Some More Pics

Had a fun time with my camera a few days ago and thought I'd share the results! I just meandered around the house and aimed and shot! I'll start with my sweet kitty, Sophie. She loves to have her picture taken!

This is a shot from my

living room looking out

to the back deck.

My favorite picture above my favorite

piece of furniture--

the piano!

You are now in the guest room.

The Amish dolls are sitting on an old original 1930's quilt made by my Great-Aunt Clara, or possibly by my Grandma Sockman, I'm just not sure as there is no label. After talking to my aunt, I have a notion that it may have been made by my grandma as my aunt said that she remembers her mama making quilts during the 30's and this definitely has the look of feedsack fabric.

Looking out the guest room window

to the pasture across the lane.

I'll share some more on another day...Come back again for the rest of the tour!

Show and Tell

I've not posted for a few days as I have been so anxious to work with some 1930's retro prints that I recently purchased in the form of fat quarters and a charm pack (Aunt Grace 25th Anniversary Collection). I thought I would make myself a table runner. I had seen the cutest pattern for one at "Happy Zombie's" blog a few weeks ago (she's in my list to the right). So that's what I've been up to. I will post a picture of it when it is finished. I have the top almost completed but I need to applique some cherries on it and then quilt it before it will be officially finished. I really like the looks of it so far though. It is so colorful and cheery!

In looking over my blog tonight, I realized that I haven't posted many pictures of the quilts I have finished. So, I'm giving you all a little Show and Tell to look at!

This is the first quilt that I ever did..technically it's a wallhanging. My sister Sandy helped me with it and it hangs now in my living room.

It is called Folk Art Flowers. I think it looks a little Celtic which is fine with me because of my Scottish heritage--it just seems appropriate!

This is the second wallhanging that I did. It is from the Flower of the Month club by Northcott. This is February's pattern. I call it "Teacups and Violets"

This is where "Teacups" spends the day. I think it looks cute spread out on our bed!

This cheery "Sunshine" lap quilt is one that I made for my daughter, Mollie. This is just the top. It is at the shop now being quilted and it should be done in a few weeks. It was quite a challenge for this novice! The fabrics are mostly from the Sunshine collection by April Cornell for Moda. The pattern was a jelly roll one by This n'That Patterns called "Wagon Wheels"

There is another that I have made for our soon-to-be-next grandchild called Garden Tales using Beatrix Potter prints. But I forgot to take a picture of it before it went to the quilters! I'll be getting it in a few weeks and will post a pic then. That's the end of the show for today!

Really Finished!

I am really finished now with the table runner for Aunt Betty and I'm off to the post office to get it mailed as soon as I post the pics to Quaint & Cozy. I was very pleased with the outcome considering it's the first I've ever made. I know it won't be the last either as I can think of lots of reasons to make table runners...all the different seasons, holiday gifts, using up scraps, it is just endless when you start to think about it! The one thing that I wasn't sure about-after not being sure about the stitch in the ditch stuff, was doing the binding. It seems there are several methods and after searching the web, magazines, books laying around in the sewing room, etc., I finally decided on the method shown in my latest copy of Better Homes & Gardens Quilt Sampler magazine + a tip from Eleanor Burn's book Still Stripping after 25 Years. I cut my strips 2" wide and then sewed them together at a diagonal, trimming to 1/4 ". When I came to a corner, I stopped stitching at about 3/8" from the edge, pivoted the needle to head down the next side of the runner, then backstitched to the edge of the fabric, then cut the thread and did the common mitered corner. I think it looks very good as evidenced in the pictures. Now I just hope that Aunt Bety will like it!

Gotta run so it gets to MI before Saturday!

Another Project Completed!

