Something old, something new

While I was cleaning I found this little bookmark I made when I was in my early teens. My grandma had taught me how to hand embroider on pillowcases and now I wanted to just do my own thing. I took a piece of grosgrain ribbon and did my sloppy version of satin stitch embroidery, not knowing the correct way to do it. When I finished both sides I placed them back to back and did a whip stitch all around the bookmark. This was probably the first Wanda Original.
I LOVE Hoffman batiks. They are silkier than all of the other brands and I really like the patterns they come up with. Batiks Plus carries only Hoffman brand batiks. They sell 40" yards at a price equal to or lower than most quilt shops (which sell 36" yards).

They also send you free fat quarter gifts with your order. AND I ordered on Tuesday and got my package on Wednesday. I would call that great service.

The week before that I received my package of some new Kaffe Fassett fabrics from "From Here to Quilternity". Her price is the best I have found and these fabrics aren't carried in my local quilt shops.


Now I just need to start cutting and sewing.

Just Playing

I am still totally wiped out from my company and the emotions of seeing them leave. I hadn't seen my brother for 3 years. He is retired now and promises to come back again next year.

I took some triangles and squares that were already cut and laid out the Jacob's Ladder block. This is the one I am going to do next. It has the diagonal row of squares through the block and they are one color going to the right and a different color when it is tipped to the left. The corners form a star when 4 blocks come together.

The alternate piecing would be making star blocks and blocks with the chain of the 2 colors. I haven't decided what fabrics I will use, or even what colors. I just want to continue on with chain quilts like my 2 double 4 patch quilts are.
While looking for the pre-cut triangles and squares I found these already pieced HST blocks. I decided to just plop them up on the design wall. They will come back down today.
To clean off the border pieces of the last quilt from my sewing table , I decided to make a couple crazy log cabin blocks. I pulled a couple strips of orange to work into all the blues and turquoises. The one on the right is for Julie for her Alzheimer's Priority quilts.

I saw a butterfly flying from flower to flower in my back garden. I grabbed my camera and set it for the farthest telephoto setting. Then I sat down and leaned the lens against the kitchen window and waited for the butterfly to spread its wings. You have to be quick because it spreads out only for a second or two and then folds up again.
Here is another shot. Did I ever say how much I love my new camera?
The lower humidity is here so I am out to run errands. I never left home yesterday.

Pieces and Parts box, day 12

You might be happy to hear this is the last pictures from the Pieces and Parts boxes. Or maybe you wish there was more. Isn't it great that we aren't all alike, that we have a variety of interests?

Rachel Kinsey Clark came to our guild about 14 years ago and presented a jacket class where you take a lot of left over blocks with the same flavor and then make filler pieces to work them all together on the jacket. Here are some of the pieces I was working with. I never made the jacket but have kept all of the pieces together.
These pieces were left over from a baby quilt I made for my grandson 18 years ago.
Yesterday I was walking through the living room and saw a flash of red outside the window. I saw a cardinal trying to land on the tomato cage. I ran for my camera and he waited for me to take his picture. This was taken through the micro-mini blinds and a dirty window.
Then he flew over to a bush a couple feet away and faced me. He looks like he just got up and has his hair/feathers all messed up.
We had some pretty fierce storms go through last night with a tornado warning in the northern part of our county. I live in a town that is at the corner of 3 counties so I always have to be listening for all 3. We were in a severe thunderstorm warning and there are several trees down in town, at least one downtown store had windows blown out. My son didn't have electricity south of town so he came in for gas for his generator and told me what he saw as he drove through. I am thankful that we didn't get any hail.

This morning this little bunny hopped through the backyard to eat some of the wet vegetation. I'm sure he was happy for a drink.


One more day of humidity and then we are going to be in a wonderful weather pattern for the rest of the week.

