Fresh From the Farm

Resoluting

2012-01-02T10:58:00.002-05:00

So what are your resolutions for 2012? I made a list of semistarted quilt projects to finish in 2012. I have a quilt group that we put $2 inthe "kitty" ( a plastic jar ) for each unfinished object we hope to completeby the following Dec. If the project was unfinished the money stayed in the kitty . We went out to lunch in December and it was hilariousto listen to "hmmm, what project was that ? " Yeah, resolutions can go astray.

Have you made aresolution to get fit in 2012 ? Of course with fitness we can all just order adevice that makes our midsection contract as we walk around , work on the computeretc. I can just imagine cutting out a quilt while this belt makes my abdominals contract.Of course the person on TV was smiling and happy every time she got zapped.

As to other resolutions , I want to explore makingcomplex cloth. That sounds rather lofty , it means drawing ,painting andwadding and dyeing the fabric , hopefully liking the result enough to make somethingout of it. I have a stack of Quilt Magazines in which I havedog eared the techniques I plan to try.

I have a knittingproject that I would like to finish ,before the spring thaw ; fingerlessgloves , sans pattern. My friend ," A" , who has knitted sincebirth, is extracting the "how to" out of her head and explaining to me how to knit the gloves . So far, I have ripped mine out 4 times but I finally made it past the thumb to the pinkie . Iam using sock yarn and I wanted a tight fabric, so I am using a size 2 needle . Istarted with 50 stitches ( about 10 stitches less than I would use for a sock ) and ribbed about 2 inches, switched tojust knitting ( stockinet) and by looking at my hand , I decided to knit a fewrounds before starting a gusset (increases) for my thumb. The gusset is formed byadding a stitch every other round at thebeginning and end of the round , moving the increase over one stitch each time.I did find that putting a stitch marker on the 1st needle helped me remember todo the increase on the last needle , as I would see it as I came around thelast needle and not have to rip back and do the increase. "A'' said thenumber of increases needed was about 1/4 of the total. Note, I said about. I increased 11 times andit looked big enough. Then I used a piece of cotton yarn to place those extrastitches on and continued knitting in the round until I reached the pinkie. The pinkie is set lower down soafter leaving those 10 stitches on a holder , I knitted 4 rounds and will thendivide the remaining stitches for my other digits. I am taking notes so I canmake the other glove exactly the same. ( I hope so anyway, my note taking skills leavesomething to be desired) . I will bepicking up the stitches of each digit and knitting a tiny tube of stockinet, ending with some seed stitch to keep the tubesfrom rolling inward. As you can tell , I needed to challenge myself on theknitting front.

Fav. knitting tools , the red and blue thingy is a project holder and the needles are square, light weight metal by Kollage.

Fingerless glove finished past the thumb.

The same glove with the pinkie stitches on a holder of cotton yarn

Well off to do those exercises that keep me able to knit and quilt , 'cause I don't have an ab. zapper .

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T11:37:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year from the farm! Look out world , we are addinga new species to the farm. Chickens in 2012! The coup was made for my husbandby his employees ( Whitsel Construction Services ) Over the years it has provenvery difficult to surprise the man, but this year we succeeded, although atfirst Curtis thought we had given him something to decorate the top of thebarn. It is now in place on the farm , near my barn/studio so I will be able tokeep an eye on the girls from my room. Might have to arm myself with aslingshot to run off any varmints . Wow, I just learned something from Word , Idon't think I have ever spelled varmints correctly ! Hopefully 2012 will be a more consistant amount of blogging from the farm. My current knitting project is my next subject , I have spent enough time today figuring out the newest Blogger changes. Happily , the changes make it a bit easier to use! Don't expect any hens in the coup until the spring warm up , the learning curve of chickens is steep enough with out adding frozen water to the mix.

Surprise !

Coup in place on the farm

Lucy likes it !

Belle thinks it's for her !

Merry Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T12:56:00.001-05:00

This is my Christmas stocking from my childhood, I found it in the decorated cheese hoop box , which was made by my mother in law. Life is very different this Christmas , we lost both of my in laws this year and my mom moved away to my sister's house. My mom made stockings for each of her 4 children , I don't know if any of the others have survived the decades , but mine is in amazingly good shape for something 50 years old. My mother in law made dozens of these cheese hoop boxes . I had to force her to take $20(each) for some that she made for me to give as gifts. I have 2 , one that is out all the time and this one that only comes out in December.

Merry Christmas Eve from the farm!

The cows are getting their 1st hay rolls of the season so they are celebrating . That means they are out there mooing their heads off at the man on the tractor.

Long time no post

2011-12-05T16:41:00.000-05:00

In case you haven't noticed I am not a very dedicated blogger. In this age of "it's so 47 seconds ago " I am still on dial up. Not by choice , nothing else works here.

These quilts are some I have been working on this past month for other quilters.

Enjoy !

Farm Products

2011-10-08T15:08:00.000-04:00

We have fall babies this year for the first time ever. In the past few years we have just rented a bull from neighbors but last Thanksgiving we got a full time bull. I didn't take a picture of him but as you can see he got right down to business and Sept. 3rd babies started coming like clockwork. We have 23 on the ground as of today, and hopefully at least one more . Hopefully blogger and my dial up Internet will let me post some of the quilts I have been working on in between trips to check cows.

Happy Fall !

Finished Objects !

2011-07-06T08:23:00.000-04:00

Finishing the quilting on any project is bittersweet. Yes , it's done with a sigh of relief but there is tiny little flicker of regret as you take that last stitch. These great quilts belong to Laurie. This 1st is one of the 1st quilts she made ( brave girl) so it has a special place in her heart . I had a lot of fun quilting this one and a few heart stopping moments ( quilts with white fabric scare me )

This is a free motion flower. I marked the center and made my "flames " into each of the 4 corners then one in between each of those.

In the black and white sashings it was fun to doodle leaves and loops and little flowers.

My spiral is limited by the size of my machine so in each corner of the spiral there is a leaf to fill in the space.

The border has 2 designs , the black and white echos the sashing quilting and the outer border are my feathers following the Sally Terry method.

This quilt is much brighter , as you can see from the detail picture below. It is a bow tie quilt , don't the bow ties just dance across the quilt ?

I am working on a class sample of a 3-d type block that can be set as a bow tie quilt . Inspiration struck as I was making the sample blocks and looking at this quilt on the design wall.

Use your imagination ! Can you see future blocks made with identical fabric in 2 corners to make 3-D Bowties ?

Happy July , y'all !

life on the farm is as easy as 324

2011-06-08T10:31:00.000-04:00

hey , sometimes you just have to do something for yourself so here is mine for today. My quilt art calendar has taken a beating , and unlike a timex watch, it was not going to keep on ticking. The significance of the 324 is the address where I grew up in Bluefield WVA. As to life on the farm ? it is not laid back, thanks so much John Denver, but it is more pleasant know that that cow is gone. I made my horses some cream for their cuts and booboos. Lanolin , bees wax, vitamin e oil, bees wax and glycerin. Heat it up in a small crockpot and pour it out and whip it as it cools. Happy Horse Cream.

Last day of school

2011-06-04T13:06:00.000-04:00

the last day of school was apon me and all I really intended to make my dd and her friends was fabric pens. But no. I covered the back of a cute little notebook with fabric and covered the ink thingy with the same fabric. I dyed all that fabric at some point in my life. Good I got a picture , or I would forget I did them.

Happy Summer !

