RASmataz

Bugs

2012-01-20T06:39:00.000-06:00

I'm going to piece some bugs into some quilt blocks and I found these bugs as my inspirational bugs. It's pretty interesting when you start looking at bugs, they're pretty!

Baby Quilt

2012-01-20T05:46:00.000-06:00

I like to see my quilts being used. And, this baby is so cute!

The fabrics I used to make this quilt were from Baby Geniuses fabric lines designed by Linda Carlson.
The back of the quilt has the super soft yellow Minky fabric.

Hearts

2012-01-14T05:49:00.001-06:00

I have been busy making hearts. I have a lot more to make, because I want to make a quilt with all hearts. I think it will go really well with my "I Love You" quilt. I just talked to my sister, Kristine, yesterday and it's on its way back to Nebraska. My sister machine quilted it for me and she does magic! I got to get my binding ready.

Ornament and Sock Swap

2012-01-13T21:25:00.000-06:00

I joined Mary Lou Weidman's ornament/sock swap, and I traded with Carmen D. in Sugar Land, Texas. Carmen sent me this whimsical bird and Laurel Burch socks. I really love them both.

And, here's my socks! They're really fun! I'm going to wear them to the International Quilt Study Center on Saturday!

Traditional to Packrat Quilter

2012-01-10T06:19:00.002-06:00

For the January meeting, the Lincoln Quilters Guild speaker was Roxann O'Hare. Roxann is a past president of our guild, and co-owner with her husband of the Cosmic Cow in Lincoln and the Udder Store in Seward. Both stores are fabrics shops and filled with inspiration. It was a delight to hear Roxann talk about her quilting story, because I have admired her work and passion for quilting and creating over the years. It's always fun to see the first quilt and it's shown above. Roxann created her first quilt in 1978 and it's a batik quilt.

The most recent quilt Roxann has made is the raffle quilt she made for our guild. It's called, Black, White and Bright All Over. It will be raffled off this coming May 2012. It really is colorful and was made using MANY partial seams.

The quilt, Anywhere USA, Roxann made for her husband. It's a beautiful quilt!!!

This quilt was made after a friend of her son took his own life, and Columbine School shootings. There are shell casings sewn on to the heart. The words of the song, If It Were Up to Me, by Cheryl Wheeler is printed on the panel in the heart. It's really a quilt that makes you feel emotion and is very meaningful.

The inspiration for this quilt came from Ruth McDowell.

I loved this piece below. It shows what you can to do to bring life to some fabrics that weren't so great. Just by adding the strips of circles it really gave the fabrics a new look.

In this quilt, Roxann used thinly sliced pieces of a tree branch to add nature to this quilt. Roxann loves nature, flowers and circles. It's part of her style. Roxann believes in following rules, BUT she also thinks you can bend the rules when designing and making quilts.

It was fun to hear Roxann talk about her quilts, I have to say I saw Roxann in a new way. It was great to hear one of our own members talk about quilting. I'm glad Roxann had a weak moment and agreed to give a presentation. I really enjoyed it!!

Making the Icicles

2012-01-08T08:11:00.004-06:00

I started making my icicles with a wooden dowel, then wrapped the dowel with quilt batting and stuffing to make the starting of the shape. I covered the quilt batting with strips of newspaper and the old standard mixture of flour and water.

I purchased regular house paint and painted the icicles with two coats of paint. On the third coat of paint I sprinkled glitter on the wet paint.

See if you can find mine in the icicle display. . . . . . . . . . . .

Icicles

2012-01-08T07:48:00.001-06:00

Roxann, co-owner of the Udder Store fabric store in Seward, put out a request for icicles. She wanted to decorate the shop's windows with handmade icicles. It was really fun to see all the different shapes, sizes, and materials of the icicles.

This icicle was sculptured and made by elinor peace bailey. It was made in elinor's style with with a lot of fun details and it even had a cow head!

This crystal bead icicle was just turned in and wasn't up in the window yet, but I wanted to include it.

Icicles were made from spools, duct work foil, glitter, quilted fabric and handmade paper.

There were three doves in the window and made by elinor peace bailey.

Smocked Romper

2012-01-02T18:30:00.001-06:00

Today, I started on the smocked romper and finished the smocking today. This was the first time I pleated fabric, I used to have someone in my smocking guild do it for me. But, I tried my "new" used pleater and I only broke one needle. I'm going to try putting on piping tonight. The romper is going to be made with a white waffle fabric and the smocking and piping will be off white.

Over the weekend, my niece, Kate and I turned in our can tabs to the Ronald McDonald House in Omaha. It's a new year and we can start our collection again! Everyone in my accounting department collects so we usually full our pickle jar to the top in one year.

2012 UFO Challenge

2012-01-01T17:46:00.001-06:00

With the New Year, I'm going to make some goals for completing some unfinished projects.

Smocked romper
Elizabeth's Sample BOM by The Rabbit Factory
S Block quilt by Kaffe Fassett using Isn't Christmas Joy fabric by Mary Engelbreit
Fish print quilt with batik backing
Watercolor class quilt
Sunflower quilt from Dr Bryan Grove's class
Quilt made from African fabric
Lily quilt from Terry Waldron's class
Liberated quilt from Gwen Marston's class
Cow quilt from Mary Lou Weidman's pattern
I Love You quilt
Gypsy Wife BOM

Some of these projects are barely started, so I have a lot of work to do. Also, I need to make do with what I have on hand before going a purchasing more stash.

Three other personal goals of mine are:

Have a weight loss of twenty pounds
Try to exercise each day
Take my lunch to work

A wise person told me you need to write down your goals and tell someone. So, I've recorded my goals, and by putting them on my blog, I have told someone. Now, I need to get to work!

A Shower for Heather and Scott's Baby

2012-01-01T16:59:00.000-06:00

Today was my niece's baby shower. The baby is expected around the end of February. It was fun to get together and play a few games.

My sister and I were the volunteers for the game of feeding each other baby food and then trying to guess what kind of food we ate. I didn't get as messy as my sister because I could not find her mouth.

Another game was when the Grandmas drank apple juice from a baby bottle.

They were not very good at drinking from a bottle. After time was called they tied. We all wondered how a baby is able to get anything out of the bottle. Or....maybe the Grandmas weren't trying too hard.

Susan made this beautiful quilt and she didn't even know the baby's room is going to be green.

My family either wore black or gray and we didn't plan it out so we had to get our photo taken.

Scott (Dad) and Spencer (Big Brother) joined us for lunch after the shower.

The Quilts Are On The Beds

2011-12-28T07:20:00.000-06:00

Back in October, I was making this squares and piecing two twin quilts.

Here is a photo of the quilts on the beds. I love to see my quilts in use. I made these two twin quilts for a friend's boys. I hope they keep the boys warm.

2011-12-27T07:42:00.000-06:00

My manager at work shared this photo of Evelyn, his granddaughter, with a doll quilt I made. I'm glad she liked it.

My Quilt Top Is Finished

2011-12-26T06:03:00.000-06:00

I finished my quilt top and it's ready to get machine quilted. I really enjoyed going through my stash looking for my favorite reds and pinks. I had a layer cake of valentine fabrics which started this whole quilt, but I ended up using a lot of scraps for my hearts.

I worked this piece of fabric in below because it had a heart in the design.

I had to include more of Jay McCarroll's fabrics. Just because I like Jay and his fun drawings. These fabrics are from his Woodland Wonderland collection. I have only fat quarters from that line so I used only a little bit of them. I have to save them for a future projects.

He calls these the "Love Birds."

I found this photo of Jay McCarroll from his website. Can't wait to see what Jay will be up to in 2012. I highly recommend his documentary "Eleven Minutes." It's great to see what a designer goes through to show their collection on a runway in eleven minutes.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T07:46:00.000-06:00

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes and bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'til his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas perhaps, means a litle bit more."

-Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991)
Writher, Cartoonist, Animator

What I Did For My Birthday

2011-12-19T21:20:00.000-06:00

I spent my birthday working on piecing a quilt for Valentine's Day. I loved the, This Says It All, quilt in Out of the Box with Easy Blocks. The one in the book is made by the authors, Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie B. McFarland. It really is a great book with so many ideas for quilts. The letters in the middle were fun to make. I have about 12 more hearts to make to add to the sides and hopefully I'll have it finished in time.

Handmade is Best

2011-12-18T05:25:00.000-06:00

Today is my birthday and my sister, Nancy, made me this beautiful flower scarf. It's crocheted! Something I never got the hang of, so I really appreciate the time she took in making this for me. THANK YOU VERY MUCH NANCY!! I love it and it's really special!!!

