Patriotic Giveaway!

Okay, the girls chose their quilts and I took out a couple for gifts, but I have three left over! So, I felt like it was time to share with all my wonderful blogger friends! You have all inspired me to "quilt outside my little box"!!! What wonderful projects ya'll share!!

So, if you would like a chance to win one of these little quilts, just leave a comment on this post. You don't have to be a follower and I will ship overseas, so everyone is welcome! I will draw for the winners (3) sometime this week (depends upon when I get around to it between my chores and stitching!!)

Be Joyful!

Patriotic Jamboree!

For the past several days, I've worded a post in my head a bunch of times - wondered if I should split into more than one post or just say everything at one time. So...one time it is!

I finished up the two quilts that a customer asked me to make for graduation gifts for two boys. So very simple and functional, but she loved them! (YEAH!!)

Glad to have that little project finished and with a satisfied customer!

Mandie (DD#2) asked me to quilt a lap quilt for her that she was giving as a gift (sorry no photo, but it was a cute scrappy blue/yellow/white chevron quilt). I wanted to try a new all over design, and felt like I needed to practice, so I made up a couple of practice sandwiches and - looked pretty good, but wasn't quite ready to put it on the gift quilt yet, so I got out the patriotic small quilt tops that I made last year and practiced some more!

I thought they turned out pretty good, so got two more and quilted them in "strings of stars".

I thought they turned out even cuter! I was binding them, when Mandie stopped by and she said, "Oh, Mom these are so cute - I want this one!!" Well I can't refuse my daughters, so I thought, okay, I've got quite a bit of some fabric I used for backing on two of the star quilts, I'll make some for the girls.

Here's the backing:

and I dug through my stash and found some red and white scraps and FQs to make a couple of small quilts...well six quilts later I said enough!

But I had SOOOO much fun making these and practicing different FMQ designs and ideas! I did cross hatching, pumpkin seeds, loops, stars and hooked feathers!! I must say I'm HOOKED on hooked feathers!!

They were a lot of fun and I think I'm even getting pretty good at them!

I also make three little flag quilts, too! They measure about 9" X 13" and Mandie wanted one of those too!!

So now the girls have several to choose from and I needed a couple of gifts, so I think I'm set for a bit.

While I was digging through my box of small quilt tops, I found one that I had forgotten about. It was a SAL with Joanne. Her SAL was fun and I loved it, but I wasn't crazy about my fabric choices, but I had it, so I thought I would machine quilt it also (and practice some more feathers - Joanne had used feathers on hers and I liked it so....)

I LIKED it! It turned out better than I thought (if you look close, you will see lots of mistakes - but I did want to so my progress!)

So in closing to quote a character in Marie Bostwick's latest book "Between Heaven and Texas":

"You know what I call a machine quilted, quilt? DONE!!!!"

"Frugal Frannie's" tip of the day!

(image from google images)

First of all, I must add my disclaimer: 

"No my name isn't Frannie, and by no means am I starting an advice column, and no slight is intended to anyone named Frannie or to anyone who has an advice column!" 

But I do consider myself very "frugal" - not a hoarder, just keep things that I might use later! (by the way, I DO throw away fabric that is less than 1 1/2" square!)

But I was just "pleased as punch with myself" and wanted to share and give ya'll a laugh!!

Well, I have been stitching away on some small quilts and what's a girl to do with the little strips of batting left over? Well, Frugal Frannie just couldn't throw them away so she thought and thought and thought some more - put the strips in a pile and thought some more...

Then Frugal Frannie had an idea!!! Make stuffing!!!!

So, she lined up the strips into handable (not a word I know - but hey this is Frannie talking! and Frannie likes order!) piles:

Then with the handy dandy rotary cutter (love the person that invented this - why didn't I think of it!! LOL) and large ruler, cut the piles of strips into smaller strips (about 1/4" wide):

Then turned the handy dandy cutting mat (love it, too!) and using the rotary cutter, cut the narrow strips into about 1/4" squares.

Then with the edge of the ruler scooped them into a nice pile,

and put them in a box!

Took less than 5 minutes total to do this!! And boy do I feel good about my tip!!! (LOL)!!!

This really is just to show ya'll that I have been stitching!!! The results to come soon!!

