Life In The Crossroads!

I wanted to take some time to showcase some of the quilts that are coming out of the Carolina Crossroads Mystery! Many of them can be seen on blogs by following the mystery quilters webring in my side bar.

There are so many, and I would love to show them all, but with over 1200 people on the list, there is only room here for a sampling :c) Click each one to get the full sized picture. I uploaded these in small format because there were so many.

I'm really thrilled with all the participants! The colors are WOW and the enthusiasm is catching!


This has just been the most unbelievable experience. Not to mention it has made the last 8 weeks fly by. I'm hoping to do another one in April. I'll have to see what comes up as far as ideas go...I hope you'll join us!

Nifty Thrifty!

Isn't this a great well-loved quilt? It's just a cutter piece, the fabrics are shredding, but still it called to me. I love the simplicity of this block design, and I can imagine the maker digging through her scrap bag, cutting up leftovers from dresses and shirts to make this quilt to warm a bed for a long hard winter.

A lot of times it's quilts like this that spark my creativity. I play with blocks in different colors, fabrics and sizes...and then it takes a turn and goes off in it's own direction. But my inspiration often starts here, with a simple block.

I've been working with these strips in all colors and sizes from shirts that I've cut up. This pic is of the latest haul from the goodwill clearance center. Man, I am going to MISS THIS PLACE!!!

I made a pile of 30 blocks. I was going to leave this til later, but.....

I decided I can't stand it anymore! And before everything gets packed, up, I wanted to lay my latest shirt blocks out on the floor and play with sashings.




So this is as far as I've gotten. The light rectangle in the sashing is a brown gingham. It nearly reads as a medium. It's darker than the lights, yet lighter than the darks in the blocks. The sashings are the only thing that used yardage and not shirts, because I needed something to tie it all together. I'm still thinking on outer borders.

Actually I should be thinking on packing everything up, but I just can't! I've got ONE MORE WEEK of evenings home alone and I want to make the best of that I can!! *LOL*

I've been trying to come up with names for the shirt quilts using the names on the labels inside the shirts, but there might be copy right issues if I named a shirt-quilt Old Navy! (I was thinking of that if I used only navy shirts for a quilt, etc..) Calvin Klein? Joseph A Banks?? Pierre Cardin? It would be fun...but for the mean time, I named this quilt in progress Nifty Thrifty. And there is probably another quilt out there with the same name...we know that happens to a lot of quilts...but this still fits for me.

Fabric Finds!

My birthday month is the month where I gift myself with fabric and quilty things! You all know I ordered some a couple weeks ago. And it came! The FQ bundles from Z & S arrived just in time!

I also did a bit of shopping at Sweet Home Quilt Co in Conyers, GA! This is Melissa's shop, and it is in a wonderful historic house built in 1900!


You can see that Oscar was greatly intrigued by what I spread out on the floor! The two orange pieces I ordered from thousandsofbolts.com and there are the two FQ bundles from Z & S fabrics.com

I found a few background FQs at Melissa's shop that I had to have, along with my favorite roxanne quilting needles...I love these because they are more stout than other needles and don't bend so easily. I also raided her 10 cent scrap bin!! It gave me a big variety of pieces to work with, always so fun. Some marking pencils topped off my purchase there!

Oscar had to roll all over and love the scrap pieces right away. A cat after my own heart! I felt like doing the same thing! ;c)

Bane of all Banes....I am home today, but I have to clean house for a house showing in a few hours. I want to SEW! I want to QUILT! I have so much to do, and I have to spiffy everything up for a house showing..blahhh..

Today Jeff is 18!! He made it to adulthood! Well, at least in numbers anyway...(no thanks to me I'm sure...it can't be easy to live with me...)

I also have a funny to admit to. Over the last couple weeks with birthday pending, I bought some books from amazon...I didn't remember all that I bought, But books arrived while I was gone. I opened them up last night, took the stack to bed to read with me...and I don't remember ordering all of these. Hmmmm...

This morning there is an email from Lucy asking if I received the book she sent for my birthday! And I don't even know which one it is, because I looked at them all, and ordered a bunch and I don't remember! Is this old age settling in?! I had to ask her the title of the one she sent so I can know it was the one SHE sent and not one I ordered for my birthday book spree..silly. But you gotta laugh, right?

