The Geese Have Flown Away

A couple of years ago at a quilt retreat, one of my friends, Leslie, was making Flying Geese blocks....she must have had 500! I made some too but didn't match mine as well as she did. I THOUGHT I wanted a real scrappy look. However, she got tired of all the Flying Geese so I became the lucky recipient of loads of her blocks too.

The top 2 pictures are of a quilt that I made using my blocks. As you can see, it is nice enough and bright but the geese are almost lost in the confusion of all the fabrics together. In the bottom picture I used only Leslie's blocks and I think the quilt turned out much better giving it an organized scrappy look.

I have made 4 quilts so far out of these Flying Geese and I still probably have enough for one more quilt. I think I might like them as a border around some other scrappy quilt tho. We'll see.

Thanks for stopping by. Lynda

Buzz Saw

This quilt pattern is called Buzz Saw. Once again I used scraps trying to stick with 30's fabrics. I used a flannel back because I like how toasty warm flannel makes quilts. Making this quilt is quite easy. I just started with a half square triangle, sliced it into strips and sewed them back together in the opposite direction giving the buzz saw effect.

I gave it to a woman in my Church. Boy, sometimes it sure is hard to let go of a quilt I have made. I hope I'm not the only quilter who gets so attached to the quilts they've made that it is hard to give them away. Of course, seeing how excited someone is when they get one is good incentive to keep making them for other people.

I have been working on a Santa Cats table runner. I'm almost done. Just need to quilt it. Think I'll try my hand at machine quilting.....maybe. I've also been making hotpads. I need at least 25...I'm halfway done.

Thanks for stopping by and keep on quilting. Lynda

Spring Chickens No More

I just returned from Spokane, Washington where I was visiting my sister, Jeanie and her husband, Gene. I had a wonderful, relaxing time. While there I took a few pictures of a quilt I made for her several years ago for her 60th birthday. I labeled it "Spring Chickens No More!" because we aren't young anymore. I often get too busy or rushed to put a label on my quilts but when I do I am so glad I took the time for memory reasons or maybe I should say lack of memory reasons.




I used lots of plaid fabrics as suggested by the pattern. There are rows of chickens running across the quilt with fried egg flowers and what looks like fried eggs scattered in between.





This plaid chicken was my favorite (I think). I used a machine blanket stitch around all the parts and then quilted in big stitches, to look rustic, with a green pearl cotton thread.

Here it is on one of her guest beds. It was great fun to make especially since it was for my sister. They have a beautiful backyard filled with lots of trees and flowers and a huge pond. I love to go there and just sit by the pond in the morning relaxing and taking in the beauties of their yard and watch the birds bathing in the waterfall and the squirrels running up to grab their morning breakfast of peanuts.

Thanks for stopping by. Keep on quilting. Lynda

Scraps are taking over my life!

I have shoe boxed sized plastic containers for my scraps. There are 1 or 2 containers per color scheme. Not much I know but sometimes it feels like they are taking over my sewing room cupboards. So.....I decide to make another scrap quilt.

I think what I like about scrap quilts is that they feel free. Nothing has to be purchased except the batt and sometimes the backing fabric. And I even sew pieces of batting together for a quilt when I collect enough left-over sections from other quilts. I love that I can just cut the scraps into piles of lights and darks and put them together without much thought and end up with a definite pattern and a great looking quilt. This backing was just 2 strips of fabric that had been hanging out in my sewing room for years (probably left over from my Mom's stash). Didn't even bother to take a picture of it since it was so boring compared to the front.

I wish I still had some of the utility quilts that my Mom made. Anything went with my Mom. She would spend hours cutting and piecing the front of the quilt and then put a wild orange floral silky fabric on the back....just because. We loved the quilts and used them for years and years before they became so threadbare that they no longer kept us warm. That's where I got my love for quilts tho...watching her and later helping her.

Halloween

Halloween has always been a favorite holiday of mine. Now that all my children are grown I have had to direct my enthusiasm for it to my grandchildren. A couple of years ago I sent them all things from the Wacky Witch. Every few days they would get a fun treat until Halloween day. They really looked forward to the mailman coming to see what the witch had for them that day. The mailman even told my daughter that he wanted to meet this Wacky Witch! I keep thinking I need to do that again but I put it off too late this year again. Things like that have to be purchased or made in advance since I was mailing them out starting the 1st day of October. I think I enjoyed it as much as they did!

So this year I made a skirt for my granddaughter Kelsey. I especially like the black pompoms along the hemline. The boys just got another scary shirt. I better be more prepared next year if I want to do it up right. (Cackle cackle)

Red, White and Blue

Both of these patriotic wall hangings were from exchanges. You can see that one is from 2001! You can also see that poor Uncle Sam hasn't even got a face! I do like wall hanging sized quilts for a couple of reasons....1) they are quick to make, and 2) I enjoy them draped across a chair or couch during its special season for everyone to see and "aahhh" over.

