Hand Sewing Hexies--and Because Bonnie Said So!

I didn't do much sewing on Sunday...I watched Bonnie on QuiltCam and prepped hexies..some of which were later hand sewn into this growing Hexi quilt.  I am aiming for a lap size quilt at this point...I just looked  back and this one has been in progress since October 2010.  I am not sure why I go gangbusters on it for a bit then put it away and sort of forget about it for a bit.  At the PXHMQG meeting for February Jona gave us some scraps and two of them were Denyse Schmidt fabrics and have worked there way into here since I didn't have those two...they are the heavier fabric not cottons, but I already had a few of those in here anyway and I like them.
Speaking of QuiltCam...Bonnie said that everyone should have a string quilt, a crumb quilt and a hand sewn quilt going.  I have Talkin' Turkey for strings, this hexi quilt for hand sewing...so that leaves me with a need for a crumb quilt.  I asked Bonnie where to start and she recommended Maverick Stars which is a free pattern on Quiltville. So I think I need to start another project--Bonnie says so!  SMILE.  Anyone else lacking a crumb project who needs to join me?

Maverick Stars picture borrowed from Quiltville.com

 

Fountain Hills :)

 Today my spool parts from Suebee arrived!  I have already sewn up a few.  She included a cute little sewing machine part too.  I have to find something fun to put that in!

 Yesterday Kathy and I met my mom to do the craft show at Fountain Hills.  We made a stop on the way and I found the golden calf.  I sure hope this means my luck is changing and this year will be better than the last year!  We looked like tourists taking our picture..I had to explain to one guy walking by giving us a crazy look that we were from Wisconsin (we love cows, what can we say!).  My daughter Hannah is now collecting those cool little cows and this made me think of her which always makes me smile!

 Here is the fountain in Fountain Hills.  It was a spectacular day to be out and about and the view was so relaxing.  There was great music too!  I bought a few little things and enjoyed walking and walking and walking, til I could walk no more with my mom!

 Today Kathy and I sewed up our 35th Ave. BOM blocks.  This month there are four of them.  Kathy didn't take a picture of hers yet.  These didn't want to all line up like they are supposed to and I wasn't overly thrilled with the, but they don't look too bad from a distance.

Tonight we watch Argo at home and I did a lot of hand sewing on my hexies.  I added a row in both directions.  This has been one heck of a long term project...I remember sewing on it in so many places, the memories...the day we waiting a zillion years for Hannah and Mac to jump from a plane (the weather didn't want to cooperate) I got a lot done on this too!  I am almost out of cut fabric for this, so I will cut some more and keep on keeping on.
I also finally got the label on baby Oliver's quilt and a bag to put it in and baby Colton's too.  :)

Crazy Busy Weekend!

 Friday I got a text from my brother's fiance informing me that they were finally going to tie the knot at 5 pm that night!  They are adopting a little guy (Colton) in about a month and realized that waiting til next year to officially marry wasn't practical.  They plan to have a "real" ceremony and reception next year.  They both have been working hard to paint the baby's room and redo flooring, etc. and literally jumped in the car and headed to the courthouse as is.  LOL so here they are along with the justice of the peace and Ben in the background (the ringbearer).

I spent the night up at my mom's and then Jacki picked me up and we headed to 35th Ave. for the COM and black bag day.  Then we went to the PHXMQG charity sew in for the afternoon.  Last night I had a crazy migraine and had a long night and bad morning with it.  It is the first one I have had in a bit...ugh!

Ben's mother is also pregnant (the boys will be a month or so apart so Ben will be a big brother in both of his homes!) and tonight I quilted and bound this little quilt for her little guy--Oliver last I heard is the name.

 Today I sewed up some purple (and other) spools too.  Sue and I are going to trade some sets of ten!

 I discovered I didn't sew last month's pink pinwheels up...so here they are!

 I had a special request for a pink block so I made another pink Talkin' Turkey block..these blocks are SO MUCH FUN to make!

 I made four more Scrappy Trip blocks two that look like each of these pictures.

 Meanwhile Kathy has been working on our UFO Twist of Fate!  She has quite a bit done and it is looking great!  She also cut the BOM for 35th Ave and has her first block done (we have to do four each this month) so she is ahead of me!  I was busy quilting away and it will have to wait another day!

