Sew Unique Creations

New Books - oh do I love books!

2012-02-23T12:50:00.001-06:00

New English Paper piecing by Sue Daley arrived today! I love it! So much beautiful eye candy and gorgeous patterns! Way to go Sue! You did good girl!

Then English Paper Piecing by Vicki Bellino arrived too! Such pretty patterns in this one too! My favorite is the one shown on the cover!

Then - if you like mystery and suspense type novels, I recommend this new release by Patricia MacDonald.

Missing Child - oh was this a good one! In fact I've read all of her books and each one is great!

I'm still working on my new wool and cotton quilt project. I have two of the large wool blocks appliquéd and only two more to go!

Tara
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Quiet Day Of Stitching

2012-02-22T08:03:00.001-06:00

Today I'll be stitching away on some wool appliqué with my feline boss. How will I get anything done when Bella is quite enchanted with my current project!

Wish me luck!

Tara
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Moving Right Along!

2012-02-21T05:42:00.000-06:00

It was so wonderful having a three day weekend! I was able to finish up the little star blocks I needed for my next quilt pattern design.

The foundation blocks are all prepped and ready for a little wool applique and today I'll draw out the final details of those blocks, prep the templates and wool and begin to hand stitch those later this evening if all goes well!

I forgot to do an update last week on my Dear Jane block progress!

Seven more blocks completed. Now I need to prep a few more DJ blocks so I can keep moving smoothly through assembling them!

I also jumped on the band wagon and removed the dreaded "two word verification" that blogger has imposed. So far, everything is working fine, but I have been getting a lot of spam comments which I've easily deleted since I use comment approval through email. Still - the spam comments are coming through on a daily basis and I get between 2 and 14 spam comments a day so far since I removed the word verification last week! Ugghhh, I dislike spammers!

Have an awesome day!

Stars In Progress!

2012-02-17T05:31:00.000-06:00

For the past week or so, I've had a new project brewing in my mind.

These cute little antique 4" finished stars that I bought a year or so ago have been my inspiration along with this:

This is an antique quilt top that I also bought a year or so ago. I love this quilt top - so many wonderful old fabrics in it!

So I set out creating my new design in EQ and then went on to pulling fabrics from the stash!

A yummy pile of "light" fabrics.

Excellent pile of reproduction fabrics - oh how i love color and design!

Then I set out to make a test block:

Oops - cut off a point there - oh well - life goes on!

Then with the assistance of my boss Bella:

We starched and cut fabric for most of the day yesterday! Bella is such a good boss to have around - she doesn't say to much or complain, but let me tell you - she was really being a stinker last night and had to be in the middle of everything I was doing! She was really intrigued with my hot iron and she scared the daylights out of me with how closely she was getting to it to sniff it out and see what was going on! Thankfully, no kitties were burned or hurt in this process!

After quite a busy and long day of starching, ironing, cutting and many breaks! (Remember - I'm still recovering from Carpal Tunnel surgeries - and yes, I do take frequent breaks when doing repetitive work like cutting and ironing because my hands are still healing. If I try to do something for too long of a period - I get an achy feeling in the heels of my hands and sometimes a few fingers, so I take breaks and stretch and do my exercises just like I'm supposed to be doing! Did you know it can take up to a year or more for complete recovery - if complete recovery ever does occur? Oh yes - quite interesting stuff!)

Here is the result of a days work. 44 little piles of yummy fabrics, cut to size and ready to be created into tiny little 4" finished size stars for my next new pattern design!

Want a sneak peek?

Not much of a sneak peek - but trust me - you'll see more of this in the future! Think - cottons and wool - pieced stars and yummy wool applique blocks! Oh joy - I'm going to have a super fun day today! And I hope your day is just as fun!

Oak Leaf & Reel Finished and A Really Good Cookie Recipe!

2012-02-16T07:46:00.001-06:00

I was able to complete another project yesterday - this one had been "in progress" for about 2 years now. I just needed to put the binding on it yesterday!

This is Oak Leaf & Reel from the Autumn Gatherings book by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings Quilt Shop and Carole Charles! Loved this project - I bought a kit for this one and every single fabric was so yummy and perfect!

Here's a close up:

Here's the front cover of the book

Awhile back I also finished this project from the book:

This is Turkey Track - another kit I purchased! Loved it!

If you have this book - be sure to try out the Green Bay Mac and Cheese recipe - it was a real winner with my husband and kids!

And speaking of recipes, I'm going to share my time tested Snickerdoodle Cookie recipe with you today. I'm going to be making these cookies this evening for the upcoming baby shower that I'm helping with. These cookies are so easy to make, yummy and freeze very well after they are made!

The Best Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter (softened to room temperature)

(If you have Butter Flavored Crisco - I've also used this instead of part shortening part butter and it works great - just use 1 cup Butter Flavored Crisco)

2 eggs (room temperature)

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

Reserve the following to roll the cookies in:

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tbls cinnamon

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix shortening and butter (or Butter Crisco), 1 cup sugar and eggs until fluffy. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt thoroughly and add to the shortening mixture. Form dough by taking a generous size tablespoon of dough and rolling in your hands.

Mix reserved sugar and cinnamon together and roll balls of cookie dough in it.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2" apart and bake just until the cookies are set - do not overcook, about 10 minutes. Yields about 2 dozen cookies.

Typically when I make this recipe - I double it and freeze half the cookies for the kids to grab for a snack later on or for my husband to pack in his lunch for work!

I finished the baby quilt I've been working on last night also! Binding is done - I'm going to toss it in the washing machine today and fluff it up a bit and it's all ready to be wrapped up for the my neighbors first grandbaby that should be arriving in about 7 weeks! How exciting!

Civil War Quilts Book - A Must Have!!!

2012-02-15T11:09:00.000-06:00

I had no intention of blogging twice today, but my lovely postal lady brought me the absolute best package earlier and I simply had to share!

This book is 100 times better than I expected. The photography is so rich and wonderful - you can actually see some of the wonderful hand quilting on many of the quilts. The colors are lovely in the photos - they appear to be so "right on" with the era of these quilts. The layout of the book is fabulous. The stories are intriguing and well written (from what I've gotten to read so far!)

And - there are patterns for some of the quilts in the book.

Oh My! I have to make this quilt block soon - it's calling my name! (click on any of the photos - I have left the files a bit larger so that you could get a really good sneak peak at this book!)

Oh do I love this quilt!

This book is titled Civil War Quilts, authored by Pam Weeks and Don Beld - the publisher is Schiffer (they always produce such great books!)

If you have a local quilt shop - call them and request they order this book for you- you will not regret it!

Here's a little more eye candy!

Lovely reproduction fabrics!

Oh man - I gotta make this quilt too!

This one has also been added to the to do list also!

I cannot say enough about how good the photography in this book is. The information - wow - I'm like a sponge, everything is written so well!

Inside cover details - look at that quilting!

Go order this book!

Second Hand Rose Finished!

2012-02-15T07:33:00.000-06:00

I have so many projects around here in different phases of completion. Assorted blocks, assorted quilt tops, some quilt tops that are quilted and just need binding - you get the picture.

Yesterday I worked on a few Dear Jane blocks, quilted the baby quilt I'm working on a little more, chose fabrics for more upcoming new designs, went to lunch with girlfriends and finally - got the binding on one of my little quilts.

This is Second Hand Rose. The pattern can be found in the Remembrances book by Jo Morton. The picture above of my finished quilt looks a little wonky - but it's perfectly squared - I just didn't straighten it out on my design wall as well as I should have!

This was the very first kit I have ever bought. I purchased it about 3 years ago, swapped out a few of the fabrics in the kit for something from my stash because the provided fabrics were just not "doing it" for me. I pieced the quilt top a year after purchasing the kit. It sat here for another year until I sent it off to the long arm quilter. Sat here for awhile longer because I wished more quilting would have been done on the quilt then what I ended up receiving and was just frustrated with it - then I decided to tea stain the center of the quilt because the fabric (from the kit) was so glaringly white compared to the other fabrics (I should have swapped that out too - but now with the tea staining - it's perfectly fine!) It sat awhile longer and finally yesterday was the day for binding.

And now it's done. It's ready to be hung on my living room wall.

Here's a close up of a few of the fabrics:

Today, I'm working in a bad rush to beat the postal pick up today. I need to finish the final drawings on one of my new patterns and get it in the mail to the printer - Today! It's a quick turn around job for them and thankfully they are "squeezing" me in so I can meet my deadlines!

After that - I'll be quilting that baby quilt some more and hopefully finish it soon!

Happy Valentines Day

2012-02-14T05:28:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentines Day to each of you!

Yesterday after posting about this beautiful quilt that by Great Aunt gifted to me:

I started thinking back to a few years ago when she first showed me this quilt. I was utterly consumed with this quilt and so amused and delighted with it - that I went back to her house twice that day to take more pictures and measurements so that I could draft the pattern. And do you know - she still remembers that day and that is how she decided upon this quilt to send to me. She remembered how much I loved it!

My memory was also jolted a bit yesterday into remembering that this quilt pattern used for this exact quilt was originally given to my Great Aunt and my Grandmother by my Great Grandmother Juliana! How neat!

Anyhow - here is a link to the post where I first spoke about this quilt in April, 2010!

Quilts In My Family

Last night, I went on a mad search through my quilting cupboard to locate the sample I sewed up two years ago after returning from my visit to see family. That's how intrigued I was with this quilt! This original quilt that I now proudly own is a bit smaller in the finished product than a pattern I found for it in a printed publication - but you still get the same over all effect with slightly larger pieces!

I have located the pattern for this quilt that was originally published in one of the Aunt Martha's publications, If you would like to order the booklet - or search for it in your stash of quilting patterns - it was printed in Issue #3230 titled Aunt Martha's Favorite Quilts and is located on page 12. You can order this booklet that is still in print on the Aunt Martha's website!

Aunt Martha's Website

I'm Crying Like A Newborn Baby Today!! (In A Good Way!)

2012-02-13T12:53:00.000-06:00

Oh my!

Many of you that follow my blog may remember me speaking in the past of my dear sweet Great Aunt Columbia Jane. That woman has gone and put me in tears today - in a good way though!

Last week a cousin of mine FaceBooked me a private message and told me to be on the lookout for a package from my Great Aunt.

It arrived today.

Here's the next phase of opening my package - this is where the tears started to flow. I knew I was receiving a quilt at this point and the letter enclosed was so precious and will soon be framed and hung in my sewing room.

At this point I'm crying and shaking because I'm so excited. I can hardly stand the anticipation, but I continue slowly unfolding the quilt to enjoy this thrill and take photos for you!

Look at this incredible backing and the wonderfully delightful hand quilting!

And here is the quilt!

Here is a close up for you!

And of course a picture of Bella - she had to inspect the quilt herself!

Oh dear sweet Great Aunt of mine - you made my day! I had not intended on blogging today because I'm buried under a pile of paper work and I'm writing pattern instructions today, - but in the back of my mind I kept nagging at myself to blog about something!!! This surprise is very much welcomed to my day today! It was so wonderful to take a mini break to go upstairs to check to see if the mail had been delivered and see this delightful box waiting for me on my front steps.

I was like a kid in a candy store opening it up. I wish my kids would have been home to take pictures of me during each step of me opening this box, because you all would have gotten a good laugh out of it - I was jumping up and down, crying, shaking - you name it - I did it all!

Now, I will continue my day, wrapped in my warm and wonderful quilt in my freezing cold basement office, happily typing away on my computer and writing these pattern instructions with a big huge grin on my face!

Love you Great Aunt Columbia Jane - you are such a treasure to me and our family!

Freebie Friday Feathered Star Quilt Block Pattern

2012-02-10T08:54:00.000-06:00

I have had a lot of requests for this quilt block;

This is the Feathered Star that we use as our logo on our website and on our pattern covers. I hand pieced my sample:

Hand piecing is what I recommend for this quilt block to avoid cutting many "odd" sizes that most rotary cutting rulers do not have on them. Also I like set in seams when I hand piece them - it goes quicker!!!!

You can visit the following link on our website to download the files for this quilt block. I have posted a "basic" information sheet, the template files and the rotary cutting diagram files!

Enjoy!

Feathered Star Quilt Block Freebie Pattern

(Gee - 3 blog posts in one day! I'm on a roll - but I promise, this is the last one for today. I'm going to sew now and enjoy some quiet time with a cup of java! Have a wonderful weekend!)

Raspberry Shortbread Recipe

2012-02-10T07:40:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I made Peach, Apple Pie and Blueberry Shortbread cookies and shared the picture of them on FaceBook! I had many requests for the recipe and thought I would share it here on my blog also!

Enjoy!

Raspberry Shortbread

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 small jar seedless raspberry jam (I've used my homemade jams too and it works excellent, I've done Peach, Strawberry, Blueberry, Apple and Blackberry - everyone liked them all!)

Glaze Ingredients

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour; beating at low speed until blended. This dough will seem thick and crumbly.

Divide dough into 6 equal portions; roll each portion into a 12" x 1" inch long roll. (I can never get my logs this exact size!!!) Place strips on lightly greased backing sheet.

Make a 1/2 inch wide by 1/4 inch deep indentation down the center of the logs using the handle of a wooden spoon. Spoon jam evenly into indentations. I like to place a couple scoops into a small bowl and stir the jam up a bit first, then spread it into the indentations!

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven; spoon more jam into indentations if needed. Bake 5 more minutes or until lightly golden browned.

Whisk together powdered sugar, water and extract; drizzle over warm shortbread. (this recipe for the drizzled icing makes quite a bit and I do not use it all. I make 1/2 the glaze recipe and have plenty!) Cut each strip diagonally into 1 inch slices while still warm. Cool on pans.

