Scrappy Squares

So I think my sewing machine caught wind of the rumour that it was going to be replaced, and decided to act a bit more cooperatively to extend its stay here. With only minimal tweaking and annoyance, I was able to use it to make these scrappy blocks.
They were a lot of fun. I used a little from the scrap drawer, a little from the fabric stash, but no new fabric. Per usual, I had to add a fussy cut, but beyond that, there has been minimal thinking or planning involved.
The blocks are 12.5 inches square. I see several (perhaps even several dozen) more of these in my future, should the sewing go smoothly without frustration. (Did you hear that sewing machine?!)
I have lots more chain pieced little border bits ready.
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Happy Quilting!

eq & the generosity of friends . . .

Yesterday I played around with that Christmas table topper, mentioned my color/fabric dilemma, asked for input, and got it! One dear blogger friend, Pat, from A Little of This and a Little of Pat, didn't just make suggestions, she opened up her EQ7 and did a little playing around for me!

First, she replaced the cream with a green and sent me this one:

Then, at my request, she tweaked it just a tad and sent this one back. I love this!!! The holly fabric has just a hint of gold glimmer going through it; I think it would be pretty if the green did, too. Look, it even has the binding on it!

Then she just played around with the block and sent me three alternatives:

Of the alternatives, this last one is my favorite! I didn't realize how easy/fun/handy EQ was. I've never seen it used. I'm rather fascinated by the catalog of fabrics it has in its library. I think this convinces me that I'd like to have it! I may have to adjust my birthday list! :)

Pat thank you *so* much for doing this for me! I do hope today finds you feeling better!

And my son sent me a smile. I watched Sawyer on Saturday evening when they set him down with the book -- he turns the pages and everything! What a precocious rascal he is! And a reader, to boot -- gotta love it!

Moo, moo!

:)

3 Baby Quilts - 1 Day!

Yesterday was a marathon.

I don't usually quilt this many quilts in one day,

but,

since I slacked off last Friday I had to catch up.

I quilted this Modern Baby quilt for Jenn I love how she made it in the Eden material! It's so soft looking! Just love it!

A close up of the quilting.

Then I quilted this fun little baby girl quilt. So simple yet so super cute!

 Last but not least I finished the day with this baby boy quilt. Super simple but a great little baby quilt.

Now onto the really exciting stuff!!!!

TONIGHT IS TALKIN' TUESDAY!

#talknt

Wahoo!

I wait all week long for this night!

Click here for lots of details, including how to create a twitter account and some tips you'll need to know.

ALSO We've thrown in an additional prize!

We will be giving away 1 Spirit Charm Pack @ 10:00pm and then ad additional mystery prize at 9:00pm!

Can't wait to chat with you tonight!

If you have any questions about Talkin' Tuesday #talknt please ask!

Don't miss our sale @ Piece N Quilt!
For more fun updates sign up for Piece N Quilts newsletter.
Leave a comment, we'd love to hear from you.
~Natalia
{Connect with us}

Coming up... September Opportunity Quilts and Shows !

A bevy of beautiful opportunity quilts are on deck this September in the US and Canada. Follow the links below for complete information on the quilts and guilds, and for even more September shows!

Row 1, L-R: Kansas Capital Quilters Guild (Sept 18-19),  Prairie Piecemakers Quilters Guild (Saskatchewan, Sept 25-26), Herring Run Quilt Guild (Massachusetts, Sept 18-19), Sandhills Quilters Guild (North Carolina, Sept 24-25). Row 2 : Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild  (Iowa, Sept 24-25), Coastal Quilters Guild, Inc. (California, Sept 24-25), Napa Valley Quilters Guild (California, Sept 19), Vereins Quilt Guild (Texas, Sept 3-5). Row 3: Kaw Valley Quilters Guild (Kansas, September 20 raffle drawing), Ozark Piecemakers Quilt Guild (Missouri, Sept 23-25), Austin Area Quilt Guild (Texas, Sept 17-19), South Valley Quilt Association (California, Sept 25-26), . Row 4: Cabarrus Quilters Guild (North Carolina, Sept 24-25), Sierra Quilt Guild (California, Sept 18-19), Lake and Mountain Quilters Guild  (South Carolina, Sept 17-18), Quilt Fest in Jacksonville (Florida, Sept 23-25)

