Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Camelot

I wish I can say I've been sneaking in a lot of sewing...unfortunately this is not my quilt top. My friend Laurie has been working on this in 2016. It was designed by Trish Harper and was in 4 parts of Quiltmania. 
Isn't it gorgeous?! Amazing really!

 She said it wasn't that difficult, but I find that hard to believe. 
Thanks for letting me share it on my blog Laurie.


What wonderful names you are coming up with for the little quilt! Keep em' coming!

I'm looking forward to the Gwennie inspired medallion reveal on Thursday, Sept 1. If yours is complete and you do not have a blog to link up, feel free to send me a photo and I'll post it.

See you tomorrow! Have a wonderful day today.

Monday, August 29, 2016

Monday ReFraming

Reframing is a way of viewing and experiencing events, ideas, concepts and emotions to find more positive alternatives.
This is what my weekend consisted of. Last Friday we found out one of our employees was going to be gone this week, when you only have 5 to start with, you really miss one! I'm the fill-in. I wasn't happy about it. I had fun plans for this week. Then we left for the weekend, unplugged and rested and hiked and played cards and chilled. 
 This isn't much of a view but we were at 5700'. 
 We thought we were going to a campground, but it wasn't. Only a makeshift hunting spot. Very beautiful, right by a little creek.
We were surrounded by amazing old ponderosa pine trees. Nothing like getting perspective.
If you want to see more click HERE



I came home to find the sweet little basket block on the right in my mail from Roxanne. It was precious. Thank you Roxanne.

 I went to add it to the other one she had mailed to me awhile back and it had this lovely reminder on it from JuliAnn.
I don't want life's curves to make me grumpy. I want to accept them with grace and love and move forward in a more gentle way. (nobody will ever accuse me of being gentle!) This is what life is giving me for now.

Here is my little quilt I stitched on this weekend. (I now have the binding attached) 
I added this later to my post. It is complete!



Here is a little kit for one of my blog readers. Everything is included except the binding. It is just a reminder for me that we need to be kind, gentle, accepting and loving of one another.

Leave a comment with your best quilt name for the little quilt and I'll post a winner next Monday.

Have a lovely and gentle week.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Friday Fun!

 Too bad this block is only prepped for applique! I've fallen behind on the 1857 quilt. Next week I think I'll have an opportunity to get caught up! Yay!
 Here is 9 other blocks waiting to be appliqued adn some will need embroidery. 
 Lee from Two Thimbles quilt shop mailed me a package this week! Here's a Peter Rabbit panel made into the cutest quilt. What's funny is my sister made my first born a Peter Rabbit quilt before she was born. I'll be bringing this to Peru with me.
 Here's a cute little jumper too  for Peru!
 Seriously, I made a little dress like this when my daughter was a toddler! That was my first foray into sewing!! Thank you so much Lee.
And here's my eclectic Instagram for the week. The madders and the shirtings are for my fall sewalong!! I'm calling it "Quilters Madder"

Love to you all. Have a wonderful weekend!

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Machine Sewing on A Wednesday

I actually got a chance to sit at the machine yesterday! 


One of my favorite stars is the sawtooth, so a double sawtooth is double the fun!
As a leader/ender I made this cute little doll size quilt using Linda's orphan patches she sent me. The quilt measures about 12x15. We are camping this weekend and thought a little hand quilting would be fun to take.
This little fabric piece came from France, what fun memories of that trip with my daughter and meeting quilt friends.

And this little blue piece is an antique piece that a friend shared with me. Isn't is lovely?

I treasure my quilting and blogging friends. I'm still feeling a little empty after my mom's loss. Sewing and friendship helps a lot.

Love to you all. Make it a wonderful Wednesday!



Monday, August 22, 2016

Pillowcase Dresses for Peru


I made this little dress yesterday while waiting for potatoes to bake. Many of you will remember my dress drive last year. I want to take a few more with me this year to Peru , just not quite as many.  
Thank you to those who have already sent some!
It all started with this photo of fellow team member in Guatemala. I knew if I went again I wanted to bring some with me!

In Bolivia I got to hand them out personally to the little girls I met. 
I remember this little girl very vividly. She was living in the village that only had contaminated water. This was one of the water well projects your money contributed to!

In a few short months I'll be heading to Peru and would love to distribute more dresses. If you want to make one or a few, I'd be thrilled!

Click HERE for many links to directions. I found Nancy Notions to be the one I liked the best.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your generosity!


Friday, August 19, 2016

Friday Folly!

 I'm going to start with a little quilty news, then share a little of my vacation. 
I brought this basket, but left the background! A lot of good that did me, huh?! It's ready to go now. 
 Before I left, my friend Linda,  mailed me her "orphan" blocks. These do not look like orphans to me! Thank you Linda!!
 Here's my Instagram for the week. A lady who works at the bank (and I see almost everyday for work) asked if I'd go on vacation with her. She is divorced and doesn't want to go by herself. (makes complete sense to me!) We've been making plans for several months and Saturday morning early we took off for Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands in Washington State.
As a kid we used to take the ferry to many of the islands so it was fun to go see some of these areas again after all these years. Here are a few highlights.
 The weather was fantastic each and every day we were there! It was amazing! Here we are on the ferry which was getting us to our destination.
 We stayed in this gorgeous inn at EastSound, centrally located and easy to get to everything.
Here is the view from the highest point on the island. 
 We hiked around this lake. 

Went kayaking.
 Went whale watching and saw a pod of orcas!
And after 5 days this welcomed us home. 

Back to the desert, back home.

And after 5 days of travel with someone I didn't know, I consider ourselves friends!

Have a lovely weekend. 


Monday, August 15, 2016

Porch Quilt Month 4

My watermelon look about the way I cut a watermelon! Shaky, uneven, different sizes...... That's why I love primitive!

Here are Cathy S cute blocks. She used wool for the seeds- too cute!

 Debby D sent me her photos. Love her basket! Such great prints.
And watermelons!!

I'm going to be out of town, so I'll do my best to add your photos. If you can link up to your blog, instagram or flickr, please do it!

You ready for next month? I hope I'm not going to scare ya'll off!

We are going to do 3 flower vases. 

 Block 3
I'm going to improvise and add an applique where there is this huge 8x8 piece of floral fabric. 
This is Block 9

Block 10- the floral piece here is 14x14! 

I don't know that I'll have an applique for the floral parts, but I'll attempt to get the 3 flower vases, basket, star and moon appliqued.  On your mark, get set, stitch!

Friday, August 12, 2016

First Friday, Second Friday!

Today is the second Friday but I'm sharing Quiltwork's First Friday exhibit! It is always good, but this month I really enjoyed it! (must be because I missed a month)
 Tina Witherell made these adorable wee quilts.
 1/4" half square triangles!








The group exhibit was
Quilter's Sew-ciety of Redding, "Feather Our Nest With Quilts".  So creative and fun!







Here's my Instagram feed for this week. Tuesday night my daughter came to town and we all went to Bend for Jackson Browne! He was so good! Trying to amp up my running a bit to get ready for a half marathon at the end of September.

We are sharing our watermelon blocks from the Front Porch quilt of Jan Patek on Monday! Next month's blocks to be revealed then too.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Lori