Thank You to All Who Have Served & Are Serving Now!!!

Thank You Gift Finished and Ready for Sending!!

Well, I just finished the "thank you" quilt for my niece for inviting my Dad, me and my older brother, Greg, to spend the weekend on her houseboat on Lake Powell in September!!  Love it when I get projects completed!!

Click on the picture below to see the beautiful job my friend, Sue from Summit Creek Quilts, did on the quilting!!!

 

Hope she likes it!!

LOTS of Eye Candy From Our Guild Meeting

This past Saturday was the November meeting for the Dixie Quilt Guild here in St. George.  We have some amazing quilters in this group and very prolific!!  Not only did we have all of our members show-and-tell the quilts they have completed, but we had a Trunk Show for the up-coming Cedar Chest Quilt Guild's Winter Quilt Festival in Cedar City, Utah this coming January, 2011.  These are just a few of the quilts shown as there were nearly 60 altogether!!  ENJOY!!!

 

 

 

 

This quilt is amazing!!! 

 

 

 

These are the boots of the woman who created the wonderful wonky quilt right above the boots picture!!  I wanted the boots!!

Starting with this next picture, these are some of the quilts in the Trunk Show and all of these quilts are classes at the Cedar Chest Quilt Guild's Winter Quilt Festival

 

 

 

 

This last picture is a quilt that was hand-quilted by an 85 year-old woman and it was spectacular!!!

There were lots and lots more quilts displayed but this gives you an idea of all the talent we have in our Guild!!

One of My Favorite Parts of Being a Quilter Is . . .

having a Secret Sister!!!  Especially when that Secret Sister is totally awesome and just simply rocks!!!  Today was the November meeting of the Dixie Quilt Guild (here in St. George) and it was the first month for Secret Sisters.  And I think I got the best one in the whole joint!!!  This is what was sitting on the table waiting for me when I arrived at the meeting this morning:

And it was filled with all kinds of goodies:

3 FQs and look at that darling Christmas print!!!  Too Cute!!!

A pad to remind me of everything I need to do everyday - hey wait - this Secret Sister of mine appears to know me pretty well already

A pattern for a really cute quilt by Kate Spain:

and finally this darling heart napkin or letter holder and a white flower pot that is going to be the new home of my Christmas cactus!!

Wow!!  And this is just month one!!  Thank you dear Secret Sister!!!

Love is in the Air!!

A week or so I ordered this wonderful print

 from Mandy Saile of Bijou's Whimsy's Etsy shop and I LOVE it!!

Mandy is an honors graduate and associate of the Ontario College of Art & Design, She currently makes her home with her husband, Jonathan and their little family of rabbits in North Bay, Ontario, Canada.


Her captivating imagery has a unique, vibrant and whimsical style. Using a sophisticated colour palette she creates images infused with heart, thought and symbolism. Her inspiration comes from a myriad of things including; animals, nature, music, literature, dreams, spirituality, psychology and relationships.

Mandy hopes someday soon to be able to make a difference by having her artwork intermingle with worldwide animal advocacy and she dreams of someday seeing a worldwide ban on animal-testing. She dreams also of someday having her studio in the middle of her very own rabbit sanctuary, a place that would rescue rabbits from testing labs across Canada.

She's following her bliss as a full-time illustrator/artist and full-time mom to a house full of rabbits. Their bunnies are Ella-Luna, Roo, Jinny and Jaks...all of whom pitter patter around the house and yard cage free.

I so love having the opportunity to support such a loving, very talented young gal who wants to make our world a better place.  If you want to follow Mandy's whimsal life, dreams and art, you can do so on her blog, Bijou's Whimsy.  Thanks Mandy, I can't wait to get this gorgeous print framed and hung in my quilting studio!!!  Plus, she wrote me the nicest long note when she sent the print to me!!  And it's signed!!  Hoo!  Hoo! :-)

November 2, 2010 - Enjoy Getting Out and Voting Today!!!

"When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, "just men who will rule in the fear of God." The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be sqandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws. " 
                                                                                         Noah Webster (1758 - 1843)

A Reminder to Vote Tomorrow!!

I am feeling pretty patriotic this morning for two reasons:

1.  Tomorrow is a big voting day that may change the dynamics in many local elections and

2. In my Amercian Civilization class we are studying the time of the Civil War back in the 1860s - a war that totally changed the dynamics of how this great country grew!!

So, I felt like it would be a good day to spend working on a  patriotic wall hanging and I went through my stash to see what I could find.

I found these great Civil War reproduction prints and a perfect pattern using the blue star fabric.  Now to snuggle in and enjoy a day of quilting - I hope!!!

Christmas is Coming!!

One of the youg women in my Sunday school class won a local dance team composition and they get to go to the regionals in Florida.  In order to earn some money to go, they are having a dinner and a silent auction.  I offered to make a few things for the auction.  This is the first item I made:

  I started out with just the panel

and cut several 2-inch strips of fabric - I had 11 different fabrics I could use.  When I decided how wide to make each strip, I measured the width and length of the panel and figured out how wide each FINISHED strip should be to go into the length and wide evenly and then I added 1/2" to each strip to allow for the two 1/4" seams. 

I then sewed the strips together with a 1/4" seam.

When deciding how wide to make the border, I looked at the panel and decided how wide I wanted the border to be.  I decided 4-inch strips would look proportionally correct and luckily, that way I could get 10 full strips out of the fabric width.  The choice though is yours and yours alone.

