Christmas in July

Thank you so much for all your very kind comments about SweetiePie's pink purse. You're all so very sweet -- and you know how much I love your comments! The little love birds are out for a special dinner tonight and when they return, I'll give her the purse. I hope she likes it!
I've seen lots of posts this month about Christmas in July. Oh my! It's unbelievable that next Christmas is closer to us in time than last Christmas. There's good reason to think Christmas in July when you make homemade gifts. They take planning and time to make. It's hard to even think about it though. Hopefully I'll get my act together in the next few weeks and sit down and do a little thinking about gifts for this year.
This Christmas tree skirt is a "Christmas in July" project from a year or two ago. I had to start planning in advance. I made it for MeMum and gave it to her for Christmas. She desperately needed a tree skirt as she'd been wrapping her tree stand with quilt batting for years. Every year I planned to make her one, but I could never decide on a style. She loves Victorian things and for a long time, I sort of planned to make her a crazy patch tree skirt. But, I just couldn't ever get excited about that plan, so it never happened. Then one day, we were in a quilt shop and she commented on how much she loved redwork. How well I remember that lightbulb moment. Right then and there I decided I'd make her a redwork tree skirt. I love embroidery, so it was really fun to make. I adapted the sleigh and reindeer outlines from a wool table runner project called All Through the Night by Bonnie Sullivan.This tree skirt is much larger than normal because MeMum and BigDaddy always get a big tree -- 10 to 12 feet high. Big Daddy always puts the stand on this huge piece of plywood, so the tree skirt had to be big enough to cover the plywood. MeMum loved it and it looked pretty under her tree last Christmas.

So, now I'll yell at us. Get off of that computer and get to work on your Christmas in July! Oh, and have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Blue & White: Check.

WooHoo! I've finished my pesky blue and white quilt top.
And I don't mean pesky in a bad way, but you know how it is when you get to the point in a project where you just want it done? I was very disappointed when I put the blue and white blocks together a few weeks ago and then decided that I needed 20 more blocks.
Normally, that would have been enough of a set-back to make me set it aside for awhile again, but I really want to get some UFO's done this summer. I just have too many lying around. I don't have a ginormous (check this out) number or anything, but there are enough that it makes me cringe to start a new project.'Cause with all the new fabrics out, I'm itching to start some new projects. Besides, it seems we're to have a wedding around here next spring, and where there's a wedding, there must be a wedding quilt, right? TheFirstChild will wed SweetiePie, and she and I have been working on a plan for just the right quilt. But more on that much later -- after a few more completed UFO's.This quilt block is called Lady of the Lake and the fabrics are all different white-on-white and blue prints. Because this is a very traditional quilt, I'll pack it up and take it to a hand quilter. I'm perfectly capable of doing the quilting myself, but if I want to see it finished in this lifetime, it's best off in someone else's trusty hands.

Now I must go water my flowers who are wishing they'd been sent to nurseries in England this year!

XOXO,
Anna

Seven UFOs

Jemimah has tagged me for the 7 random things meme. Not too long ago, Jade also tagged me, but I misunderstood the tag to be the 7 weird things which I'd already done. So, for both the J's ( ;-) ), here are my 7 random things....

I've noticed that some of the 7 random things posts have pictures, so I thought I'd use that format. Hmmmm. What 7 random-alike things do I have that I could show you? It appears that the most prolific things in my house these days (aside from jars of little things like buttons, bobby pins, toothpicks, etc.) are unfinished projects. Gee, maybe if I post them, it will prod me to actually get to work on them!

So, here's a tour of 7 of my UFO's:

1.This UFO, is potentially the oldest. When the kids were little, we loved the series of books entitled My Father's Dragon. (Highly recommended for those of you who have pre- to early-readers!)They make great read-aloud books and I enjoyed them so much that I decided to make a quilt featuring some of the drawings in the book. I got as far as sketching the plan for the blocks and making the first block, sort of. Poor guy, he still needs his stripes. And, I wanted his wings to be special, so rather than using a gold colored cotton, I used a gold lame. It worked pretty well. I just never got around to finishing it. Maybe someday for a grandchild!

