HELLO AUGUST

Does time fly, or what. What happened to July? Looking back, we did have a very busy July and accomplished a lot.

Kids Kamp at the shop is behind us. I don't think that is my calling. I had to work all week and I got behind on so many things including laundry and house cleaning. The latter I could live with. My quilting projects are a different story. Below is a picture of three completed projects. The youngest here is seven and the oldest is 10. They picked out their fabric and learned things like the 1/4" seam, RST, and butting up edges, just to name a few. Now I'm on to a new project. This quilt pictured below is the Nursery Rhyme quilt. Four of the blocks are embroidered and five are smocked, embellished and sewen to the background fabric. The sashing strips and borders are also embroidered.

This is a close up picture of a completed block with a smocked and embroidered dress. I have another doll dress quilt hanging in the shop and our customers are so impressed. Our regular's have been looking for something new to do and this seems to be the ticket. Starting the end of September I will be teaching the smocking technique and we will do this project as a BOM.

This little dress is called Candy Cane. If you want more information on these beautiful little dresses go to www.kreationsbykaron.com and check out her entire line of patterns. They are wonderful.

This week I will be finishing my oldest grandson's quilt and starting on my daughter's wedding quilt. Yes, you heard it right, Tami is finally getting married to that awesome, one of a kind guy, Joe. We are so happy for the two of them. I really feel this is a match made in heaven. They set February 2012 for the month and haven't picked a date. I'm making the Bali Wedding Star quilt for them. A friend just made one for her daughter and she started it in January and finished in July. I think the pressure is on.

Speaking of pressure I better log off and get busy. So much to do and so little time. Have a blessed week.

Heading to Sister's

I will be at Sister's over the 4th so I'm taking this time to wish you a safe and happy 4th of July. God Bless America. I pray for our country every day and feel so blessed to have been born in American. The quilt below is an X-block pattern. There is a quilt for every season and every occasion. Don't you just love it?

This paper doll dress quilt picture below will be my project when I return. I will be teaching smocking and how to make these darling little dresses. I have shared these pictures with some of our customers and they are very interested in learning something new and getting started. This quit is the Paper Doll Nursery Rhyme.

This is a close up of the Makanzie dress. We will also be selling the patterns in the quilt shop. I'm so excited about sharing them. We have so much traffic from people traveling from Washington to California that there will be some great exposure.

This is another example of one of the dress patterns. If you want to see more go to www.kreationsbykaron.com and check them out. Here is one for those hot summer days. I have a granddaughter, or three, that might enjoy hanging one of these quilts on their wall. We'll see.

I must close for now and finish packing. I will have lots of pictures and stories to share when I return.

Be safe and God bless.

QUILT SHOW

This weekend was the Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild quilt show. On Thursday we spent the entire day setting up everything. There were over 300 quilts entered so it was an all day project. I spent the morning setting up the General Store. Members make quilt related items for sale. It's a great way to earn money for the guild. When that job was done I helped set up The Sewing Basket booth. This was the first time the store had a booth at a quilt show and it turned out to be a lot of work and worth it every minute of it. The pictures below are quilts created by the featured quilt artist Cassandra Williams. She is from Grants Pass. Her work is incredible. Who would have thought you could do all this with fabric?

Since we just moved here in September I am not aware of what kind of Spring or Summer flowers are planted in the yard. Everyday I find a little surprise somewhere around the house.

I love the tulips. In the fall I will plant more. They last a long time in the garden and make a great cut flower to brighten up the inside of the house.

Last week we celebrated Mary's birthday. We took her and Larry to dinner and came home for cake and ice cream. This is the cake I made for her. I thought the squiggles down the side resembles the meandering we do on our quilts.

This is why we don't let our non-quilting husbands in our quilt studio's. This guy was getting way too much attention.

This is a shot of The Sewing Basket booth. We sold kits, fat quarters, notions, patterns. We did very well and made some new customers who haven't visited the store yet.

These are some pictures of some of my favorite quilts. I can't post all of them but I wanted to share some of my favorites.

I love the rich colors of brown in this one. They incorporated embroidery in it.

Mary did this wall hanging. I couldn't get a picture without the glare of the lights. She got a third place ribbon for this work of art.

This quilt was done by my friend Cheryl. This is her second quilt. I think she almost fainted when she found out she got a second place ribbon. She is such a natural when it comes to quilting. She is working on a wedding ring quilt for her daughter's wedding. I can't wait to see the finished quilt.

This quilt was done by Barbara and she got a third place ribbon. I think it should have gotten first or second place. She started this at a retreat in Gold Beach a year ago, as did I. I put mine aside and she kept working on hers. I know what work and skill went into this one. Good job Barbara.