Pieces and Parts box, day 11

My company just left for Michigan to visit my SIL's brother. We had a great time because they are easy company and they feel really comfortable here. With my parents being so elderly, I always wonder if it will be the last time the whole family will be together.

The next pictures are from the really old leftovers box. This one was made in the 1976 time period with fabrics from the 60's and 70's in it. It isn't attractive at all and I keep it because of the older fabrics and a reminder of the revival of quilting.
I found a pattern for pieced zebras and made 2 of them.
I think the pieced scissors pattern might have been in an old Quilter's Newsletter magazine.
I did a lot of bargello in the mid to late 1980's and this was a leftover from a vest I made. The hearts looked interesting so I made 2 blocks to try them out.
When I was out in the garden the other day I took a picture of one of the coral bells that have really dainty white flowers. They were just starting to bloom.
We had a beautiful weather day yesterday, lower humidity and temperatures. We turned off the A/C and opened the windows. This morning there are some storms rumbling through the area. My brother timed their departure between the 2 groups and they will travelling ahead of the second batch. We haven't had any rain yet, just dark at times and some rumbling of thunder.

Pieces and Parts box, day 10

One of Mary Ellen Hopkins books has this heart pattern. I think a Trudy Hughes book from the 1980's had a similar pattern. This was just a sample. This star block has always been a favorite even though it is definitely an 1980's flavor with all of the little calicoes.
I made several all red and white quilts and this is a bunch of leftovers from one of them sewn together.
This is the same block with some more pieces added but I have no desire to finish this one.
My other penstemons are in bloom. I will occasionally see a hummingbird near them.
The heat has broken and we are having a gloriously cool morning with low humidity. The heat dome they predicted hasn't reached us yet. Have a great Sunday everyone.

Pieces and parts day 9

At some point yesterday afternoon or evening something happened to Sitemeter and I couldn't get on its site and then I discovered that I couldn't get onto my blog either. I went to another blog that I knew didn't have sitemeter and got right on. I have so much fun looking at the stats on sitemeter to see all of the countries that my readers come from but I made the decision this morning that I had to remove it so I could use my blog.

Here are some more pieces from that little box in my basement. This one is a Trip Around the World. I made 2 of these changing the color of the center in the other one. It reminds me of pictures I saw one time of a Canadian sunset. The color on the screen of the laptop I am using today is not good. This piece is very coral colored and it is pinky on my screen. I didn't realize that my laptop and desktop are so different. I can date this piece by its fabrics as 1992-3.
Here is a lonely tulip block.
At one time period (1993-4) I was playing with pieced backgrounds to collage on. This one reminds me of night.
I have thought abut adding some lace flowers and calling it midnight garden.
My fernleaf tansy is blooming now. This is a prairie type plant too. A friend gave me a couple plants about 14 years ago. This one really spreads underground and is hard to get rid of if you no longer want it. I have dug it all out of this spot twice and it still comes back.
Yesterday my brother, SIL and I took a ride over to our old stomping grounds and we were able to get into the school building that we attended in the 1950's. They are using it for a pre-school and offices now. We were so thankful they had not torn it down. My dad was on the school board when it was built and his name is on a bronze plaque in the entryway. I didn't have my camera with me so I am going to go back one day next week and take pictures inside.

Pieces and parts day 8

My brother and his wife got here safely late yesterday afternoon. We are getting ready to go out for breakfast so I'll post now. I made these butterfly blocks a couple years ago and haven't decided what to add to them to make them into a quilt. It is still on the back burner. Here is a piece of Seminole patchwork with some lame (without the accent mark over the e).
Here is a cathedral window block, done 100% by machine. It was made to advertise a demo on the procedure.
This is another of my favorite blocks. It was my logo when I had a quilt shop. It goes by many names, Blackford's Beauty and Stepping Stones are too. There are minor variations in the blocks with the different names.
I checked out the garden yesterday and my fall blooming anemones have buds on them.
We got a quick rain shower yesterday and we needed it. Today looks clear so far.