Yields about 6 dozen.

This recipe is originally from Southern Living 1999 Annual Recipes!

Yummy Fabrics and We Need Your Help!

2012-02-10T05:39:00.000-06:00

Look at the goodies I picked up last night at the quilt shop!

I had my Dear Jane club meeting yesterday evening and really enjoyed my time with the ladies! It's so much fun getting together with others that have "like" interests! We were given a demo on paper piecing - always a good thing to watch and learn all the tips and tricks with that! I'm not a big fan of paper piecing, but I'm determined to continue to learn and use that technique in my own Dear Jane Quilt! We were also able to view the selected blocks and the samples for the upcoming month! Yippee!

Now, back to the fabrics I purchased shown above - are these not gorgeous! The first three fabrics from the left are from the Prairie Crossings fabric line by Julie Hendrickson for Windham. The two fabrics on the right are from the Bridgeport fabric line by Jo Morton for Andover. The quilt shop received complete collections of both these fabric lines - so if you are searching for these beauties, be sure and visit www.thequiltmerchant.com I'm not sure if either of these fabric lines have been uploaded to their website or not - but they do have them - just give them a call - they ship! The Prairie Crossings fabric line has some yummy cheddar's in it and I'm thinking I might be regretting not getting those last night too!

Now, I need your help today. I've had two requests in the past few days for a little help and both of these items have me on a mad search to help these ladies.

See the pretty blue fabric with the tan dots and the white flowers above? Does anyone recall what fabric line this is? Who the designer is? Or even the manufacturer? I posted this help request on FaceBook also and I'm pretty sure I agree with the fact that it is a Judy Rothermel fabric. I'm digging in my stash today again to see if I can find any. A fellow quilter is in need of more of this fabric - so any help at all would be appreciated! Help!!!

Also.....

Do you recognize this pattern? A fellow quilter is searching for this pattern. If you click on the photo and enlarge it, this quilt appears to have Drunkards Patch blocks and also larger blocks with just a simple circle centered on them. I've searched through a few of my resources so far but have come up empty handed.

Any help on either of these issues is much appreciated! And of course if we get the answers to any of these "searches" I'll post about it on my blog so we can all find more of that gorgeous blue fabric and this pretty quilt pattern! Leave a comment or email me - works good both ways!

Thanks for the tips on EQ yesterday. I received a few comments and several emails. Looks like classes on Quilt University.com are a popular source and also - thanks to a local quilter friend - there is an EQ class coming up in my area with Barb Vlack!

Have a great day!!

Moving on and Electric Quilt!

2012-02-09T09:48:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was able to complete five Dear Jane blocks! The lower triangle block is TR-3 Checkerboard. Then in the back from left to right is E-8 Mama's Maze, G-7 Indianapolis, B-1 Bachelor Buttons and B-9 Tinker Toy!

I'm working on another hand applique Dear Jane block and I'll probably finish that one up today and get another ready to hand piece tonight while I'm at my Dear Jane club!

For most of today though, I am going to be chained to my computer and sketch book. I woke up this morning with the urge to sketch out a few new ideas, so it's looking to be a fun day. I'm also going to work a bit in Electric Quilt and get a few new things drawn up.

Are any of you familiar with Electric Quilt? If anyone out there knows of any good tutorials, please leave me a comment or email me. I'm not that great with EQ and know the basics and that's about it. I'd like to learn more and become more efficient with my time that I spend using this program instead of pulling my hair out!

Joining The Crowd

2012-02-08T07:44:00.000-06:00

Well, after a friend suggested I order this book, I did!

And after reading my favorite blogs this morning - I can tell I'm in good company with this book! I read two other blogs this morning alone that were talking about this book and for good reason! This book is awesome - lots of eye candy and good reading!

Also, this is another book that just arrived and I'm in love!

This book was recommended to me by a Quilt Shop owner and friend. Well worth the purchase, the projects and graphics are phenomenal!

Also after reading in some of my favorite quilting forums this morning, I found this new blog!

Scrappin' and Quiltin'

So click on over to her blog and welcome her to blog land! It looks like a great blog to follow!

Yesterday evening I finished up two more Dear Jane blocks:

E-5 Rising Sun

F-8 Church Window

Have an awesome day - I hope you get many things accomplished!

Just a blahhhh day!

2012-02-07T13:38:00.000-06:00

I'm working on some of my Dear Jane blocks today. The day started and I was in some kind of funk, but I'm slowly working my way out of it. I came down to my sewing room this morning and just could not for the life of me decide what to work on, so I started cleaning a bit. One of my cutting counters was just piled high with "stuff" so I attacked that area with a vengeance. Still couldn't decide what to do with my day, even though Quilt Market is looming in the back of my mind, so I started ironing scraps of fabric.

I've moved onto making this block next:

It's going together pretty easily so far.

I think part of the reason I'm in such a funk today is because I did not sleep much last night between a child coming down with a cold, another with "growing pains" in his leg and not sleeping well and because of this:

Someone hit my husband last night while he was driving to work on a major highway at top speed. We were both pretty upset, but thankful no one was hurt and again thankful that both parties involved are insured. The other driver was found to be at fault and the damages will be taken care of. Still, its disappointing to no that we will be without my husbands work truck for awhile as it goes in for repairs - rental car here we come. I guess it's disappointing too because we both work so hard for the things we've got and proud that both our vehicles are paid for and now one is damaged and the other driver involved just seemed to want to throw the blame around and not be responsible. It always seems like when a vehicle goes in for cosmetic damages - they never come out the same. Oh well, it can be fixed and life will move on! Thankfully, it's not totaled and everyone walked away.

I let the stress of the situation get the best of me last night and now I'm paying the price - no sleep, upset stomach, headache - the works! I'm telling you, stress is a nasty thing and I need to learn to not let it happen.

I think I feel a nap calling my name very soon today!

Yesterday, I was also able to finish piecing the baby quilt and now it needs to be quilted. I'll just do some simple quilting on this one and get it wrapped up for the baby shower! I've got the backing fabric pieced and the batting is tumbling in the dryer for a bit, working those wrinkles out. That's one thing I don't care for when I buy a packaged batting - but it's what I had on hand, so I'm using it!

Here's the baby quilt so far:

I hope you have a wonderful day today!

2012-02-03T09:01:00.000-06:00

Are you on Pinterest?

If not - follow me and I'll show you some of the fun you are missing!!!

(be prepared to become addicted to "pinning" your favorite pictures!!!)

Just click the little button above!!!

Happy Friday!

2012-02-03T07:27:00.000-06:00

I was hand piecing another Dear Jane block last night and realized I needed to get crackin' on a baby quilt! My neighbors daughter is expecting her first baby due at the end of March! This will be the first grandbaby for my neighbors. I need to get this cute baby quilt finished and out of the way before I start getting really busy with other things - like the millions of cookies I need to start baking and freezing for the baby shower at the end of this month!!!

I think these fabrics will make a really cute baby quilt. I'm thinking I'll do a simple nine patch setting - can't go wrong with nine patches! The mommy to be is having a boy and has chosen a cute monkey theme - this little monkey fabric is so adorable!!!!

Have a great Friday everyone and a super fun weekend! It's super bowl weekend - What are you doing? We are getting together with the neighbors!

I leave you with this "funny" I found on Pinterest last night!

Sure wish my Dr. wrote prescriptions like this!

It's finished! Now I need a name!

2012-02-02T14:42:00.000-06:00

Well - It's all finished and ready to be shipped to the long arm quilter tomorrow! I need a name though! Any suggestions? I thought about calling it Pieceful Gatherings in honor of the quilt shop that asked me to design a project and teach for their retreat!!!

What fun this has been. I'm ready to start another project I'm so pumped and excited right now!

Here's a close up:

This design will be ready and in pattern form for ordering later this month. Pieceful Gatherings Quilt Shop will sell the patterns and kits exclusively through May 2012. After that, you will find the pattern on our website and in your local quilt shops (and probably kits too)!!!!

Have a great day everyone!!!!!

This is the way I roll.........

2012-02-02T00:30:00.000-06:00

This is what I was knee deep in yesterday. I thought I would show you how I'm going about deciding on fabrics for the outer border for this wool applique project that I'm working on for the retreat sponsored by Pieceful Gatherings Quilt Shop.

I have an image in my head of how I want the outer borders to look. It will be completely scrappy. Very few rules, but the most important ones for me were: nothing to bright, ubberly scrappy, nothing light or white and the big one - I want quilt shops to be able to kit this design and pull bolts of fabric easily and without delay for the borders. Anything goes in this border!

Some of you might recognize some of these fabrics that I've chosen so far! Remember about a year and a half ago I hosted a charm square swap when I was "secretly" working on my book? Well, I still have some of those fabrics and they will be going into this project! One of my other fun rules I'm following on this project - all fabrics must come from my scrap stash and so far so good on this project! (Well, except for the large background fabric of course!!!)

Hmmmm, I think I need to add more cheddar fabric!

Hand Quilting Time Yesterday!!!

2012-02-01T07:55:00.000-06:00

Yesterday evening after I finished stitching the center wool applique for the upcoming retreat I spoke about yesterday, I took a notion to hand quilt.

Lucky for me, I have three hand quilting projects in the works right now. Two small quilts and one medium size quilt. I chose to work on the one picture above. This has been a project in the works for probably about 3 years now and will probably be displayed in my living room or bedroom when I complete it. This quilt has traveled with me to different quilt shows in central Illinois, Columbus, Ohio, Houston, Texas and Knoxville, Tennessee. So needless to say it's a well traveled quilt for not even being finished yet.

I was a little upset with myself when I pulled this project out if it's storage container. Usually I'm really good about storing all the supplies I've used or am using with a project. Well, this time I did not keep the matching threads with this project. So I had to go scavenging around hunting up the thread colors I needed. Luckily - I found each of the four colors! Thank goodness!

An interesting question came up on my FaceBook page yesterday. Someone commented and asked "How do you keep your stitches so perfect?" The answer - I do not. My stitches are not perfect. I do not set out to hand quilt - or do anything for that matter - with the intention of absolute perfectionism. I quilt for my own pleasure and satisfaction and for my business. If what I do pleases me, I'm fine with that and never feel the need to please anyone else or to act like I'm perfect and "no it all" in any way. I'm constantly learning and re-learning. I will never know everything, nor do I desire too. I like the models for my pattern designs of course to look as great as I possibly can get them, but to worry over teeny tiny little things, I just let it go.

For example....

The Dear Jane quilt. Here are some of the blocks I've recently finished. Each of the above blocks are not perfect and each has their own issues. Paper piecing and I do not like each other at all. I will continue to learn the finer points of how to paper piece and not let it get the best of me. I will be re-doing one of the blocks pictured above - because it is really bothering me. After I finished the center purple and cream block, I've decided to tack that one up on the "do over" board. I will re-do that block hand piecing everything first and then applique those center melons on last. My spacing on that one for the center of the block was very off and it is not sitting well with me at all. The other 3 - though they have minor imperfections - I'm ok with it.

That's just how I roll......

Today, I'm piecing the outer borders for the wool applique project for the upcoming retreat project!!!

Sneak Peak Time!

2012-01-31T08:20:00.000-06:00

I have been quietly working on a very special project for a retreat I will be teaching at next month. Well, the cat is out of the bag, so to speak now, as the quilt shop that is sponsoring this retreat has recently released their most current newsletter with a photo of the center of my project.

So here it is:

This is the wool applique center of the "yet to be named" project for the retreat sponsored by Pieceful Gatherings Quilt Shop in Fox River Grove, Illinois. Feel free to visit their website for further information on the retreat. Call them today if you are in our area and sign up to join us on this fun weekend in March!

I'm in the final stages of stitching this center wool applique. The outer borders will be assorted scraps of fabric that will highlight the colors in the center.

This pattern will be available exclusively through Pieceful Gatherings Quilt Shop from mid March through May 2012 only. After that, the pattern will be available in your local quilt shops and on our website. We wanted to make this a very special project for Pieceful Gatherings and that is why we have chosen not to introduce this design to the mass quilt market until it's grand "second" debut at Quilt Market in Kansas City, Missouri this year!

Here is an excerpt from the newsletter:

"Doesn't it look great so far? I love it! Tara will be teaching this small project at our retreat on Saturday. This is a picture of the center before it was stitched down. It will also have a pieced border around it. Tara did her center with wool appliqué and we will have kits like hers, but regular appliqué would also be a lovely option for this beautiful wall hanging, and we can probably substitute a pieced center for the appliqaphobes. There are still a couple of spots left if you want to join us for the retreat in March. It's sure to be a fun time."

Pieceful Retreat Repeat

March 9-11, 2012

Loyola Retreat Center in Woodstock

Guest Teacher:

Tara Lynn Darr of Sew Unique Creations

Register Now!

$280 Double Occupancy or $320 for a Single. Includes all Meals, Room, Instructor and FUN!

$50.00 Non-Refundable Deposit required to hold your spot. Spaces are limited, so don't wait too long to sign up!

Balance Due January 31

Enjoy your day! My dear husband has jury duty this week and it appears to be wrecking havoc on my normal "quiet time" and schedule! He has to call in daily to find out what to do - I'm a bit flustered with this because now he has to miss a full weeks worth of work to be "on call". This just stinks - a week of vacation pay is really going to mess with our family budget - and yes I'm thankful we at least get vacation pay - but come on - I cannot believe that our lives have to be put on hold for an entire week of calling in for jury duty??? Somethings wrong with our system, how do people survive? Anyhow - that's a whole other can of beans I just do not wish to open right now!

I may not post as much this week - but I'll be happily stitching away and finishing up this wool project!

Dear Jane wants to come and play today!

