Betsy Ross I Am Not

My little Dolly Quilt is all done except for the binding, and the little buttons that go on the dresses.

This was my first choice for the binding. It felt a bit much though...

For some reason I kept thinking it had to be pink....I am not feeling this one either.

Even though purple is not my favorite, I do have some in the stash. I think this might be the one.

My husband came home from his trip with a much needed repair. This is on the back of his bike and get whipped around like crazy.

I repaired it a few years ago and I think it is time for a new one. It could also use a good bath!

Kelly

Home Alone

My husband was away for 4 days on a motorcycle trip and I was looking forward to a few days of uninterrupted sewing. I had planned on finishing the Dolly Quilt and finish or start working on some other things.

Grandsons, Griffin and Elliot had an inservice day from school on Friday. I haven't see them in a while so it was nice to spend the day with them. Once they are in school, those days are far and few between. They are working on self portraits, more on that to come. There will be a quilt.

Saturday morning was a soccer game and Saturday afternoon a birthday party. By the time I got home I was not in the mood to sew and the last show before the mid-season break from Outlander was on. We are hooked big time. I really like how it is following the book pretty well.

Sunday was a baby shower so that day went by fast too.

I wanted to tell you that I had my Dear Diary Quilt appraised at the quilt show. To my surprise it was appraised at $1,000! I don't know what I thought it would be, but I am ok with it.

I urge you to do this if you put a quilt in a show that has an appraiser. It's a nice document to have especially if it is an unusual quilt. I loved how she called it "highly original"!
The judges comments left a bit to be desired. A well known quilter said this....."What a fun idea creating a unique quilt. Interesting diary quilt that documents your life and expands your talents. The provenance of your quilt is well documented." While that is all nice I would have liked some constructive criticism too, or maybe I should interpret it as just perfect?
 (-:

Kelly

Rainy Thursday

The swap I am in is a secret. The person I am making for does not know who I am, and I do not know the person who is making my quilt. We are encouraged to show things that we like from the book so our partner has some ideas. I happen to like this hexagon quilt with the embroidered bee........hint hint.

I got my background pieces cut out today, (88) 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 pieces! A lot of cutting but my scraps came in handy and made this a quick job.

Remember this? I started it a few weeks back. I took them with me to our getaway in the Poconos and worked a little bit on them. It's rainy here today, sorry for the lousy pictures.

They are time consuming but not hard. I am enjoying working with this color palette, it feels like fall.
I have some time this weekend to sew and may go back to these. Is this called Sewing ADD? I also have some NEW projects I would love to start.....too many things to make, so little time.

Kelly

Wonderful Wednesday

I made this little needle keeper for a friend who recently celebrated a big birthday! I had such a fun time making it and I love the theme as she does ride her bike with her dog in the basket.

I got all the bow ties together today. This is fast becoming a favorite quilt. I had to be careful of all those yellows, they really jump out.

The colors really are this bright even though they are vintage (the bow ties).

These dots are a vintage feedsack fabric. It looks just like a Denyse Schmidt fabric with duller colors. Her fabric is an exact replica of the vintage fabric, even the little flowers are the same.

Amish Farm

Today really felt like a fall day.

Mennonite Farm

I was running low on eggs and decided to take a drive to enjoy the scenery and get my eggs.

I have started making my own mayo.

A fresh egg is a must. The yolk of this egg was practically orange, maybe the chicken was eating marigolds!

Not only did I get 30 eggs but 3 heads of cauliflower, 1 head of cabbage, 6 peaches, 2 zucchini, 2 tomatoes, 3 sweet potatoes, 6 turnips, 2 onions, a large bag of spinach and 3 ears of corn. All for $30! and they are organic. Well worth the trip.

Kelly

Swap

Nancy (MIL) and Johnson at Caitlin and Jim's wedding

I want to say Happy Birthday to my oldest son, Johnson! It's hard to believe I gave birth to him 38 years ago! He has grown up to be a wonderful man, husband and father.

So have you seen this book? It has some adorable little quilts in it that are perfect for gifts. I am involved in a Little Quilts Swap that is due by December 1. I think I can do this on time!

This is the quilt I chose for my partner. I don't want to give too much away in case she reads my blog but there is a reason I chose this one.

This is why I bought all those pretty handyed wools, specifically for this project.
The projects are mostly hand quilted but I am not going there and will machine quilt mine. I will probably do the half pennies the same way.

Here they are unrolled, aren't they gorgeous?

Kelly

Monday Monday

After the power sewing session last week, I have not even touched my sewing machine since I got home. It felt good to get a start on the bowtie quilt.

I really like how this is turning out. All the bowties are vintage feedsack fabrics and the backgrounds are modern up to date fabrics.

I loved the ballerinas on this fabric and didn't have enough to make one of the squares. I resorted to the old fashion way of piecing it to make it work.

This one feels very contemporary to me, I could see this in a current collection.

How fun is this?

Even I who struggle with contrast realized a lot of these were low contrast. I went ahead and used them any way. I like how some of them fade in and out, like old quilts. It makes you have to really look at the fabrics.

One of the things I bought at the quilt show were these bundles of hand dyed wool.  I have a definite project in mind for these little pretties.

I really like how they are gradated. Isn't this a pretty blue?

This is where I got them. Jackie is a fun person with lots of beautiful wool. Call or email her if you have something in mind.

We had some campers in our woods this weekend.

Griffin and Elliot

My grandsons, Griffin and Elliot camped out with their mom and dad. They cooked sausage over the campfire in the morning, with some honey buns to go along just in case.........

Kelly

Random Post

Things are looking bad. I have not even unpacked my stuff from out getaway in the Poconos.

We celebrated Cheryl's 60th birthday. I hope she doesn't kill me for letting that out! It was so nice and she was very touched. There are not 60 candles on that cake, even though it might look like it!

I worked on the paper piecing project and now have 4 blocks complete, they take forever! I am really enjoying the colors, a departure from my normal pallette.
I also completed all my bowtie blocks and will show them to you later this week.

Jane was sewing furiously to get this all together before she left and was successful!

Terry found a snake skin (that had shed) and I brought it home for the grandkids. You know it will be a hit at show and tell.

This was the head, see the eye at the top? I have never seen one this amazing and intact.

One of our quilting friends, Lynne is a finalist for the Pillsbury Cookoff! Her recipe is called Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee Bread Pudding with Candied Bacon. It looks delicious. Congratulations Lynne and I really think you need to get that blog started so we can follow along, one delicious recipe after the other....We look forward to the competition on November 3.  Lynne is also a super nice lady, what a great combination!

I did go to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza. My Dear Diary quilt is hanging in the show, so that was fun to see. I got this book I have been eyeing for some time now. It's super, with great antique quilts.

I also found this adorable little book that I will be giving to my granddaughter.

Perfect timing as she will be getting a new sibling in the spring.
We had quite a discussion about Edyta Sitar at our getaway. Some knew about her and others did not. If you leave a comment, tell me if you know about her or if you have had her as a speaker. I would love to get some feedback.
Don't you love how the fabric in the book is her actual fabric? Nice touch!

I promise to regroup and get back on the blog soon. I missed you all!

Kelly