Christmas Music

2011-12-11T18:01:00.002-06:00

If you need to get in the Christmas spirit all you have to do is hear beautiful Christmas music. I attended the Lincoln Choral Artist concert, Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas. It was a beautiful concert. The guests for the concert were the Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir, the elementary Lincoln Christian Singing Crusaders and the Summit String Quartet. The audience got to sing the last three songs with the choirs. We sang: The First Noel, Silent Night and O Come All Ye Faithful. It's really a joy to listen to such talented individuals. The choirs were perfect!!

My nephew is in the Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir and their songs were excellent. Two of their songs were in a foreign language. My favorite was their last song, Gabriel's Message.

Holiday Treats Started Today

2011-11-28T19:36:00.000-06:00

Today, our month long holiday treats at work, started with this cute cake pop. I didn't eat it because I thought it was so cute and had to save it to put on my blog. Sara made this reindeer cake pop and now has set the bar pretty high for the rest of us. I have to get my cookbooks out and start my search. I have a week to think of something. If anyone has ideas, I'm all ears!

A Day of Play

2011-11-27T14:09:00.001-06:00

elinor peace bailey was in Seward, Nebraska at the Udder Store to teach a class on making crows. I wasn't able to participate in the class, but I heard it was lots of fun. elinor's classes are always fun and inspirational. I did get to see some of elinor's most recent projects. She was working on the bag below. The front on the bag has some of her drawings on fabric. The top of the bag she used a knitted felted scarf.

I love how she uses doilies and bits and pieces of trim and lace. Everything she makes is colorful and cheerful. It was fun to hear the customer's comments and elionor telling them, you can't be afraid to make a mistake. You just have to try.

elinor was making a dove out of an embroidered dresser scarf she purchased at a second hand store. I thought it turned out great and gave it new life, but there was discussion on the black eyelashes. They were removed and elinor even covered all the black embroidery. It was fun to see her work through her process of making the dove.

Below is a photo of Roxann O'Hare. She is one of the shop owners along with her husband, Rich, at the Udder Store in Seward, Nebraska. It is the sister shop of the Cosmic Cow in Lincoln, Nebraska. Roxann was very busy the whole day, except at the end of the day when she got to work on her icicles. She is going to have icicles in the shop windows in January.

elinor painted Rich's work boots. Now they are a giant pincushion and tool holder.

elinor always has a sketchbook. She uses old books and turns them into works of art. I always enjoy looking at them. Her drawings are so fun. We are so lucky Nebraska is one of elinor's favorite places to visit. Every time she comes I'm inspired!!

Turkey Trot

2011-11-24T12:15:00.002-06:00

My sister and I ran a 5K this morning called the Turkey Trot, before Thanksgiving dinner. Connie ran a good race and I trotted along. I did have an improvement on my time. My finishing time was 31:34 and my average mile was 10:11. There were a lot of runners dressing in costumes. My favorite was a family dressed in turkey costumes and the dad was dressed as a hunter. Other runners were dressed in aprons and carried wire whisks and another group had a craft evening and sewed turkeys on their shirts. Lots of ideas for next year!

It All Started Because She Was Cold and Needed Warmth

2011-11-17T21:23:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting Yvonne Wells. Some of her quilts are currently on display at the International Quilt Study Center. She was in Lincoln to do a special showing of her Seven Deadly Sins. The first and least deadly of the sins is "Lust," created in July 2005. There's a cow in the upper right of the quilt that is the animal symbol for lust (Maybe because they have such long eyelashes).

Yvonne talked about how she started making quilts in 1979. They were putting an addition on their house and the fireplace wasn't putting out enough heat. She was cold, so she made a quilt to keep her warm. The kind of quilt you start in the morning and use at the end of the day.

Yvonne has had no training in quilting. She says it doesn't matter to her, and what you see is what you get. Her quilting has served her well.

Above are two of her social/political quilts. One of them is a quilt about her first trip to New York City to see the Statue of Liberty. The quilt is called, Being in Total Control of Herself. The second quilt is called, Civil Rights in the South.

Below are some of her religious quilts. Moses brought the ten commandments from the mount and the crucifixion. Yvonne is a religious person and most of her quilts have three triangles, or like in the seven deadly sins, there were three birds. This symbolizes the Trinity.

When Yvonne looked at the Noah's Ark quilt, made in 1988, she smiled and said this is one of my favorite quilts. She pointed out that Noah has already got is wife in the ark and the last of the animals are coming.

She loaned her Michael Jackson quilt to the Quilt Center for the Quilted Messages exhibit. The quilt is so timely right now, with Michael Jackson's doctor's trial in the news. It was very colorful, and fun to hear her tell the story of the quilt and all the symbols in the quilt.

Yvonne talked about using what she had on hand, what people have given her, and finding something on a walk she could use in her quilts. In the Michael Jackson quilt, she used one of her skirts on the top of the quilt. She thought it was perfect for Neverland Ranch. She said she uses anything see can stick a needle in and can be used to tell a story.

I loved her self portrait quilt. It was so bright it just popped out. I thought it was beautiful! It's full of symbols and says a lot about Yvonne. The quilt shows her desire to create and her mind is ever changing. Fabric satisfies her and celebrates her heritage.

The last quilt is called, Going Home. She told her story about this quilt, explaining how lots of times kids are part of a group and get into things they shouldn't, but hopefully in time a person will decide it's time to go home and not be part of the group any more. You don't have to follow the crowd. Do the right thing.

I was honored to hear the stories behind Yvonne Wells' quilts. It's true, every quilt has a story. Yvonne said she can look at her quilts and remember how she felt at the time she was making the quilts. It had been a long time since she had seen the quilts in the collection, now on display at the International Quilt Study Center, and she was touched to see them again. The Nebraska Humanity Council brought in Yvonne Wells to talk about her quilts and I'm so thankful I got to meet her! She is a true artist.

The Beginnings of My Cow Quilt

2011-11-13T13:52:00.000-06:00

I've been working on my cow from Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland's book, Out of the Box with Easy Blocks. I used black and white fabric from Kensington for Quilted Treasures and Floral Fusion by Maywood Studios. I cut out and hand appliqued the flowers and stems my cow is eating. The floral fabrics I purchased on my bus trip I took in September. I purchased the floral fabrics at the Quilt Shop in Wakefield, Nebraska. The cloud fabric I also purchased in Wakefield.

Next, I'm going to work on making the letters to go around the cow. I was inspired by a children's poem by Robert Louis Stevenson about cows.

My cow all black and white,
I love with all my heart,
She eats the meadow flowers,
and walks among the grass.

That's a lot of letters. It will take me a while and I have to figure out how big to make them so each line fits on a side of the quilt.

I purchased these buttons for eyes a couple of weeks ago. I got them at half price, and I was happy because they were a bit expensive at regular price. I'm still searching for the buttons for my cow's udder. They need to be just as special.

Below are the pumpkins and gourds I received in my fall swap from Mary Lou's yahoo group. I'm really pleased with them and I have to think about how I'm going to use them. They are all really beautiful. I know I'm going to make a fall quilt, so I can use it longer in the season. Thank you so much to my group members, I love them!! And, a big thank you to Molly Evangelisti in California for organizing the swap!

Two Holiday Ornaments

2011-11-01T19:59:00.000-05:00

I have been making two ornaments to give away this weekend at a Pre-Holiday event. I've made the owl before using the pattern from Robyn at Daisy Quilts and I think they are really fun to make. I also made a flower like ornament inspired by Sue Spargo. They are both made out of wool and I only used embroidery floss to embellish them.

Hope for Honduras

2011-10-29T18:02:00.000-05:00

It was a sewing day at Bellevue East High School for "Hope for Honduras." We made dresses in three different sizes for the young girls in Honduras. Kayla, pictured above turning a dress, is one of the original organizers and really is a leader in orchestrating this project. I was impressed!

We had cutting, pressing, trimming, turning and sewing stations. It was amazing how many dresses can be completed in a short period of time with everyone doing one thing.

There were all ages of volunteers helping out. It was fun to see them all pitching in.

Even some guys showed up to help.

The dress pictured below is one that I helped to make. I purchased the fabic and I enjoyed seeing the fabric turn into one of the completed dresses today.

The pattern we used has been perfected over the past few years. The dress is reversible and ties at the shoulders. They turned out really cute!! Below is an example of one of the dresses.

Two dresses in one. How fun!!

Blogger's Quilt Festival-Fall 2011

2011-10-28T04:56:00.001-05:00

I just finished putting on the binding of my quilt, so I could show it for Amy’s Creative Side Blogger's Quilt Festival. I’m thankful to Amy, because she makes it fun for those of us that are unable to attend the Houston International Quilt Show. I dream of going someday….what it must be like to see all the quilts, vendors, fabrics, patterns, threads, ribbons, trims and buttons etc. It must be a quilter’s heaven!

My quilt is made from fabric designed by Wendy Slotboom for In The Beginning fabrics. The fabric was out a couple of years ago, but sometimes it takes me a while to finish a project. I used the free pattern on the website from In The Beginning called XOXOXO, The Cat. It really was a fun pattern and easy to put together.