2012-01-27T13:53:00.000-06:00

After spending a wonderful evening in the company of good friends and fellow Dear Janer's last evening - I'm declaring it a Dear Jane kind of day today in my sewing room.

This poor pitiful block has been sitting in a cute little basket for months now without any attention from me. So first on the list is to finish this one today!

But while I'm sharing what I'm doing today, I'd also like to pass on a great tip if you are working on a Dear Jane also, or a Farmers Wife quilt or whatever.

Stay organized. Our wonderful instructor for our Dear Jane group suggested a way to stay organized and stay on top of our Dear Jane progress. When I saw her binder of goodies - I jumped all over this idea like a fly on honey in the summertime.

Keep everything organized in one of those big huge 4" or 5" binders. Use plastic sleeves to protect your project pages, keep your templates organized or hold fabrics that have patterns traced on them.

Use these pages to store your blocks - protecting those fabric edges until you are ready to sew them all together for this quilt.

Sometimes I'll pull a certain fabric from my stash and think - man this would make a great Dear Jane block. So I'll take that hunk of fabric and add it into whatever plastic sleeve for the block I want to use it in. (in this photo you can see that I've traced my template pieces onto the fabric already - I'm to lazy today to grab the camera and walk back into my sewing room and take another picture of just fabric stuffed in a plastic sleeve - so just imagine hunks of fabric shoved in this plastic sleeve - ok?)

More than likely, if you are making a project like a Dear Jane quilt - you will need two binders as you progress. I find myself printing off inspirational blog posts from others working on a DJ, helpful tips, charts, inspirational sayings and random thoughts and adding those to this binder also. That way I have everything together and can store it all and file it away when it's time to work on something else!

This is a picture of my little cubby shelf that I store all Dear Jane items - I know right where to go when I need the patterns, freezer paper, plastic for templates and Carol Doak foundation papers.

This is a photo of the 2 little cubby shelf directly next to my Dear Jane items. These fabrics, one side for backgrounds and one side is for the colored fabrics, that I just "have to" use in this quilt and have not decided what block they will be going in just yet.

This is another great idea from our fearless Dear Jane leader. A journal.

Now, I admit, I have not kept up with this very well. I started off with the best of intentions and never followed through. But at the beginning of this year I decided to use this journal not only for Dear Jane information, thoughts and things that were happening in my life on any given day I work on a DJ block - I'm also going to journal about the other projects I'm working on at the time. The photo above you see the day I decided to work on Kathie from the Inspired by Antiques blog quilt design. I printed the picture off and taped it to the page and information pertaining to where the pattern is (in American Patchwork and Quilting magazine!!!). Sorry about the Miranda Lambert CD at the bottom of the page and yes it is covering something else up. That area holds a picture that a dear friend sent to me for inspiration of a block she is working on and I decided to piece that block also in my spare time. You understand I'm sure, but I don't want to blab on and on about what others are working on and were shared with me in confidence.

Also in this journal, I have my ideas for new projects, drawings and sketches, random thoughts that were running through my head as I worked on a project. I also note special little moments in my children's lives that pop up every now and then, so years down the road I can look back and read it and remember a little bit of the past!

With all these great tips shared, I urge you to visit your local quilt shop and take a class or join a club! Not only is it wonderful to be in the company of others that share our love of quilting, it's also a great time to learn new tips, tricks and techniques. Everyone can learn something new!

If you do not have a local quilt shop - start a quilting bee - ask your friends to join you at home or a designated location - or run an internet quilting bee! Never stop learning and sharing!

Now I must get back to enjoying my day visiting Dear Jane and listening to Miranda's excellent CD!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Red & White Spider Web quilt is finished!!

2012-01-26T14:50:00.000-06:00

Here it is all finished and our Dog Harley is showing no interest at all (he's lying on his bed in the upper right corner) - but Bella was in on the action again! She was actually yawning in this picture but it looks as if she is sticking her tongue out at the camera!

Here she is again - she was really trying to model for me today!

And again...

Now - tonight I'm heading to Dear Jane club!!! Yes - I'm so excited. I started pulling some of my blocks today that are prepped and ready to go!

After I realized how many quilt tops I have waiting to be quilted by a long arm quilter. I decided I better get a second job. So if you see me on the streets like this:

Please have mercy on me and donate to the cause!

Have a great day!

Crockpot Chili Mac Recipe

2012-01-25T08:34:00.000-06:00

I felt like sharing a recipe this morning before I head into my sewing room to tackle that red and white strippy quilt! I'm making it a little bigger than I originally planned, so I need to sew some more strip sets together this morning!

Enjoy!

Crockpot Chili Mac

1 pound Ground beef

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 green bell pepper chopped

1 15 ounce can Chili Sauce, no beans

1 10 ounce can condensed Tomato Soup

2 tsp. chili powder

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp. Flour

15 ounce can kidney beans or chili beans, drained but not rinsed

1 cup water

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

In large skillet, brown ground beef with onion and garlic, drain well if necessary. Add green pepper and cook for another 2 - 3 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and cook for 2 minutes. Pour into 4-quart crockpot.

Add remaining ingredients except the cheddar cheese and uncooked elbow macaroni. Cover and cook for 2 -3 hours on low.

Add macaroni to slow cooker and turn heat to high. Cover and cook for 10 - 15 minutes until macaroni is tender. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and serve!

New Project off to a great start!

2012-01-24T07:38:00.000-06:00

Just a quickie post this morning, I'm off to the doctor for more blood work. Checking my thyroid levels and assorted other on going issues. Drats - I'd rather stay home and sew!

Yesterday I worked more on this project:

So far, I think it's coming along nicely.

I'm thinking about using this red and cream toile fabric along the side edges of the quilt and as a final border. Not completely sold on it yet, What do you think? I've also though about just leaving the pointed right and left sides of the quilt as they are and binding the edges that way - not straightening anything out. I'll have to sew some of the rows together and play around with it before I decide!

Here's a little inspiration for you:

This is a little quilt I have hanging in the hallway between my sewing room and my office! So cute! I won this little gem at an auction last year when I visited Shipshewana during the quilt show there!

Have an awesome day today!

2 Finishes This Week!!!!

2012-01-21T08:17:00.000-06:00

I am having sew much fun in my sewing room this week!

I finished this yesterday:

This is Weaving The Rails and is designed by Kathie Holland of Inspired By Antiques Quilts Blog !

Here's a picture of Bella again - she says to tell you all hello!

Sometimes friends come into your life by surprise. I'm glad to have a really good internet friend who can make me smile with just a simple text, email or comment on my blog. We've never met in person, have only talked on the phone one time - but we hope to rectify that and meet some day! What a treasure she is to me, she has helped me work through some dark and depressing moments, inspired me to sew, created excitement in me when I was feeling low and is just an over all kind and sweet person. This person suggested a little something to add to those blocks in this quilt that I talked about the other day - you know the ones with the same fabric located in the same position in the same row! Here's a reminder:

Here's what she suggest via text and I jumped on the idea!

Words that mean something to me written on each of the strips!

When life gives you scraps...... make a quilt!

Family, Friends, Love and Peace - 4 words that mean a lot to me

New Beginnings 2012. This one is important to me also, as this year will be a year of many new things for me and also getting back to what I truly love to do - designing and playing with fabrics.

I also started working on this project yesterday:

This project was inspired by Keryn of the blog titled "Quilting Twin". She's working on her scraps and trying to bust them a little. After working on my scrappy rail fence quilt, I realized I had a bunch of leftovers. I trimmed all the leftover rail fence bits and pieces to 4" wide and then cut the other fabric to 6" wide strips and started going to town after I realized Keryn's project would be the perfect thing for me to do also to help finish up those extra bits and pieces! This will be a work in progress and might take me a bit to finish as I'll probably have to piece more 1 1/2" wide strips together! Thanks Keryn!

I'm also piecing 2 1/2" strips together to work on this scrappy project:

Spider Web blocks - this should be a blast to work on and it will really put a dent in all my white, cream and red scraps!

Here's a sneak peek at an up and coming project I'm working on. I'll be teaching in March at a retreat and I'm working on a special wool project just for them! This weekend I'll be hand stitching this also!

Yesterday we received a whopper of a storm here. So after trying to clean up the driveway and sidewalks a bit, we decided it was time for a little fun!

Now granted, after using the snow-blower twice yesterday and realizing that the vibration in the handles was making my hands ache a little - I decided not to play on the quad in the snow. The vibration from the handles on that Quad machine would have probably aggravated my recovery from carpal tunnel surgeries, so I played photographer instead and baked a few Chocolate Chip Cookies for the riders when they were done playing. I'll be back to riding my Quad this summer, now it's time for me to continue healing so I'm back to 100%!

Here's a few other snow pictures from this morning:

Picture of the snow on my deck rail. From my measurements - we received well over the 3" to 6" predicted. More like 8" if my calculations are correct!

A photo across the fence in our back yard - I love this neighbors shed - I really want one like this! So old fashioned looking! Would look great in my yard!

And now I need to get ready for our busy weekend. We have a birthday party this evening and I am baking the cake! A triple layer chocolate cake with strawberry filling and cream cheese frosting! I'll take pictures to share, if I remember!

Here's a picture of my Grandma quilting. This is the only picture that I'm aware of that exists of my Grandma at her quilt frame. The quilt she is working on is still in my family, my dear Aunt Julie has it and sleeps under it often.

This is my Grandma, Lucille Baisden. She was my Dad's Mom. She left us several years back and we miss her so much. I was thinking about her a lot a couple days ago and decided to scan this photo to share. I showed it on FaceBook and it brought on a good discussion between family and friends. According to my Aunt, the yellow fabric used in this quilt was from one of her dresses. She's drawing out her quilt pattern here. She used a simple string tied to a pencil. She held the string and then drew out her baptist fans pattern on many of her quilts. She also quilted on a quilting frame that my Grandpa made for her. It was one of those wonderful old quilting frames that could be raised up to the ceiling when not in use and lowered when she took the notion to quilt, which was often. The frame was stored on the ceiling of the family room when not in use. Thankfully, the quilt frame is also still in the family!

In The Zone...

2012-01-19T08:05:00.000-06:00

A lot of times when I'm piecing a quilt - I get "In The Zone" - no not the diet type of "zone" - really in that "zone" where nothing else matters, I'm just sewing along minding my own business and having a blast. Now, I'm not sure about you, but when I scrap quilt I really go to town and get in the "zone". I pay no attention to what fabric plays best with another nor do I get all "matchy, matchy". This photo goes to show you how "in the zone" I was yesterday!

Do you see those blocks I've "tried" to circle above? (ok - don't laugh at my rather childish attempt to circle the blocks using photoshop - I'm still in the learning stages in that program - my 14 year old son is still trying to teach good old Mom the basics!)

Those 3 blocks particularly that are going horizontally across your screen - notice that they all have the same middle "light" fabric going through them? This was not intentional and was an accident! If I wouldn't have been so deeply "in the zone" I would have never placed the blocks with the same fabrics in the same exact location of the block so closely together in this scrap quilt. Oh well now - they are pieced together and that's the way they are staying - another incident in one of my quilts that will be left there to humble me a bit! They still look good, but of course their location is near the top of the quilt at this point - right where they stand out! Not going to let it bother me though - just wanted to point out how easily things like this happen and really - what does it matter - as long as we are having fun during the whole process of making a quilt! Right????

Here's my project I am working on today - I'll probably finish this top today. This pattern can be found in the August 2011 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. It's called Weaving The Rails and is designed by Kathie Holland of Inspired By Antiques Quilts Blog (which by the way - if you do not follow and read this blog - you are really missing out!!!)

Here's a picture of the quilt in the magazine!

And now to show you the finish of the Katie's String Star Quilt - but first, do you know how hard it is take a picture of a quilt top when a little fur ball just has to mess with you?

This is Bella again striking a pose for you. She really should be a model - Don't you think?

Regardless, I gave up trying to be all fancy and getting this quilt top spread out nice and flat and un-wrinkled for you to see. Every time I had it near perfect, she nose dived right into it! So, I left it like it was after a quick fixing and tossing a treat in the cats direction and snapped a picture quickly!

Here is a corner picture for you so that you can see the border fabrics.

In other news, I'm still cleaning and re-organizing my new creative life. For those of you that don't know - I spend my creative hours in my basement studio and office. It can be rather dark and dreary down there sometimes, so I'm brightening things up a bit and reorganizing my stash. I've torn out old shelves and installed new, gone through books and magazines and dug into rubbermaid totes that have long been forgotten about. Here's a photo of my newly cleaned and organized wool cubbie:

It's nearly finished and organized, just a few more pieces to sort through and I'm calling it done!

Also, I cleaned off one of my inspiration boards in my office and look at my two little munchkins:

Are they not cute? This is my daughter Ashley when she was 3 1/2 years old - this is her soccer photo. My son is on the right and he was 4 - nearly 5 in this baseball picture. They truly are my inspiration and their little photo buttons will remain on my inspiration wall, but I've moved them from the office location to my studio so that I can look at them a little more each day! I miss them when they are gone all day at school.

Give your kids a hug today - they grow up so quickly - my little munchkins are now 13 and 14 and I cannot believe how quickly time has flown!

Just a little curious....

2012-01-18T13:45:00.000-06:00

I received a sweet email from a person the other day and she's really had me thinking on a subject.

What is your favorite source for hand or machine quilting patterns. This person specifically asked me for sources for hand quilting patterns to use on a quilt that is a reproduction style quilt using several mid to late 18th century reproduction type fabrics. Oh - be still my heart - my favorite style quilt!

I love to hand quilt and seriously wish I could do so on every quilt I make. But time being as valueble as it is in the design word - I'm lucky if I get to hand quilt one project a year! I highly recommend this book:

This is Quilting Designs from the Past written by Jenny Carr Kinney. I love this book and many times I just flip through it and read - just to do it for inspiration!

