRIBLE. We were all over the road. I mean I know that it was NOT my driving or the fact that they were making me laugh.
Here's a picture of the motley crew at the show. L-R: Annale, Jerri, Kathy, Rhonda, Kathleen


The show was nice and I'll be posting some pictures of the quilts a bit later. There were quite a few vendors there. I was on a mission. I was looking for wool for myself and for Wacky Molly--Molly was unable to go with us due to other obligations :( . BUT NO, I DID NOT FIND ANY. I was NOT happy. I certainly did not do a good job of stimulating the economy. All I bought were some cute little quilty note cards (ooops, don't think I took a photo of those) and some thread.
Now the Nimble Thimble quilt shop in Tyler was at the show, but mostly showing those snobbie Berninas (sorry...didn't mean to offend anyone). She told us that her shop had 20% off all fabrics. So we finish at the show, head to lunch, and then to Nimble Thimble.
I bought the following pattern. The picture does not do it justice. They had the quilt made and it was kitted. The quilt was CUTE. I didn't want the kit because I would prefer to do my own thing. Besides, I want this quilt to hang in my kitchen and the colors they used, although fabulous, just didn't work for the kitchen.


Sew, I bought this chicken fabric to be the border and the rest of the quilt will be scrappy from my stash. The other piece of fabric was 50% off and I just got it as a "stash enhancer".
Now they had a 50% off room with lots of a good deal of fabrics and other items, but ya know, I just didn't see anything that 'bit me'.

I did buy the following magazine. LOTS of cute patterns for pillows and pincushions.


And FINALLY I found some wool. They have a great assortment of wool -- all colors, patterns. It comes in 1/4 yard pieces. I picked up these four pieces. The picture isn't too good. The first is a pretty green/yellow stripe, the second a very nice beige plaid, third piece from the left is a beautiful marbled spring green and the fourth is a beige.



Then, we headed home. Most of the way home, we had an ambulance following us. My "passengers" felt that they were following us as a "precaution". Now, I'm not sure if they were being funny or they were scared..........LOL

And there you have it.......Another "Wackies on the Move" outing.

March 28, 2009

Madam, Madam.......

Have you any wool? Yes Sir, Yes Sir, One bag FULL.....
I belong to the WoolyBuddies group on Yahoo. We recently celebrated the first anniversary of the group. Our Great Leader and Shepherdess, Sandi, was offering three bags full of wool. I was one of the very lucky winners. We each received this adorable canvas bag full of wool pieces.
This was perfect for me as I am new to wool work and my stash is NOT VERY BIG! Thank you Sandi!!!

March 23, 2009

Cock-A-Doodle-Do And a Quilt or Two!

Cock-a-doodle-do!!!! I have a new light to show you! The following two pictures are of my new rooster light over my table. The picture does not do it justice. The shades look a bit orange in the picture, but they are red check. The light is pewter colored and has roosters all around it, with hooks hanging from the grid.


I would really like to paint my cabinets red, but NO, hubby says NO. I also want to remove that chicken wallpaper. It has been on these walls for 25 years since the house was built. Yep, I've been lovin' these chickens/roosters all these years. The bottom portion is ash paneling. Nope, can't paint it either. I love the prim look and was thinking about putting old weathered tin on the walls, but not sure. Anyone have any ideas. ?????




So we leave the kitchen and look at a quilt or two. The following is the quilt I made for my new Great-Nephew, Noah Grant. His room is decorated with a Monkey theme, so the quilt is monkeys. You will notice my little quilting protege' is showing the quilt....Oh wait...is that Vanna White????? I had planned to quilt it this weekend, but I didn't have the right size batting. Fixed that -- ordered a case of it today!



The second quilt is my string quilt made with all western fabrics. The blocks are from a Wacky Pac swap. We all chose our theme and provided the background and the center strip. Mine is read with rope on it. I'm planning to put a small black "stop border" (technical term I like to use--makes me sound like I know what I'm doing....hehehehehe) and then come back with the red fabric I used for the center strip.

SEW, these are the fruits of my National Quilting Day and weekend. What all did you do?

March 22, 2009

Can Do the You Buttonhole Stitch?

