Saturday, November 30, 2013

Tiptoe Thru the Tulips and the Knappenberger Quilt

Here is the center of a medallion quilt that 4 of us are making. It is called Tiptoe thru the Tulips by Wendy at Legends and Lace and can be found here. (Wendy will be making the pattern available as she has had requests for it. I will let you know when it is ready! Thank you Wendy!)
This is my friend Jill's center. The colors will be bright and vibrant!
Here is my center, which I've deviated quite a bit from Wendy's pattern. I couldn't help myself.

Here is Wendy's quilt. The pattern is available NOW! Click HERE>
And I believe this is the quilt she used for her version. I've long admired this quilt and you can see how I've followed my own path. (I have since been told by Wendy that her quilt was on a quilt engagement calendar and is not the Knappenberger quilt)

Karen and Janet are doing it and you can see their beautiful centers at Karen's blog-
Log Cabin Quilting.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

A Danish Thanksgving

My son lived in Denmark for a year while he was an exchange student.  My son's host mom, Lene, was an exchange student herself in the 70's and is very Americanized.They wanted to surprise my son, Ken, with a traditional American Thanksgiving. They purchased a huge turkey and were planning on all the trimmings too.

There was only one problem. Everything in Europe is smaller (even the people!) and the turkey was too big to fit in the oven. So the host grandpa and cook, Iwan, used (maybe he had to buy it?) an electric chain saw and proceeded to cut it in half while raw turkey was flying all over his kitchen! The size of that turkey was not going to deter them from giving Kenny a Thanksgiving turkey meal.
They told me later they froze the pieces of turkey that he cut off and they were eating it for months!

Because this was a surprise, earlier in the day they were casually asking Kenny what he has for Thanksgiving meal at home, and he thought for a moment and said, "HAM"!


Happy Thanksgiving to all of you near and far. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this blog and enriching my life with your friendship and comments.


Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Wednesday Update

Well, I am preparing to cook a large meal tomorrow for Thanksgiving.  There will only be 9 of us but it seems like the same amount of work no matter how many there are at the table. I am hoping to post a Thanksgiving story. It is a true tale of when my son was in Denmark for a year celebrating Thanksgiving. It is always one we retell year after year.

I do admit to getting a bit itchy to decorate for Christmas. December 1st and the first Advent is Sunday! The spare bed is holding the quilts ready for me to make the change from fall to winter.

There were a few things I need to get rid of that have been in a pile since we carpeted my room. 
I bought this hooked rug kit years ago. The burlap made a mess, but it is obvious by looking at the primitive angel's face I didn't quite get the hang of it. Leave a comment if you want it and I'll send it to you. The bag has all the strings needed to complete the angel rug.

This box is full of cowboy scraps. (GONE!) You readers generously shared with me and now I'm done with them.

This isn't a drawing, first person to give me a shout out, gets them.

If you are a no reply commenter I will not try to track you down. Go to this post and make the changes necessary to contact you.

PS, Wendy, P2P you are a no-reply commenter.




Monday, November 25, 2013

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!






I made these awesome basket blocks this weekend. The patterns are/were free at Legends & Lace. You can find them under Baskets Galore. I won't mince words- they are challenging blocks!

And I got most of the fabric to make them from this big box of scraps I won from 
Cyndi at Busy Thimble blog. I had so much fun choosing fabrics from this. Thank you again Cyndi!!
 And I won this book from Jo of Jo's Country Junction. I love that this is pocket size!
 Look at the wonderful information at my fingertips! It is available from Landauer Publishing. I think you may be able to get it as a free download if you sign up to get their newsletter!
Now we are all winners! Have a fantastic week.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Elm Creek Companion Winner

I couldn't have a blog post without a quilt photo.

Here's my red and green quilt quilted and laying in the middle of my sewing room floor. Need to get a binding made soon! So excited to have it ready to display this Christmas.

Here's another section in the Elm Creek Companion. It really is a fantastic book.
Thank you Mary from Plume Books for offering it to me to review and a giveaway. If you are one of those hard to buy for women, put this on your wish list! It is available in book stores now.

On with the winner..........................

(PS there are still comments with no email associated with them and they are not eligible to win- go look and fix it! I show you how here. )

Thank you all who entered! I loved reading which book or character you liked the best. I have read more of them than I thought I had.

Susan, Material Girl, You are the winner of the book! Please email me with your mailing address and I'll get it in the mail to you.

Happy Sunday!

Friday, November 22, 2013

Are you a No Reply Commenter?

