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!!

Beautiful October

I don't think I have a favorite month,
or even favorite time of year....
But this October, here in central Ohio?
It has been awesome!!!
The weather has been almost Summer-like,
with lots of family fun times,
many special times with friends, too,
some stitching time thrown in,
and even a little fall decor I've put out! 😄

Here are a few of my favorite, Autumnal, little quilts:

Geese in the Cabin small quilt

12x12 Fall Colors, hand tied

Pumpkins and Geese - 
this pattern was in a quilt magazine 
a handful of years ago, 
that I free-motion-quilted on my long-arm

Bringing out and seeing those little quilts makes me reminisce...
Don't you just LOVE all those fabrics???  
Even if you're not a real fan of Civil War era repro fabrics, 
I think they're so home-y, so warm and vibrant.
Those little quilts, above, I made while working at a 
reproduction fabrics quilt shop, The Good Wives Company.  
The Good Wives Co. was a totally awesome shop, with such inspiration, creativity, quilty love, and wonderful people, and we were all just devastated when they closed four years ago.  I feel there's still a hole in our quilt shop community from them closing their doors. 
I'm thankful for my time there and all the quilty friendships made, and still think about them often, and miss their fabric availability, too, as you can probably tell from this writing. 

Do you have a favorite month, or favorite season for quilts??  
What's your favorite style of fabric?
And do you have a favorite quilt shop?
I try to support all the local shops, and online shops, too....
 - and laugh as I say that, 
because I don't truly NEED any more fabric,
or any more projects, either, for that matter,
to add to my Want-To-Make-Someday list.  

Happy, beautiful October to you!
I wish you wonderful Autumn weather, 
crunchy leaves, and plenty of stitching time in your day.

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!!  

I think I'm back

Finally!! I'm back, I think!  
I've been locked out of my account for some unknown reason! 
Hopefully I've fixed it!  And I'll try re-posting the pictures of some of my quilting fun that I THOUGHT I'd shared. lol

Happy Easter wishes to everyone!

More fabrics I've added to the stash recently:

Check out that cute bunny in the tulips!!

Chosen for another baby quilt

And just for fun:

 Hope your weekend is great!

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.

A great party link! Doll-quilt swap party that is

As promised, here's the link to the Doll Quilt Swap
that Lori (Humble Quilts) hosted last month:
DOLL QUILT SWAP PARTY .


It was such fun to participate!
I think that the only requirements in this swap were that
each quilt had to be under 24 inches square and be made entirely of
Civil War era reproduction fabrics.
Oh, and to be mailed by the beginning of June.

Last time I checked there were over 40 different little quilts/links,
each with the swap quilt pictured as the link.
Sooo much inspiration from quilters
from around the whole world!
If you have a few minutes (: or even an hour :) to go blog visiting,
it will be worth your time, promise!

This is the little quilt I sent off to JoAnne in Indiana:

Four-patch scraps, 17 inches square. With a  vintage salt-cellar pin cushion I made.

 and what I received from Jill:

Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!!

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!

January Hopping! & giveaway

It is hopping cold and snowy here in central Ohio,
but the hopping I'm speaking of is a Blog Hop!!

Hello and welcome to my day to share on 
the Quilt Doodle Doodles Blog Hop!
My winter-y welcome is appropriate
for the quilt that was made for this hop...

My quilt finished at just 22 inches by 26 inches.
It's machine-pieced, with wool hand-appliqued for snowmen noses, roof snow, door wreath & bow, mug steam and skate blades.

Last year, Cindy at Quilt Doodle Doodles  
offered this as a free Block Of the Month pattern 
to make a block or row each month.

I jumped right in!
But, not wanting a bed-sized quilt (approx. 70"x82"),
I choose to downsize my blocks 
so I'd end up with a wall-hanging instead.

I do admit that I thought I was half-sizing the pattern, 
but ended up smaller than half 
because my brain kind of does it's own thing sometimes. :)

The patterns that Cindy offered 

had fabric squares cut at 2 1/2 inches, finishing at 2 inches.

So to make half-sized, I should have 

cut my squares at 1 1/2 inches to finish half-sized at 1 inch.

But, oops, 

I cut my squares at half the size of her cut-size, 

so I cut at 1 1/4 inches, to finish at 3/4 inch.

Besides the down-sizing,
I made a couple of other small changes...
One change was to not put in a row of Christmas-y light bulbs.  
I made them, and love them, 
but wanted this little quilt to stay Winter-y looking,
so I could leave it displayed longer than just the Christmas season.

