Workin' Wednesday

I picked this up at my local thrift store and have really enjoyed it! Stories of women and their quilts- right up my alley! There are patterns too with variations. A lot of history and research has gone into this book and I recommend it highly! (available used on amazon for next to nothing)

**** If anyone knows of someone who can help update my aging blog, please let me know! I'm willing to pay!!

Upcoming lectures:

Mt Bachelor Quilter's Guild

Bend, Oregon

June 10th

• 6:15-6:45 pm - refreshments are served 
• 6:45-9:00 pm - guild business/event topics, door prizes, fat quarter drawing, book raffle, special program, plus "show and tell".
• Meetings are held in Bend at Partners in Care, 2075 Wyatt Court

Tualatin Valley Quilt Guild

Portland area

June 18th

7:00 pm – 9:00 pmKing City Civic Association, 15245 SW 116th Ave, Portland, OR 97224, USA
Please be sure if you come to stop by and say hi!

A hiking group I am on were doing a day hike about 3.5 hours away from me. I do have a difficult time with a drive that is longer than the hike, so I asked a friend if she wanted to meet up and backpack and that is exactly what we did! Weather was warm and the falls were beautiful!

It is harder and harder to find old growth forests.

I kept feeling like I was in the movie Jurassic park! LOL 

Straight ahead was Siouxon creek- always nice to sleep next to a babbling brook. Got to try out my new one person tent- thumbs up!

After setting up camp we day hiked to a couple of larger falls, then forded the creek back to camp. We thought we were going to be hiking about 4miles in... somehow 4 turned to 10, then 7 back out. It was worth it! So relaxing and restorative.

Strip Quilt Secrets- Unleashed! You have a chance to WIN!

 Diane's new book hit the market a few a short weeks ago and I told her I'd love to be a part of a blog hop to help her promote it. I was happy to be a part of her first book release- her quilts and directions are fun and simple! (We made the house blocks from her first book!) She has given highlights on her blog and I would encourage you to take the time to read it. Check it out HERE.  Her secrets are revealed!!

While browsing through the book I noticed this toward the end. What size strips do you  need for which quilt. There are 2 pages of strip widths. I've saved strips but never really know what to do with them- well, here ya go!

I decided I'd do this quilt. I made the mistake of not reading the directions all the way through before starting. I realized there are 4 different blocks in this quilt! One more reason to love it even more.

I opted to make my centers all red like a traditional log cabin block and use my homespuns to 

make it more masculine.

 Blocks A, B, C, D. 

It would have been easier to make all A blocks, all B blocks, etc. That is how Diane wrote the directions. I wasn't sure how many blocks I was going to make so I opted to cut a bunch of strips and figure it out as I went.

The layout is light-dark-light, looking at the outermost strip.

These are 10" blocks and I made 5 of each. I wanted to make it a bit bigger...

Then I saw this "secret" at the bottom of the page. So, I made 10 more blocks. 

And ended up with this lovely top! It is only 50x 60 so I will add a border, do a little meandering and send it to CA to be given to a Camp Fire survivor. 

You can win Diane's Strip Quilt Secrets! 

First off, visit these blogs and leave a comment to win:

Friday January 4 - C&T 

Saturday January 5 - Tanya
Sunday January 6 - Val
Monday January 7 - Lori
Tuesday January 8 - Heather
Wednesday January 9 - Audrey
Thursday January 10 - Susan

Leave a comment here telling me if you collect strips and if you use them on a regular basis. I'll draw a name on Friday January 11th to win a signed copy. I'm so sorry that this is only open to US residents.

Comments are closed so the winner can be notified and announced on Fridays blog post. Thank you all for your terrific comments! So many of us save out strings and strips!

Friday! Friday! And a Book Winner!

Helloooooo and happy Friday!

I picked this up at the quilters on Wednesday. I'm hoping to get the binding on it this weekend. I do believe I will put this one up for sale at Sisters this summer. I was showcasing the reproduction fabrics by P&B Textiles. I like it a lot and am glad I chose the fan quilting.

Here's a few more blocks from Cheri's quiltalong. I hope to get them attached to the other half this weekend too. 

Without further ado. Thank you all who took the time to leave a comment about Scrap Quilt Secrets. I couldn't be more thrilled to see Diane's book so widely popular! And that's no Foolin'!

Number 102 was chosen by the random number generator. Congrats Marsha! Please send me your mailing address and C&T will mail your book at the end of the blog hop.

I'm heading to Portland on Sunday to spend the day with my daughter and niece. My daughter has made a life change and we are going to help her make her studio a happy place! (And set up her sewing space!)

Have a wonderful weekend! I loved hearing about all the reasons we quilt. Thank you all who take the time to comment. I read every single one and treasure them, even if I do not have time to respond.

Love you all!

Scrap Quilt Secrets Blog Hop

Spring is the perfect time for a new quilt book release and I couldn't be more happy to be helping Diane spread the news about her new book, Scrap Quilt Secrets.(Of course, they will not be secrets any longer!)I cannot remember when I discovered Diane's blog, Butterfly Threads Quilting, but if I remember correctly my first comment said, "Why haven't I found you sooner?" She is super talented and loves to share with her blog readers. So naturally, a book would seem like the next step. Continue reading and you can have many opportunities to win this new release!

Her "secret" recipe for creating amazing scrap quilts. S-C-R-A-P-S

S- style

C- Contrast

R- Repetition

A- Accents

P- Palettes

S- Selvages

What a fun and easy way to remember the "secrets"!

