Remember this one? The sampler above? Well...it is finished! Please, Finn, count me for a finish! It even has the hanging sleeve on it...whoops, no label, but will have it on soonest. I hand quilted it, and it was such a pleasure to work with. The batting is from Darcie of October's Child quilting. It is made of corn fibers! And I can say, it hand-quilts like a dream. I call it corn silk batting, but it is made of cotton and corn fibers. Green batting! (not the color, but the concept) Thank you to Darcie for letting me have a little bit to play with. I will wash it and report on the shrink factor, but it is stable and yummy soft and drape-able.

Here is another little bit of fall creeping in! DH found this one and got it for me. This little scarecrow is so cute to me, with a sweet expression. The fall season is one we really look forward to and enjoy, for the cool temperatures and harvest times.

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I took a heart today. Which means I recovered a heart bypass patient fresh from the operating room to our unit. A thankfully stable patient. Busy today! The fall and winter seasons are so very busy at hospitals, with people waiting for beds.

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Well, scary isn't it? I guess we can just pray for the best.

Grins!! Hope each one of you have a truly wonderful day!

JulieK

Good morning! I have been of course working, so not blogging...my work gets in the way of my fun! Sound like a familiar refrain??

My Dear husband found some wonderful small pumpkins at the store and got them for me! What a sweetheart, don't you agree?? The little quilt underneath is one I made a long, long time ago. This little display is on my dining room table, and will take us into the lovely fall time.

Have a super good day, everyone!!

JulieK

The good, the bad and the ugly!

Here is "Tobacco Rose" so far. Don't 'ya love that play on words? This quilt started out as "Old Tobacco Roads" of Bonnie (Quiltville) fame, but I just couldn't leave it alone, changing it to my own little thing. I have one more flying geese side to attach, then an outer border, then shazam! I am done with the flimsy! Yahoo! Again, thanks so much Bonnie for the spectacular mystery quilt!

And this is the best! I got quilts back from Darcie, the ultimate quilter! She collaborated with me to finish this...the Orange Crush quilt. I just love it, now that she finished quilting it! I wish you could just feel the texture and depth her quilting gave it. Yum!!

This little Sunbonnet quilt is one I appliqued long ago. I had no idea what to do next, so I sandwiched and bound it...and then found out I was supposed to quilt it first! So it languished and lingered...until Darcie quilted it for me! I love it too.

This one is the Colorado state flower, the columbine. Again, sandwiched and bound before quilting. I just cut off the binding and started over! This one reminds me of home, along with the Indian paint brush. Typical of Colorado mountain meadows in the spring. The pattern is from Animas quilts, a quilt shop in Durango Colorado, close to home. This was my first attempt at mitering a border...

Scrappy happy houses, at last done! Can you see the wonderful textured quilting if you zoom in? Waiting to be bound!

And the whole thing...every thing in here including the kitchen sink!

OK, that was all good....now the bad. I was outside pulling weeds and just doing general yard work. And of course had to try to move a big rock, which I had no business doing! Which I promptly dropped, striking my inner ankle. It is quite swollen and discolored. Sure hope it is not broken, because I work the next SEVEN days in a row! I thought I would pass out, it hurt so badly. So I am resting it, icing it, elevating it. Rest, Ice, Elevation, Compression....oh yeah, I am a nurse! NO wonder that sounded familiar.

And now for the ugly...

You should have seen me when I came in from the yard! Our little poodle is always coming in with stickers...I came in just completely COVERED with little stickers! I honestly think I will have to throw away my clothes....

OK, have a most wonderful day! Take a minute and smile, relax....grin!!!

JulieK

Tobacco Rose!!

Above is a quilt I have had cooking in my head for years and years. I had purchased the fabric, and it just sat there, until Finn stimulated me to "giterdun"! So, Finn, this one is for you! I have worked pretty hard to get this one to the flimsy stage. It is applique on different backgrounds, and the border is my own, not from the pattern. Some of the strips look a little pale, so I am going to tea dye them, and they will blend right in. Just right for Autumn, and the weather is a little cooler, hinting of fall time to come.

