Quilting Fun

Another Bee night with the girls.  Can I say how special these quilters are to me!  Good friends are hard to find, but great friends are a true blessing from God.  I am very blessed!

Susan was trying to piece some blocks when Whiskers decided that she needed his help.  He thinks this is his studio and we are occasionally allowed to play in his room.  But the cost of admission is ATTENTION.....to him that is!

 I'm sewing the binding on mom's Texas braid quilt.

Here's a picture of her beautiful scrappy Texas Braid quilt.  We put it over the swing.  Beautiful!

What would we all do without our quilting?  I don't know how people in this world survive without a hobby......you have to let stress out somehow and I choose to do it with stitches.

Happy quilting,
Shelia

Another Finished Quilt.

Another finished quilt!! YIPPIE!  This one started out as one of those 1800 quilts where you sew 2 1/2 inch strips end to end to end....Of course I just could not do it as the pattern stated.  I inserted 2 1/2 inch squares randomly along the strips to add more character.  When I finished the quilt was waaaaay too long for the width.  So I took 18-inches off of the length and re-added the borders.  (I forgot to say that I made the borders then did not like the length compared to the width.  Thank goodness for seam rippers)

I really like the look now.  I used up a lot of my pink and brown 2 1/2 inch strips and 2 1/2 inch squares.

Label attached....Quilt Complete!

 I also had time today to put out some of the fall quilts in the dinning room.  I love my fireplace mantle quilt.

 Happy Quilting,
Shelia

What Day Is It???? What Day Is It????

It's Hump Day and It's Give Away Drawing Day!!

The Pin it blog hop has ended.....awwww.  But today is the drawing day for my giveaway.

And

The

Winner

IS......
Heidi at grizz-n-dove
CONGRATULATIONS HEIDI!!
I've sent you an e-mail confirming your win.

 

Thanks to everyone who viewed my blog for the blog hop and all of the great comments I received.  I again enjoyed being part of one of Madamme Sam's blog hops.
 

Happy Quilting,

Shelia

 



IT'S MY DAY! Pin It Pin cushion Blog Hop......And Giveaway.

 

Pin cushions how we love them.  So many shapes and sizes to choose from.

 

Pin cushion:  Pin.cush.ion  noun

A small firm cushion into which pins are stuck when not in use.

 

Oh...but they miss the point.  For quilter's and sewer's pin cushions are items that we love and use daily.  They provide us with many hours of use for our craft.  I believe that if we were to answer honestly most of us would admit to owning many, many pin cushions.  I myself have 18 prior to this blog hop.  Wow...I knew I had a lot but not that many!  Now with my newly made pin cushion for this blog hop I have 19.  Oh My!

Now let's get down to the business of my newest pin cushion creation.

I was very excited when I was accepted into this blog hop.  I've had an idea for a while to make a different pin cushion and this was the catalyst to get it made.  Below is my inspiration.  My nursing cap.  I received this cap when I graduated from nursing school in 1988.  We wore them with pride for many years.  Today we do not wear our caps, but to nurses who earned them it is a reminder of how hard we worked to obtain our RN license.  It now resides in my cedar chest, but today it is the star attraction in the quilt studio.

I was able to unbutton the cap and trace the shape to make a pattern.  This is the full size nursing cap pattern I made.

Since I wanted to make a smaller version of the cap I took the pattern and used the dimensions to draw a new pattern onto grid paper to fit within a 6-inch block.  I wanted to make a tiny little nurses cap.

From that scaled down version in my design book I was able to make the first pattern on the right which did not come together in the back correctly, so I lengthened the side pieces and cut out a second pattern which worked.

I used a satin stitch with green thread to do the ribbon across the cap, then put a backing, sewed it together leaving a space to turn inside out.  I then stuffed my little lady and tacked the back together to form the cap.  And this is my final Nursing Cap Pin Cushion.

 

This is a picture of the back of the nursing cap.

I am very proud of this little lady!

 

Now she joins my other pin cushions as part of my working collection.....although I don't think she will be used as much as the others are.

 

Speaking of collections.  How many of us over the years have collected pin cushions?  I think most sewers and quilters have collected many of these little useful objects.  And of course they come in all shapes and sizes.....as this blog hop is reminding us.  Each one has it's own personality.

After taking that group picture I found another one of my pin cushions that is in my "to go" bag.  This is the one that my sweet friend Suzanne made for me a few years ago.  I love it!  It is a wrist cushion.

I also acquired two additional pin cushions on a recent trip Roger and I took.
The first one is so unique.  It is a rustic sunflower pin cushion that is mounted on an old spring.  I just couldn't leave it in the antique shop.

The next acquisition was an old boot pin cushion.  The maker put a lot of work into this cutie pie!

Now I guess I have to adjust my number of pin cushions to 22.  Didn't realize I had that many.......but hey.....you can never have too many pin cushions!!

As part of this blog hop I'm also having a giveaway.  The giveaway includes the following items:  A "tools for stash management" zipper bag, five quilt labels, a travel sewing kit, a sunbonnet sue needle holder, a pair of tweezers, forcepts and scissors and 10 binding clips.

I will draw for a winner on September 18th after the Pin it Pin Cushion Blog Hop ends.  How can enter to you win?  Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment on my post telling me how long you have been quilting and how many pin cushions you currently have. 

