Baby quilt top finished!

I just finished the quilt top for our expected granddaughter.  I was hoping to get it finished in time for my quilters guild meeting on Oct 13, but getting the top finished will have to do.  I have company coming and a trip before then, so I know I won't have time to get it quilted (I'm going to quilt it myself).  The baby shower is Nov. 1, so I will have time to quilt it before then.

My DH & I like to go to garage sales and we hadn't gone to any for months, but now, with the weather a tiny bit cooler, we decided to venture forth.  I like to look for craft items that I can use to make things to sell, or doll beds to refinish and to make bedding for.  We had some very good luck at one place where I found these cross-stitched pictures being sold very cheaply.  I got a great deal of 9 for $15!  I plan to make quilted borders for these and sell them (or keep a few).  I love cross-stitched pictures and have made many myself - they  take a lot of work, so I feel very lucky to have gotten these.





I love little doll chairs and this little rocker with the bunny was only $2!!!
The heart pillows in the basket made out of an antique quilt was only 75 cents!!!
Have a great week!  I will be binding a quilt for my oldest GS that I just got back from the quilter and will take a picture as soon as I can.  It feels good to get these two projects almost finished.

Some Very Special Treasures

The pin on this old quilt is one that my mom wore in the 50s.  I always loved this pin, so when she died I got it - noone else wanted it anyway.

My mom made this baby quilt when she was expecting her first child, my older brother (who is now 71).  I think we all used it in the crib.  I remember my little brother using it after me (I don't really remember using it myself)!  My mom loved applique.

2 more Stitcheries

The name of this Polka Dot Girls stitchery is "Sisters."  I am the one on the right and my sister is the one on the left with the cat.  She's holding only one of her three cats.  Tee Hee Hee!  I am really enjoying working on these.

This is my latest Noah's Ark BOM from Lynnette Anderson Designs .  We have a new granddaughter due in December, so I think this wall hanging will be for her.  It's not too late to start these - you can download all of them from her blog.  They are small and quick.
I have been real busy at work this week, but today the boss is gone...Yeah!!!  I can catch up & get ready for another busy day on Monday.  I took a quilt for GS#1 to the quilters this week, so I hope to be able to show you that soon.  My next project is a baby quilt for the new GD.

Have a great weekend and get lots of sewing done - or other stuff....

Received Award

Leanne at Lizzie's Page  sent me this award!  I was very pleasantly surprised.  I met her through a trade and she lives in Australia!  It still amazes me how we can meet people this way!  Thank you, Leanne!

In turn, I will nominate 5 bloggers that I admire.  There are so many out there, but I have selected the following as ones that I always enjoy.  They are all creative and have blogs that I find very interesting and inspiring!  They are Elaine,  Joan ,  Bobbin , Wendy , and Holly .  

The Rules are:

1 Winner can put the logo on their blog

2 Put link from person you got the award from

3 Nominate 5 blogs

4 Put links to blogs

5 Leave message for nominees

I haven't shown any quilting lately, not because I haven't been doing any, though.  I do need to take some pictures, but thought I would show a couple items that I am planning to put on an Etsy site, once we get organized enough to get it set up.  I have some of these little flags and the doll quilt below which I tea dyed, made from leftovers of a doll quilt I made for a grand-niece.  I have other items made and ready to be posted also.

I have been working on a baby quilt for our expected granddaughter, and I'm getting the backing ready for a quilt for our oldest grandson.  Pictures will be on their way soon, I promise.

We are getting rain today from Ike.  Hope none of you are getting flooded out.

Vintage Thursday

Confessions of an Apron Queen hosts Vintage Thursday, so be sure to visit that blog for more vintage treasures!
These little dolls are on display in my sewing room. They were mine as a little girl. Someone my mother knew crocheted the outfits on the dolls. I haven't tried getting the clothes off to wash because they are sewn on.
Hanging below the shelf is a doll dress, slip and had that my mom made for one of my dolls.
I hope to post some quilty things soon. Thanks for visiting!

Vintage Thursday

We had a copy of this book whe

n we were kids in the 50's.  My sister found this reprint somewhere and got me a copy.  
My grandma crocheted this apron - I wonder why?  It certainly isn't the type of thing she would ever use!  I don't know if anyone ever wore it, but I have it hanging on my china cabinet door knob.
Happy vintage Thursday!  Check Confessions of an Apron Queen for more vintage Thursday blogs.