Valentine's Day :)

 Happy Valentine's Day!  Today I finished work early and Kathy and I went out for sushi.  Then we came home and did a little sewing and had a relaxing afternoon!  I sewed up this Betty's Choice block just for the heck of it.  It is Bonnie's most recent scrap block in Quiltmaker.  I am thinking I should make one of each block as the magazines arrive and just collect the blocks til I figure out something to do with them.  Then if I find one I LOVE I can keep on making it (like Jack in the Box).  Kathy always has great success with using black instead of lights so I tried it too...not sure it works for this block, but hey it is one block!

 I also did another QOV for Alycia.  Hoping some of the gals from PHXMQG will do a few too and we will mail them out Tuesday.

 I also sewed my purple pinwheels for the Rainbow BOM :)  I still have spools to go.

 We rehung the BOM's now that we have our purple blocks done too.  We haven't done red yet, since we are only two months in...I seriously can't wait to see this rainbow quilt shape up, it is going to be one of my all time favorites, I know already!

 For Valentine's Day I got Kathy a Red Sox shirt and lunch, and she got me this fabric (I was dying to get lots of greens for the emerald challenge coming up and the Denyse Schmidt's were on clearance as was the pattern..lol!  I picked it out and told her thanks!).  She also hunted me down an african violet.  These were my great gpa Rushman's favorite since his wife (Violet Valentine--so named for her birthday on Valentine's Day) was named Violet.  Just realized I love that name, maybe one of my grandaughter's will be named Violet, lol!  I can still remember all the flowers he grew--he also whittled.  I have an amazing peach pit in a basket shape that he whittled.  Hang on, let me take a picture of that too!

Here is the little basket.  It is one of my cherished possessions.  I think of my Grandma Char's (her dad whittled it) grandkids I am the only one that got one.  Pretty cool!  

I remember this set of great grandparents as two people who really loved each other.  They died a week apart when I was in my teens...they couldn't bear to be apart.  My beloved Grandma Char followed just a few years later.  I hope they are celebrating Gma Vi's birthday up there in heaven tonight!  Happy Valentine's Day All!

Talkin' Turkey Rides Again

Last weekend I got my purple Talkin' Turkey block made but I think I saved blogging about it til this weekend so I could link up with Angela!  Here it is, I love it.  Can't wait to make another one!  I was hoping to have some pinwheels made too, but all I managed was trimming them...the weekends go by so incredibly fast!

Skillbuilder BOM

 After my unsuccessful attempt at quilting on my Brother I headed to Barb's today and met up with her and Fran for some help.  Barb let me use her Bernina (which I really liked!) and after practicing a bit more, Fran started me off in the middle of the block on Sound Wave and I did the rest.  Overall I am happy with it.  I used variegated thread (two different ones) and it has that Gee's Bend look, lol!

 I did lots of picking out on this block and really struggled with making the stones.  Barb suggested using glittery thread for the peach strip and that part looks kind of cool.  My wavy lines are fun and funky.  Someone helped me a titch with the rest of it, I was done...I don't think free motion is for me...just as applique isn't for me!  Meanwhile I stitched up some Dresden thingys..more my thing!

Pretty sure I am going to make these two blocks into a tote bag to carry to the PHXMQG meetings and I will cross this BOM off my list.  We will see....

Baby Quilts, Mug Rugs, and OTR, OH MY!

 Jill (from PHXMQG) and I are doing a little side mug rug trade...she let me pick which I preferred and it was tough, but I went with pink since the one I traded with Jacki has purple in it!  I finished up the one from Jacki (she did the paper piecing and I finished the mug rug...I had some of that background purple so I bound it in that!).  This is a sign for I love you for anyone who isn't sure what it means!

 Stopped at Barbs and picked up my baby quilts.  These cowboy quilts have a loopy lasso type quilting on them, really love it!  Here you see the front of one and the back of Sam and Tiff's soon to be born little guy.

 And here is the front of that one and the back of the other one.

 It was fun to use up a bunch of that bandanna fabric and actual bandannas that I have been saving for just such a quilt!  I used leftover bits of it all to bind them.  Here is Colton's (the name Sam and Tiff have decided on this week, lol).