I also have a pretty hefty size collections of plastic stencils:

(this photo courtesy of the Minick and Simpson Blog! Which by the way if you follow this link, they have done a nice write up on quilting stencils!)

And then of course:

(this photos is courtesy of the Tim Latimer Quilts blog - I do have a nice collection of old antique cardboard templates I won on ebay also - but I was to lazy to dig them out just to photograph them! My sewing storage area is under massive clean up and reconstruction and it would take me a day just to find the plastic tote containing my treasures!)

I also like to look through my collection of quilt museum and collections style quilt books. Those with really good photographs, I can sometimes see just what type of quilting they did "way back then"!

So - What is your favorite source of finding hand quilting patterns?

What is your favorite source of machine quilting patterns? (This is something I'd like to learn to do more of, I'm not the greatest machine quilter and tend to leave that up to a longarm quilter!)

If you would rather not leave a comment here on my blog, feel free to email me also!

sewunique7@aol.com

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of my Katie's String Star finished quilt top! Right now - I need to get back to my sewing machine - I'm zipping through a ton of Rail Fence Blocks this afternoon! Such fun!

It's a border kind of day and other distractions!

2012-01-17T08:54:00.000-06:00

I'm nearing the finish line on my Katie's String Star quilt! Look -

I just have to trim the edges of the quilt up and add the 3 outer borders and I'll have this quilt top completed today!

I just love looking at each of these stars! They are all so different and "sew" scrappy! I've chosen a neat stripe print for the middle outer border, so I'm really excited to see how it turns out.

This pattern can be found in this book on page 153:

Or you can find it in the May/June 2004 issue of Fons and Porter magazine - page 83! (see what happens when I clean out all my magazines - I find things I new I had - just didn't know where they were stashed!

I've been a little distracted this morning while blogging....

It seems my dear sweet Bella is trying to learn how to use my computer!

Have a good one!

A "Pieceful" Sunday Of Stitching

2012-01-15T09:30:00.000-06:00

I found the above photo on Pinterest this morning and fell in love with it. Tasha Tudor is a favorite person of mine. This photo made up my mind of how I will spend my quiet Sunday afternoon. Enjoying the peacefulness of quietly stitching in my favorite chair with my family in our living room all enjoying just being together on a quiet low key day.

I'm off to get our Sunday Dinner put together so it can start cooking in the oven. Then I'm going to put my Jammie's back on and relax in that great chair of mine with bits and pieces of fabric!

Enjoy your day!

Tara
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Hoarding Quilting Magazines & Jibber Jabber

2012-01-14T07:12:00.000-06:00

In an effort to prove to my children that I am not a hoarder (they are starting to give me a complex!) - I've been going through all of my quilting magazines and purging them. I have such a huge collection of magazines - It's actually quite ridiculous! I have my favorites - current magazines and older ones that no longer exist. As I go through them all, a little here and there, if I find projects or inspiring pictures that I might like to do in the future, I remove those pages needed, place them in plastic sleeves and put them in special binders and toss the rest of it in the recycle bin. Any magazines that I have not destroyed with my ripping out of pages will be donated to my local quilt guild, so that they may sell them at their upcoming quilting show. A few also - the special ones - I'm saving for my Aunt - but only if there are projects in there I think she would be really be interested in making! (I still have to find a spot to store those magazines for my Aunt so that we can deliver them to her when we visit her again, later this year!)

There are those magazines though that I refuse - absolutely refuse to get rid of. Some are picture above, those very early copies of Quilter's Newsletter magazine that I lucked into finding on ebay last year!

These are a few more "oldie but goodies" I refuse to get rid of. I'm not hoarding them - I'm collecting them my dear children (if you are reading this - and I know you do read Mom's blog - Thank you!)

Along with purging no longer wanted magazines - it's been a little crazy in the quilting room! Strips and squares are flying everywhere and I'm having the best of times! There's even a little Dear Jane block shown in the basket above - the little booger was giving me a devil of a time, so it's taking a break in the basket until I've re-gathered my courage to attempt that one again!

The cutting table is still a mess - but it's all good!

Here's another little corner of my quilting room. Wonderful quilting books I love to look through every now and then! My favorite items here are momentos from my children when they were babies. My daughters first pink gym shoes are on the left and the little cow was my son's most favorite toy as a baby! How sweet!

The Snow's A Comin' & I'm A Quiltin'!!!

2012-01-12T07:53:00.000-06:00

Anyone that knows me - knows that I can't stand snow. Oh of course - it's all pretty at first and I love to get out and play and romp in it with my kids and I love to sit and hand quilt or piece in my living room all nice and snuggly warm while watcing it snow outside - but I can't stand being cold (kind of sounds a little dorky after just saying I like to play in the snow!) and I can't stand other drivers on snowy roads. Common sense and driving - are not so common around here anymore and I like to play it safe and just stay home and hibernate.

The stinky part about this snow storm coming today - my Dear Jane group meets tonight! If it gets to yucky and the roads get to bad - I'll just have to miss out on tonight's fun. Better safe than sorry!

With that all said and off my chest (LOL) - I'm hibernating in my Quilting Kingdom today - as I typically do! Here's a little peek at what I'm up to!

This is Katie's String Star Quilt from the Fons and Porter book titled Scrap Quilts: Best Of Fons and Porter. I do know this quilt pattern was in one of their past issues of the magazine also - but I'm just not good enough to be that organized to tell you what issue! I love piecing this quilt so far. The biggest challenge is stopping to think before pressing the seams - they are all going every which way and to get everything lying nice and flat - I've had to clip a few seams here and there. And I've already made a "boo-boo" while piecing this quilt together, I just saw my mistake after this photo uploaded. I'll just call that my "humble" block, for this chick is not in the mood to play froggie today and rip seams.

And of course in my normal random, crazy and zany way of working - there is more than one project rolling around my studio!

I'm working on a Weaving The Rails quilt designed by our favorite blogger and scrap quilter Queen - Miss Kathie Holland of Inspired By Antique Quilts Blog fame. This pattern was in the August 2011 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. Love it!

Wait, there's more.....

Here I'm laying out and working on making a reproduction of an old antique quilt in one of my quilt history books. Yes - it's going to be a red and white quilt - all though the idea of doing it in blues and whites keeps popping into my mind! Just working on a few details to get this pattern all figured out!

Then if I'm really bored or we get snowed in really bad and I cannot get out of the house (oh gee - wouldn't that be terrible - NOT!) I've got all my works in progress neatly cleaned up in their cubbies. We've got the Dear Jane Quilt, The Stars and Sprigs Quilt, a quilt design by Sue Garman - the name of the pattern escapes me, tons of moda "fun" rolls of fabric to develop new interesting quilt patterns and my Cotton Club blocks to keep me entertained.

Start your engines ladies and gents - let's sew the day away and enjoy ourselves!

And I leave you with this...

Just a cute picture of one corner of my Quilting Dungeon. I've recently did a little remodeling and cleaning up of my work area and this is one of the "cute" fun areas I created! I love old vintage looking sewing goodies - and of course my fabric stash displayed in baskets!

Have a fabulous day folks - my day is off to a great start and I hope yours is too!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T06:06:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to you and your family!

I hope you have a safe and happy holiday and a wonderful start to 2012!

I've been hiding out in my quilting castle, finishing up projects and hoping to start the New Year working on new designs. The following pictures are not the best - I'm a terrible photographer using my cell phone! But these will give you a little taste of my finishes this past week!

And here is what I'm still in the middle of working on!

Lot's and lots of scraps have been used up, yet I still feel that I've not made a dent in my large scrap basket. Oh well, it sure is fun digging through it all!

For those of you that have not been to our website the past month, please take the time to stop by when you have a moment. We are having our end of the year cleaning out sale and all fabrics are on sale!

www.sewuniquecreations.com

Enjoy!

P.S. - for those of you that are curious and waiting for an update on my hands after my carpal tunnel surgeries (thank you so kindly for the emails!) My hands are almost back to 100%. I still have a bit of scar tissue I'm working to loosen up, they still itch a bit around the scar and are hardly ever bothersome now. I'm done with physical therapy, but continue strengthening exercises and massage at home. My scars look great!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

2011-11-23T15:56:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I miss posting here on my blog and chatting on Facebook and will be back soon. I've had to take a little personal time - completely intended - to spend quality time with my family, alone time with myself and muddle a bit through some ongoing and new medical issues. But all will be better soon.

I just wanted to say how thankful I am for my family and my friends (in person and internet buddies!) You all mean so much to me!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tara
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T13:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!!!!

Bummer...

2011-10-28T13:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm all bummed out. I'm missing Quilt Market and Festival in Houston. Many of my friends are there and they are being so great and texting updates and photos so that I can join in on the fun from a distance! LOL

Above is a photo from my very first quilt market back in 2000 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That was a fun booth. I won the best New Exhibitor Booth award that year. My husband did so much work constructing all those wood panels for that booth and my kids were wee little toddlers then. We traveled as a family to market and really enjoyed that time together. During the day I would work the show and hubby would take the kids to local events and things, the zoo, shopping, etc. We really had fun there.

I'm watching blogs and FaceBook to check for all the updates coming in - it's only making it worse on me - but I can't help it!!!!!

That's ok, I'll get over it. In fact, I think I'll start planning my Spring Quilt Market booth right now! That will perk my spirits up! Spring Market will be in Kansas City, Missouri this coming May 2012! We are super excited to be going back there for our 3rd market visit to this great location!

Off to plan my booth............

Scrap Quilts Magazine....

2011-10-26T07:42:00.001-05:00

Yesterday after I finished with physical therapy for the day, I decided to make a quick stop at Barnes & Noble to see if any new quilting magazines were available.

I found this....

Anything that says "scrap quilts" attracts my attention! So I bought it because there are several quilts that have possibilities of making their way into my home.

During "break time" yesterday (this is my "several times a day" break where I sit and read and while I'm reading I exercise my hands, wrists and arms hoping that I'm pushing my carpal tunnel recovery into major hurry up and get better mode!)

I came upon this....

This quilt is called Saltbox Houses and was designed by Kathie Holland of the Inspired By Antique Quilts blog! It was originally printed in the 2005 issue of The Quilter magazine! (which by the way this Scrap Quilts magazine is also put out by The Quilter!) Imagine my surprise! Love the quilt Kathie - I have a few of those fabrics in my stash!

I also love this one...

This is Hidden Spools by Rhonda Dohna of Acorn Hill Quilts. Originally published in the 2004 issue of The Quilter Magazine. Rhonda used to have a great website and some really fun quilting patterns. I'm not sure whatever happened to her, but sadly her website is no longer there!

There are a few other quilts in this magazine I'd like to make too!

Carpal Tunnel Update....

Still treading the recovery climb. I am hand piecing just a few stitches a day to exercise my fingers - honestly just a few and then I stop. The grasping of the fabric while trying to sew puts tension on both my hands so as soon as I start to feel that pulling and twinging - I stop. Same thing with hand writing - I can manage writing one sentence if I'm looking and then have to stop. Thank God for keyboards. Typing is not to much of an issue - but I do no more than 15 minutes of continual typing at a time and then take a break.

Rotary cutting at this point - nothing major and no more than 1 layer at a time. I have to hold the rotary cutter a little different for now because my scar is still tender and very sensitive.

Cutting with scissors - not bad - just cannot do the cutting motion for an extremely long time. I practice cutting each day also with an old pair of scissors and scrap paper that I've drawn lines and shapes on to follow.

Holding an actual coffee cup in my hand - not bad but not good - I don't trust myself quite yet so I'm back to using one of those plastic coffee travel mugs that is lighter than my stoneware (heavy) coffee mugs. My hands just do not like that fine grasping of the small and narrow handle on my mugs!

Yesterday's quilting jag will be repeated today. I'm going to attempt to re-make this quilt block I worked so hard on yesterday. I'm not typically a really picky, perfectionist type person - but this quilt block is for a top secret project that will soon start making an appearance in the quilting world.

After checking my machine this morning I realized my needle is not centered where it should be for my 1/4" seam allowance. I guess that's why my block center that was supposed to measure 6 1/2" measured just a tad over 6". Well darn. Now - someone explain to me how that could happen when this machine has sat untouched for a month and a half with no use at all. The gremlins attacked my machine just to mess with me.

Drats - that explains my troubles yesterday! LOL

Guess What I Did Today?

2011-10-25T17:31:00.000-05:00

Finally today I was able to sew on my sewing machine. I managed about an hour of sewing with breaks every 15 minutes or so. It wasn't easy and the project I'm working on turned out a little less than desirable. But guess what ---- I don't care!

The pure bliss of sitting and sewing is just what I needed.

I'm behind on my updates here on my blog of my carpal tunnel journey but that's for another day. I've declared today as a no complaining, no drama, no worries kind of day. And that's good enough for me!

See ya tomorrow!

Tara

Pretty Quilt Pictures

2011-10-08T08:50:00.001-05:00

Today, here are some of the pictures I took last week while on my quilting get a way weekend. This will just be a short post today, my hands are really achy and sore today, so I'm going to take it easy. Also - these photos are not the best quality in the world. I didn't bring my good camera because it was just to heavy and hard to hold. So - cell phone to the rescue - even though I was a bit shaky - I'm sure you'll get the idea of the beauty that surrounded us while we sewed and played! Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Wisconsin Quilting Getaway Weekend Report

2011-10-07T07:39:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday I headed north to Wisconsin for a quilting weekend with friends. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and was able to sew almost everyday on my machine - thanks to having cut out a gazillion tumbler shapes prior to my first surgery!

This pile of tumblers slowly but surely turned into this by Saturday evening!