More notable shows:  Wisconsin Quilt Expo (Sept 9-11); Hells Canyon Mule Days 8th Annual Quilt Show (Oregon, Sept 10-12); Sully Historic Site Annual Quilt Show (Virginia, Sept 12);  Trinity Valley Quilters Guild Show (Texas, Sept 17-19); Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza (Sept 16-19), Heritage Quilters Guild (Illinois, Sept 25-26),  Quilting in the Garden (California, Sept 25-26), Bennington Quilt Fest (Vermont, Sept 18-19), Chattahoochee Evening Stars Quilt Guild (Georgia, Sept 18-19), Ocean Waves Quilt Guild, Cadbury-at-Lewes Quilt and Art Festival (Delaware, Sept 10-11), Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, Fibrefest (Ontario, Canada, Sept 11-12), Gems of the Prairie Quilt Guild (Illinois, Sept 25-26), Quilters Guild of North Dakota (Sept 24-26), Country Quilters Guild (New York, Sept 25-26), The Northwest Quilting Expo (Oregon, Sept 23-25); San Diego Quilt Show (California, Sept 16-18)

All Machine Embroidery Binding in BLUE!!!

No .... I did not polish my nails to match the binding! I just love blue! That week my toe nails were blue too! Went a quilt retreat in Iowa and had some wonderful pampering! I made photo note cards from a picture I took of four other quilter's feet and polished toes on brightly dyed fabric!!! Note Card Page on the website. There is a slide show of the binding samples on the Photo Gallery/Examples Page.
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Hectic Weekend

Well we've had a very busy weekend. Saturday after we closed the store we took a trip to visit with Patricks

parents in Baton Rouge. They seem to be doing fairly well. We found out that Patricks Dad will have knee surgery next week. Hopefully everything will go well.

On Sunday we stayed around the house and I done some embroidery and digitizing then went over to the store so Patrick could put up the new display for AccuQuilt Go.

Then Monday, Patrick went out to cut the grass and when he was doing the trimming with the weed eater he threw a rock and guess what happened just take a look at the picture. So I made him take care of the mess and call to see about getting it fixed.

After we got this all taken care of I was able to finish working on the Newsletter. It is now posted at http://www.quiltingniche.com/ under Newsletter.

this , that, and the other . . .

Today was my optimum Monday. I'm off, Todd's on shift, and there's really very little that I *had* to do! Talk about a day that just feels goooooooood!

I got a load of laundry in early, but the danged dryer portion of our combo unit is not working, so there's not point in putting in a second load. I'd really wanted to have all the laundry completely caught up, but c'est la vie. I don't think I'll let it stress me. ;)

It's been a rather soft, gray day. The temps aren't too hot, though they're certainly not cool! Rain has danced all around us, but other than a very few sprinkles, I've not seen any precipitation of substance. As I type, I'm watching a doe walk up the road, like a sentinel watching the borders! The birds are busy, busy, busy this afternoon, flitting, eating and drinking.

I did head out mid-morning to get my Lissa blocks in the mail and do my weekly bookkeeping for the builder I help out. From there I headed over to have lunch with Kim & Sawyer! I didn't take any pictures because I can either hold him or take pictures of him . . . guess which I chose? LOL!!

I made some finishing progress on Sawyer's quilt, too! It's all quilted and squared up, ready for the binding!!!! Whooohoo!!

By the way, you do see the view I have while sewing, right? Sometimes it's hard not to be distracted!

