itchy fingers

Something to satisfy itchy fingers...

Perhaps my mother will be the lucky owner again of this one...
She's been benefiting from my itchy fingers for her new apartment.

Quilting at the beach? wise or not wise?
;-)
maybe not.
What are you working on today?

It's a lovely day in the neighborhood.

Happy Sunday.

lovely weekend

Miss B had a horse show at her camp last friday... She rides this huge horse Buckwheat...
(mom-cringe)
She want to be a jockey. can you tell?

I tired to sew tonight, as we watched a family movie.... but sitting in the dark only does one thing to me... puts me to sleep.... zzzzzzz.....

perhaps tomorrow. ;-)

book of inspiration

Sometimes it's only about the fabric.... it's not fancy but, I like it.

I got this quilt back today from Linda, who machine quilted it for me. I made this the last day I was in the city before we came to our house for the summer... I had yards of vintage brown/orange/gold fabrics, that all vaguely went together...

They made me so happy looking at them.
First because I want a dress made out of each of them...so my colors!
And second because they remind me of my grandmothers house. Her wall paper, the couch slipcovers, and upholstery...

I had a very real dream last night that i was back in my grandmothers house, and I cried because I was so happy to be there... then I woke up. drat.
So it's funny that I got this quilt back today. Linda, by the way, did a fabulous quilting job, and has made the quilt a lot more special when you see it up close.... Gorgeous feathers, and vines and leaves... I'm so pleased with it...

This book inspired me to make it in the first place.

Calico & Chintz, Antique Quilts from the collection of Patricia S. Smith.

Very simple, some whole cloth quilts, Simple but with Incredible fabrics... patterns that have withstood the test of time, Quilts that look modern now, even though they were done in the 1800's. I pour over this book, and is often the first book I go to for inspiration.

This was the quilt that hit me... Two fabrics, simple, great quilting. Straight up. Nothing better.

My fabrics may only be for the 1970's but, they do indeed capture and essence of my grandmother, and for that, I declare this quilt a success.

I did have to add a little zing to it... I remember these lamps g'ma had made out of bottles in her home. They were turquoise, gold, and a little bit of orange in the pictures depicted on them... this backing fabric sort of fit the bill...

Speaking of Vintage fabrics. I won a giveaway at Craftfarm!
I'm so blown over by the wonderful fabrics, I may need to pass along the good fortune.
Perhaps another charity quilt to pay it forward.... Will have to think what it will be...

***

Do you have a book that you find yourself going back to over and over again for inspiration?

Please share with me... :-)

Wordless Wednesday

Must be crazy

I DID have one Simply red quilt top done....
I must be crazy.
I Hacked it up. as I was so NOT inspired... I cut it into blocks... and will start again, I think I know now what i want from these scrappy reds... Stay tuned!

To many shadows outside, I couldn't get a decent shot.... we have sun! yippeee!I am not complaining.

Before I cut up that above, quilt top, I had an idea with flying geese,
totally unrelated to the red quilt...
Then when i saw the red strips hanging next to them,
it sort of HIT ME OVER THE HEAD, what i should do with them.

I also gave up making the X-mas quilt any larger. It will make a great lap quilt, and finished up my X-mas scraps for the backing...

I also added a label sewn directly into the quilt back, I wrote out the label leaving room for whomever gets it for a X-mas gift!
(I'm so bad at labels that this sort of seemed the most clever thing for me to do!)

I hope my dog Kia is not trying to tell me something about this quilt by sitting on it....

Thats enough trouble for one day. Gotta go enjoy this beauty of a day.

monday scraps

I told you I had itchy fingers...
I needed to play with something else... for a bit before I start simply red number two...

I'm not one to have xmas quilts laying around, I bought two 1/2 yards of xmas fabric to make some blocks for a swap, and had all the scraps laying around, besides all my red scraps...

So I put this together this morning, and can't decide if I want it to be a lap quilt, Or go totally scrappy and grow it out... I'm not crazy about huge square quilts... so maybe I call it a day on this and go play with something else... I'm feeling I need to get really WONKY...
I miss my crazy three minute challenge quilts...


Christine at A simple quilter, was the first to point out (I should have given a prize!) on the red quilt gift below, the one block that is not pieced like the others.
Did you see it?
Be still my heart...
It's what made me flip for it in the first place... wonky in 1930's , awesome...
the fabric around the patchwork used to be white with blue polka dots, but now it's only very slightly scene... the rest of it is white... with the second row borders being added later, with machine... the original part of the quilt is all hand pieced and hand quilted...
Hope that answers many of the questions...
:-)

Have a great day!

gifts

Don't you love it when the Fed ex man appears? or UPS? or the mail man?

Yesterday this appeared from my mother. It is an anniversary present for me and hubby! She saw me eye-ing it in MN when we were antiquing. I usually snap these things up, but it was slightly out of my rescue range... (Anytime I find a quilt that's so loved and under $40 I have to take them home...) So I sadly left it behind. I have to control myself somehow or I'd have a million quilts!

Boy was I happy to open the box and see it inside! We love it, thank you mom! I was still kicking myself for not bringing it home. But now, It's home, and ready for a second life.

While I have my huge pile of red scraps on the table I got sidetracked making some xmas blocks. And now I need to get back and start the second simply red quilt...
Although, I am itching to play with my other fabrics!

Starting to think about Christmas gifts... What I want to do etc. I only have a couple quilts to make this year for gifts... Not sure what else to make. maybe it will be the year of pillows and table runners... or place mats... seen some cute ones all over blog land...

Question.
On those place mats, do you put interfacing & batting in them so they don't curl up?
or just batting and quilt the dog out of them?

Happy sewing.
I think we're in for some rain today.