That's me on the right with all my pieced rows of tumblers behind me. Im proud to say i was able to piece all the rows that i think I'm going to need for this quilt - but i did pay for it on Sunday because I sewed so much on Saturday! I should have taken many more breaks for my hands!

On the left is Pam Buda - of Heartspun Quilts fame - AKA-the brilliant mind behind The Prairie Women's Sewing Circle! That's her tumbler quilt behind her on the left - isn't it cute! You can visit her blog here (link below and look for three posts made on Sept. 26, Sept. 29 and Oct 3) if you've not already been over to visit her there - please do - she's been posting an excellent tutorial on English Paper piecing and I blame her for my current infatuation with hexagons. Those cute little things keep spinning around in my mind - I may just have to go into my sewing studio today and pull out my own current hexi or other paper piecing project (there's about 9 of them in the works, so I could literally take my pick) and start my own form of physical therapy for my hands - I'll call it "fondling my fabric" and work those hand muscles back into shape in no time!

Anyhow - here's the link to Pam's blog - go on over and visit and tell her I said hello!

http://heartspunquilts.blogspot.com/

Here's a picture of our sewing area while in Wisconsin

Here's a picture of my wonderful sleeping area! I felt like a little kid with my own private fortress each night! Loved it!

This is a Blackbird Designs quilt that we all fell in love with and of course had to go searching like mad women on the Internet for the pattern! It was such a treat to view all the gorgeous quilts on display in my friend Lisa's home (The one and only Lisa - you know the one - Queen Mum at Primitive Gatherings Quilt Shop!) I'll show you more pictures from her home and all the lovely quilts in another post!

And here is my very own quilt on display at The Primitive Gatherings Quilt shop! That was super exciting seeing it there, right as I walked in the door! They have the patterns for sale and might have a kit too - you'll have to call them and ask! The pattern is called Two Piece Puzzle. 1-920-722-7233

I'm off to see what fun I can get myself into today. I have fabric fondling/physical therapy if I chose and a walk to the library and through the forest preserve on my list today! Such an exciting life I lead!!!!

Tara
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Shipshewana Fun Day

2011-10-06T12:13:00.001-05:00

Last Tuesday the husband and I decided to take advantage of his vacation time and we headed out to Shipshewana, Indiana. It was his first time visiting there - but I am a veteran Shipshewana addict! I love that area and all the rich Amish history that can be found there!

Here's a few photos from our "date day"!

Isn't this quilt gorgeous? Here's another picture:

The pattern for this great quilt is in this book shown above. Stellar Quilts by Judy Martin - excellent book - and I will make this quilt one day!

Ohhhhh and look what I spotted on the shelves at Lolly's Quilt Shop - my book!!! How fun is that! ( very, very exciting and yes I started to cry I was so happy! Happens every time!)

The "great wall'o fabric" at Lolly's.

The fat quarter boat at Lolly's!

Fun candy cane display! So stinking cute I could not resist!

I love old fashioned candy store displays!

Had to make a trip inside Yoder's!

I think I need to go back to Shipshewana and get some of these for my garden next year!

Fell in love with these rockers!

Are these super huge baskets not the cutest thing!

I want one of these for my new quilting studio!

Love the outhouse!

And one tired husband. I love the chair - well and the accessory in it too!

Carpal Tunnel Update

It's been 2 weeks and 2 days since the surgery on my left hand and 2 days since the surgery on my right hand. Everyday is an experience, let me tell ya! I have very little strength right now. Even to brush my teeth is a chore and needs to be thought through beforehand. I have so little strength in my left hand and just cannot use my right hand as of today - I thought this morning I would be better off just squirting toothpaste in my mouth and swishing it around. I'm not kidding.

I drove for the first time since my first surgery last Wednesday. So a week after the left hand and I drove to the store. I did it but I did not enjoy it. I drove about 2 miles to get to the store and personally - I think I needed more strength in my left hand in case of an emergency while driving. Shopping for the few things on the list went fine - got what I was searching for and came back home and happy to be here.

My left hand stitches have now been removed. The area on my hand is very itchy and super sensitive. It's incredible just how sensitive that scar tissue is. My left hands skin is extremely dry also. So Vitamin E oil from the health food store to the rescue! Still a lot of bruising and tenderness on that hand, but I see the bruises disappearing everyday. My thumb area is the most sore and the lower palm area of that hand. Here is a picture of just how dry the skin is on my left hand - yuck warning!

As I said - I'm using Vitamin E oil - if you know of anything better - suggestions are being accepted!

The right hand - just the same as it went for the left hand. The right hand is still extremely swollen today - but oddly enough I have full movement of that thumb with little and very manageable pain.

Bath time with two injured hands - ok that was another memorable experience and I'll spare you the details, but I did survive but it wasn't easy. I think I need to by a bottle of Johnson and Johnson tears free baby shampoo for next time because trying to wash your hair left handed when that hand is still healing and you are a righty - is not fun, let me tell ya!

Getting dressed - forget anything cutesy or foo-foo for this chick for awhile. It's hello baggy jammies for awhile - consider yourself warned if you decide to drop by and surprise visit me or want to "FaceTime" chat! LOL - and forget styling the hair or doing makeup!!!

I attempted to sweep my floors today - forget that! So my dear children as you are reading Mommy's blog today (they do read it you know - when they are extremely bored that is) consider yourselves warned. The dust bunnies are at a high level today and I just cannot take looking at them another day. Today is not a "quick sweep" day - we have to show the dust bunnies who's boss. Your previously, cute finger prints on the bathroom mirror must go today so you have a clean slate to begin with tomorrow. And the dust in the living room - well I left you a little message in the dust on the top of the pie safe it says "Clean Me" - you see that is text messaging..... Mom style.........This sign is for you today my two darling children:

( in my children's defense - they are good kids, they do their assigned chores and earn their allowance weekly - I'm just adding a bit of humor to our daily life!! But our home is in need of a little TLC as I just can't do what I did prior to these surgeries quite yet!)

But on a brighter note - life's still good, I know I will recover and I'm looking forward to doing everything I'm told to do during physical therapy that begins on Oct 18. Everyday I do see improvements and I'm continually amazed at how the human body can heal and how well I can adapt and get things accomplishment with my temporary disabilities. I really do believe that everything in life happens for a reason and for me - I've learned to really appreciate some of the little things in life that I used to take for granted. I also have a better understanding of what people with permanent disabilities go through.

Now I just need to find someone to run to the quilt shop for me to get the latest issue of Sew Scrappy quilts magazine by American Patchwork and Quilting and I'll be perfectly content for an hour or two!

Enjoy your day!

Tara

2nd Carpal Tunnel Surgery Update

2011-10-05T17:06:00.001-05:00

The above saying is what I keep reminding myself of today.

Yesterday I had my carpal tunnel release surgery on my right hand and also - the bandages and stitches removed from my left hand. So here are a couple photos of my world.

Right hand all swollen and bandaged.

Left hand all bruised and waiting to have stitches removed yesterday.

Left hand today with the stitches gone and a bit cleaner. My scar looks great and is about a half inch long and extremely itchy and sensitive. Such a small incision for a whole lot of pain! The bruising that remains is a bit painful yet also.

Chat more later - I have so much to share but need to let my "tender" fingers rest a bit!

Tara
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Quilting Get Away Weekend!

2011-10-01T09:28:00.001-05:00

I've been having a blast this weekend in gorgeous Wisconsin! A few of my friends and I are on a quilting getaway weekend as guests of a "Superstar" quilter! (any guesses where I'm at?)

I've been doing really, really good working on my sewing machine - even with limitations with my hand! Breaks every now and then are a must! But that silly bandage in the above photo is not going to stop me!

I'm just working on a simple scrappy tumbler quilt. Lots of mindless sewing this weekend. And plenty of retail therapy!!!!!!

Enjoy your weekend!

Tara - in beautiful Wisconsin this weekend!

Antique & String Pieced Quilts!

2011-09-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

Here are the String Pieced and Antique quilts that were on display at the West Virginia State Quilt Guild show this past July. I really enjoyed studying the fabrics in these great old quilts!

Just click on the link below these photos to go directly to my Picasa Album!

String Pieced and Antique Quilts at the West Virginia State Quilt Guild Show

2011 Faithful Circle Quilt Show

2011-09-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

Here are the photos from the 2011 Faithful Circle Quilt Guild show that I was so pleased to visit a couple Saturdays ago. This is the show that I originally was going to be vending at but had to cancel out of due to my carpal tunnel and surgeries. The link to go directly to my Picassa photo album is below!!

Enjoy the photos and below is a link directly to my Picassa Album!

2011 Faithful Circle Quilt Show

Sunday Morning Funnies....

2011-09-25T10:48:00.003-05:00

Ok see that cute but scary photo of the cat up there? That is close to the hair style I sport in the mornings. Actually I think it may be worse because my daughter came down the stairs this morning to greet me on my bed/ couch and the look on her face was priceless. She gave me the normal hug, backed up a bit, tilted that head of hers and asked me if I'd like some help " with the hair"?

So needless to say, I had my hair brushed and styled by a 13 year old this morning. Hubby says it looks great, I just feel better, son wants to take pictures to post on FaceBook. Great priceless memories were made this morning.... It appears I'm getting a pedicure later on from dear daughter also!

Two more "new" to me books arrived this week. Both written by Linda Giesler Carlson. The first one is called Roots, Feathers and Blooms. The second one is Four Blocks Continued.... And after searching for the above images on the internet, I realized she has a third book in this series. Guess I'll have to go shopping for that third book now...... Anyhow - both these books are great. Good photos, good stories and nice patterns. I'm a big fan of four block quilts and applique though so these are right up my alley.

Well..... It looks like we'll be making a trip out to Shipshewana next week, probably Tuesday if I'm up to it and feel like joining civilization again instead of hanging out in my living room! You see, my dear sweet husband is on vacation next week and I wanted to figure out something fun for us to do one day that didn't cost a ton of money and that we could enjoy together.

I know - your probably thinking - why in the world is that man on vacation the week in between both of that crazy woman's surgeries? Well, I'll tell ya! Originally I was supposed to be going to the Des Moines Quilt show this week and vending. Well obviously I had to cancel out of that. Dear husband had to cancel all his vacations for the rest of the year too, since I was not going to be doing shows and obviously - the extra money is always needed instead of vacation pay wages. Well this coming week of vacation time was not an option to cancel, we had to take it due to scheduling reasons at my husbands job and instead of irritating his bosses and begging until we where blue in the face - we decided to go ahead and leave this vacation in place. Sure - it would have been really nice to change it to the first week in October during my second surgery which I think will be harder on me - but come on, this is real life here and not everything is so easy and convenient!

So, the hubbie is on vacation this coming week. What better time to get the house and yard ready for winter. Great time for fall cleaning. Good time to do the winter tune ups on both vehicles. Good time to get more prepared for my second surgery. Great time to pull out the fall decorations and get the outside of the house decorated. All this with me not being able to do much. This is going to be really rough not helping out like I usually do, but I'm sure some good stories will come from this!

But on the bright side - it's a great time for us to sneak off for a mini day trip together to Shipshewana!

I'll have a driver (I really don't care much for driving), a tour guide (he's a great map holder and great at listening to that GPS thing that I find irritating!). He's perfect to share that wonderful Amish meal that I'm anticipating eating - it's always more fun to share all that wonderful yummy food with good company! Plus the auction is on Tuesday - and 2 sets of eyes are better then one! I'm on the lookout for antique quilts and fabrics - that's my mission for the day! I also am going to go here:

Lolly's Fabric store - an awesome place to go and be inspired! Www.lollys.com

I am also going here,

Yoder's Department Store. Love that place. Not only am I of course going to shop for stash enhancements, but I'm on the mad hunt for one of those older style irons with NO auto shut off feature and good steam you know - like the older Black and Decker style that lasted forever and didn't die after 3 months of use. I'm also searching for another Hurricane lamp - I'm addicted to collecting those beauties! (I think I need to win the lottery before I go!). Www.yoderdepartmentstore.com

Next on the list:

E&S Bulk Foods. Love this place. I stock up on baking and cooking ingredients each time I go here - and Mama Tara's pantry is looking a bit bare. Gotta stock up for winter. They have some of the best ground cornmeal here. Perfect for homemade cornbread! I also love the bulk spices.... Geez I just love it all!

I'm getting hungry so we'll eat here:

The Blue Gate Restaurant. Finally! I've dreamed of this moment. Eating here, a family style meal with my husband and enjoying every minute of it. I normally watch what I eat pretty closely - but when those doors open up to us next week - I'm not holding back on all that Amish homemade yumminess. Might gain ten pounds that day - but that's ok. I'll just drink a couple extra Diet Cokes that day - those and all the walking around should balance each other out right - and put all the extra calories in the negative pile -right??? ( come on - just nod your head and agree with me on this one! Pretty please??? )

Then bright and early Thursday morning, I'm sneaking out of here for a little mini vacation of my own. I'll save that info for another blog post because this ones getting kinda long again. But here's a few hints: it involves quilting girlfriends, a 4 1/2 hour drive north, sewing machines (please dear Lord let me heal more by then so I can sew!) and lots of laughing with good friends. Even if I'm not able to sew on my machine, I'll enjoy some good girl time!

Carpal Tunnel Notes To Myself For The Next Surgery:

-feeling more pressure, ache and moderate pain in my left hand. I hope it's just because I've tried to do to much and not because it's getting infected. Very strange sensations running through my wrist and hand.

- waking up at 3 AM wide awake is a norm. Look for it to happen. My body has gotten so rested and relaxed now from taking it easy and getting caught up on sleep. Instead of fighting it and trying to force yourself back to sleep - just deal with it. Get up and read, draw (if I can!) and plan on your next stage in life for when your completely healed.