Well, I am sure most of you have heard about Bonnie from Quiltville's "Old Tobacco Roads" mystery quilt. I was watching for each clue, trying to resist making this one...I have made each of her previous mystery quilts. Well, she really hooked me when I saw the wonderful flying geese border she made. So I started in on step one, which was a LOT of four patches! I was using pink, cream and browns, as I have always wanted to make a quilt in these colors. I made lots and lots...then got to playing with the setting! I did not have all the half square triangles she already had ready to use up, and sooo..I continued to work with what I would do! Would I make all those 1/2 square triangles, then make them into pinwheels? Apparently not! Below is the center of my own quilt..."Tobacco Rose"! This is the center, almost put together, then I will work on those fun flying geese borders. It is put together in much the same fashion as Bonnie's with diagonal rows. I know Bonnie encourages our own ideas and patterns, and this was my setting as I was playing with my squares. Can't wait to work on those borders!! Thank you to Bonnie for the inspiration...fun!!

Hope each of you has a most wonderful day...I am off to clean and cook dinner.

JulieK

Leftovers for supper...

You know how some meals just get better the next day, when they are left-overs?? The different flavors just blend together...mmm... Well, I think the same thing of fabric scraps! I made a few string pieced blocks, on telephone book pages. I have LOTS of strings, enough for several quilts, I bet. (never throw these away...) Well, when I was at the quilt store with my friends, the store had little sacks, 1 gallon size, filled with strings. Very small, innocuous looking...innocent! Priced to move, and quilt store fabric strings. Well, I left them there, until a couple days later, and I went and got a couple to add some more variety to my strings. The little bags seemed small enough, until...I opened them! They exploded! A huge mound of strings, all over the place. I loved it, they are so pretty, and such a lovely variety.

I mean, this is a HUGE pile, really. Doesn't show in the picture, but it is big....

Now really, what in the world was I thinking? :) Hehehe! Quilting sure is fun, isn't it!!

Have a super good day, now all I need is time to string piece all these pretty babies together.

JulieK

quilting friends...

Grateful and lucky! That is how I feel, after spending a lunch time and trip to our local quilt shop with my work quilting friends! We had such a wonderful time. We first had show and tell about what we were working on, from pink and yellow lemonade quilts, to red, white and blue flag quilts, to chocolate cherry nine patches. Fun! A wonderful salad followed, then a trip to our quilt shop. Bargains galore! Including $2/yard fabric. We each bought enough for a quilt back. The above fabric is my bounty, given to me by one of my friends, who was getting rid of fabric. All kinds/varieties in the fun stack!


And, it is a short time until my 100th post! Wow, I stuck it out for 100 posts, and have enjoyed so much from all you wonderful quilting friends. So I will be having a giveaway associated with that post, please stay tuned. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, re-energized for the week ahead. I am working 5, 12 hour shifts in a row, so look out! I will be crazy tired for sure...:)

JulieK

Thrift Store

Ok, Miss Bonnie, you have got me started on the thrift stores!! I went to drop off 3 big bags of things to donate, from cleaning and de-cluttering here this week. I saw the above plaid shirt, it is just the most luscious of orange/pumpkin colors. Plaid and pretty!! For (drumroll please) 99 cents. Such a deal! I also saw a silver serving set, tarnished black, must have weighed 5 pounds...for $29.00. I did not get it, it is still there. I wonder if someone got tired of polishing it?? I also shopped in the jeans department, I almost live in jeans, it seems. And found a pair of "Cruel girl" jeans, with the store tag still on them, never been washed...$3.99. The store tag said $65.00. Yep, took those too! Fun!!

The above is a little quilt for a friend to be un-named until later. Just a peek...

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! A little rain around our area, and wind from the receding hurricane, and many blessings that it was not worse on our coast.

JulieK