Stitcheries/"Vacation" ending

During the time my DH was in the hospital, I worked on my Polka Dot Girls stitcheries.  Below are 3 of them that I got finished.  I also have 3 more almost finished, but ran out of DMC, so I went to JoAnn's (4/$1) to get that this weekend.  They will be finished soon.  

I also worked on 2 of the Noah's Ark BOMs and this one is finished.  The other one will be finished soon (also needed more DMC).
Since DH has been home from the hospital, I have been home with him and have been working on a couple quilting projects that I hope to get finished soon.  We found out that DS#2 is expecting a girl (yippee!) and I have a quilt started for her.  Tuesday it will be back to work - hope I can remember how to do things!!

Vintage Thursday

I came across Confessions of an Apron Queen

and decided to participate in Vintage Thursday.  I have a few vintage items that are special to me.

This first one is a doll quilt that my grandma made for me around 1950 (more or less).  She made it to go with the doll bed that my grandpa made for me.
This doll bed is the only thing that my grandpa made for us that wasn't given away to other families with children.  My grandpa was a carpenter and he made various toys for all his grandchildren, including doll houses, rocking horses, etc.  I think one of my cousins still has her doll house.  My mom kept it in the store room that you could get to through her closet.  I brought it to my house after she died and put it in my bedroom.  The doll was my mom's when she was a little girl, so we figure she got it around 1920.  It is actually a boy doll, but I don't have any boy doll clothes for it.  Someday, I am planning to make some clothes for it.  I made the doll quilt and pillow case a few years ago.  This is one of my most prized possessions.
These blocks were made by my grandma and I am planning to put them together into a quilt some day.  They are made from flour sack fabric.  I'm not sure when she made them - probably in the 40's or 50's.
I hope you enjoyed my vintage treasures.  I'll take pictures of some others for next week.  I hope more people will participate in Vintage Thursday!

P.S.  My DH came home from the hospital on Tuesday and is recuperating at home.  He is feeling a little better each day.  Thanks for your many sweet get well wishes.

Cancelled trip

We had to cancel our trip to Oregon because my DH has been sick. We kept thinking he would get better in time to travel, but instead, he kept getting sicker. I had to take him to the ER and he was admitted. We found out that he has sick sinus syndrome (bradycardia), which means that the portion of his heart that controls the electrical impulses wasn't working right and his heart rate would go real low (sometimes as low as 38). So, tomorrow he is having a pacemaker installed. Hopefully, that will make big improvements in how he feels.

We felt so bad having to cancel our trip, but maybe we can reschedule it in a month or so. I mailed the wall hanging and also the potholder pictured below . My DIL's sister gave me the "pig" fabric to make something for my DIL (she is fond of pigs). I had been wanting to try out this potholder pattern, and I'm glad I did. It was quite easy to make and will make a nice gift for other friends also.


I have been staying at the hospital most of the time, but I have my Polka Dot Girls stitchery to keep me occupied.

Finished wall hanging

I finished the wall hanging and thought I would show some close up pictures. The panel has a replica of the signatures on the Declaration of Independence surrounded by symbols of the 13 colonies and our first 3 presidents on top. I stippled the whole center section and then stitched in the ditch around the borders. I'm getting a little more confident with the stippling, however, I did stitch over a couple times. Luckily, though, it was in sections that had the blue printing on them and it isn't noticeable. I'm making the label tonight for the back.




I love this fabric and when I bought it, I only bought one yard. Then I got to thinking that I might want to make more than one of these and when I went back to the store, they didn't have any more, and wouldn't be getting any. So I went on line (even my husband searched for me) and found it at a few stores. I called one and they were able to fill my order right away. It was great!

Housewarming gift

I took another picture of the table runner because the color was kind of washed out on the last one.  I finished the second one and have one more to go.

However, I have to work on a wall hanging for our DS#1 & DIL.  We are going to see them next week in Oregon and while there my DIL's sister & friend will be giving them a housewarming party, since they just moved to a new house - actually, it's an old house built in 1885.  So, I thought I would make a patriotic wall hanging which celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  The fabric panel is from Windham's Old Glory III line.  I got it sandwiched after taking the picture and am stippling the middle section.
While in Oregon, I plan to visit at least 3 quilt shops.  One in Bend, OR was featured in the last Quilt Sampler magazine.  We will also be driving through Sisters, OR and I will stop at the Stitchin Post.  There is also a really good quilt shop in McMinnville, OR, which is near where they live.  