 And this one goes to the cabinet for another little guy, not yet known!

 Kathy finished putting the borders on our Old Tobacco Road too!  We stopped at SAS and found the perfect border for it...looks like ginko leaves and has a few shades of brown.  This quilt is huge and we aren't sure where it will wind up yet, either.

Off to Barb's for a bit.  I tried free motion quilting last night on the Brother with NO luck whatsoever.  I am not sure I had the machine set right and I sure need practice anyways.  Not really sure I am going to get my Skillbuilder BOM's done...and pretty sure this is the only month I am even going to attempt this--lol, quilting by check is my preferred way to go!  Barb is going to let me try her machine, then if I stink at it, we will know it is me and not the machine!  Cross your fingers I can manage something--PHXMQG meets next weekend already!

A Little of this and a Little of that...

Ros helped me pick out which blues will wind up in a small version of Merry Mayhem's Modern Mystery.  Can't wait to find time to cut and start this one!

 I trimmed up and added a border to the mug rug Jacki made me.  Found a backing...soon will quilt it.  Already someone on fb offered to buy it off me.  LOL, I referred her to Jacki!

 Kathy made progress on the borders tonight!  This looks SO awesome now!  She still plans to add another 5 inch border to the outside.  This quilt is huge too!

I made two QOV scrappy trips blocks for Alycia's collection.  I will try to make a few a more before I mail them off!  The night is no longer young, so off to bed I go!  More tomorrow!

Lazy Sunday (not so much a Morning) Mystery and February NewFo!

I had it in my head this one was called "Lazy Sunday Morning" but today I realized there is no morning in the title..which suits me find since I prefer afternoon and evening anyways!  So here is the picture of my fabrics again and below is clue one completed!  WHOOT WHOOT.  I am now ready for Bonnie's next Quiltmaker clue (in two months, plenty of time to hit some other projects or find another colorway to do this in!).

Kathy and I watched QuiltCam with Barb and Fran on Skype tonight.  Hmm, the night is still young, what should I work on next?

Linking up for the NewFo Challenge..this was my start for February.  No pressure to finish it--just start it, LOVE that!

Liebster Award :)

Kevin the Quilter and Heather of Peachy Pages were sweet enough to nominate me for the Liebster Award!  Liebster means "dearest" in German...what an honor!  In doing a little research it seems the award has been around a few years and the requirements have also changed as the award has been passed around.  In fact--I have had this honor once before when Shannon over at Nunu's Quilt World gave me the award!  This award is given by "one blogger to another for excellent, beautiful, humorous, or sparkling work."  Love that, sparkling work!  The Liebster is given to blogs that deserve to be recognized, but have less than 200 followers. The Award comes with just a few "rules", which are:

1) Post about your win on your blog.

2) Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award.

3) Copy and Paste the award to your blog.

4) Present the award to 11 (what 11, it used to be 5 blogs) that have less than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognized.

5) List 11 random things about yourself. (that has been added since last time)

6)Answer questions posed by the blogger who nominated you. (this is also new)

7) Create 11 questions for your nominees to answer. (again, new).

And the nominees are:

Amy's Passions who I see was already nominated, but is a source of tons of inspiration for me so
I have to nominate her again! 
Ros the Quilter who is a personal friend and often times my quilt by check go to person.
Becky's Bits and Piecing another personal friend who sews amazing creations!
Angela SoScrappy who I found through Amy...she hosts the Rainbow BOM and does AMAZING tiny blocks!
Andra's Simplify and Quilt I also found through Amy...when we all jumped on the bandwagon when Jo of Jo's Country Junction started her Hawaii Sunset quilt (which was on my Bucket List) Amy invited Andra to join us and I discovered I was already reading her blog! 
While I can think of others, I think nominating five is plenty so I am going back to that..eleven seems like an awful lot to me!