A little bit of quilty stuff and a whole lot of other stuff!

Hello dear blogger friends!! I can say I've missed ya'll. I've been pretty much hit and miss on blogger/computer time. The saying goes that "Time flies when you're having fun"!! Well, I have been having a lot of fun - but a lot of other stuff too!! (most of it fun, too!!) This morning, I've got the bottle kids fed, the cow milked, breakfast for Mike and him sent off on a clearing job, made my "walk-about" checking kids and nannies (I'm on the down hill side of kidding out - only 5 nannies left to go!! Yeah!!), so I got myself a cup of coffee, took a couple more photos and now I'm checking in with ya'll!!

Don't know really where to start, so I'll start with the little bit of quilty stuff. Raewyn came for a visit!!! She spent a few days with us, and she may never come again - she didn't have much of a vacation at my house! She trooped along with me doing my chores! But I can say we talked up a storm and shared our farm/ranch lives as well as some quilting stuff!! What a grand time I had!!

She brought me a bunch of super cool goodies from New Zealand!! A super neat table runner with kiwis!!! And in some of my favorite colors!!! The piecing and quilting are just exquisite!! I will treasure it always! Plus, some Manuka soap, a deck of cards with New Zealand wild life photos (as good as a photo album!), some Old Fashioned Creamy Fudge made locally there in Northland, a note pad with birds (she knows I love birds!), a thimble with kiwi birds highlighted with paua shells (I think) and some buttons made of paua! What a haul!!

We did share a few quilting adventures: I showed her ALL my quilts and projects (I'm sure she thinks I'm nuts!! - like I'll ever finish them!! LOL) Many of you know that I don't favor Paper Piecing (okay, I'll admit it - don't know how to do it and didn't want to learn!) But our guild's BOM for May was a simple foundation paper pieced block! So I hog-tied Raewyn, drug her to my sewing machine and she gallantly instructed me on the art! Voila---my first successful foundation paper pieced block!!! Thanks, Raewyn, I couldn't have done it with out you!!

We also attended a book signing of Marie Bostwick's latest novel "Between Heaven and Texas"! My first ever, and what a great 'send-off' memory with Raewyn!! She has the photo of us together with Marie - so bug her to post it!! By the way, the book was awesome! One of my favorite all time reads!!

Now, to the other stuff! Spring is always busy for me, and this one has seemed even more, but it has been a good one! The day before Raewyn arrived, we received 4 1/2 inches of rain! It feel in about 2-3 hours, so Mike said we had a young flood! I called it a "tank filler". We call our man-made ponds "dirt tanks" and it filled up and ran around on both sides of the dam!! First time is has been full in about 10 or 11 years! Two years ago, it was completely dry, so we are so very thankful for the rain. The down side of that much rain at one time is we lost four baby kids to drowning. (boo hoo)

We had our first kids born on April 16, and there has been a birth every day since then except on one day. For the most part, it has gone very well. We have lost a few kids, and two nannies and we have 12 bottle babies, but the warm weather and rains (we've also had a little more than an inch more in the past week) has helped the pasture to green up, and all seem to be doing well. Go here to see photos of the goats! They are pretty cute!

Other ranch work has included shipping pasture cattle. It also went well, just busy for a few days, gathering, moving, loading etc. Go here if you want to see those events!

Sometimes, Mike needs me to help on one of his clearing jobs (he clears brush and trees from ranch land using a skid steer). So, on his current job, he found a huge cedar tree and the owner had told him that if Mike wanted any cedar trees for posts, he was welcome to cut them. Never a dull moment in our lives!

When Mike got it cut and it fell - the top branches covered up the skid steer! No harm done, though!!

This past weekend was a landmark event for our family! Our youngest daughter graduated with her Bachelor's degree from Tartleton State University! The whole family gathered in Stephenville for the event, and our son and dil were so gracious and hosted a BBQ in their back yard! It was a grand time! Beautiful weather, great food, friends and family - what more could anyone ask for!! So proud of you Mollie!

Well, I'll bid adieu for now! Remember - Be Joyful!!!!

All About Me...

...this is a post about things for "me"!! (It'll be short I won't bore you with my own accolades LOL!!)