And what the heck does that mean, anyways?! This post looks long, but really it isn't. I tried to add a few photos to make it easier to change.

I have it set up so when someone leaves a comment on my blog it comes directly to my email.

See the from? If I want to send an email to this person, it is going out to cyberland and not "Quilter" who sent it.

Sometimes I can go click on the name where the comment was left and find an email. Most of time this is what I find: This is your blogger profile.
That doesn't help me at all!

Part of the joy of blogging is responding to comments, answering question and getting to know other quilters.  So, if you've ever wondered why someone didn't answer a question, it very well could be because you are a no-reply commenter.

Some of you suggested that because you were part of Google I would have your email address.


Sometimes this is all I get when I click on your name where you have left a comment. The crossed out area was someones name. You can edit your Google+ and put in as much or as little information as you'd like. My email can be found in the "About" area.  I find Google+ pretty worthless actually. (feel free to add me to your google circle, then we can email thru that if need be)
My Google+ profile

OK, so what to do to fix it? First off you may not know if you are a no-reply. I tried to add a reply right in my comments for those I could not reach. Go look and see if you are one of them on the book giveaway. Or leave a comment here and I will either send you an email, saying you are great, or I'll leave a reply in my comment section telling you that you are no-reply.
Sheesh, this is getting longer than it really needs to be. Let 's go!

The best way to do it is to disconnect from Google+ from your dashboard.(you can reconnect later the same way we are disconnecting)
Mine looks like this. In the upper right hand there is the gear icon, click on it and you will see an option to disconnect from Google+.

Now you will go to Blogger profile by clicking on the arrow next to your  name. Edit your profile.
Make sure the box is checked next to "Show my email address".

If you don't have a blog simply go to your profile, make sure the "show my email address" box is checked. If it isn't, make sure you enter your email address and check the box.

You should be good to go! Let me know if this was helpful or if I've made a mistake, or if you still need help. I am going to stall off the drawing until Sunday morning so the many no-reply commenters can give me their contact information.

I had great plans to sew this afternoon and decided to make this post instead! Now I'm going to sew something wonderful. 


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Juniper Flats & Elm Creek Giveaway

I know many of you are decorating for Christmas already. It doesn't matter how late Thanksgiving falls in November there will be no Christmas decor up until AFTER Thanksgiving.
I realized I never showed you this fun little quilt I reproduced from an antique. I call it Juniper Flats since the high desert is rather brown a good part of the season. It suits the fall theme really well.
I hand quilted fans across the whole thing.
I used a bunch of scraps, but you know, it hardly made a dent.
Here is the vintage one.

As you may or may not know I am having a giveaway of the Elm Creek Quilt Companion.

Here are the quilts that were recreated from the novels! I'm a sucker for a sampler quilt!
You still have time to enter! Go here and leave a comment. Many of you that commented are no reply bloggers and I have no way of contacting you. I left a message after your comment. Please go check and see if you are one of them, then either hit reply and put in your email or email me and I will tell you how to update your settings. It doesn't do you any good to try and win something from a blog if we cannot contact you. (it makes me sad)

Have an awesome day!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Iron Clean Review and Quilting

 I've finished hand quilting all the motifs on my Cherry Tree quilt! I have two blocks to quilt around the applique shapes then it is on to the background. (Border outlining  will be later)

I wanted to do this review but felt I had to put in a quilting photo. So now onto the review:

I picked this up at the PJ sale a week ago. I usually use the goo but this looked so much easier.  Some wool seems to make a huge mess on my iron which can transfer to my cotton fabric so I like to keep my iron as clean as possible.

 BEFORE
 AFTER

I'm afraid this gets zero stars!
Not even a little black on the sheet. I watched the video before to make sure I was doing it correctly. They made it look like magic. Mo magic at my house!

Not much sewing going on at my house today. My nephews son was sick and they asked if I'd watch him today. I'm surprised at how good he has been. I'm really out of practice and figured he'd know how to pull one over on me. lol





Friday, November 15, 2013

New Low-Tech Design Wall

Ever since we have moved into this house (1997) I had a piece of batting held with tacks on my sewing room wall for my design center. My sewing room is a small bedroom so I am limited by space but I found another low-tech way to replace my drooping design batting that will fit in the same spot.
I looked at insulation board at Home Depot and thought I could only purchase it as a 4'x8', which I would have had to cut. Look what I found! Sheets that are 4' x2' that are 1/2 thick. If I would have known that I could have purchased these months ago as they would have fit in my car. They are extremely lightweight too.
I taped them together so my piece is now 48" x 48".  (Use your imagination on this next part- no photos) I used spray adhesive on the board to adhere a large piece of batting to it and used a commercial stapler to hold the batting to the back. 
My husband used screws to hold it into the wall. That didn't work that well cause my batting was twisting as he was screwing it into the wall. (see left lower corner) So he ended up attaching it with a nail gun.

