Little quilt swap

One of the quilty, online groups I'm in
offered a small quilt swap... 
requirements: 
primitive, small, theme of basket and berries, 
(but not Easter themed), 
and mailed by the middle of March.
I decided to join in, and am so glad I did!

The swap coordinator made the swap assignments, 
and I was assigned Karen of Washington, 
and Karen got me in return.

Here's the one that I made and sent:

CW reproduction cottons, with a little wool in the berries, and quilted on the Sashiko machine with hand-quilting YLI threads.  I don't even recall that I measured it when I finished, but it was about 14"x18" I believe.
The back, with hanging corners and label:

note pad of paper slipped into one of the hanging corners

And the one that I received from Karen!!:

So CUTE and folky!  Great fabrics, and hand-quilted, and just my style. 💖💖💖💖💖

I find it interesting that we have such similar tastes!  We'd never spoken to each other, and I don't even know if she has a blog, so no looking for clues early.
It was a great little interlude of stitching and gifting, for sure!!!

Happy middle of March, everyone!!

little swap quilt recieved!!!!

I'd shared previously that I was again participating
in a little quilt swap, hosted by Lori, of Humble Quilts blog...

Well, guess what I received??
A little quilt from the hostess herself!!
How lucky can a gal get?!?

 Sticks and Stones!!!

It was hand and machine quilted, 
and has the most wonderful little binding!

Thank you Lori, for your wonderful work of art!
I love, love, love all the fabrics, and the pattern, and all the
effort you not only put into it, but also everything you've done to host all the swaps!!!
It's so wonderful to find more quilty friends around the world! 💖

You can visit the link up party to view all the swapped quilts here:
Humble Quilts Swap

Little quilt swap

Again this year I joined in on the fun
of a little quilt swap with Lori, of Humble Quilts blog.
Since I'd been working on my 42-Cents Forever Stamp quilt, 
(and I just happened to have a few leftover stamps)
I decided to use them in my little quilt for the swap.

I made it in March, bound it in April, then carried it along with me to a retreat in Indiana, to mail from there, so it got to do some extra traveling!!

I was given a gals' name that seemed not to have a blog or facebook presence, but just in case she did, I didn't share here what I'd made, until I knew she'd received it.

digging through scraps; the swap quilt I sent

I keep trying and trying
to use up my seemingly never-ending fabric scraps...
so when Lori, of Humble Quilts blog,
announced she was again hosting a swap
of small doll quilts,
I jumped at the chance!

I had some red and cream half square triangles
already made, so decided to use them along with some
1 1/2 inch strips from the scrap bag.

I did the binding in red that matched the color of the pinwheels, and added one of my favorite of all time fabrics for the backing.  After hand-quilting, I even remembered to add the corner hanging pockets - one of them the label.
I packaged it up, put it into a mailing envelope, added some Ohio-made chocolate Buckeye candies, and sent it off to Sharon (Grass Roots Quilting blog).

 Since everything was from scraps, I don't even know what the finished measurements were!

I usually try to add a Ladybug to each quilt that I make, 
as Ladybugs are said to represent LUCK, 
AND they are also the state insect of Ohio.
Since I didn't have a repro-fabric with ladybugs, 
I added a hand-drawn one to the label.  
I've heard from Sharon, and she said that this little quilt looks like something she would have made herself, so it was perfect for her.

I love my scraps... 
Lots and lots of small scraps!

The little doll quilt I received in the Swap

I LOVE participating in doll quilt swaps!!!

When I read that Lori of Humble Quilts blog 
decided to host her THIRD swap this past middle of March,
I immediately signed myself up!!
Just a few simple rules: 
finished little quilts to be in the mail by May 1st, 
reproduction fabrics from the 1775-1910 time period,
and under 24 inches.   
Within the week (I believe) there were NINETY participants signed up!!
So exciting!!!

On April 8th, I received an email from Lori, the swap host,
asking if I'd received my little quilt in the mail.
And I hadn't... but thought it was nice that she was checking.

Just the next day, the 9th - a package was here!!!
And my little quilt was from Lori, herself!!!!
It. Is. Just. Adorable!!! 

