4TH SET OF BLUE/BOWNS

I made one set of H-1, Log Cabin, in scrappy fabrics, and another in Fossil Ferns, all but the center chimney.

This is an easy way to do log cabin, foundation piecing, as Jennifer suggests. Just takes lots of different fabrics!

LABOR DAY ART WORK

 

 

 

 

We were treated to this fantastic sand sculpture display on our beach, created by two young couples. They were so talented!The hairy guy is my favorite. What is that he's smoking???

STILL MORE BLUE/BROWNS

I love the name of the A-3 block, Bright Hopes, especially in a wedding quilt. I used blue stripes with the browns in this set and also made a set of all swirly fabrics.

DISTRACTIONS

 

 

All these wild blueberries are creating quite a distraction from quilting! I'd better be getting back to quilting, or I'll need to be sewing tents to wear soon!

We pick wild blueberries on our own property, and I make my pie completely from scratch, crust and all. All guests so far have asked for the recipe. Yum!

MORE BLUE AND BROWNS DONE

This is block N-10, Diamond Friendship, in Harper's Ferry fabric by Nancy Gere and Thimbleberries Lodge and Lakeside.

And here's the same block in Judie Rothermel's The Old Sturbridge Village Collection. I'm really enjoying working in these colors.

DJSS GIFT

My Dear Jane Secret Sister gift for July and August arrived. My goodness, how generous and wonderful is this???

I received 4 yards of Laurel Burch Christmas fabric, a Laurel Burch zipper case(handy for quilting tools), a tote and quilt pattern, and a mat smoother.

It is so fun receiving these gifts, as well as sending to my SS.

SEWING IN PARADISE

These are pictures of my sewing studio in Michigan. It is 1/2 of the loft. My DH has the other half for his work -- mainly just a computer station. The sewing desk and large bookcase are from our family room, when we lived in Saudi Arabia, which is the furniture my kids (31, 33, 36) remember growing up with. The cutting table I bought here, because I really need one the proper height, and because the one that goes with the furniture is in the family eating area now. The 'kids' say it brings back memories of many family meals ages and ages ago!


Here's the floor, which will be doubling as my design wall, I think, LOL.

Here's the view. With the windows open, it feels like I'm sewing in a tree house!



That's Lake Superior in the background.

BLUE AND BROWN

I've been working on my Blue/Brown Swap blocks. The deadline has been extended, but I'm pretending not, so that I will complete them soon!

This is B-4, Children's Delight, in Judie Rothermel Civil War fabrics.



And here it is in a Sandy Gervais shooting stars fabric with Micheal Miller Krystal chocolate brown. I love working with the Krystal. It may become one of my favorite tone-on-tones.

NATURE'S BOUNTY

This is the first picking we've done of the many wild blueberries that grow on our property in Michigan.

Whitefish Point is the Wild Blueberry Capital of Michigan, and at one time pickers were brought in to harvest them and they were shipped out all over the country. The blueberries took over after a natural forest fire swept the land in the early 1900's. The acid and sandy soil that remained after the fire was perfect for the wild blueberries. Their growth lessened as the forest came back, but it's still very easy to find blueberries growing in the wild here wherever the sun can get through the forest.

QUILT FOR A FELLOW QUILTER

Jennifer Chiaverini posted this photo of the completed quilt a group of us contributed blocks toward. It went to one of our SBS quilters whose son died while serving in the military. She recently received the quilt.

My block is the fifth across in the second row down, the square-in-a-square block. I wrote a condolence message in the inner square.

I hope this quilt provides some comfort to the mom. I really think it's important for all of us to honor all our military, past and present. It is so easy to sometimes take for granted their huge sacrifice.

NINE MORE PINK & BROWNS

Here's another set of nine, of the blocks I received.

BIRTHDAY FAT QUARTER SWAP ARRIVES!

Birthday FQs were waiting for me in Michigan! I'm in a FQ birthday swap this year. I requested purples and greens. What a lovely array I received. I have four more that arrived before I left Florida, that are not in the picture. Visions of possible projects (WHIMMs) are dancing in my head!