My hope was to get all the binding cut, put together, on the quilt and have it ready to finish. But my foot started aching, so I decided it was time to take a foot-icing break. I did manage to get the binding cut and ready to go, though. (Although I admit it's been so long, it took me a while to figure out what I'd done with the fabric I'd set aside for the binding! Shhhhh!)

Anyway, it's all ready to go, when I'm ready to go!

I probably shouldn't tell on myself, but my quilting supplies niche has seen better days! Of course, given that I haven't really been into it for three months, and Todd moved us during that time, makes it look not *nearly* as bad as it could! This was one of the areas I had wanted to re-organize for my July/August Charming Girls goals, but being up and about still takes effort, and I'm not quite ready to tackle this yet.

On the other hand, being organized will mean I don't spend so much time hunting what I'm looking for, and will have more time for the actual doing!

I think I mentioned Saturday that I wanted to do something with Christmas fabric with the Heavenly Stars block from Quilter's Cache. Though the block is done with 2.5" strips, I'd like to make it a little bigger and use 3" squares. I'd like a single block as a table topper. I was playing around with photos of my fabric and came up with this . . . help me out here -- I *really* am set on the center star being the holly fabric, and I like the way the red borders it, but I'm not completely sold on the gold/cream print in the surrounding stars. Any thoughts?

Finished it would be 20" square. I'd probably bind it with whatever I use for the outer circle of stars.

I also finished working on a power point project for Todd. He's leading a session tomorrow evening for the Madison Baptist Association's leadership conference. I'm his wing man -- I'll do his audio/visual! He typed up his notes, and then I did the student handout and the presentation from that. He's put a lot of work into this, and it's going to be good! I'm *so* proud of my dear husband!!

So, for now, I'm off to have a cup of tea and switch out ice bags on the ol' foot. Tomorrow is my re-evaluation and I sure don't want to get bad marks! From here on out, I'll just be wildlife watching!

:)

McCalls Quilt Design Star sneak peek!

Hope you haven't forgotten that Kathleen is participating in the McCalls Quilt Design Star Contest. She has designed a beautiful quilt, but when it came time to piece she recruited me to help her out.

Here's your sneak peak! 

She wants this one to be a surprise so this is about all you're going to see for now!

And yes, it's intentional that the picture isn't colored. :)

Did you have a good weekend?

Full of sewing or something fun!

Speaking of fun, head over to U-Create today to see what we're sponsoring!

Don't miss our sale @ Piece N Quilt!
For more fun updates sign up for Piece N Quilts newsletter.
Leave a comment, we'd love to hear from you.
~Natalia
{Connect with us}

normal is *good* . . .

Yesterday was a GREAT day. It was normal. *I* felt normal! I made omelets and toast for breakfast, I did dishes, I cleaned the toilet, sink, and shower, I did laundry, I organized our closet and my drawers, I played in my sewing room . . .

I felt like I had my life back again!

Here's a current snapshot of the ol' foot:

Can you see it??? There's an ankle over there on the right side! Whoohoo!!! And look at how much the scar is fading across the top of my foot!!!

It's still puffy and there's still swelling across the back of the heel, and I *still* can't get it into a normal shoe, but oh my goodness, it looks *so* much better! In fact, when I compare a picture like this to the picture of this poor foot on May 21, 2010, I consider this to be a major miracle! :)

Physical therapy is coming along well. I have a reevaluation appointment on Tuesday. I don't imagine they'll cut me loose just yet -- I still have a very pronounced limp -- there's still plenty of strengthening that needs to be done. I can't balance on my right foot alone for longer than, oh, about 10 seconds, before it begins to scream at me!

You know what else felt good about yesterday? I was able to walk and hold my precious grandbaby!! I can hardly believe he's just two weeks shy of being SIX MONTHS OLD! Gracious. He's so much fun -- and *everything* goes into his mouth! And if there's not something to grab and put into his mouth, his hands will do!

In fact, it was tough getting a picture of him *without* his mouth being filled with one thing or another . . .

