Long Time Away

Its been ages since a post. I've been busy, just too busy and not taking any pictures of anything that got finished.
There a really nice idea being launched soon called Gum Tree Designers, which is a group of nine designers who will put free designs on their blog every week. For those who love to check out new stuff try this blogspot.
Some of our quilting group headed out for the Quilt Expo in Madison WI last week, what a ball these gals are! I was fortunate enough to have a quilt accepted into that show, as we drove down I became concerned that it might look like a real "dog" next to the "big girls" but I think it looked great hanging and did me proud. The show appeared to be bigger this year, more quilt entries and more vendors. I did find a few things I needed and was inspired by the beautiful creations of all the quilters. Guess it don't get better than that.

Fairie Festival and Hot Summer Days!

I truly have been steadily working on customer quilts and sewing a project of my own but don't want to show it yet so I haven't had a lot to post. One thing that I did this summer was have "Camp Grandma" and I invited my two older granddaughters over for some fun. Some crafts were in order, went swimming and picnicking, some walks with the lab, some wiffle ball and our main event was the Fairie Festival at Thistledown Greenhouse.

This is a wonderful greenhouse/farm and every year they sponsor a Fairie Festival that allows the kids and adults to celebrate everything fairy. The green house is kinda famous for their fairy gardens so this was a natural thing to come about I guess. The grounds are just beautiful and the kids were more than pumped about it. The first thing of the day was talking rides with the beautiful draft horses and wagon. We got on the first ride of the day and I think the girls loved the horses and ride the best.

This picture is of two of my fairies on the wagon. One fairie is wearing a lot of sun screen on her nose as she was viciously attacked by a dog about a month ago and has had plastic surgery. This has been a tough summer so far so this fairy thing was a long awaited treat! She is dealing pretty good with it all, wish we all were doing the same.

As you can see, the wings were the order of the day! This is our littlest fairy with her Mom taking our long ride through the woods. Next a picture of our lovely steads, they worked very hard in temps over 80 degrees.

We saw a large and striking peacock named King Arthur and also the girls got to visit the Fairy Queen in the woodland bower. They were so impressed that they were silent and most reverent as you should be of such a queen!

A proud little belly puffer with face paint. After a good day and picnic lunch and a tired group back home, we decided that we would love to come back next year. I think that grandma will have to dress up like a huge fairy, that should be fun.

Quilts for Fort Hood, Texas

In the last few years, our quilt group has made and sent quilts to Fort Hood Texas for the wounded soldiers coming into that medical center. This year was a very good year for participation for our quilters and they outdid themselves. We ended up sending 66 quilts after Memorial Day.

As part of the celebration, we "marched" our quilts in the local Memorial Day parade in our small town. It turned out to be a wonderful idea and the day was beautiful too.

This picture is our group leaving the school yard where we assembled and coming into town with the quilts.

The next day was a memorial ceremony in the cemetary put on by our local veterans. It is always inspiring and does put the real meaning of Memorial Day out front. Afterward, the local church, Tabor Lutheran, who is also my neighbor, does a wonderful thing in allowing us to display the quilts on the church pews. The vets put out coffee and donuts and the crowd comes in to look at the quilts and just talk; its a nice thing. This picture is of the church pews full of quilts and I'm proud to say that we filled the pews this year!

This is just one of those things that is a lot of work but there is a huge reward at the end; not too many things in life can give you that feeling. In addition, our group sent over fifty quilts to a pediatric oncology unit in Green Bay and is currently working on quilts to go to Russia for teenage girls in an orphanage. We are a busy group with a big heart; just have to brag a little.

Scrappy wristlets

Made some wristlet type purses out of extra blocks. Basically I just ignore the block itself and add applique, threads, yarn and then fold over into a purse. They turned out very handy I think.

Kit giveaway

There is a nice new blog Piece by Piece Quilts which is giving away a quilt kit. Check it out,very nice place.

