Nadin Comes to America

She is here!   All the way from the Philippines, 12 hours flying time... about an 23 hour trip total adding in the car ride home. Nadin, Mom and Dad all arrived safely on Monday.

Nadin! (Her quilt in the background.)

No sewing in the last couple of days, however, here's a few shots of my FMQ on the old Christmas quilt I have had sitting partially quilted for a couple of years.  I am slowly getting the hang of it and  happy that I had this to practice on.



A star and swirl pattern, good for beginners.

Working on consistent stitch length.

Also following fabric patterns. Sorry about the lint.

Hope your having a great week, we are enjoying beautiful fall weather.

Intimidation Factor

The Cow Quilt is ready, and waiting!

What now?

After pinning the Cow Quilt together,

I spent most of the day practicing my FMQ on a Christmas Quilt that was partly quilted a couple of years ago.  Also, found this fabric over the weekend.

Hippos are my fav!


And BIG news, my new Granddaugher Nadin, (and her Mom and Dad) arrive tomorrow evening from the Philippines.  I cannot wait to meet her!  They are in the air as I write this.  Nadin has a quilt waiting... Click on her name to see it.

  It's late in these parts, I'm off to sleep.

Good Saturday Morning!

I am off to a class about my new sewing machine after thinking I would just skip it... the thing is, unfortunately, patience is not one of my virtues and the thought of sitting in a class about my sewing machine sounds rather excrutiating to me.  However, I really do want to know how to maintain the darned thing, so I am reluctantly attending... two hours of time that could be used to stitch, dang it.   Anyway, here's a couple pictures of the take along/travel project.

About a 9" block



I am finding the paper piecing very relaxing.


I'm on the run!

Hope you are stitching away this fine fall morning.

Precious Stolen Moments

Just a few stolen moments of stitching this week...

and I put them to good use! 

 I will sit down for just one quick seam when I get the chance.

I used the little eyeballs for the background and lime green for the lettering. 

"Fussy" cut dancing skeleton...

I find I begin a project with just a few fabrics, but as I continue sewing get more adventurous.  Only 4 fabrics so far...  no worries, that will soon change.

Looking forward to Friday.  ;)

Tis the Season

Look what I'm digging out of the closet...

Packed away in this old suitcase...


my collection of skull fabrics, I've already cut into it.  See the white fabric on the top right of the stack, it's my favorite and it's the fabric that really started this entire skull fabric thing.  Here's a close up.

I have also started piecing the back for the Cow Quilt.


 It's feeling very fallish in these parts!  Hope your week is going well.

They're All Dalmations

The cow quilt top is finished!  So, here's the quilt's story involving my Mom and my son Andrew, then about 4 years old.  Mom's Grandfather had a dairy and Mom, always fond of cows pointed them out to us as we drove.  Mom, while driving along a country road, pointed the cows out to Andrew and he exclaimed in awe, "Grandma, they're all dalmations!"  My son Andrew will turn 24 next month.

I went with the pink border, thanks to Mary Lou's suggestion!


I had made a couple of sections of red fence, and it just did not have that pop I was searching for.  Pink was a great idea. 

Originally, I planned to put "They're All Dalmations" in the border, but it just wasn't working, so I have decided to quilt it into the green background, maybe with a couple of moos.  The final top measures 64ish" x 64ish".  Remember it's a liberated quilt :)

Now onto quilting.... yikes.  And don't tell Mom, it's her 72nd birthday gift.  It might be a lil' late Mom.  XXoo

Fall Sunshine!

The cow quilt border is just about finished, phew, that took awhile!  I tore out of the house to a football game this afternoon, and came home to this, it sure made me smile.  The border is sewn on two sides...finishing the other two sides this evening.  Can't wait to show you the finished top.

Can you believe it's October, already?