Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Hello! This week I am a little mouse tagging along in the coat pocket of my friend and mentor, Lynn, from Thimblemouse and Spouse. I stopped by to say, "Hello" at their shop, Country Crossroad, and was immediately sucked in by the new fabric from Quilting Treasures! I knew I wasn't signed up for the blog hop, but I had to make something out of the She Who Sews fabric anyway. Lynn spoke with our fearless leader, Madam Samm, who said it would it would be okay if I snuck in through the back door to show you my teensy project.

I spent the first evening on the tabs. There are four layers on these tabs, the yellow rulers, the red, the black and then the fussy-cut little dolls! I made eight, but only needed four.



Next came the panel, which I quilted and added .... can you see what I added? Yes, I added three borders, black, pin cushion and ruler, but there is more....can you see it?




 I added clear pockets! Look!




The other little thing I did was pad and cover my corkboard.....


So, in the end, it was soooo much fun! I love seeing what everyone else is posting! You all are rock stars!


Would someone please help me with photos??! I am hopeless!

Sunday, January 19, 2014



Sew We Quilt Blog Hop
Welcome to Day 10 - Wake up to KONA!

Welcome to my very young blog page! I am excited and nervous to be posting for the first time with this group of quilters. I have followed all the wonderful challenges of Madame Samm and her fantastic cheerleaders for almost a year. Thanks to the encouragement of my mentor, Lynn, from Thimblemouse & Spouse, I decided to jump in and challenge myself to put something I have created out there for others to see. 

What is funny about accepting this challenge is that I did not have any solid fabrics other than a piece of black left over from my Africa quilt! Seriously! I had to go out and spend $64 on solids.

The first thing I did was go out and purchase the sunset KONA charm pack. I LOVED the vibrant saturated color. 

I haven't ever made a quilt or ANYTHING with just solids, BUT this is supposed to be a challenge isn't it? So, I decided to take it on. 


Four years ago I made a baby quilt for my next door neighbor. The room was decorated in a fairy motif and so I started searching and found the paintings of Philip Straub. Hence, the quilt below.....


Now, I know you are thinking, this is an Edith Bunker story and you are right! But, this is my two minutes of fame so......I decided maybe I would repeat Cassidy's quilt in solids and then I thought how boring that would be. Back I went to his website and found this picture.

I made a drawing of the painting. 
I planned my colors... 
and then cut it out to make a pattern. I had to keep cutting pieces and taping them back together, then cutting out a new part.


Drawing it was easy, but relocating it onto the fabric was harder. I used my patterns to go back and make sure my placements were right.

My husband helped me hang clothespins on my fence so we could hang up the quilt. I am in Florida, so there isn't any snow.....

I did misjudge the time I needed (insert laughter in the background supplied by my DH) to finish before having it quilted by my good friend Bob at Country Crossroads. I haven't finished top stitching, so it will have to go into my February quilting slot with Bob. 

Well, after all of the storytelling and blah, blah...here is what I have done. So far, this quilt is approx. 60x86.
I will be giving it to Cassidy for her 5th birthday!
There are so many huge trees around my house, it was hard to get a picture without shadows. I hope you like it. I am pretty happy with it! Thanks for visiting me.

Thank you to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt!!! You made everything so easy. You were supportive and constantly in contact, which was sooo great for me.

Thank you Madame Samm for all you do to bring us together, out of our little sewing spaces all over the world, to collaborate. Also, you have given us a warm, playful platform to display our work and a way to make new international friends.  Have you ever thought this may be a vehicle for world peace?

Here are the rest of the courageous quilters in today's group. Leave them many encouraging comments!


January 20
Quilting Quietly (that's me)










Sunday, January 12, 2014

Happy New Year!

What a great time our family had this holiday season! I hope you all made some wonderful memories with family and friends as well.

My friend Joyce Snyder helped me out by quilting my Africa quilt before I took off for San Francisco. 



She did a super job, for a good price and got it done in a matter of days! The quilt was 100x86...no small job. Here is a small sample of what the back looks like.


My sister has people interested in purchasing the quilt, so I was very anxious to get it done. Joyce to the rescue! I am planning to donate the money to the City of Joy in the Congo. The fabric I used for the quilt top was all from Africa. If you are interested in learning more about the city of joy. Click here.

A great quilt challenge has started over at Sew We Quilt. If you haven't checked it out yet, mosey on over and check it out here.

I am going to try posting some of the links for the coming week below...

January 13

January 14

January 15

January 16

January 17