I absolutely love EVERYTHING about it!!! - fabrics, colors, workmanship. 
It was even hand quilted, and it still arrived way before the deadline!!! 
(: can you tell that the hand-quilting-part-but-early-arrival impressed me? :)
What an awesome little quilt from the swap!!!
Thank you, thank you, Lori!!!  
(Humble Quilts blog)
It's going on my vintage treadle machine next to my stitching chair!!
(ps - I'd even seen a picture of my little quilt on Lori's blog before she sent it, but didn't connect it with her call asking if I'd received my quilt in the mail. )

The little quilt that I sent, went off to the state
of Washington, and should arrive tomorrow, Monday.

I'm so glad I was able to participate again this year!!!
Making new quilty-friends across the miles!!  

things I haven't shared... and small quilt swap

Sounds deep, doesn't it.
Well, some of it is.  Deep that is.
Personal grief is something I've not shared here much.
(If you are a pray-er, please add me and my family to your list, thank you.)
But I believe there is a higher power
and a reason for things happening - reasons I just don't know, yet.
And out of it, comes strength, and deepening love.

So, out of the deep and into positiveness -
Also lately, I haven't shared much in the way of quilting fun.
I participated in a small, primitive quilt swap
and this is what I sent to my swap partner, 
Roberta of New York.
So My Ohio Geese flew to New York:

Not the greatest of pictures, with no staging or softness, but at least I got a picture before I mailed it!  I almost had it packed for shipping when I realized that I didn't have a picture.

I love flying geese, and I love the log cabin block,
so I put those two together and made her a 'Geese through the Cabin' little quilt!
I used some of my favorite browns and oranges, and some muslin for the geese,
and quilted it with my Sashiko machine in a dark ecru quilting thread.

I have shared the next photo before,
but I think, it's nice to put the two swap quilts together in a post -
the little quilt I received back in exchange -
the New York Geese that flew to Ohio:

I think it's great that we both did flying geese in our swap quilts
even though it wasn't a theme!! 

Thanks for visiting, and thanks in advance for prayers sent my way.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

getting ready for Autumn

Long time no visit!
Lots of stuff going on around here -
some good, some sad,
but all in all, life is good.

I received a little quilt in a swap that I participated in:

It sure is a cutie and I love it!
I love the flying geese, especially.
Thank you so much, Roberta!!

Today, I mailed the little quilt that I made for the swap
(for Roberta),
so she should have it in time to welcome the arrival of Autumn.
I won't share the quilt top, yet,
but here's a peek of the back:

Also, I've been doing some cleaning in the 
sewing room, aka studio.
No pictures of that, but
does anyone else have enough fabrics and supplies 
to last more than their own lifetime?

That's all for now - I've been doing some commission quilting,
so pictures of that to come.

the quilt I sent for the swap has arrived

This is the little quilt I sent to JoAnne:

Not great lighting for the picture  
(at least it stopped raining long enough for me to take an outside picture), 
but it finished at 17 inches square; 
I used some of my favorite scraps for the four-patches, 
and reproduction shirtings for the setting squares.

Because I was late in sending it off, I added a little something extra 
- a little pincushion that I made:

I made a small block with scrap fabrics, stuffed it with cotton wadding, and put it into an individual, antique salt cellar, then made a decorative pin to go in it.
The picture, below, shows a corner of  the backing of the quilt and 
one of the corner pockets (for hanging) with labeling:

(I guess that's the only shot I got of the backing that I used.)
Finally, here's a shot that shows my hand quilting just a little better:

I haven't hand-quilted in quite a while, and though I was certainly rusty, I did enjoy the hand-stitching time.  
I was down to my last hand-quilting needle 
when I started the quilting, 
so when it bent toward the end of the quilting process, 
I had to switch out to a needle that was bigger, 
and I was worried about the hand-quilting stitches 
in the center of the quilt
looking different from the outside, lastly stitched areas.  
But, JoAnne wrote on her blog that my hand-quilting stitches were
"tiny", so I guess I shouldn't have worried. :)

I so enjoyed participating in this swap again 
(thanks, Lori for coordinating over 70 quilters and the swap!).  
I didn't realize when I first was assigned JoAnne as a swap partner
that I was already a regular reader of her blog: The Patriotic Quilter.  
If you have a minute, click over to see JoAnne's blog and see the quilt that she made to swap, too.