I also will have a second giveaway if my "blog followers" number goes over 200 during the blog hop.  I currently have 142 followers as of the day of the post.  If we go over 200 I will also give away 100 die cut scrap pieces 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch rectangles to a second winner. 

Hope you have enjoyed the blog hop.  Don't forget to enter my giveaway.  Many thanks to Kristen at Meadowbrook for being our cheerleader and host for this blog hop.  And many thanks to Madame Samm over at Sew We Quilt for always keeping us inspired with all of the blog hops.  You ladies ROCK!

Now follow the links below to visit all of the other wonderful blogs and their post for the blog hop.

Quilting In South Carolina (you are here)

Negligent Style

Debby Kratovil quilts

Sew Many Yarns

News From Bear Hollow

Around The Homestead

Living With Purpose

Buzzing and Bumbling

Colorpoint Quilter

Scraps Of Life

Daisy Days

Stitchduchess

Life @ RuffHaven

AnnieOak Designs

Grandmama's Stories

Suebee's World

Handmade by Mama

 

And of course follow all of the blog lists at

Sew We Quilt

 

Happy Quilting,
Shelia
 



A Look Back In Time

As quilters we often look back to our ancestors for inspiration in quilting projects.  This week while cleaning out some drawers I found two precious reminders of years gone by.  I purchased these two string pieced blocks at a small flea market Roger and I stopped at in Florida many years ago.  They were in a drawer with some of my quilting supplies.

At first glance they appear to be just any old string pieced blocks.  You can see the old fabrics used as the quilter attempted to save everything she could and make use of all she had.

 

But turn the block over and you will see why I was so drawn to the blocks.  This quilter used newspaper as her foundation for the string piecing.  And you can see the date of the newspaper....September 23, 1928 

You can also see on the back that she hand pieced the string blocks.

I just love these little glimpses of time gone by.

Happy quilting,
Shelia

Ode To My Wife The Quilter

Today I have been cleaning out some drawers in my utility room and found this poem that I had saved from years ago.

 

 

Ode To My Wife The Quilter

-an adaptation of a poem written by Molly Perry-

 

She learned to quilt on Monday,

Her stitches were very fine,

She forgot to thaw out dinner,

so we went out to dine.

 

She quilted miniatures on Tuesday.

She says they are a must.

They really were quite lovely,

But she forgot to dust.

 

On Wednesday it was a sampler,

She says the stippling's fun.

What highlights!  What shadows!

But the laundry wasn't done.

 

Her patches were on Thursday,

Green, yellow, blue and red.

I guess she really was engrossed,

She never made the bed.

 

It was wall hangings on Friday,

In colors she adores.

It never bothered her at all,

The crumbs on all the floors.

 

I found a maid on Saturday,

My week is now complete.

My wife can quilt the hours away

The house will still be neat.

 

Well..........it's already Sunday,

I think I'm about to wilt,

I cursed, I raved, I ranted,

The MAID has learned to QUILT!

 

 

Happy quilting,

Shelia

Saying Goodbye To Our Parade Car.

Many years ago we purchased a mini 32 Duce Coupe parade car that Roger rode in Shrine Parades.  We had a blast with the car and the unit participated in tons of parades all over the United States during Shrine Conventions.  But this week that era ended when we decided to sell the car.  Roger is no longer doing parades and we just needed the room.

 Below is a picture of Roger and some of the unit preparing their cars for a parade in Minneapolis.

We sold the car to a gentleman in Marshallville, Georgia.  We delivered it to him on September 8, 2013.  Roger and I drove our little Chevy S-10 truck and pulled our trailer with the Deucester in it.  Charles purchased the car for his grandchildren to drive.  He has I believe 9 grandchildren.  He had already purchased 2 other mini cars which were similar built to ours.

Here is Roger and Charles after we unloaded the car and Roger gave it a last drive around the yard.  When we met Charles we knew that the car had found a great home.

 You see Charles is also a car guy and a collector.  He and Roger hit it off immediately.  Amazing how God brings special people into your lives.  Charles was tickled to show us around just a few of his collection buildings.  (Believe me....if I didn't have to work the next morning Roger would have put in to stay all day and tour every building on this massive farm!)

 These following three pictures were inside his "toy building".  Yes he collects toy tractors also.  I don't think I've ever seen so many John Deere tractors in my life.  He admitted that since his stroke a few years ago he has lost count of just how many tractors he has in his collection.  I couldn't even dare to guess as many were in boxes up on shelves.

I loved the swing they had made out in the back yard.

While walking outside with his wife I noticed the massive green fields of plantings.  I asked her what they farmed.  Her response was "cotton".  I informed her that I was a quilter and thanked her for helping put cotton on the market so I could have more quilting fabric.  She laughed.  They also raise corn on 1500 of their 4000 acres.  Her sons were out in the corn field trying to bring the crop in when we were there.

On our way back home our little truck decided to give us trouble.  It was hot as blazes 96 degrees and the humidity was horrible.  We wound up having to stop every 45 minutes or so and let the truck cool off.  Thankfully I'm married to a mechanic and he knew just what to do. 

At one of our cool off stops we saw this little antique market and decided to spend the hour looking through the shop.

 I found some quilts in the shop.  Most were priced too much for me, but all were beautiful.

We made it back home but the truck problems made it a very long 13 1/2 hour trip.  But you know what......when life gives you lemons you make lemonade!  We are have safe and sound.  Roger has fixed the truck ....and our little deucester has a brand new home.  God is good.

Happy quilting,
Shelia