I have been slowly working on the "Antitude" project but nothing worth showing.....since you probably wouldn't be able to see the progress yet. I finished a rag quilt for my son-in-law for Christmas also. 1 down...too-many-to-think-about to go! I love Christmas if I have ideas of what to give to people. I saw a pattern on Mrs Moen's blog (see my side bar to go to her blog) and I think a cute Santa Cat table runner would be fun to make for some of my children and friends.

Thanks for stopping by and Keep on Quilting. Lynda

Who can work in this mess??

When my daughter, Denise, was young I used to try to get her to clean her bedroom but she would always say it was organized clutter and she knew right where everything was and what was clean and what was dirty.

That comment brings me to my sewing room. A few years ago when my husband worked in California he was on a job that the people were tearing out cabinets from an office space. They were just going to throw them away so he asked if he could have them. Of course, they were happy to give them to him because he would have to be the one to haul them away. He loaded them onto a trailer and brought them home to Utah. Now I have cabinets and drawers everywhere with plenty of space for fabric, tools, cutting mat, serger and sewing machine. I even have a design wall that is just a flannel sheet tacked to one wall. Sometimes it is even cleaned and organized....but then I start a project and have to pull things out to audition fabrics and the organization becomes clutter. I like to think that it is "organized clutter".

The other day I was trying to get backs ready for quilts, make a list of things I needed to get done, and go through patterns to see what was on my to-do list next and decide on some fabrics from my stash for some quilts. In the bottom picture you can see a half mooned shape on the design wall that will eventually be a bearded Santa face to hang for the holidays. Next to it is a felted wool Santa that I made several years ago that I pull out about this time every year thinking this will be the year I finally make it into a pillow. Next to that are 3 hot pads that my friend, Janine, brought back from Amish country. Under that are some of my quilting books sitting on top of a long cabinet full of magazines and craft supplies.

On the left of each picture is the next stack of 3 quilts ready to go to the quilter. And next to all my books is another stack of quilt tops needing backs or batts etc.

In the top picture you can see a small red shoebox. It is filled with diamond shaped fabrics that my Dad and Mom cut out with scissors probably 30+ years ago to make a star quilt of probably 20 different colored stars. You won't believe this....but many years ago I decided I would never get around to making it so gave it to a friend, Dixie, who hauled it all the way across the world when she moved to Africa (I think) because she thought she would like to finish it. Several years later, when she moved back here, she gave it back to me. I keep thinking I should get around to making it......maybe someday.

Putting this picture on my blog is good incentive for me to actually get it cleaned up again and organized before the next project. Think I'll save that project for later....much later.

Thanks for stopping by and happy quilting. Lynda

I Spy

Every year I go to the Springville Museum Quilt Show. It is always really good and I see quilts made by lots of my friends. One year our Bee put a quilt in for judging. That was a real eye-opener. The judges are so truthful and tell you exactly what you did right and what you did not so right. It was a good learning experience tho.

Last year when I went to the show I saw a cute quilt someone (I'm sorry I don't remember the quiltmaker's name) made like you were looking through a magnifying glass finding little treasures. I decided I could actually copy that without a pattern so I went home and dug through my fabrics, added a few from a shopping trip, and came up with this fun quilt for a future grandchild. I made all the handles out of a wood-looking fabric and the outline of the glass out of black bias tape zigzagged down. I tried to match the "treasure" to the background fabric. My favorites were the snake and spider. But there are also a dinosaur in rocks, a frog in lilly pads, even a little girl in a bright pink dress in a bright pink square. This was a very easy quilt to make just finding backgrounds and "treasures" to match.

Today I am heading out for a birthday lunch with a couple of friends and a stop at a fabric shop (of course). I really need to find some fabric for something I'm sure!

Thanks for stopping by. Lynda

Easter in October

I know it isn't Easter but I have been taking pictures of some of my long-ago completed quilts so that I could post them on this blog. This bunny family hangs out on my couch for a couple of weeks around Easter every year. It always makes me smile. I tried to just use fabric I had on hand. But you all know how that goes.....the more you use your stash....the more you have. Don't know how that works. And my stash is mediocre compared to some of my friends. I tend to only buy when I know that I'm making something.....not just because I LOVE the fabric. However, I do have a couple of friends who clean out their rooms once in awhile and I find a bag of their scraps sitting on my front porch. One time I got a call from a neighbor saying there was a scantily dressed male on my front porch. Come to find out it was a bag from Abercrombie and Fitch ( with said male model on the front) filled with scrumptious fabrics. I think she may have been a bit jealous.

One year our Bee got together and had an Easter egg exchange. These Easter eggs were so much fun to make. These are the larger sized eggs. Somewhere in my sewing room I have a bunch of small ones too. Hopefully, one day I will find them....or maybe I added them to another quilt already. Memory fades. I found the border fabric and had to use it on this quilt. I love the rows of carrots.

Keep on quilting.....Lynda