I'm in love.....again!

I knew when I bought these fabrics that I would love the resulting quilt - and I do. And so does Maddie. She has already asked if she can have this quilt. I was hoping that there would be enough leftovers to make me a wall hanging but there isn't. I used up almost all of the brown fabrics. Oh, well! I think the mommy-to-be is going to love this. She has very classy taste. We teased her because when they built their new house, she had a crystal chandelier installed in their guest powder room! Only Holly would do this!

Now to get it quilted and bound - but I've got a whole month before the baby shower. Can't believe I am this far ahead of the game.

We have a lot (around 100) college students that go to church with us. Every year a new batch comes in and other ones graduate. We hate to see them leave, but it is the normal cycle of life in a college town. This year several girls graduated that I was close to. One girl, Lacey, had taught bible classes with me several times. And she loves my kids and they loved her. She baby sat for me a couple of times. Anyway, after she left I felt like I wanted to send her a graduation present. This green quilt had been hanging over my sewing table but was replaced at Christmas by the quilt my mom made me. I am kind of over the lime green now. So I decided that it was time to send it on to Lacey. She called Monday night, right after she got the quilt. She loved it. She said she wanted to carry it around with her everywhere - like a three year old and her security blanket. I have got one more girl I want to do something for - but she's not leaving town until August. What to do, what to do?

More Pictures from my trip north

I took all these pictures a few days ago, but am just now sitting down to get it all together. Since Nina took time out of her busy packing schedule to show you her shopping finds from our time together, I thought I would share my finds too. I got this quilt at the same antique store that Nina got her grandmother's flower garden top. The quilt is twin size and I got it for $55. The back is pieced from several different fabrics - probably a slightly later date than the top.

I have been lusting after old library card file cabinets for several years. They are a very hot commodity. Since I haven't found any full sized ones that are available and that I can afford, I went for a smaller version. I have it sitting on top of my small book shelf in my sewing room.

This is Maddie's new bed. It is an old iron bedstead! I love it! I found it at an antique mall near my parent's house in Tennessee. Got it for $75! Yeah - that is my new "old" quilt on the bed - just so I can photograph it.

My mom has an iron bed that is very similar to this in her guest bedroom. It was my great grandmother's bed. Funny story about that bed. When I was a tiny baby, Mom and Dad took me to Mamie's house so she could meet me. Mom was changing my diaper on the bed and of course I took the opportunity to tinkle on the bed! My mom was so embarrassed. She went to Mamie and told her what had happened. She told my mom, "Don't worry - you did the same thing!"

This cute little jar came home with me from a antique mall in Muncie. I just loved the odd round shape and the handle. I filled it with buttons from my grandmother's button collection.

And saving the best for last! Here is the fabric that me and Nina dyed. We had so much fun!!! When Nina makes her millions from all her business endeavors, we are going to start our own fabric dyeing business and all the fabric colors will have food names. Like Pomegranate and Passion Fruit. Once again, I ended up with very few blues. Probably because I was trying to keep the anti-blue person happy! But we had fun anyway.

Well, it is time for bed! Today I finished up the Auburn baby quilt - just in time for the shower tomorrow! Just have to slap a label on it in the morning. I have got most of the blocks made for the brown/blue baby quilt. It is looking really good. I was hoping to have enough left over fabric to make me a wall hanging but I think it is going to take every scrap I have. More pictures to come!

The case of the missing quilt

I have made it home from the summer's big trip. I had so much fun! We ate too much, talked a lot, laughed a lot, and shopped a lot! I will share more pictures later but I wanted to show you some pictures from the mystery that happened before I even left Tennessee.

First - here is a picture of me and Nines. Notice that somehow we have the same color of hair. More on that in another post!

Here is Nina's birthday quilt. She picked out the red fabric last summer when we were together. Her rules for this year's challenge quilt were simple - only two fabrics! I put the red together with a medium tan. I really like how it turned out. Kind of calmer than last year's quilt, no?
Wednesday morning before I headed off to Indiana, I asked my dad to help me get a picture of Nina's quilt. After he held it up for me, I laid it across a chair in the living room. About half and hour later, I started packing up the car. When I went looking for Nina's quilt, it is missing. It is no where to be found. My mother had already mentioned that if Nina hated the quilt for some reason, she would be glad to take it. So I went to Mom's bedroom - just in case the quilt had walked in there by itself!

