Minky!

I liked the baby quilt that I quilted for a new friend at quilting group so much that I had to try it on a lap quilt for a Christmas gift...here's a close up of the front and back showing that I quilted it in a overall leaf pattern free hand... the ladies at quilting liked it very much...

I used way less tension on the rollers and side clips than usual and set the coast regulate feature to 14 spi...I think it came out nice...

I also sewed a pillowcase for a gift as well... I like this pattern because all the seams are enclosed...no serging or raveling!

It's Raining, it's Pouring... 🎶

Enjoying sitting on the porch watching it rain! Over the last 7 years, our county has been drier than a dust bin... I mean crazy dry. The lakes have just about dried up. Everybody is on super strict water rationing. I'm praying really hard that The Lord will see fit to bless us with abundant rain again that wil refill the lakes.

The only downside I see to the rain today is that there is enough lightening going on to keep me from starting to quilt my Be Attitudes quilt. I just couldn't bear to chance a lightening hit on my longarm, Sadie...she is far to precious to me for that... but I did get the quilt mounted and ready to go...just as soon as it's safe... Here's a pic of the quilt on Sadie..it's not quite Frame Friday...but it will still be there tomorrow when it is!

Quilted Baby Quilt

When I started getting to attend my quilting group again in September, there was a new member attending that I got to know. She was attempting to make her first quilt, and it was for her first Great Grandchild! Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? 😃 Well, this little lady sewed up a beautiful machine appliquéd quilt with heart blocks, and finished the top Tuesday during our quilting group... Anyway, I invited her to my house to try her hand at quilting it on Sadie...She was too timid to try to actually quilt it herself, but she did help me decide how to go about quilting it for her. It came out really cute, I thought, and she was thrilled. Today she came back over and I showed her how to apply the binding on the machine, then we both worked at hand stitching the binding to finish it. She is so pleased! Here's a pic of the quilt when we took it off the quilting machine Tuesday evening. This was the first time I had quilted Minky...It was not as bad as I was afraid it would be to quilt... Just used a little less tightness on the rollers and clamps and loosened the top tension just a little bit! And of course floated the top. Overall, it was a great learning experience for me... And her! 

Now to get back to my Be Attitudes quilt top tomorrow!

Latest finish...

Hubby and I went to Quilt Plano on our way to Devils Den, Ark. While we were ohh-ing and ahh-ing all the quilts and venders, I was offered a free quilt kit for me to piece and finish for Project Linus, which is a program to provide children in need of comfort with something to snuggle with. It was a great treat to work on a quilt that required no planning for me...  I just cut and followed the instructions... And I quickly had something to play with on my new longarm machine! What fun!

If you would like to find out more about Project Linus, who it serves and how to help... here's the link...

http://m.projectlinus.org

First Day by Myself

The grand kids are back in school. My hubby is finally back to work. What to do? 2 loads of laundry, pulled weeds in flower bed for 2 hours, made stew from leftover roast and veggies, traced applique patterns onto Wonder Under, sewed 1st block of Be Attitudes book today...then mowed yard this evening with Hubby...Busy day.

Back from vacation!!!

Cute huh?Hubby and I took the grand kids back to Waco a week ago last Friday...today is Sunday...Then we headed on to Plano for Quilt Plano 2014... Wow!!! A couple hundred quilts to see...and about 45 or so vendors...Did I have fun? Yep! Did I spend money? Yep! But not too much, because from the show in Plano, we drove a few miles north on Hwy 75 and visited Linda's Electric Quilters in McKinney! There's where I spent some money! Several circle rulers, a micro handle set, some cones of thread, and two rolls of batting later we left....poorer in money, and richer in tools of the trade, so to speak! I just happen to have a picture or two of a baptist fan pattern that  I  tried out on a Project Linus quilt kit I was given at the show to sew up the top and then quilt it.. I couldn't wait to try out those rulers! They are great... A little learning curve, but very doable! Then I had to try out the micro handles... They are totally awesome, folks, I kid you not!!! I used them to outline eagles in flight on a whole cloth couch quilt that has an outdoorsy scene all over it... I really loved using those handles! I was amazed how much easier it made everything, even the wind sweep quilting behind the eagles. Ok, I'm hooked on them!