So there you have it, a few of my favorite things. Today the sun is out and it's going to warm up. The Plant and Garden Expo is coming up on May 7 so I want to get my gardens ready for some new color. We sure have a lot of weeds here. I'm also looking forward to Easter and I have some preparations for that.

Have a blessed week.

TA DA DAY

Greetings. Remember the blocks I posted on January 22? This is the finished quilt. Paul is on a step ladder trying to hold it up but it looks like his wing span was not sufficient either. So, here is it on the floor. I love the fabrics in this quilt. There is one block pattern in the light color way and the same block in the dark, 12 different blocks done in the light and 12 in the dark making 24 blocks total. Love It!!!!

Below is the fabric I will be using on my next project. Kinda crazy but I have a vision. The pattern for this quit is in the book Cottage-Style Quilts by Mary Hickey. I think I bought this book about five years ago at Pacific International. I don't buy a lot of books because I can never find the fabric that works for the quilt pattern I want to make in the book. These fabrics are nothing like the ones used in the quilt featured in the book but I think they will work. I do have reservation on the second green in the line up. I might have to dig deeper in my stash. My goal is to have this finished this month. It will be a surprise so stay tuned, film at eleven!

To help take our minds off Max, and ease the hurt in our hearts, we visited a couple of quilt shops. Details on Max at the end of this post. Greenbaum's Quilted Forest was like walking into a quilt show. They are located in Salem. They had so many beautiful quilt hanging all over. They were hung high from the ceiling so it was hard to get good pictures. The staff there were wonderful. The quilt below was so simple but the quilting on it really made it stunning. I love the soft colors.

This is the back of the quilt. It's hard to see the quilting but you could show either side of this beauty.

These tea pots are so bright and fun. The fabrics in this quilt are my inspiration. Mary has the pattern so I'm going to start my hunt for fabric.

This next picture is a darling wall hanging that measures 27" x 33" finished. There are 100 little rice lights on it that light up and twinkle. The pattern is very easy, the challenge will be finding all the embellishments. The pattern is by Cheryl Ennis at The Teddy Bears Quilt Workshop in Lebanon, OR.

This next quilt is amazing. It's called A Birds Eye View buy Terrie's Quilts in Dallas, OR. At first glance I thought it was a panel. It's appliqued and then you bring the quilt to life with crayons, colored pencils and markers. There is a Melt 'N' Blend technique that she teaches and uses on this quilt. The picture doesn't do it justice. This is a quilt I want to hang in my home.

So, about Max. Max is Larry and Mary's nine year old Rottweiler. He was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on a bone in his left front leg. They were not happy with the options given by the Vet in Roseburg so they decided to get a second opinion at the Veterinary school at the University of Oregon in Corvallis. I went along for support. This experience brought back memories of Herkie and I thought Mary could use some company on the drive up and back. Max stayed for surgery and they will be picking him up on Friday. They are removing the part of the bone with the tumor and he will have chemo treatments and hopefully live cancer free.

The picture below is of a friend I made while waiting for Mary. I don't remember what breed this dog is but he is very big and acts like a big kid. His hair was soft and silky and I think I pet and scratched for about four hours that morning. His Mom gave me permission to take his picture. They drove down from Washington to get care for the other dog and in my books that speaks volumes about this teaching hospital. They were waiting for his brother, who also has cancer. What's up with all this cancer?

It's 30 degrees outside and the sun is burning away the fog. It should be in the 50's and sunny all day. I'm going to start cutting out my surprise quilt. Until next time have a blessed day and take care.

Life Goes On

After a very sad week we are trying to stay busy and keep our minds occupied so we aren't focusing on the loss of our dearest little Herkie. His little buddy, Missy, seems to be looking for him. Maybe we are just reading something into her behavior that isn't really there. We sure miss him terribly.

Check out my newest challenge. This quilt is called Ladies of the Sea and was designed by Susan H. Garman. I have been admiring this for a few months but thought it was to complicated to tackle. I'm just getting into the applique technique. I love the ocean and anything nautical so after admiring from a far I decided to go for it. It's a 12 month block of the month series so I will take it one block at a time and I figure with each block I can only improve. The best part about taking on this project is knowing some very talented and accomplished appliquers that will be willing to help if needed.

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the wedding of Ashley and Elivs. Isn't she a beautiful bride? She is from England and her family couldn't attend the wedding so one of the guys from church hooked up a laptop with a video camera and connected her family to the church, by video, so they could be a part of this special day. How cool is that? The handsome pastor is Pastor Dan. That was his first video wedding.

It's a very warm day today and the wind has finally calmed down. It's the kind of day you want to stay inside and work on a quilt or read a book, and anything else that doesn't involve being outside in the heat.

Wishing you God's peace.

Never enough time.

