Good Morning Everyone!!  Where does the time go.  I see I have not posted since last Wednesday.  I did finish up three quilts last week, worked at Nancy J's booth at the Kokomo Road Trip Quilt show on Friday and enjoyed a wonderful visit from my brother John and my favorite sister-in-law Jane over the weekend.  So I guess that's where my time has gone.  Oh, I almost forgot Gary and I had three of the five dumplings (Jacob, Abigale and Eli) over for the night Friday night.  Wow, no wonder I slept so good last night. 

I did start my quilt week last night when I loaded and completed a quilt with an all over pinwheel pattern.  I surprised myself completing that quilt.  I am now getting ready to load an absolutely beautiful batik quilt.  The colors are so vibrant and happy that I can't help but smile back at this quilt.  I'll post some pictures later .

Blessings to all.

Blessings all.

I actually quilted one of my own quilts over the weekend.  I had posted pictures of this quilt before after I pieced it, but now that I have it quilted I thought you might enjoy seeing the quilting.  These patterns are from www.digitizedquiltingpatterns.com by Nancy Haacke.  I am absolutely thrilled with the results of the quilting patterns on this quilt.  I did change the patterns on the borders to fit the wide borders which distorted the pattern somewhat, but I love the look.  I also used an E2E pattern and treated it like a block pattern, which is what was placed in each corner of the wide border.  I doubled the batting of Hobbs 80/20 for this quilt, which made it really heavy, but I love the look the extra batting gave to the quilting.  Thanks for checking my quilt out.

Blessings to all.

Blessings all.  We spent the day yesterday at the White County 4-H Fair watching our two oldest grandchildren, Audrye Kate and Jacob, show their pigs.  I've posted some pictures below of the grandchildren readying the pigs.  Even Abigale and Carly helped out brushing so the pigs would look their best.  I am snickering at the one picture of Audrey Kate as she is giving one of the pigs water.  The pigs almost seems to be smiling back at Audrey Kate.  We enjoyed watching Jacob show his pigs since this was his first year to show pigs.  He told his Dad he would love to raise pigs.  We shall see if this statement comes to be.  Eli kept us all busy making sure he didn't stray too far.  His Mom has discovered that Eli does not like cows.  When she was pushing him in his stoller through the dairy barn he would cover his face with his hands.  Thanks for taking the time to look at the pictures of ou special day.

Oh, and I did get a quilt quilted when we got home last night from the fair.  Not bad for a "60" year old woman.!!

Blessings to all.

Saturday, July 21st, 2012.  Happy Birthday to my big brother John who turns 64 today.

I've posted a few pictures of some of the quilts I did this week.  Whew it was a fun week this week with five quilts keeping me busy.  Each one was unique and special in its own way.  Cindy S.  made three quilts that she is giving away to friends.  Is that generous or what?  I particularly liked the quilt we called Route 66 because of the quilting pattern I found to place on this quilt.  I found a rounded camper and I found a Route 66 sign to place on the blocks.  The material had the rounded campers in it so the rounded camper pattern was perfect for this quilt as well as the Route 66 sign.  Cindy's tan/brown quilt had beautiful brown/tan tones to which I added the Shadows pattern.  The pink/purple quilt rounded out the three to which I added morning glories in each of the cornerstone blocks, outlined the flowers in the outer border and using a continusous vines and flowers pattern in the body of the quilt.  The Glide thread that I used in all three quilts only added to the quilting.

The last two quilts were for Bev and Sue.  The underground railroad sampler quilt is a raffle quilt for Bev's guild.  I quilted each block with a different pattern again with Glide thread.  Sue's black, white and lime green quilt is for her granddaughter.  The lime green really added a nice contrast against the black and white material.  Sue also used a special ruler for the top border which give the pattern a three dimensional look.  I placed circle bubbles in the body of the quilt and tennis shoes in the borders since Sue's granddaughter played tennis.

Now how did that picture of Eli get in there?  Eli did spend the night with us last night.  His oldest sister Audrey Kate and his brother Jacob both have pigs in the White County Fair so Mom and Dad were super busy last night helping the kids get the pigs ready.  Eli has enjoyed his time with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle David this weekend, but it's time for him to go home shortly.  He had to take one last look at the fishes in the acquarium. 

I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Blessings to all.

It's raining, it's pouring the old man is snoring!!  I don't know why I remember the words to this childhood song, but it really is RAINING in Monticello, Indiana today.  We have received 1.6 inches since last night. Thank you, LORD.  I'm waiting a few more minutes until the thunder/lightening subside before I go downstairs and quilt.  I've completed three quilts this week with one maybe two to go.

I do hope everyone receives some much needed rain if your area needs rain.  Happy Thursday!

Blessings to all.

Hello everyone.  Gracious I bet you are wondering where have I been, I'm wondering that myself.   I can't believe it's been a whole week since I last posted.  I have been busy quilting as seen in the pictures above.  I probably sound like a broken record, but I really do have the best job.  Just look at all of those beautiful quilts.  JoAnn H. allowed me to quilt the two walllhangings she plans on giving to family members.  JoAnn certainly made my job easy with her great piecing. (Pictures 1 and 4)

I also have had Christmas in July at my house with the quilt Carol P. pieced. (Pictures 2 & 3))  I completely quilted this quilt freehand.  I haven't quilted a quilt completely freehanded in some time.  My hands were sore when I finished this quilt, but it made me happy to know I can still freehand feathers.  I really need to take some time and record some of my own feathers and save them to my Statler for future quilting projects.  Carol has such patience when it comes to applique as you can see on her Christmas quilt and her applique block quilt. (Picture 5)  I so admire applique, but my hands don't allow me the luxury of hand stitching. 

