Rocking Around the Clock!

I have missed everyone, sure am glad to be back!

No I do not mind telling you my age, I was born in 1955. So too little for the poodle skirts but old enough to remember a few things from the late 50's.  I used to love to go to diners where every table had their own jukebox!  Do you remember those!  I would make my poor family sit and wait until our song was played!  Oh such fun memories.

This one plays the radio and cassette tapes.

It also lights up!

Well...

I had some of

Barbara's Diner (Elizabeth's Studio) in my stash that I had been saving. But, not any more!  

I fussy cut some darling pictures, grabbed some Riley Blake gingham, and went to work.

I choose a pretty Kona blue for the back. Did a simple crosshatch quilting and she was ready to go!

A cute retro table-runner.

When I was a little girl our kitchen floor was made of big tiles, black and yellow!

My Mom tried all sort of colors for that kitchen.

She settled on aqua.

After we moved from that house my Mother never had anything aqua again!

Funny, I love aqua!

Now I may have shown you this before but when my in-laws moved out of the home they had lived in for 55+ years I just had to have the kitchen table. Not only is it retro but it is original piece from the 50's.  My FIL made a secret drawer underneath where he kept some valuables, just in case they were robbed!

I love this table.

I bet it looked like this when my husband was little.

This is how it looks now! A perfect place for us to play games and visit. It is being loved and cared for in our game room.

Happy sewing!

I Just Took a Little!

I could not help it! I just took a little piece of each fabric from the Flower Sugar Line. It is so pretty, I could not help myself! But no worries I ordered more so there would be plenty for all!

I saw this on Pinterest and just fell in love with this pillow.  

I thought it would look beautiful in Flower Sugar, so I got busy.

I worked on them while I sat by the lake last week.

This is all I allowed myself to make, otherwise I would have used more of the fabrics I am saving for you!

Now for a layout?

The traditional...

Scattered...

I decided on scattered but in rows!

Even scraps for a string block!

I hope to show you my pillow if the next few weeks.

In the meantime have a wonderful weekend and do something you love.

PS  All my Presencia thread is on sale in my eBay store.

The Quilt Show

What a wonderful time Elaine and I had at the quilt show.  We went to Nancy's Zieman's Quilt Expo in Madison Wisconsin.  It was only about a two hour drive.

Elaine has a lovely friend, Linda, we were invited to stay at her lake front cottage. It has four bedrooms, so plenty of room for all, but it was just the three of us! We each had our own room. We spent most of our home time on her enclosed back room overlooking the lake. This is the view from right out her back door.  I sat outside and worked on hexies and watched boats sail by. It was just beautiful. With an afternoon temperature of 75 degrees.

That is what we did the first day. Sat, sewed, talked and had a wonderful meal.

The rest of the day was spent sewing, snacking and chatting.

All too soon it was the morning and we had to say our good-by's

Thank you to Linda for her hospitality and fresh coffee every morning and to Elaine for the invitation.

We Will Never Forget

Little Miss Turns Two!

We had a lovely long weekend. Lot's of family and fun and food and movies!

Little Miss turned two September 1st. So it was party time.

Anytime she sees anything she thinks is pretty she says "Ooh La La" so her party was a Pink "Ooh La La" party.  My daughter had the whole house decked out in pink.  When I die that is just how I hope Heaven will look!

I decided to make her a dress up gift. I found the perfect chest and then had a ton of fun filling it will dress up items.

Of course a Pink Sleeping Beauty Dress

A Blue Cinderella Dress

A Yellow Belle Dress

short gloves with pink fluff

long white gloves

bracelets

necklaces

crowns

a pink boa

and dress up shoes!

I made a little tote for her to keep the smaller items in, so they would not get lost.

Some pink bean bags to play hot potato!

Maggie made her an Ooh La La Wall Hanging.

Pink Cupcakes with White Sprinkles was the Birthday girl's request.

What a fun time.

Even my husband dressed up in pink clothes! I will spare you all that picture. (but that may be his legs and socks in the one picture) But you know how it is, anything for those little ones.

Oh they do fill your heart.

I am off for a few days with my friend Elaine to a quilt show.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

A Year to Finish~~ Katie

My blog like most of our blogs is a chronicle of our lives. Family, Graduations, Weddings, showers, new babies, grandbabies, fun, vacations, projects, fabrics, sewing, and of course Quilting.

This one is about an adventure I went on, all alone, by myself, and with delightful results.

It is very picture heavy, but when I make my Blog Book for 2013 it will be in print!

Last summer I came to an epiphany of sorts...

This is what I said..

I think many of us go through this process.

We love a fabric.

We buy a ton of the fabric.

We try to buy the whole line.

We pet the fabric.

We fold and refold the fabric.

We put it in color groups.

We them put it into groups according to the prints.

We stash it...

We save it...

We hoard it...

Just waiting for the right project, the right quilt, the right pattern.

Time ticks by and we have now had the fabric for years and it just sits and stares at us.

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

At that point I decided NO MORE!

I was going to use that fabric I loved. I knew I would fall in love with another line and what good did it do sitting on my shelf.

So out came
Denyse Schmidt's
Katie Jump Rope!

As this was going to be an adventure I knew I wanted a King Size Quilt for our bed, BUT, I was going to make this quilt all by hand.  I love handwork. So I started by cutting it all into squares.

I then started the piecing.

Two by Two

Became four by four

Became eight by eight

Became a sixteen patch block

They were then pieced into the flimsy.

Still all by hand.

The backing, I asked many of you if you thought flannel was a good idea for a backing. Thank you to everyone who responded!

But alas, I was chicken, I did not use it, not on Katie. I thought this was not a time to experiment. So I went with a cotton backing. I am thrilled with my choice, and will for sure try flannel on my next quilt!

There is one part of quilting I do not like

Basting!

So Katie was sent to my long-arm friend, where she basted her for me. She even used hot pink thread so I could see the thread when it needed to be removed.

 Now let the fun begin!

The hand quilting.

I did this is simple rows, both horizontal and vertical.

Added my binding....

and...

Katie was done!

We then went on a phot shoot, after all she had been cooped up for a whole year.
This lady needed some fresh air!

May I present

Katie!

She looks so tiny here!

But she is 108 inches by 120 inches.

She is now home, washed and on our bed. What a treat to sleep under!

Now if I could just stop hoarding holding on to this fabric!

Have a wonderful weekend, do something you love!

Ours is filled with family and fun!