Every once in a while I move into "warp speed" and really amaze myself with my accomplishments! I am referring today to the fact that I have the top finished on the table runner that I am making for Aunt Betty. I think it came out quite nicely, if I do say so myself! It is made using the pattern called Blackford's Beauty that I got from a fantastic website called The Quilter's Cache run by Marcia Hohn . There are just tons of block patterns there and all are available for free! Yea Marcia! We love people like you!! I made it in the colors of coral and turquoise that I remembered her having in her lovely apt. in Michigan. She had moved back to her roots after growing tired of all the hurricanes in Florida, but she still loves those tropical beachy colors..so I incorporated the brownish tan tones of the sandy beaches in the table runner also. Now tomorrow I am going to attempt to quilt it...I am kind of afraid of doing this as it will be my first attempt and I don't want to ruin what I've started! In doing some research tonight on the web, I found that this is a common feeling even among seasoned quilters..everyone approaches the quilting part with some fear and trepidation, but the best thing to do is just take a deep breath and plunge into it...well, I'm not going to do that..I will sleep on it, pray about it and start it first thing in the morning after watching Quilt in a Day on RFD-TV !

Hopefully, Eleanor will inspire me!!

The full length table runner

A close up of Square # 1

A close-up of Squre # 2

A close-up of Square # 3

Update on Rocky:

The latest on Rocky and the swollen head...he still resembles Goliath but he is eating and drinking in a normal fashion. I don't know what in the world it could be. After doing more research on swollen muzzles, I still come back to bee/wasp stings. I've been giving him (adult) Benadryl now...DH went to the store and bought some...and we are giving him 1 mg/lb 3x a day. I am sure it makes him rather groggy, but that will help him to heal. Please say a prayer for him to get back to his ole' lovable self.

FYI: In case any of you fabric lovers are looking for a deal...I just was browsing at one of my favorite online shops, Honeybee Fabrics

They are the cutest little shop...I just love the lines they carry and they are having a big clearance sale! Might just find what you're looking for...or find something you weren't looking for but have to get!!

Bees have been busy!

Front of the cozy nest

This is the back deck

I thought I'd take a few pics of the cottage that I call home. It's looking so pretty with the flowers in bloom. DH made me some big flower boxes over the winter and I've filled them with lavender verbena. It seems as if they are happy 'cause they have been bloomin' nonstop! When I went outside to take the pics, dear old Rocky our lovable mutt, who's part Rottweiler/English Shepherd greeted me at the back door with the most enormous head I ever saw! His whole muzzle was gigantic! He went straight to his water and then munched on some kibble so I took it from that that he wasn't dying. I quick came in to the computer to look up the problem and it came down to bee stings! The remedy for it was Benedryl. Well, off to the medicine cabinet and madly rummaging through all the bottles of stuff we've got...all I could come up with was Diphadryl for Children! (Who knows how old that is? It's been a few years since I've had little ones living here..but it might be OK for Rocky.) So, I soaked a Meaty Bone in this cherry flavored liquid and offered it to him. He ate it right up! Time will tell if the swelling goes down. He seems fine otherwise--but he sure does look weird! Say a prayer for him if you think of it!

I'll add some more pics of our nest on another day...got to get to my quilting!!

In the beginning...

Well, here I am at the beginning of a new venture into yet another venue of the virtual world! Isn't it just amazing? I have been caught up in reading the blogs of other like-minded "quilt-a-holics" all week and now I am yearning to join in the fun of communicating with y'all !

My husband has always proclaimed that I have the gift of gab and now I'll get to share my inner self with all of you...I know you are thrilled.

As mentioned in my profile, I love to quilt. But this love, ur I should say PASSION, has only been with me for a few short months. I've come to it late in life...but better late than never as the adage goes. I am still just a novice...have only done 2 wallhangings and 3, no, now 4 quilts...This week has found me coming to the end of my first Sunbonnet Sue. I made it as a gift for my niece's baby. She has finally had her first loving little bundle just a week or two this side of 40! She and her husband were just thrilled and I just had to make that little doll something very special. It was such fun to work on and I had a picture in my mind of how I wanted to do it...with soft baby flannels all ragged out and cozy feeling! The trick was to figure out how to put it together. I got quite a bit of help from one of my favorite quilt instructors, Eleanor Burns. She wrote the greatest book, Sunbonnet Sue Visits Quilt in a Day. It was so well written AND had lots of great pictures to show the steps. I definitely needed that. Anyway, the little quilt got packaged up and sent out via UPS this afternoon...hope you enjoy it as much as I did makin' it, Marina!!