On the back, I used other piece from Wendy’s line and it has notes from the cat. They’re fun to read.

My sister, Kristine, machine quilted it for me. I’m so thankful for her talents!!

If you leave a comment, thank you very much. I really enjoy reading them. Thanks for stopping by my blog and have fun looking at all the other beautiful quilts in the quilt festival.

Walk for Breast Cancer

2011-10-23T20:21:00.011-05:00

The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at Holmes Park on Sunday was a huge success. There were so many supporters participating in the walk.

It was great to have the cheerleaders cheer us on at the start of the walk.
We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day as we walked around the lake.
It was fun to see all the pink!

Even the trash containers were pink.You can get one at http://thepinkcart.com

School of Fish

2011-10-09T08:53:00.004-05:00

I received my fish from Mary Lou Weidman's yahoo group fish swap. I was so excited when I saw the package in the mailbox. There were three groups for the swap because so many wanted to be included. My group had 12 swappers including myself.

Thank you so much to my group members: Sandi Henschel, Nancy McCain, Mary Lou Sanders, Robin Medley, Liz Tius, Reena Kaplowitz, Karen McCaffrey, Karen Schmucker, Michalee Sloan, Sandi Fischer and Beth McDonald. I love all my fish!!!
I would also like to thank Marianna Linfesty because she collected all the blocks, sorted the fish and mailed them out.

I can't wait to put them in a quilt! I'm thinking palm trees, beach, tropical flowers and maybe a ship.

String Piecing

2011-10-08T20:32:00.009-05:00

I helped make blocks for the Quilts of Valor at the International Quilt Study Center and what a fun day! I learned about a new foundation for string piecing. We used old telephone pages, but not the yellow pages. The yellow pages are printed with a different type of ink. I was nice to make blocks with all the strips precut, one person ironed for us and another squared up our blocks. The group is so organized.

I was happy to share a table with Judi Thelander. She has been volunteering her time with the group and believes in the cause so much she purchased a long arm machine so she could help out with the quilting. I found out that not only do we have quilting in common, but we both drink Diet Coke and collect our reward points. :)

Here are some of my blocks from today. And, I had so much fun I went home and pieced more blocks.

Making Blocks

2011-10-01T08:25:00.006-05:00

I've been working on two twin quilts for a friend. She isn't a quilter and purchased six yards of vintage looking fabric. She's been talking about the fabric for some time at my smocking group. So, I volunteered to make the quilts for her. Since I only have 8 yards to work with I needed to add fabrics and make blocks to get two twin quilts from the focus fabric.

I have been getting up early before work at 4:30 AM and sewing after work to piece the 111 blocks to go with the 110 blocks I cut from the focus fabric. The blocks are 5 1/2" and finish at 5 inches. I'm going to have 14 blocks going across and I plan on making 17 rows. The finish size will be 65 inches by 85 inches. It's been going faster making the blocks first and this weekend I want to get them all sewn together to finish the first quilt top.

Here some of the blocks are sewn together, because I wanted to get a feel of the finished quilt. When we talked about the quilt she didn't mind a cream heirloom feeling. I can understand because she makes beautiful smocked dresses for her girls.

Working Down the List

2011-09-25T20:22:00.005-05:00

I felt really productive this weekend. First, I finished my gourd blocks for the Fall Swap at Mary Lou Weidman's yahoo group. Can't wait to see the blocks I will be getting in return. Next, I finished a cuddle quilt top for my quilt guild. I also cut out and pieced the blocks to make another quilt. It feels good to get things accomplished.

Round Robin Bus Trip - Day Two

2011-09-20T06:00:00.015-05:00

On our second day of the quilting adventure we stopped first at Always Your Design in Dell Rapids, South Dakota. The shop was filled with the kind of things I like! They had all kinds of fabrics, wool, threads, and I found a hand painted sewable art fabric. They told me at the shop that Kay Brandt was just at their shop a couple of weeks ago. There were so many beautiful pieces it was hard to pick out just one.

The seasonal displays were so fun! I was on a fall/Halloween kick, so I was picking out Halloween fabric and fall colors. I had to get a couple of wool pieces too.

This section of the store was the baby room and I didn't notice until I got home that they had the Lucky Stars quilt by Atkinson Designs on display in the crib. It's my favorite pattern.

* * *
The next shop we visited was the Quilt Shop in Wakefield Nebraska. When we arrived there was another bus just finishing up their shopping. So, we had a delicious lunch provided by the Quilt Shop. We had chicken salad on croissants, grapes, and a cookie. The chicken salad sandwich was so good. It's one of my favorites!!!

Wakefield has a population of over 1,400 and it was a really nice town. The shop had a lot of fun fabrics in it. Even though we had been to several shops already, I found some great fabrics I hadn't seen yet.

The whole family was working at the shop on Sunday and I got the privilege to meet each of them. I have to say it's the people that make a shop special and they made me feel right at home. What a fun experience!!

* * *

Our last shop on the bus trip was County Traditions in Fremont, Nebraska. They have over 8,000 bolts of fabric, patterns, sewing machines, notions, and decorations. There was a lot to see!

In 2005, Country Traditions was selected as one of the Top 10 Quilt Shops and in 2007, they were selected as one of the Best of the Best. The shop is really beautiful and they had a wonderful staff to help cut the fabrics and help us find what we needed!!

There were cutouts at Country Traditions so that we could get our picture taken. Here is Pam, our bus mom and she also works at the Cosmic Cow. Pam was really fun and we didn't lose one person on the trip. I really got to know her on the trip and found out what a great personality she has!!!

Mary got the award for finishing a project on the bus. And, her stitches were perfect. I don't know how she did it. I tried and my stitches were all uneven.

We arrived back in Lincoln early in the evening and it was great to get home. I made new friends and had a great time!!! I went home and got out all my treasures and started planning my next projects. I will have to make a list!!

Round Robin Bus Trip - Day One

2011-09-19T18:42:00.009-05:00

Our bus trip started early in the morning, leaving from the Cosmic Cow in Lincoln and we would end our first day in South Dakota. Each fabric shop will be sending a bus to all the shops participating in the Round Robin quilting adventure.

The first quilt shop we visited was Prairie Point Junction in Cozad, Nebraska. The shop owner is Julie Geiger. I have received her newsletter for a couple of years and read Julie's blog. But, I haven't been to the shop before and it was fun to see it!

The shop was full of great fabric, patterns and lot of samples.

* * *

Our second stop was the Quilt Rack in North Platte, Nebraska. They have a lot of fun fabrics. The store was arranged by color. So, it was easy to find a fabric you needed. The back part of the store has holiday, thirties fabrics, flannels and theme fabrics.

The shop served us a wonderful lunch! We had barbecue sandwiches, potato salad and sugar cookies.

* * *

The last shop was a long drive to Chamberlin, South Dakota. The Quilt Shop was in a cute house. When you enter the house there is jewelry, lots of beads and supplies to make jewelry.

They also had some beautiful hand painted yarn by Brown Sheep Company from Mitchell, NE. The beads and yarn, what does that have to do with quilting? Great for embellishments on your quilts. Of course they also have a large collection of fabric!

I couldn't resist the cuff on the top of the two beaded bracelets. When we left, the shop gave us a bag of carmel corn. It tasted so good! The carmel corn was made by The Bent Spatula.

Our first day was long and it was good to get to the hotel. We had to sleep fast because it will be an early morning again.

The Life of Pat Sloan

2011-09-12T20:41:00.011-05:00

The September meeting of the Lincoln Quilters Guild had Pat Sloan as our guest artist. Pat talked about her life as a quilter. Like a lot of quilters, she started out as a garment maker. She made her first quilt in 1978. It was red and cream and there was one area with a blue patch where her dog chewed on her quilt. It of course had a sheet for a backing and was yarn tied as she told the story about every four feet. It was fun to hear about the beginning of her quiltmaking when she now is a designer of so many beautiful quilts.

Pat also talked about the early years when she decided to take a class from Nancy Crow who at the time had a one woman show at the Smithsonian. In her class supply list, it said she had to bring her body of work. At the time, being a new quilter, Pat had to get some quilts made. Pat showed her progression of her color study on the churn dash block. Pat talked about how she was drawn to Nancy's work because there were no points to meet or could be chopped off.

Pat asked the guild how many years everyone had been quilting. Most everyone had been quilting for more than ten years. She talked about how after you have been quilting a while you become attracted to a certain style of quilting. Pat knew that when she found Folk Art she was hooked. Pat told us she is inspired by antique quilts and also a single piece of fabric can be inspiring.

Pat had a list of quilts she wanted to make. The New York Beauty was on the list. But, so was a Baltimore Album. So, being the talented quilter she is, she designed her own Baltimore Album. It was beautiful!!

