a few pics from NQA Colulmbus OH

I know one of the winners!!!

Civil War 150th Commemorative Quilt
Colleen, Centerville, OH

Colleen won Honorable Mention in the category Duet quilt, large! 

I was present when she saw that she had ribbons and it was so exciting!  Congrats, friend!!! 

Her quilt was made from a Barbara Brackman sew along (on-line), 54 blocks, each depicting an historical event during the Civil War.  And, my close-up of the quilt didn't turn out, so this is what I have:  She made this for a new grand-daughter, & there is much symbolism in the quilt.  Now there's more documentation with ribbons! (it was quilted by Linda French - thus the Duet category).

The piecing was perfection, as were her fabric choices.  The quilting was block specific, so it was great-looking from the back, too.

Also, I asked the winner to autograph my program, which she even personalized for me :)

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American Vortex by Marilyn Hardy, Tyler, TX

American Vortex was from an 1910 quilt design, but she added appliqued eagles and stars...and the quilting spiraled out from the center.  I loved the red and white!

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Cherry Rose by Merna Hilkert, Cambridge Springs, PA

 Very nice applique, and lots of perfect circles! Red-White-Green...very sharp looking!

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"Big Bertha" by Margaret Solomon Gunn, Gorham, ME

 A traditional Dresden quilt with a modern twist, great borders, and she named it after her grandmother, which I loved.  It had beautiful quilting! (First, I don't have a whole quilt picture, sorry.
Also, don't know why it's turned sideways, sorry again.  It was very LARGE and beautiful.)

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Redbud Ramble by Linda Roy of Knoxville, TN

This was a great tree quilt (I love trees!) She used graph paper and did all hand-work: appliqued, quilted, & embroidered!-all original!

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Well, that's it for tonight...
I get to work at the LQS tomorrow
(which is right off a main highway through the center of Ohio),
and with the quilt show in town,
many folks traveling to and fro will stop in for a visit.

It's great to see everyone heading to/from the show -
hope you can stop in too, if you're heading to town this weekend!

quilt show time

It's that time again!!  
The National Quilt Association show 
is in town
this weekend.

I'm so excited!
I have my camera all charged and
early tomorrow morn, 
I'm picking up friends on the way
and off we go to the 44th annual NQA show.

The theme this year is Celebrate America -

so there should be some great patriotic entries.

And of course

vendors to shop, friends to visit with and

inspiration!

Hopefully I'll have some great photos to share afterwards.

summer time & quilting

Well, the weather sure took a turn to the HOT here!!!
Summer has arrived, right on schedule and let us know it!
And "DD" - the long-arm machine, is in the sun room.
The sun room that faces the southwest...
you can guess what that means, can't you?
I've been doing some HOT quilting :)

Quilting for other folks, not for me...

(good for them, not so much for my stash-shrinkage).

Here's Elaine's log cabin table topper:

52" square

(No, I have not started mine yet :), but I think I've quilted five of these now.)

 



And four more hot pad blocks for Sharon:

each 14 inches square

 

Sharon is in her first applique class and is up-to-date now with her three blocks each month of this "Our Flower Garden" class at The Good Wives Co. in Marion (and, again, you still can't tell she's just a beginner quilter - it's pretty amazing).

On the note of cherry-picking - this could be the best crop we've had in over a decade!  I'm almost tired of pickin' :0 but they are so deliciously tart! and will be oh, so good this Winter.
Happy last week of June to you!
I'm off to do a little stitching of my own.

eggs, moons & cherries

It's that time again!!!
Summer starts today -

that means it's time to gather your eggs

and stand them on end!!
Wait!! That works better on the first days of  Spring and Autumn...

(I had to borrow this pic, as I couldn't find my pictures of
previous egg standings...
yes, I have made my eggs stand up, and yes, I have taken pictures!)

Today is the longest day of the year!
And, it's almost time for the SUPER MOON!!!
Yeah, that's it!
Be forewarned! 

Weird happenings can be expected

the next couple of days and nights

when the Full-Super Moon arrive!!

Way too much gravitational pull or something :)

You can bet I'll have my camera out for that, too.

All I know for sure is that this is the time of year
to protect the cherries!!!

Meet Plastic, the owl.

We have him to watch over our cherry tree:

Somehow, the birds know

right when the cherries are "ripe for the picking"

and can clean off a tree before you can get your bucket out!!

Unless you have a good friend like our Plastic!

With the help of our friend, Plastic,

and some tree netting,

we get most of the cherries

and the birds just have a snack

not the other way around.

Sweetie and I have picked just five or six quarts of cherries so far - enough to freeze a couple of quarts and make a couple of  small cobblers to take to the neighbors. 

More to pick and freeze this weekend.

I just love this time of year!

Well, minus the eggs, weird happenings from the Super Full Moon, and the

cherry picking birds.

Happy first day of Summer to you! 

rig-a-ma-role

So..
Those of you who are following your favorite blogs
with Google reader 
have probably heard that Google reader
is shutting down at the end of this month. 
 
If you have no idea what the heck I'm talking about,

join the club! :)

I'm trying to keep up with all the "new tricks"

- linking, listing, following, etc.

And hopefully as I'm learning, I'm not messing things up!

It's still fun to me, so I guess that's the main thing!

If you have been following me with Google reader,

this is just to inform you

that you can now follow me by using Bloglovin'.

