With a Little Help from my Friends

This was the first project I finished at our retreat. The blocks were made by friends in the KNOTT Bee a few years ago (seems to be a common phrase I use...a few years ago). Each block was made by a quilting friend, however, most of them put their names on the back and when I put them together I forgot to transfer the names to the front of the quilt so consequently I can't remember who made which block now. I decided a star block would look great in the sashing. It makes the quilt rather "busy" looking but I love it. The quilt top was put together a loooonnnggg time ago and then added to my ever increasing pile of quilts ready for the quilter. I finally gave it to Laura Erickson (who always does a great job) about a month ago to quilt and I put the binding on at the retreat. Yippee! Another completed UFO.

Quilt Retreat

Here are some pictures of quilting friends and projects at our quilt retreat last week. I only got to spend 1 day so my 'lets-get-this-project-done" list was small. This quilt was made by Nancy from a kit she purchased at Broadbents in Lehi. Isn't it beautiful! Four friends each bought the kit, took about a year to start and I think she said about 3 years to finish. Sorry Nancy, I cut off your head.


As you can see, we were all busy with our own projects. But we still made time to walk around to see what everyone else was working on. Suzanne has this wonderful bonus room in her home that she opens up for retreats a couple of times a year and we spend a couple of days laughing, talking, sewing and eating. Here are Dixie, Judy, Marie , Nancy and Suzanne working hard.

Mabelle made this darling primary colored Nine Patch baby quilt. She was adding the border in this picture and making sure she had plenty of binding using all the scraps from the quilt. It turned out so cute.

This is my small stack of bindings to do. I did get 2 small quilts bound and 1 side of the large one finished before it was time to leave. I really enjoy retreats where we can just go and spend the whole day working on quilts and talking quilts, visiting with old friends and making new friends. Thank you Suzanne for opening up your home to all of us.

I warn my non-quilting friends that quilting is quite addictive so be careful. If they start, they may not be able to stop! Thanks for stopping by. Lynda

I think I'm seeing Stars!

Yep, another Buggy Barn quilt. I really do love making them once I get going. This was one of the easier ones....not so many pieces to shuffle. Lavendar/purple is my favorite color and my daughter, Nicky, painted her bedroom deep purple a few years ago. This quilt with its softer colors looks so nice folded across the foot of the bed.

My 3 daughters should be quite proud of me that I can actually figure out how to use my new camera...taking pictures, downloading them onto the computer and then retrieving them to put on my blog. I really love my new camera!

A friend, Melory, once said a quilt needs an interesting back. So many times I try to use up the front fabrics on the back.

Today I am off to a quilt retreat with my Lazy Bee. None of us could be labeled lazy if you could see all the projects that are brought up those stairs at each retreat. They all met yesterday but I had to work....boy working sure gets in the way of my fun sometimes. Of course, it does pay for the addiction. Thanks for stopping by. Lynda

Raw Edges Rub Him Wrong

I made a Bulls Eye quilt using mostly Civil War fabrics as an exchange with a quilt bee that I belonged to a few years ago. It isn't my favorite quilt but it was a fun experience in the process of leaving unfinished edges on a quilt. The idea was to take a square and sew 3 different sized circles onto it leaving raw edges. Then cut the block into 4 squares and sew 4 different ones back together. We weren't supposed to worry about matching anything....which I found very difficult to do at first. However, the more blocks I put together, the easier it became to not worry about how they matched colorwise or seamwise. I continued a few half circles onto the border just for fun.

The idea is that as it is washed and dryed the edges will fray. However, this quilt hangs on a banister so doesn't get used much so the edges haven't frayed significantly yet.

We had an elderly gentleman (80+ years) stay with us a few weeks ago. He is a machine quilter in St. George, Utah. He pointed out to me that I "forgot" to finish the edges.....and....did I really "like" that look? It was quite funny.

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