Midnight Blues

Yesterday was Matthew's 27th birthday. I presented him with his quilt right there at the recycling center where he works and Felix snapped this picture. Matthew was so happy!

It was cold and windy so we did not open it up but here are some pictures that I took of the quilt when it was finished earlier this year.

This is a big queen at 87" square and it boasts a very warm flannel backing.

It is all scrappy blues and creams with one cream that kinda reads as a red for a pop of unexpected color.

I free hand quilted this myself in the hearts and loops pattern on a rented longarm.

The pattern was my adaptation of Kim Brackett's wonderful instructions from her book, Scrap Basket Surprises. I added the piano key border, too.

May Matthew enjoy many more years to come with his new quilt!

When we are able to shower the people we love with love, like in the James Taylor song, it makes it all worthwhile!

Linking up to Em's Scrapbag. Link.
Linking up to Love Laugh Quilt. Link.

Happy quilting!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be grateful for at my house and offered up a prayer of thanks at our breakfast for all our blessings.

It has been a fun morning piecing, too! I did a couple more of those small HST's to use in the split 9-patches.

 These two are sewn but not pressed yet with my starch mix.

Since it's spitting snowflakes outdoors, I'm happy to be inside.

Another bit of progress was made last night when I cut some Quarter Square Triangles from 4½" red and cream strips using the Companion EZ ruler for 8" finished blocks.

It is important to make these using all the same orientation so that you do not get mirror images. I like to stack all my lights on top to go through the machine, sewing down the short side.

There is a little give to them even though it's not on the bias. Whoops! Yes, it is on the bias!!

As I work on chain stitching them, I do some finger pressing with the dark side up after they are stitched.

Then the two halves are put together to make one whole QST.

This way you are assured that the lights and darks alternate in the block.

I need 60 of these so I'll be at it a while, LOL!

There will be several different red and cream fabrics in the quilt to mix it up a bit.

Pictured above are some of those luscious Paula Barnes Heritage Reds that Grace had sent me for my birthday a while back. Thanks again, Grace!

I hope that you each can think of something that you are grateful for in your life and have a very happy Thanksgiving!
Later in the day, this popped out of our oven!

It was delicious!

Turkey casserole soon!

Linking up to Oh Scrap! Link.

Happy sewing!

We Have A Winner!

Yesterday was the big raffle drawing for the quilt that The Sunshine Club made to benefit the Alton Senior Center.

After a lovely luncheon of quiche, we pulled out the name of Paulette B., who is a local gal. Congratulations!

Thank you so much to all of you who supported this effort by buying a raffle ticket or three! We raised $546.00 for the Senior Center. Thank you!

If you'd like to see the 60" by 80" snuggler quilt, here it is when it was finished earlier this year:

What I loved about this string block quilt is that every skill level in our group could successfully participate in making a quilt with a great looking result!

 
The red focus fabrics seemed to unify the jumble of colors we used.

Back at my house, I did some more stitching on those random width log cabin blocks to get them up to size. Then I pressed them with my sweetly scented spray starch.

Sometimes, with random widths, one side can come out too short, as in the block below.

No worries, just add on an extra log to fill it out. They will all be trimmed to a common 10½" size once I have 49 made.

Husband Wonderful did a great repair job on my car's horn and I passed the state safety inspection! Hooray and "Toot-toot!"

Hope you're having fun as you're going through the motions.

Linking up to Oh Scrap! Link.

Linking up to Em's Scrapbag. Link.

Linking up to Love Laugh Quilt. Link.

Happy Sewing!

Peculiar Passions

Tuesday was a low key day at The Sunshine Club at the Senior Center in Alton, New Hampshire.

Sue and Bev, seen below, were working on their respective hand quilting projects.

We were so glad to see both Joyce and Marjorie, seen below, especially because they cannot make every meeting.

I took a day off from working on my neutral strings to give a quick lesson to Mary on how to do the Hot Dog type pillowcases. My tutorial for these is on the right column.

When I got home, I worked on stitching corduroy quilting for the charm pack tote that was featured on the Missouri Star Quilt Company in 2012. Link.
Then tonight, I finished assembling the tote. I'm very pleased with it and I'd make it again!

Before assembling the lining, I did make an inner patch pocket for it, just eyeballing the placement.

The handles are a Judie Rothermel Civil War selection from her "Dressing Gowns" line from Marcus Brothers Textiles, and the rest are all leftovers from my stash of a swap of 5" charms.

The 7" madder stripe was another random scrap that I think was also Marcus Brothers. I picked an old vintage Marcus Brothers to be the lining of cream with tiny red stars.

Today was the Thanksgiving Dinner held at the Senior Center and I was glad to attend with my best beau, Husband Wonderful.

The food was fabulous and with the jazz singer crooning there was a very upbeat ambiance to the fete.

Miss Emma Lynne was happy to be let outdoors when we got home to enjoy the fine day with her kitty-buddy, Mr. Tipper.

Tipper still cannot fathom why his friend likes to chew sticks. Hmm, must be a dog thing?

Here's hoping that you get to enjoy your hobby time even if a loved one doesn't always quite understand your particular passion. Mine does, even when he grumbles about my fabric bills.

Happy quilting!

Supermoon!

The Supermoon was powerful enough last night to cast shadows on my lawn. It will not return until 2034, so let's enjoy it now!

I began a new Log Cabin quilt for Log Cabin Lunacy over at Julie K's blog. Link.

These are such fun to zip along on in my 16 block runs. There is a tutorial here on my blog on the right if you're interested.

Since I "save" a lot of time by not cutting the strips to their respective length of the logs, I am careful and deliberate as I work when flopping the blocks onto the awaiting strip.

This new one will be a quilt made of random widths of scrappy Civil War reproduction era strips.

Right now I've got about half the strips sewn onto this run.

As usual, I snuck a quick sachet into the mix just for fun! Dried rose petals and French lavender scents fill my whole work station.

On Friday, we had some fun at The Golden Gese quilt shop at 22 Liberty Street in Concord, New Hampshire. Maureen, below, was attaching her red binding to the sashing stars quilt.

Here is a close up of the neat job that Tracy did on the professional quilting. Link.

Bev and her sister, below, were looking over Bev's progress on the Storyteller's quilt top.

Lil' Claire was working on a whole new batch of microwavable potholders for bowls. So cool!

Looks like Mary Ann was making the little ones,  too.

As for me, I plugged away on my stack of neutrals, turning them from plain old string blocks into Lover's Knot blocks.

My tee shirt reads, "I'd be a vegetarian if bacon grew on trees!" Note below that my chocolate dispenser is kept handy-by...'cause you can't quilt without chocolate!!!

Lastly, I truly enjoyed gazing upon the baskets of pretty Fat Quarters that were there for sale!

My budget is stretched way too thinly so I left these safely at The Golden Gese for another day, but they are gorgeous!

Miss Emma Lynne said I did the right thing!

Here's hoping that you can still have great fun even while you are showing amazing self-restraint.

Happy quilting!