Home of the Brave

It has been several days since I've gotten a chance to sew but I thought this Memorial weekend would be appropriate to make a few blocks for the Home of the Brave Quilt Project. Please check out the link and show your support for our fallen heroes by helping out your state project.

"The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten." ~ Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States of America

The photos below were from the Umpqua Valley Quilters Guild quilt show. To date they have made 175 quilts to present to local military who are coming home from active service overseas. Wow! What a great guild!! I was considerably impressed.

This was my absolute favorite display at the quilt show.

Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to hug a Vet!!

The Fun Continues...

We had a great weekend. The rain held off at the graduation ceremony until the graduates were leaving the outdoor stadium. We had a surprise up our sleeve for Friday night's dinner where we presented my son with his eticket to Denmark!! I did about 18 loads of laundry yesterday and today we are shopping for a few things he'll need for his trip. We will pick up my daughter in Portland then drive him to Seattle where he flies out tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing my SIL, but will be out of town until later this week.

I'll leave you with a couple more beautiful quilts from the quilt show I attended recently.


I think this is such a fun quilt and I love the appliqued scalloped border.

I have no desire to make this type of quilt but I sure can appreciate the beauty of it.

What a terrific classic pattern. And hand quilted!

Can you believe this applique?! Blew me away!!

Amazing!!!
Here are two wonderful quilts done up in my favorite fabrics- reproductions!!

Have a wonderful week!!

It's a Party!!

Two more houses completed on my wonky houses!! The center top is called Double Martini and the upper right is called Two a Tee.
I'm making a few little gifts and I love these birds. The purple one will have to wait for legs until I can find a few more long beads. I think they are really cute, but are they kind of dorky too? Would you like it if a friend gave you one? Sometimes I'm so unsure of myself. They are little scissor fobs and the pattern is by Sue Spargo.

I got a discount half my age at the Stitchin' Post and have had my eye on this wonderful book by Renee Plains for a few weeks now.

It has a few quilts in it, but I rarely use patterns for the quilts I make. I loved all the little "sewing needfuls" craft projects she added to this book.

I finally found some of this cotton stuffing on my last road trip! I only had to use a little to stuff the birds but I know I like it better than poly already.

I purposely don't write about a lot of family stuff but I have to today. I hope you don't mind.

We bought our daughter a car when she was 16. It was a used 1991 Toyota. She is 26 now and she has still been driving her Toyota, regardless of it not having much power, being hit by a large firetruck, and having 240,000 miles on it.

It just happened to work out for her to buy my old car. She came down this past weekend and picked up her "new" car. She was so excited!!

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"Mom, let's have dad take a picture of us with our new cars". I love this photo!!

My baby is graduating from college on Saturday. I found out today his 4 year gpa average is 3.66 and this last semester was 4.00!! He has loved school so much and we've seen him grow in so many ways.

In high school he went with a friend to Block Island, RI and worked for the summer. Then after graduation he did an exchange with AFS to Denmark for a year. He is always up for an adventure. (nice shoes he has on, eh? )

So, I am off to Portland in the morning to start the celebrations. Have a wonderful weekend!!

Finally.....A Complete Finish!

Here's my half antique- half repro A Strippy Coins...done...done...done! Oh that sound so good! It has been awhile since I've completed anything bigger than 30" square. My friend, Kathy McCarty, machine quilted Baptist fans and for some reason it took me awhile to get the binding made and on. I love it!

I finished another Vicksburg BOM- this time the top right. This one and last month's I've machine appliqued. I have a few other hand projects I want to focus on.
Nat from Notjustnat has her Cheddar Cheese and Crackers on her design wall. If anybody else makes one I'd love to see it!!

Some of you have asked how I get a lot done...well, this helps!! We celebrated my birthday this weekend and look at this wonderful espresso from my new machine! If anybody is ever in the neighborhood, the coffee's on!!

Vintage Quilts from Quilt Show

Here are more vintage quilts from the quilt show I attended a few weeks ago.

This beautiful 30's quilt was a family treasure.

I believe the squares finished at 1 inch! It was gorgeous!!

These little hexagons were small too, made by the same Grandma as the previous one.

I thought this display was adorable. I love aprons and wear them often.

It's been a busy week and the next few weeks will be busier still with a college and high school graduation.

My birthday was this week and how in the world I got to be 48 is beyond me!! Time flies like lightning!! We are celebrating this weekend my birthday and mother's day. My son is in the midst of finals will not be able to come home but my daughter will be here. My sister sent me some beautiful flowers and hubby brought me out to dinner. We usually keep holidays and birthdays pretty low key.