Random Things About Myself:
1. I have three grown children, the oldest is high functioning autistic and has always been quite a challenge.
2. I have five dogs, a cat and a fish.
3. I am a sign langauge interpreter and teacher.  I love sign and Deaf people!
4. I went to 19 schools before I graduated high school.
5. I have graduated college four times.
6. I was married for thirteen years.  My husband didn't come home on New Year's Eve the new millenium--he went to a work party and went home with a woman from work!
7. I have always liked crafts.  When I was pregnant with my oldest I learned counted cross stitch and did it for years, I learned to sew when my daughter was born, and basket weaving with the youngest son.  Something about the pregnancies made me more domestic I think!
8.  I am Bonnie K. Hunter of Quiltville's # 1 fan (and I recently met her in person!!!) You may already know that, lol but I am just saying!  Her red spider web quilt picture made me fall in love with scrappy quilting!
9. I had eleven living grandparents when I was a kid (Great Grandpa Tony, Great Grandma Myrt, Papa DeLos, Grandma Char, GreatGrandpa Rushman, Great Grandma Rushman, Grandpa Neff, Grandma Nan, Great Grandma Pope, Grandpa George, Grandma Arlene) which was more than anyone I knew at the time.  This is because for several generations we had young moms in the family and because I could count two step grandparents.  The two in bold are still alive in their eighties.  I feel so blessed to have know them all!
10. I am dying to learn how to knit socks...I have one done and another one started and am determined to master the skill!
11. I love to read tons of blogs and have made several good friends because of our common love of quilting, reading or blogging!

Answers to Kevin's Questions:
1. Who is the person most responsible for introducing you to quilting?  While my friend Sheri taught me to sew in 1990 and I made a few easy quilts, I will have to credit Bonnie Hunter for really showing me that step by step I can sew any quilt (well pieced anyways!).

2. What is the first quilting project you ever made, and how old were you when you made it?  I bought a set of five inch squares in calicos in 1990 (long before charm squares) and sewed them together for a small back of the couch quilt.  I also made a huge irish chain quilt that was cut without rotary cutters and sewed with cheap thread because I didn't know better.  It started to fall apart by the second washing and I think that little lesson had alot to do with why I didn't really take off on quilting at the time.  I was so heartbroken by all that work falling apart!  I sewed while the kids were growing up but really didn't become addicted to quilting until much later!

3. Who is your most favorite quilt designer? Ummmm duh!  Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville of course! I also love Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr for my modern quilt inspiration!  Guess I should say I love Eleanor Burns for her simple step by step directions too.

4. How many quilting projects have you made to date?  I number my quilts, though they include wall hangings and tablerunners, etc.  I just passed the 200 mark!

5. What is your most favorite breed of dog? Entlebuch Mountain Dog.  We had one and she was awesome!  Someday I would like to find another one...right now my favorite is Bug.

6. What color is the shell on the eggs you eat? White

7. What is the longest flight you have ever been on, and where were you going?  Longest flight was to Seoul, Korea and back.  Was even longer because oldest was four and youngest was one and my hubby hadn't clued me in to how long the flight was.  I was twenty and apparently thought all flights took around 3 hours (Phoenix to MSP was my plane flying experience!).  Add to that we drove to St. Louis (from Wisconsin) to take a MAC flight, didn't get one, then flew, when we got there we had to ride about three buses and a cab in the pouring rain before we got to Camp Essayons Korea.  Seriously hope to never travel like that (and with young kids) again!

8. Which is your most favorite city to visit?  Gonna have to go with Solvorn, Norway where my great grandfather grew up before moving to Wisconsin.  It is a gorgeous little town on a mountain where my family members still own the house he grew up in and my great greats are buried.

9. Where is the best Quilt Shop you have ever been to, and what is it’s name?  Busy Bobbin in Rice Lake, Wisconsin comes to mind!

10. Do you have a large or small family? Average

11. Have you ever gone fishing?  Yes...I never really liked it or had much luck til one family vacation in Wisconsin near Spooner (on a preserve) where the water was SO clear you could see the fish and they pretty much jumped in the boat.  The kids were young and LOVED it.  It was the best fishing ever.  I do however love Walleye fried in beer batter from Long Lake, Wisc!

and here are Heather's quesitons:

1 What's your favorite LQS or crafty store? see above

2. What types of things spark your creative inspiration?  Seeing other people's quilts or patterns...I am more of a follower than a creative person!