It is 1/2" thick so I can easily hold pieces with a pin too!  So far I am liking it and know it will be so much better.
Now go back up to the previous photo.... There's more of my Sally Post blocks. I'm hoping to get more sashing and cornerstones done this weekend.

PS, I've joined a health challenge! Will you come along this journey with me for the next 6 weeks? It's called the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge. Check it out!

PSS Several commenters are no -reply blogger on my last post.  I've replied directly online if that is the case. Go back to that post and look in the comment section to see if you are one of them. Email me and we can make a change to your status.
Have you commented to win the Jennifer Chiaverini Book? What are you waiting for!? Do it now!!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Calling All Elm Creek Quilt Book Fans!!

Look what I've got my hands on!! A companion guide to everything ELM CREEK!  If you have read all the books and want even more, you will want this. If you've ever lost track of who is who while reading one of the Elm Creek Quilt books you can refer to this book. 

Hmmmm, who is Charles Davis? You could turn to his name (alphabetically, of course) and see he was in The Quilter's Legacy novel, and was the Boston landlord, and later husband, of Amelia Langley Davis. In a letter to Eleanor Lockwood Bergstrom, Amelia describes him as her "dear friend and comrade."


Do you want to know more about Elm Creek Manor? This book will bring you on a guided tour!

Would you like to own it? You can! Just leave me a comment and tell me your favorite Elm Creek book, or your favorite character and why. If you are a no reply blogger, please leave me your email address so I can contact you easily.

I'll announce the winner Saturday morning November 16.

This drawing is CLOSED!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Sally Post Half a Quilt and Hanging Sleeve

Here is half of my Sally Post quilt. I thought I was cruisin' right along to the end, but once I got this together I needed a break. I think I have about 8 blocks to applique on the other half. I'm thrilled as can be!

Ok, a few weeks ago I added a hanging sleeve on a quilt and thought I'd show you how I did it. Someone probably has a better way- if so, I'd love to see it!
 I was ready to add my binding and knew it would save me a little sewing if I did them both at once. I measured my top and subtracted about 2". I don't want it to get sewn in on the sides. I'm not sure if there is a 'standard" width, but the quilt is only 42" square and didn't think it needed to be too wide. I ironed a small seam in twice on each end and hemmed with the machine with matching thread.

I ironed it wrong sides together and lined up the raw edges (of the quilt and sleeve) and pinned heavily so it wouldn't move around. Then I added my binding to the front as usual, making sure to catch in the sleeve on the raw edge.

 As I was hand sewing my binding down, I also sewed the bottom of the sleeve to the back making sure not to go all the way to the front of the quilt.
Unplanned, but you can hardly tell there is a sleeve.


Monday, November 11, 2013

Snowman Wool Applique

This project isn't a current project any longer, 'cause it's done!

Instead of using a large piece of expensive and pretty wool for the back I chose to use flannel, called woolies. It is a terrific substitute.
 I put two pieces right sides together.  If you are smarter than me, you could use one piece and fold it over and only have 3 sides to sew....duh!
  Sew around all four sides and trim the corners.
Make a slit on one fabric only. Make sure you slice it where your project will cover it up. As you can see, I wasn't concerned about a straight line.
Turn right sides out, push your corners out and press. Then applique your wool piece on top.

Ta-Da! Stand back and enjoy your handiwork!






Saturday, November 9, 2013

PJ Sale at the Stichin' Post

This morning was the ever popular pajama sale at the Stichin' Post in Sisters.  The earlier you arrive the bigger the discount. If you are wearing pajamas you get an extra 5% discount. I really didn't need a thing, and it is getting harder and harder to find what I like at this store, but it is almost tradition. I didn't want to break with that!


This is what my phone said as I started my car to leave Madras.
And this is what I saw as I passed the store when I got to Sisters an hour later. A line of ladies in their PJ's waiting for the doors to open.

I had a good reason to pass right on by. Anna of Woolie Mammoth Blog  invited me, along with some others, for some coffee and nourishment before hitting the sale. How could I pass that up?! Thanks Anna!!
The usual PJ sale mayhem ensued. It's always fun!!


You'll never know what you'll find in Sisters, Oregon!!