I took the "easy route and made a little quilt using her house pattern. Oh my goodness, I used only 2 1/2" squares and strips and 1 1/2" squares and strips for the little houses. Assembly was so easy and fun!

Here is my first block. No templates were involved in the building of this house.....  For me, it looks pretty darn perfect!

I made a few big, and a few little. I wasn't quite as slow and careful on the other construction, but I think it turned out super cute! The large houses finish at 10", the small ones 5". 

All 16 of the quilt projects were laid out very well with easy to follow instructions. Kudos Diane on a quilt book well written!

To win your own copy please leave a comment on this blog post. If you are international you can sign up to win the e-version of Diane's book. 

Feel free to hop around to the other designers as well!!

3/21    C&T Blog http://www.ctpub.com/blog/

with Diane (that’s me)www.butterflythreadsquilting.com

3/22    Bonnie Hunter http://quiltville.blogspot.com/

3/23    Lori http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/

3/24    Karen http://nanagirlquilts.blogspot.com/  

3/25    Audrey http://quiltyfolk.blogspot.com/

3/26    Pat Sloan http://blog.patsloan.com/

3/27    Valerie http://myplvl.blogspot.com/

3/28    Kelly http://pinkadotquilts.blogspot.com/

3/29    Victoria Findlay Wolfe http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/

3/30    Rachaeldaisy http://bluemountaindaisy.blogspot.com/

3/31    Angie http://quiltingcrescent.blogspot.com/

4/1       Julie http://quiltjewelry.blogspot.com/

4/2       Barb Www.funwithbarb.com

I'll post the winner on my blog April 1st. That ain't no foolin'!

I'm doing a lecture with lots of quilts in Sisters tonight at the Stitchin' Post at 6;30. If you can make it, I'd love it! Love to you all!

Comments are now closed! Thank you to all who entered!

Merry Monday!!

Happy Spring!!

 Here's my scrap basket quilt that I'm following Cheri along with. She will be adding some prim applique in wool so I'm excited for it! Blocks finish at 4".

Gay at Sentimental Stitches shared this block on International Quilt Day (Saturday!) I was happy to do this one this weekend.

Yes, I do things very high-tech! We've got 80 little quilt swappers and I'll get the name of who you are sending to before Wednesday. Keep an eye on your email.

Today is the kickoff of Diane's blog hop to celebrate her new book- Scrap Quilt Secrets. You have several chances to win a copy for yourself! I'll be reviewing it on Wednesday. Check it out!

Here's the rest of the line up:

3/21    C&T Blog http://www.ctpub.com/blog/

with Diane www.butterflythreadsquilting.com

3/22    Bonnie Hunter http://quiltville.blogspot.com/

3/23    Lori http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/

3/24    Karen http://nanagirlquilts.blogspot.com/  

3/25    Audrey http://quiltyfolk.blogspot.com/

3/26    Pat Sloan http://blog.patsloan.com/

3/27    Valerie http://myplvl.blogspot.com/

3/28    Kelly http://pinkadotquilts.blogspot.com/

3/29    Victoria Findlay Wolfe http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/

3/30    Rachaeldaisy http://bluemountaindaisy.blogspot.com/

3/31    Angie http://quiltingcrescent.blogspot.com/

4/1       Julie http://quiltjewelry.blogspot.com/

4/2       Barb Www.funwithbarb.com

Have a great Monday!

Charitable Quilts, Dresses and Giveaway Winner

I hope you were able to spot a dress or two that you had donated! I found a few more pillowcase dress photos so I thought I'd post them in the hopes you'd recognize one.

I'm trying to get some quilt tops out of my sewing room and have 2 I do not want to quilt or finish. Does anybody have a charity they work with that would like my tops?

And, while we are on the topic the winner of the book is #24 Linda O!! Monique has generously offered to send out a new book to the winner. Please send me your mailing address and I'll let her know it.

Thank you all who have given generously! I made a donation to my shoe shine boy's family for some food and warm clothing and Faith Seeds,  who was started by my friend Gaby, who works with kids in the garbage dumps in Guatemala.

Love you all!

Book Review and Giveaway

I've been extremely sick after returning from Bolivia, (update: finally went to the Dr and have a bulging eardrum and sinus issues, probably complicated by air travel)  but thought this would be the perfect time to review this book, since it is all about quilters giving.
251 pillowcase dresses were personally delivered by me and that exemplifies all that is generous with quilters. If you want to read more uplifting stories of generous quilters and what we are doing all over the world you will want to read this book! You can purchase it HERE.

From the introduction:

What do quilters look like? A grandma in a rocking chair, with a thimble on her finger? Elderly ladies perched around a quilting frame, stitching and chatting?

Although some people still fit these traditional images, many others go far beyond. Today’s quilters, young and old, lead busy lives. They have jobs outside the home in addition to family responsibilities. Somehow, during the kids’ soccer practice, at a lunch break, or late at night, they find time to add a few stitches to their newest creation.

Amazingly, they also find time to give away those creations once they’re finished.

This book presents quilters who do just that. The people featured here represent countless others, all of whom donate their skills to the benefit of humankind. Some do so with scrappy utility quilts, and some with dazzling works of art. Some make small-scale quilts; others go grand. Some do their quilting while the public looks on, and others remain anonymous. 

If you would like to win my copy please leave a comment. If you are a no-reply commenter you will not be eligible unless you leave your email address. Be forewarned, my copy went to Bolivia and back and was exposed to an open water bottle.... it isn't in super bad shape, but certainly not in new shape.  I'll draw a name next Wednesday!

Have a good weekend.