Lauren Pineo Donation Quilt

2011-04-14T11:06:00.006-04:00

70x90

Made by Crooked Pine Quilts

Lauren is a classmate of my daughter's who has been battling a mysterious illness for 2 years. Lauren has kept up her A average and an amazing array of activities despite dizzy spells that have increasingly brought about fainting . No broken bones but no firm diagnoses either. Tickets are not available until after April 15th.

ok Carry on.........

Joseph's Bug Quilt

2011-03-08T07:45:00.003-05:00

I made this quilt last week and gave it to my friend's son who has been sick since December. It is hard to see the details in the whole quilt picture , so I included a close up. What could be better than a bug quilt when you have a bug ? When my friend called to say that her son was under the quilt with a happy face it made my day.

more sale items

2011-02-18T09:39:00.003-05:00

Here are a few more things I have for sale at the quilt show. Christmas Wreath wallhanging

Trinagles Table runner

Handmade soap

mini pincushions

Log Cabin pins

These are knitted and felted then machine quilted and hand beaded.

For sale

2011-02-16T15:36:00.002-05:00

Every ther year my Athens quilt guild has a quilt show the first weekend in March. Along with all the amazing quilts we have a boutique of hand made items that we sell. These are some of my sale items. These are folded handdyed fabric ornamnets.
Pin cushions made from wool yarn.

Log Cabin table runner

Coasters and postcards

Small wallhanging.

More later.............

Happy Valentines Day !

2011-02-14T09:29:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentines Day to all! These are the cookie that my daughter and I made for her to give as gifts.

YUM!

can January be over now ?

2011-01-28T10:13:00.001-05:00

JAnuary is one of those months that seems to last forever. Having a whole week of icey snow didn't help. These are 3 quilts I quilted for people in December. There were 2 more but I didn't take any pictures . I am sewing some charity quilts now. I want to sew a Christmas tree skirt like the one I quilted above. My friend JC gave me lots of fabric to make one bigger than the one pictured here. How great was that ? She even delivered the fabric.

All I can say is where is February ?

Dimensions:

2010-11-07T08:15:00.003-05:00

When I was in art class in 7th and 8th class I learned how to draw in perspective . Woopy do. That woman almost throttled my artistic abilities for life. Seriously , making crepe paper twistys stuck on with paste in 1st grade was more creative . God bless Mrs. Melcher.
These days I am into 3-d quilting . I have always liked trapunto . That's where your quilt is stuffed with an extra layer of batting. Now I am drawn to adding dimension with extra layers of fabric folded to create curves.
The photo of gold and maroon is a placemat from a pattern called Desert Rose. http://www.southwindquilts.com/ Annette is a talented quilter and her patterns are great. I am teaching the Peeled back patch work technique at Dragonfly quilt shop on Nov. 16th. The Dresden plate block is from a magazine. After seeing the pattern again( I pulled it out of my magazine to make one day ) in a borrowed magazine I knew I had to make it .
Each section of the plate has a folded triangle sewn into it and then opened up in-between. I am making 5 as my table is round a table runner isn't enough.

At home on the farm ............

Inspired

2010-11-01T07:16:00.003-04:00

Hello all

There are more quilting books out there than you can shake a stick at. every once in a while I just can't help myself , I buy one. I would rather spend my money on paintsticks and fabric dye than on a book so if I buy one and use the expression " it makes my teeth sweat" then sit up and listen. The fact that I am enjoying geometry is enough to make the world spin backwards.

Jenny Raymont is a funny lady . Her book, Tucks and Textures Two is a manual not a pattern book. I saw a quilt at Cold Sassy Quilt Guild made by Ann, the Circle Square Quilter . http://circlesquarelongarmquilting.blogspot.com/2009/11/some-recent-projects.html

Once I got the book I realized I would have to study and practice the techniques in this book. . Being a rather practical person I had to have a purpose to my practicing . So far I have made the easier of the shapes and started putting together a bolster pillow , that is the flat blue object in the photos.

Have a great day!

Finished Object

2010-08-01T12:55:00.006-04:00

Here is the quilt for the museum all finished except sewing the binding. The pattern is from the book "Your Turn to Churn" by Patti Eaton.

There was enough of a picture of the quilt on the front of the book to see the quilting. It was a fun quilt to quilt.
I made a bunch of coasters with the left overs . This is a tutorial of sorts , I need to make a tutorial showing the ones I make with triangles .

and sew on....

Happy 4th of July Quilt

2010-07-13T14:06:00.000-04:00

Hall County Quilt Guild does a fun gift exchange every year. Members bring their favorite 3 fat quarters in a brown bag. At Christmas we will each get something wonderful made from our favorite fabrics.

I recieved the red stars , blue bears and the heart on cream fabric. This quilt was in some The Quilter magazine this summer and was perfect for these fabrics.

I used my machine to embroider my label. Its all done , sleeve and label !

It's hot outside so why not go sew.

More....

2010-06-22T12:05:00.000-04:00

This is a quilt pattern from Southwind Quilts. Its a very clever method for achieving curves with out the burden of sewing a curved seam. Folded fabric is sandwiched inbetween 2 pieces of fabric then pulled back to create a curve. This will hopefully entice folks to a class in the fall. I want to play with some traditional quilt blocks and see what this technique does for them.

Keep cool!

Long time no Blog

2010-06-20T17:07:00.000-04:00

Look Ma , no blog (for quite some time.) I am happy to report that the farm now has 20 healthy baby calves and the rain has continued so there is lots of grass to feed the mama's. This is a picture of my Blue Challenge for the quilt guild. I took a class with Eve Agee http://www.evelynagee.com/ and just had to practice what I learned. Thread painting is the reason I bought a top sewing machine years ago. I am not into embroidery machines where all you do is thread it up and push a button. With this technique the sky is the limit.

While I was snapping pics I snapped this shot of the watermelon slices I made a few years ago. They are the same size its just trick photography. On the agenda for July is Soy Wax batik so check back soon in later this summer for some results.

Twins

2010-04-11T16:45:00.000-04:00

Calving season started early this year with twin girls born to Mrs Licker. her previous prodgeny have been called Lolly Pop , Cherry Pop, and Tootsie Pop. As these girls required a call to the Vet. they rate special names. The Vet. asked me if Mrs Licker was a rowdy cow or would I be able to give her calcium if needed.

Here is Rowdy

Her sister is Grace as she is Sunday's child. So far Rowdy has figured out the teat situation but Grace is smarter and drinks from the handy bottle. Pray for them, they are at least 2 weeks premature and it was crowded in the womb so their legs are a bit off. Hopefully time will sort that out , else they may need braces for their legs .

I need to sew today as riding the horse this morning didn't work out.

Wish me luck on that.

Later...

One Step Closer

2010-03-19T10:01:00.000-04:00

Dharma came thru with a great Tjap , a tool used to make Batiks. So I am one step closer to making my own batiks with soy wax. Note, the retayne product in the back ground. That is good for washing any quilt to remove excess dye. I wash my hand dyes 3-4 times , but they still have residue. I have a couple of quilts I need to wash to get rid of the excess dye. I have used Synthapol , the concentratred soap I use on my fabric but the Retayn will make the dye stay in place instead of just removing the excess dye.

Now if I can just go to my room and work with out any animals needing rescued , fed , doctored, or hugged this will be a good day.

What's in my wallet

2010-03-15T06:15:00.000-04:00

Not a lot of dough but it's purty and color co-ordinated.

I made this purse from one of my daughter's old purses , and some upholstery fabric I bought when I was re-upholstering a chair.

The colorful purse isn't squished its an optical allusion. So sit up straight and wear vertical stripes and you will look thinner too!

