Mother’s Quilt, Spring Storm, Guests

Mother has stuck with her string quilt and sewed and sewed. And now she already has it finished. We thought she was making this for charity; but yesterday I got to thinking that here she made this quilt when she is 87 years old, and I think it needs to stay in the family as an heirloom. So she said I could have it. How about that? Maybe we can do something else for charity!

We are trying to think of a good name for it. Maybe someone out there in blog land has a good idea of a name.

I have been working on “Spring Storm” as much as I can. Here is the background for a big bolt of lightning coming down out of the sky.

I’ve machine appliqued the lightning to the background and now I’m quilting it with organic lines about 1/8” apart. I’m loving the texture the quilting is giving it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to enter my fabric giveaway here. You have until March 17 to enter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last Sunday we had a table full of company.

Darren & Becky with Corina

Wes & Heidi with Jackie and William

Jed & Vicki

Paul’s folks, Mom & Daddy

Melanie

and my mother, Margaret.

Emerald Pine

I decided to take the challenge of making a mini quilt with “emerald” in mind.

 

After I had chosen my fabric I decided the green really had too much blue in it for emerald. So I added a light green horizontal quilting thread in the gray strips, darker green on the emerald strips, charcoal on the black, and a variegated blue and green thread to make the pine tree. Then I used brown on the trunk.

This quilt has a subtle look to the pine and draws you in for a closer look. It is stitched with organic lines approximately 1/8th inch apart.
Size: 16” X 18 1/4”

In the pines, in the pines …

From a distance I think of a pine tree against the night sky. As you come in closer you can see how it lights up and brings life to the piece.

The back.

The label.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashton takes Great Grandmother’s order for a cheeseburger, fries, and coke.

I had a quilt presentation in Tuscaloosa and enjoyed the WAQG meeting and show and tell. One of the ladies made Bonnie Hunter’s Easy Street.

We had the family in for pizza and after supper. The grands enjoyed the Legos – great fun for building and just mixing them up and pulling them out of the container.

Design Wall Monday

I haven’t done much with my projects that were on my design wall since last week. But look at what Mother has done. She has started making a crib size string quilt from some red and blue strips that I had left over from a string quilt.

I can tell she is enjoying it so much. She just keeps humming & whistling at the same time, something that she does when she’s happy. A lot of my sister’s and I have inherited the same whistle/hum when we sew. It makes for a pleasant atmosphere.

Fabric Giveaway

Welcome to my blog.

Life -- everyday happenings in my life.

as a Quilter – Quilts, quilting and sewing activities that happen in my life.

Julia – I’m number 3 in a family of 7 girls and one boy.

Graber – I used to be a Heatwole and now I’ve been a Graber for over 35 years.

Also welcome to

It seems like this Winter will never end!! I’m definitely dreaming of Spring! To help chase away the Winter Blues, join me for a Quilters’ Blog Hop Party, even if it’s not Winter where you are.

This giveaway is now closed.

I’m offering 6 fat quarters of fabric in this give away, 3 red and 3 green. Think of complimentary colors, think of geraniums, think of apples, think of Christmas, think of the Northern Lights, and tomatoes. What could you do with this fabric?

To be in the draw, all you have to do is leave a comment telling which one of my  quilts in the tab “New  Quilts from an Old Favorite” you like the best.

For an extra chance in the drawing become a follower or follow by e-mail and come back and let me know. If you are already a follower let me know that as well in your second comment.

This giveaway will be open until Mar. 17, 2013 at 5 p.m. PST and to US addresses only. Then we’ll choose a winner with Mr. Random Generator.

Out on a Limb–Confused

Our Possum Town Quilters suggested that we make a quilt 9X12 or smaller to help raise funds for AAQI. We could choose a theme from many sayings that they provided. I chose “Out on a Limb.”  These quilts will be exhibited and sold at the RAC in Columbus, MS in July. Proceeds will go to Alzheimer’s Research. Those that don’t sell will be donated to AAQI.

Confusion is often a symptom of the disease so I’ve tried to depict it this way.

This is the back, finished with the fast finished triangles AAQI suggests to use. Just place a small dowel rod under the top triangles and it’s ready to hang.

Size: 12”X9”
Made of mostly cotton fabric.


 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My design wall looks like a jumbled mess with 3 different projects on it. Two of them have deadlines. I must get back to quilting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My sister Emily brought Mother down from Virginia yesterday. She’s going to be with me for almost a week.

Ashton has already enjoyed Great Grandmother reading “The Little Brown Bear” stories to him.