Planning

I have this friend Judie. We met 15 years ago at real estate school, we were the only two women in the room. we immediately hit it off and within the first hour we found out that we both quilt! What are the chances of that happening? The very next day we both brought in show and tell for the lunch break.
Since that time we have become the best of friends and feel like we have known each other forever. Our paths should have crossed many times because of all the people we knew but they never did until that day.
She knows me well! These are two presents I got for my birthday (we usually celebrate my birthday and Christmas at the same time) and I can't wait to read them.

Judie also fell in love with the Tula Pink fabrics and bought these for me!

Is this not a great idea for my old eyes?? Lighted and a magnifying glass! Hopefully I won't be needing it much......

Another book that santa brought me and it's wonderful. She has a great technique for facing your quilts (not using a binding) that is worth it alone!

I am sure many of you are scratching you head wondering what this is doing on my blog???? The Lancaster Modern Quilt Guild challenged us for January to dig out a UFO, finish it and bring it to our meeting. Obviously this was made a long, long time ago. I am thinking the early 1990's.
I spent a lot of time on the star and wanted to at least finish it even if it wasn't my colors anymore.

I ripped off the two applique blocks.....

and added a reproduction fabric I had in my stash.....I am not sure why it was there. I had just enough to cut out the squares and triangles, it was meant to be. This picture was taken at night and the colors work very well together. I don't know that I will get it quilted before Tuesday but I will still bring it. Thank you to everyone who gave me advice on Y seams, they weren't hard at all.

I joined in a swap with the Modern Quilt Guild. The quilt was to be no larger than 24 x 24. I love that I have become so comfortable doing curves, it opens many more design possibilities. I needed to get this done early because the mailing date is right around the time my daughter is due to have her baby.

I did an easy curved quilting pattern which is fun and no stopping or starting.

For small quilts this easy triangle corners technique works very well and is simple to do.

As much as I love all the red that is Christmas, I am ready for it all to be put away. Everything needs a good cleaning. We have a dinner tonight, a party tomorrow during the day and one at night so I don't think it will be happening this weekend. Sunday will truly be a day of rest!

And this girl loves a list! I am planning a deep deep cleaning/purging/organizing of my entire house this coming year. We have been here 31 years, kids have come and gone so it's time.
I don't do resolutions but I am going to try and do some things different in the upcoming year. How about you?

Kelly

Lone Star Love

My Lone Star quilt is complete!  I am so happy to check this one off the list. It is my interpretation of an antique quilt I saw in a Fons and Porter magazine years ago. The original was also on display in Boston this year, you may have seen it all over blogland.

It was machine quilted by Barbara Persing. She has quilted a few quilts for me and I like how she understood what I wanted. I even drew quilt lines on paper and gave them to her, so she had a map to work from.

This is a very traditional quilt and I wanted traditional quilting.

I wasn't able to see how the original was quilted in the picture but I knew I wanted feather type quilting around the applique.

I am also happy with the quilting on the trees, it looks like bark.

Yep, I like it!

So does my husband, he always comments on  how it pulsates when you look at it. I think it may be called Psychedelic Lone Star.
Have a great weekend!

Kelly

Wednesday Sewing and Mad Men Cocktails

I like Wednesdays, it's the one day I don't have to be anywhere early in the morning. Somedays I don't even leave the house, like today.
I got one block of Facing East made and I love it. It is all paper pieced. You will notice this is not my normal color pallette. I daresay it looks sort of festive and fallish.

The center in the top picture is not sewn down. I am not sure if I will needle turn it or do this other method. Sew around the circle with a light weight interfacing, make a slit in the center and turn right side out.

Press well into a perfect circle. Next you can hand or machine applique it down. I am leaning towards machine sewing.

I finally  broke down and made my red binding for the Lone Star quilt.

There was a lot of clicking of the beads as it was squared it up. It took me over an hour. I was so afraid of cutting it wrong.

On the home stretch now.

Lots of people asked for the cocktail recipe so here you go.....It's especially good if you have a Mad Men type pitcher complete with a glass stirrer.

Jalapeno Spiced Paloma Cocktail (makes 1)

1/2 tsp of Agave sweetener (or you can use simple syrup)

1 oz of lime juice

2 oz of white grapefruit juice

1 1/2 oz of club soda

2 oz of jalapeno tequila......Here in Pennsylvania we have state stores, that means a very limited selection. So I improvised and poured 16 oz (I was making a pitcher) of tequila in a canning jar, next I sliced in half 2 jalapenos and threw them in and let it sit for about 24 hrs. It did the trick.

Rub glass with lime, twirl in some Kosher salt, garnish with a lime and if you are real brave, float in some sliced jalapenos! Enjoy! I put a lot of ice in it as they were very strong.

On another note, I am not getting comments emailed to me from mostly Yahoo users. Does anyone know what's up with that? The same thing happens when I leave a comment for someone who has a Yahoo account, it bounces back. Thanks!

Kelly

Pink

My pink baby quilt is finished and now just needs some quilting. A lot of times I just skip the border or slap on a plain border and call it a day. I really like this border and it was easy to make.
My favorite part is little red riding hood in the center.

I played with the borders before I sewed them on. I have always wanted to make this zig zag pattern, now I really want to make one!

This was an interesting design too.....

A garden update.....isn't this an awesome sunflower? It is black when it first blooms, I find it a very interesting addition to my garden, it has multiple stems.

My Gerbera Daisies are flourishing this year, maybe the cooler temps?

As long as I live I will always have black eyed susans and

zinnias in my garden. Mother nature gets her colors perfect everytime!

Your comments on the Blue Scrap Giveaway have been fun to read. One person wants Maddy to start her own blog, please don't give her any ideas! She already is begging for her own cell phone.... Check it out if you are interested in winning a big box of blue scraps.

I never do this but I am today. I got my lone star quilt back from Barb Persing, the long arm quilter. It is amazing, she did a super job. It is supposed to rain all weekend so there is a good chance I will get it bound this weekend.

Ok, one more.......

Kelly

Lone Star Quilt

I am so happy to be able to show you  this quilt today. It fits right in with the Christmas season but it was not made to be a Christmas quilt. I love red and green together, it is such a classic! It is not yet quilted and I am trying to figure out what I want to do. The center really does radiate!

The pattern was an antique quilt I saw in an old Fons & Porter magazines years ago. I tore out the picture and saved it.

The quilt did not have any instructions so I drafted my own pattern and tweaked it just a bit to work with my style of sewing.

The center was giving me issues.....I could not line up the center lines even though I tried 5 times. I gave up and used a solution my friend Suzanne used, put a circle on it. I think it draws your eye to the center. I like it better with it than without.

This quilt makes me happy every time I look at it.

Is it making you dizzy? You will notice I had to have some more red....

I also did some sewing for myself. I am having 36 people here for Christmas Eve. New potholders were in order!

I used up lots of scraps....

just had some fun....

and added a little bit of quilting.

A Christmas plate was used as a template to keep with my theme.

The back of one

So do you know what today is? Do you want some of my scraps that were used to make the potholders? Take a guess, leave me a comment and I will draw a random name on Monday and send them out.

Have a great weekend, we are getting snow again!

Kelly

Getting There....

The halves are joined and I am breathing a sigh of relief that it went together quite nicely, no lumps or bumps!

Today I took Griffin, Elliot and Maddy to see the Odd Life of Timothy Green. I really liked it and got very teary! I think a lot of it went over the kids' heads, they were a little antsy. If you are in the mood to see a sweet story this is it!

Kelly