The wallet pattern is by Karen Comstock , I modified the 1st one to suit my fabric choice. My "Too Bee" Bud Patty sent the "Too Bee" a box of cool fabric from G-Street fabrics , when she moved away to DC and became a out of state member. We each made a section with the fabric using a Kaffe Fassett's book for inspiration. I turned my section into my wallet , but I didn't want to cover the fabric up on the back of the wallet with another fabric so I made a change purse and sewed it in the center of that wallet.

The "Too Bee or Not to Bee " bees together now for 11 years cause we want to always bee .

And Sew on............

And Sew on ................

Mystery Quilt Revealed

2010-03-03T18:53:00.000-05:00

This is my Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt. Bonnie came to Hall County Quilt Guild in October ( I think) This is her newest Mystery and was published in Quiltmaker magazine in installments. I set mine with aqua triangles and used a black border so mine doens't look like Christmas. Bonnie's quilt is called Chistmas Lights and was quilted all over with a motif that looked like the lights for a Christmas tree.

It was fun, I have never been brave enough to try a Mystery Quilt. In such a quilt project you are at the mercy of the designers description of the fabric choices as well as the instructions for assembling the blocks. Since I did meet Bonnie before embarking on this voyage , I felt some what assured I would end up with a quilt I liked. However, mid way through as I looked at those 2 very different quilt blocks I was really not sure at all. I am amazed at how great they look together in this quilt. This put a serious dent in my already meager stash and I only have one more UFO . This is all part of my master plan to start working my way the Quilting Arts Magazines with Kathy Jo. The other plan is to sew up patterns I have on hand . Tune in next time for pictures of my funky purse made with mesh screening.

Try Triangles Purse

2010-03-02T14:09:00.000-05:00

This is a purse I made using mitered triangles. I am offering it for a class at my LYS , Main Street Yarns http://store.mainstreetyarns.com/stores. I used 2 different wool yarns and then felted it . I was very please with the results.

Yesterday was my Hall County Quuilt Guild and I meant to get a picture of my Bonnie Hunterhttp://www.quiltville.com/ mystery quilt but the meeting was such a riot I never got to it. I still have ends to work in so after I do that I will get a picture on here.

May the rain and snow please go .

I am ready for spring

Long Time no Post

2010-03-01T07:06:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of one reason February held no posts. I have proof of some hand crafts that occurred duing the short wee month but they will come later.

All I can say is

Happy March !!

Felted Clogs

2010-01-29T18:13:00.000-05:00

Here are the "before and after" of the felted clogs. They are so cute and of course DD wants a pair. Its the Fiber Trends Felted Clog Pattern , other wise know as the teach the knitter to swear pattern. The results are worth it and luckily its a small project. Once they are almost dry I will wear them and let them form to my feet.

Its supposed to rain then snow here , I lined up with the rest of greater Hull ( that's where the Ingles is located) and bought food this afternoon. I didn't have any bread or milk as well as a few other items. I hope the snow stays away so I can go to the Dragonfly quilt shop's sale tomorrow.

Web Page Operational

2010-01-28T13:16:00.001-05:00

http://crookedpinequilts.com/

Need I say more?
off to ride after a morning of computer work

New Years Resolutions

2010-01-23T07:56:00.000-05:00

You know how we are supposed to have resolutions? Well who says they have to be lofty? This quilt has been done for months but I was supposed to give Scarlett the fabric amounts and layout so she can make my quilt into a pattern. I blame the delay on a computer crash and Christmas.....

I heard of a couple who adopted 2 little brothers and challenged Kathy Jo to make one of the boys a quilt. ( The couple is friends with her DD) She made 2 tops before I got mine done. Her's is next on the quilt frame. This fabric came from Joann's and features 3 Blind Mice.

Its been a very different week of weather . 60's and sunny after 17 is quite a dicotomy. I got to ride 2 times this week. Thankfully I only got an inch of rain this week but more is coming.

More resoultions have been marked off the list. New quilting brouchures ( all due to the new computer ) are in the works. I hate figuring out new programs. Then figuring out in mid print for DD that the new printer ink I bought was the wrong one. The best new year resolution is getting my house clean. Hopefully next week I will get the cleaning crew in to clean. They will come twice a month , so its an on going resolution.

Next ? TAXES

Cold Saturday

2010-01-02T12:56:00.000-05:00

Here is my newest Log Cabin Table Runner. I hope to teach my method again at Dragonfly quilt shop in the spring. I cut my log cabin strips different from most.

This is another colorway of the Logcabin table runner.

It's a really cold day down south. I guess I should be glad its just cold. The tree is down and I have as clean a house as its going to get. Now I hope to load my new quilt on the machine and get some quilting done today.

Happy New Year!

Pictures are worth 1000 words

2009-12-31T12:29:00.000-05:00

This quilt is my January quilt , I made it with sparkly firework fabric. Thje fabric below was to be for the backing but its too red so I dyed some more that is going to be ready tomorrow.

While I am waiting for the fabric to get washed ( 4 times to get the excess dye out) I am working on this ( no longer ) mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter. 11 down and 9 to go then on to the star blocks.

Later..............

2009-12-31T12:12:00.001-05:00

I am laughing this morning at Judy's blog title " Yikes ". Judy stepped into a mess by posting about cutting up an old quilt. Judy, I guess you didn't know that the only other thing you can get that many responses from would be a discussion about copyright law on the back of your favorite pattern. Just to get it started my particular favorite is when a pattern states that not only may I not make copies and pass them out to my friends I also may not sell anything made from said pattern. Oh , don't get me started. But cutting up an old quilt can rile the lurkers for sure. Even if it has burn holes and chunks missing. Have fun with it !

As to me I am going to post my pictures on day 2 of Jan 31st as I have none to share. I am dyeing baking for a new quilt and am sewing blocks for my Bonnie Hunter no longer a mystery quilt. ( the issue with the reveal came out already. So once I get down to my room I will post pictures.
Its raining again and so the horses will not get new shoes. We have ridden twice this week but yesterday was cold and overcast. It's amazing what a difference there is between 45 with and without sun.
I am off to feed horses and maybe take a picture or 3 in my room.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T10:29:00.000-05:00

Here is the 09 tree. Smaller and easier to decorate. DD put out the decorations this year.
This is my favorite ornament.

Here are Lulu and Ben viewing the tree.

This is the table quilt

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

Spiral Bee Bags

2009-12-13T18:36:00.000-05:00

I made bags for all my Too Bee , here is a close up of the spiral message. the words were done on this web page. Here are some of us who braved the weather to get together on this cold and rainy Sunday.
We bee very cute !

Cotton Patch Holiday Meeting

2009-12-09T09:06:00.000-05:00

This year as Social Chair I chose to mix things up a bit . I had the members draw numbers for table and decorating jobs at each table. After all was said and done the evening was a success. Each table was filled with lovely decorations and party favors .

The talented artist and Lyndon House employee Nancy had the task of judging the best table. She chose the table above as best because of all their handmade items. Below are the origami bags , filled with prizes, that each member of the winning table recieved. Everyone who attended recieved a fabric pen .
Now on to those 10 bags I am making for my quilt bee.
Merry Christmas!

quilting ala knitting

2009-12-06T18:54:00.000-05:00

Here is a knitted quilt made for Cindy's baby shower. Kathy Jo's 4th grandbaby is due in January . I knew I had it right when a friend saw the banket and commented that I was now knitting my quilts. Cindy is a quilter so mitered squares are perfect for her. This is Kathy Jo with number 3 grand "Olivia " , who at 2 months is a good sleeper and very snuggly.

Later..............