I had eleven strips and that was not long enough to go across the top and bottom so I had to add some of the blocks from a second set to the first set, removing the extra blocks to make it the correct length.

As you can see, there are 15 blocks running across the top.  Now, if the length of blocks is not exact, you will need to made a little tiny wider seam in one or two of the blocks if the length is a little too long or if is a little too short you will need to make 1/8" seams in one or more of the block seams.  After putting the top and bottom borders on, I cut 4 corner blocks.  Now, Since I made the border 4" wide, I cut the corner blocks 4" x 4" from one of the fabrics in the border

I made adjustments in length as needed going through the same step as when I prepared the top and bottom borders.  I then sewed the corners onto the border pieces and sewed the full border onto each side.  I pressed all border seams toward the panel which helped eliminate the thickness along those seams.

  I think it turned out pretty cute!!  I am just making the top and including enough fabric for the binding.  Now, lets hope it brings the dance team a good price.  On to the next auction item - hotpads!!

This Is The Reason I have No Time For Quilting Right Now!!!

Some of you may remember that at the beginning of the school semester I enrolled in a basic computer programming class.  And how excited I was to be learning how to program and write code.  Well, once I got into the class, I was amazed at how very hard it is to learn to write code.  I actually went into the Professor last week and told her that I was going to get an "A" in the class NEXT semester because for sure I was going to have to take it again.  This class is a pre-requisite for all the other classes I need to take for my degree so I have to pass it.

Now, here is the exciting news - this past Saturday a light bulb went off over my head and I figured out how to write the code for an assignment that was due about a month ago.  I knew I would not get any points but I once I figured out what to do, I had so much fun that over the weekend I must have spend 10 hours writing the code for my six dogs!!!  To be REALLY impressed you have to realize that each of the following six dogs have dfferent code - thats why it took 10 hours!!! 

So, now I am on a roll!!  And when I went into the Profeesor's office this morning to brag on my six dogs (she knew how much I have been struggling with this geek-brain stuff), she said she actually was giving credit to any student who finished a project, even if it was late!!  Well, halleluiah, I may get a good enough grade to just get through this class so next semester I can take the classes I really need to be a Website Designer!!

If you want to see a bit of the detail, first of all you might be a computer geek and two, you can click on each picture to enlarge it!!!  :-))

 HAPPY DOG

(Check out the 3 little hairs on top of her head!!)

ANGRY DOG

(Notice the perfect teeth!!!) 

SLEEPING DOG 

BORED DOG 

HUNGRY DOG

 (Notice the dog food bowl with Pollie's name on it!!) 

DEAD DOG (Notice the XXs in the eyes!!  :-))

Well, I am off to work on the next project!!!  Thanks for letting me share!!

A Funny for All My Bunnie Friends

For Lovers of Kaffe Fassett Fabric

I was just over at the Tattered Garden looking at the gorgious quilt Nancy had just finished called Hearts and Flowers.  Check it out, it is simply fabulous!!!  I left a comment and she emailed me back to tell me to look up a fairly new blog called Glorious Applique IF I liked Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  What??  IF??  There is no IF about my love for Kaffe's fabrics as anyone knows who visits my blog.  So, I checked it out and it is a fun, fun blog!!!  It looks like the blog is a compilation of work by many different contributors and its all about applique using Kaffe fabrics.  Click on the picture below and take a look, you won't be sorry:

Now, I must say, I have shied away from applique except some machine applique around the hearts I make for an on-line group called Love Quilts that I belong to:

But other than that I have been real apprehensive.  I did purchase the pattern for Aunt Millie's Quilt:

and the blocks in this quilt are yummy and would probably be great in Kaffe fabrics:

But am I a brave enough soul???

I Just Can't Get Enough of This Guy!!

The UPS man brought me a new batch of Kaffe Fassett fabric and I think these are some of the most spectacular yet.

The second one from the top is really different and I am not sure what to do with it yet but I am sure I will find something!! Oh yeah!!

Enjoy this spectacular autumn day!!!

Its a Beautiful New Day!!

Several years ago my dear friend Regena gave me bunnie gift and she said this is to add to your collection.  I promptly said, "I don't have a bunnie collection," and she proceeded to show me bunnie after bunnie after bunnie in my home and in my garden.  Oh my gosh, I have been collecting bunnies for years!! 

Then several years later I married a guy who showed bunnies as a hobby.  Small world - although I am no longer married to that guy (no more said) and during the short period of time I was married to him, I hated that all those beautiful bunnies just sat in cages all day long waiting to be feed.  I was not allowed to hold them in my arms or play with them outside their cages or even pet them when they were in their cages.  But it has always been a dream to have some pet bunnies some day and it is so fun that some of the blogs I follow are also huge bunnie lovers!!

Well, I have been visiting some of my favorite blogs this morning and it is so great to see the talented and wonderful folks that are out there in the world!!  A couple of the bloggers are real bunnie lovers and they have both inspired me to work harder to get a place where I can have those sweet bunnies and now, I plan to make those little bunnies be rescue bunnies just like my sweet puppy dog Pollie.

Pollie and I became mother and daughter two summers ago when I found her in a rescue that kept 25 dogs in the house and had about another 2 dozen outside in kennels.  Pollie is commonly known as a Catahoula but her full name is a Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog.  Pollie is my very best friend!!!

Thanks to each and every blog master I visit for really making my day full of fun and for supporting me in my passions of quilting and blogging!!