And if I'm understanding the whole rig-a-ma-role,
in order to do so, I have to claim this blog.
Drumroll!!!!!

Here's me, staking my claim:

Dibbs.

Shotgun.

MyLifeIsAStitch.blogspot.com is mine! 
All mine! 
My ramblings, photos, sharing.

So, if you'd like to be notified when I write a new post,
just click on the Bloglovin' button on my sidebar to sign up.
That way you'll be notified when your favorite bloggers have something to share.
At least that's how it's supposed to work.  :)

Here's hoping it's smooth sailing!

Finally, I leave you with a picture from a NYC trip...
from the top of the Rock,

a little nautical and quilting inspiration:

 :)
Happy sailing and stitching this week!

more meandering aka quilting

Jean made this great table topper:

and I got to quilt it!

She did a wonderful job - no splaying corners in her log house :).

It finished about 42 inches square

and I used the Sashiko machine to quilt

each "log" in the cabin and the two borders. 

This is the quilt pattern and kit that made me think I needed this particular quilt for my bed/size and made to summer weight.  Hasn't happened yet, but it's still in the back of my mind.  AND I certainly have the stash to use, so it may just happen yet.

loving Lucy

Lucy -
as in Lucy Boston...
Patchwork of the crosses...

My blocks for May:

The colors in the picture are a little funky - sorry.
The top left blocks is red, gold and blue - all Jo Morton fabrics I think.
The bottom right block is a great blue and cheddar. 
And it needs eight more pieces put on,
but I've not found the right fabric yet.
You know what that means, right?
Stash enhancement time!!! :)

Still lovin' those elongated hexies!

sweetness!

With all the gatherings last weekend,
I, of course, did some cooking and baking. 
I love to cook for family...because they so appreciate it!

Daughter had sent me a link to a cake recipe she thought looked & sounded good.
I gathered the supplies and created this monster of a dessert:

Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake with White Chocolate Icing

 

(I didn't take a photo of the cake when it was whole and pretty looking, but I did take these shots after the party was over and the cake was a little saggy.)

So, the cake's original recipe (link here) called for a

made from scratch chocolate cake,

a scratch cheesecake with broken, double-stuffed Oreos,

and

scratch icing made with melted white chocolate.

Oh, yeah, and dotted with mini Oreos for polka dots.

 

I mostly bake from scratch, and rarely do I not change something in a recipe.  This was no exception. 
With three different scratch recipes to make, I did change it up just a little...

I used a box cake mix for the chocolate cake part.

So what you see is a two layer, dark chocolate cake,
"filled" with a separately made, steam-baked Cheesecake with broken Oreos,
then iced with a very sweet icing of butter, whipping cream, powdered sugar AND melted white chocolate.

All of those parts of cake would have been individually GREAT...

but layer all together, with white chocolate icing between and all over?

WAY too sweet for my taste!

Sure didn't stop the family, though. 
And THAT is why it's great to cook for family-
they SO appreciate it (even if it's way too sweet)!

another baby quilt plus a question

Another baby, another "small" finish:

I cut 2 1/2 inch by 10 inch strips and

did my own small version of Trip Around the World

(with five-square blocks).

All scrappy strips, and border & backing from stash.

Can't tell from my picture, but that's a pretty, purple batik border (that finished about 2 1/2 inches), so a made-in-a-day quilt for a baby shower gift.  I was unable to make it to the shower, as we had a BOAT LOAD of  "stuff"  for this past weekend, so I sent it along with the grandma-to-be.
I sure think it turned out cute.

Now the question:
Do you gift quilts? 
And if you gift a quilt, do you intend, like or dislike
the gifted quilt to be used?

I know that a gift is just that:

a gift.

It's use, how it's used, or not,

 is up to the recipient's discretion.

I have no control for after it is gifted...I'm not questioning that.

 

I'm just surprised by the number of folks that I quilt-gift to

that choose to "put them up"

for the child to have when they are grown.

OR, an adult who's received a quilt and "puts it up for good".

I guess that while I'm making a quilt:
cutting and piecing and quilting and binding,
that I'm enjoying the whole process
and envisioning the comfort, smiles and USE that the quilt will bring. 
I never have imagined that it would be "put up" as an heirloom...
I might have to re-think my quilt making!  Heirloom??!! - pressure, pressure! :) 

Thoughts?

Now, back to the shower-quilt-gift, shown above...
the shower was for a good friend's d-i-l,
but to be held at a location over two and a quarter hours drive one way.
I explained to the good friend about all the "stuff" I already had planned for the day
and she totally understood (as her daughter lives out of state also).

So with daughter home/airport pick-up and drop-off,
family in for dinner to visit out-of-state visitor,
two grad parties and a wedding shower this weekend, 
PLUS the out of town baby shower,
I chose to stay home and visit, not travel the almost 5 hours to the shower.
I decided I needed a Jethro Gibbs-like "rule" (:no # yet:) -
RULE:  I have to be able to stay at a party longer than the total drive time
or I can't make it. :)

So, the weekend is over, & my boat-load has (mostly) disembarked...
company is gone, dinners (plural) done, parties & showers over for this weekend, some laundry going & dishwasher running now.
AND it's almost Monday! I need to do some stitching to relax!

Hope your weekend was great, too.
Happy June!