A ride on Georgia's Antiques Trail!

Hi hi!

I had a terrific time in Georgia on Tuesday night! The Covington guild was wonderful and receptive. And I tell you what! If you ever want to go to a place that has fabulous door prizes....GOOD GRIEF!!!

Melissa told me the way they do it is this....if it is YOUR birthday month (the way it was my birthday yesterday)...the birthday gals are the ones who bring the door prizes! And it seems there is quite the competition for who brings the best door prize! This means lots of participants buying tickets. Each prize has a numbered gold paper baggie next to it. You buy tickets, and put the tickets in the prizes that you want to win. It was fun to see who put what tickets where, and when the drawing started, there was lots of hooting and hollering! FUN!

BUT! Before I run away with myself....Melissa and I met up with a couple of other gals who took me out to dinner! We went to the BEST BBQ place...Mad Dog BBQ! I love going to "NON" chain places to try different foods, and this was tops! I have to admit, Georgia BBQ has it hands down all over SC BBQ! I never did understand that yellow mustard based sauce they use here....it just looks bad..*heheh*

I had so much fun talking to these ladies about their scraps and how to USE them instead of just hoarding them. They asked great questions, and we got some good discussion going. Got them thinking, and hopefully got them inspired to stop pussy footing around, and start SEWING!

Now this is where I admit to really being blond. I made sure I charged the camera battery..yep..fully charged..ready to go..back in it's case, you know the story? Well I pulled it out at the guild meeting to take some pics, and the screen said "OUT OF MEMORY". UGH. Yep...I forgot to put in the memory card! It was still at home in the slot on the front of my computer! So some of the ladies took pics and will be sending them to me.

I finished the binding on the Double T quilt while in my hotel room. I had a wonderful nights sleep in a very comfy bed at the Comfort Inn....

The next morning (yesterday) I got up, had breakfast, packed..and then mapped my way home...OFF THE INTERSTATE! My plan was to hit some really quaint little towns, look at all the victorian and mansion style houses, see the court house squares, find a little place to have lunch,and of course hit the antique shops. I was going to wander with no thought to the time! It was my birthday after all! I just wanted the whole day to myself. And that is just what I got.

The first place I stopped was "Church Street Antique Market" in Covington GA. I found three goodies there that I could not pass up! The first thing was the big basket with the lid. I love baskets. I find them so versatile! I also found the green ceramic jar there, perfect for cotton balls or something. I also nearly MISSED the other goodie....the little rocking chair pincushion!

From there I hit "Barn Raising" in Rutledge, GA, and then on to several shops in Madison GA!

I think Madison was my favorite..so picturesque. I love old country towns that center around a courthouse square. I can almost imagine what it was like in the "good old days" of yesteryear.




And don't forget the little hexagon doll quilt. Oh...I fell in love! It's tied...but all hand stitched. It's OLD...it's so old it LOOKS like a repro, but it is the real thing! I took a bunch of close ups so you can see the fabrics. This was my find of the day....I love it so much!

The patchwork Bunny came from another shop in Madison, and the picture is a quilter's cross stitch...I picked that up in Augusta!





Also, in Augusta I found this! A string star top in really wonky shape..but it was only $18! It had to come home with me. The pieces in it are huge...I'm not sure if I want to re cut the stars and re piece them correctly so it will lay flat or just hang on to it as a fabric study..but I just love it, even as wavy as it is! The greens have started to change color...not sure if they (or at least one of them..there are two greens that I can tell in the background) were hand dyed or not.

I took some close ups of my favorite fabrics in it!

I made it back to Columbia just in time to drive straight to choir practice...from there I came home and went to bed. Today I've been at the office all day.....

But the best news I have to tell you is that I have a PACKING/MOVING DATE!! The movers are coming to start boxing me up on Feb 7th. They'll load the truck on the 8th. They will deliver all to my new house on Feb 11th. So this is going to happen rather quickly now. If you don't hear from me....you'll know why! I'm not sure how long it will take to get internet hooked up at the new place. We are just taking it one day at a time.