To Bee or Not to Bee

2009-11-29T07:17:00.000-05:00

How to describe the bee? Beeing has become a verb to us. How many different ways can we use the word bee? We have been beeing since '99 or so. We met at the Athens Mothers Center and were drawn together by knitting then quilting. We knit , we quilt , we sew you get the drift. One of our founding members moved to DC and can't Bee with us so we mailed her a care package. The little quilted bag is from me. Kathy included the Graduation Bee. Kris put in a notepad of paper made from poo. Cricket put in a wooden bird ornament. Victoria contributed a dishcloth.
Here is Cricket and Karin , can you tell Cricket isn't happy to be photographed? This is her cool cabin where we get to Bee in when her parents aren't visiting.

we are 12 in number and plan to bee forever.

Just spellchecked and the only words mispelled are BEE words.

Bee there aloha.....

Irish Chain

2009-11-23T09:16:00.000-05:00

This is a quilt I quilted for Shelia. She is new to quilting and did a good job on this Irish Chain. I quilted a shamrock in the white squares and stippled the rest. Once the red binding is sewn on it will look great.
My Too Bee ( or not to bee) met yesterday and I will have pictures from Crickets Cabin soon. We determined that we have been beeing officially since '98 or '99 depending on how we look at it. We all met at Athens Mother Center.
The plan is to survive motherhood , hot flashes , grandchildren and old age together. We are 12 years into it and have members who have moved away but still stay in touch and one who commutes from Gainesville.
So there..............

Buds from the Past

2009-11-22T07:21:00.000-05:00

This beautiful quilt is a memory quilt made by Cathy Rowan. This quilt is for her sister who lost her son several years ago. Cathy used to come to Cotton Patch guild , we would see her and her exquisitely hand quilted quilts at the show every 2 years. I was so happy to hear from her and found out she works in downtown Athens now so I plan to get her back to the guild meetings. She is such a hoot. I met her at Dragonfly Quilt Shop last Thursday , where she offered to stay and heckle me as I taught a quilt class.

I have several more posts to come . I have lots of quilts to get quilted. I also am Social Chair at the guild and we are decorating the tables for prizes this year. Guess who is making the prizes? Almost done with them and I have a huge bite out of my Christmas list too. There was a Artists Market in Danielsville last week and I got gifts for a lot of people. I like buying things other artists have made.
The cows are getting another bath today. They have been so sparky lately. I was walking fence yesterday , trying to figure out how one ended up in my in laws driveway. The whole herd ( 31 ) followed me , imagine 31 1000 pound animals galloping and bucking around the pasture. We also have been invaded by 3 new horses over across the creek and that is freaking my horses out. The good news is with the new fence on the other side of the creek my cows won't be able to get out as easily.
Later................

Cold Sassy Quilt Class

2009-11-13T06:32:00.000-05:00

I taught my Knotwork 9 Patch Celtic Table Runner ( pattern by Scarlett Rose ) to the Cold Sassy Quilt Guild last Saturday. I was their guest speaker in October and came back to teach these fun girls Celtic. I had 2 more class members who audited the class. Once I get all my computer issues put to bed I plan to take photos of how to apply the Celtic bias to the curved pieces so the gals have a reference for theirs.
My new computer is nice and yes I have windows 7. I haven't figured out yet how to snap two windows up at the same time like they do on TV. I have been too busy carrying the tower back to Best Buy as I can't download any large file due to my DIAL UP Modem. Chris at Best Buy was appalled that I can't get any other kind of service, he said 3rd world countries have more options than this poor farmer in Ila.
Gotta run the kid to school. I am hanging spme of my Christmas quilts at my library today. Pictures soon.

Harvest Quilt

2009-10-30T06:46:00.000-04:00

This is Kathy Jo's latest creation. Each of her dd's and ddil gets a new quilt this year 'cause they all are having babies. Yes , by January Kathy will have 4 grand babies. K has been practicing on my dd for 14 years, and kept saying that might be all she ever would have , other people kids to dote on. Well her kids really showed her. This beautiful quilt is all from her stash and I had fun quilting freehand leaves all over the top.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween

2009-10-28T12:25:00.000-04:00

Halloween is for the dogs. This is in the mail to my niece for Halloween. She has a cute new puppy , named Henry.

I have a new quilt to put on here when I get back next time.....

Fair Pay

2009-10-16T06:10:00.000-04:00

My pay for my ribbon at the fair. Mom got $10 for her two 1st places. LOL Now that I know there is payment involved maybe next time I will put in 9 quilts.
These are both sides pipe that the creek runs under on my driveway. The water had run over the top of the driveway but I wasn't available for that shot.
This creek , really its a branch but then that gets confusing , is normally mild little stream.

I have some quilt pictures to post , I had photo down time as the printer died this week and that's the easiest way to transfer pics. Then there was the 2 hours I spent on the phone getting the new printer online. I was determined not to return it just because they got so cute with the descriptions on the CD I couldn't figure out which button to push to put the software on the computer.

Later....

Fair Fair Fair

2009-10-04T18:14:00.000-04:00

On Sat we all went to the Madison County Fair. My mom took 2 blue ribbons for her knitting and I got a red for a quilt. I have never entered anything before and just did so because the Senior Center lady picked mine up at the same time as she got mom's ,so like no effort involved. Unfortunately I couldn't see the blue ribbon winner as the display is behind a fence and they frown if you lean on it much less go over it to examine the competition.

Fun for all at the fair !

quilting job

2009-09-27T08:08:00.000-04:00

Here is the latest quilt top that I quilted for hire. This is Lorrie's quilt and I love the black fabric she used. I quilted it with Deb's Swirls.
Lorrie has another top that she had me estimate. Its a custom job , 2 thread changes and multiple designs. I have my Celtic 4 patch on the frame now and am so happy with it. I am quilting a design in the center of the 4 patches and free form feathers in the Celtic patches.
More rain yesterday meant no horse lesson and no visit to the little local festival. I quilted and we watched Ghost Whisperer , recorded from Friday night. I watched a movie called Sliding Doors , a strange Gwenneth Paltro flick. The scenario is that the girlfriend comes home to find her boyfriend in bed with his old flame but with a 2ND plot of what would have happened if she hadn't caught the 1st train and didn't get home in time to catch him.
So today is much cooler and hopefully we can get in a ride this afternoon.
Its supposed to be fall like next week , I hope so I am tired of sweating it up just saddling the horse.
Later....

Lots going on in the quilt room

2009-09-15T06:52:00.000-04:00

This is Kathy Jo's newest creation that I am in process of quilting .

This is the 1st Build a Better Log cabin. I donated it to Habitat for Humanity. That was the last time I did that as the auctioneer started the bidding at $25.

I have several projects in process and nothing close to done . This is a Build a Better Log Cabin class project. I have to make a house block for the center. This is Celtic Quilt made like the table runner , the oval sections are appliques on with bias along the edge. And just like the table runner I cut out fabric from behind the ovals and can make something with those as well. I saw the quilt in Quiltmaker this summer and tried it with celtic instead of piecing it.

http://www.quiltmaker.com/issues/July_August_2009

This is what I am doing with what I cut out from behind the oval sections from the table runner. This will stop here , and not be the never ending project.

Many events on the horizen. I have a class with Ruth Powers on Saturday. http://www.ruthpowersartquilts.com/

I also hope to visit Gwinnett Guild next week and hear Linda McCuen , look here for a small snippet of Linda award winning quilt Bella.

http://www.gwinnettquiltersguild.org/

so I am keeping busy as you can see....

