Emily’s Art, Family Life

I talked my sister Emily into making a small art quilt. She took a picture of their farm truck’s license plate and created this piece “painting” it with thread. I wish you could see it up close. She did a marvelous job!

I love Georgi’s pose and Kirby’s gentle smile.

It was hard to get a smile from these two cousins.

I know Ashton is enjoying this ride with Uncle Quinten.

And I know this is a pretty sunset, but somehow my heart was all fluttery and scared.

Cousins, Gabriel and Dustin

Practicing songs for a Sunday evening program.

My cousin Ruthie’s son Kevin came for a visit.

Me and my girls had a day out thrifting and fabric shopping. We stopped at …

… a coffee shop for a treat.

Since Amy couldn’t be with us, the next day we had lunch with her at Mi Ranchitos.

Tornado

This afternoon (4/11/15) a tornado touched down just east of Macon.

This is the communications tower where we get our internet service.

The Hoovers house was complete destroyed. They are part of our church family. The neighbor’s grain bin landed in front of their carport.

This shed housed a planter and semi truck.

Work in Progress

Can you see a tree?

 

Jungle Quilt, Artisan's Day, April Goal

A Child's Jungle Quilt 

I also made 2 small pillows to match the Jungle Quilt.

I used a pattern by Ann D. Hansen from the book "Make it Modern Quilts" and adjusted the size of the blocks to a little larger than 10 1/2" and then trimed them down to size after adding the X.

A flannel backing makes this an inviting soft and cozy quilt for a small child.

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Artisan's Day

The Columbus, MS spring pilgrimage is in full swing. Yesterday I quilted under the Welcome Center tent with other Possum Town Quilters.

Other vendors were selling carved wood, water color paintings and cards, homemade candles and home canned pickles, and bakery items.

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My May goal for

is to make 4 green panels of fabric for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Sunrises and Guests

This is our view from the front porch early one morning last week.

A few minutes later, it looked like this.

And then one evening just before full moon, it looked like this.

Rick & Leona Good came to see us this past week.

While the men went to an equipment auction in Philadelphia, we ladies viewed quilts at the library in Columbus, took in an exhibit at the Columbus Art Center, went to a thrift store and an antique shop, and then had lunch at Cafe on Main. When we got home Leona set to sewing a quilt she brought along.

Paul's sister, Jeanie accompanied us and she helped Leona sew her quilt together.

I started machine quilting my Jungle Quilt.

And now my goal is to finish it by the end of April.

Leona and I each had 1 yard of "jungle" fabric that we challenged each other to make some sort of crib quilt.

The sunrise on another day.

Last evening in addition to having our children in for supper we invited these MDS couples to join us.

Lynn & Nettie Hiebert

Lloyd & Irene

My nephew Scott Hostetler and a friend, Jesse also joined us.

Orange and a Braid

I’ve finally finished my orange panels for the month of March for

So now I have placed the panels from January and February with them onto my design wall to form a braid.

Birds in the Air

Do you remember how Claire Bleu came and we did some En Plein Air Quilting?

 

 I finished my quilt soon after she left and then soon after had a Quilt Presentation and Trunk Show in Tuscaloosa, AL.

 

 

The ladies there were on a buying spree and before I knew it, I had sold this quilt before I had all the documentation done.

Detail

 

 

Birds in the Air

Size: Approx. 20"X16"
Medium: Mostly cottons
Techniques: Fused and machine quilted
SOLD

Indecision–The Storm Within

Based on Tennessee Williams play “Spring Storm.” Choosing between two is sometimes a hard choice. This or that. Good or bad. Life or death. Blessing or cursing. (Deut. 30:19)  “…choose you this day whom ye will serve … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” –Joshua 24:15

After quilting, the bolt of lighting wanted to buckle and the background didn’t want to lay flat.

So I cut down through the lightning and cut out a portion and …

…added a piece of black to the underside.

Then using a zig-zag stitch I  quilted around the lightning to make it sizzle.

When I was all done, the quilt still wanted to buckle and ripple.

I’m all for blocking a quilt to make it lay flat. Just pour a gallon of water over it to soak the fibers, square it up and blow it dry.

I am delighted that I met the March 23 deadline and …

met my goal for March with

Mother and Me

I so much enjoyed having mother here for 2 weeks.

When she finished her “Blue Ribbon” quilt top …

… I took her outside for a photo shoot.

Back inside, she started on her third quilt. Remember how Emily sorted my scraps by color? I chose the orange drawer and the purple drawer for a crazy quilt.

Mother cut out the foundations and then pieced the blocks like she has been doing for years with velvets.

She took both of these tops home with her hoping to quilt them with her sewing machine.

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Parting Shot