My granddaughter spent the weekend with me. On Saturday night, I was working on my "A Tisket A Tasket" BOM #3 doing the buttonhole stitch. She was watching me and asked me to teach her how. As it was late, I told her it would be Sunday's project. Camryn decided she wanted to make a heart for her mom. She said "she does so much for us". Is that sweet or what???
She picks her fabric and we draw the heart and fuse it down on the background. I did a demo of the buttonhole stitch and she went to stitching -- a born natural! Here she is really concentrating.

She said "Mammy, do you ever stick your finger with the needle?" I told her "sure do and that is just part of handsewing -- it happens sometime".


She was really on top of her stitches. She said "this is really fun and now I know why my Mammy is always sewing". I was beaming with pride. She told me she was just about to cry she was so excited.

Check out those tuquoise fingernails! She and her Mom had a 'girl day' on Monday and they both went and had a pedicure and manicure. She loved it!!


After she completed the handstitching, I cut the borders and she sewed them on. I didn't get pictures of this because she was sitting in front of me at my Janome 10001. I wasn't about to turn her loose on that machine......hehehehehe. She then signed her work and I put the backing on and we have a finished product for Mom which measure 8 x 8 inches.


Camryn has done some sewing before on my featherweight, but I think she just got hooked on the handembroidery! Woo Hoo! A new sewing buddie!

It's 2nd Blogiversy and We Have a Winner!

Today is my second year anniversary of being a member of the Blogging World. A few posts earlier, I announced a give-away in honor of my anniversary as well as surpassing 200 posts. Today, we drew the lucky winner.
Below is a picture of my Granddaughter, Camryn, and our dog, Toby, as they watch TV -- just woke up! Camryn is going to do the drawing.

All the names of posters are written on paper and then cut apart.



The names were placed inside this large red bowl -- we picked a big bowl so we would have room to toss them around before drawing.


There she goes.....tossing all those entries around.....




And, we have a winner!!!



Contented Caroline at The Contented Quilter

Caroline lives in the UK. She is a great quilter and has an awesome blog. Be sure to go by and congratulate her on her winnings.

March 21, 2009

NATIONAL QUILTING DAY

Happy National Quilting Day to all my blogging friends. I hope you have a wonderful day of uninteruppted quilting!

The picture below is the cover of a book that was in my Mom's things. She was also a quilter and my inspiration. I can just picture myself sitting on that porch with by buddies sipping some cold lemonade and doing some handwork.

March 15, 2009

Siggy Swap

Connie over at CootieBug2 is hosting a Swiggy Swap and these are the blocks I made. This is not all the blocks, but just a few I was playing around with on the design wall.
Another project to mark off my list! YEA

March 14, 2009

Saturday Afternoon in Texas

A Saturday afternoon in Texas can't get much better than this. We have received some very much needed rain the past couple of days. Today was a just wet and cold. Here is the wonderful roaring fire that I've been sitting by all day. And this little wool pinkeep is the fruit of my labor. My first project in wool. I really enjoyed doing this little project. Now I'm off to do some hand embroidery on ANTOHER project. Sew many projects, sew little time.



March 10, 2009

Anniversary Give-Away!

March 22 will be my 2-year anniversary as a Blogger. In addition, I have surpassed 200 posts. SEW, in honor of all of you who visit my blog, I am having a special GIVE-AWAY.

I have made a little trio of matching items that would be useful to any quilter, stitcher, etc. Below is a picture of a needle book, pin keep and a scissor keep.
The little needlebook is strip pieced and has a hand-embroidered lady on the front cover who is stitchin' away.

Inside the needlebook are two pages of felt to store your favorite needles as well as pockets on both the front and back covers.


Next, we have a heart-shaped scissor-keep for your scissors. It is heart-shaped for the love shown by all the wonderful bloggers who visit my blog.


And last, but not least, is the matching pinkeep. Around the middle of the pinkeep, I have embroidered "pins and needles". It is filled with crush walnut shells to keep your pins oiled and sharp.


SEW, just how lucky do you feel?????? Comments will be accepted thru midnight on Saturday, March 21st. I will draw the lucky winner sometime on Sunday, March 22nd. GOOD LUCK TO ALL!