Circle ruler work on Project Linus quilt. Next is pic of full quilt.

Cute huh? Bound and ready to go!

A close up....next a larger view.

This one isn't bound yet...

This is one was done a few weeks ago without the micro handles.

It's a Coca Cola retro design...

Having a Blast!

Ok, Enough already...

We're at the lake camping for a few days... It's so nice here, not too hot, especially for August!

We had sad news yesterday... One of our church members, Francis, was found dead in her home. She was, I believe, 50 or 52 years old, and a hopeless alcoholic.  She apparently hemorrhaged to death. It brought my brother, Don's, death to mind, as he died at 30 years old of alcoholism as well...drowned in his own fluid...too sad for words...both Don and Francis were wonderful and caring people that would give you the shirt off their back... this is two close deaths a week apart... aunt Lu, and Francis... Francis' twin sister had her body transported to Monahans for burial. We won't be having a service here.

SIL quilt...

DD pieced a jellyroll 1600 quilt for SIL....and I got to quilt it on Sadie!

I'd like to show some pics and talk about the parts and what I was trying to do.

I'll show the overall top, sans binding, so you can see the piecing.... DD did a great job!

This is laid out on a unmade bed, with light coming through the window on the left side. The side light helps make the quilting a little easier to see on the patterned fabric... The center is a loosely made variation of McTavishing... Not well done, but done. The first 2" border is plain feathers. The next wide dark blue strips on top and bottom have parts of scripture from Genesis one  about the creation of great whales and winged creatures.. And it was good... The outer border is wider than the 2" one and again has plain feathers.

This is what the center back looks like...

I love the back!!!

Next is a sample close up of the bottom scripture...

Notice the narrow rope type border with outline scrubbed and inside and outside fill...I really didn't like it without the extra embellishments... Very heavily quilted.

Next is a view of the side borders.

Notice the birds, fish and whales strips? 

Now look at the borders from the back.

Not too bad an overall effect,...I've got a lifetime of learning and practicing ahead of me....

Quilting!

Got quite a bit of quilting done on Richard's quilt today... And got to go to Walmart in Ballinger by myself this evening....picked up the bolt of muslin I had ordered a while back, and picked up a few embroidery patterns and some other material as well...good day!

What was I thinking?

Obviously, I wasn't! Hence, Cara is having a sleepover with Bethany tonight. Hmmm.... Face paint? Check.... Glitter tattoo kit? Check... Bungee cord in various colors and findings to make bracelets? Check... Chips? Check... Schwann's  breaded chicken fries? On their way...catsup and Ranch dressing? Check... Ice cream? Check...

Bet I'll work on my hexie quilt tonight...😜

Peaches Again!!!

Peeled more peaches and just canned them in syrup...The first of the peaches not made into canned pie filling or jam. We got a full canner load of 7 quarts! Yay!!!

I used the cold pack method... Hence they float... Buy that doesn't hurt a thing! 🍑

Sonora Caverns

Pa and I took took Ben and Cara to Sonora Caverns today...

 It was quite an undertaking since it was a little over 2 hours

in the car each way plus about a hour and a half tour. I must

Be getting old... Because I'm too tired to sleep... We had

a wonderful time  and saw some awe inspiring sights.

I loved how the lights showed through to the thin ribbons of

Calcium Carbonate growing from the ceiling. 

Ben and I were amazed at the raw beauty God had made

out of sight of man...

I wish I could do justice to the many wonderous sights

we beheld...but soon the tour was over, and it was time 

to head back home through San Angelo... Which, of 

course, meant Mexican food at Fuentes downtown. 

Once we were full, it was time to pose with the sheep 

out front and head on home.

Jam canning vindicated...