Soy Batiking at Judyinthedyes

2009-09-08T09:53:00.000-04:00

Last week I journeyed to Gainesville to Judy's place to try Soy Batiking. All I can say is I am hooked. I need to start finding the supplies , like an electric skillet to melt the wax and creative things to dip in the wax to stamp on my fabric. This is a Tjap and is dipped in the wax and stamped on the fabric.

Me stamping , head must be at weird angle just for photographing purposes.

Applying the thickened dye to the pieces was like finger painting as a child. Nice and goopy.

My finished pieces were a lot lighter than I would have liked and the green disappeared from the turtle piece. But all in all I love them.

Fun fun fun

Yarn classes

2009-08-22T17:49:00.000-04:00

Today I taught this hat class http://slumberland.org/wp/2006/11/29/pattern-madison-hat-easy-fair-isle-hat-bulky-yarn/ at Main Street Yarns http://store.mainstreetyarns.com/store/in Watkinsville. It's a class called Faux Farisle. Faux because instead of changing colors of yarn , a long color repeat yarn ( Noro Chunky) give you the changes in color. I have a baby sweater started using a more obviously colored yarn and will post pics in progress. This is my entrelac class coming up in September. Entrelac gives you a fabric that appears woven. http://knittyotter.typepad.com/otterknits/2007/03/entrelac_scarf_.html

Tomorrow is my quilt bee at Sharon's. I am planning to make Pesto Pasta.

YUM

Knotwork 9 Patch

2009-08-14T07:02:00.000-04:00

This is a pattern by Scarlett Rose that combines patchwork with Celtic Knotwork. This is a detail of the quilting I did using Sally Terry's hooked on feathers technique.
I made a feather in each of the oval patches and did butterflys in the 9 patches.

Now I am working on a broken star quilt using Quiltsmart.

C Ya

Amanda

Sunbonnet Sue Linda Cantrell

2009-08-09T07:51:00.001-04:00

This 1st image I saw in person a few years back and it depicts Sun Bonnet Sue living in a airstream trailer and hitting bottom in life. It was the most I have ever laughed at a guild meeting. I was delighted to see that Linda has been busy creating Sunbonnet Sue in the movies. Both my dd and dn were fascinated. This is the whole quilt and few of the individual shots to follow.

That's all for the quilts at the show. When I get home I will post some of the interesting purchases I made both at the quilt show and at the local farmers market. Today we hope to hit a Honey festival in black mountain. We also went to the Biltmore House and a wonderful yarn store at the Biltmore Village shops.
Later....

Hall County Quilt

2009-08-09T07:41:00.000-04:00

Just to mix it up a bit here is Hall County's quilt designed for us by Deb of the quilt Mavens. I made 3 of the center sections , its all paper pieced. More Asheville quilt show. This piece had geode slices glued to it.

Asheville Quilt SHow

2009-08-09T07:18:00.000-04:00

This quilt won best of show and it was incredible. I asked a guild member and was told the feathers were handstitched. This was one of 2 quilts in the show with Celtic work.

This face was handpainted and the circles along the edge were very unusual.

This is one of 2 quilts by Ruth Powers who is coming to both Hall County and Cotton Patch in September. http://www.ruthpowersartquilts.com/

This quilt also has Celtic details

This is Fay Rawls quilt from a class at HallCounty by the Quilt Maven

http://www.quiltmavens.com/

More Asheville Quilts

2009-08-08T16:43:00.000-04:00

Ashville Quilt SHow

2009-08-08T08:27:00.000-04:00

The first few quilts are the coolest trapunto quilt.

This is the trapunto quilt with DD in the photo.

Cool applique quilt

I love this setting for marinaers compass blocks.

Cats in a snail trail knot.

This was in the guild shop and was for sale for $500 , it was so cool we had to have a picture.

More Brenda

2009-08-08T07:33:00.000-04:00

Here are more of Brenda's quilts but go to Quiltville.com and see more. You can't get a better web page , it is full of great quilts and great directions to make those quilts.

One of the best tips Brenda offered was using pieces from some UFO ( unfinished object , who you ??) as you leaders and finishers. Now if you like me I didn't know those little scraps of fabric I am supposed to stick under the needle as I am done sewing a block even had a name. They are already saving you thread but now they are also finishing a 2nd quilt ofr you. Even if you don't have a UFO ( yes me ) you can sew squares togther and create a scrap quilt from all your quilts. How cool is that.

Later...........

More Brenda

2009-08-08T07:16:00.000-04:00

Here are some more of the quilts from Brenda . Most all these quilt patterns are available on her web page. SHe has also been in several Quilt Maker MAgazines. The July August Quiltmaker has the beginning of her newest Mystery Quilt. Not sure why blogger likes my words underlined but. I can't make it stop.

More to come as I have Asheville Quilt show pictures too.

Log Cabin Table Runner

2009-08-06T16:53:00.000-04:00

Here is my log cabin table runner. It's for the Hall County Quilt Guild gift exchange. Ya trade favorite fat quarters and get them back as a fabulous gift at Christmas. I needed to try out this setting as a new class project so I am ahead of the game. This is a detail picture of my feathers from the Hooked on Feather book by Sally Terry. Fantastic way to make feathers.
More images from Hall County 's meeting to follow.....

Bonnie Hunter

2009-08-03T19:59:00.000-04:00

This is Bonnie Hunter who was the speaker at Hall County Quilt Guild today.

http://quiltville.com/ She was wonderful and I will try and get some of the pictures up in the nexr few days but blogger didn't like what I named them so I had to give up. Check out the web page , there are tons of free patterns . Cya

Falling Leaves

2009-07-31T14:29:00.000-04:00

Here is Judy's beautiful quilt , its made from one fabric . I got a wonderful pantograph for it and practiced it on 2 charity quilts . Its hard to see the leaves in the panto but they just float across the quilt.

This quilt is a small version of Scarlett Rose's Knotwork 9 Patch pattern. I am ready to sew down the bias then do the quilting.

Hopefully I will get some of the quilting done tomorrow.

Later ...

I have been busy

2009-07-16T20:09:00.000-04:00

Remember I was told that June was clean your sewing room month. And I sometimes do as I am told. My room is now so organized its almost sickening. Here is one of my sewing areas. Here is my small White Sewing machine set up on the cutting /dye table. It is the one I drag to workshops unless its a machine quilting workshop.
This is the main chair and the Viking. I am working on several projects at once of course. Thats the only way to get anything done.

This is one of the current projects. I got fat quarters in an exchange at the Hall County meeting on the 5th of July. They are now in this log cabin table runner top awaiting quilting. I needed to practise my log cabin class that I would like to teach sometime in the fall. Its a very different way of cutting a log cabin and I have to do a lot of practice table runners to be able to write up the class. Funny thing about this quilt. DD told me I confuse her calling it a log cabin table runner she said " I don't see any Log Cabin in that quilt , mama." It is hard to see in my picture but the border print is a wonderful Jiney Beyer print.

More of my clean room and other projects tomorrow or ....

Very Cool Quilt

2009-07-08T19:56:00.000-04:00

This quilt was made by L. and it is a quilt for a friend with cancer. There are lots of spaces for more friends to sign their words of encouragment .

I quilted it by sewing in an arc and it looked like apple core from the back. No picture of the back. Sigh..

Lots of new projects and quilt classes on the horizon, both ones I will teach and ones I will be a participant.

More soon.

Knitted Quilitng

2009-06-29T05:29:00.000-04:00

Great Monday morning !