Okay, Grandma, here's ONE.

Oh my, how he melts my heart!

:)

I can't believe it's been a month

I really can't - almost a month since I've blogged. And this needs to be short because Cullen and Quinn are here and will get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow. That's one of the reasons it's been a month. They have been staying with us every other week all summer. Their father is back in school - midlife crisis career switch - and he's been working construction in Oklahoma all summer. Since school has started again now, things are back to some kind of routine.

This is one of the sunflowers Quinn planted this spring. He checks on it the minute he gets here. They are awesome. And as my life always ends up in my quilts somehow...

Sunflowers and Scarecrows - I know there's only 1 scarecrow but scarecrows sounds better - poetic license in quilt naming. This is the next Mini Quilt Club offering that will ship in September.

Let's see - the new fabric lines - Classic Wovens and Lilac Hill are being worked on. Four new patterns for the wovens and some minirugs.

Then I took a break to work on the book I'm doing for Quiltmania - get to go to France next April on my way to Salt Lake City. The Quiltmania people are such a joy to work with.

And in between Jennifer Dick (editor extrordinaire for KC Star) sent proofs and we finalized Across the Wide Missouri book by Edie MCGinnis and myself.

Finishing up patterns for Quiltmania book the first couple of days this week and then on to Lilac Hill line. Even if I do say so myself both the Classic Wovens and Lilac Hill are awesome. See you get to say things like that when you do them with someone else :)

And this is Zoie and Quinn's masterpiece. Quinn's first assignment for kindergarten had to do with this gingerbread man. It was his job to decorate it to make it have something to do with him. Since the poor guy got pretty manhandled for a week, going in and out of backpacks, his dad rescued it and made sure it came with him this weekend. With a little help Quinn traced it and had me cut it out for him. Then he and Zoie went to work with fabric scraps, glue and markers. Then they decided to add his sunflower and things really took off. There's our apple tree and berry bushes and flowers! Wow! I think it is absolutely awesome and just had to show it off.

And something I had absolutely nothing to do with, (except one person removed) but get to enjoy, is the fact that I have a new granddaughter born on August 27th. Her name is Brooke and she is beautiful.

I lost the connection to the internet last night so am finishing it today. They did get up at 6:00.

Better go let the chickens out.

Keep quilting.

sewing party . . .

* * * Calling it a night! * * *

Well lucky me -- I got a text from my son late this afternoon, inviting DH and I over for pizza and time with the grandbaby. Ummm, ladies, time with the grandbaby??? Sewing was *all* over! I'll have some free time tomorrow and Monday to finish up and post pictures! And probably some Sawyer pictures, too!!

I so enjoyed your company today -- have a great night, filled with visions of sugar plums!!

:)

* * * Update * * *

Three o'clock and all's well!

I've got lots of things cut; some things pinned; some things I'm still thinking about. I *can* tell you that I'm doing a little something with this pretty little block, from Quilter's Cache. I hope perhaps I'll be able to take pictures of it later.

I'm *also* doing lots of playing with this darling little tutorial, found on Prairie Moon Quilts!

I cut, stitched and pressed my blocks for Lissa, too. I'll send those off on Tuesday!

I've also had my last cup of coffee (I moved on to pomegranate iced tea, which is red, so still in the spirit), eaten a fare share of my kettle chips, and only had a bite of my Hershey bar! I've been too intent on projects, if there's still chocolate left at 3 o'clock in the afternoon! :)

* * * Original Post * * *

I do love having choices and today I've got plenty!! I mentioned last night that I wouldn't be able to necessarily discuss details, nor show finished products, but I can show my options . . .

Today's Christmas sewing may involve a little of these . . .

Or possibly a little of these . . .

And maybe even a little of this . . .

And most likely a little of these . . .

But most definitely it will include this:

Now, go check out Charming Chatter and see what everyone else is up to today!!

HO HO HO!

:)