And since this post is so long and photo intensive....I'll end it here for tonight. I took pics of my birthday fabric too, but that can wait for another post.....

T is for Tuesday!

Wow..I haven't posted for several days. Did you think I went awol?! It all started with Friday. We bought DH's old boss's 1994 ford taurus for Jeff, and it had to have the taxes paid, insurance put on it and plates picked up from the DMV etc. I had to do so much running around on friday to get this all done! He was anxiously waiting for me in the driveway when I got home friday afternoon...screw driver in hand....eager to get those plates on so he could DRIVE IT!

You might remember that a few months back he wrecked his car by hitting a hummer. I think he learned his lesson. He and I have been sharing MY car for the past few months since his dad is in Winston Salem and we are here. We've had to shuffle schedules to be sure we could get him to work on time, etc. We've done remarkably well!

He is now spoiled...this taurus is in excellent shape. It was babied and taken such good care of. I hope that trend continues. This time around he knows the car is NOT his. It is OURS..and he has privilege of using it as long as certain conditions are met. We learned our lesson on the last one.

DH also came home friday night after being gone for 3 weeks. There was lots of running around to do over the weekend. We had a bunch of papers regarding the closing of the new house to have notarized and signed, as well as papers for THIS house that needed notarized and signed as well...for the pending buy out. Talk about stress in getting all the ducks in a row. Thanks to the UPS store..it got all done. If you didn't know, all the employees at a ups store are notaries, so even on a weekend, you can get something notarized. Not so with the bank!



As for the T part of today's post title...I finished quilting my double T top! I needed something easy to throw in on sunday so that I'd have something to sit and bind. Nothing like being warm under a quilt while hand stitching binding down when it is this cold!

I made this top with the inspiration of an antique quilt I saw in the same pattern, which also used a double pink background, and the Ts just seemed to blend in like this. I like the murkiness of it! (Is that a word?!) Sometimes antique quilts just had really low contrast, and I aimed for that with this quilt. It doesn't use ALL reproduction fabrics, but there are quite a few in there as well as some stuff I wanted to use up that just fit the bill.

I didn't border this one..which is unusual for me! But no borders also fit the time period I was aiming for. I used a madder brown binding on it..I still have a bit left to go to finish the binding, but I wanted to leave you with some eye candy!

I did machine quilt it with swirls and feathers. The quilt is so busy with the murky colors that a lot of intricate machine quilting wasn't going to show anyway. And I wanted it done quick! Nothing really exciting on the back either, just a piece of green yardage that I had enough of. I believe it came from a $1.00 a yard table somewhere ;c)


This morning I caught my little Emmy Lou on the dining room table! She knows she is not supposed to be there! She is a timid little thing, and hard to catch for photos, so I snapped a couple quick pics of her. She and Oscar don't get along....he terrorizes her, and she prefers mostly to be outside. She comes in to eat, get a bit of loving, and then back out she goes. But the weather has been so cold here, I think she has decided to spend more time IN...and she will hide in places where Oscar can't find her and chase her around. She hisses and spits, and then coughs and sputters. She ought to just whack him one...but she just runs!


I'm on my way to Covington Georgia today to do a lecture/trunkshow tonight! Yesterday I went back to the miltary supply store and bought some more duffel bags for transporting the quilts. I had to take a couple pics! They were out of black ones, so two of them are army green, but that is okay by me. Now it REALLY looks like there are a bunch of body bags in my living room!

I didn't pack them so full that they are too heavy to carry. I have a little collapsable wheeled dolly thing that makes it easy to wheel each one into wherever the guild meeting is, and there are lots of handles on them so they can be carried by one or two people. I also like that I can roll the quilts instead of folding them....that will help with crease lines, etc.

I'll be back sometime tomorrow! Tomorrow is also my birthday. Wow. I'm 46! I thought my life would be over and boring by the time I was 46...and it feels like it is just beginning and getting better all the time!

Jeff is 18 on Friday. This means that I am now a parent of all adult children. I did it! I made it through! Sometimes I didn't think I would, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel :c)

Off to pack for GA!

