Oh Boy, Did I Have Fun Today!!

I tried something new!!  Who said you can't teach an ol' dog new tricks??

We started out with this~

And ended up with this ~

Oh, yeah, and a little of this ~

And we get to do it again in two weeks!!  Maybe that saying should be ~ you CAN teach an ol' ewe new tricks!!  :-))

Saturday's Smile!!

We Started with a T-Shirt and a Family Photo . . .

My neighbor across the street, Becky, came to me last week and said she had a brainstorm that she wanted to throw out.  She has been working with a group of university students in China over the past ten years to help a group of young, deaf Chinese students, ages 4 through about 9, from a small village in rural China, get an eduacation and learn how to get acclimated into a hearing society.

She wanted to make a quilted wallhanging for the 10-year celebration of the program.    Through great collaboration and many prayers for inspiration, we came up with this darling banner-style quilt ~

It measures about 28" x 44" and that is Becky in the of the picture.  Becky left for China early this morning and she will bind the quilt on her 27-28 hour journey to Shanghai and then she will spend 3 weeks over there helping the Chinese folks that are keeping the program going with all the things that need doing.  I was so excited to be a part of this wonderful project that helps young kids be better people!!  I wish I could share Becky's whole story with you but alas . . .

UPDATE FROM BECKY IN CHINA - 4/29/3013

Here it is with the binding finished - Becky said she finished on the plane and watched a couple of movies while finishing it!!

This is Becky with her quilt!!

In her email Becky said:

Attached are some picture of our quilted banner . . . It turned out so great and everyone that has seen it has been so positive.  Most can't believe that we could make such a beautiful thing by hand.    I finished the sewing on the plane -- helped the fht go faster and I was able to watch some movies as I did it.    We will be using it to help promote the project from May 1st thru May 10th!   My time here has been busy and good so far . . . will be working tomorrow with the student on the web-site and we'll see how it all works out.   It has beautiful here . . . lots of green trees and plants in Nanjing and the temperatures have been up in the 80's!!!

Saturday's Smile!!

When I am an Old Women I Shall Wear Purple!!

As I was working on these two Flowers for a swap this evening ~

I couldn't help but think about the poem, "Warning!" by Jenny Joseph.

I remember when this poem was so popular back in the late 1990s and when the Red Hat Society was so big - and as I have researched it, still is!! 

Warning!!

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick flowers in other people's gardens

And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street

And set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

By Jenny Joseph (1932 - )

Do you remember this poem??  And are you a Red Hat Society member??  :-))

Re-cycling Christmas Cards!!

Last Christmas our sweet friend Shell, her hubby and her bunny kids from The Raspberry Rabbits sent me the cutest Christmas postcard ~

As you can see, she has used some of her felt and the picture is of Hannah and Hawwwingtwon.

Only thing is, I just got it a few days ago because it had fallen down behind the little pine trees in the front of my house right under my mailbox.  As I was raking winter debris from around the trees a few days ago, I found Shell's card!!

Well, I wanted to keep it and I didn't want to just put it away in a drawer, so I attempted some of Shell's Folk Art Fusion stitching around the kids and the tree and made a little pincushion that I can keep out on my cutting table all the time!!

Thanks, Shell, I needed a new pincushion!!  You can see more of Shell's postcards HERE

Saturday's Smile!!

Yesterday Was Crazy!!

I got up at 5 a.m. to finish the Challenge Quilt - pretty nuts, but it got finished (at 8:30 a.m. and Guild starts at 10:00) and it's owner loved it!!

Some of you may do this challenge Quilt in your Guilds.  In our Guild, we got a bag of fabric last October,

not knowing who it belonged to and not knowing what was in the bag.  We were to take the bag home, check out the fabric and make a quilt top of our choice with the pieces of fabric.

Ok, move forward to March and I finally decided what pattern I was going to use with all the scraps.  Now the bag I got had small pieces of fabric, so I decided that I would use this Barbara Brackman pattern ~

The pattern is paper-pieced and of course Janet knows I am saving the papers for her!!

Well, I only had enough fabric to do a wallhanging size (about 30" x 24"), so this is what I came up with even though the picture does not do it justice - the colors are just gorgeous ~

I am happy to announce that the new owner loves it and she told me she has a dark purple wall in her kitchen and that is where it is going to hang!!  I left it without a border so she could make it larger if she wanted and she thought maybe she would so it will fit the space better.  And then she can put whatever border she wants on it and finish it off!!  Whew!!  I HATE deadlines - even if they are self-imposed!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Challenge Quilt!!

This is part of the quilt I have been working on the past few days.  I actually started it a couple of weeks ago but my friend Janet over at Rogue Quilter suggested I wait until the last minute because she knows how much I love deadlines!!  Ha, ha, Janet was just joking around with me but I took her suggestion and I will be back to show you the quilt top tomorrow after I get back from Guild where I will present it to it's new owner.  Plus,  I'll tell you about the challenge part!!

Saturday's Smile!!

I've Been Workin' and Workin' and Workin'!!!

A couple of months before my sweet Dad passed away last May, a friend asked if I would piece some blocks so she could hand-quilt a quilt for her son.  I said yes, we picked out the fabric, my Dad got sick and went to Heaven, I moved twice, I lost the pattern in my moves . . . let's see, what other excuses can I think of right now??

Well, I don't have to because I have been hard at work all this week getting the 36 - 10" blocks done!!  Woo!  Hoo!!  I only have 9 left to finish!!

This was a block that Lynne found in an old quilting book.  It is called "Clay's Choice" or "Star of the West."  I am sure back in the day, it was cut and pinned and sewn together and took forever to do each block.  But I made a pattern for each of the quadrants and paper-pieced it!!  Thank goodness for paper-piecing - it only took about an hour for each of the finished blocks.  The quilt requires 36 pieced blocks and 36 plain blocks and will measure 80" x 90".  This is one UFO I will be happy to send to it's home!!  :-))  And I am sure Lynne will be happy to have all her blocks too!!