Happy Monday!

Announcing:

arrival of the doll quilt from the swap!
Jill, from Pennsylvania, 
made the little quilt for me and I'm in love with it!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Jill!!!!

Isn't it adorable?!?
The amount of fabrics Jill used in this little quilt is astounding - 
truly like a vintage doll quilt, 
made for a little girly from the family's clothing scraps.

With our yucky weather again today,
it was hard to get a good picture of the true colors, 
but the setting squares fabric is a salmon-y pink, 
and the outside, half-triangles are a deep, chocolate brown;
the four patches are made with shirtings and fabrics of every design:   
there are keys, itsy-bitsy flowers, pins, tacks, berries, baskets, hearts, sprigs, stems, dots, and flourishes.  Also circles, squares, diamonds, stars, horseshoes and jockeys.  There are even roosters with little tossed feathers!  
(In her note, Jill said she doesn't know why, but she always puts a piece of fabric with a chicken in each quilt she makes - isn't that great?)  

The backing fabric she used
 
is a beautiful vintage-looking, golden stripe with salmon flowers.
 And to top off all of that?  It's hand quilted with what looks to be a variegated pink thread (you may be able to see the excellent hand-quilting if you enlarge the photo).

Just beautiful.  I already have it on my old Singer sewing machine used as a stand, that sits beside my stitching chair, and it's perfect there - like it was made specifically for that space.

Jill packaged the little quilt in a fat quarter of beautiful green fabric, tied with a flourish-printed selvedge, and in the package was a sweet card, a PA-made chocolate bar 
(: of which I've already eaten at least half :) 
and a little 2 1/2 inch charm pack of Jelly Bean - 
a fabric line by Laundry Basket Quilts. 

I am so thankful to Jill for all of her time and love she put into making this quilt, and for all of the extras she stuffed into the envelope to send to me.

It was another wonderful 'swap' to participate in and I thank Lori (of Humble Quilts ) for hosting again!  I think there will be a link-y party on Lori's blog soon, to let all 70 people who participated share their little quilts from the swap.  I'll share it when it's available.

Happy Thursday, and thanks for visiting!

the little quilt I sent for doll quilt swap #2

I admit,
I was a day late in sending my little doll quilt for the swap.
I finished it late evening on the last day of May -
the day it was to be in the mail.
It was cold and rainy and cloudy all day on the first of June
and I needed to get a picture of it before it left to go to it's new home.
So, between showers, I ran outside to try to get a picture of it.
A picture with a little more lighting than inside the house was offering.
After shooting about 25 pics, this is the best I could come up with:

 I do have a couple of close-up shots to share after it's received by my swap partner.

The swap was hosted by Lori of Humble Quilts blog.  It was so much fun to participate again.  My thanks to Lori for all of her work.

making memories

For the last nine days,
I've not been doing much of this:

Or much of anything else, for that matter.
I apologize if you are my Swap Partner 
in Lori's Humble Quilts doll quilt swap, 
I promise, it's coming.  Soon.

I HAVE been doing a whole lot of this:

one year old orneriness

and this:

three year old orneriness

We've had help doing this

opening the pool

and this:

making strawberry-rhubarb pie

planting tomatoes in the backdoor garden bed

 And I'd forgotten about the middle-of-the-night awake times.

I now know why the good Lord gives babies to the younger folks. lol
I'm not complaining, it's been fun making memories.
But I think I need a nap.  Then another one.
And I just may be counting down the remaining two nights. 

Sweet rewards?
When the three year old randomly says unprompted things like:
"It's SO fun to have sleep overs."

Happy Thursday!
Here's hoping you are have as much fun as I am. :)

the sweetest little quilt arrived

There is folklore that Spring has arrived 
three snows after the forsythia blooms. 
Well, the forsythia hasn't bloomed here in central Ohio yet, but I say Spring HAS ARRIVED!

Here's the reason why:
I shared last week or so about joining in 
a Spring mini-quilt swap with an online group that I'm in.
I also shared about all my fun in making the little 'Spring Argyle' quilt that I sent off...
Well, I can barely contain myself, 
because THIS:

came in the mail yesterday!!!
All the way from Deb in Toronto, Canada!
Deb named it "Spring Bulbs".  Isn't that so perfect?!
I love the colors & fabrics & it's a BASKET block!, which I also love.
I so love the pinks, 
and that she hand-quilted little butterflies in the corners,
and she also put hanging-corner-pockets on the back!
Can you tell that I like it? A lot?