I was very happy with my class at Main Street Yarns and Fibers. I had 5 fun students and they all made the center Equilateral Triangle and one of the side triangles. I knitted the sample below , and I was amazed as I took its picture that I had created a Flying Geese block. This is my Paper Piecing 101 Class. I will be teaching at the Dragon Fly Quilt Shop October 17Th. It's "my own pattern' as in me and Electric Quilt.
This class I am teaching Sept. 17Th and 24Th at Dragon Fly . It is a 2 day class with time in between to get some of the work done.
This was the original quilt I made from Billie Lauder's quilt pattern. I donated this quilt to the Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter.

More new quilt classes coming for fall including a drunkards path quilt and a Celtic quilt pattern by Scarlett Rose.

Have a great day.

Quilting a la Knitting

2009-06-22T06:31:00.000-04:00

Hello and here is the class I will to be teaching Saturday the 27Th at Main Street Yarns in Watkinsville. In the class a coaster will be made , teaching the Mitered Triangle with fill in triangles around it to make a square. All of the mitered knitting units have their counterparts in quilting. Mitered squares look like log cabin blocks and mitered triangles look like string pieced triangles. I have a ( tiny ) quilt to post but blogger was rude and turned it sideways so I will try again later.

Have a great day
Amanda

Together one day and not the next

2009-06-07T08:21:00.000-04:00

A meeting of the minds ? No , that's Little Bit on the right telling Ms. Julie that she is the queen and Julie is the lady in waiting .

I was able to get all 3 horses to all get along in the pasture but the success went to my head. Here they are all together and getting along. Then the next day Sugar kicked Little Bit and we are back to separating them. Julie, the new horse continues to get used to our world. She has shoes for the 1st time in her life. A nice tasteful 1/2" heel in sensible steel grey. She was a little down in the heel , hence the heel.

Hopefully there will be a post later today or tomorrow containing a small new quilt. Tune in later.......................................

A quote and a picture

2009-06-05T07:42:00.000-04:00

Here is Julie at home ! This am I am going to let all 3 the girls out to play in the pasture !
Because I have work to care about, it is possible that I may be less difficult to get along with than other women when the double chins start to form. Gloria Steinem

That one made me choke on my cereal

This is the one I went looking for

We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters. Gloria Steinem

Julie is not the only thing keeping me away from blogger. I am going to teach 3 classes this summer at Main Street Yarns and Fibers in Watkinsville. In June I am teaching Mitered Triangles June 27Th , Entrelac on July 18Th and Faux Farisle Hat on August 22ND.

Later dude.

Its a Girl!

2009-05-31T06:03:00.000-04:00

And her name is July. I don't know why there is a line under my words but I am ignoring it. It's a blogger issue. July is a registered Quarter horse. This means she came with papers. She has been with the same family for all but 4 months of her 7 years.
I have been looking for a horse for me ever since we brought home Sugar for my DD. Imagine sharing a horse with your daughter. My oldster is 25 and still going strong , just ask July. So far Little Bit threatens July with bodily harm every time they touch noses over a fence. Then I threaten Little Bit. with some harm and she has been knowing me for 20 years so.....
Took a quiz on Blogger and my animal totem is the Bear:

You enjoy life and are generally in an even tempered mood. As you go from day to day people know they can depend on you for your strength of character. You are not one of those that can easily uproot yourself. You like your territory, and enjoy sharing it with others who mean no harm. All together you are a very kind person. However, there is a flip side to this personality. It is the one that hides until someone or something enters upon the situation with obvious destructive or dangerous intentions. When this happens, your temper is not to be reckoned with. So protective are you over others who you have accepted into your life, you will fight for them and God help the one who dared to try and harm your loved ones. The bear is here to remind you that not every situation calls for a violent response. Sometimes you can get the honey without having to knock the tree down.

That is so apt it would be scary if I wasn't a bear. Just be sure and call me Mrs Bear thank you very much.
A

Giant Marshmallows Land on Local Farm

2009-05-23T05:30:00.000-04:00

These are actually hay in giant glad bags. It is called Hayledge and it like siledge only with hay. We don't bale our hay like this but our big time farmer neighbors do, it saves time to bale this way as the hay doesn't have to be dry to bale it. They look so cool out in the pastures. Imagine the Jolly Green giant saying HO HO HO.

Great Saturday AM one and all. At least I am going to not miss Quilting Arts TV this Am. Its on in 30 minutes. Yes it comes on at 6 AM. Ah well.

Here are some of great words of advice from my long arm list:

"Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part." :)

Maxine: "If each day is a gift, I'd like to know where to return Mondays."

Time is precious, waste it wisely

Choosing a dog may be the only chance to pick a relative"

Alas , I didn't take my camera to the class I taught this past week. I was very pleased to see 7 people complete quilt tops that looked like mine. I have asked that they send me pictures as they complete their quilts.

Later.

2009-05-18T13:51:00.000-04:00

This is one of the quilts I made with the Cheryl Phillips templates. You can just cut triangles for these blocks and the 1st time I made one I did just that. If you are trying to put something specific in the windows the templates are invaluable. This is my Paper Piecing class project.

This is a table runner using a method of creating curves without sewing curves. One day it will be part of a class I want to teach called dimensions.

This quilt is a mariners compass with crazy patch for the borders , using all the fancy stitches from my Viking.

The next pictures are of show and tell from some of the talented folks at Early Bird Quilt Guild. This week I am going back to teach a class , so more pictures then!

Early Bird Quilt Guild

2009-05-14T19:24:00.000-04:00

I was the speaker this past Wed. at Early Bird Quilt Guild in Conyers. This is my Tricky Pinwheels quilt made using Billie Lauders quick techniques. This is from a book "Fat Quarter Quilt " by M'liss Rae Hawley
This is a quilt made from 9 patch blocks that are cut in half then 2 halves are flipped.Here is a disappearing 9 patch tutorial.

This is my latest quilt , a attic window and a mitered strip on on side. These are my own handdyed fabrics.

More tomorrow......

Smoking Cow

2009-05-09T08:48:00.000-04:00

The cows hot breath and cool water made it look like my cows were smoking .
This is Teddy Bear and her new just born this morning baby girl. She is only our 3rd girl out of 16 babies. Gotta call her Theadora , maybe Dora for short.

This is Black Eyed Suzy and her baby boy Sam, don't ask, it just came to me.

Sad thing was that my favorite cow Thankful calved the same day as her mama, Suzy, but her calf died. It's front legs were down and she couldn't deliver. By the time the vet. got here that baby was dead. Boohoo. But I am glad , if she had calved during the night Thankful would have died too.

Hope to find some more babies this weekend.

2009-05-01T07:09:00.000-04:00

This is the newest baby, a boy ,Parka born of Hoodee.

This is a very new baby, it was so big we had to help. This was the 1st time DD really saw a birth and she was overwhelmed. This cow is named Old Cow with White Udder. Her baby has 2 white feet so his name is Footey.

This is Ila , and her had her 1st baby with no problems. His name is Daniel. The names are destinations , Ila's mom is Peole as small burg in the county. Ila is a major city with a 4 way stop. Danielsville is the county seat.

Not all babies make it, poor Cowgirl's baby was dead yesterday and we had to have the vet. out for Old White Udder , who went down with Milk Fever .
I am almost done with the top of the Attic Window/mitered squares quilt. All these cows are getting in my way of sewing.
Later.

Saturday's Babies and Mama's

2009-04-26T04:43:00.000-04:00

This is Licker and her new baby "Pop". All of Licker's babies have been named after suckers , such as Lolly pop, Cherry , Tootsie. This is her 1st boy.
This is Double Dutch , named by our neighbor Morgan because of her 2 black eyes. The baby is a boy and named Dutch Treat.

This is Ila , born of Peole , born of Tignal. Destination names. So this little girl is Between.

