HOSPITAL QUILTS

I finished my Noah's ark wall hanging from Lynette Anderson Designs - it is still available for anyone interested - FREE. I really like how it turned out.
This is the 3rd design from Gail Pan's BOM. The new one is out, so I will do that next.
At my work, I am able to take one day of leave per year to do volunteer work, so I usually take that day and work on quilts for my guild - we donate to the VA hospital and Children's Medical Center in Dallas. The baby quilt is for the Children's hospital.
This is a wheel chair quilt for the Veterans Hospital.
Here are some goodies I found at a local garage sale for $1.80! You can't have too many buttons!
And I love doileys and vintage pot holders.

VISIT WITH CHRISTINE LEFEVER

One of the highlights of my trip to Oregon (besides being with family) is my visit with Christine LeFever, a maker of dolls in early styles. I read about her in the February issue of Country Living magazine. From the magazine, I found her web site and from there I found her blog . I'm not sure where I got the nerve, but I emailed her and asked if I could visit to see how she makes the dolls. She graciously said "yes."
I went with my DIL & GD to visit her at her lovely home and she immediately made us feel comfortable. She showed us around and gave us a lot of interesting information about Oregon. Her house was built in the 1800's (I forget the year) at the end of the Oregon Trail. She has it decorated with antiques and it is wonderful! She makes the doll heads in a mold and the bodies out of cloth. She loves all things old. Unfortunately, some of the pictures I took were blurred, but the one above shows some of the doll heads waiting for bodies to be made for them. You can see some finished dolls at her web site and will know why she was picked to be featured in the magazine. I want to make some dolls also, but I'm sure they won't measure up to hers.

This picture below is a cute little table in the entry hall. I don't believe this doll is one she made.
The bed in her guest bedroom has a wonderful antique quilt on it.
Here's a picture of me and Christine in the guest bedroom with some of her collections.
This visit was such fun and I'm hoping that I can visit her again some time. Travelling out to Oregon by plane and seeing the rugged wilderness, I am amazed that people used to travel out there by wagon train. Those people were brave! It makes us seem rather wimpy, doesn't it?

Thanks, Christine, for the wonderful time!

BACK FROM OREGON

We just returned from a fabulous trip to Oregon to visit my BIL/SIL and son#1's family. Below is a pic of our son's house (built around 1890) which they moved into last summer. (Do you see the black cat)? The trees and flowers were beautiful! The pic above was taken while driving over Mt. Hood - we had to get a car with 4-wheel drive because of the snow. Sure was pretty!
I missed doing much blogging while there. However, I was able to do some shopping in quilt stores!! Below are some pictures of my purchases. The first one has some scraps from a neat shop in McMinnville, OR (Boersma's). They have a chest with scraps costing 50 cents per ounce. I purchased some pieces that I can use in eye spy quilts, etc.
They also had these Moda scrap bags for $9.99 with lots of strips. The strips are about 4" wide. I have gotten these near home also, but this bag seemed fuller!
The buttons are also from Boersma's in McMinnville. You can pick out buttons from a bin and put them into a cup for $1.50. My GD got 2 cups full and I got 1 cup! I also got the charm pack on the right from them. The other items below are from a quilt shop in Prineville OR, Bend, OR and Sisters, OR. I didn't buy too much, did I? I love the quilt shop in Sisters (The Stitchin' Post), but they have mostly more modern fabrics and I'm rather partial to reproductions.
In Prineville, my SIL & I went to an estate sale and I got 12 yards of quilting fabric for $9.00!!!! That's my kind of price. I also got these hankies - someday I'm going to figure out something to make with them. Anyone have any ideas? I've been collecting this type of hanky for a while.
Next post I'll tell you about a very special visit I had with a famous doll maker. I'll do that this weekend! It's good to be back home, but I'm not so sure I'm glad to be back at work. I need time to sew!!!!!

LOOT FROM DALLAS QUILT SHOW

Here's my second month of Willowberry Designs . I have the next one ready to start stitching.
Here's the second block in the "A tisket, a tasket" BOM from Bunny Hill Designs . At least I can say I'm learning some things about applique! I bought a couple bias tape makers at the quilt show. (See picture below).
LOOT: some reproduction fat quarters,
A panel of flags,
wool, 2 yards of white on white and 1 yard of red with little airplanes, more FQs, an apron pattern and the bias tape makers.
I had to hold myself back or I could have spent lots more money! Hee Hee!!

DALLAS QUILT SHOW

I went to the Dallas Quilt Show today and took some pictures. These are some of the quilts I liked best. I like traditional patchwork best, which you can probably tell from my selections.


This quilt is by Theri, who blogs on allpeoplequilt.com . The way the colors are used makes it look like it's glowing!
This one looks three dimensional.


I love reproductions too!

It was a fun day and I spent quite a bit of time happily vising vendors & spending money! Now, I need to rest!

TOP FINISHED!!

I started sewing the quilt top together yesterday and I couldn't stop until I had it all together! Woo Hoo!! Tonight I will take it to my quilters guild meeting for show & tell!