- two steps forward and one step back is absolutely true during the healing process. Every time I think I'm getting a lot better I over do it and end up hurting or aching because of it. I think I should wear my arm splint a lot more so that I cannot try and use my arm as much. I wore my splint all day yesterday which forced me not to try doing as much and the hands doing much better today!

- stress. Remind myself daily that I'm not supposed to be working right now. I need time to heal and re-injuring myself is not an option. I could do major and serious damage if I over do it! Quit trying to be the "I can do it all" person.

- keep working on my goals list for myself personally and for my business. Things will become clearer and clearer everyday that I review this list and add to it.

Tara

Location:Sunday Morning Funnies........

Yeah! New Quilting Magazine Day!

2011-09-24T04:16:00.002-05:00

Look what arrived yesterday to help fill my day with quilting goodness!

The November/ December 2011 issue of McCalls Quilting! Yes!!!!! My sanity was saved for yet another day! (can you tell I'm really wanting to get back to my quilting and something a bit more normal?)

Look at this!

It's called Lodge Getaway by Sarah Maxwell and Delores Smith - you know them - the great gals behind The Homespun Hearth Quilt Shop and website! Love this! Great job you two - just like usual - I love it! You both are amazing at all you get done!

Next look at this -

Oh be still my heart do I love that quilt above. The fabrics used are wonderful! This one is Olde English Crackers by Susan Guzman. I could make this one completely from my stash right now I've got almost all those fabrics used in this quilt - I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed or not to admit that!

Then look at this:

This is Summer Memory by Gerri Robinson - great job Gerri as usual!

Next up - my daily ponderings and such....

I wanted to share with you one thing I did in advance for my family prior to these surgeries. I made up a ton of freezer meals ahead of time, labeled everything with the contents and how it needed to be cooked or re-heated. Best thing I could have ever done. I really am glad my husband can come home from work each day and have a nice hot meal. The kids can shop in the freezer also if they want. It's been a huge weight off my shoulders to know they are being fed well.

I stocked up on small aluminum foil trays in single serving sizes from the dollar store. Wrapped everything carefully in press and seal (a Glad product) then everything is in freezer ziploc baggies also to protect from freezer burn. I literally have about 75 plus different meals in my freezer and as long as everyone thinks in advance and takes what they want out of the freezer to thaw - life's all good.

There is a ton of information on the Internet about "Freezer Cooking" etc. I have a few books also which are wonderful!

I will admit though - I treated them to pizza fresh from Papa Johns for dinner yesterday. Man Internet ordering is just to easy..... And thank God for delivery!

I miss the smell of homemade bread baking in the oven though. So - frozen bread dough is on the grocery list for my husbands trip to the store this weekend!

One regret - I'm a baker - my family is used to a few treats now and then. I ran out of time and never did get cookies and muffins ready for them in the freezer. I did catch some of those pre made cookie dough things on sale though! Those are in the freezer too for when they get a sweet tooth. Kind of made me feel good the other day when they baked some of those store bought cookies - they told me they like mine better! What can I say - I've spoiled my family on homemade goodness! Those cookies sure did smell good baking though! I refrained from having any - I figured with as little exercise as I'm getting - my hips really did not need that cookie! But boy did I sure want one!

Personal reminders to myself for my next CT Surgery:

- will not feel like eating for the first few days - but try to remember to eat a little something here and there. Having no energy from not eating and being in pain is not fun. The med's do make me sick to my stomach without a few saltines each time I take them.

- take the medication - just like I was told to - on a regular basis. It's worth it. Do not try to go without it. Quit being a hard head and just take the medicine Tara!

- get splenda in a bag that I can measure out for my coffee - those little packets are impossible to open one handed

- plan ahead of time what I might want to eat for the day when my appetite comes back - case in point - I wanted to have some mild pepper rings on my salad yesterday and couldn't - well that darn jars not going to open it self and one hand is useless! Have jars loosened in the morning before the kids leave for school. Same thing for all that wonderful homemade soup that I canned and preserved - I cannot loosen the ring or pry the lid off On my own - plan ahead.

- I understand the "why" behind child safe caps on medication. My kids are plenty old enough to know better. Have med's set out and available during the day within easy reach - yet up high enough out of reach in case little visitors do come - which is rare - but better safe than sorry.

- it's getting cooler outside and my feet get cold so easy! Need slippers and easy slide my foot in type shoes! I cannot put socks on one handed without some form of acrobatics involved! flip flops for my walks are not going to cut it much longer.

These are super cute - but not to practical!

My kids would really think I'm a nut if I wore these around the house - but they would make me laugh and smile every time I looked at my feet!

These are so stinking cute!

Anybody out there have this pattern and wanna make me some of these?

Stylin' and super cute! My daughter would probably just shake her head!

- sleeping in our waterbed - not going to happen for awhile. The couch and several pillows and quilts are my new best friend.

- button up type shirts are much easier the first few days rather than over the head type t shirts. Well - as long as someone is there to button you up of course!

- and for anyone else that might be looking at surgery and have incredibly long hair prior to surgery??? I'm still not regretting cutting mine off! I had it cut and styled above my shoulders prior to surgery. It looks really cute, fresh and makes me feel younger now. Now is probably one of the times in my life when I'm thankful for naturally wavy hair. It doesn't look magnificent right now since I cannot do much with it - but that's life! See the cute hairstyle below? That's now on my head - of course I'm not blonde and super cute like dear Ms. Jessica below, but my hairstylist did a great job with what she had to work with and my hair looks this cute when I straighten it! I just have brown hair with a few Greys though!

And for anyone reading this that may be getting ready to have Carpal Tunnel surgery, here is a link to a really good blog entry that I found and read prior to my surgery. This lady is a medical transcriptionist - so she uses her hands for her work just like us quilters. She has really good pictures on there too. My hand is still wrapped up and the Dr. told me not to remove the bandages - she will do that on Oct 4 when I have my next surgery - which is driving me crazy not knowing what it looks like under there and I want to wash my hand so badly! Anyhow - that's a whole 'nother story I'll save for later!

Here's the link to the other blog! Enjoy!

http://silverscreamgrl.weebly.com/carpal-tunnel-release-blog.html

Tara
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

2011 NSQG Quilt Show

2011-09-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

Here are the photos from the quilt show I went to last Friday. This is the 2011 NSQG quilt guild show that was held in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

Here is the link to my Picassa Album so you can view each of the photos:

2011 NSQG Quilt Show

*********

Carpal Tunnel Update

I scheduled this post ahead of time so that you could view my pictures of the quilt show and enjoy them. Today at 9:45 am central time, I'll be having my first carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand.

Send me good wishes! I'll try and post updates in the next few days.

2011 NQA Quilt Show Pictures and more

2011-09-19T15:55:00.000-05:00

I was able to get the photos from the 2011 National Quilt Association show that was held this past June uploaded to my Picassa album.

Here is a link to my album for you to view each of the beauties I photographed.

2011 NQA Quilt Show Photos

******************

On a personal note, I have been doing a lot of thinking on what this blog means to me. This blog to me is a place where I can come and write and share things going on in my world. I enjoy being able to go through past posts and look at where I have been or what I was doing "back then". I enjoy reading peoples comments - good or bad. I enjoy feeling like I have a community of friends in the blog world whom I've never even met.

Over the next few weeks and months, I will be posting things on a very personal level, not only for myself but to share with others what I am going through. I have been diagnosed with severe carpal tunnel in both of my arms. I'm devastated and stressed to the max over this. I'm normally a very healthy, strong person, never had a surgery or broken bone in my 38 years of life. The most major thing to have ever happened to me is cutting my finger and getting 9 stitches - and that was horrible. Child birth is the only other time I've been near a hospital and I was begging to leave the minute I had my wee ones in my arms - literally begging.

Now, because of my chosen career and something that I love. I have damaged my body, which is causing me to think more seriously about my future. All of the cutting and folding and flipping of bolts has damaged me. All of the loading and unloading of my trailer for quilt shows, has damaged me. My love of hand piecing and quilting has probably played a part in this also, but I'm having a harder time admitting that.

Tomorrow September 20th at 9:45 am, I will have surgery on my left arm. October 4th I will have surgery on my right arm. I'm already signed up to max out my physically therapy coverage through my insurance company. I'm armed with a notebook full of recommended exercises so that I can regain all the strength in my arms and hands after the physical therapy coverage runs out. I refuse to give in or give up. I'm just not made that way.

With that said - I'm terrified to say the least. This "minor" surgery in the world's eye's is a "major" life event for me.

I've decided to document each step I take along the way to recovery. While doing research on carpal tunnel, I was quite shocked and upset to find so little "good" information for us quilters. I've also found along the way who a lot of my true friends are - as they have sat and listened to me cry and complain. Answered my emails or just simply sat with me. (with this said, please remember that anything that I may write in the future is my own personal experience and might and probably will differ from anyone else. I'm not a doctor, I'm not a nurse, I'm not even in a health care profession. I'm a quilter plane and simple.) I just want anyone that may come upon my own experience here on my blog to know that your pain is real, it does hurt and it's not imagined at all. And though someone looking at you cannot tell that you are in serious pain just by glance - I understand - you are in pain and it is very real and it hurts.

One piece of advice I can give thus far - if you ever try to calm someone else or reassure someone else that is getting ready to go through something that is traumatic to them but might not be so traumatic sounding to you - never ever make them feel "little" or feel like they are getting worked up over nothing. No surgery is minor. And a person's feelings and fears are very, very real and worth listening to. And that is the key - listen to them and only make suggestions and personal opinions on their behalf if you are asked to do so - never discount what they are feeling or saying. Sure to some carpal tunnel surgery may be a minor thing and in the scope of the bigger picture compared to cancer and heart surgery etc., it is minor - but when it's happening to YOU it is a major life ordeal.

I think what hurt the most recently is having someone say "what are you so worked up about, it's minor outpatient surgery - you'll be fine and back home. It's no big deal" Well - they are wrong, this is a big deal to me. This comment was made to me by a fellow quilter who I didn't know - it was just in passing at a quilt show - but I consider all quilters friends. She had asked me why I was wearing the arm braces on both my arms so I told her. I started to tear up a little in my eyes, my voice got a little quivery - over admitting that I had a "physical problem" and that I was nervous about the surgery - and now thinking about this - I was searching for comfort from a stranger and I was honestly embarrassed at the same time at how blatant and "rough" she was in asking me why I was wearing my braces. Which brings me to another point.

I have had days where I could not drive my own vehicle because my arms are in so much pain or twitching so badly. I just didn't trust myself. I've had days in the grocery store wearing both arm braces, trudging through grabbing the "light" things that I could manage to pick up on my own without dropping. I've had days where I do not even go to the store when we need things here at home because I just do not want to deal with people staring. I've had days where I go out and about because I refuse to sit home another minute and go without my arm braces just because I want to be normal and not be stared at. My arm braces are not huge, they really are just a pain in my behind if you ask me, but they do help to keep my arms more straight and from bending at the wrist and hurting myself worse. Why do people have to stare? Were they never taught to be kind and compassionate to others that might have a disability or a life changing situation? I'm not asking for pity, certainly not. But the stares or rude comments or blunt questions can be hurtful. I now have more compassion toward others that struggle with physical ailments or that might be permanently disfigured in appearance. They did not ask to be different it just happens. Don't stare - a warm smile and hello sometimes might just help give someone a little better day than you could even imagine. Maybe the good Lord is trying to teach me a lesson of my own - I've always thought that I have been compassionate and kind to others that struggle, but maybe I have not and this is my wake up call.

If you see someone in a cast, wheelchair or even braces on their arm, legs, etc., or just someone struggling trying to get in a building or their vehicle - try and offer some help. It's not wrong to be nice to others. It may just be the area I live in or maybe this rude human nature really is throughout the world, but with my "minor" ordeal, it's really opened my eyes even more to how many, many people in this world struggle with health issues and so few "healthy" people lend a hand anymore.

Better yet - if you see someone while you are out and about that looks upset or just appears to be having a really bad day - is it so wrong to say hello or just give them a smile? It just seems like anymore in this world we live, people only care about themselves.

I'm terrified right now and feeling very helpless. I only know what to expect from what some of my friends, customers and nurses and doctors have told me. Stop and think for a minute - how would you feel if your arms were constantly burning, numb, tingling. How would you feel if you could not sleep through the night without waking up in pain? How would you feel if your arms twitched or jerked around and you could not control them? How would you feel if you did not know for certain if a surgery you were about ready to have could heal you and help you to get back to what you love to do. How would you feel if your own children were to also cry with you because they hurt for you while you are in pain and they just want you to feel better?

I may not blog everyday, but I plan on trying to "peck" out a post here and there and even share some pictures of my progress. I'll warn everyone if a "graphic" picture might come about in a post. Trust me - I'll warn you before I do it because I made myself sick trying to watch a YouTube video of this surgery - my stomach just could not take watching that. I've never thought of myself as having a weak stomach, but trying to force myself to watch something that was about ready to be done to me - well I just could not handle it.

My kids and husband will be taking good care of me. Please say a little prayer for me and make a few extra special stitches in your project for me and send good thoughts my way.

Please do not take offense in any way to anything that I have said here or may write in the future. This is my personal blog, my own diary that I have chosen to share online with you. I love to write. I write stories, I am working on a book, I write patterns and in general just enjoy "quilting" or "piecing" with words. If you take offense to anything I say, it is not meant to be hurtful to you. If you wish to leave a comment - I truly welcome you to. It has helped for me to admit I have a problem and to have so many email me with kind thoughts. The people that I've emailed with that have gone through this - thank you for being so honest and open with me. If you do comment and I do not respond directly to you - please do not take offense - just know that I truly thank you and appreciate you.

