corner bakery christmas quilt

In a guild Christmas party this week, someone was asked "how many Christmas quilts do you have displayed in your house right now?" .......

the woman's answer was "well, I just downsized so, only 10".  I looked around and didn't see any surprised faces...   

(Whaaaaaat???  I guess I haven't been quilting very long)

Dad and I frequent the Corner Bakery Cafe for supper.  While waiting for our soup one evening, I was intrigued by our order no. card sitting on the table, specifically the top ......

so I created a place for it in the quilt on my design board :)

and in the binding.  

The center is a Schnibbles pattern by Carrie Nelson.

I always hang my Christmas laundry out in the snow ... don't you?

'match stick' ..... the craze in the fmq world.  

Angela Walters has some helpful information about it here.

 You can find buffalo checked in minky at Missouri star.  

stats:

42" x 55" - lap size
pattern for middle section is Reveille from Schnibbles by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. 

fabric: count down to Christmas by Sweetwater and  "Christmas Cherry" by Aneela Honey and buffalo checked.

free motion quilted on my HQ Sweetsixteen 

(by me in my Christmas pjs :)

gifted to Emily

 Merry Christmas to all...

LINKED up:

finish it up friday!

   . . . thank you Amandajean.

finish it up Friday - family tree

The family tree is finally quilted, bound and is hanging.  This was a really fun project to make with my daughter-in-law.  She embroidered all the names, and I quilted it for her.

I had some potential problems with wavy borders since the middle was so tightly quilted, but a bias binding really helped balance that out.  You can read more about the process of this project here and here.  

I was thinking of leaving the middle part unquilted (above), but I'm so glad I didn't! (below)

LINKED:

finish it up Friday w/ Crazy Mom Quilts

quilts for friends

Don't you just love it when you find a new quilting friend?  or find out that someone you know quilts?  Suddenly you have all sorts of things to talk about, fabric, patterns, machines, classes, the list goes on.  A whole new world opens up with a special bond.  You have similar daily quests and challenges, similar budget issues and space problems.   It's just so fun.

Well, being city folks, (I've been watching too much Andy Griffith today) we have always arranged for our teenage boys to go away for the summers to work on a farm or ranch to learn what "real work" is like.   Our youngest son went to  Safford, Arizona for several summers. 

 Here he is with his boss, Jerry.

 And posing with his "BIG" muscles in front of his tractor. . . hmmm

We were so grateful to the 2 families that provided a place for him to live, and who gave him a job.  Little did I know that his boss's wife is an avid quilter!  It was so fun to find this common thread with my new friend Brenda.

Recently, she told me about her daughter Katy (plaid shirt), who is a senior in high school.  Katy has 4 dear friends she has made through her years of life.  One from preschool, one from middle school, one is a cousin, and another joined this group just a few years ago.  They have been there for each other through the thick and thin of those high school years.  And now as best friends, they are in the glory of their senior year together.

My friend Brenda is very grateful for the good values these girls all share.  They've been a good support for each other, knowing how to bring out the best in one another.  Brenda wanted to express hers feeling of gratitude, with a quilt for each of the girls.  

Just before school started, she had a party for these girls and their parents, and presented them with their quilts.  My, oh my!  What a special treat.   That's about how many quilts I make all year.    

Since these girls are all somehow involved in music, the quilts are quilted with a treble clef design by Brenda's friend, Wanda Ginn in Central, AZ.  They are string quilts, made with fabrics from Moda's Me and My Sister Designs.  (Those sisters are always laughing, I met them a few years ago at Market in Houston). They even wrote about these girls and their quilts in their blog.  See above link for better up-close pictures of the quilts, and the darling pillow cases to match.

Each quilt has 100 quilt blocks!  I haven't made a string quilt before, but Brenda says she used the flip and fold technique. They are string quilts sewn on an 8.5 inch foundation and arranged in a "God's Eye" pattern.  

Beautiful girls, beautiful quilts . . .   similar in their pure beauty and devotion to do good and yet each so individual, just like their quilts.  There's bound to be a future quilter or two in that bunch!  

Great job, Brenda!

WIP:  New Sewing room.