Here's the first stitchery from Willowberry Designs .  I'm almost finished with the second one.  These are really sweet and fun to do!
Happy Stitching, everyone!

TWO MORE BLOCKS DONE

I got two more blocks finished! And I'm in a sewing mood, so I'm going to get at least one more ready tonight.

I'm looking forward to going to the Dallas Quilt Show next Saturday. Can't wait! Wish you could come with me!

POLKA DOT GIRLS - FIRST BLOCK DONE

Here is block one of the Polka Dot Girls quilt.    Let's see if I can get the top put together by the 15th of March!  

A LITTLE PROGRESS AND SOME MEMORIES

I am still working on hand piecing my tumbler quilt and added 2 more to each row. I am going to stitch about 3 or 4 more rows and then will start joining the rows together. This is not my top priority project right now.Before we leave on a 2 week vacation to Oregon to visit DS#1 & family, I want to get my Polka Dot Girls quilt top put together. I have all the sticheries finished and the hearts machine appliqued. I'm thinking about entering it in a quilt show this summer, but haven't decided yet. I don't think work is perfect enough to enter in a show.
I found this piece of fabric at a garage sale and it brought back sweet memories. I feel pretty sure it is the same fabric that my Mom made kitchen curtains out of for the house we moved into when I was 5 years old. My sister remembers it too, but she thinks it might have been a dish towel. (My sister now lives in the house. My Dad, grandpa and uncles built the house in 1948).
I can't remember what the kitchen counters were like now. That was a long time ago!

DOLL FOR ABIGAIL

My quilters guild is having a challenge for us to make a doll quilt to go with a doll or toy.  I had been thinking about making a doll and decided to make the doll and doll quilt for my new GD Abigail.  I finished the doll this past weekend and the doll's doll!  This is the first doll I have ever made and it took a while, but wasn't tooooo hard.  The clothes were harder than the doll (especially the pinafore).  

Here's the back of the pinafore.
I had to show you her pantaloons!
Abigail isn't even 2 months old yet, so she won't get the doll & quilt for a while yet.  I also plan to make a Raggedy Andy doll for Jonah and a Raggedy Ann doll for Abigail.  I just bought that pattern this past weekend.  But that will have to wait a while.  I have quite a few other projects that I need to get going on.  

JONAH AND SOME STITCHERIES

I had to show off Jonah a little.  He is getting cuter every day!!

I have finished stitching all the Noah's Ark BOMs and just have to get them stitched together, put on a border, layer and bind it.  I haven't decided on the border yet.
This is the second BOM from Gail Pan Designs.  I haven't put the borders on the blocks yet.  I'm waiting to see what comes next.  I have to think about these things a while, don't you know.  Hee Hee!
I've been working on many things and will try to post some pictures in the next couple days.  Hope you had a great Valentine's Day!

FAMILY HEIRLOOM

I received a package in the mail from my SIL yesterday.  She had said she was sending me something, but I had no idea what it was.  I was totally SHOCKED to see this quilt in the package.  It is named Rocky Road to Dublin and was made in 1883 for my DH's grandmother.  My MIL was orphaned at age 9 and this quilt was the only thing of her mother's that she had.  It is in very good shape for it's age and I am thrilled to have it!!!!!!  It is hand pieced and hand quilted.

Here's my first block for the "A Tisket, A Tasket" BOM from Bunny Hill Designs.  I'm a beginner at applique, so don't look too closely!  Hee Hee!

My quilters guild is having a challenge for April of a doll quilt and doll.  The doll quilt is pinned and I have finished the first part of the doll.  I still have to put her hair on and make her clothes.
Here is the bodice of her dress.
 Have a great week!  And Happy Valentine's Day!

PATRIOTIC WALL HANGING

It's been a while since I posted, but I have been busy. I just finished 2 of these wall hangings with DS#3's picture on it. It is the first time I have done a printed picture on a quilt. DS is going to be deployed to the middle east in April and I made one of these for us and one for my DIL.I'm making some progress on my tumbler charm quilt. I don't know how big I'm going to make it, but I hung in on my new design wall (which isn't very big, but better than nothing) and I really love it! It helps to see it all at once. I am hand stitching these reproduction blocks together. It measures about 33" wide and 37" high now and I still have a lot of pieces cut out.
I noticed that I stitched the left piece on the second to last row on the wrong way - but I will fix that.
OOPS!  Someone pointed out to me that the bottom 4 rows don't have the dark and light colors alternating.  I just wasn't watching close enough when I put them up on the design wall.  They aren't sewn together yet, so I just need to flip two of them around.  Tee Hee Hee!!  (It looks better now).

Here's the next to last block of the Noah's ark BOM. The ark just came out, so I will get started on that soon. Go here to get the patterns.
These are my leader & enders scrap blocks that I have been doing for quite a while. One of these days I will put them together. It will be my first all scraps quilt.
I hope you noticed the vintage valentines on my lead picture! These are all valentines that my mother saved from her childhood and they date to around 1911- 1915. Except for the one "to my wife" - that one was from my Dad to my Mom. I don't know the year, but they got married in 1935 and it could have been any time from then up to the 50's sometime. These certainly are treasures in my mind.