forget-me-nots and gardening time

My gardening time lately has been limited
to some stitching time on my Gardener's Alphabet block -

Forget-Me-not:

It was a whole lotta'  cast-on-stitch flowers
and even more french knots:

But I love how it turned out!!!
It's not pressed or trimmed down,
and I don't even have the basting threads out,
but I'm counting it DONE!
I have the last two blocks already colored and heat set, 
just need some stitching time. lol
My last two blocks are the
Dicentra, aka Bleeding Heart:

 and the English Daisy:

How about you?  Are you getting some stitching time in?

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!!  

meeting blog friends

So...
almost all of the quilt sharing pictures that I took
at the quilting retreat were a big fail!!! 
I didn't have a good location for picture taking -
back many rows and off to the side,
so each of my quilt pictures
featured a head (or four)
between me and the quilt I was photographing.
(I may have to borrow some from a friend who was front and center.)

I do have one good picture from my camera
that a friend took for me -
I got to meet up IN PERSON with a couple of blog friends!
One of the gals that also goes to retreat - Judy -
asked if I was doing the small doll quilt swap
with Lori of Humble Quilts.
I was, but she wasn't this year.
But that got us talking about swaps we'd done before
and she said that someone that I'd swapped with in years prior
lived close to the retreat area...
So we messaged her (facebook has its benefits)
and she was able to come to visit during retreat!!!
Here we are!!:

Judy (left) from blog fame Small Quilts and Doll Quilts,
JoAnne (center) from blog fame The Patriotic Quilter,
and me on the right, standing in front of a beautiful Jane Stickle quilt.
Lunch and chatting and sharing for most of an afternoon...
I love how quilting brought us together!!!

They both have wonderful blogs and do fantastic quilty-work -
if you have some time, check them out and say hi!

I'm back to doing some stitching,
and then after lunch,
some weekend fun with the grands!
Happy Saturday!

retreat, rested and renewed

Does anyone else LOVE retreating as much as I do?
I'm talking quilt retreat here, but any retreat will do it...
you come back SO rested and renewed.
Even if, at the retreat, you don't accomplish much?

During my 3 days of retreat, I pieced together an
ENTIRE baby quilt top.
Yep - a whole 50 inches square.  LOL
Here's a peek of the 70-ish chosen fabrics:

(Better pictures after it's gifted.)

One of my favorite quilts at the retreat was
a friend's little finish...

Isn't it the greatest???
The patterns are by Kathy Schmitz, (My Little Patterns: Little Garden, Little Home, Little Stitches, Little Year)
and Amy hand-embroidery-stitched them at 60% of the original size.
I have the patterns, and already reduced them down to 50%!
Great minds think alike!
Can't wait to get started on another stitchery!!

Hope your Friday is Tony The Tiger Grrrrrreat!!!

Last of the missing quilt posts...

I think!!
Finishing up with Patty's quilts from December gifting;
reminder - she used the table-decor bandanas from her
50th wedding anniversary party and made quilts for each of her
grandchildren as memories of their help
in hosting the special party for their grandparents.
She made herself this one -
s small lap quilt with Autumn colors and bittersweet berries:

 

Then after Christmas,
she decided she wanted to use up the rest of the bandanas
and made herself a bed-sized quilt:

So sweet that she made EIGHT memory quilts!! I just love how she used the wedding anniversary bandana decor!

Continuation

of the missing quilted quilt posts.

More from Patty -
These were from mid-December;
she used the Bandanas from the table decor
from her 50th wedding anniversary party,
and incorporated them into quilts for her grandchildren...
She chose fabric to go with the bandanas that fit each of their interests.
Great idea, and I'm sure SO special for each of the grandchildren
for memories of their grandparents' 50th anniversary
that they helped in planning!!!
Pinwheels, bandanas, Republicans, and flowers:

 Rail Fences, Bandanas and Patriotic:

 Rail Fences, bandanas and musical notes:

 Finally, The Stack!:

Are they not just SO sweet??