2. Not much to this UFO 'cause we didn't get very far. The "we" part was MeMum, MyDadLovesMeBestSister and me. We each chose a background fabric , then we gave each other 1/3 of our background fabric. We would each make enough 9 patches out of scraps to make a quilt. For each scrap of fabric, we would make three 9 patch blocks -- one from each background fabric. Then, depending on the backround of the block, it would be given to the "owner" of that background. So, when all the blocks were done, we would each essentially have the same quilt but with different backgrounds. (I'm sure I could have explained that better, but I hope you get the idea.) Anyway, the sister has long since abandoned ship. MeMum and I still talk about it as if we'll start working on it again tomorrow. Who knows, maybe tomorrow's the day? (Snort, snort.)

3. This was a quilt that I started when the friendship group had twelve members. I had each of the members make pinwheel blocks out of scraps. The pinwheel part of the quilt is put together and it just needs four applique borders. Two of the borders are done. Two left to go.

4. This quilt top is all done, ready to be quilted. Jewels, Juni, and Gurney came to visit me one year when I lived in Minnesota and we saw a quilt similar to this hanging in a quilt shop. We all decided to make this top, but in different fabrics (pinks and greens, retro 30's prints, etc.) We're all in different stages of completion -- Jewels is the big winner with a finished, quilted quilt.
5. This is a wallhanging I started for my sunroom. I want some beehives out there -- 'cause I love beehives. Probably because I was born in the Beehive State.

6. This quilt is just embarrasing. I've been quilting it for over 10 years. (Ok, tell the truth, probably more like 15 years.) The blocks were made by the girls in the friendship group. There are 77 bow tie blocks + borders. I think I only have about 10 bow ties left to quilt, so I'm certainly more than 1/2 way done.

7. And last, we have 90 Lady of the Lake blocks all ready to be put into a quilt top. Really wouldn't be that much work -- just haven't done it yet. After the friendship group got out of the "making blocks for each other" phase, we had a blue and white fabric swap. We each brought a few yards of several blue prints and then cut them up and shared. This is probably the UFO that I want to get back to the most.

So, a little dip of your toe in my lake of UFOs. My tastes have changed over the years, which probably makes some of those projects hard to pick up again. Hopefully it will happen before someone has to sell them in an estate sale.

XOXO,
Anna

Oh, P.S. I really can't think of anyone who hasn't already done this meme. Do you think I'd have any success at getting Jewels, Juni and Gurney to post 7 random things in the comments??? (Just trying to drag them into blogland..... ;-) )

Memorial Day

In the US today, we remember those who serve our country and have given their lives for our freedom.

The Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

Everyone celebrates in their own way, but here are some suggestions.

XOXO,
Anna

The Other Graduation Quilt

I've shown you the high school graduation quilt I made for TheFirstChild, so now, here is the quilt for TheSecondChild. Whereas, TheFirstChild had his little U-Turn indiscretion, TheSecondChild had an indiscretion involving a stork. No baby involved, just the stork.He was at a party when one of the boys decided to use the phone number from one of those big stork yard signs (that people use to announce the birth of a new baby) and prank call the stork guy. Boneheads. It's the 21st century. The century of caller id. All those 16 year old boys got in t.r.o.u.b.l.e.

It was pretty funny at the time. Good clean fun. But, these days, you can't have just good clean fun. Not unless it's politically correct. My, how things have changed. So many things kids can't do now that past generations could do. My Dad was a class clown sort of kid. He lived in a small town and is full of prank stories from his youth. Turning over outhouse kinds of stories. One day, they even hung one of their teachers out of a second story window by his feet. Can you imagine what would happen to boys if they did that now? They wouldn't pass go. They'd go straight to jail!Someday, I hope the TheSecondChild will be able to tell his grandchildren about the stork. And all about his friends who signed his quilt.

XOXO,
Anna

A Graduation Quilt

First things first. The very sweet Kim has tagged me to name seven weird things about me. Kim, I'm sorry, but there's no way I could top not liking mashed potatoes! ;-) That's definitely weird, 'cause I think mashed potatoes are almost my favorite food on the planet! For the first six weird things about me, you can read here. Hmmm. A seventh? How 'bout, I'm not terribly fond of backrubs. I think most people love them, don't they? I'm supposed to tag someone to name weird things, but I think almost everyone has listed their weird things at some point, so I'm tagging anyone who's been missed. Go ahead and name them!