I went to our local grocery store yesterday and while I was there I checked out their cheapest store brand peach jam, and guess what? My home made jam was cheaper! Not by much, only a few cents, but it was cheaper to make it than buy it... I stand vindicated! hmmm... Time for toast and jam... Drool!

More peach jam....

30 jars more!!! Yikes! Believe it or not, I'm getting tired 

of peaches! Who knew that old tree could produce so 

many peaches! I can attest that it's cheaper to buy 

peach jam at the store... But the taste of home grown 

and made makes it worth every penny!!! Let's see ...

 30 jars at $7/doz. ($17.50), 5 pacs Sure Jell 

at $3.59 ($17.95), 3- 4# bags sugar at $1.88 ($5.64)

 total cost $41.09 for 30 1-cup jars of jam. Cost per 

jar of jam $ 1.37..... Yep, I think it can be bought 

cheaper... The value to me of getting to can... 

The peaches being from a tree my Dad planted 

and cared for... Knowing what is and isn't in 

my food... The self sufficient feeling that comes

 from a job well done that the majority of Americans

 these days have no clue how to do...  Priceless!!!!!😍

I did finish the last quilted bag as well...

And it's MINE! YAY!!!! 😜

Bags and peaches!

Mercy! It's been a whirlwind week! 

The peaches have started ripening on our
 two trees, so there's been lots of canning 

going on around here..7 qts. Of peach
 pie filling , over 4 dozen half pints of 

peach jam, and 2 cobblers later..
We're still not done yet!  Papaw's old 

monster sized peach tree went into 

overdrive this year and We are even 

getting a good crop from our 2 yr. old tree...
The peaches are much smaller on the

 younger tree,

but it worked hard at making lots of them.

This is what my granddaughter
 and I have worked on this week...more bags!

 We used the same pattern as last
week and tweaked it a bit by changing 

how the lining was attached, and
we quilted the outer material to batting before 

adding the lining... I am very
 impressed with this version and still have one 

more to go like them before
 I'm through...
We also went camping at Hords Creek Lake 

on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
 morning... Hubby,'s work place had a 

sponsored camp out for their
Employees. We took our old camp trailer 

and two of our grandchildren...
What a blast! It sure was hard to drag out, 

load up, and hook it back home to get
to Sunday School on time... 

Boy are we tired now... I'm betting that all 

four of us sleep good tonight!

Hmm...

Now to figure out how to size my pics

Maybe...

Happy little seamstress! 

And 7 quarts peach pie filling canned with Clear Jel! Yummy!

My new baby... 2013 Gammill Vision 18-8 longarm quilting machine!

Jason's Turtle quilt...

My, how time flys....or is it flies?

Both of the above quilts were for our Carter Reunion this year... And they were my final quilts on my old Gammill quilting machine. Did I say old? 1982 qualifies as very old in the longarm quilting world!

And this was quilted on my new 2013 Gammill Vision 18-8!

And so was this!

And here she is!!! Sadie is her name, she's named after the sweet lady that taught me to hand quilt around 39 years ago now... I loved that lady! This Miss Sadie is just as sweet and easy going as her namesake!

I'm sure hoping that this time I have how to add pictures figured out!

Yay!

At least I got most of the pictures in the scene! 😆  This IPad has changed how I do everything... And since I don't have a useable laptop anymore, I'm being somewhat forced to learn how to work my way around it.... Today is Mother's Day.... I hope you and yours have had a great one... I certainly have! Two great church services, and a FaceTime chat with two of the grand kids! The grand daughter, Cara, has become quite interested in growing herbs in containers, and has a beautiful Basil plant up and doing great! I'm so looking forward to having her and her brother, Ben staying with us this summer...Bike riding, fishing, camping, swimming, sewing, gardening, canning.. You name it... We might try it! Hopefully, we'll have lots to blog about and pictures to share!

Latest quilts!

Just downloaded a new photo resizer app for my iPad so...here goes nothing!

And the beautiful flowers from my son on Mother's Day!