Pat left us with the inspiration to: work in a series, try a new technique, or make the quilt of your dreams. I'm so glad I got to hear Pat talk about her experiences as a quilter. It's fun to hear how someone so talented gets their start and becomes such a great quilter. Pat also talked about her website, radio show, and tips she has on her blog. Thanks Pat for letting us live in your world for a short time!!

Fall Swap

2011-09-05T18:54:00.004-05:00

The weather is cooler and starting to feel like fall. I joined Mary Lou's fall swap in her yahoo group. I'm making pumpkins and gourds for my swap partners. I finished my pumpkins this weekend and next I will work on my gourds.

Here are the fabrics for my gourds and I really like gourds there are so many different kinds. I thinking about making four gourds from each of the fabrics. I can't wait to start on my quilt. I haven't made a fall or Halloween quilt and this is just the push I needed.

Finishes

2011-09-03T19:54:00.004-05:00

I spend the last week putting on binding. I finished three quilts.

The fabric I used for this quilt was designed by Heather Bailey called Pop Garden for Freespirit. The fabrics had big prints, but when they were cut up they really blended together. I don't remember the line of fabric I used for the borders, it was to long ago when I started this quilt.

The quilt below was made from scraps from my sister Kristine. I made another quilt from this fabric and gave it away, but I still had more to make this quilt. The quilt has clowns on it.

The 30's quilt is another scrap quilt. It was fun to make the quilt using up what I had. The quilt will have to be for a baby, because of the prints and size. I feel like I'm making progress. I have just one more quilt that needs binding. Once again, I have to thank my sister, Kristine, for machine quilting the quilts for me. The quilting part is something I haven't mastered.

Lastly, my niece got a purple ribbon on her 4-H project at the Nebraska State Fair. I'm really proud of her! She put a lot of work in the dress and it fit her so well on her Confirmation day.

Yarn Bomb Handrails and Trees

2011-08-28T17:15:00.010-05:00

I went up to Omaha to see the Yarn Bomb of the handrails in the Joslyn Art Museum. It was Family Fun Day and there was so much activity at the museum. It was fun to see the kids and adults studying the pieces on the handrail.

The tree trunks even got wrapped in rectangles that were either knitted or crocheted pieces.

There was a table that had samples on it. I enjoyed looking at the different patterns and stitches.

When I went inside to look at the special exhibit, Well Traveled and Rarely Seen, this vision was priceless. The Knitting Girl painting was the inspiration for the Yarn Bomb.

One of the art activities was making cutout sculptures. The sculptures were inspired by the painting, Cow, by Alex Katz.

The weather was just beautiful today! The kids enjoyed playing in the water just in front of the museum at the Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden.

Out of the Box - Winner

2011-08-27T19:01:00.007-05:00

I put all the names in a bowl and drew out Karen's name. I will be sending the book Out of the Box with Easy Blocks off to Australia. Thanks to everyone who left comments on my last post. Karen has a great blog and here is a link to her blog.

Book Give-away - Out of the Box with Easy Blocks

2011-08-23T06:06:00.011-05:00

I have the newest book co-authored by Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland as a give-away. It's a happy and colorful book with many fun blocks and quilts. There are so many pages filled with inspirational blocks and permission to NOT make perfect points and seams. This book will introduce you to the Hoochy Mama method, if you don't already know it.

Here is a photo I took of Mary Lou when she was our guest artist a couple of years ago. The Lincoln Quilters Guild had a two day class with her and it changed the way I think about making a quilt. The things I remember the most about her class were talking about fabric selection and making a quilt that is personal and tells a story.

I selected some photos to show some quilts you can make from the book.

I love the "Chocolate Whacky Cake" wall hanging. I can imagine it hanging on the wall for a family birthday celebration.

How much more fun can a shoe quilt be? I love all the different shoes. You can adapt the blocks to make it your own.

This quilt with the cats has the cutest faces and bow ties. I would use my creative licence and turn them into bunnies.

There are instructions for adding letters and faces to your quilts to personalize them. The instructions are easy to follow and great for beginners or those that have quilted for many years.

I have to say the first quilt I'm going to try from the book is the cow quilt. There's been a lot of talk about the cow quilt on the internet and I'm a fan too! I'm going to make my cow black and white. The wavy plaid is going to be the body. I don't normally use plaids, but it's a favorite pattern Mary Lou likes to use along with dots, strips and other patterns.

I hope you leave a comment on this post and I will randomly pick a winner on Saturday morning. I will write a post and announce the winner of the book on Saturday. And, I will ship internationally!

Hopscotch

2011-08-22T05:47:00.008-05:00

The pattern I used for this quilt and the quilt in the previous post was Hopscotch by Peddler's Wagon in Parkville, MO. The quilt size is 54 X 68. I love making this pattern because it fun to see the results using different fabrics. Like the quilt in my last post, this quilt just needed to have binding put on. I have four more quilts in my unfinished pile that just need binding. They're on my to do list. I'm on a mission to finish up incomplete projects.

Here is my finished top with blocks made from a class I took with Mary Lou Weidman and the little bird holding a flower was inspired by the book's cover, Out of the Box with Easy Blocks, by Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland. Mary Lou's Hoochy Mama method is very forgiving and I learned it's OK if your blocks aren't perfect, and the end result is more fun.

2011-08-21T00:02:00.003-05:00

I finally got the binding on this quilt! I have been wanting to finish this quilt and all it needed was the binding. I've said it before, I really don't like putting on binding. I ended up putting a purple with aqua polka dot binding on it, after using an orange that didn't look right and ended up ripping it off. I would have never been happy with the orange binding. I'm glad it's done, because I really love the fish fabric. I purchased it a lot time ago and used it as a border, and then used fabric from you stash to piece the body of the quilt. I have to thank my sister, Kristine, for machine quilting it for me. She really does beautiful work!!

The back and a close up of the fish fabric.

Casting Crowns

2011-08-20T14:16:00.006-05:00

Last night, my sister invited me to a concert by Casting Crowns. The band members are all in youth ministry. They are from the Atlanta, Georgia area. The band asked at the beginning of the concert how many have NOT been to a Casting Crowns concert. Almost everyone raised their hand, the lead singer, Mark Hall said where have you been, we are just about ready to release our fifth album. :) The band has won a a Grammy Award, an American Music Award, 23 Dove Awards and has 8 hit radio singles.

My favorite song of the night was from, The Alter and the Door, the song is called Slow Fade. The words in their songs come from their ministry with the youth and have real life messages.

Something Fishy

2011-08-10T06:56:00.003-05:00

I joined Mary Lou Weidman's yahoo group and got involved in a fish swap. I have been working on my 13 fish for the swap. I will send off my 13 fish and then get one of mine back and 12 other fish from the members of my group. If you visit Mary Lou's website she has examples of some of the swap member's fish. The fish are done in Mary Lou's famous hoochy method.

We are all using the same background fabric and I love the fabric it really looks like water. I have 5 of my fish done so far, but I will have the rest done soon. I have all the pieces and I just have to assemble them.

My fish in a sea of grass, no water close by. :)

What I've Collected

2011-08-09T07:28:00.005-05:00

I asked family and friends to help out with the project at the Joslyn Art Museum. The handrails are going to be covered with rectangles that are knitted or crocheted. This is for the exhibit called, Joslyn Treasures: Well Traveled and Rarely Seen. The family fun event will be on August 28 from 1-4 PM. It's fun to see the difference in color and stitch each one is!

Yarn Bomb

2011-08-02T16:21:00.007-05:00

Today, I received an email about a fun event happening at Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, NE on August 28 from 1-4 PM. The railing of the Joslyn will be "yarn bombed."

They're asking for crocheted or knitted rectangles measuring 4 1/2" by 12". Any gauge of yarn can be used. The rectangles will be connected end to end and then stitched along the back when installed on the railing. They want to know who made the rectangle. They will be giving credit to all participants during the Family Fun Day on August 28th.

Joslyn Art Museum

The Knitting Girl, 1869, William Adolphe Bouguereau

The project is based on the "Knit Graffiti Movement" and celebrating The Knitting Girl, a painting in the exhibition Joslyn Treasures: Well Traveled and Rarely Seen.

Stay tuned for photos of the event...

Colourful Friday-Leaves

2011-07-28T18:53:00.005-05:00

For Colourful Friday, the assignment was leaves. My first photo is a piece I started in a class with Sue Spargo. These are embellished leaves.

I found this leaf on a planter at a garden store where I buy my bunny's hay and pellets.

Once again, I have found inspiration from a tissue box. Something interesting to look at during my work day.

Thank you Robyn for hosting the challenge and you can see what everyone else found here.

Wee Care Trunk Show

2011-07-21T07:59:00.006-05:00

My smocking guild had a trunk show of Wee Care items made from various states. It was fun to see all the different styles. Below are some of my favorites and ones I would like to try. Wee Care is a program by the Smocking Arts Guild of America.

