Quilts and Farming

The photo challenge word for this week is, BIG. Here is a quilt I made back in 2009 that depicts big that I named, "From New York to California."

I decided to make some changes on my new project "Jacob's Ladder." I'm changing out some of the blocks for paper pieced four-patch blocks.

 

Here you can see the sections of the SLM charity quilt done so far.

 

I kept Georgi one day this week.

 

Yesterday I took some parts to the field for Quinten.

 

He changed out the parts in a hurry and was soon back to cutting corn.

 

And what is Austin and Quinten looking at?

 

Oh dear, the grain cart needs some work done to it.

 

I dropped Paul off to bring the grain cart back to the shop for repairs.

 

Paul was still working hard when evening came around.

Emily

I have enjoyed having my sister Emily come and visit fairly often the last while. She is getting more and more into quilting.

Here she is working on our charity quilt for SLM.

Emily, Barbara, and I took a class, "Dancing Dots" with Nancy Mahoney back in March in Piegon Forge. And now Emily has her quilt finished.

I remember Emily showing this quilt back at our Heatwole sewing retreat in January. She used the "Quilt as You Go" technique.

Here she utilized a "Milky Way" feed sack and made these two quilts.

And she made this wonky quilt here in our home from my scraps for her grandchildren to play with. (Let's see, you aren't really supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, are you?)

A Beautiful Gift

Just look at this beautiful handkerchief that I received in the mail from my new friend, Eva.

And here is a close up of the fine hand work.

I feel unworthy of such a nice gift!

A New Project & Georgi

I have started a new project. And I know you are thinking that I need to finish up some of my other projects first. However, this one has a deadline, and if I don't start now and keep at it, I'll miss the deadline. So, I've pushed everything else to the back burner.

I need 36 blocks similar to these. Some of them will be "double" blocks without the black triangle. And then you can see on the top row that there are 2 with smaller black triangle centers. I'll have to pitch those blocks or use them for something else, maybe on the back of the quilt.

Georgi gets her hair combed sitting by the sink. When she was smaller Sheila sat her down inside the sink to get the job done!

"Lunch," Farming, and Fabric

This week's photo challenge word is "lunch." So here is my little 10 3/4" X 9 1/2" quilt. And you might wonder just what does this have to do with lunch? Well, it's like this. When I went to Bridgewater Elementary School ...

... I had a lunch box like this.

I had seen a plaid quilt made by Elizabeth Hartman called Metropolis. I really liked her quilt and studied and studied it to see if I could make the block, but I just couldn't figure it out. So, I ended up buying her book "Modern Patch Work." She has some more cool easy quilts in there that I'd just love to make.

And then I still couldn't make my quilt just like the plaid pattern. I think I'll chalk up this piece as a learning experience. And why would I quilt "flames" across it? There are no flames in my lunch. It was fun trying out the Sulky Holoshimmer thread although I had issues with it. Maybe it was my needle!

Corn harvest is in full swing for us.

And now Ashton gets to ride with Grampa in the combine.

Today I went to Starkville where a lady was trying to sell her late mother's fabric, lace, ribbon, linens, and a few antiques.

The walls of her large storage room or stuido were lined with cabinets and more cabinets and tables in the center of the room.

You can tell we had a lovely time pulling fabric and digging for treasures.

Even the refrigerator was full of fabric.

I found quite a few pieces for dresses and them some for quilts and comforters.

And you know, I really don't need any more fabric, but when Paul found out about it he said "You better go!" =)

Photo Challenge and a Flying Trip to Virginia

The photo challenge theme for this week is "garden." I thought I wasn't going to be able to make a quilt with all that I had going on and would have to use a picture of the "No Flowers in My Garden" quilt that I had on my design wall in the last post. ... But, I found some time while I was in Virginia and made "Three Flowers in My Garden" for the photo challenge.

The back is almost as pretty as the front. I should have made the bobbin thread match a little better instead of trying to just 'use up' the thread that was already wound on the bobbin.

Detail

I couldn't pass up a quick opportunity to fly to Virginia to visit Mother. Joel was going up there to pick up Sheila and their two girls and taking Perry with him. There was an extra seat, really 2 of them, in the plane for me, so I went along to visit Mother for 2 days.

When we got there soon after lunch, Mother and I went to Ruth & Etta Showalter's store. I forget the name of it but they carry fabric and a few notions, cards, books, gifts and there is a small thrift store in the back. It has lots of light and is very spacious.

From there we went to the visitation at the Bank Church for Joyce Heatwole. Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband Kenneth and family as grieve with her passing.

I was glad to go with Mother to the graveyard to see Father's tombstone. It's been over a year now that he is gone.

Mother enjoys reading the paper and watching the birds and wildlife from her rocking chair by the window.

She fixed me such good meals. One evening she broiled some salmon that Terry had caught in Alaska and given to her. Another evening she grilled us each a hamburger and fixed a nice supper.

I went with her to "Gift and Thrift" where she donates one morning a week. She measures and prices fabric and gets it ready to put out on the shelves.

At the thrift store I found a piece of tulle, some glitzy paper scraps, and a black pair of pants for background, thinking that I could make my photo challenge garden somehow.

The glitzy bits of paper just didn't work for me so I opened drawers in Mother's sewing room and found this pretty assortment of thread.

I chose red, green, and yellow and fashioned my flowers with the thread and laid the tulle over the top. Then I layered the top, batting, and backing together and machined quilted "Three Flowers in My Garden."

Barbara met us one day for lunch at the Dairy Queen. That's one of my favorite fast food places and we don't have any close to us in Mississippi so I like to take advantage of them when we travel.

All too soon it was time to pack up and go home.

We had to stop in Knoxville to wait for a heavy storm system to pass over. Joel went out and bought us lunch at McDonalds and brought it back to the FBO for us to eat.

When we got to Joel's we noticed the banana plants had blooms with some bananas growing. Here's Sheila checking them out.