Finally a couple of quilts

2009-04-25T17:33:00.000-04:00

Hi the Black Pearl was so happy to have a couple of quilts to sew. I finished these for the charity my HAll County Guild supports, Eagle Ranch .

On this one I practiced free hand feathers in the borders.

And yes 3 more calves born today. Pictures of them and their mums tomorrow.

2009-04-24T07:58:00.000-04:00

This is number 4 calf climbing a mountain of dirt. Its a boy and as it has 2 black eyes , I named him Googly Peole . ( the last name is the mom's name. This is a rather blurry picture of one that was born in the night. This is Browny Butterfly.
5 babies and 21 to go......

Newest project

2009-04-22T08:38:00.000-04:00

This is my newest project. I found a quilt in a Fons and Porter Magazine ( scanned in below ) and it has been on my mind for a year or more. I used the Attic Window templates by Cheryl Phillips for the first part of the block. Essentially the technique is to sew a folded triangle in between 2 half square triangles. The folded triangle opens into the corner creating an attic window. Then I mitered strips on one side. That was easy , I sewed to the seam of the half squares. All the fabric is my own handdyed . I can't wait to quilt it. This is a detail of the center. I made half sized blocks just like the quilt in the magazine. It adds a lot more interest to the quilt.

This is the picture from the magazine. The scan isn't the best , sorry. I am making 2 more rows as it was very skinny and long. It will be 80 x 90 when I am done. I don't think I want a border , and only a 2 " one if I add one.

I had a fun trip to Clarkesville Ga to a quilt guild yesterday. Their guild came to my Hall County guild for show and tell this month and we returned the favor. The rest of this week I will be getting my DD ready for her Washington DC trip and getting her room painted and valence made while she is gone.

We had another baby calf today and I will get some pictures of it up tomorrow.

Later.

It's a Girl!

2009-04-20T10:13:00.000-04:00

Yeah ! We finally have our 1st calf of the season. Curly Buck had this pretty little girl late last night , she is up, dried off and nursing.

I love it when the babys just wander right up to me and I get to pet them. Their mama's are not so happy about it but CB is a cool cow.

Meet Uno

Flora and fauna

2009-04-16T05:51:00.000-04:00

This is some Jasmine that has already gone in my back yard. It covers the lattice that disguises the gas tank that would other wise look like a submarine back there.

Is this not the coolest bee picture ever? I would have called my bee man to catch them but he would have needed a hook and ladder to get to them. My buddy Cricket comment that the bees love me 'cause they made me a heart.

I am working on a quilt that is about ready to get sewn together. I will scan in the picture I saw in a magazine and then show mine made an easier way.

Hope to have baby calf pictures soon , but when I check the cows ( twice a day now ) they look at me like who me ?

Later .

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T12:08:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter , even if your 14 ya still expect a basket of candy and a chocolate bunny ! These are old fashioned azaleas that we planted almost 20 years ago.

And these are the miracle tulips that come back every year only in this spot.

Happy Easter

Blowing in the Wind

2009-04-10T10:54:00.000-04:00

This is the Disappearing 9 patch all quilted but not mailed yet. It goes to my high school for a silent auction. Below is a detailed shot of the quilting, hence the Blowing in the Wind title.
I have a couple of pots of Pansys that have done well this year. Luckily the late cold snap didn't hurt anything. So if we can get past the storm coming today I should have some good pictures of my tulips soon.

My crab apples are full of blooms this year. I guess I will have a billion little apples this fall. They are way in the back yard and the deer can have them .

The man in the moon was not an easy picture. Pretty cool , I just couldn't hold still enough to put the moon where I wanted it in the picture.

Good friday to you all.

Amanda

Jewl Box

2009-04-08T07:45:00.001-04:00

Good morning and I think we survived the cold snap. Its only 33 out there. I will trudge out to check for cow babies soon and check the azaleas. This quilt is one I quilted for my bee buddy Patty. I actually added the last border and applied the binding. I drew the line at sewing it down ! She brought it to me Sunday and I busted my bum to get it done so I didn't have to FedX it to her.

So happy day. All done. Now to clean the sewing room, not to mention the house and laundry that got ignored.

Summer Fun

2009-04-01T21:23:00.000-04:00

This little number is to donate to my DD's school fundraiser. They do a jogathon every April . I got this kit from JC on Monday and it's all done. This one is easy to give away as I just made it. Quilts I have had for a while are much harder to part with.
I had my quilt student Kim come today. I have met some of the nicest folks teaching quilting. Kim is learning to paper piece as well as getting fundamental quilting lessons. She is doing quite well , but today she has learned that paper piecing is easier than sewing a straight line on 2 42" strips of fabrics. Last time I had her make 4 patches and today 9 patches. She has sewn 4 12 " paper pieced blocks , they were each in 4 units . Once she has those done will will put them together in a table runner.
That's all folks.
A

Happy Birthday

2009-03-29T20:19:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe but my baby is 14 ! Actually April 2Nd but we like to drag things out. Today we did family cause after her spend the night this coming Friday , I want to be done with birthday. The cake was really good. It is a recipe off the back of the Hershey's Dark Chocolate cocoa. A regular recipe until I got to the 1 cup of boiling water. The layers were the most even I have ever baked and even if I wasn't allowed to flavor the green icing with mint , it was delicious.

The quilt is from her 6th BD.

Happy Birthday.

2009-03-26T05:25:00.000-04:00

Yeah! I had another quilt to do this week. I love it when you talk with someone on the phone and you feel like you could be friends. Charlotte was referred to me from the Dragonfly quilt shop.They have a regular Longarm person but as she lives away , there is a month turn around time. Maybe I can get the work that comes in in between. And just so you know blogger flipped this photo on its side and I can't seem to change it.

This quilt is Charlotte's first quilt and it is 87 inches square. I told her how impressed I was. She is coming out here to get the quilt Sat and I am going to help her with the binding. When I asked her if she knew how to put on the binding , she said she had the book quilting for dummies. Ya gotta love that answer! The quilt is for her granddaughter's wedding at the end of April.

So this is yet another Disappearing 9 Patch. I used 9 colors of my hand dyes and then played with what I got until I liked it. My plan is to quilt the daylights out of it and send it to my high school alumni weekend auction. I also have several panto's I found on a quilting program , they are different from all the run of the mill ones out there. I need to stitch them out.

Sew have a great day.

Count down to calving season.... I will start looking in earnest in April. The bull came to call in June but I recall that no cows greeted him very enthusiastically for a week or so...

Sew well.

Amanda

2009-03-19T11:03:00.000-04:00

Hello all

This is a picture of the quilt I made for a customer for her daughters 25th wedding anniversary. The photos are of the babies and of the family over the years. I also use a photo for the label of the customer and her husband. The fabric for the interior of the quilt are the babies crib sheets. I backed them all with interfacing which greatly improved some of them. Some were thin enough to read newsprint through. The quilt below is the first disappearing 9 patch I made. The blocks are small and it really looks quite complicated.
Well my bread dough is done , I am going to add dried fruit and nuts to emulate Publix breakfast bread , yum

Disappearing 9 Patch

2009-03-18T19:29:00.000-04:00

Hello all , been busy making 9 patches disappear. I started this quilt on Sat and all thats left is the binding. There is a great tutorial here This is the new swirl pantograph I got in the mail. It was fun but harder than I thought it would be as there are long curves.

Here is what I started with. I had a yard of the pink and yellow . I cut 5" strips as many as I could and put them together as you see here. I would love to do one some oriental fat quarters I have.

Slice through the middle and sew back to gether and then the block is about 14". I set them 3x 4. This quilt will go to my Hall County GUild's charity, Eagle Ranch.
Well all for now. I have amother disappearing 9 patch that I have had for a while. It is really hard to see the 9 patches in it.

