Feeling good!

 We had Christmas a little early here since Nicky and her family were heading out to the in-laws for a few days.  Little Man Gavin decided he liked his new play seat but chewing on his fingers was first priority.

 Little Lady Ellie loves her new Doc McStuffins doll.  She watches it on TV every day and was quite delighted to have the doll for her very own.

 Finished this quilt top.  You know how when you take a picture of a quilt you can see what you can't see when you are sewing it together???  Well...look at all the yellow congregated together.  How does that happen?  Oh well.  I love it and so will the nice young man who will receive it.

I don't know about you but when I'm working on a quilt sometimes I look at it and think it won't turn out at all.  This is the start of a Twister quilt in batik fabrics.  I don't like it!  However, I started cutting and sewing and now I love it.  Will probably work on it some more tomorrow and then will show you how great it looks now.  I do like seeing the transformation from boring blocks to spectacular quilt.

Happy Quilting and Merry Christmas!               Lynda

Christmas is coming!

 I absolutely love having grandchildren living in our home!  Gavin is constantly moving so getting a picture of him that isn't blurry is pretty difficult.  He is a happy little boy and loves smiling for his Grandpa.

 Our Christmas tradition of decorating gingerbread cookies was especially fun this year with Ellie.  I think her favorite part may have been licking off the frosting.

 I completed putting all the scrap blocks together and now just have to add the gold/yellow border and then a black border and it will be ready for the quilter.

 Over the last few months I've been collecting blues, oranges and grays for a quilt.  Love these colors together.

Purchased a couple of Layer Cakes in batik fabrics.  I plan on making a large sized Twister quilt with small sized twisters for the border.  The light and dark batiks will be the borders.

My little family will be spending a few days of Christmas with Patrick's family so my husband and I will be facing a pretty quiet Christmas.  I plan on working on some quilting and he plans on watching a few ballgames.  Now that I'm actually ready for Christmas I can enjoy the rest of the season instead of bah humbugging around the place.

Merry Christmas to everyone!    And Happy Quilting!                    Lynda

Been Gone Too Long

 I feel like I've been gone too long from blogging!  Here are a few things that have been keeping me busy.  Ellie and her Mommy made several things for Halloween to decorate our home.  These are string and glue pumpkins.  Ellie didn't like her hands all covered in glue tho.

 The leaves have been falling so Ellie and Grandpa went out to rake them.  They spent a couple of days with Grandpa raking and Ellie playing in them.

 Little Gavin has grown so quickly.  We took him in for his 2 month check up and he is 25 inches long and 15 pounds already.  He is in the 98 percentile.  He sure is fun.

 Yesterday we got our first snow.  About 4 inches on the table.

 Our Smoke Tree is really weighed down too.

 There is a sandwich shop a few blocks from us and our office every once in awhile orders lunch from them. They are delivered in these really sturdy boxes.  I kept watching them get thrown away and figured I needed to start saving a few of them for my sewing room

 These 5 inch squares fit in them really well.

 I grabbed a bunch of those 5 inch squares and started subcutting them into 2 1/2 inch squares of black, 2 1/2 X 5 inch rectangles of blue, green, brown, red and yellow/orange and just left the creams in 5 inch squares.

 Here are some of the blocks ready to sew together.  I still don't know how I can lay out the pieces for a block in exactly the way I want them and when I sew them together I either end up with 1 extra piece or 2 greens in one block.....Who notices when it is all put together?

I have 22 blocks done so far today.  Only 41 more to go.  They sew up quickly once all the cutting is done.  I'm not so sure about the black and white on some of the corners but once they are all together I'm sure they will add a little ZING to the quilt.  This one is for one of my High School graduate neighbors.

In between sewing I'm making bread.  Love when it gets cold out because I feel like baking again.

Happy Quilting!                 Lynda

Another Halloween quilt

 I finished another Halloween Quilt.   My friend, Janine, and I have made a few of these now.  I still have leftover fabric!  Don't think I'll make this pattern again even tho everyone loves it and it is easy.  The quilting is spider webs and was done by Linda at Just Sew Quilt shop in Highland, Utah.  She does an amazing job.  The quilt comes back to me all squared up, sewn around the edges, ready for the binding.  Can't ask for more than that!

I finished this quilt top several months ago but it needed borders to make it big enough for a quilt.  I decided on solid yellow, red and blue borders and blue with yellow polka dots for the backing.  Janine went with me to pick out the fabric and just laughed when I picked out yet another polka dot flannel fabric for backing.  I seem to gravitate towards the polka dot flannels.

