home at last

I picked up a bunch of scrap vintage pieces on my outings in MN. I so wish I had more of the blue one in the middle! It's a new york city print, with dancing girls, empire state building, and Winter Garden theater and a few other NY sites.

I found this book in an antique shop, it's one we had on the farm growing up that I poured over as a kid, trying all the different techniques. I have to say, Readers Digest was a big influence for me in the arts department!
We also had a readers Digest book of Great artists, which introduced me to artists I would never have gotten to see until I grew up and moved away from home!
So I had to bring this book home for old times sake.
Have I mentioned I am totally sentimental!


This is my little stash from Amanda jean at crazy mom quilts. hmm, What will become of these sweet batiks??

All the crazy rain I've been complaining about in NY greeted us in a massive rain storm last night. Although, yes, It's great for my flowers, and garden.... I didn't expect to find... in the ten days I was gone....

MONSTER Zucchini! I had NONE when I Left, now I could beat those pesky voles over the heads with one of these!

AND YIKES! I cleaned my garden before i left. And this is the other bonus the rain brings us.
WEEDS!!!! Oh my goodness.
I Am so overwhelmed by this mess, I don't even know where to begin....
Cucumbers and squash have taken over. Tomatoes plants are knocked over by the rains... And I've got lettuce coming out of my ears....

Not to mention I had three commissions come in while I was away! Well, that's cool!
(perhaps I should go away more often!)
A request for two RED quilts, (love the openness and free reign!) and one Blue and brown quilt!

No other direction! I love that! Wish all commissions where that easy! Woo hoo!
This will be fun....

now to decide where to begin... (I still have so much to finish!)

Back to NY

Sweet finds. Quilt squares that need a home. Vintage tablecloths and fabrics....

Fabulous MN sunsets....

5:30 a.m. sunrise

We're going home. So long MN.

First Quilt

I've been seeing everyone posting their first quilts lately and had hoped I'd find one of my first quilts while I was here in MN...
Well. after a visit to my mother's today. Here it is!

Dull huh? I Don't think when I made this quilt, that I thought about my choice of colors, I used whatever I had. (gee! there's a thought!)
I could stand to try that theory again! It's mint green, peach, cream and GREY! Weird combo. But then again, I don't think that has changed much in my recent quilts!

I made this quilt when i was 19. I can't recall if exactly it was my first quilt but, I do know this was my first machine pieced quilt. The quilting is really bad. and I hand tied it with ribbons most of which are now gone... My mother has over the past 20 years had to repair it, patch it to keep it together, as it was made for one niece, then passed on to the next niece, who is now 15 and still sleeps with it on her bed...

Even though B, designed her this quilt. this one stays folded up on the end of her bed...

As for my latest quilt... well, I haven't finished anything large lately, but have many tops in the works...

this little one, done for a swap with Chen at Mushyhead sweatshop. my influence?

well, read on....

I have mentioned in the past about wishing I had one of my grandmother's crazy quilts. Well, Yippeeee! My mother gave me this quilt top today!
I think I am still VERY influenced by the quilts she made us when i was kid... All crazy quilts, all hand done, and tied... poly & cotton pieces...
I used to love wrapping up in them, and looking at every single piece of fabric sewn into them.... picking a favorite... Well, I am as giddy as a school girl because this one is mine.

And here is the lovely lady who made them, the photo is probably around 1951... By the time she reached 36 years old,arthritis hit her hard, and while I was a kid, I only knew her as my grandma who couldn't bend her knees, elbows or most of her fingers, Yet she sat and cranked out these crazy quilts one after the other...
I would sit at her kitchen table with a 3" x 3" cardboard cut out and ink pen, and trace the squares on fabric and cut them out, when she wasn't making crazy quilts...
Then she would sew all the squares together... And that I how I learned to hand piece...

When I met Amanda the other day I got out of the car and she said, Your so tall! (blogs are so deceiving! ;-)) Well, Amanda, Here is who I get it from! My grandfather was quite tall. My grandmother... not so much!

OOOH! we had some fun yesterday! Antique shops! Fabric shops! oh my! Here's B and my mother at the fabric shop in Rogers, MN. And my little stack of stash right in front. They had that fake fur stuff on sale 50% off, and B begged and pleaded for me to make her a blanket out of it... so home it goes...