AND ANOTHER NINE PINK-BROWNS

I received 50 blocks in all. Here's another nine.

PINK AND BROWN SWAP BLOCKS ARRIVE!

Here's my first of several photos of the wonderful blocks I received in the pink/brown swap on SBS. I just LOVE all of them and each of them!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Renae is having a Christmas in July giveaway on her blog, My Little Raggedy Blessings. Click here for a chance to win, and to see her beautiful blog.

LAND OF LIBERTY FREE BLOCK A MONTH

Isn't this a great patriotic quilt? I love it! It's being offered as a free BOM from Project House.

The fabrics needed are posted now, and the blocks will be posted on the 15 of every month, starting tomorrow.

There's a link to this quilt bom on my blog. Scroll down on the left.

WOMEN OF THE BIBLE, RAHAB, JERICHO WALLS

Rahab is the subject of our study this week, in my on-line Women of the Bible class. Rahab followed the instructions of God's messengers, and didn't tell anyone of their plans, she placed a red chord in her window so her family's quarters could be identified, and she kept her family inside, as Jericho was attacked.

Her family was saved and went on to live with the Israelites. She became the wife of prince Judah, mother of Boaz, and one of David's grandmothers, placing her name in the genealogy of Jesus.

I used black and gray for the stone walls of Jericho, and the scarlet for the chord in Rahab's window. My block shows some wonkiness -- not intentional -- but it does remind me of the falling walls of Jericho.

BIRTHDAY GIFT

My dear friend, Carol, gave me this cute quilted wall hanging about friendship for my b'day yesterday. We took a picture of both of us holding it together, but I decided to crop us out. It wasn't our best look, LOL!

The quilt however is lovely. Here's the label on the back. It's more how we looked in our younger years, LOL. I'm fortunate to have such a dear friend.

MY SEWING STUDIO

I think it's fun to see where other people sew. Here's my studio.

Entering my room, the first thing you see is the cutting table wall. Under it I store current projects in individual bins. The small file cabinet under the table holds books with my current WHIMMs (works hidden in my mind). On the bookcase to the right are do-dads as well as functional tools. I love the wall words "Sewing mends the soul," because for me it really does!

Moving left around the room flimsies waiting to be quilted are displayed on the quilt rack under the window.

My design wall has two Friendship Swap group projects on it right now. The crates below contain my smaller pieces of stash. The bottom row of crates are FQs. The top are 1 yard and under. Larger pieces are tucked away in the closet and under the cutting table. On top of the crates are projects in line for the design wall. The door into the room is on the left, and behind it hides my full-size ironing board. The pad on my cutting table works fine for working on blocks.

My serger is tucked into this cabinet. I rarily use it. Fun stuff hangs above.

My sewing table is right next to the serger. Bottom right is my rolling sewing machine caddy and bottom left (hiding under the snippet project) is my rolling cart with my pillow, etc., all ready for a retreat!

The supplies that are on the sewing table are contained in baskets and can easily be moved to give me more space to work on something large.

My thread is handy.

On the wall opposite my design wall, is an alcove. The door in the center leads to a bathroom.

There's a handy sink on the left.

And the intended linen closet.

On the right is a walk-in closet. In the file I store my magazines and books. The stack of drawers has stuff like zip-lock baggies, fusibles, and other stuff.

This is the upper walk-in. Some of the bins contain fabrics by category, like 1930's, and some are projects I'm collecting for.

My cabinets are Koala Cabinets and they send a regular and tiny Koala with each piece(sewing table, cutting table, and serger case). So I have three little ones, and two of the bigger ones hanging around my studio. I think the grands have the other one.

Figment, the Disney character from Figment of the Imagination, hangs out on one of my lamp poles, always inspiring the creative juices.

And here's the floor! I actually have floor space now, and can even walk around, LOL!


I've spent 2 weeks of Cinderella'ing getting it this neat and organized! Now I'm ready to sew!

MUSIC GOES

I was really surprised at the huge majority of those who prefer silent blogs, as evidenced by the poll I ran.

33 voted to leave the music, 54 to remove the music, and 1 to play different music.

Thank you to those who participated. I have listened to what my readers like and the music is gone.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!