What a fun week!

Wow! What a week. We had Quilt Fest here in Utah and I took a lot of classes that really worked my brain. I decided to take some piecing classes and they were a real challenge. It did learn a lot, including an increased appreciation of the women who piece all those beautiful quilt tops that I quilt.

I did enter the two quilts that I had in the fair and won a judges award on Taylor's Quilt. It was a real thrill and totally unexpected! Amber was super excited as she was actually at the quilt show and was the first one to see that we had a ribbon. What a fun day!!

Who's Studio???

I just finished a quilt that I have been looking forward to doing for some time. Last year I designed some quilt blocks to donate to the state quilt quild for the Breast Cancer Foundation. At the first of the year they called and asked if I would like to design a quilt with these blocks in it to donate to be raffled this year to raise funds for the same foundation. I said sure, and then wondered where my mind was. I have never done anything like that before and didn't really know where to start.

When in doubt - SHOUT! So I called my daughter Amber. She has a knack for changing quilt patterns around until they suit her, so I figured that was only one step away from designing a whole quilt. Right? Anyway, she accepted the challenge and the first thing you know we were out shopping for material to complete the project.By that time I had quilts to do for others, so I put off getting my charity quilt started until the co-ordinator called the last of August and asked if I had it finished yet. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it wasn't even started yet, so just asked when she needed it and assured her it would be ready in time.Well, at that point things kicked into high gear and as soon as I was finished with canning the peaches, I sat down to quilt in earnest.Thank goodness for e-mail. Over the next couple of weeks the e-mail and the phone kept Amber and I connected several times a day discussing various aspects of the quilt and finishing the details, etc. All in all we had a lot of fun doing it and both of us were pleased with the results!

It always makes you feel so good when a project comes together. I hope someone wins it who really loves it. My husband just laughed at me when I said I was going to buy tickets for it. He thinks its really something to make the quilt and then buy it back. Oh, well! The really funny thing is - I think Amber is going to buy some tickets too! It would be so fun to see it hanging in my quilt studio (or hers).

My, How Time Flies!

Boy! Does time fly! I have been so busy that I forgot to post and when I remembered, I didn't have time. The customer I did the double wedding ring quilt for had two sons getting married within two weeks of each other. (And I think I have been busy). Consequently I had another wedding quilt to do right behind the other one.



Things really began to get out of control when a friend brought us his extra tomatoes and peppers and I knew that making salsa couldn't be put off any longer.





Such beautiful tomatoes and peppers just had to make beautiful and delicious salsa!


Right!

And then my husband bought a solar oven that he was anxious to try and so today I made bread in it. It was kind of fun, and so delicious that I won't even tell you how many slices I ate! I will say that it is a good thing that I had to keep running out to the back yard to see how it was doing. Hummmm, maybe I'll put in a casserole for supper.

All that and I did get the second quilt finished. Thank goodness it didn't take quite as long as the first one. It turned out nice and my son-in-law really liked it. Her choice of colors was beautiful!



Well, back to the kitchen! Lots to do this time of year!

Finally Finished!

Finally finished the double wedding ring quilt. It turned out pretty nice I thought. The customer gave me permission to put pictures of it on the blog and promised me a picture of it bound and at the reception. It was the first double wedding ring that I have done, and took longer than I thought, but it was worth the effort.


This is on the machine. It sure looks big! It sure was big!

This is on the bed. I would love to have it on my bed!

All the swirls and leaves turned out very pretty.

What a Week!!!

This has been a busy, busy week with a few surprises thrown in just to make life exciting. I have been canning all week and have done green beans, apricot jam, raspberry jam, dill pickles and sweet pickles and even processed pickled beets for my daughter, Angel. All that plus working on a double wedding ring quilt for a customer.

Last Saturday I took two quilts over to the County Fair. I have not entered a County Fair before and so I was a little nervous, but decided that I might as well give it a try. I had shown some of my quilts at our community Heritage Days for the last two summers and a favorable response gave me courage.

On Tuesday, I couldn't wait any longer. I had to find out if I had received a blue ribbon or what. I decided that I would stop in and see if I could get in because I knew that the vendors would be setting up that day for the opening on Wednesday. As I walked into the building I got so excited. There was my quilt hanging right out front with a big beautiful ribbon on it! Wow! What a thrill! My quilt received a "Best of Division" ribbon.

I say "my" quilt, but in truth, it was pieced by my daughter Amber and quilted by me. We were both thrilled. The quilt that I had quilted for my Grandson, Taylor, received a blue ribbon. That was neat too, even if they did hang his quilt sideways. Amber pieced that one also. She has become a talented quilter with a keen eye for color. I have been grateful to be able to work on her quilts.


This is not a very good picture, but I just had to have one of it hanging there with the ribbon on it and all.

This is a somewhat better one of it a few weeks ago at our community Heritage Days celebration. My sweet husband made the stand for it and it hung outside of the building to let people know where the quilt show was.

About Grandkids

Well, its been a busy day. I have been thinking as I've been quilting and my thoughts turned to Grandkids, as they often do. I have quite a number of Grandkids and have really enjoyed being a Grammie. We have moved around a fair amount and this is what I told my children that I wanted my Grandkids to call me. In the south Grandmothers are called Maama, but that seemed foreign to me, not being from the south (even tho we lived there for 20 years). In the east my grandkids call their other Grandmother Nanna, and my husband's mother was Grandma Gifford, so that didn't seem to fit. Anyway, Grammie it is.


So, as I got thinking, I thought about the quilts that I have done for Grandkids. I was not quilting when many of them were small, but the last one was born after Grammie got rolling with her long arm and so I have quilted several for her. She is a sweet one year old with a three year old sister. I did several for her when she was born, one from Grammie and one from Aunt Am. I also have quilted several doll quilts for her older sister.




This is the quilt which Am pieced for Iyla. I loved the colors, and so does Iyla!



This is the quilt that I made for her. I love Beautric Potter and when I saw this material, I just had to make it. I loved doing all the tiny leaves in the sashing and the larger ones on the border as well. It was pre-printed, so there was no piecing involved, which just seemed to fit my busy life and so it seemed the perfect choice.



This is the doll quilt made for Isabella's birthday. The little bears were trapuntoed (is that a real word? Maybe I just misspelled it), so they stand out a little. I understand that this blanket gets drug round the house a lot. That delights me! I got to know these two little girls much better this summer at the family reunion and what a joy that was!

Home at Last

Wow! I'm home at last! I really enjoyed my trip, but I missed quilting everyday. I have to get busy now as I have a number of quilts to get done. I enjoyed the break, but it is always nice to be home in your own bed, if you know what I mean.

It was fun to come home and see the comments on the Blog. Lisa commented about "Pirates Treasure" and so I thought you might like to see it.

This was Logan's mom's first quilt and I think it turned our really nice. Logan loves it and that is the most important thing of all!

Well, guess I'd better get busy. The new quilt is calling my name!