This first dress had bunnies smocked on the top. We have talented members in our group that can help me out with figuring out the pattern for the bunnies.

The bow on the bottom of this dress is shadow work. Another technique I would like to learn.

Triangles-Colourful Friday

2011-07-15T05:06:00.005-05:00

This week for Colourful Friday, we had the assignment of finding Triangles for Robyn at Daisy Quilts. I have been piecing a quilt together using the method and inspiration of Mary Lou Weidman. Our local quilt guild brought her in and I was privileged to be able to take a weekend class from her a couple of years ago. Mary Lou is a fun teacher and I love her whimsy style. She has a new book that just came out this week and it has a cute bird on the front with triangle wings. I just had to include it in my quilt. You can read about her new book which is called, Out of the Box with Easy Blocks, here.

Mary Lou's method of free-form piecing is called Hoochy Mama. I love how you don't have to be perfect and you can be free.

I also had to include my slippers with triangles embroidered on the edges. They are always on my feet when I come home from work.

Colourful Friday/Saturday - Red and Green

2011-07-02T08:02:00.004-05:00

This past week, I learned how to cover a bead with seed beads. It was very time consuming, but I like the effect. It took me 3 hours, but now that I have done one, the next one should go faster. I would like to make some more to use as an embellishment on a quilted wall hanging. I was thinking about our colors when I was picking out our beads.

If you would like to see some more Red and Green finds jump over to Robyn's blog Daisy Quilts.

Colourful Fridays-Blue and Orange

2011-06-16T20:56:00.003-05:00

This week we are doing Blue and Orange for Robyn's Colourful Friday. I looked for the combination of blue and orange during the past couple of weeks and the most common was the construction orange (as in the cones) and the blue sky. Since the weather is nice the roadwork has begun. It seems everywhere you go in the city there are streets closed and detours.

This tassle was made by elinor peace bailey. I worked on a project for a new store opening in our area and the tassels really were an important element. You can read about it on elinor's blog.

A Special Day

2011-06-08T06:41:00.006-05:00

Today is our wedding anniversary, fifteen years ago my husband and I were married. It was a beautiful day.

I was a cosmetologist for 17 years and one day Conan came in to get a haircut. And, the rest is history! This is a favorite photo because this is where I met Conan.

Colourful Fridays-Flowers

2011-06-02T11:09:00.011-05:00

Robyn from Daisy Quilts gave us an easy assignment this time, Flowers for this Colourful Friday.

This quilt was made by my sister, Kristine, and it's made from floral fabrics and the two big flowers on the side are so fun. I love to wrap up in it on a cold day. It brighten me up.

These sunflowers were the inspiration for the work in process wall hanging below. Hopefully, I can get it finished this summer.

Flowers from the store are the only way I can have flowers at my house. I don't have a green thumb. I saw this display this morning when I was picking up so things for work.

We have bike sculptures all over the city done my various artists, and this one fit the theme this week.

Maybe A Thimble

2011-06-01T19:47:00.005-05:00

Tonight, I finished this quilted small wallhanging. It has a lot of handstitching and quilting on it. I almost put a hole in my finger and I had to take a couple of days off to heal. I really need to learn how to use a thimble! It was fun to make, and I think I just might make another one. But, I would use photos of the hospital where I work and hang it in my office.

Colourful Fridays-Sunsets

2011-05-26T14:56:00.010-05:00

The Colourful Friday at Daisy Quilts hosted my Robyn is Sunsets. Today, I found photos on the Internet of sunsets from Joplin, Missouri. I have thought a lot about the people of Joplin since Sunday night. They had a powerful tornado about a mile wide go through their city. The tornado was upgraded to a EF 5, after officials inspected the city and structures that were hit by the tornado. This means the winds were in excess of 200 mph. There are lots of photos on the Internet and there are updates every day of the deviation caused by the tornado. There were 125 people killed and more than 900 injured. The hospital in Joplin took a direct hit blowing out all the windows and took off the roof. There are still over 200 people they don't know the whereabouts.

The photos below are images I found on the Internet from various websites taken at Sunset of Joplin, MO after the tornado hit on Sunday night.

Kaley's Confirmation

2011-05-01T19:53:00.008-05:00

Kaley on her Confirmation day. This is the dress she put many hours of work into and she looks so pretty.

Here is Kaley and her family.

Everyone in her class made their own banner which hung in the church.

You can't have a celebration without a cake.

My two nieces.

Destination Marseilles

2011-04-30T20:45:00.004-05:00

Tonight was the Friends of IQSC event for the Marseilles quilt exhibit at the International Quilt Study Center.

Some of the textile and design students from UNL had a presentation of quilted garments influenced by the exhibit now showing. The first quilted garments, made for function about 1380-1390, were worn by soldiers under their chained garments. In the Renaissance, quilted garments were worn for style and quilts were even cut up so that garments could be made from them.

The students made a half size scale of the garment before constructing the final piece. Today, modern day designers use quilting in their garments. By using quilting, angles can be made by the extra structure that quilting can give a garment.

There was a silent auction of items influence by France. Below is a pin cushion made by Peg Pennell. Peg did a great job of adapting Sue Spargo's design into a French version.

There were crepes, cheese, grapes, and delicious desserts.

Lastly, there was group of competitive dancers from Beatrice who performed a CanCan dance. They really were good dancers and their costumes were great.

It was a fun evening and thank you to the IQSC Friends for all their hard work!

Wishing Them Nothing But Happiness!

2011-04-29T12:23:00.007-05:00

I got up early this morning to watch the wedding. The wedding was perfect! The British certainly know how to throw a wedding. I loved everything about it. The music was beautiful!!!

I really enjoyed seeing all the hats.

T-Shirt Quilts

2011-04-22T07:54:00.002-05:00

My friend, Carolyn, has been working on making T-Shirt quilts as gifts. I have never make one, so I wanted wanted to see how she arranged the T-Shirts. She came up with this layout of the shirts by adding fun borders. The quilts were going to be giving away this weekend, so I was happy to see them before they were gone. Great way to preserve memories!

Fibbi

2011-04-21T05:49:00.006-05:00

Today, we said goodbye to our bunny Fibbi. She was 11 years old and a sweet little friend.

A Beautiful Wedding

2011-04-19T09:11:00.004-05:00

These are some photos from Jeremy and Claire's wedding. It was a beautiful day and the wedding was elegant.

Claire's sister had the ideas for the decorating and her family helped with making the decorations. The flowers and every detail was beautiful.

At each place setting there was a cake ball!

The cake had a wooden base and the flowers were arranged in a variety of mason jars.

I thought Claire's dress was beautiful.

Here are the youngest members of the wedding party. They were so cute and they had fun playing together.

Sue Spargo Class

2011-04-15T20:26:00.005-05:00

The Lincoln Quilters Guild hosted Sue Spargo for our April meeting. We had a fun class with Sue on Sunday. The project we worked on was the Altered Texture Tree. I learned some new stitches to use on my wallhanging. This is my third class with Sue and each time I learn new stitches and new ways to use color. I really love working with wool and what you can create with it.

I was honored to show Sue around Lincoln before her presentation in the evening. Here is a photo with Sue in the Haymarket with our famous Watchful Citizen sculpture. My highlight with Sue was sitting on the dock at the Mill and enjoying the day while doing a little stitching. I could get used to that. Sure beats working!!

I really learned a lot about Sue and how she designs during her talk. Sue shared ways to be inspired, like learning about new cultures and changing locations. Which I took as taking a vacation. I'm up for that!! It's always fun to see new things. I always think what it would be like to live in other places, being a girl who has always lived in Nebraska. I like hearing what it's like to live in other countries.

Here is my tree from the class. I have a lot more work to do on it. I'm going to add birds and fish. Then, I'm going to add more borders and put on more leaves, flowers and butterflies. I'm making my own verison of Sue's Birthday quilt. Each person in class made their tree their own and I hope some day to see their finished pieces!!!

Kaley Finished Her Dress

2011-04-14T06:09:00.005-05:00

My niece, Kaley, finished her Confirmation dress, that was also her 4-H project. Here she is putting the final hems on her dress. There are two layers to the bottom skirt. She did such a good job on the dress and it looks adorable on her. Kaley will wear it on May 1st and I'm keeping my fingers crossed she will model it in the 4-H style show. It will go to the fair to be judged, but I just thought she could get another chance to wear it!

The back and front of the dress.

* * *

The above quilt top is a quilt my sister, Cindy, is working on. This is so out of the box for her because she does PERFECT piecing. The quilt is one of Mary Lou Weidman's patterns. Cindy is thinking about hand-quilting it. I thought it was so fun I had to share. It will also have bright button centers on the flowers.

