Saving Riley Blake Gingham

As an educator of elementary children, it's always a good idea to use visuals to make your point. My friend, Karen Walker, brought me some Riley Blake scraps from her last jelly roll quilt. we dumped them out on the ironing board and spread them out.....

When I told Karen that Riley Blake is considering discontinuing their line of gingham fabrics, she just looked at me as if I was crazy, then she said, "let me have those gingham scraps back!" This next picture is what that jelly roll looks like without gingham fabric.

Seriously?! Not the greatest seller now!

Here are those little bitty scraps made into 1 3/4" half square triangles and they sure do look good with that bottom triangle made of gingham!

Okay friends, go out and buy some RBD gingham and let your opinions be heard!

A Perfect Picnic Blog Hop

I am going to beg forgiveness up front. I think I have waaaayy too many pictures, but I have had so much fun with this project. I have thought about it every single day! I woke up thinking about it almost every day. You can just scroll down to the picnic if you're in a hurry :) 

My idea was that the quilt would be multi-functional. Not only would it be a quilt, but it would be able to carry the dishes, silverware, napkins, and games. So, I started by drawing......

Two sets of pockets, one set inside the ant panel, then another set inside the Celtic knot panel.

The corners are also pockets

The pockets hold the silverware, napkin rings and game bag.

The games in the pouch are Farkle and Life Stories.

I put handles on the quilt for easy transport.

It has been amazingly hot here....in the 90's....too hot here for us to have fun on a picnic, so we thought maybe we should try to have an after dark picnic! We weren't sure there would be enough light for this idea though, so we had a practice run!

It was so silly! We just piled things on plates and tumbled outside about midnight. Our neighbor, who was walking his dog, thought we were nuts....but there was enough light!

We did throw out the picnic blankie again at night with a little more thought. Here's our basket all packed up. I made the napkins, basket liner and game pouch from Riley Blake fabric. So easy to work with! The napkin rings are made by me as well from polymer clay.

Our menu for this evening adventure was.....wine, fresh mozzerella and heirloom tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives and marinated mushrooms, also French bread and sharp Irish cheese with some watermelon and blueberries for dessert.

You might notice the red and white polka dot laminate fabric....I put it down to save the quilt from drippage :)

The next picnic was with my 4 year old neighbor, Cassidy and her Momma. We waited until the sun started to go down and it was cooling off. Cassidy made the sandwiches herself and also brought some trail mix. I brought juice, watermelon, blueberries and cookies.

Cass had fun searching out the treasures in the pockets.

The girl makes a mean salami and cheese sandwich! I am thinking of hiring her to make my lunches for school next year!

Even an ant came by....can you see it?

Madame Samm, this was the best idea ever! ...and Mary at I Piece 2-Mary was our ever supportive cheerleader! Thank you to Peterboro Basket Company and Riley Blake Designs!

Here are my picnic friends du jour.....amazing women with super fun picnic ideas! Stop by to see them all.....

Ella and Nesta's Little Room

Thimblemouse and Spouse

Jane's Quilting

Amanda Murphy Design

Quilting Quietly  ........that's me!

Words & Stitches

Childlike Fascination

A Perfect Picnic blog hop

We are packing up our baskets and getting ready for the last blog hop of the season with Madam Samm at Sew We Quilt!

This blog hop is a little different than the others, because we will be taking a friend/spouse out on an actual picnic using the quilt we make! We will take pictures as well. It will be so much fun to see our fellow quilters out enjoying fresh air and friends. 

My DH is so excited about this hop....really! I explained it to him on a two hour drive back from Orlando last weekend. He listened and asked a few questions, then we continued listening to our audio book. About a half an hour later, he turned off the book and started telling me about his favorite picnic foods when he was a kid! The book went back on, then about a half hour later, off it went again. He had come up with three more picnic themes along with menus to go with them...I was so delighted!

Saturday we went to out and hunted for dishes, silverware and heavy duty fabric for the quilt backing. He was involved with all of the phases of this adventure...what a guy! 

I decided against a laminate backing for several reasons:

* You can't rip it out without leaving a hole

and since I will be making up this pattern, 

ripping out may happen alot!

* I won"t be taking a picnic outing when or where it is wet.

* I want to be able to wash the devil out of it, 

since I am going to use the devil out of it :)

These are just personal choices, and does not mean I am not a fan of laminate fabric

...I am a BIG fan! Just not for this project.

I thought I'd put in a little tease of my fabrics for the quilt (as of my thinking today) with the Riley Blake accents to be determined in the next day or two....

Come join us!!

It Bugs Me to Have to Sit Still!

This week I had cataract surgery and it went very, very well. What I didn't know going into it was that there is a 4 week healing time, that you have to be still after the surgery....still, and if you are like me, with rimless glasses and very blind, you are stuck wearing all kinds of jacked up contraptions in order to "sort-of" see...

All of that was okay, even the not driving part, except...you guessed it....being still. Sheeesh!

I am sure you have projects you have filed away in your head for "when I've broken both legs....". Well, I guess that day had finally come. I had to be still and my jailer, I mean my DH, made sure I was in compliance.

I got out a fantastic tea box that I have been saving, waiting for inspiration. My first idea was to cover the box and put a rosette on the top, but then the sides looked so plain

So, I got out some beautiful photo postcards, which I love and have hoarded for several years. The postcard set is called 

The Insect Art of Christopher Marley. 

I added the card sections to either end, but then I realized there was no connection between the flower and the insects, other than great color. 

I decided I needed a real insect on my flower and don't you know it, I had some in my workroom! So, now I had a cute box!

 

I hot glued a new sponge into the top of the box for needles and pins, 

then loaded the inside up with the handwork I keep in many places, like the car, my luggage and my library (for faculty meetings). 

 The box is hard enough to keep everything safe, especially in my luggage, but small enough not to take up too much room. I think I mentioned before that I am not throwing away anything larger than an inch, so there are lots of little scraps to stitch together whenever there is a spare minute.  

 Anyway, I enjoyed this little project and I have six boxes left, so I think a series might be happening :)

Thanks for stopping by to see my silly "still-ish" project :)

My Second Africa Quilt

My second Africa quilt is finished! I took it with me to California and left it with my capable sister, Deb. I loved making this quilt. I have never made anything like it. I was inspired by Jen Kingwell's Gypsy Wife quilt. The quilt measures 100+" by 86" and it is on a king sized bed in this picture.

I arranged the blocks smallest to largest, but either end can be the top.

As you can see, the quilting, which was perfectly done by my hero, Bob at Country Crossroads Quilt Shop, is a geometric. Bob bought it especially for this quilt and it looks so good!

So, I hope this quilt will help do some good 

for the City of Joy in the Congo. 

It's My Turn to Hop onto the Flags on a Stick Blog Hop

Welcome to the 

 

 

There is so much to see, 

so take my hand 

and let me show you a few little items.....

On the flip flop side......

Just let me post one more little panel. There was not much design in this one, but I was on a roll and couldn't stop.  Thanks to Laurel Burch, my flag works both night and day :)

Thanks to Thearica and Madam Samm for a wonderful hop!  Thearica, we sure made it "challenging" for you, but you never got grouchy. You are an awesome cheerleader!

I hope you leave sweet comments for all my "hopping" friends today. Here they are.......

March 26th

Living with Purpose

Life In The Scrapatch

Devoted Quilter

Made By Me In Red

Quilting Quietly (that's me!)