Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! This was my gift for my husband this year. It was a complete Pinterest hack, but I still had so much fun doing it. I hope your day is sweet too.

Folk Art Friends

Long, long ago in a town far, far away.........

I feel like that is how this blog post should start because my oldest UFO is now officially FINISHED!!!

In the Fall of 2000 I started a Round Robin with eight quilting friends that I met at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. Six of us had done round robins the year before and had a great time. Now nine of us were going to participate. Our biggest challenge this time around was going to be the fact that we had all moved and were spread all over the US and one was even now living in Korea! So these round robins were going to be mailed every month and they were going to be doing some extensive traveling.

After much discussion, we decided that we wanted to do a wallhanging size quilt with a planned "puzzle" layout. One of the ladies in our group drew a diagram with dimensions for each block and assigned each block a month. Before we began, we each got the rules for our round robin and this drawing in the mail. 

You have to forgive my picture because I wrote on my paper to make it easier for me to remember whose quilt I was going to be working on each month. Our theme blocks were the 12X12 that are marked "Sept". We were to mail our blocks the end of that month.

The theme for my quilt was Folk Art Friends. I had never done any applique and it shows! This is VERY primitive-my blanket stitch is every size imaginable! The flower head was originally appliqued down too, but when I was quilting it in 2008 or so and I sprayed the top with water to remove my blue marking lines, the red floss that I used bled on my quilt! I removed the offending floss and after many attempts to get the red all out, I was so distraught that I put the quilt aside and didn't finish quilting it. When I went back recently to finish the quilting I decided to leave the flower unstitched as a reminder of what had happened. There is still a hint of pink in this block, but I finally decided that finished is better than perfect and I got over it.

I wrote in a journal to pass with my quilt and made a label for everyone to sign. 

So, month by month, as my quilt was passed from one person to another and each added a block to my quilt, I was busy working on blocks for theirs. 

In October we were supposed to use 3 3X9" rectangles as our background. I loved Pam's birdhouse hanging on the branch and her cat in front of a harvest moon. 

In November, the block was only 5X9" and Sue added a really cute log cabin. 

For December the block was a horizontal 4X12. Jan made this adorable angel-look at the stars at the tips of her hair! So much attention to detail!

January had our blocks turned on point and 14" square. I loved this Amish-inspired man and woman Judy made. 

For February, Pam D. used a flannel for a row of flowers in her 5X14" space. 

Beth made baskets in the 4 6" blocks for March. Look at the cute jute handles she appliqued on! 

April was a TALL skinny block 4X28 and Bev put a potted flower there. Just perfect for that space!

The last month was May and it was the biggest challenge for everyone. There was so much measuring and figuring-and curved piecing! Anne did a beautiful job with my flannel crow!! This crowning piece is 30X7!

We got together for a fun reunion and were all thrilled to get our quilts back!! The themes were so much fun and I had enjoyed working on everyone else's quilts all year too. Snowmen, Halloween, Primitive, Chickens, "Seedtime and Harvest", Flowers, Alaska, and "Home is Where the Army Sends You" were the other quilts. They are turned out fantastic and I wish I had pictures of them to share with you, too. 

I picked a fun backing fabric that I thought went well with my theme and I love the label on the back of my quilt. 

I'm so happy to finally have this quilt in the finished column so I can check that block!

Happy Quilting!

Grammy

Valentine's Day Postcards

I went shopping last week for Valentine cards for my friends and grandkids. I didn't find anything that really rocked my world--and wow!-they were expensive! It used to be (back in the dark ages when I was younger) that you would buy someone a gift and get them a nice card to attach to the present, but now the card costs so much that it could BE the gift! I'm not sure when all of this happened, but I decided that this year I was going to forgo the purchase of Valentine cards and opt to make them myself. 

I have a closet and many drawers full of scrapbooking and card making supplies, but I am never happy with what I make. The original ideas do not just flow from me when I'm using paper. Soooooooooooo..........I decided to make fabric post cards for Valentine's Day. 

If you have never made fabric postcards, they are so easy and really fun. There are NO RULES, so you can do whatever you want to!! I had some pink and red fabrics and also three pieces of non-traditional fabric. I started by cutting out 4X6" pieces of iron-on interfacing. To each piece I sewed fabric and embellishments in a sew-and-flip crazy quilt fashion. 

 

They were so much fun that I just kept making them! It was like eating potato chips-I couldn't make just one! 

With this fabric I did do a little fussy cutting to I could get the words or hearts on the postcard. I loved the ribbons and embellished with a little applique heart too.

I had the red fabric with pink envelopes and added other pink and red fabrics for these postcards. The XO ribbon was from my very abundant ribbon stash and was perfect for Valentines.

I use a little bit of tulle and sewed some red heart confetti under it for this postcard. Rickrack and an applique heart completed another card.

I had a tiny scrap of Valentine Snoopy fabric left over from Madison's quilt and had to use it on a postcard for her. The ribbon on her card reads "hugs and kisses". It's fun to add a very personal touch to a postcard.

After I finished the fronts of my postcards, I trimmed the extra fabric away so that they measured 4X6". Then I cut cardboard the same size, layered the two and zigzagged around the outside edge. On the cardboard, I drew a line down the center and 4 lines on the right side for the address. Make sure you leave room for a stamp at the top. I bought heart stamps at the post office and mailed my 12 fabric postcards yesterday. I know my grandkids and friends are going to enjoy their Valentine surprises. 