Hexagons

2011-04-12T13:06:00.004-05:00

I'm so late in playing Colorful Fridays at Daisy Quilts. Robyn gave us a hard one and it took me a while to find Hexagons.

This Hexagon Quilt was made around 1890 and is at the International Quilt Study Center. The quilt is made from silk with weight. Tin salt was added to silk, at that time, to give it the rustle effect, but made the fabric deteriorate.

I thought is was a fun scrappy quilt that someone spent a considerable amount of time on. I don't know if I have the patience to hand-piece all those hexagons!!

Colourful Fridays-Copper

2011-03-25T05:31:00.006-05:00

This Colourful Friday is being highlighted by Copper. Robyn, at Daisy Quilts, gave us a tricky color to find this week. I made a trip up to Rochester, Minnesota the beginning of this week and while I was there I searched for the color copper.

The first copper I saw was the signage on the back of the semi truck. I saw this trucking company many times on my way up to Minnesota.

There was a wall with greetings from many countries.

This partial of a painting was made from many circles.

The weaving above was huge!! The colors in this piece were very beautiful.

This painting was one I found in a window of a art shop that had over 70 artists selling their art. They had cards, jewelry, quilts, wool items, wood and weaving.

This Barnes and Noble is my favorite bookstore. This was an old theater and it was turned into a very special store. The signage and bricks to me are so unique.

This is some of the beauty inside the bookstore that makes it so special.

This was a copper medal piece inside the Mayo Clinic.

This copper stone wall is the perfect backdrop for the glass art hanging from the ceiling!

Thanks again Robyn, you open my eyes and help me to see things in a new way.

Yummy

2011-03-18T05:39:00.003-05:00

Everyone in our office got a yummy frosted sugar cookie from a local bank. It was so pretty I had to take a photo of it. Happy Spring!

Colourful Fridays-Polka Dots

2011-03-10T05:59:00.005-06:00

The focus this Friday was on Polka Dots. The section of the quilt above is made by a friend, Carolyn Garner. The whole quilt is made from Polka Dot fabrics.

This is a house in Lincoln with Polka Dot Shutters.

Here is a giant Coke bottle covered with dots, or beads.

This paper-mâché dog is feeling the Polka Dots. It was in an art gallery for a special showing for Day of the Dead.

And, of course buttons are dots too. Jump over to Daisy Quilts and see what others have come up with for Polka Dots.

Black & White - COLOURS

2011-02-25T06:05:00.007-06:00

The color focus this week for Colourful Fridays is on Black and White. Please take the time to visit Robyn at Daisy Quilts to see what everyone has found for this week.

I had to do a photo on snow because we received at least 4 inches last night and it took me 1 1/2 hours to make my 5 mile drive home from work yesterday.

Last weekend, my husband and I spent a long weekend in Atlanta, Georgia visiting family. I had requested to go to the zoo in Atlanta as one of my places to see. While I was at the zoo I was looking for Black and White colors.

I found this beautiful umbrella in an observation area for the lions.

I can't take credit for this photo, but I did take a photo of a poster that was in the reptile building. He was just too cute!! :)

This ornament was hanging in the gift shop.

This was a lizard in the reptile building and he was big.

This snake was also large and was very slow moving. And, I was glad it was behind glass.

They had zebras with great black and white stripes.

However, the panda's were the reason I requested to go to the zoo in Atlanta. There are only three zoos in the United States with pandas. This was my first time seeing pandas. I really had fun with this challenge and looking forward to our next color in two weeks!

Coke World

2011-02-21T06:07:00.006-06:00

When I was in Atlanta, I went to the Coca-Cola museum. It was fun to look at all the pieces the company has collected from around the world. I really liked seeing the different bottles from around the world.

There was also Coke pop art in a gallery.

There were red dresses for The Heart Truth to support women's heart health programs.

A cute short movie with cartoon Coke bottle characters that worked in the Coke bottling factory.

There were large drink bottles decorated in many different ways. I really liked the one with the clouds. So refreshing!

My favorite part was when we got to taste the different soft drinks from around the world. I liked the two Bibo drinks from South Africa. There was a pineapple and a kiwi mango drink both were very tasty!

Progress On Kaley's Dress

2011-02-12T18:31:00.002-06:00

There was a lot of progress on the Confirmation dress today. Kaley finished side seams with french seams. She got the binding on the neckline and now it just has to get topstitched down. The dress is starting to look like a dress now.

While Kaley was sewing, I made a sample of the Make and Take Project for National Quilting Day on March 19 which our Lincoln Quilt Guild will be celebrating at the International Quilt Study. I used some pieces of trim and dress fabric from Kaley's project on the flower.

Colours of Valentines - RED

2011-02-10T18:52:00.008-06:00

I picked RED to show the color of valentines. Red is what I think of when I think of the 14th of February. Here are some of my favorite things. The monkey stuffed animal is a gift from my husband before we were married. The quilt was made with the help of my sister, Kristine, and it hangs on the wall when you enter our home.

I have a special part in my heart for first responders. They thrive on chaos! Here the Lincoln firefighters are putting out a car fire on an overpass. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone hurt in this fire.

These are orphan blocks, they were not made my me, but I want to turn them into a table runner for our dining room table. The rug is in our living room and a companion rug is under our dining room table.

Well, that's it for this week. In two weeks, the colors will be Black and White. If you want to join in the fun see Daisy Quilts. It's a fun challenge.

A Special Dress for Kaley

2011-02-06T21:01:00.006-06:00

My niece, Kaley has been working on her Confirmation dress. She has an early May date for it to be completed. She has all the ideas for the dress. The dress is being constructed using three patterns.

There will be trim on the sash that ties around her waist. She sewed this on by hand and did a wonderful job!

There's elastic in the bodice. And, this weekend she's going to be putting in the zipper. It will be her first time putting a zipper in. The dress doesn't call for a zipper, but with all the changes we have made to the patterns I'm afraid she won't be able to get into the dress when it's completed.

Then her mom, Frankie, showed me this beautiful chocolates she got from her manager at work. They're unique. They're from Chocolatier Blue. There's a store here in Lincoln and I'm going to have to check them out!!

Happy Spring!

2011-02-02T20:12:00.003-06:00

The news from Pennsylvania, was Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow and Spring will come early this year. That's very good news!! Phil can predict the weather as good as anyone. Since the Groundhog's first prediction in 1887, Phil hasn't seen his shadow 15 times. I hope you're right Phil.

It’s been a cold, tough winter across the states and this map shows how it was snowing on almost every state except Florida on Tueaday.

Give It All You Got!

2011-01-30T14:15:00.012-06:00

This morning Conan and I ran in the 5K Groundhog Run in Kansas City. It really was exciting to run with so many runners. I wish I had that many people to run with each day and I would be in better shape! I was proud of myself that I was able to run the entire race and not stop to walk. I guess my training paid off. I know I don't run fast, because at one point Conan was walking fast just to show me how slow I was, but I ignored him and kept at it. The race was at the Hunt Midwest SubTropolis, the world's largest underground business complex. Hunts Midwest spends over 350 hours to make sure the race goes off without any problems. The race was fun because even though the winter in the midwest isn't fun, you can trade in heavy coats and boots to run a guaranteed race in temperatures of 65-70 degrees with no snow or rain!

I was able to finish with a time of: 36:37. This is a pretty awful time! I was running to AC/DC and was able to finish the last mile with Rock n' Roll Train!

Playing in the World of Colour-BLUE

2011-01-27T21:04:00.006-06:00

I'm a newbie to Robyn's Colourful Fridays of exploring colour!! Robyn writes the blog called Daisy Quilts.

This Friday, we were asked to post our favorite color. So, I'm writing about my favorite color, blue. I guess I'm a pretty normal person, because blue is the most common favorite color.

I looked around my office at work and noticed a lot of blue, so I'm posting about blue from my office.

Pens, highlighter, letter opener, my favorite gum, and a healthcare magazine.

Coffee cup, scissors, and my favorite box of tissues. I really like the design on the box. I often dream about making it into a quilt some day!

My computer settings are blue and I have a little fish on the top of my computer screen.

And, then I couldn't resist making another one of the cute owls from Robyn's pattern. They're sure fun to make.

Thanks for letting me play along!

Having a Dream Job

2011-01-26T05:11:00.009-06:00

Julie Owens, a University of Nebraska Textiles, Clothing and Design graduate, gave a lecture on designing quilts for Martha Stewart. Julie said that working for Martha is like getting a master's degree in design.

One of Julie's friends convinced her to move to New York City and apply for a Surface Pattern Design position at Martha's company. In order to get a job with Martha Stewart you have to already be living in New York City. So, Julie purchased a one way ticket! Then, when she got to New York City she called the company and told them she was the girl from Nebraska and she was in NYC. Julie laughed because that just shows you how many employees they get from Nebraska. Julie freelanced 4 weeks for Martha Stewart before they offered her a full-time job.