First  - "Harmony" - a fun SAL from Lori. First SAL in which I have participated for quite some time (a BOW doesn't count in my book), and I even purchased a couple of reddish/browns from the Generals Wives collection just because my stash just didn't have enough of that for me. When I got it together, I just really liked it - ALOT - so I'm keeping it for me!! It coordinates well with my living room decor! I did machine quilt it with clam shells so I could practice FMQ and following lines - I figure my FMQ is more "humble" than my hand quilting!! LOL Thanks, Lori, for hosting another wonderful little SAL!!!!

Secondly - I recently made an order from Connecting Threads and if you have ordered from them, you know that it is free shipping if your order is $50 or more - well I was about $12 short, so I perused the clearance section and found a book on sale for $12.99! So really I only spent about $6 on the book because I saved shipping by buying the book!! Don't you just love my rationalization!! LOL But I LOVE this book!!! I'm already planning 3 quilts from it!!!

Lastly - a Gift just for "me" from my dear friend Janet O. I missed making Lori's "Abundance", but Janet made it and then sent it to me - just because!!! She knows that I love stars and we have such similar tastes in fabrics and quilts - and I LOVE it!! I haven't decided where to display it - for now it sits on my sewing desk so I can see it, and touch it and be so thankful for it and wonderful friends!! Thanks Janet!!

Stitching, Stitching, Stitching...

...but not too much on TWQ - boo hoo. What with garden to prepare/plant, seedlings to start, cattle to move, calves to mark, nanny goats to check as kidding is soon to start, Border Collies to work, cooking, cleaning, KEEPING GRACEN twice a week (woo hoo!!), all my other stitching projects took precedence over TWQ. But it is back on the front burner and I make time every day to hand quilt - my favorite kind of stitching, though it takes longer!

So here's my other stitching projects - some finishes and some WIPs:

1. I finished the flimsy for my Christmas Sampler Quilt - I call it "Joys of Christmas". It is 88" square and will fit a full bed nicely. Now, I need your input - how to quilt it? I would love to hear every opinion out there!

2. I made another "Spring has Sprung" small quilt. I made four 8" blocks this time instead of nine 6" blocks. This is for a door prize for guild. So many of the ladies liked it and one asked if I would donate the first one as a door prize, I decided to make another - just for them.

3. I'm all caught up on BB Grandmother's Choice blocks!! I've pictured the pieced blocks, but I also pieced an equal amount of chain blocks, too!

4. I've finished two more Stadium quilts for my booth at the market. The black/gold/white one is all FMQ!!! I'm really pleased with the "snail tails" in the diagonal blocks! I just straight line cross hatched the maroon/gray/white one.

5. Lyn, my dil, asked me to make a quilt for her for her mom's birthday. She ordered the fabric on-line, and shipped it to me. I knew she wanted a chevron pattern, so I thought, no problem. But when I opened the box I went - WOW how am I (Ms. traditional fabric girl going to every put these together!!!) But with the help from Mikkie, we laid it out and I think it turned out very well! Lyn loved it (she wondered the same thing when she first saw the fabric, too!! LOL) and she is sure that her mom with love it too! So fun to make something outside your comfort zone! I just FMQed a meander as I felt like the fabric needed to tell the story!

6. Susan over at Starwood Quilter is hosting a Quilter's book club. I'm doing redwork blocks to represent the books and I finished the first two. "The Persian Pickle Club" was our first book, and I didn't know that a Persian Pickle was a Paisley! Did you? Well, I found a pretty Paisley sketch on google images and used it for my first block. The second book - "A Single Thread" by Marie Bostwick, talks about friends helping to mend broken hearts - so I created a broken heart being stitched back  together with a "single thread"!! I'm having fun with this, as it is relaxing to embroider small blocks (9") while I'm watching TV with Mike!

7. My leaders/enders project are 3" nine patches for another Christmas Quilt.

8. Have you seen Ruth's finished CWR quilt? Well, it is absolutely wonderful!!! She quilted "hooked" wreaths in her setting blocks, and I was so inspired by her and her tutorial, that I practiced! I'm thinking about doing the same for the setting blocks on "Joys of Christmas". What do you think?

Hope this finds each of you doing well!!