And if that's not enough quilty-love (and exclamation points),
Deb was so sweet to send a little something extra:

Can you see the quilted butterflies
to the left of the mini charm pack?

I don't know how she knew that I loved that Lexington line... maybe I've shared that also? :)

A great big thank you, Deb, for your very beautiful, kind and generous gift.
This swap was SO MUCH FUN!, and a big Thanks goes out to Karen for facilitating!

So, have you participated in swaps of finished items before?
I was leery of joining in because of my time constraints, but it worked out well.
And such Spring beauty arrived at my door!

Happy Tuesday!
I may go looking for some forsythia to force into bloom 
to sit beside my new little quilt. :)

Spring Argyle for the swap

I'm a member of an online group
of quilters that like and make primitive quilts,
and I 'hopped' right in when the group
offered a Spring-y mini-quilt swap!

A close up view of my Spring Argyle

I had the 'draw' of Jennie, from Georgia.
She shared today that the quilt I sent has arrived and she loves it.
She also shared a picture to the Prim Group, with her new little quilt displayed on the outside deck in the sunshine-y 70 degree weather!  (I'm just a little jealous of her Spring-like temps.)
This is what I sent for Jennie:

Well, not the whole table-top set-up,
but the quilt that I named - Spring Argyle:

Spring Argyle

My supplies were Civil War reproduction fabrics cut into 2 1/2 inch squares, 

and a great, variegated purple Valdani thread (color #O86, in size 12), that I used to hand-quilt with a big-stitch.
I am so glad that she liked it;
I also liked it - so much so that I now have to make one for myself! :)
I'd also like to thank Karen (LogCabinQuilter)
for doing all the work in coordinating the exchange!

signs of almost Spring...

"It was one of those March days
when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:
when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

That may be my favorite quote ever,  

and that's exactly how it feels outside this week -

a sign that Spring is surely around the corner!

 

So, other signs that Spring is around the corner?

• when the decor changes from snowmen to bunnies and flowers! :)  I love this string quilt of some of my favorite, Civil War reproduction fabrics.  For those wondering, I used a half-width of muslin for my foundation-piecing of the string-work, so each of the four blocks started at about 22 inches square, then were trimmed and made into a four patch; I quilted it in uneven, concentric squares.

• a sure sign of the coming Spring is when the snow melts off the back deck and my poinsettia 'blooms':

After years of trying, I still don't have the 'put the plant in the closet' timing down, and my plant always blooms for Spring.  :)

• Grand-kiddos still want to sled, but there's no snow left:

.

 so the sleds come indoors. :)

•  I've sent off my Spring-y small-quilt for the swap:

 and liked it so well that I know that I'd like to make one just like it for myself! :)

• it's too muddy to go out to the barn without your boots, and the remedy is a wheelbarrow ride:

Spring fun!!!!! Don't you love the smiles? And the blue/white ticking cloth they found to line the barrow? :)

Hope you're getting signs of Spring, too!

Spring-y colored fun

It is the end of January 
(already!!! - where did the whole month go??!)
so snow is the norm here in central Ohio...
and true to form, it's is snowing and blowing here again, today,
with another half foot of accumulation expected.  YA!
And since I finished my snowmen quilt 
and the little snowman runner for the giveaway, 
I decided it was time to start on something a little more Spring-like.

It just so happens that I've  signed up for a swap
within a repro/prim group,
and the swap is for a Spring-y, little quilt.
Guess that means it's time 
to play in some light and bright reproduction fabric!

Don't those colors look like Spring-y fun?
Who said that Reproduction colors are dark and gloomy? 

I've also decided to quilt it in big-stitch,
with that gorgeous, variegated purple Valdani pearl cotton!
Definitely Spring-y on this blustery Winter day!

Happy end of January to you,
and hope you can do a little stitching today.

PS - I heard from Di, the winner in my giveaway, 
so the little snowman quilt is sliding along the snow to New York!