Not much sewing, knitting, or anything creative has been going on around here. And judging by the mess that's been created by two college boys and all their sh stuff coming home, I'm we're going to be cleaning for awhile. So, because I like to post with a picture or two, and because it's that graduation time of year, I thought I'd show you the graduation quilts I made for the boys when they graduated from high school -- TheFirstChild's quilt now and TheSecondChild's in a later post.This was a complete surprise for TheFirstChild. I had all of his friends sign blocks. Then I gave the quilt to him at a family dinner the night of graduation.

He was so cute -- he had to leave immediately after dinner to go to a graduation party and he didn't want to leave his quilt -- he was so busy reading all the blocks. This quote has always been his favorite. He had me write it on his bedroom wall, so it had to be the quote to go on his quilt. It was a great surprise and I loved that he was so touched by it all.

XOXO,
Anna

(He has a "no-u-turn" symbol on his quilt, because he had a car accident in high school -- he made a u-turn and one of his best friends, who was following him, hit his car. There has been quite the discussion ever since then about who's fault it was -- they both got tickets!)

The Quilt Show

Sorry -- I'm a day late in telling you about the quilt show. Unfortunately, after two very pleasant days, yesterday was my annual MTTD (Major Tax Tirade Day -- not to be confused with mTTD -- minor Tax Tirade Day which will occur in about a week when the property tax bill comes and I rant and rave about why our tax rate is higher than, say, someone who has a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge, when our view here is of cornfields!) Anyway, with MTTD my tirade isn't related to the amount of money that gets hijacked from my bank account as much as it's the ridiculous amount of work that it takes to fill out the forms. It's the annual slap in the face I get to remind me that I am not a filer. I try to be organized. I put things away. I just can't remember where I put them. It's just way too much work and I resent the amount of time spent filing taxes -- time that could be spent sewing! They know how much I make -- why can't they just send a bill for some percentage? Ahem. I digress. Suffice it to say, there was much wailing, gnashing of teeth and stomping of feet yesterday and I feel much better today. Thanks for listening!

On to the quilt show! We had a very fun day. I accompanied my dear friends Junie and Jewels (Gurney was sorely missed!) and Me.Mum (My beloveds must all have a nickname. I love how the British (and Australians!) call their mothers Mum and since my mother has declared that she's never getting on an airplane again unless it's to go to the UK, I've decided to call her Me.Mum.) Anyway, I thought the picture to the right, pretty much summed it up.

It had been a long time since we'd been to such a good quilt show. We gave up Paducah many years ago because it was just too crowded. This show didn't seem to have the number of quality of quilts that Paducah had back then, but there were certainly some pretty quilts on display. We're a group of pretty traditional girls, and sadly, hand quilted quilts are just getting harder and harder to find. Our viewers choice was this clever quilt of a tumbling little boy.






The vendor selection, on the other hand was awesome. Far superior to what we've seen in the past. We were all thrilled to see our old standby and favorite vendor, Schoolhouse Quilts. We've been followers of Judy Rothermel for years and years -- her piecing and quilting are exquisite. There were many other wonderful vendors too. One of my favorites was Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods (sadly, no website), a booth that had tons of ribbons, trims and buttons. All organized by color -- so inspiring!





It was a great quilt show -- very well run and organized with lots of room for the crowds. It will definitely be on our list for next year!

In other news, we're having very weird weather here for April. It snowed almost all day yesterday. I thought spring had arrived two weeks ago when our ducks showed up. They come back every year, just like clockwork. One mallard and one drake. Duck Love. We never see any product of their union, but they always seem to be very happy just waddling around the neighborhood for a few weeks. Here you can see them enjoying the growing puddle in our backyard caused by all the rain we've had this spring.








Lots of people are complaining about the cold weather. Not me. I love the snow. And I love the delay of spring. 'Cause if there's snow on the ground, it means I don't have to mow the lawn. I love to mow, but I don't have the winter nesting/sewing out of my system yet. Happy Snowmen.

XOXO,
Anna