Sweet land of liberty #2

February is a short month, I know, 
but it seemed to me to fly by.
I did seem to accomplish quite a bit in 28 days though!!
I made 66 churn dash blocks for a swap.
I did a couple of Dear Jane blocks to send to a friend who's under the weather.
I'm working on a small quilt for a swap.
AND...
I have my second month of blocks done for the
Sweet Land of Liberty sew-along 
(LINK to see all the fun:  hosted by Lori of Humble Quilts):

Looking at this picture, 
I think I'll add some stitched eyes now 
instead of buttons later, though.
It's fun to be back working on this one again after a long vacation from it.

Oh, and I had a birthday this month!
I get to be 59!!!! 
A friend made me a decadent cake

It's now one candle per decade they said, 
and they rounded up to 60 for me 😊

and Sweetie and friends took me out for a pizza party!

I'm thankful for another birthday to celebrate, wonderful family, and special friends and celebrations of any kind.

Happy Stitching everyone!
Hope your February was sweet and
you had some time to spend with your stitching 
or whatever trouble fun you like to participate in.

stitching away play

I mentioned last week about my 
quilting friends' group challenge
to use up stash.....
I'm just here to say that fabric diets are difficult 😁
But I don't "owe" any fresh pretzels - yet.

I have been playing,
stitching away on some projects in progress,
and it feels good to play with my 'toys' I haven't had out for a while.

In this stitching vein/thread,
I've joined Lori, of Humble Quilts blog,
and a great group of like-minded folks,
to stitch on the quilt -
Sweet Land of Liberty,
an old Cheri Payne design (now out of print).
It made total sense to me, as I'd worked on this great primitive quilt before.
Like nine years ago, before.
Ooops, where does time go when you're having fun?
And I still love it, so I'm not counting how long it's been resting, 
and am declaring it part of my 
Get it Finished This Year challenge.... aka GIFTY.

So, for month one of the Humble Quilts Sew Along,
here are the first blocks I've done...
(link to the group challenge to be added later this week)

I already had the big applique blocks done, but had to add all the embroidery... AND, I made the Economy Blocks, plus a few extra, which I have not trimmed down as of yet, (because I know how some of these Cheri patterns sometimes need a coping strip added occasionally 😀).

I'm off to go do some more stitching, 
(and not purchase any new fabric)!
Hope you are enjoying your day, too!

a new year!

I welcomed in the New Year with happiness, and hope you did, too.
We (Sweetie and I) hosted a new year's eve dinner and card party - 11 people, with delicious foods brought in by all attending.  It was perfect and peaceful and fun.
Lots of visiting and laughter.  We chose to play progressive euchre with two tables of four, and three sitting out each game rotation, so we all had time to visit AND play cards, with the games ending right before the televised ball drop in NY.

I don't usually make New Year resolutions, only to fulfill my long-ago promise made to my Great-Grandma B - to learn something new each year (which can be something small or something monumental).  
Last year, I learned more about gut health and how it affects so many things in overall health and wellness.  Don't get me started here, LOL, or I'll go on and on, but it is AMAZING what gut health controls.

In the quilting realm, I've decided this year I will finish up some already started projects.  Who knows why I have all the blocks for an entire quilt made, some not even sewn together or without borders attached. 
Like this ongoing project - 

 Farm Girl Sampler quilt blocks now together, but not pressed.

(book Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt)

Also!, a few friends and I who retreat together, 
have an ongoing challenge.... a 'bet' of sorts. 
We have chosen to not purchase any new fabric 
as we work on our unfinished projects this Winter/Spring - 
to try to use our stash.  
The first person to purchase new fabric 
will have to buy pretzels for the others -  
the awesome, freshly made, pretzels from Shipshewana, 
when we see each other again in November.

So, back to blogging, back to stitching, and back to learning!!!
Hope your January is wonderful, too!!!

I LOVE having company!

(I thought it had, and don't know why this did not publish in April, but I'm going to try it again!!!!)

So many fun & busy times were had here in April!!!
Why?, well, because
I had house guests from out of the country!
My Norwegian friends, 
who I met about five years ago at a quilt retreat,
came to visit me!

I'd not seen them for about 550 days...
but who was counting? 😁
From the time I collected them from the airport,
it was like we'd not been apart those 18 months.
We visited and caught each other up with our lives.
We grocery shopped, cooked, shared recipes,
and, of course, we ate well.

Outside the Morgan House restaurant

They were here after Easter, so we shared the tradition of 
one of our family Easter dinners with them. 

making Sun Buns!

We laughed and enjoyed ourselves to the max...
even attending a couple of wine sampling events. 😂

We visited the #1 Zoo in the United States...
THE Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

We walked and counted our steps together.
We also did some important shopping....,
visiting local quilt shops!

 

And not-so-local shops, too!

The last full week they were here,
we attended a quilt retreat in the Amish area of Indiana.
Where we also visited, ate, laughed, walked;
and shopped those local quilt shops:

Gohn Brother's

Caroline's Quilt Cottage

Just that last week of visiting the quilt shops and retreat and back to my home, we traveled 600 miles!

I love my quilt-y friends and can hardly wait until we meet up again!!
(I may be counting down the days, again!)

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.

bad bad blogger - UFOs

UFOs ... in fabric, projects, and blogs.  
I offer my sincere apologies to anyone who's been awaiting an update 
from my little part of blog-land.  
All is well here in central Ohio, and there are no excuses, 
I've just not taken the time here to sit down and write on this blog.

Fun with the family, and activities with friends, quilting and hand stitching time, too.... life just happens! Don't know how to go back and put it all into written word now without making myself crazy trying to remember what happened when, 
so I'm just going to start back in, jumping around a little as I come across pictures.

In May, at a quilt retreat, a couple friends and I started a FB group -  
Scrappy Four Patch Friends ... 
using the simple four-patch block. 
We discussed that we really wanted to challenge ourselves to 
step outside our usual fabric box - 
and not necessarily use the fabrics that we are normally drawn to.
 
I have many double four patch blocks made:

 Like 400!!  
(Most of us are making the little four-patch pieces cut at 1.5", and the larger squares cut at 2.5" to make the double four-patch.)
Stitched into rows and ready to press:

Lots and lots of polka dots in double four-patch blocks!
Definitely NOT my usual civil war repros!, but loving it!!!

Such a simple layout, but will be a great look, I think.

If you are interested in joining in, 
you can search facebook for the group 
Scrappy Four Patch Friends, 
and I'll get you added!

Happy middle of September, and hope everyone is doing well!

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