Eyeglass cases and another month passes

Somehow a month has slipped by me and I haven't posted. Been busy just a little too busy. The ice is off the lakes, the weather is warmer some of the time and the trees are budding, it must be springtime in Wisconsin.

I did manage to make a nice project from Two Creative Studios . They have a great selection of free patterns which I love to look at and sometimes get to make.

This are so much fun to make and you can use up some small scraps and goofy yarns, or make them as elegant as you want.

One of my other scrappy projects is my quilt I'm naming Scrappy Gala. It is probably one of my ultimate scrap projects as many of the strips finish at 1/4". After making the rows of scraps, I had to chose a fabric to compete with them and luckily I had a fabric in my stash that does. I found it on a clearance table for .50 a yard and it was a delightful Michael Miller apple stripe.

It is only a top at this point and forgive the strings that are left untrimmed but that will have to wait until quilting time. I took these photos outside under my apple trees which are actually not even close to flowering yet. This truly was a fun project and I'm just tickled to use that apple fabric. I have a few strips of it left which might make exciting baby quilts.

Easter Totes and Ironing Boards

I don't like to buy too much candy for the grandkids at Easter time so I try to buy other stuff like books, or jewelry, or a puppet for Max. Those plastic baskets are kind of a nuisance so this year I took some scraps and rick rack and made some quicky tote bags for the kids.

Some of the fabric leftovers were from my new ironing board cover that was just finished. How nice is it to have a new cover? Its not until you have the new one that your realize how groady the old one was. Kinda like painting one wall in your house. Which always reminds me that I need a new iron and a big one too. I'm hesitant to commit myself to a new one as I always read such mixed reviews of the brands. I am currently using the one that I take on the road, its not the best but still does heat up anyway.

Its been sunny here and we've been out taking walks. Had two grandkids and we were taking a walk and unintentionally found one of those Geocaching scavenger hunt items. I really didn't know what I had found and the way it was hidden, I thought oh boy what is this and was looking for the police to move in on granny and the two little grandkids and a large labrador. But it was just a game that you can check out here. Seems like fun but I don't have a GPS device and I did find it without one anyway. I will have to slip it back into its secret hidey hole, kinda like To Kill A Mockingbird and the tree with the hidey hole. These are my fellow "Geocachers". Their middle names are Danger and maybe Hungry.

Everyone have a Happy Easter.

Working on Using the Stash

Using up some of the stash has become a priority. I've been pulling out scraps and yardage and trying to organize some fabrics for tops.

I'm working on one called the Rancher's Daughter, a wonderfully easy pattern that looks more complicated than it is. Still working away on the inside blocks, I sew away when I sit down and take a break. Its how I get most of my quilts done, 10 minute breaks. I believe this quilt is designed by Debbie Caffrey. I used a floral background instead of something that reads more solid, actually didn't have enough of anything that read solid but wanted to use stash. It will just read as a softer quilt thats all. I'm about ready to work on the borders.

Here's a quilt top that I was working on and finally took off. The picture is in the quilting process. I really liked the colors of it.

Progress on BOM

I've been doing some BOM this year and hope to sorta keep up the work. I love the Red Delicious BOM and haven't done March's block of the fan yet. I am working on the others. I also have the bird done but think I've posted it before. The vase is a lovely, large block, kinda big to photograph. I did use one piece of fabric for the vase instead of the many pieces and then I used the lines to stitch on to emphasize the shape.

I'm also participating in the Bunny Hill BOM called A Tisket, A Tasket. Cute stuff. I'm working on the third one but just got the fourth this morning, gotta keep working.

Do you like Moda? How about Jelly Rolls?

Then you should probably check out the giveaway at Green Fairy Quilts. She has some lovely patterns and fabrics at her website, very sweet stuff.

Simple quilt top

I finished piecing a very simple quilt top but it was a good pattern to use very large showy focal fabrics.

This makes a 90 x 108 quilt and you can sew it in a day. Really. Its called BQ2 and designed by Maple Island Quilts. Nice and fast and enjoyable sew. I've just finished quilting two of them for customers so I've got some nice ideas for the quilting now.