I've also posted a few pictures of two of my own quilts.  (Pictures 6, 7 & 8) I did post the smaller quilt with the rectangular blocks already, but I finished this quilt by putting the binding on and then I decided to sew the large buttons you see on the quilt.  I've decided to call this quilt, "Don't sit on top of my quilt".  It might be a little uncomfortable with those big buttons, hence the name.  I decided that when Eli (a.k.a. Boom Boom) comes over and takes a nap he might enjoy touching the buttons.  It always takes him a few minutes to settle down when it is nap time so maybe the buttons will humor him.  We shall see.  I also have a picture of the quilt I made last week.  The pattern is called Taking Turns by Monica Solorio-Snow of Happy Zombie (thehappyzombie.com).  The pattern was in the Quilts and More, Spring 2012 issue.  This quilt went together super fast.  I added a 10" border instead of the 2 1/2 inch border it called for.  As always I wanted the larger border so I can quilt, quilt, quilt.  I actually was shocked that I put this quilt together in less than a day, probably about 7 hours with distractions in between.  It calls for 12 - 18" blocks plus sashing.  I have used up the 10 yards of Moda white that I bought about six weeks ago.  I guess I'm in my "white" period for some reason.  I love the calming affect that white brings in between the bright colors.  It gives me a chance to really enjoy the bright material. 

Blessings to all.

Happy  Monday Everyone.  I feel like a wet noodle because I had a 45 minute massage this afternoon.  My therapist, Lee Anne Akers owner of Essential Touch located  at 480 W. Navajo St., Suite B, West Lafayette, IN  can be reached at 1-765-363-3323.  I cannot believe how much better I feel.  Lee Anne actually is at Camp Tecumseh Quilt Camp this week until Tuesday evening working her magic to all who have signed up for a session.  I'm amazed how my sinuses have opened up, my shoulders, back and hips feel almost like new.  I'm in heaven.
I have posted a few pictures of the back of Jane O's orphan block quilt.  This was such a neat quilt and Jane was well pleased at all of the extra quilting I placed on her quilt.

Lastly, there are a few pictures of  four of the five "dumplings who were here Sunday and left this morning.  How about the conga line with Grandma in the lead?
Have a great week.

Blessings to everyone.

I've posted pictures of my 1600 quilt that is finally quilted and the binding has been applied.  I must say I am happy with the outcome of this quilt.  It makes me feel good that the binding is complete, since binding is my least favorite step in making a quilt.  I did sew down the binding and I am happy with the results.  I know many prefer to hand sew their binding down, but it is absolutely uncomfortable for my hands to hand sew my binding down.  I have to laugh at myself because I have a Janome machine with 236 decorative stitches.  I just thought  I had to have 236 stitches and guess what type of stitch I used to sew down my binding with . . . . .  yes, you guessed right a straight stitch.  I also used my little Janome Gem Gold with the regular pessure foot to sew the binding on.  Sew much for the 236 stitches of the fancy machine.  Oh, well maybe one day I'll use some of those decorative stitches.

I just had to include a picture of Eli a.k.a. Boom Boom.  Just look at that smile, doesn't it just make you melt.  Eli and his brother and sisters were here on Monday and Tuesday, that's probably why Gary and I have been absolutely happy to spend a quiet Fourth of July at home.  Firecrackers are still going off here and probably will continue through the weekend.  Have a safe and happy weekend everyone. 
Blessings to all.

Happy 236th Birthday America!!  Happy Fourth of July everyone.  I just read an intersting article that stated it took from August to November of 1776 for  the Declaration of Independence to be signed.  I'm not sure why July 4th was chosen as an official date since John Adams originally thought it should be July 2nd, the date the Continental Congress voted to leave English rule. No matter what the date Happy Birthday America.

Blessings to all.

Happy Sunday Everyone!!  It finally rained here in Monticello, Indiana!!!! Yippee i o kiay.  We didn't get any hail, atleast in our area so I hope that is the case for everyone else.  Thank you Lord for the much needed rain.  Gary thought we had gotten about an inch and a half.  It is still overcast so I'm not sure if the rain is complete for now or not. 

I've kept busy all weekend longarm quilting.  I've posted a few pictures to show the beautiful quilts that I worked on for Jane O and Sandy W.  Jane O's orphan block quilt  took time to complete, but sometimes you just have to do what the quilt tells you to do.  Jane's white and red quilt and other colors "apple" quilt is such a happy quilt.  And last but not least the federal blue quilt with the applique flowers is subtle, but the rose applieque finishes off the soft material in this quilt.  I chose to treat the one block below the applique as if it were a vase.  The picture may not show the difference in the quilting, but up close the quilting set off the rectagular block making it look as though the roses are hanging in a vase.  Sandy used an olive minkee on the back of her quilt and the quilting pattern really set the minkee off.  Sandy used batik squares on the quilt top.  This quilt is for Sandy's husband, George.  I think George will love the softness of the minkee. 

That's it for now.  I have one of my own quilts on the machine right now, wait did I type that right, yes I do have one of my own quilts on my machine.  I'll post pictures when I have my 1600 quilt with the purple tulips off of the machine.  What a great feeling to have quilted one of my own quilts. 

Blessings to all.