As for my future and the future of my business. I don't know.

I just don't know where all this will lead me. My family comes first. My quilt designing comes second (which has been on the back burner for way to long) and my future hopes of fabric designing come third. Everything else is questionable at this point.

More West Virginia Quilt Guild Show Pictures!

2011-09-17T08:31:00.000-05:00

I really had a great time at the quilt show I attended yesterday and took a ton of pictures! I'll work on getting those uploaded soon so that you can enjoy seeing the beautiful quilts that I had the pleasure of viewing!

Today, I am off to another quilt show in our area. This is the quilt show that I was supposed to be vending at myself, but had to cancel out of it. (more on that soon - why I couldn't be a vendor this year that is!)

Here is the 2nd installment of my quilt show pictures from the West Virginia State Quilt Guild show that I vended at this past June. I went ahead and dumped the other picture software that I was testing out yesterday for the small slide show I had posted for you! Didn't like it at all, so now I'm playing around with another one instead! (new technology - it never ends!)

So anyhow, some of the quilts you view in this slideshow you might have seen yesterday, but that's ok because somethings are worth repeating!

Enjoy! (don't forget you can click on the link at the bottom of this post to go to a full size view of the slide show!)

Link To Pictures Slideshow click here

Or you can view the album and select each picture you would like to see a full view of here:

Link To My Picasa Album Click Here

(again, not to sure how I like this whole Picasa pictures thing - I really liked offering you the slideshow option on WebShots! What is your opinion - do you like slideshows or do you prefer to go through an album and click on the individual photos you would like to view????)

Off for a Little Fun Today & Quilt Show Pictures!

2011-09-16T07:38:00.001-05:00

Today, I'm off for a little fun - visiting a quilt show that is a little north of where I live. So get ready for some upcoming photos of all the beautiful quilts I'll be seeing today!

I'm a bit behind on showing you pictures of quilts that were on display at a couple of quilt shows I did this past summer. So I decided to test out a new website for uploading pictures! I'm not to sure yet if I prefer this website over webshots - but let's give it a try!

One downside to this new picture website is I can only do slideshow's that have 100 pictures each. So today I am showing you 100 pictures from the West Virginia State Quilt Guild show that I had the opportunity of vending at this past June. I believe this will be the first of a series of 3 slideshows. We'll see how this works and if I like it - I'll keep using it. If not - I'm going back to WebShots!

(if you wish to view the photos full screen instead of the smaller version below - scroll down and click on the link at the bottom of this post!)

Enjoy!

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

Enjoy - and be on the lookout for more photos!

Direct Link to full screen view show:

http://www.picnik.com/show/id/16369253125_jdxr8/t/picnik-show

It's Starting To Feel Like Fall!

2011-09-14T21:44:00.001-05:00

I miss blogging. I've been away for too long!

The weather is getting a bit chilly around here lately and has put me in the mood for some fall decorating!

Last weekend we enjoyed a visit to the Sandwich Fair in Sandwich, Illinois. We had such a good time and the weather was perfect for enjoying all the fair festivities!

While in this great little town, we had to stop at a couple of my favorite shops after we left the fairgrounds.

Of course - now I'm in the mood to decorate for fall after seeing all the great and inspiring things at these two shops!

Enjoy the rest of these pictures - and please forgive me if they are a bit blurry! I was using the camera on my phone!

Kind of dark on this picture! These witches boots were so neat!

Chat more later - I'm off to get comfortable in my favorite chair with some good quilting books I haven't looked at in a long time!

Newsletter time! New fabrics are here!

2011-08-19T17:42:00.000-05:00

Christmas in August???

It feels like Christmas around here with all the fabric that has arrived this week - with lots more to come next week!

You might want to grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit back and relax while reading our newsletter this week - it's a long one full of goodies!

*****************

~Just Arrived~

The Cotton Club

The Cotton Club - 108" Wide Backing Fabric!

The Cocheco Mills III

Nineteenth Century Shirtings - 1875 - 1885

Centennial Solids - new shades!
(yummy cheddar, turkey red and olive green too!)

Collections For The Cause: Comfort

Lately Arrived From London

*****************

Arriving Very Soon!!!

Jo's Variety
(should be here within the next week!)
***Please note - we have order additional yardage because we have originally sold out of our first initial order! This fabric is listed on our website again for Pre-Order for those of you that missed it the first time around! I will keep you updated via email and through this newsletter when this 2nd order should arrive - feel free to pre-order now! Andover was pretty confident on the phone today that plenty of yardage was available. If we run out again - we can always try and order more!!!

Little Gatherings
(bundles will be arriving this coming Monday - and more on Wednesday. We expect the yardage by the end of next week!!!!)

Dear Jane II
(this fabric should arrive next week - and just a little FYI for you - Windham has already started discontinuing some of the fabrics - I was given this information today directly from Windham - so order yours now or grab some when you are at your local quilt shop, because it's going fast and certain pieces will not be re-printed!!!)

Wool 'n Needle Flannels!
(this is something new for us - flannel fabric! These are designed to "mimic" the look of hand dyed woolens - the colors are gorgeous!)

Ecology Cloth
(we have had a lot of requests lately to restock this fabric - so we have 3 bolts on order! It is on backorder with the manufacturer right now, but they are estimating to have it in stock by mid-September!)

Primitive Muslins
(again - we've had many requests to re-stock this fabric - so we are! More is on order and should arrive within the next week. Keep in mind this is a "basics" fabric from Moda and we can re-order it at any time. If we are ever out of it - do not be afraid to email us and we'll order more!!!)

Elizabethtown by Jo Morton
(this fabric is up for Pre-Order right now. I spoke with Andover today and they are still estimating this fabric line to ship out in September!)

**************

The Cotton Club

7 More Monthly Membership are now available!

The Cotton Club kits will start shipping very soon! September 15th to be exact!

We are completely sold out of "full kits" (kits that we ship all necessary fabrics and patterns at one time)

But ---- we have added 7 more memberships on our website for the "Monthly" Memberships!!! (Thank you to all you sweet folks that requested we add more spots to our club!) The deadline to reserve those spots will be September 8th - which should still allow us enough time to have the patterns and kits ready to go for new members!

***********
Just curious..... We want your opinion!

We are seriously (really, really seriously) considering ordering the following fabric lines:

The General's Wives

The Winterthur John Hewson Collection

Heirloom Shirtings

Carrie's Madders

You may click on each of the links above and it will direct you right to the fabrics on each of the manufacturer's websites.

If you have a spare moment - drop me an email, post a comment on our blog, leave us a message on facebook or make a comment on your order if you are on our website - if any of the above fabric lines interest you!

*****************

And on a personal note.......

We survived our wonderful family vacation and arrived back safely this past Tuesday. I'm still playing "catch up" with my emails (and phone messages for that matter)- so be patient if you are waiting for me to answer. We had 3 boxes delivered on Tuesday and 29 boxes of fabric delivered on Wednesday alone!!!

Our family enjoyed a visit to King's Island in Cincinnati and we also visited the Grand Wolf Lodge Waterpark there - I highly recommend both if you have children. We really enjoyed ourselves and my husband and I felt like kids again! I rode every ride my kids did at King's Island - they were shocked I could keep up with them to say the least!!!

From there we visited our family in West Virginia again. We were able to ride our quad every day through the mountains and even explored new areas we've never been in before! What a blessing to have family living in such a beautiful state!

We cooked a lot of good comfort foods and ate plenty also! The 10 pounds I gained while we were gone is proof that we cooked a lot and ate every bit of it!

My son started High School this past Wednesday and my daughter will start school - the 7th grade - this coming Monday! They sure do grow up fast! I'm sad to see the school year beginning, I love having my kids home with me and wish summer could be extended just a bit more................

I've got to get back to cutting fabric now....

The Cotton Club fabrics are next on our list - those will begin shipping to everyone that pre-ordered starting next week! This is a huge group of fabrics, so be patient!

New McCall's Quilting Magazine

2011-07-29T09:05:00.000-05:00

This little gem arrived in my mailbox yesterday. It's the September/October 2011 issue of McCall's Quilting magazine. All I have to say is this - the Quilting Designer/Goddess's of the world just need to stop coming up with all these great new quilts! My "to do" list is already over the top already folks!

Here's some eye candy for you:

This is "Scrap Sensation" by Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith - you know the gals that own Homestead Hearth in Mexico, Missouri! Awesome quilt ladies - I'm going to have to pull out my leftover half square triangles from other projects and get cracking on this one!

This is "Dresden Doilies" love it !!! This is by Gerri Robinson and she even has kits available for it!

And this - oh - I'm loving that cheddar! This is Album Patch and is a free download on McCalls website you can go and get that freebie here:

Album Patch

If you do not get this magazine - go grab a copy. It's worth every dime! There is a gorgeous Jinny Beyer quilt pattern also - see:

Fat Quarter Sale!!!

2011-07-27T12:33:00.000-05:00

All Fat Quarters in stock are now on sale - priced at

$1.50 each

now until this Sunday, July 31, 2011 at midnight!

Here's a link to the fat quarters section of our website!

Fat Quarters

Also ---

Last Call for......

Prairie Women's Sewing Circle Journey #1and Journey #2. Our inventory is running low so if you've been thinking about grabbing these great sets of patterns - go get them while you can.

Also - we have uploaded the last 6 kits we have available for this great quilt:

Gentleman Caller from Prairie Women's Sewing Circle Journey #1 The kits are $50.00 each and include all the fabric for the top and binding! (pattern not included!)

We also have a few copies left of Jo Morton's new book:

Banner Day

Last weekend we also uploaded several more Fat Eighth and Fat Quarter bundles that remain from our quilt shows this year!

Go and check out the new bundles we added at the following links:

Fat Eighth Bundles

Fat Quarter Bundles

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My motto today:

"When life gives you scraps - go make a quilt!"

Playing with new thread.....

2011-07-23T06:58:00.000-05:00

I found some "new to me" thread this week and thought I'd share with you my little test I did with it.

Here's the fun little pack of threads I found at a local quilt shop - the last package they had - my greedy little hands snagged it up right away. Here's a little description I found online about this thread:

Invisafil Thread is very fine 100 Weight 2 ply soft poly thread. Invisafil Thread is excellent for hand or machine quilting and appliqué, bobbin thread and precise piecing. If you do NOT like the feel of monofilament, Invisafil Thread is an excellent alternative because of its matte finish and very fine weight disappears into fabric.

Above is one of my blocks for my Dear Jane quilt that I tested this thread on. Reverse applique no less - It's been fun stitching this one!

Above is a close up shot of the applique - Notice how the thread has just disappeared into the fabric? I love this look - really you cannot see the thread unless you start really digging into those seams! (Quilt Police - don't be digging into my seams now - I'm not perfect! LOL)

Here's a quick photo of some of my applique thread stash. I love using the YLI silk threads too - to me they seem the same as this new Invasifil that I bought and easier to find on the market today. While doing a quick search online for more Invisafil - you can find a few places that sell this thread - but not as many compared to those that sell the YLI. I also just ordered in a couple spools of Superiors "Kimono" silk threads to try out also. I read some good reviews on the Superior silk thread, so I though I'd give it a try also.

I'm also an "Aurifil" girl. Love my 50 wt cotton threads from them for applique too. Actually I like this thread for piecing also and I've hand quilted with it!

I did test out the Invisafil thread while hand piecing some blocks and really liked how it worked. The thread is so thin that it doesn't "use" much space in those seams and makes for a perfect finished size block.

Have a great weekend everyone. We'll be busy trying to stay cool in this heat and starting to get ready for our upcoming family vacation. Vehicle maintenance, four wheeler and dirt bike repairs - well those 2 things are on the "boys" list for this weekend - I have nothing to do with those things except drive them! LOL

Me - I need to get started gathering up all the important or more necessary "vacation" things - in other words - I'm getting my sewing supplies together so I can maintain my sanity while we make a 9 1/2 hour trip back to beautiful West Virginia to be with my family!

Playing with fabric... for The Cotton Club

2011-07-20T13:19:00.000-05:00

Well my good friend Dear Jane had to take a nap today - the heat got to her and she's all wore out. So, today I'm firing up the good old iron and getting ready to starch and press my fabrics from our Cotton Club shop kit. I'm really excited about getting to work on these cute little blocks!

The Cotton Club fabric line itself has not arrived yet - we are eagerly awaiting it's arrival! I hear it's arriving in shops now!

Dear Jane and I are friends again...

2011-07-14T05:49:00.000-05:00

Well, after my "whining" about the G-6 Papa's Star block from the Dear Jane quilt, I went and bought a spool of 60 weight thread (Soft Touch by YLI), came back home and conquered that quilt block.

All is well in my world again. Now to just trim this little block up a little more, rip off the papers on the back and tuck it into my Dear Jane folder!

Dear Jane You Were Insane...

2011-07-13T08:41:00.000-05:00

So, last night I took a little well deserved "me time" and decided to sit down and work on another Dear Jane block.

After 2 1/2 hours, many ripped out stitches and finally the clock turning to 11 pm - I have officially decided that Ms. Dear Jane Stickle had to be insane.

This is my pathetic looking little piece that I have to show for 2 1/2 hours of work. Granted - my hands were bothering me- but I remained a trooper and I cannot stand paper piecing - but I will admit - this block wore me out last night and this is only a tiny center of a block that will measure less than 2" when finished in the center! It looks awful. I'm not one to waste fabric - so yes, I ripped out the seams on this paper pieced horror many times (which didn't help matters at all!) to try and get those little points perfect. They are not. Today - I'll give this block another attempt and however it turns out on the 2nd try will be how it ends up in my Dear Jane is Insane quilt. Today's 2nd attempt will have some good stories for me to tell future generations I'm sure.