Martha's company takes up one city block. Above is a photo of the building. Julie worked in the Soft Home department. Some of the ways they got ideas for the bedding were through vintage mill books and purchased artwork.

This is the area where Julie put in many hours of work. The turn over was high because of the demands of the department. The average work week was 50 to 60 hours and the longest work week was 80 hours.

The room pictured above and below was used for parties, and could be used for setting up photo shoots when preparing for merchandising the products.

Julie said they would work 1 year ahead in designing quilts, throws, sheets and pillow shams.

This quilt was designed from a vintage quilt owned by Martha. The quilting on it was very pretty!

These quilts were designed to appeal to the younger market. Clean and simple designs.

During the three years Julie worked for the company, she learned about how to balance her life with work and personal life. The best things about living in NYC were the energy and the inspiration she found. It was exciting to listen to Julie talk about her experience! I know she really learned and enjoyed her time with the company. Julie got married last year and moved back to Nebraska. She has been using her graphic art skills and hopefully we'll be seeing her talents soon!

My Work in Progress

2011-01-23T08:14:00.004-06:00

This is the completed center of my quilt from Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Bargello class. I used 2 jelly rolls to make my panels. I want to add a narrow teal border and then a border of 2" squares of my leftover strips, and then another teal border. My last border will be a braid border. It's going to be a quilt to keep me warm on a cold snowy night. We just got another fresh blanket of snow last night.

Bonnie's Lecture and Trunk Show

2011-01-22T08:56:00.005-06:00

Bonnie Hunter's lecture was so fun and seeing all her beautiful quilts was exciting. I had several people tell me they were inspired by Bonnie to get home and start sewing. Bonnie talked about her system of organizing her fabrics to make piecing a quilt faster and using what you have in your stash or scraps you have been saving.

This is the Incredible Scrappy Bargello sample from our class. Bonnie made her quilt from her husband's shirts. Bonnie said it already has that soft feeling.

This quilt is one I really loved. It's from Bonnie's book called, Adventures with Leaders & Enders. Bonnie told me she pieced the tree tops with individual squares, but it could also be strip pieced. This is going to be one of my next quilts! I would love to make it in a king size.

This quilt is called Periomen Daydreams and you can find this pattern in Scraps & Shirttails, written by Bonnie Hunter. This quilt was BEAUTIFUL. Loved it!!!

Bonnie shared her secrets about getting fabrics and patterns as a young newly married couple. I can't share them because they are secrets, but I can say Bonnie had me laughing so hard!! :^)

This quilt is made from shirts and that's why Bonnie has a 3X men's shirt on. Showing us how much fabric is in the shirt...Way to be green.

This quilt, called Smith Mountain Morning, is from Bonnie's new book entitled, Scraps & Shirttails II Continuing the Art of Quilting Green.

I'm so glad we were able to have Bonnie Hunter in Lincoln on a snowy couple of days. I felt bad that Bonnie had to be stranded in our Lincoln airport for over 7 hours. It's small and doesn't have much going on. The good news is Bonnie did say she would come back to Nebraska. So hopefully it wasn't that bad. Our quilter's guild was so happy to have had the opportunity to meet Bonnie and if you ever have the chance to take her class or hear her lecture, make sure you jump at the chance. Bonnie, you have fans here in Nebraska!

Class with Bonnie Hunter

2011-01-21T19:55:00.005-06:00

The Lincoln Quilters Guild brought Bonnie Hunter, from Quiltville, to Lincoln to show us her talents. Bonnie's passion is quilting and it shows when you are with her. She is so nice and down to earth. She makes scrap quilts and tells us to make do with what we have in our stash. I love a saying Bonnie has on her website, "if it's still ugly you haven't cut it small enough." The pattern we used for our class was the Incredible Scrappy Bargello. It is great for using up your stash.

Click on the Quiltville button to get to Bonnie's fabulous and informative website.

Carolyn is showing her first panel from class.

Connie used greens and blues for her scrappy panel. Can't wait to see this one finished. It looked like the ocean to me and I love blue.

Martha showed her finished quilt to the class. It's from Bonnie Hunter's book called, Adventures with Leaders & Enders. Bonnie has a great system for making quilts in less time.

Sara showed the class her quilt. It was made from Bonnie's pattern called, Christmas Lights. It's a beautiful quilt.

Some of the students brought what they finished in class to our guild meeting in the evening. It really is going to be fun to see all the finished quilts. So many color combinations.

Snow Day

2011-01-08T09:21:00.004-06:00

This cute quilt was made by Sheila Green. I was admiring it when I was at her house. I hope I can get one made. Sheila decorates her house in snowmen after Christmas. A house always seems so bare after Christmas, but you can still have snowmen, snowflakes and glitter after Christmas.

I need to get myself some of those silver trees. Maybe I can find some on clearance?

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T17:48:00.010-06:00

This magazine tree really brings back good memories. (This is a photo from a blog and I'm sorry I don't remember which blog.) My Mom made one of these trees when I was much younger! This time of year makes me think about all the Christmas memories...cookies, ornaments, Christmas programs, cards, Santa and many more memories!

I really having done much decorating for Christmas this year. But, I found these angels, and I thought they were so beautiful. You can find the instructions on how to make them here at Junk Camp.

Just A Little More Sun Each Day

2010-12-22T20:08:00.004-06:00

The best thing about getting past December 21.....more sunshine each day and a little bit closer to warmer temperatures!! I started jogging this week because I signed up for a 5K Groundhog Run. So, I'm trying to get in shape, and having a goal really helps.

The Groundhog Run that Conan and I signed up for is totally underground. We will be running at the Hunt Midwest SubTropolis in Kansas City. Something different and it sounds like a lot of fun!

An Unexpected Visitor

2010-12-18T20:27:00.005-06:00

Santa made an unexpected stop in Lincoln. His reindeer needed to eat and he also wanted to check on who's been naughty or nice. There was a long line of kids that wanted to sit with Santa on his sleigh and talk to him. Santa could only stay for a short time and then he had to fly off.

Santa's reindeer enjoyed a treat during the short stay!

The reindeer were really pretty and it was fun to see them.

The Surprise

2010-12-10T13:58:00.003-06:00

It was fun to see all the different dolls from the various doll makers that were sent as the surprise Christmas gift. I'm sure they will be well loved!

Here is a doll quilt that was also sent.

Go Big Red!!

2010-12-04T08:28:00.003-06:00

Mark Gocke, my cousin, took these photos when Nebraska played Colorado. He lives in Wyoming and normally takes beautiful photos of landscapes, animals, flowers and birds. But, I had to show these photos of our GREAT Nebraska Cornhuskers. I think they are wonderful. Mark you amaze me! And, by the way, we beat Colorado.

Nebraska will play Oklahoma tonight in the Big 12 Championship.

If you want to see more of Mark's photography here is his link.

Another Birthday!

2010-12-01T05:30:00.003-06:00

Today is my Dad's birthday! We celebrated his birthday this last Sunday at a family get together. Clayton, my nephew also had his 15th birthday on Monday.

Joann's Birthday

2010-11-30T19:38:00.002-06:00

At work, we celebrated Joann's 40th birthday today.

I gave away the doll I have been working on and I was happy Joann liked her. It was hard for me to give the doll away, because I put a lot of time into the doll and she was starting to grow on me. :) It was fun creating her to look like Joann.

Julie made a unique bouquet of prunes. What a clever idea!

She's Off to Texas

2010-11-28T18:50:00.002-06:00

I'm finished with my rag doll and she is going into a box and heading for Texas. Hopefully she will put a smile on a special person's face. She was a lot of fun to make!!

Help Wanted

2010-11-24T18:55:00.012-06:00

I was visiting Edyth's blog My Red Cape and she had a touching email from a woman with Alzheimers and in the email the woman asked for a black rag doll. It touched my heart and I wrote Edyth and asked if my doll idea would be OK. Edyth would like to be able to take a basket of dolls to her friend for Christmas.

So here is my idea for the doll I'm making. I saw it in a gift shop and I thought it was so cute. So, I'm using some of the ideas. Here is the inspiration doll below.

I don't have a pattern for this doll so I'm using this free pattern I found on the internet. The doll pattern is called Baby Bows and it's by Judi Ward. I'm going to modifiy the pattern by using some of the techniques I have learned making dolls from elinor peace bailey. The free pattern makes the doll from one piece. But, I have adapted the pattern and I'm making the arm and head separate. The pattern calls for a knit fabric but I'm going to cut my body, arms and head on the bias from solid dark brown Kona fabric.

I'm going to embroidery the face piece on a whole piece of fabric and then cut the head out after I have the face stitched on. I think it will be eaier that way.

I found this great yarn at Hobby Lobby and it is perfect for my hair. I took lengths of the yarn and folded it in half and then tried a know close to the end. I will sew the hair into the seam when I put the head together.