Happy Quilting, 

Grammy

Wristlets

I love making a little something for my grandkids at Christmas and this year I decided to make the "big girls" each a wristlet. They were so fun and easy to make-I didn't even have a pattern! I chose fabric for each girl that I thought they would like. In one afternoon I made six! I put a small surprise inside each one.....

They were a hit!

Grammy

Split Decision Quilt

My sister-in-law, Claudia, has watched and waited patiently as I have made quilt after quilt and given them to family members. I have made quilts for each new baby, a quilt for my niece (her daughter) for her college graduation, and throw quilts for each of my kids and their spouses to cuddle under when they watch television. About ten years ago I made quilts for my in-laws (Claudia's parents) for Christmas.  I was not ignoring my sister-in-law. She is so kind and generous and a total sweetheart and definitely "quilt worthy". It just seemed like each time I thought about making her a quilt, something else happened and she got pushed to the back of the line again. I didn't realize how badly she wanted a quilt until she told her new son-in-law at a family function that he had to "get in line behind me" when he said he guesses it's his turn for the next quilt. Everyone laughed, but I knew then that she really wanted a quilt!

Even though my wrist was still bothering me with swelling, pain, and difficulty gripping, nothing was going to keep me from making Claudia a quilt for Christmas this year. But I decided that I would make it as easy as possible and make a quilt using pre-cuts.  I had two jelly rolls I had purchased several years ago. It was a nice soft color palette and I knew it would make a beautiful quilt for Claudia. I chose a pattern called Split Decision-a "Hip to Strip" Jelly Roll pattern.

This quilt went together like a dream! The cutting was so simple and the blocks were so easy to make. I made more blocks than the quilt called for because I only had one fabric for a border and I wanted the quilt to be a good size.

On my design wall-the colors of the fabrics here 

are much brighter than in reality.

Claudia was pretty happy on Christmas morning to get her new quilt and she let me take some pictures of her with it a few weeks later.

Merry Christmas, Claudia. I'm sorry your quilt was so long in the making. I hope it was worth the wait :)

Christmas Sewing

Once I got my cast off, I had a lot of catching up to do! It had been months since I had been able to do anything in my quilt room. Now the holidays were approaching and I had things to do!! I didn't go to physical therapy after I got my cast off-the dr. said that I needed to just jump back in and use my hand. The problem was pain and swelling. It lasted for weeks and was really getting me down. I was able to eat with my right hand, but I still couldn't hold a pen, much alone a rotary cutter. I was so frustrated. So I decided to start off slowly.

My daughter, Melissa, wanted to make matching pajamas for her kids and all their cousins to wear for Christmas. I thought it sounded like a fun idea and I volunteered to help her. I bought yards and yards of flannel fabric and matching red T-shirts. I packed my serger and off I went to spend the day with her. 

We had the best time! She was cutting out all the pants and I was sewing them up almost as quickly as she could cut. Then she threaded the elastic through the waistbands and presto-pronto--we had made eight pairs of pajama pants in under five hours!! I left the shirts with Melissa-she had decided to applique their initials on them. 

A few days later all the grandkids came to our house to decorate their Christmas tree. We also baked Christmas cookies, ate pizza and had a quick photo session. I knew that Christmas day would be a chaos of toys, wrapping paper and ribbon and that I would never get them all together for a picture....

All the girls gathered in front of the Christmas tree and lots and lots of pictures were taken, but Ollie was having nothing to do with it. You see, he's two. Enough said.

So, we moved to the stairs and plopped Ollie into the picture. Even a Christmas cookie bribe didn't make him any happier. But I still love the picture and I sent it out in my Christmas cards. 

I think their pajamas came out really cute--we may have to make this an annual tradition. 

I hope your holidays were happy too! 

Grammy

Meet Gabrielle

Wow! It's now been more than four months since my last post. And it's been a very busy four months too. 

About three weeks after I broke my arm, my son, Matthew fell from a ladder and broke his arm too! He also had two hairline fractures in his pelvis and one on his tailbone. He was in a LOT of pain. We posed for a picture together-we tried to find a little humor in the situation.

When this pic was taken Matthew and his wife, Elise, were expecting a baby---any day now! Matthew couldn't walk at all and when they went to the hospital exactly one week after his accident he was the one that needed to be pushed down the hall in a wheelchair. But babies have their own timelines and agendas and they don't care if it's convenient for you or not-they arrive when they are good and ready. With that said........

Meet Gabrielle. She was born October 12, 2014 (That's 10/12/14!) and is the latest bit of perfection and joy in our lives. She is grandbaby #8 and granddaughter #7 and she is a bundle of deliciousness. :) 

Gabby is just a few minutes old 

She looks so happy to be here

I was so happy to get to the hospital and meet her!

Sooo sweet!

She started growing up way too fast-

and look at all that hair!!

Before I knew it Christmas was upon us. I'm so glad that Gabby and her parents were here to spend it with us.

At three months those smiles are melting hearts every where she goes.

Hugs and Kisses, Gabby. I love you!

Grammy