As for my own WiP, I was expecting a new sewing table to be delivered yesterday.  This week I have been hard at work, re-arranging the whole upstairs of my house to create my own sewing room, so that my dining room could once more be a real dining room.  At 3:30 in the afternoon when I hadn't heard anything, I finally called the company only to find out that my table was back ordered . . . again!  

Needless to say, I had a BIG PITY PARTY.  Hubby had to bring home sushi for dinner and then I had to exercise last night to work off the extra calories.  No more about that.

Linked:

Finish Friday

Blocks A are complete, all 13 finished!

Blocks B are now in progress.

We went to the theatre twice last week-end, a bit unusual, but hey, 007's out.

I've decided to name this quilt Skyfall.  Ok, I've watched it 3 times . . . well one of those was when I jumped theaters because of sheer bordom.  I won't tell you the name of the movie I deserted, it'll reveal my ignorance.

Several years ago, we took a trip to Scotland.  The end of the movie is filmed there, close to Glencoe.   This quilt that I'm making is for someone who went there with me.  It's a beautiful part of the world, very quiet and serene, with some tragic history.

Have any of you seen Skyfall?  What'd you think?  I've heard mixed opinions.


LINKED:

Link A Finish Friday

growth ruler

Our Mickle Makers Club made these growth rulers several weeks ago.  

We purchased pine boards from Home Depo.  I really wanted to use a rustic barn plank, they're so cool, but the seller would only sell the planks by the barn! 

We couldn't decide whether to white wash then (writing shows up better) or to stain.  We decided that we liked the look of the stain better.

We used some left over walnut stain we found in the garage.  The instructions says to wait 6 hours in between coats to let it dry . . . 6 HOURS?  who waits 6 hours?  I wiped off the excess stain with paper towel to create a vintage affect and waited about 20 minutes.  

This chart is from "Knock Off Decor".  If you start on the 6th inch, and hang it 6 inches off the ground, it gives you up to 6 feet, 5 inches.  Hopefully you won't need more than that!  If your kids do then, "THEY'VE CONQUERED THE RULER"!  

We used this nifty stencil from a friend.  I recommend making one but you don't have to.  It does get a little tedious with the markings.

For the ruler numbers, we painted onto number stencils, then carefully placed them on to the board.

 I found several great tutorials online:

That Village House

517 Creations

They were quick, easy and cheap to make.  The friend who lent me the stencil makes a bunch at a time and gives them for baby gifts, what a great idea!

This is such a fun tradition to start with your family.  With our children gone now, I just might use mine for our grandchildren so when cousins come to visit, they can see how much they've grown since they last visited, and they can see how tall their cousins are.

speaking of cousins . . .

wip - teakwood

I've been up to my ears in post wedding activities, but today I took a quilting day.

Fabric is "Mama Said Sew".

This quilt is so cute.  It's coming together fast.

Today I also took pictures of my fall decor, so next year I won't have to spend so much time putting things together.

Right before I pull all the Christmas decorations out, I'll take pictures of everything again so that after Christmas, it can easily be put back together.  If I schedule it right, I'll pick a time when the kids are still here to put Christmas away.  I give each one a room, and show him the pictures of what it's supposed to look like.  It's slick!

Linked:

wip - Farmer's Market

I finally found another line of fabric which I love.

linked:

tanner reunion - bloggers quilt festival

Tanner Reunion just may be my most favorite quilt thus far.  I love the colors of Sweetwater's Reunion fabric line and I also love how they look with Kona Stone.

The pattern is a mix of log cabin blocks and charm packs, all sashed in kona stone.  

Quilting is organic straight line quilting.

I free motion quilted my nephew's full name along the border.   

You can read more about Tanner Reunion in this post.

I made an extra square, and covered some bottons.

These buttons are very easy to make with some of your scraps.

I covered a canvas frame with linen and secured a block that I quilted, for a wall hanging to go with the Tanner Reunion quilt.

A BIG thanks again to Amy for putting together this blog festival.  Take some time to enjoy the other entries.  And of course, we ALL love comments :)  That's how we know we're not just talking to ourselves.