The second change was instead of the light bulb row,
I used the scrap corners leftover from my Snowman row

 and made these cute little pinwheels!:

Yes, each little, eight piece, white pinwheel is 3/4 of an inch!

My final change was that I re-arranged the placement of my rows to space out my light-colored rows.
Then, on to my quilting.
The whole time I was making this little quilt, 
I was thinking I would hand-quilt it.
I even had it pin-basted in preparation of hand-quilting:

Pin-basted from the back.

WRONG!  Funny, funny me.
The little pieces in this quilt are only three-quarters of an inch!!
That means that the 
seam allowances cover most of the back of each little square!
NOT conducive to hand-quilting.
Instead of hand quilting,  I started by doing some stitch-in-the-ditch on my domestic machine.
Then I loaded it onto the long-arm machine
and did a little echo quilting around the snowmen heads and candies across the top, 
with some clouds and windy-swirls thrown in around the house and trees.

I love my little finish, 
and loved the sew-along qualities of the BOM offering from Cindy.
It was fun checking in each month with others making the same pattern, seeing their progress and creativity.

You can visit today's other bloggers on the January Hop, too:

Kathy-Kathy's Quilting Blog

Nicole - quiltinglikeamaniac

Pam - Stitching Between the Lines

Jill - Hosted by Quilt Doodles
Debra - My Life Is A Stitch  (you are here)

My thanks to Cindy for offering this at no cost, for the great patterns, and hosting this Hop to share all the cuter-than-cute finishes.

Thanks to you also for visiting and doing some January Hopping!

PS - Cindy is offering a new B.O.M. for this year, so visit her blog to check it out!!
ALSO, she's having a giveaway, so when you visit her blog - just leave her a comment to enter.

PPS - Leave a comment here for me,
as I'm doing a little giveaway, too!!  
I have an extra, little string of snowmen to share!

still April, barely and wise Pooh words

This year is a quarter over already!!!
Time is still flying by - imagine that. :)

Somewhere along the line,
I decided that I could do this,
add that,
and do more of something else...
Why did I think I'd have the time to add even more?

Is this a personal flaw or does everyone do the same?

I'm talking about the adding of another project

into the fullness of life... 

another block of the month,

another quilt project,

adding a baby shower gift,

etc., etc., etc., to the

already overflowing list of "THINGS to DO".

 

I don't think I'm alone here.

If anyone has an answer to this dilemma,

please let me know!

(: but, I won't give up all sleep :)

 

Anyway, since it IS still April,

so just under the wire,

here's my 'half-pint'*

April 'Sparkling Stars' row for 

Quilt Doodle Doodles

Block of the Month:

*I'm doing these blocks at half the size as the pattern,

so instead of using two and a half inch strips/squares,

I'm cutting at one and a quarter inches.

 

Thanks, Cindy, for another cute pattern this month!!

And in just a few days, there will be the May block -

I know...more time!

 

And in the words of the wise Pooh bear:

 

“The main problem with this great obsession

for saving time is very simple: you can't save time.

You can only spend it.

But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.”  

Winners & another quilt-a-long

This is what I sent to my winners from last week:

"The yellow ones don't stop" 
was a trivia question from my New York City trip -
you know...the trip THREE WEEKS AGO
 where I came back with Flu York...
I'm finished with feeling yucky-finally, mostly.  
Flu is gone, it's now just a residual bronchial happening.   
I can deal with that - drugs and more drugs.

Anyway, 'cause I was bored, 
(three weeks without leaving your house will do that)
and shopping browsing online,
I ordered this book for myself...a get-better-quick gift.

Simply Charming 

Small Scrap Quilts of Yesteryear

by Tara Lynn Darr

I also ordered a couple extra copies of this book
to send to my WINNERS!!

It's a great book for vintage, small quilt projects.

Also, since I've been bored and online,
I found a group of quilters
doing a quilt-a-long FROM THIS BOOK!!!
HERE (Kathy at Kindred Quilts)
and HERE (Darlene at Quilting Daze).

What's better than that?

A great new book 

AND 

a vintage, small quilt quilt-a-long 

at the same time!!!

So, congrats Cheryl and Terry!
I know you'll love the the book!
Just don't know if you'll love me 
for finding you a new, YEAR LONG, quilting project!!

Happy Stitching!!