Maxine

This picture is a wonderful friend of mine, never met her, but feel as though I do, she lives in Texas, my home state and is one of the first members of my Yahoo group.
She's in her 80's and has been quilting for a very long time. Here she is giving a demonstration of using old linens without cutting them. She has on a 1890's blouse and a beautiful smile.

Just some new arrivals today

Glad I made a run to the postoffice, waiting for me were two sets of cotton and wool threads I had ordered, was becoming too expensive to hunt out one spool at a time and they just happened to have two books from Sue Spargo that I don't have. And a freebie, So Scrappy magazine that has Kathie Holland's quilt on the front, gorgeous.

And then finally the outside of the sweater purse is finished, the front and then the back is a big flower on the pocket. Can't do wool for awhile, my fingers are a mess, have to go back to work anyway so that will be my break, so back to my needle turn, the next block of the Collector's series.

Quilts in the Barn, Australian Style

Just one awesome quilt from the exhibit of stunning and I mean stunning quilts from Di Ford and The Secret Sewing Sisterhood from the Australian Quilt show, Quilts in the Barn. I'm waiting to find out the name of the quilt and the maker to ask her many, many questions and to praise her choice of fabrics and colors. You can see more quilts on the blogs to the right,
broderie typepad
secret sewing sisterhood
quilts in the barn
10-27-10
My praise to the designer of this quilt, Deb King, and to Meghan Leslie for her stunning needle turn applique work and choice of fabrics and colors. I'm in awe of this quilt.

Wool Sweaters & Wool Hats

Karen, you can make a purse or tote out of a sweater if it's all wool and doesn't shrink a lot, just wash and felt, and hope for the best, this one was from a nursing friend and wanted a purse to match her hat I made her. You have to use a stabilizer, thanks Pat Sloan for telling me that to keep the wool from stretching especially when you have a lot of applique or just tend to carry lots in your purse. I'll use flannel in the inside to give it a little more strength, I don't use patterns so I kinda go with what I like as I sew and what the person whats.

The Sweater Progress

Here's the progress so far on the sweater purse, working on just the front of it before I add the back since the applique is so involved, love the curly yarn. Was going to be a tail on a giraffe, aka Sue Spargo design and decided it would be a fun stem.

I fell off the fence, in a good way

Looking at this first picture of one of Sue's BOMs, Folklore that I completed,
I was very pleased that everything was there for me to start a new, inspirational quilt, no driving 60 to 120miles when I had a chance to get to Bozeman or Billings where there is real wool and threads. You know our time is money and time lost is quilting lost. I figure working enough, driving enough and spending time and taking care of Jim gives me that break I need to quilt, what I desperately need to relieve the stress. And if the block is ready to go, no hunting fabric, so much the better. Sounds good to me. And Jim refuses to move to
the Midwest, can't leave the wildlife or our serenity.

And then I never showed you the pic of the chair I took the webbing out
that was falling apart and used belts as the bottom, an inspiration from Sandy
Stone designs,
just need lots more belts from big people if you know what I mean.

Dorothy, the bear was playing in the grass like a puppy, you can look in their eyes for aggression. I'll probably be saying that as I'm mauled, well his eyes look sweet.

And our first deer is down, a small buck, can barely see his spikes of his antlers.

2011 BOM by Sue Spargo

This is Sue's line drawing of her 2011 BOM, I'm on the fence on what to do, but the idea of learning 44 new embellishment stitches that we've all seen on her blog and receive the speciality threads, and 200 have already signed up. My head hurts from thinking about it.

A Few Birthday Gifts

A few Birthday gifts from friends, gift certificates to buy a lot of vintage Brannock and Patek fabrics, I'm in heaven with these fabrics, a Whimsical book, and a unusual flower pattern by Material Girl Designs, that I liked for the buttons and will change it all to wool. Some beautiful flannels and the large ricrac I've been looking for to add as trim to a pattern I need to make.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today was that big 60 birthday. Not to stressed about it, since it only gets me closer to retirement and with all the past operations, I feel much younger and my state of mind is always slightly warped with my sense of humor in order to keep sane with the life I lead.

So I get to work, know something is up, go to the time clock and realize everyone is dressed in black, we're nurses, it is blue jean day, but all black. Who died. Then I see my picture plastered everywhere, and I mean everywhere, saying I'm 60, I get to my little cubby hole where I work and as you can see is decorated in black and lots of gifts, we usually don't give gifts, usually have a lunch with all of us together so I was especially touched by every one's generosity. I received some especially special gifts of charms for my purse that everyone seems to be crazy about, the nurses and even a doc wanted me to include something from them to remember them by, like one of us is going somewhere. My provider I worked with gave me her Grandmothers stick pin that has a locket on it and so I grabbed a pair of scissors and clipped a locket of her hair as she was screaming to put in the locket. Such a fun day. Those days don't come often enough. Very special people I work with.

QUILTS I LOVE

Some I've made, some I have patterns for, and some I hope to buy one day. I do have all the Patek older patterns, they are so representative of what the older primitive folk art patterns were. Working on getting these of Sue's, don't have the newest pattern of the wonderful little Crow quilt by Lynda and the little funky Christmas tree I just found by a designer by the name of Material Girl Designs, would have to change it to wools. And then Cheri Saffiote-Payne, had to believe I've never made a pattern of hers. And some day, when I'm ninety I will have made one of Harriot Power's Bible quilts.

More Collector Series

I don't have another design wall, so when I'm making blocks for a quilt, I just pin them to the wall, it's my wall so I can pin if I want to, (what I tell Jim), this wall contains the last of the blocks I've finished, I have another wall in the hallway with the other blocks. And then a pic of the next block, this is going faster than I thought it would with all the diversions of life.

And a huge congratulation to Jeni of Woolen Willow who is publishing a primitive magazine. It's about time prim quilters had their own magazine. You can find her blog on my links and see the details and see her shop also.