Quiltin' With My Ya-Ya's

You are a very fortunate person if you have a best friend. You know who I'm talking about-that one person who you share everything with. A soul sister. A confidant. She may be related to you by blood, or she may be your "sister from another mother". But as soon as something great happens to you, she is the one you run to the phone to call and share it with. She will delight in your joy-smiling and laughing-genuinely pleased that great things have come your way. And if something goes wrong in your life, you know that you can call her then too. She will be ready with just the right words, a hand to hold, and a shoulder to cry on. 

I must be the luckiest woman ever-because I have the two best girl friends in the whole wide world! We are Ya-Ya's. And it is good.

This is Anne and Pam. They are my BFF's and they are the sweetest, kindest, most generous and loving women I have ever known. The only bad thing about our friendship is that we don't live near each other. Pam and Anne live 100 miles apart and I am about 200 miles from each of them. But we make every effort to see each other as often as possible. We also call, text and email-usually more than once a day. :)

In early January the three of us made a date to get together at my house January 28-31. It was the first time we would have been together in months. Nothing was going to keep us apart-not even mother nature! When the forecast for central Georgia said ice and snow for that week, it did not deter these two. They packed their cars and left home very early, beating the storm by about an hour.

Oh, what a fun time we had! We had pajama-sew days! We each had projects to work on and we kept the sewing machines humming. And while we sewed, we talked, we laughed, we drank (so we laughed some more), we shared, we cried. Our spirits were renewed and we were better off for having been together. That's what best friends are for.

Pam and Anne got a lot accomplished. Pam started with this red and white quilt she had been working on.  Anne jumped right in to help and in no time at all they had this top finished.

Pam had almost all the blocks made when she arrived. It was a sew along that the Temecula Quilt Company did on their blog in December and she had been working right along with them. Here is the link where they put it all together. Those little stars are 2" squares and this quilt is adorable!

Pam also sewed on these blocks that she is swapping with another friend. I have always wanted to make an Irish Chain and I love this one. I guess it's another quilt to add to my bucket list. 

Anne spent a lot of her time sewing on a tumbler quilt. Last summer we got together at Pam's and cut out about 1600 tumbler blocks to divide between the three of us. Mine are still stacked awaiting my attention, but Anne got hers all sewed together in rows. Now I'm anxious to sew mine too!!

Pam's last project was one that is near and dear to my heart. We have both been appliqueing blocks for this Love Letters quilt. She works much quicker than I do and finished her blocks before me. She squared them all up and got them sewn together while she was visiting. I love the way it looks and am excited about finishing mine too!!

My project(s) were to finish the snowman tablerunners I had been working on. And I did!

A forecast of bad weather can be a perfect opportunity for a quilt-in with friends. I can't wait until we get together again-I miss them already. 

Tumbler Blocks

The last two weeks have flown by in a blur! But I have managed to get a little bit of sewing in, in between two trips and some overnight company. 

I drove to Florida and spent three days with my mom. We had a great time and the weather was just perfect. I returned home in time for my husband's birthday (don't tell anyone, but he just turned the big 6-0). We celebrated three July family birthdays (my husband and both of our sons-in-law) with a family get together.

Then I drove to Greenville, South Carolina and visited with my BFFs-Anne and Pam. I'm a very fortunate girl, because I have not one, but two BFFs! The three of us met 14 years ago and have moved about 13 times between us since (one of us moves A LOT). Through it all, we have managed to get together multiple times a year all over the country. We have attended each other's children's weddings, traveled to quilt shows together, and been to each other's homes to visit. Sometimes only two of us are able to get together-but the third is always there in spirit. It is a blessing to have not one, but two, special friends!

Our time in Greenville was wonderful.  We spent most of one day in downtown Greenville.

Here are Anne and Pam at the falls. The weather was sunny and perfect as we strolled downtown.

This is Falls Park on the Reedy in downtown Greenville's historic West End. It was so beautiful there. We shopped in some great stores, ate some wonderful Sea Salt Caramel Gelato (anything sea salt caramel is my new guilty pleasure!) and enjoyed each other's company.

