A question answered

Michelle sent me an email yesterday asking if I was ever going to blog again. It made me think about how much I enjoy reading what others have to say and what they've been doing and how I'd miss certain ones if the blogger stopped posting. I just never really thought that anyone would think the same thing about my blog so it was a surprise when Michelle brought it up. I have made "friends" through blogging and would miss them very much if they didn't post about what's happening in their lives any longer. It's nice to know that someone feels the same way about me so I'll try to be better about it. Thanks for your friendship, Michelle!

I've almost finished another quilt of my mom's that she started before she died. All I need to do is put on the binding and I'll post a picture.

I finished something!

Edit***Kris was kind enough to tell me that all my finishes this month count in the challenge for the drawing she and May Britt are having. Thanks, Kris!

I signed up for the One Project a Month Challenge hosted by May Britt and Kris and am happy to report that I have finished a UFO this month. I also started and finished a bag and a baby quilt top as well but those don't count for the challenge because they weren't UFO's when 2009 began. Here's my wallhanging:




There's a story about this little quilt. Back in 1997, my parents, who lived in California, came to Alabama to visit my family. My husband, two youngest children, and I had moved here 3 years before. I had been making quilts for a few years and although my mom had sewn since whe was a teenager, she had never pieced a quilt. The local quilt shop here was offering a class for a nine-patch wallhanging inspired by a line of fabric called,"Tis a Gift" as in the tune, "Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free". I thought that it would be fun to take the class with my mom and each make the wallhanging. We did but neither of us finished ours before my parents left to go back home. My mom had finished setting her nine-patches on point but hadn't had time to make the mitered border. She took hers home along with the border fabric to finish it. I completed mine and gave it to a good friend as a gift.

My mother died 4 years ago and my sisters and I have gone through a lot of her things since then but keep finding boxes of fabric and sewing notions. Right after Christmas, I found a big envelope with my name on it and inside was her top, the fabric for the border, and the backing that she had never finished. So, I finished putting on the border and quilted it. I'm so happy that I have this little quilt as a sweet remembrance of the time my mom and I spent sewing together.

Something old, something new

I see that it's been 4 weeks since I last posted. It's so hard to believe how quickly time passes. I've been busy working but also have done some sewing. Unfortunately, my camera has been run over by at least one vehicle because I stupidly left it on the roof of the car before driving off. I found the poor thing but it was beyond help. So, I've no pictures to show of the baby quilt that I made for a friend at work. Take my word for it, it was very cute in blue puppy dog fabric with accents of red and yellow. I hope to get a new camera in time for Christmas celebrations.

So, I thought that I'd show pictures of my sewing machine cabinet that I've been meaning to do for a long time. A dear friend gave me her husband's grandmother's old sewing machine in it's cabinet dated 1926. I loved the oval shape of the cabinet and the way that it opened to the back rather than to the side which is more typical. I'd been wanting a table to put my Janome 6500 in for a long time and was just about ready to buy the plastic one that is made for it when I wondered if my machine would fit in the antique cabinet. The hole for the machine had to be made larger and a brace made for underneath to hold the machine but another friend's husband did that for me. He even cleaned it up, fixed some water stains from an aquarium that had once sat on it, and put a protective finish on it. It's now a beautiful cabinet that is a joy to sit at and sew. Here's a picture of the cabinet without the machine in it and closed up:

The doors open for you to sit at the machine.

Here it is from the back with the machine in it:



I just love the idea of a modern electronic sewing machine in a nearly antique cabinet.

Orange Crush, at last

Bonnie at Quiltville had a mystery quilt this past summer and she called it Orange Crush since she used a LOT of orange in hers. I used a fraction of what she did and that's plenty for me. I wanted a reproduction look to mine so used a pink, green, and teal blue for the main colors throughout and the rest was very scrappy. If you've ever been to Bonnie's site, then you know that scrappy quilts are her thing. I'm partial to them, as well, so this was a fun mystery for me.



I can't decide if I want to put a border on it. It's only a lap size if I don't but that's okay. It's so busy that I wonder if it really needs any more going on!

Invisible Machine Applique

Learning how to do invisible machine applique has been a goal of mine for a long time. I made a really pretty quilt once using the raw edge applique with fusible web and never really liked the look of the raw edge after doing all that work. When I read about Beth Ferrier's (from Applewood Farms) method, I bought her book and decided that this was the technique for me. I recently bought an issue of Australian Patchwork and Quilting (I love that magazine!) and saw a quilt that I knew would be a perfect project to try Beth's technique. I wanted to make it similar to the one in the magazine and remembered that I had won a kit for a quilt last year at our guild's quilt show that I knew would work. So, I used the fabrics with the magazine's pattern and this is what I got:




It was a great pattern to learn the technique because the applique pieces were fairly large and simple shapes. Beth's book, "Hand Applique by Machine", was easy to follow. I used invisible thread in the top and cotton in the bobbin. She teaches you to use a glue stick and freezer paper and applique as many pieces together as you can before attaching them to the background. It's pretty amazing how it really does look a lot like hand applique.


Here's a close up of the applique:





It will hang in my dining room as soon as I machine quilt it. I want to get it done in time for Thanksgiving, so that's next on my list of things to do.

To quit or not to quit?

That is the question. I've been given some thought to retiring my blog. I haven't been posting much, that's for sure. It's not that I don't enjoy reading blogs because I do and there's so much that I've learned from seeing what others are doing. I just don't seem to have much to offer. So, I thought that I'd wait a bit and see what I decide.

Meanwhile, I do have a picture to share. I went on a retreat a few weeks ago and finished this top. I had started it in a class taught by Darlene Zimmerman about 18 months ago. She calls it "Stardance" and it's a free pattern here. Of course, pretty much anything made by Darlene is with 30's fabrics and I just happen to have a bunch. Piano key borders are a favorite of mine. I think that this will be a baby quilt for someone special sometime.

Jerry loves the bag and so do I!

Yesterday was a great day! It didn't start off so great because I forgot my lunch sitting on the kitchen counter. I was almost to work when I realized it and called my husband to tell him to put it in the frig and I'd try to get home to pick it up later. Later didn't look so good as I was so busy but then I got a call from husband. He wanted to know if I was coming after my lunch because there was a package waiting for me from Australia. Well, I knew immediately that it must be from my bag swap partner so I rushed home. I can't say enough how happy I am with my bag that Tatania made me. She wrote in her card that she knew from reading my blog that I love Civil War fabrics so she used Lecien fabrics which I absolutely adore! The stitchery is precious, too. You can see that my cat, Jerry, approves!

I love the stitchery and fabric!

Tatania also made a zippered pouch to match and included some Australian chocolate malted milk balls. Yum!

Seeing all the beautiful stitchery on the bags people have been making and receiving for this swap has inspired me to do some. I actually have a Natalie Lymer pattern from Australia so I think that I'll attempt that one in honor of Tatania. Thanks for everything! You're terrific!