I do not like paper piecing - but last night I figured I'd give paper piecing another try because I really did not want to hand piece this block. I'm about 75% sure right now - I would rather hand piece this little booger!

I learned I really need to find some thinner thread also. I believe my thread is eating up to much space in those little seams. I also think I need to shave down my seam allowances a bit more - the center on this block is so bulky!

So Dear Jane, be kind to me today and let me see this block through to the end with little frustration! The next block - I think I'll applique one and take a break from paper piecing! LOL

Simply The Truth!!!

2011-07-08T13:59:00.002-05:00

History Repeated

2011-07-08T05:34:00.001-05:00

A new book arrived and I'm in love with it!

The quilts in this book are so wonderful, I've sat drooling over each of them for days now. Oh - I need more hours in the day to get everything done I would like to accomplish!

Here's a description of the book and a link to our website if you would like to order a copy of the book for yourself!

History Repeated

History Repeated: Block Exchange Quilts by the 19th Century Patchwork Divas

by Betsy Chutchian & Carol Staehle

Making a quilt is easier than you might think when you gather some friends and exchange blocks. Let the 19th-Century Patchwork Divas show you how.

Inspired by their love of antique 19th-century quilts, this Texas-based block exchange group recreates these quilted treasures of the past with 1800s reproduction fabrics. The group’s co-founders, Betsy Chutchian and Carol Staehle, have assembled a captivating collection of quilts from past block exchanges.

Ranging from the simplicity of the Double Nine-Patch block to the more challenging Carolina Lily block, there is a project for every skill level among this book’s 16 classic quilts. Each of the chapters features detailed block instructions that you can easily adapt for your own block exchange as well as one to three setting options for completing your quilts.

And for those who prefer to make the quilts individually, each setting option also includes all the necessary block instructions to help you successfully complete the projects from start to finish.

To give you even more setting and color palette ideas, most of the chapters include an inspiring photo gallery of additional quilts by the Patchwork Divas.

8 1/2 x 11 inches, 112 pages, softcover, full-color.

And more pictures of a few of the projects!!!

Wow - now this is neat to see too!

2011-06-23T20:41:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm sitting here trying to catch up on emails in the hotel this evening and received a rather nice and exciting email! A customer has made one of our pattern designs and her long arm quilter posted some lovely pictures on her blog!

This is "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" pattern number #371 or you can also find the pattern in the American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine - the August 2007 issue!

Here's a link to the longarm quilter's blog where you can see a couple of other detail shots of this quilt that our customer enlarged to a whopping 110" x 110" --- now that's a big one!

Finely Finished Quilts Blog

Beautiful job Lori!

A Little West Virginia Quilt Show Eye Candy!!

2011-06-23T20:17:00.000-05:00

We have a really, really slow internet connection here at our hotel in West Virginia! The show here in Summersville has some beautiful quilts on display!

Here are a few I took pictures of with my phone today! Enjoy!

And to top my day off - we were awarded a "Well Dressed Booth" award! Now how cool is that!

When I get "somewhere" with a better internet connection - I'll upload more pictures from the Columbus Quilt Show and the pictures from this quilt show here in Summersville!

Oh, and a little birdie told me our booth made the local news channel in Beckley, West Virginia also! Wish I could see that!

See ya later!

2011-06-14T05:53:00.000-05:00

We leave today for 2 back to back quilt shows! We hope to meet several of you there - here's where we will be:

National Quilting Association Quilt Show
Columbus, Ohio
at the Greater Columbus Convention Center
June16-18, 2011

Quilt Festival 2011
Summersville, W.V.
at the Summersville Arena & Convention Center
June 23-25

I've got my spool blocks all cut and prepped and ready to work on. A bag full of Dear Jane goodies to play around with. Plus, I've packed up all my little prepped blocks for the basket quilt - you know the one - the Blackbird Designs quilt that I will forever be working on!!!

I promise to take lots of pictures and I'll try my best to figure out how to upload those on the laptop while we are gone!

The following message is also posted on our website - but in case you missed it here it is:

We are out of town vending at 2 different back to back quilt shows! We will be in Columbus, Ohio vending at the NQA quilt show and then on to Summersville, West Virginia to vend at the West Virginia State Quilt Guild show!

With that said, we will have a back up on filling all orders placed from now until we return on - or around July 5th, 2011. We have all of our inventory with us and we will be trying our best to fill any orders we possibly can while we are traveling - this will not be easy, but we are going to try our hardest to process orders in between shows!

All orders received after 5 pm Central Time on Thursday June 9, 2011 will be filled in the order they were received in between quilt shows and when we return on July 5th, 2011.

Wish us luck!

Strip Smart Book Tour - Book and Ruler GiveAway!!!!

2011-06-12T07:44:00.000-05:00

Today's my day on the grand book Tour!

Welcome and thank you for visiting if you are new to our blog - if you've been a faithful follower - thank you for coming back to see what crazy adventures I'm into right now!

Today was my day to play around with this quirky looking ruler:

I remember when this ruler first came out I thought to myself - how odd! What in the world is that for! Me - not being a big gadget girl - passed it on by and thought, well we'll see what comes of those rulers in "other" designers future projects.

Well, my girlfriend, Miss Kathy Brown has written a book using this nifty ruler and I got to give it a test run. Yesterday, I played around with this:

And was able to cut these with such ease you wouldn't believe it!

Talk about a cool ruler that's easy to use and what a great book!

As for my favorite quilt project from the book, I think it's this one:

It's called "The Birds.

I like the cover quilt too!

The quilt on the cover is called "Fat Man's Squeeze"

And if you would like to watch a YouTube video from a lecture she gave on the book you can go and view that here!

Strip Smart Quilts YouTube Video

If you would like to learn more about Kathy and her new book you can view her website here:

The Teachers Pet

and her blog here:

The Teachers Pet Blog

And again, here is the line up for the Book Tour! Please leave a comment here on our blog for today's chance to win a copy of this brand new book that has just been released and the ruler! Wow!!! Miss Kathy will be drawing the names herself and announcing the winners, so jump in on the fun! (remember to follow along on the book tour and comment on each of our blogs on our given day for a chance to win!!!)

June 10 - Pam Vieirra McGinnis - PamKitty Morning

 June 11 - Laurie Simpson - Minnick and Simpson 

 June 12 - Tara Darr - Sew Unique Creations

 June 13 - Joan Ford - Hummingbird Highway 

 June 14 - Linda Lum De Bono - Linda Lum De Bono 

 June 15 - Elizabeth Scott - Late Bloomer Quilts 

 June 16- Lissa Alexander - ModaLissa

 June 17 - Vickie Eapen - Spun Sugar Quilts

 June 18 - Camille Roskelley - Thimble Blossoms

 June 19 - Debbie Field - Granola Girl Designs

If  you've not been following along on the Book Tour - jump on in - you'll  be missing out on the chance to win the book, the ruler and maybe - just  maybe some other goodies.  A little birdie from way down south has  whispered in my ear and told me the "other" surprises are pretty cool  too! 

Chat more later I'm off to pack for our upcoming adventure and good luck on winning the book and ruler!

Today's Mission...

2011-06-11T07:14:00.000-05:00

OK, my fascination with Dear Jane has to take a break today - but I will be packing a little of her up to go on my journey east soon!

Today I am playing around with a little of this:

Because as you can see in the line up below - tomorrow is my big day on the:

"Strip-Smart Quilts Book Blog Tour".

You may remember Kathy as "The Teachers Pet". You can view her website here:

The Teachers Pet

and her blog here:

The Teachers Pet Blog

Here is the list of all the fun blogs on this upcoming Blogging Book Tour.

June 10 - Pam Vieirra McGinnis - PamKitty Morning

 June 11 - Laurie Simpson - Minnick and Simpson 

 June 12 - Tara Darr - Sew Unique Creations

 June 13 - Joan Ford - Hummingbird Highway 

 June 14 - Linda Lum De Bono - Linda Lum De Bono 

 June 15 - Elizabeth Scott - Late Bloomer Quilts 

 June 16- Lissa Alexander - ModaLissa

 June 17 - Vickie Eapen - Spun Sugar Quilts

 June 18 - Camille Roskelley - Thimble Blossoms

 June 19 - Debbie Field - Granola Girl Designs

If you've not been following along on the Book Tour - jump on in - you'll be missing out on the chance to win the book, the ruler and maybe - just maybe some other goodies.  A little birdie from way down south has whispered in my ear and told me the "other" surprises are pretty cool too! 

Then I must move on to filling this for my 3 plus week adventure east:

I acquired this new piece of pretty luggage while at quilt market last month.  She's so cute!

From looking at this picture above, I'd say I should get busy replacing that ironing board cover on my big board too!  LOL - That thing is a mess!  Guess it's been used a lot!

Have a Happy Saturday!

Lady Dear Jane In The Making

2011-06-10T21:10:00.000-05:00

Last night I attended the first club meeting for Dear Jane at The Quilt Merchant. Oh dear Lord, what have I done to myself yet again. I seem to have this un-ending habit of getting really involved and psyched about new projects. I literally have a bazillion (ok maybe not that many - but their are a lot) projects either started or that I'm stash building for. Good grief....

Now, I'm back to being addicted to this:

You see - I did start this quilt probably 5 or 6 years ago. But now I've changed my mind on the background fabric. Here's a glimpse of the blocks I've had in storage from the "Old Dear Jane In Progress":

But of course, nope - cannot continue on with these blocks and this theme as planned - nope - I now have it in my head to start over. Good grief.....

I absolutely could not get this Jane Stickle person out of my fuzzy head today. I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off getting ready for 2 quilt shows which will take me away from home with my darling kids for over 3 weeks straight. I'm cutting and folding fabric and thinking about

Lady Jane

I'm packing rubbermaid totes with fabrics and notions and again she's in my head.

I take my kids out to lunch and I see the Dear Jane Quilt imagine in my head as I try to eat my rather bland and boring salad.

I run to Barnes and Noble to look for a Journal to keep all my thoughts in while working on Lady Jane - again the Dear Jane thing.

I get back to work pricing fabric bundles and get this - I write Dear Jane on one of the fat quarter bundle tags.

Crud....

So I quit for the evening and did this...

I pulled fabric. This is how I work - I just grab stacks off my shelf and I put them in piles, I'm a mad women when I start to pull fabrics. I have no rhyme, nor reason when I pick fabrics for a scrappy style quilt. I just do it. I lay them out, take a picture and see what I think. I toss the fabric on my studio floor and stand way back and see how it looks. I've completely lost my mind this evening. I'm doing a Dear Jane quilt - all scrappy - background fabrics included. And from the photo above, I think you'll agree - it works! It's going to be awesome - just hope I can get it done in my lifetime.

I showed my husband the picture of the finished quilt in the book. He loved it - said "That's a cool quilt". "Looks like it will take a while to make". I replied - yep. He studies it and says " So, I'll probably be retired before it gets done (keep in mind - he's 44 years young) - I replied - yep and called him a smartie pants.

I also told him, If I ever get this quilt done - he would be required to build a glass case so that we could display it because there would be no one sleeping underneath this baby!

Here's a picture of me and the hubby in St. Louis a couple months ago:

Isn't he cute??? Just love my wind blown hair look!

I really started studying some of the blocks in this quilt - and bingo another cool idea popped into my head. My partner in crime who will be making her own version of The Dear Jane -

is guilty for putting this idea in my head actually - Miss Pam Buda - the Queen Mum of the Make-Do craze! I think I may just to purposely "make-do" on some of my blocks just because I can and I want too!

If you are not sure what a "Make-Do" is ---- well just click on the little link next and you can read all about it!

Making-Do

Here's a few close up's of some of the fabrics I've chosen so far - we all enjoy eye candy right???

Nice looking bunch of fabrics ????

Well, another really cool thing I found out about last night ---- The Quilt Merchant is cutting "Sweet Sixteenth" bundles of fabrics for this quilt and offering those up in Batiks, 30's repros, Kaffe and Civil War Repros - how tempting - we always could use more fabric! The Sweet Sixteenth bundles are Fat Sixteenths of fabric in cute tempting bundles. A Fat Sixteenth is roughly 9" x 10 1/2" or so - about the size of a sheet of paper - just think of a fat quarter divide in fourths - 4 fat sixteenths equal a fat quarter etc....

They also have the Dear Jane Book:

The Dear Jane Rulers:

And I'm not 100% positive if they have the EQ Dear Jane program - but I bet they can get you one if you'd like!

If I've peaked your interest or given you a little nudge to get to work on your own Dear Jane....

give The Quilt Merchant a little jingle and tell Docia her adopted daughter made you call and tempted you to play with Dear Jane. Docia or her daughter in law - Miss Beth will get you all set up and on your Dear Jane journey in no time!

Now, I'm off to play a little tonight. I'm having one of my "I just cannot focus on work" moments. I've clocked over 70 hours of work this week alone, so it's time for this chick to go fondle some fabric - I'll get back to the grind tomorrow.

Enjoy your evening!

I'm doing a Dear Jane Quilt - Yippee!!

(disclaimer - I have no intention of rushing through this project. I have no clue when I'll actually be able to start on it - and I'm sure I'm going to fall prey to being the last person in the club to get the quilt done. Darn - I'm not even sure if I can get even one block finished by the next club meeting. I make no guarantees that I'll whip this quilt out over the next year (not gonna happen - I can tell you that right now!!). I'm just along for the ride and I'm going to enjoy myself - finished quilt or not, I'm declaring this a "me" project - just because I can! So if you see me at a quilt show, at the quilt shop or chat with me on FaceBook and ask me how my Dear Jane's going - my reply will be "oh just fine - I'm enjoying the ride")