I will try to post some pictures while on the trip, but we don't have a laptop, so we would have to use their computer and I don't know if I'll be able to.  

Heartfelt Table Runner

I can't believe it's been 10 days since I entered a new post!  I have been busy.  A number of years ago, I saw this pattern and really liked it.  Finally, I saw the pattern in a store and bought it.  Now, a few years after purchasing the pattern, I finally got around to making one - in fact, I decided to make three.  Two are for gifts and one is for me.  I've finished one and am almost finished quilting the second one.  

BTW, this is my 50th post!  That's quite a few, isn't it!

 

There is a special two year blogiversary going on at Abyquilt .  Go there and leave a comment to win a stitchery book!  

Midlothian Quilt Show

It's 5:00 AM and I can't sleep any more, so I decided to get up and enter another post.  Yesterday, I went to a quilt show with a friend of mine.  Our birthdays are both in July and we always go to lunch, exchange gifts and go to this quilt show.  She is not a quilter, but enjoys going and seeing the beautiful quilts.  I usually get a gift certificate from a quilt shop from her, which makes me happy!

The first quilt is the raffle quilt from my guild - Cedar Hill Quilters Guild.  
We will raffle this quilt off in October.  We picked this quilt because it could appeal to both men and women.  Our guild president, Suzie Harris, also owner of Just Stitchin' quilt shop quilted it and did a magnificent job!  Lots of people worked on the piecing.  I even pieced a little of the paper pieced border!

I couldn't get the pictures in the right positions, but the Christmas quilt is really popular this year.  I know a blogger who is making one and I have seen it in a few shops.

This next one was my favorite from the show and it was stitched and quilted by a man!  He did a beautiful job.  It is based on ME designs and was at least a queen size or larger.

I had to put in this Texas theme quilt!

One of the reasons I couldn't sleep is that I kept thinking about all the projects I need to get done in the next month.  I'm making two Heartfelt Table Runners by Thimbleberries for wedding gifts.  One of the weddings was yesterday, but the other one is in September.  Then, we are going to Oregon to visit DS#1 and family for two weeks and they just moved into a house built in 1885.  There will be a housewarming party for them while we are there and I want to make a wall hanging for that.  My GS (12) wants a quilt for his bed (which my DIL found in a resale or antique shop).  GS likes all things old, so a quilt out of reproductions fabrics is what I am planning.  I bought some fabric yesterday and plan to put a few blocks together to take with me for his approval.

I went to 2 quilt shops yesterday looking for fabric for my GS and my DS#3 & DIL's quilt that I have been planning for a few months.  I haven't gotten too far on that one - it will be a double nine patch also in reproduction fabrics.  The best store for that in the area is Common Threads in Waxahachie, TX.  I was going to take some pictures there, but you can see pictures if you visit their web site yourself.  It is in a very interesting, old town.

My husband just shakes his head when I tell him about the projects I have planned.  I think I'm getting too many projects going.  

Stitcheries, etc.

I made a couple more bags like the one I made for my sister.  I'm planning to put these on Etsy as soon as we get that set up.  We have a few other things we want to put on there as well.  I took this picture in the front of my house.  The bush is a crepe myrtle bush, which are wonderful in the Texas heat!

During my time in Arkansas helping DS & DIL get their house ready to move into, I had some down time to work on my Polka Dot Girls stitcheries - while sitting with Jonah on the porch while he napped, driving home in the car, etc.  I need to get some more traced to work on now.



Whoops!  I just noticed that I forgot to put the yellow centers on the flowers under the teapot!  

This is a set of pillowcases that my Mom embroidered probably 50 years ago or so.  I found them in a drawer after she died.  She enjoyed embroidering and she was really good at it.  I wish I was as good with the satin stitch as she was!  I would never do a buttonhole stitch border like this!  These have never been used!

The second set of pillowcases were ones that my grandmother crocheted the border on.  I have these on the bed in our guest room.  They don't really get used to sleep on!  I love having these old heirlooms from my family.    My sister has more linens from my Mom that she said she might want to get rid of ---  I said NO!  She will save them for me to look at next time I visit her.

Today I went to two quilt shops and to a quilt show in Midlothian, TX.  I will post some pictures next time!