Happy Sunday.  What an absolutely beautiful day here in Monticello, Indiana today.  The leaves are starting to turn, but the temp was still warm enough to see boaters enjoying the lake.  Thank you Lord for this day.

I did finish a big boy quilt on Friday 100" x 100".  Pieced by Doris to give as a gift, the pinwheel pattern was striking.  Even though this quilt only used two different prints of fabric the quilt had a stunning look to its simplicity.

I had to share a few pictures of our oldest granddaugher's 14th birthday party at our house.  I still have a hard time believing Audrey Kate is 14 and taller than her mother and I.  Her brother and sisters had fun getting into the pictures as well as her Mom, daddy BJ, Uncle David, Grandpa and AK's two girlfriends Hannah and Haley. Jacob was here, but we could never get him to sit still long enough to take his picture. There was a lot of laughter and noise at our house last night but most importantly there was JOY.

The last picture is of the three youngest grandchildren reciting the pledge of allegance to the flag.  Abigale and Carly recited the pledge fully and Eli repeated some of the words he heard his sisters say.  It was a Kodak moment.

Blessings to all.

Greetings everyone.  I had to post a few pictures of the grandsons when they were here last Saturday.  Eli aka Boom Boom (the little guy) and his big brother Jacob love Grandmas' Smoothies.  Little do they know how nutritious those Smoothies are for them.  They have to have the whip cream on the top of their Smoothies otherwise Eli goes to the refrigerator and gets it out to remind Grandma.

I have completed three quilts this week so far for Jane O.  I'm glad I snapped some pictures since Jane picked them up this morning.  The lime green and white with the applique flowers quilt was done with 90% freehand quilting.  Yes, I know I have the Statler who will gladly do the work for me, but I just had to see if I can still do my freehand quilting.  I love how this quilt turned out and so did Jane.  She said, "I knew you would  really make this quilt with the quilting."  Thanks Jane for letting me quilt this quilt.  The other two pumpkin quilts Jane made were stunning with her color placement.  She will embellish the little quilt with buttons and more ric rack.  It must be close to Christmas since I am quilting fall quilts.  Actually, it's less than three months until Christmas. 

Blessings to all.

Greetings everyone.  I hope your day is going well.  I have an update on my friend Jan who had surgery yesterday.  Jan went through the four hour surgery well.  The doctors were able to remove 70% of the brain tumor.  Please continue to keep Jan and her family in your prayers through the recovery period.

Blessing to all.

Greeting everyone.  This is the second time I started this post.  I debated whether to post this information, but then God kept tugging at me that yes it's okay.  I would like to ask for prayer for a very dear friend of mine, Jan S.  Jan will be having surgery this Thursday to remove a tumor on her brain.  When I called Jan today she was in the greatest of spirits.  Today was her second day of three days of pretesting before her surgery.  She told me after she has her testing she and her husband and daughter go out to lunch,  to the mall and epecially to the book store.  I'm thinking only my friend Jan could be this positive in the face of such an unknown outcome.  Jan is an outstanding quilter with a keen eye for color placement.  She can place and piece batiks in a quilt better than anyone.  I've had the pleasure to know Jan for the last ten years.  So please keep Jan in your prayers this Thursday, September 27nd.  Thank you.

Blessings to all.

Greetings everyone.   I can hardly believe this is my 100th post.  I must have too much to write about, but then that is the point of this blog.

I had a wonderful day yesterday.  My fellow longarm friend Sue Kistler hosted the first Indiana Statler Owners quarterly group meeting.  We had nine ladies show for our first meeting.  Sue really outdid her self as shown in the picture of the spread of food she wowed us all with.   She even sent us all home with a goody bag with chocolates.  What more could you want? Most of us met for the first time, but we felt like we were already friends.  We had great discussions on operating our Statlers, show and tell, pattern designers, thread, a PVM demonstration and other great topics. Nancy Haacke graciously made a pattern just for our group which was sent to each of the attendees.  I can't wait to see this pattern quilted out.  You can see all of Nancy's great patterns at www.digitizedquiltingpatterns.com  Two of our ladies came from the Louisville, KY area which was quite a feet for a one day trip. 

I also posted a picture of one of the quilts I completed this week.  The lonestar pieced by Joyce P. is a beautiful quilt with such great colors.  I have always admired the lonestar quilt and I feel honored to have worked on this beauty. 

Greeting Everyone.  It's been another interesting week here, especially when I thought last week was going to be my week to finally get all of the work in quilts done.  Whew!!  I've posted a few pictures of why I had to rearrange my schedule.  They are just the cutest reason though.   Carly and Eli came to Grandma and Grandpa's every morning last week because their Moma got called in to run the mail route all week.  We had a lot of fun last week and Grandpa Gary had an excuse to get a cup of McDonald's coffee everyday since he was already out picking up the grandkids.  Gary and I make a great tag team when it comes to watching the grandkids.  I give them their baths, get them dressed and fix them breakfast.  Gary is the "let's go for a golf cart ride chauffeur", walk down to the lake, and any other  play activity Carly and Eli were interested in.  Gary and I had a "date night" last night which we thought we both deserved.  Even after almost 40 years of marriage it is still special to go out with the one you love.

I did manage to get three quilts done in the evenings and I have one on the machine now.  I am determined to get caught up.  I am enjoying trying out more of Nancy Haacke's patterns (www.digitizedquiltingpatterns.com)   I'll post pictures of the quilt on the machine when it is completed.

I've posted two pictures of two of the three quilts I quilted, but unfortunately one of the quilts has already gone home with its owner.  Sorry I missed a picture of that one by Pam S. it was really a beautiful appliqued wallhanging.  I can only dream of doing hand applique work as well as Pam does.  The two quilts posted were made by Joyce P,  Both quilts had vibrant colors and interesting quilt patterns.

Blessings to all.

Greetings everyone.  Whew! it has been a whirlwind since last weekend.  I had a few house guests last weekend and even a four legged one.  Isn't he just the cutest?  And he was so well mannered.  His name is JD which stands for Just Dog.  His owner, Pat, is a Marine Vet who had two tours of duty in Irag.  What a wonderful time we had getting to know Pat.  Pat is a friend/co-worker of my son David. 

I also had a visit from my  cousins from Florida, Vern (aka Sam) and Mike.  It was a somewhat hectic visit since we had our two youngest grandchildren for the day.  But everyone enjoyed the homemade vegetable/chicken soup, corn on the cob and Indiana tomatoes.  You just can't go wrong with all of those fresh vegetables.

I actually have been very busy this week quilting, but in my haste a few of the quilts went home with their owner before I could take pictures.  Those quilts owned my Nancy J from Nancy Js quilt shop in
Wabash, Indiana can be seen at quilt camp at Camp Tecumseh, Brookston, Indiana next week Sept. 10th - 14th.  If you are looking to attend a great quilt camp I highly recommend Camp Tecumseh www.camptecumseh.org

The picture of the brown/orange quilt made by Cindy S. has such beautiful autumn colors and the oak leaves/acorn pattern I chose only enhanced the beautiful colors. 

The last quilt made by Kathy W. has some beautiful fabrics by Camille Roskelley/Thimbleblossoms/Moda.  It was such a pleasure to quilt this quilt with the Pearls/Curls pattern by Nancy Haacke. 

And here's a little quilting trivia.  Did you know that quilting may date back as far as ancient Egypt?  And there is a quilt made around 1360 that is still in existence?  Wow that must have been some great material on that quilt.  The quilt I am referencing is called the Tristen Quilt and is in a museum in Italy.  Kind of makes you proud to call yourself a quilter, doesn't it?

Blessings to all.