We have had some gorgeous weather for two days now!! Another couple of weeks and I should be able to plant my small vegetable garden.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

A Few New-to-Me Books & Poison Green

I thought I'd take a few minutes today to share a couple of books I've gotten recently.


I saw this book while helping at the Oregon Documentation Project. It is chock full of old swatch photos and will be great help in reproducing quilts or identifying fabric in quilts. I picked it up at Amazon for a couple of bucks.
Here's another Amazon special with patterns and a few of my favorite quilts too.

This is a library book I'm enjoying immensely. If you've read Quilts on The Oregon Trail it is set up in the same manner.


My friend Randy gifted me with this book. How can book #2 be as good or better as the first book? Because Bonnie is creative, colorful, fun and a whiz at the sewing machine!! I would expect nothing less from Bonnie Hunter.

I picked up this terrific historical quilt book at a thrift store for a couple of bucks. It smells a little musty but once I opened it I was only enjoying the quilts and didn't notice the smell.



I'm always on the lookout for quilting patterns. This was a $1 thrift store find.


I can't say that I love the quilt on the cover but for a $1 it is chock full of applique patterns. Sometimes I just need a certain shape or am looking for some type of flower or bird- this book is perfect for that.

Do you ladies mind keeping an eye out for this fabric? I picked up a FQer somewhere and would like a couple of yards. I'm not desperate, but it would be perfect for a new project I am hoping to start this year. I found it online at ONE (and only one) place but am not willing to pay $14 for one yard or $24 for 2 yards. (this was with shipping but my daddy always told me that money doesn't grow on trees!)

Have a terrific day!!

Strawberry Fields Finale-Edited

I try hard but there is a correction on the cutting for the quarter square triangle. Please scroll down...
I put the final stitches in the binding last night and am very happy with the results!!
Are you ready to get your top together?

After I had my blocks made I grabbed several different reds for the sashing and laid my blocks on them to test the options. I fought with the red a lot!! Was it overpowering the little blocks? Was the print too busy? Did I need something more solid- looking? This red seemed to be the best and I let it stay on my design wall for a few days to make sure. (I really kept going back to a double pink, but resisted) I still had my doubts but went with it anyway.

As you can see by the layout we will need to cut 4 squares for the first and third row top and bottom. We want to keep the bias (or stretchy) edge away from the outside of the quilt.

I cut my squares a bit larger to give me some room to work with. If you want them cut to the perfect size, then I will assume you know how to do the math on that. You will need to cut 4 squares that measure 4 1/2", then cut on the diagonal to get eight half square triangles. (See photo below)

I lost some of my photographs so had to use a different fabric for my example. As you can see I didn't use any favorite fabrics!!

I thought I'd try something a little different and use my setting triangle ruler. The idea is to use a strip of fabric instead of squares. If I wanted exact sizes this would have been good.

See how I had to cut between lines? It wasn't very accurate.

It was pointed out that my measurement is incorrect. I'll blame the ruler, because I really didn't have to cut a square. I am so sorry if this has caused any problems.
So, I suggest cutting five- 7 3/4" squares, then cutting twice on the diagonal to get 4 quarter square triangles.
(4.5 unfinished square x 1.41= 6.363 diagonal measurement of block + 1.25 seam allowance)





When all the pieces are laid out just how you want it start sewing row one. You will be sewing on the diagonal. I always add the half square triangle pieces last. Press as you go and trim off the pesky little points.

When all three of your rows are together and you are ready to sew those together line up

the right side of the block in row 1 with the intersection of blocks on row 2. I pressed the center of the quarter square triangle so I'd know where to pin. I want my zig zag setting to look nice and I'm sure you do too. Line them up all the way down. Do the same thing when you are attaching the third row too. (Please ask if I haven't made this clear)

Because I cut my triangles larger this is where I ended up. Not a pretty sight but I had plenty of room to trim the red at the top of the block and still have a seam allowance.


Ta-da! Your Strawberry Fields is ready to layer and quilt. You should be able to see how I quilted mine in the first photo. I also think this would be terrific with an all over quilting design such as fans or clamshells.

Thanks for joining me on another quiltalong!!! I think I'll give everyone about a month then post a McLinky so we can see all the quilts at one time.

Antique Coverlets

Not only do I love quilts, but textiles in general. These woven coverlets were part of the bed turning at the Stitchin' Post. So amazing, especially for their age.

This one really blew my socks off!!

The two quilts below were from the Pioneer Quilters quilt show.

This was a terrific quilt but what I liked the best was that it only had one pieced border.

Was that the only side that would show? Did she run out of fabric? Or was she just done!? We can only guess.
I'm always fond of indigo antique quilts.