I'm also happy to report that my cabin is still intact, and I see no signs that a tornado went through here Tuesday. Other than the 4" of water inside my rinky dink boat, which I bailed out... No trees down, cabin still sitting on it's foundation, all is good. I think only an awning or two and a sweet corn stand got tossed around in town... it sure seemed to make the news though! People on the east coast were calling me after they heard it on the news...

I have so many other goodies... But I'll save them for another day...

This maybe my wordiest post ever! Happy sewing!

Tornandos, rain and sun!

Pixiedust gather people: if you post a pick of your block, PLEASE send me a link,
since I am away I am SOOO far behind on my blog reading... I don't want to miss anything. Janet and Amanda, I saw your gorgeous blocks already!

***

Wow. We had a Tornado come through MN Tuesday evening, right near our lake, straight across central MN. That was fun! Thankfully I was not at the cabin when that happen, and on that note, I hope my cabin is still there! I was on my way to Minneapolis to see some friends, and make a visit with Crazy Mom quilts Amanda!
(she hand delivered her pixiedust square to me! woohooo!)
She was wonderful! B and her kids played in the park for hours... It was a glorious day. It was so nice to chat quilts, ideas, likes & Dislikes... We grew up very near each other, yet we had no idea each other existed until life in blogland...





My pal Shelly of Shelly quilts, sent me this lovely not so mini, mini quilt out of many of my scraps, and hers. I LOVE her machine quilting. There are so many sweet details in this quilt, You need to look at it for hours.... Thanks lady! Love it!
It looks really good in my cabin too! woohoo!

so, I'm off for a swim. Yep, I broke down and took B to this place....
I'm not fond of them but she is so excited, I have to go get wet...
oh well ,the things we do for our kids.
;-)

land of 10,000 lakes

Warm weather! Everyone laughs when I say I have to go to MN to get warm, after our miserable summer we've been having NY... We're all snuggled into our little tiny cabin, enjoying the sun, water and friends!

And yes a little sewing too. Some people read to go to sleep, I have throw out a few stitches...

Yesterday, I got to meet Heather and Joel of Anka's treasures, aka trends & tradtions. We can actually see their house from our cabin...

Ok, now we can all sing, "It's a small world after all."
yeah, funny story, I realized after following her blog and seeing a picture out of her studio window, that Irecognized the two islands that she sees! they, ebing the islands I am on the other side of!

Heather's stuff was beautiful, Terribly nice people, and a gorgeous house! They've done so much work to it, it's lovely, and her studio is to die for. Even Daisy the dog is ALL Joel says she is... ;-)

Look at these cuties I found in an antique shop! Love the pattern, perhaps I'll adapt it for my block for the Pixiedust gather! I hope you all got your fabrics!
Look what the critters did to this tree by the lake? it almost looks like a sculpture!

eve.

Everything back in it's little place...
I'm trying to keep my fabrics neat and orderly... like MAL's post...It's rather nice seeing them out , instead of crumpled in my bin... I cleaned my studio up quick tonight so when we get home from this trip, I can make it all messy again...

Packages wrapped and ready to send! Hey Chen, this one has your name on it...
A little mini quilt swap... It's on it's way!



I was going to work on this on the airplane, but I got it done. Now what am I going to do???
I better go find something!
Toodles.

Back to MN

This one is not quite done... trying to decide a border... hmmm, I'm thinking triangles, or maybe a wide brown border.... or gold... or, geez I don't know... It needs something SPICY!!!
It will have to wait til I'm back from MN.

Jennifer Ramos of madebygirl... made this print. I must have one.
Perhaps a gift for my hubby just to reinforce my love... ;-)

Maybe I can make one that says, I LOVE YOU, BLOGS, QUILTING, and Coffee!

Our ten year anniversary is just around the corner!

Me, B and my vintage fishy plates are off to Minnesota, back to the cabin Saturday...
I will be seeing some friends, family and a couple BLOG friends!!! Can't wait!
I'll be hitting a few of my favorite quilt shops... That's always fun!
Gonna try to keep blogging, ....I found the local coffee shop has WIFI... yippeee!

Grubers Quilt Shop
Flying Goose Quilt shop
Quilted treasures Quilt shop