Blue! The 2008 Color of the Year!

Christine Mann writes for quilting.suite101.com and has used my Epiphany Stars quilt in her article!

The article is sub-titled: More About Blue, Its Many Meanings, and How to Use it in Quilts

Blue has always been one of MY favorite colors. Blue makes me feel peaceful and comforted. It's easy on the eyes (though,depending on the shade,it can be electric as well!) and it complements most other colors. There just isn't anything that does NOT go well with blue!

Of course, I must not know EVERYTHING (I'll readily admit this!) Because the article also said that colors to avoid when making a quilt for someone else are orange and brown...and I am in LOVE with orange and brown, both together and separately!

Maybe they are talking more about colors to WEAR instead of colors to quilt with..but my orange is STAYING in my quilts. (Come to think of it,I don't really wear orange at all...unless it's halloween or Queen's Day!)

Thanks Christine, for including my quilt in your article!

Step 7....The Finale!

Step 7 is up!

I had so much fun planning this mystery for you. I have loved seeing all the variety in the fabric choices and seeing how much fun you have had with it!

I now have a closing date on our house in Winston Salem, NC. We will be closing Feb 4th, and moving should happen close after that date.

I plan to do another mystery quilt starting around April 1st!

Stay Tuned!

In Stitches --

(and pssst...guess what? It's SNOWING HEAVILY here in SC as I type this! Whooowhooo! Do you think I'd be lucky enough to be iced in from having to go to work tomorrow? one can always dream..and that's where I'm headed right now....g'night!)

Eye Candy!

Sometimes SIMPLE is SIMPLY BEST!! I love this picture of this old quilt....I'm guessing it was made sometime in the 40's or 50's....but it is simplicity at it's best!

I'm focusing on "keeping it simple" when life seems to spiral out of control! I'm headed this morning to the office..it's going to be a busy day. But I have a two hand projects with me....the crumby stars, and another quilt, that needs binding. I'll be okay..

It's choir tonight, and I'll be home some time after 9pm.

Tomorrow is thursday and I'm supposed to be ready to post the last steps to Carolina Crossroads! It may be mid day before that is done,but it will get done!

Keep it Simple...Keep it Simple....

It was Wednesday....

Hard to believe it was already almost a week ago! Our second workshop in Houma, Louisiana was Scrappy Mountain Majesties! This made for a very fun and easy class as the whole thing starts as pairs of 8.5" squares, light and dark! The color combinations are endless, and the results are stunning!



It was nearly Deja Vu of the previous day, only with different quilters! What fun! In came the parade of machines.. (This group has a tremendous amount of feather weights! so cute to see them all up and humming!) In came the parade of FOOD! And we were off and running making easy delectable scrappy mountain blocks!




Everyone's color choices were SO GREAT. We had ladies doing this in just TWO fabrics, which turned out really cool. We had people doing scrappy scrappy, or a planned color scheme. Of course the most fun is when everyone crawls on the floor to play with layouts. Lots of oohs and ahhs there!



I just had so much fun with these ladies. They even brought a quilt show for ME! They had brought quilts they had made using my patterns. A lot of the quilts they make go to charity, and I am just tickled with what I've seen!

We had scrappy trips around the world, two weedwhackers, a crayon box, a finished scrappy mountain majesty top, a chunky churn dash, and Mary G's delightful crumb/mile a minute quilt! How fun was this!

The hardest part for me is knowing how far these fun ladies are from where I live, when I feel like I fit right in. I wish I could go sew with them every week, they were so welcoming and funny and just great to be around.



And you HAVE to see this yummy MARDI GRAS cake!!! This cake definately inspired the border colors for my crumby stars quilt! Purple and Green and Gold ROCK! :cD


This last picture is Connie sewing away on her way too cool tan Singer 301!! She found out about the workshops through my blog and the quiltvillechat list and emailed Mary Lea to see if there were openings! She had SO much fun she joined the guild that very day. How is that for bringing quilters together?

I was also showered with Mardi Gras beads, and Connie gave me the sweetest little mardi gras doll. I'll have to get some more pics later, but I think I've overloaded my quota for today :c)