Night all

Amanda

2009-03-11T18:14:00.001-04:00

2009-03-11T05:40:00.000-04:00

How fun it is to be googled. I got the following email
"Hi Amanda!
I was going through a back issue of Quilt magazine and I saw your Many Nines quilt. I googled your name to find your Web site and e-mail. I wondered if I could have the pattern for that quilt? I could probably do math and figure it out, but if you already have the dimensions worked out and wouldn't mind sharing, I'd really appreciate it.
You have made some really pretty things!
Thanks,
Becky in Dallas"

I made this quilt she is talking about in 2001 for a guild challenge. That quilt is long gone. I traded it for computer work. Becky's email was another challenge to see if I could map one out in EQ. TA DA!!!

Great Day in the morning ( you see it is still dark here at 5 am but I am optimistic )

Amanda

Ribbon

2009-03-10T17:08:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture of my quilt that won a Honorable Mention. The quilt was made using a picture of a spider web. The technique of thread painting is from a book of Libby Leiman.

Enjoy!

Amanda

Saving Time ???

2009-03-08T07:55:00.000-04:00

Welcome to day light savings time. Now could we just get them to vote and leave it here all year and quit flopping is back for only 3 months. Flipping it back and forth is hard on the heart acc. to Readers Digest.

This quilt is for Kathy's daughter Susann who is expecting her 1st baby in a few weeks. This is an outside of the box design for Kathy.

Ok, thats all for me. Next week I will feature pictures from the quilt show.

Later.

Sunflowers

2009-03-07T08:28:00.000-05:00

Good Saturday morning all! The snow is all gone except in small dark areas of the driveway.

I have to go back to the quilt show today with batteries in the camera this time. Wonders of wonders I got an honorable mention on one quilt. The theme for the ribbons was Sunbonnet Sue and when we work at the show we get a small Sue pin. Mine came with a white button, I thought all the Sue's had a button. LOL took me all day to figure it out.

Anyhow. My pictures today are of a quilt I started 3 years ago at a Peggy Barkle class. You stack 2 nine patches right sides up and cut the wavy curve diagonally across the block. Then swap them around and sew the curve. I liked it before I cut them and was so unhappy with the quilt. I had several junctures that ended awkwardly. Sunflowers to the rescue !

Gotta run.

2009-03-06T05:07:00.000-05:00

For what ever reason I can't seem to control where my pictures go. I will have to consult the expert ( Judy in the Dyes ) The rest of the pictures say it all . Lots and lots of white.

Gotta go sew.

Amanda

More Snow

2009-03-06T04:55:00.000-05:00

Good morning , I think. It is 5 am and I have to go and sew do my Yoga and then sew some more before going to work at the quilt show. No electricity for 4 days meant 2 class samples were not done that I want to have at the quilt store booth. I have some more snow pictures to show and then it will be quilts for a few days. This picture is down at the barn and the leaves still on the tree makes for a cool picture.

Cow Snow Day

2009-03-05T05:09:00.000-05:00

Hello , been off air sew to speak. On Sunday we really got snow. Not just piddly snow. 8-10 inches. Hard to measure as it was heavy and packed up. The power went out at 3.29 pm and came back on at 5.15 Thursday. Not sure how Sarah Prine ( "These is my words " ) ever did it , and now I know I do not want to know. We had lots of water from the buckets I keep for rain water run off. But I had to boil it. Suffice it to say that Rachel and I finally bathed in a wash tub in the living room. And no there are no pictures.
Not much time to blog so I thought these cow pictures say it all for now. They came a running to see what I had to offer and then ran away. I left them alone to calm themselves.
Glad to be in the light!!!
Amanda

2009-03-01T14:11:00.000-05:00

Just had to post again to show the snow.
And to boast that my friend V signed up as a follower.
When we have had all the snow today I will snap some
more pictures.
Amanda

2009-03-01T07:57:00.000-05:00

So here we are in March and this is an attempt to blog more. I have lots of pictures to post and will try and do some each week. The end of next week is the Cotton Patch Quilt show so lost of good fodder for quilts.

On the farm front we are counting down to calving. The babies should start coming in April. We have been without calves since we sold off cows last summer. Good timing as beef prices are at a all time low.

This little shamrock table quilt was paperpieced ( last MArch) and quilted and bound yesterday. I have a quilt for most of the months, I need to find a cool floral quilt for May.

Other good farm news is we have had real rain this past few days. As in 2.7" and still falling.

Keep on quilting.....

2009-02-18T19:14:00.000-05:00

My word it's the 17th of Feb no blogs . I have not had any good photo's and whats a blog w/o pics ? A lot of hot air. My picture is of my Fall Celtic quilt that is slighlty backwards of the Spring Version.

Today was fun, I went to my learning class for my Gammill. The other 2 students were no shows so I was an only student and we did 2 days of learing in one. It was fun and I learned soooo much.

The other fun thing event is this past Sunday I taught a class at my yarn store , Main Street Yarn and Fiber, on mitered squares. I had 4 students !

Enjoy , Amanda

2009-01-29T20:44:00.000-05:00

Hello all, I went to a quilt bee on Monday and picked up some work. Mad wanted this quilt

quilted by anyone but her ! The deatail picture is the same quilt but no flash so the quilting would show up. I did the hussle and got this one done because I got another call about another quilt. This one I picked up today at Joann's . It will be a challenge , it is a old hand pieced wedding ring quilt.

As to other sewing. I am paperpiecing parts of the next Hall County Quilt Guild's raffle quilt. Let me tell you next time I will keep my hand down. The pattern is from the Quilt Mavens and by paperpiecing they mean paper piece the units of a lone star and then y-seam them together. Argggggghhh! Once they are done I will post a picture.

Sweet Dreams

Amanda

2009-01-20T11:11:00.000-05:00

Hello all and another one done that has been langishing in my room. This is a technique that gives you a curved block with out sewing curved seams. I learned it when I was at a quilting retreat and the inventer is Lyn D. Johnson, who taught at the retreat. It was not a class but some people in the Sew on Your Own class were making a quilt and it looked fun, so we begged how to make them. that is all for now I need to explore how to arrange my blogger page.
Amanda

Too Bee Or Not to Bee

2009-01-19T07:50:00.000-05:00

Good Morning and Happy MLK day. Today after a trip to the Dr my mom and I will hit Publix where I have been told by a Bee Buddy that Clementines are on sale. This is a picture of my bee , we have been beeing since 1996. We have a few virtual members who have moved to other lands but we keep in touch through a Yahoo list. This is a Cricket's cabin , a very cool place to bee. I am trying to get the hang of having pictures down one side of my blog ( or the other). But they seem to want to all be at the top. So instead of trying for another of a finished quilt I will do another post of it.

2009-01-14T10:52:00.000-05:00

Hooray the attic window is done and is my 1st quilt of 2009. I am very happy with it and as it will go in the quilt show in March I have to make another one as a teaching sample. Not sure what will be in the next windows..... But this one gets to be the sample at the quilt store 'till mid Feb. The pink and purple are some of my own handdyed fabric, which is how is was easy to make the light come in from the left of the piece. This quilt is named "To every thing there is a season"

Gotta go and do 10 other things like my teaching descriptions and make a batch of soap and if I can I want to get a picture of my cows chasing birds in the pasture. They were doing it yesterday as I was getting Sugar saddled and it scared the poop right out of her. Now my old mare , her reaction was to go and roll in the sand. There in lies the difference between a 5 year old and a 25 year old.

Later.

Amanda