I want to put fabric bows in the hair like this antique rag doll. I think the bows look cute!

So, I have all my ideas down and I will start stitching. I hope all my ideas come together and will be a great surprise for someone who has yearned for a black rag doll!

What A Good Surprise!

2010-11-21T15:33:00.007-06:00

Amanda Herring

Amanda from The Quilted Fish sent me the Sweet Divinity fat quarter bundle she designed for Riley Blake Designs. I won this great prize from Amy's Creative Side online Blogger's Quilt Festival. The fabric from this collection is so fun and I love the colors. I don't know for sure what I'm going to make from the fat quarters but I want to make something special. It's not very often I win, and it was a good surprise!!!

So thank you Amanda for the fabrics.

Here is the Sassy Square quilt pattern by Amanda - Quilted Fish using the Sweet Divinity fabric line.

Spices and Ham

2010-11-19T12:01:00.009-06:00

On our way home from Rochester, we saw a sign for the Spam Museum in Austin, MN. It really was a fun time and a nice museum. I have to say I have not had Spam since I was a child.

The photo with the Spam cans was made from photo of workers. There are many photos in this mosaic.

Spam is shipped to 40 different countries. The name Spam comes from Spice and Ham. Using the first two letters of each word. Spam was first made in 1937.

They have examples of cans of Spam and how the design has changed over time and old advertisements. It was fun for me to see the old ads displayed on the wall.

Spam was added to the combat rations for the soldiers who fought in World War Two.

We of course had to bring home some Spam. They had some special varieties of Spam. We are going to try: Spam with Real Bacon, Spam Hot and Spicy, and Spam Hickory Smoked. You can find some recipes for Spam online.

Rockin' Rochester

2010-11-18T18:54:00.014-06:00

Conan and I spent three days in Rochester, MN. Rochester is the home of the Mayo Clinic, and they have many miles of an underground subway walking system. You can travel around the downtown and not even have to go outside. This came in handy because it was already getting cold.

There is an old theater which has the neatest Barnes and Noble. Great for picking up reading material.

Ginny's Fine Fabrics and Support Group has very beautiful fabrics for sewing garments. I went into her store to look for fabric and trim for my niece's Confirmation dress. My niece, Kaley, is going to make her Confirmation dress to enter as a 4-H project. Ginny was such great help. She was able to show me a lot of fabrics and different ways to use them. She is just a phone call away. She will help you and send out fabric swatches to out of town customers.

While we were in Rochester they were starting to decorate for the Christmas holiday. I loved these dolls that were in two of the store's windows.

Jenny Raymond

2010-11-16T19:03:00.012-06:00

Jenny Raymond from Gothenburg, Nebraska spoke to the Lincoln Quilters Guild giving a presentation on her garments. Jenny has sewed for the public for many years. She turned the techniques and tricks she learned into creating some outstanding garments. I have admired her work at our Nebraska State Fair and online, seeing her work from the Bernina Fashion Shows. Recently, Jenny was juried into the Houston Quilt Festival. This year she took second place in the Fall Houston show for her garment. Below are just a few of the garments she showed us during her lecture.

At the 2005 Bernina Fashion Show, "A Walk in the Garden," celebrated Jenny's trip to QuiltExpo in Holland in 2005. It's really fun to see Jenny's garments in person because of all the different techniques it takes to make her garments.

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Jenny won the Viewer's Choice Award in the 2008 Bernina Fashion Show with "High Tea at the Broadmoor." This dress and short jacket were beautiful.

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In 2002 at the Bernina Fashion Show titled Masquerade, "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," Jenny won Viewer's Choice.

This ensemble is stunning. The harlequin design of the coat is made from silk Dupioni.I loved the black and white with the red dress. The coat and dress is embellished with 850 Swarovski Crystal Rhinestones by hand. Beautiful!

Jenny is going to continue to create beautiful garments and quilts. I can't wait to see what she makes next.

Buzz Buzzzzzzz

2010-10-31T09:24:00.006-05:00

Today is Halloween! Happy Halloween!

This year I'm a Bee. (I love this painted wall on the back of an auto repair shop. It's beautiful.)

I hope you have a safe and fun Halloween.

Nostalgia

2010-10-27T18:30:00.005-05:00

From Amy's Creative Side, the Blogger's Quilt Festival quilt I'm showing is a Block of the Month from a local quilt shop. The pattern used was Nostalgia from Kaye England. The pattern uses block designs from the 30's & 40's. I used a star layout from the pattern for the quilt. The quilt is made from reproduction 30's fabrics. The only things I changed from the pattern were that a cake stand block was used instead of the Sun Bonnet Sue, and I added piano keys around the outer border. This pattern is great because you could make other quilts using just one block from the pattern.

What I've Been Working On

2010-10-26T19:25:00.002-05:00

I have been working on this doll. The pattern is by elinor peace bailey called Angela. Doesn't she have a cute figure!

elinor painted the face for me. I love the personality elinor can give to the eyes.

I even took an old watch to the watch repair and had some of the links taken out to fit the doll's arm. Her ring is a bead with a wire band. I have to also draw on some finger and toe nails. My markers I wanted to use dried up, so I had to order some new markers today.

My doll needs shoes, earrings and a scarf and she is almost finished. I found some black leather pants at the Goodwill and I'm going to try to make some shoes out of it. I also have some scraps of red and purple leather to make the top flowers. Making a doll is hours of work for me, but worth when she starts coming together.

Puppy School

2010-10-22T19:14:00.007-05:00

Here is my nephew Cody and Duke on our way to Puppy School. Duke is going to Puppy School to learn how to Heel, Sit, Stay, Lay Down and maybe Shake?

Here Duke is walking with Cody and not pulling with treats.

Duke knows how to Sit and Stay, but Duke's homework for the week is learning how to Lay Down. Duke finds it hard to stay focused because he is so excited to be with all the other dogs. It was fun visiting Puppy School and I hope I can go again.

Carol Jones

2010-10-12T08:08:00.006-05:00

Carol Jones presented our program and taught a class for the Lincoln Quilters Guild in October. We learned about a rare type of quilts called, Tile Quilts. Tile Quilts were made in the time period between 1865 to 1900. There are very few of this type of quilt still existing. Only about 25 Tile Quilts still remain and we have two in the International Quilt Study Center here in Lincoln, NE. Most of the Tile Quilts were made in the northeast part of the United States. The quilts were made mostly from cotton fabrics in various shapes with a narrow line of the background fabric showing. The backing fabric would represent a grout line. Other names for Tile Quilts were Boston Pavement and Stonewall.

Carol Jones co-authored a book with Bobbi Finley called, Tile Quilt Revival. In this book they show a more contemporary way to make Tile Quilts using beautiful fabrics from today. There are patterns and great information in the book.

Above is my block from class. I really enjoyed this technique. I'm not really good at hand applique, but the larger size of the pieces in my block made appliqueing enjoyable.

The quilt above is a tile quilt that possibly could be from Nebraska. I really fell in love with this random way the tiles were organized in this quilt. It's going to be my inspiration, because I would love to make a Tile Quilt with pieces that are symbols of what is important to me.

Now That's Good Customer Service

2010-10-06T06:49:00.010-05:00

When I received my package in the mail, this is how it was wrapped. It was so beautifully wrapped I didn't want to destroy the wrapping. Of course it was tred with white ribbon. If you know Shell from Raspberry Rabbits, I'm not sure but I think it's her favorite color. There was also a nice note, needles, tea and biscotti. It's fun to make a friend with similar interests, and a lover of bunnies!

This is the pillow I ordered from Shell. I saw it on a blog post and thought it would look good in my living room. And, it couldn't be more perfect with that white rabbit on the front!!
Below are Shell's bunny assistants...

This is Sir Walter Harrington

This is Sugie Bun Bun
Shell rescued this bunny and she has an amazing story. It touched my heart.

My New Haircut

2010-09-29T19:23:00.004-05:00

I just got back from getting my haircut. I went for the short haircut. I love it and it's going to save me time in the morning when getting ready.

Clayton

2010-09-27T11:16:00.002-05:00

My nephew, Clayton, was confirmed on Sunday afternoon. The service was really special. This photo is when they remembered their baptism by putting the water on their forehead.

Clayton with Nancy and Steve his baptism sponsors.

Clayton with is Connie and Kevin. (His parents)

Clayton with Cody and Kate. (His brother and sister)

Maybe a New Cut?

2010-09-24T06:19:00.008-05:00

I attended a hair show to get my continuing education hours to keep my cosmetology license. I really enjoy seeing what's new in hair. This blonde short haircut was my favorite. I'm thinking of cutting my hair off!

The updos were absolutely beautiful! They even showed a technique using a needle and thread to put hair up. That of course caught my eye!

The hair colors were beautiful. They show the whole range from blonde to black. But, I have always loved the reds.