We had decided ahead of time to exchange tumbler blocks cut from Civil War reproduction fabrics when we got together. So, when we got back to Pam's house late in the afternoon, we poured the wine, got out the Go! Baby and started cutting. A few quick turns of the handle and you have three blocks of each fabric run through-perfect for the three of us to each have one.

Pam and I were cutting 4 1/2 X 11" rectangles and Anne was rolling them through the cutter as fast as we got them ready for her. It was fun to see our stacks grow. Lots of hands make for light work.

Pam's dog, Leo, was totally bored with the whole situation and decided to indulge in a nap. All that fabric was keeping him nice and toasty warm.

After shirtings and Civil War fabrics were all cut the stack was really tall. I couldn't resist counting~

There are 525 tumblers in that stack! We figured out that if you use 25 in a row, you can make 21 rows-and that makes a quilt top about 55 X 63". Borders would make it even bigger.

Pam couldn't resist! She got out her featherweight sewing machine and started sewing them up. When I left she already had two rows sewn and the last time I talked to her she told me that she has six rows done now! They go together so easily that they are a quick sew. I'm excited to start on mine-but I have a few projects to finish first. 

During the last two weeks I also sewed the blocks together from a very old (ten years OLD to be exact!) UFO. I am going to try to get it quilted this week. I am excited about getting it finished. It's a small wallhanging, but it's oh, so cute! I'll share pics and the story about it when I am finished.

I have also been ordering Snoopy fabric on the Internet this week. My #3 granddaughter, Madison, has requested a Snoopy quilt for her bed. And of course, I just couldn't say no. I haven't decided on a pattern yet, but Madison will have to give it her nod of approval too. And since she is a huge fan of all things Snoopy, she will have an opinion, I'm sure. :)

Happy quilting to all.

A Little Tumbler "Quilt"

I put "quilt" in quotes in the title of this post because at 15 1/2 X 24", this little quilt just doesn't meet my criteria for a real quilt. I can't call it a miniature quilt, because the pieces are just too big. It doesn't fit on any table in my house as a tablerunner, so I'm not calling it that. So, it's just a little "quilt." 

Last Fall I went to the Georgia Quilting Expo at the Gwinnett Center and shopped with my favorite vendor, Primitive Gatherings. I have made no secret of the fact that I am in love with every single thing that Lisa Bongean does. I love her wool, her applique, her quilts, her books, her fabrics-you get the idea! While in her booth I spied a precut tumbler pack. There were 60 tumblers already cut for me and ready to sew. I have always wanted to try a tumbler, but I have never wanted to cut out tumblers (that was a huge deterrent to me!!) So, here was my perfect chance to try them. I laid my money down and took home my  newest little project. 

I sewed them up fairly soon after the show. They went together wonderfully and the shape was really fun to sew. I used 56 of the 60 in the pack-an 8 X 7 layout. And then since I had no plans for the little "quilt", I pinned the top to my design wall, where it has hung  gathering dust. 

Fast forward nine months. My husband and I have undertaken several home improvement projects lately and one of mine included painting an adorable child's chair that I bought at an antique market.

Here is my chair before I started painting it. I love red and normally this would have worked great in my house, as is. But the finish was really shiny and not the look I was going for. 

Lucky for me, I have recently discovered Annie Sloan chalk paint! I am painting everything in sight. If it doesn't move, it just may get a coat of paint!

The color paint I used is French Linen and I also put on the dark wax finish. I love how it came out! So quick and easy!

I found this oval tin bucket at Hobby Lobby and thought it would look cute sitting in the chair. 

This is my newly decorated spot in my house. I bought the black cabinet at another antique market, the lantern at a third! The clock came from World Market. 

And what does any of this have to do with a little tumbler quilt, you ask. I'm getting to that right now. My friend Pam (who is a decorating goddess and has just the right touch to making everything look perfect) gave her stamp of approval to my vignette, but did say that a cute little quilt in the chair would really set everything off. She is so right! Why didn't I think of that??

After Pam went home I took my tumbler quilt off the design wall and promptly quilted and bound it. I knew I had just the spot for it and was so excited to get it finished. 

I'm tickled with it here-what do you think?

Happy Quilting....and decorating with your quilts :)