My Favorite Quilt

I love all my quilts and the ones I don't love as much are given away so they can be loved. I have a stash of quilts I can't part with, but my very favorite is a pattern by Jackie Robinson called Eureka.

This is a super king sized quilt... 105" x 120" and the 120" is the width of the bed. I made it this large so it would hang over the sides so much my husband would be unable to steal all my covers, but he still manages to do so. The quilt is mostly purple, my favorite color, but I went "out of the box" and there is a yellow to orange colorway.

Merry Christmas!

A little late (only a day) but here we are :)

This is a wallhanging I made for Jessa and Marc for Christmas, their family...

Roomba

You know, I've been wanting one of these little robotic floor cleaners for some time because I hate to vacuum. So Chuck and I were shopping at Kohl's yesterday. We don't usually go shopping together, but I wanted him to get something for himself for Christmas and I never know what to get the man that has everything! He was just standing in front of the display of various Roombas and they were on sale and I had a coupon for an additional 20% off. The sale price was $109 so I bought one! I love it. It's not perfect, but then nothing is. I have to pick up all cords and move chairs. The more barricades it finds, the less efficient it is, but it picked up a bunch of dog hair and loads of dust and I had cleaned house last Saturday so I'm impressed. Now it can't get all the way under a counter and there are a couple of places where it gets stuck, but all in all I feel pretty darn happy. Sasha finds it very interesting.

Popcorn Balls

My daughter finally made it out to the house last night and we made 4 batches of popcorn balls... melon fusion, green apple, cherry and black cherry. We experimented with the first batch, the melon fusion, and used lite corn syrup (different than light corn syrup) and the popcorn balls came out very sticky and stringy from the sugars. Oh, did I mention that these were made using jello? That's what gives them the color and flavor. And about that green apple jello... it has been discontinued (I'm so sad) so if you see it in your supermarket, I'd love to have some and will pay for shipping!

Here is the recipe:
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 - 3 oz package jello
9 cups popcorn (hot air popped)

Bring syrup and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat and add jello, stirring until disolved. Pour over popcorn, mixing well. Cool slightly, butter hands to keep from sticking, form into balls and place on wax paper to finish cooling. Place into baggies for storage.

Tatting

Here is a picture of some of the tatting I do. I make the small wreaths by the hundreds and put a bow on them and a small pin on the back. I carry a bag of them around everywhere I go and give them to anyone I see... checkout people... moms that need a break (makes them smile)... anyone :)

How long can I last?

Judy over at Patchwork Times asked "How long would you last?" So here are pictures of my stash and there's more, but in drawers and I didn't want to haul it all out just to take a picture.

Of course, I have more than fabric in my stash... after all, I have been quilting for 35 years, and I also crochet and knit so there's a bunch of yarn in my stash. And thread, yes, I have enough regular thread and embroidery thread to last a lifetime! I use Maxi Lock cone thread in my long arm because that's what my Voyager likes.

So the answer to my question is: I can last a really, really long time.

More Old Quilts

When I pulled out my first quilt, I realized there were several of my quilts I hadn't taken pictures of. These quilts also date back to when I first started quilting. This first one is a churn dash quilt and I think it was my second quilt.

Then I made this quilt and I realized after making quite a few blocks that I didn't buy enough fabric to make the quilt as big as I wanted to so I found a complimentary fabric so I could finish the quilt... looks like I planned it that way, doesn't it? I don't remember the name of the block.

I used to attend Grace Church in Albuquerque and I started making friendship quilts for the new babies in the congregation. So it wouldn't get too out of hand, I limited the number of quilts to one per family, no matter how many babies they had. Otherwise, we'd never get caught up! I passed out muslin blocks and the women embellished them as they pleased, then I gathered them and made the quilt. I lost track of how many I made. One of the mothers was so grateful for her quilt she decided to make a friendship quilt for me as a surprise and thanks for making all those baby quilts. This is the quilt, made in 1984.

In 1987 the small group I belonged to decided to exchange friendship blocks. In order to have enough for a big quilt, I added blocks from family and friends.