Greetings. I was listening to a speaker saying that the only thing that can be stolen and never replaced is time. I have been giving that a lot of thought. Who or what has been steeling my time? My first thoughts are the television, newspaper, telephone, computer, husband, mother, family in general, and poor planning. It seems like I have been work all week to strip wall paper and paint a bathroom. Í started Monday and it's still not done and I find that very upsetting. Part of the problem is depending on somebody else to do their part. I was scheduled to start the painting at 7:00 a.m. today and I'm updating my blog and catching up on emails because the old flooring wasn't removed and that needs to be done before the painting. That flooring was to be out Thursday and no later than Friday. Oh well. Dare I hope for this project will be completed by May 1? I have so many projects around this house that need completing and I can't afford to have my time stolen.

A great use of my time is attending a quilt guild meeting. Thursday night the Pioneer Quilter's Guild brought their 2010 Opportunity Quilt to show off and sell raffle tickets. This is their beautiful quilt. Their web site is pioneerquiltersguild.org and their show is November 5 and 6th.
This is Judy showing off her Dresden wall hanging she started at a workshop a few months ago. She hand quilted it. Judy's work is beautiful.

This is Julie's Dresden quilt. I love her use of blue's and a splash of yellow. Julie is another accomplished quilter.

Barbara did the same pattern as Judy with different colors. She said it wasn't intended to be a Christmas wall hanging but it just might end up that way. When I see the beautiful projects these ladies create I want to start my own. I'm fine tuning the art of self control. It's a very slow process.

The upcoming week should be very productive, that's the plan anyway. I'm hoping to get my 19th Century Reds quilt pieced this week and who knows, maybe that bathroom will get finished. I do believe in miracles.

Wishing you a blessed and productive week.

Philanthropy and Quilting

On Tuesday's some of the Manteca quilters meet at a church in Manteca to put together quilts and other items for philanthropy. Some of the ladies work on their personal items too. Connie brought in the quilt below, that she pieced and quilted. She still needs to finish the binding. She spent most of the day working on philanthropy projects. I thought she did a great job and wanted to share it with you. This quilt is my Sister's Choice pieced with fabrics from the More Pink and Chocolate collection from Windham Fabrics. I worked on this at the Gold Beach retreat. I have an idea how I want to quilt it but, I'm not too sure of my skill level. We will see.

This is a shot of some of the worker bee's enjoying good company and doing for others.

That's Janice with her arms up. I'm not sure why but I know it wasn't a touch down. In addition to quilts we also make small pillows, hospice gowns, wheelchair and walker bags, and knitted infant caps.

These ladies are pinning a quilt top, batting, and backing for stitching. This is truly a group effort.

This is Rosemary and Judy showing off a quilt that Rosemary just completed. It's a boy's print and I'm sure it will give lots of comfort to the little guy who gets it.

The first Tuesday of month there is a Potluck. There was a lot of great dishes and desserts. Good thing they don't do that every week because I would end up big as a house. These ladies are good cooks. So I have to tell you, meeting every Tuesday with these awesome ladies is just another perk of being retired. I am so blessed. I did a lot of visiting so I brought the project I was working on home so I could finish it. I think it's terrific to be able to help others by doing what you love to do.

Have a blessed week.

Quilt Pictures

This year I had the opportunity to help set up for the Manteca Quilt Guild's show. This gave me the opportunity to take pictures of the quilts before the opening. This is a specular Baltimore Album quilt made by Sandra Mollon. I wish my picture showed the incredible detail in the quilt. I have added the Baltimore Album quilt to my bucket list. This next quilt was made by my friend Jan Truscott. She was Manteca's featured quilt artist this year. The pattern used to make this quilt is Venice Rose by Norah McMeeking from her book Bella Bella quilts. I will be starting this quilt sometime in April. I've picked my fabrics from the Stonehenge collection by Northcott. If you haven't seen this fabric line you might want to visit Northcott's web site. Quilter's Friends in Lodi carry a few of the bolts. There must be 25 different color's in the line with new ones arriving in the next couple of months. These fabrics are a good change from batik's. They have a marble or stone look to them. The January 2010 issue of The Quilter features a quilt, Rolling Stone, in this fabric.

This is a close up of her applique in the center.

This wall hanging has a lot of detail work and rumor has it, it was a round robin project done my a group of quilters. They seem to be at the same skill level. The trees in the corners are machine embroidered.

This quilt is from the Once-Block Wonders Encore book by Maxine Rosenthal and Joy Peizmann. I think they are very interesting to look at.

I would love to post every picture I took but I don't have time. All the quilts were beautiful and I think the show was great.

Spring is in the air and I would rather be outside then sitting at my sewing machine. I guess had work on a Baltimore Album quilt might be the project to start. I could have the best of both worlds, sitting outside and working on a quilt. Either way I know it will be a glorious day.