First - I came across this bear claw quilt (in reds and creams) that I made for my sister about 6 years ago. Mom is keeping it "safe" for her!


Then, laying across the foot of Mom's bed, is the anniversary quilt (in red and tans) that I made Mom and Dad three years ago for their 40th anniversary. Hmm... what is that that I spy laying across her foot board? Could it be?

Yes, my mother, in her frenzy of straightening up the living room, had accidentally put Nina's quilt in her bedroom. Amazing, isn't it? She tried to act shocked when I told her where I found the quilt, but I don't believe her!

More pictures of my Indiana fun coming soon!

The day is almost here!!

Tomorrow morning we head for Tennessee and then Wednesday me and DD will go on to Indiana to see Nines and her family. We are all very excited!!

Today instead of staying home and doing something useful like packing, I decided to run over to Montgomery and go to the big mall there. I was looking for a pair of sandals that our Sears store here didn't have in my size. Got there and tried them on and didn't like them as much as I thought I would. The strap on the back was as tight as it would go but still kept slipping. Ended up finding some other at Parisians that I liked just as well. Also found a couple of shirts and a cute tan denim jacket - all on clearance!

Also hit Kudzu Blossom Quilt Store. Fun, fun, fun. I went there to by my mom a birthday present. I can't tell you what it is on the off chance that she might read this before I give it to her. I will make sure to take pictures to share with you.
When I came home I sat down and sewed the binding on Nina's quilt - at least on the front. I will do the other side tomorrow night when I get to Mom's house because I don't have any red thread to do the other side. Nothing like putting something off until the last second!

We started packing my CRV for the trip - starting with one of these.

A friend gave us her kid's old one right after Christmas. My kids are really too big for it so we are hauling it up to my parents house for my niece and nephews. DH had to remove all the wheels and the back cargo piece. Now the problem is I don't have much room for everything else! The kids will have to sit with their feet on their suitcases but I think we should make it. The big question is will Papa be able to reassemble the Gator before my nephew Joey has a meltdown over it!

I will try to post some pictures from Nina and mine fun adventures. Have a great week!

Almost there!

Unfortunately, I am not almost there (Indiana) - physically. But I am gradually getting my act together so that I can head that way on Tuesday.


I spent all day Friday working on the quilt for the lady at the sewing center. This quilt held several firsts for me. First time to try free hand spirals - love them!!! Boy can they use up a lot of thread! Also tried echo quilting for the first time. The main body of the quilt was made up of blocks that had chenille shapes in the middle of them - hearts, daisies, stars, and spirals. I echo quilted around each of the shapes. I had to call Nina for some encouragement that I wasn't going to ruin this quilt! The alternate blocks were just a solid fabric - blue with little red stars. So in those blocks I did little loopy loops with some free hand stars thrown in. About a quarter of the way into quilting this, I realized that running out of thread might be a possibility. I hadn't counted on those spirals using up so much thread. The spool on the machine was brand new - about 1100 yards. The one I was winding bobbins off of had been used a little bit for something. I figured that as long as I had thread on the bobbin spool I was ok. Eventually I used the whole bobbin spool and another yellow that had maybe three bobbins worth of thread on it. Used all those bobbins. I was down to the last bobbin of thread. I think there was maybe one bobbins' worth of thread on the spool on the machine. That last hour of quilting yesterday morning I kept saying "Please, please,please - don't let me run out of thread!!" I had half a bobbin left when I finished! Way too close for comfort! I did a big happy dance! Got it off of the machine and delivered it. They LOVED it! I was so relieved. She even gave me a good sized tip on top of the price of the quilting! Here is a picture of some of the free hand spirals.

Yesterday afternoon I got the sewing room cleaned up - especially my sewing table. It was about a foot deep in stuff. Had to have it cleaned off so that I can sew the binding on Nina's quilt. I even found the binding strips that I had already cut!

Got a pile of bills paid and reloaded the dishwasher. Put a load of laundry into wash. I may eventually get everything ready to go.

Oh - one more question for you. A week from Thursday is my mom's birthday - the big 60. Me and my sister can't think of what to get her as a present. Anyone have any great ideas? Thanks for your help!

Have a great Sunday!