Someone gave me these blocks and I really love this quilt. I have never seen another block like this... my Parasol Lady Quilt.

This quilt really has a story to it. My husband's cousin came to me one day with 2 garbage bags full of quilt tops his mother had pieced dating back to the 30's and 40's. He wanted to know how much I'd charge him to quilt them and since all my quilting was done by hand, he about had a heart attack when I gave him a price. So we compromised. He had 3 daughters so I took three of the quilts, quilted them, and kept the rest. This quilt was one I kept. Many of the hexagons had deteriorated so I replaced them with like fabrics and quilted it.

Quiltathon Update

Accomplished on Saturday...

Finished the quilting on Eileen's quilt.

Got all the pieces cut for another Heart to Heart quilt.

Finished all 161 of the A Arcs for the Wedding Star Quilt... still have to trim them to the seam allowance, but will save that for another time.

Don't think there is any sewing going to happen today. My daughter is on her way to the house with lunch. She has a cold so we won't be making popcorn balls using jello as scheduled. Jello, you ask... yes! I'll post pictures and the recipe when we do make them.

Quiltathon interrupted

I started making these ornaments several days ago and still had some to make and my Bernina is in the shop so that left me with my Babylock as my primary sewing machine. I didn't want to stop in the middle of making these so I cut all the pieces for my Heart to Heart quilt while the machine was humming away. Then I ate lunch... and then got caught up in blogging on the computer. Not making a whole lot of progress on the Quiltathon :(

How I got started quilting

My first quilt was a request from a boyfriend to make him something for his bed so I sewed a bunch of squares together and tied the quilt. Later, when I was married and my new husband moved me from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, I found quilting, or rather, it found me. We had gone to the New Mexico State Fair in 1974 and in one of the buildings was a lady at a quilting frame. Then, I was a shy thing, so my husband took up a conversation with this lovely lady and she offered to teach me how to quilt. Since I had no stash, she shared hers with me and I created my first quilt. From then on I was hooked. So here is my first quilt.

The quilt is faded and well worn. It was pieced and quilted by hand and has a sheet for backing.

I love to quilt and it gives me a lot of satisfaction to cut apart fabric and sew it back together again. I do so purely for the pleasure of it. I give my quilts away, but I do have some I won't ever part with. I have quite a stash in the closet and every once in a while I rotate my lap quilt in the living room. Whether summer or winter, there is always a quilt on hand to keep me warm.

My daughter has a house full of my quilts and soon, so will my daughter-in-love.

I can’t sit with nothing in my hands so when I’m not quilting, I’m knitting. I think I would like to have a laptop for Christmas so I can load EQ on it and play while watching TV in the evenings. That way I can design so many more quilts I will probably never make…ooohhhh the list is long :)

Let the Quiltathon begin!

Today is a good day for Judy's December Quiltathon weekend.

I just finished quilting Eileen's christmas gift for her husband.

Now I plan on working on Jessa's wedding quilt. Hopefully she will get it before her first anniversary. It's a king sized quilt with lots of paper piecing so it will take some time to finish. I'm almost done with Arc A, but still have all 160 something of Arc B to do, then on to the melons and star points. This is a Judy Neimeyer pattern called Wedding Star. I keep the pieces of the quilt in a pizza box which makes it easier to tote around when I want to work on it somewhere other than home, like Busy Bee Quilt Shop when I only have one student to teach, or UFO night.

Then, when I am tired of paper piecing, I'm going to work on making another Heart to Heart quilt. I really love this pattern and may use this one as a table topper since I already have one quilt up on the wall in the living room.

Sasha

Sasha is such a happy dog. Here she is waiting patiently for her breakfast.

Thanksgiving

I know I'm a little late posting for Thanksgiving, but DH has been keeping me busy. So here are our Thanksgiving pictures :)

Marc and his favorite mother-in-love...me!


Carnations Lisa brought us for Thanksgiving and our 35th anniversary which was December 1st.


Cari making her fantastic salad!


Gathered around the table



and last, but not least, the clean up crew!