3. What are some of your favorite blogs any why?  See above and I told you why too!

4. What are the top 3 things on your creative to do list this year?  I want to make more modern quilts, I want to learn some hand embroidery and yep, knit socks!

5. Where would you go on your dream vacation?  Somewhere with Bonnie Hunter!

6. What has been your favorite travel experience?  I really enjoyed visiting Norway!

7. What's playing on your TV and iPod lately? I have no ipod, I love Downton Abbey.

8. Do you feel you "give back" and how so?  I am the secretary of the PHXMQG and have given plenty of hours to getting that up and going, lol and I donate to Quilts of Valor and other causes as they come up.  Occasionally I volunteer interpret for free causes I want to support too.

9. What 5 sites do you like for shopping online?  Fat Quarter Shop, Green Fairy Quilts, 5bucksayard.com, Connecting Threads and ebay!

10. What was your favorite class/lecture you ever attended? I took a quilt history class at a local shop and the gal running it was FANTASTIC and a wealth of information.  I really learned alot of quilting and women's history from her.

11. Why do you blog?  I have always loved to document things...I wish that I had diaries or letters from family members lives...we do have some on my dad's side, but not much from mom's side.  I hope one day my kids, grandkids, or great grandkids get a chance to read about my crazy life.  Other than for that, I do it to connect with other people who live to quilt as I do!

Sewing with Friends!



Kathy and I headed to New River Saturday night for Ros' surprise 70th birthday party!  It was fun to suprise her--the wool was pulled over her eyes and that doesn't happen often!  It was nice to meet the rest of her family and some friends too.  After that we spent the night with my mom and dad (conveniently 5 min from Ros' son's house!) and stayed up late chatting wtih mom and watching Paranormal Activity 4.  Then Sunday morning we got up, gabbed with Dad and headed two minutes down the road to Jacki's.  I gotta say I loved the short ride there to sew (instead of the hour it is from here).  Jacki gifted BJ with a mug rug with a cute little dog paw on it, which I didn't take a picture of...and she made me this paper pieced I love you hand so I can complete a mug rug for me!  PHXMQG is exchanging mug rugs in February and some folks have set up private exchanges in additon or instead of exchanging at the meeting.  So I have the meeting swap, a private swap with Jill, a swap with Jacki...that is it for now, lol...but I will have a cool collection of mug rugs finally!  I brought the granny square I made to work with me and use it for my coffee mug each day I am interpreting in my station.  I love having something quilty at work!

Here is my semi done mug rug from Jacki!

Here we are sewing away at Jacki's on Superbowl Sunday.

Jacki worked on the ily hand for me and then on her 35th Ave BOM, Ros did a binding for her Anita's Arrowhead quilt, BJ worked on her NYE Mystery quilt in brights, Kathy worked on a kit I started a long time ago at quilt camp that hasn't seen the light of day in almost two years and I did almost all of step number one of Bonnie Hunter's Lazy Sunday Morning!

]

It was a relaxing weekend and I can't wait for the next one!

Lazy Sunday Morning Mystery

 I have been hemming and hawing about what fabrics to use for Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery for several days!  I love Bonnie's colors, but know that I also love it when I pick different colors and get a happy surprise when they come out into one of her gorgeous creations!  Tonight Kathy and I had the house to ourselves (rare event, the guys went to see a comedian!) and we watched Taken 2   and I did a little cleaning, biking and catching up on magazines so I could give them to Megan.  In the Better Homes and Gardens I found the picture on the right above and viola..I knew those were my colors!

I pulled some fabrics and strips to see if I had enough to at least get me started, and I do.  I am sure I will add to the palate, and maybe subtract a few I am ify about, but at least I have a bunch of fabric collected in my mystery bin again!  I am looking forward to starting the mystery!  The first clue is just barely out (March/April '13 Quiltmaker) and the next clue won't be out for two months so come join the fun!  

NewFo January...

I had no problem starting new projects for January!  I made two Streak of Sunshine quilts..one is already quilted and one is waiting on quilting.

 I also made two Braid in a Day Gnome Couch Quilts.  Also waiting to be quilted!

 I started the Kaleidoscope of Kolor BOM at 35th Ave.  So this one will take a good year to complete.

 I also started a Scrappy Trip Around the World and got four blocks done.