Happy Quilting!                    Lynda

Busy Busy Busy

But not with much quilting!  This sweet, cuddly, smells-so-good, little baby boy has invaded our home with so much love and happiness.  He was born on August 29th and weighed 8 lbs 6 oz.  His hair is slightly red.  We have been enjoying his cuddles and I even love having him put in my arms in the middle of the night so Mommy can get a little sleep.

 Ellie loves having him around too.  She always wants to hold him and touches him so softly and gives him lots of tender kisses.  The other day it started raining just before her Daddy got home from work.  He ran in the door and grabbed her boots and umbrella so that they could go out and play in the rain.  They stomped through puddles and had a great time.

 I did get this Twister quilt finished.  I love the boldness of red, black and white together.  There is so much red in the quilt that I decided black and white squares around the border would be best.  Binding is plain black and the backing is black with white polka dot flannel.

All ready for 1 of my neighbor high school graduates this year.   It is hard to keep it folded up and stored until the end of the school year.     Whew.....1 down......4 to go!  Once I get the idea of what I want to make, the process goes quite quickly.  I just try to match the quilt to the graduate and sometimes it takes a while to be inspired as to what color and design matches which graduate.

Happy Quilting!                     Lynda

More Quilts

 I absolutely love this quilt.  The tiny 2 inch squares and yo yo's and the houses and trees around the border are wonderful.  Some day.....I will make this one.

 Houses seemed to be one of the themes this year.

 I have this pattern and plan on making this one.....some day.....too.

 Tumbling Blocks.........................

Happy Quilting!             Lynda

2012 Springville Quilt Show

 My friend, Janine, and I went to the Springville Quilt Show on Saturday.  It is always a treat to see what others have been working on during the year.  This one is a Thousand Pyramids.  My Mother made one of these for each of my sons many years ago.

 This one was such a clever use of ties.  It looked like the quilter just threw blocks on the floor and sewed them together where ever they landed.

 I've seen this fan pattern for ties before and always love how they turn out.

 Several years ago I made a Double Wedding Ring but I thought this one was especially beautiful because of the extra pieces added to make a star design in every other ring.

This quilter entered a challenge where they were supposed to make a quilt from a phrase.  She chose "Bird Brain" and came up with a self portrait depicting her love for birds.  The book about birds of the world was authored by B. R. Ayne.

These were just a few of the many beautiful quilts on display.  More tomorrow.

Happy Quilting!                           Lynda

Moving In!

 We've had a marvelous couple of weeks.  My husband and I cleared out 2 bedrooms so our youngest daughter, Nicky, and her family could move in for a few months.  Patrick got a great new job about 25 minutes from us and so they needed a place to crash until they can find a home of their own.  It's amazing what a couple can accumulate in 6 short years!!  One wall in the dining room has things needed now.....

 Half of their couch fits into our living room......the other half is in the family room.

 No car can fit in here for awhile......

 Behind the family room couch is even full.....(oh darn, now I can't get to my treadmill!)

 Even the upstairs hallway is packed with things that need to fit in their 2 bedrooms......

 Not sure how they are going to sleep in here......

 However, Little Ellie's bed is all set up and the crib will be set up soon for the new baby coming in September......It will probably take us a couple of weeks to get them unpacked and unneeded stuff put into the storage room in the basement.  But my husband and I are so thrilled to get to spend more time with them.

On the sewing front I have put a black and white border around my Twister quilt.  I'm thinking it doesn't need another border.  I'll probably bind it in solid black and use a flannel black with red polka dot for the back.

Now some fun times with our darling little granddaughter!

Happy Quilting!                 Lynda

Let's Twist Again......

 I'm always amazed when you can take squares and sew them together.....cut them with a Twister ruler....sew them back together.....and end up with a top that looks so cool!

 But then I ended up with a stack of fabric that had not been used in the quilt.  What to do...What to do???

Trim off some edges and end up with 42    4 1/2 inch squares and a pile of trimmings.

 I can figure out what to do with the squares......someday.

 But the trimmings?    I have seen lots of people fill jars with buttons and fabric to use for decoration.

  Just maybe........

Now to finish this top and get it ready for the quilter.....along with several other tops that are just sitting in my sewing room waiting, not so patiently, for their turn to be quilted.

Happy Quilting!                    Lynda