Jodie Ann, you'd be proud !

After 32 years of not driving, and 20 something years of Jodie Ann and Wanda picking me up for all quilt-related affairs, I'm finally doing it myself. If you had seen me loading those quilt poles into the back of my jeep this morning, you'd think I'd been doing it forever.......well, I have, but not in my own vehicle !

I started this day by tacking the ticking back onto the quilt boards, but then came grey skies and a few drops of rain. When the rain threatened to ruin my basting day, I called the bank where I used to practice piano lessons in the back/community room, and asked if they still had such a room, and whether or not it was busy today. The lady graciously said that I could use it all afternoon, so around 11:30 a.m., I gathered up all my supplies and headed out. This is the room where all of my friends held their bridal or baby showers when I was a young woman. I found that the bank has cut the room down to a third of its old size and are using it as a conference room, complete with a HUGE table that must weigh about 3 tons ! When the young lady realized that I needed an empty floor space, she helped me move the table, and left me to my work.

It took me about 2 hours to baste the quilt all on my own,........not bad, I think. The cotton batting fought the curved needle with every basting stitch, so I know it will be kindof slow quilting. It would hand-quilt better if I had rinsed the batting, but that shrinks it some, and I like to save that for after the quilt is quilted, to give it that wonderfulllllllll rumply look that I love.

As I loaded the basted top and the frames back into my Jeep, I couldn't help thinking how proud my friends would be of my NEW independence......(as dependent as I was on them, I always ACTED like "Miss Independence" !)

You know what though..........I still need you guys for the BEST part......doing it TOGETHER.

WISH YOU WERE HERE !

Hooray, Hooray, my quilts arrived today !

Fabric, too !

But wait ! Don't expect great things from me yet ! I've got to spend this week trying to get this place ready for the 'invasion', albeit a happy one ! And now, this trailer is packed to the hilt..........where am I going to store my precious quilts? I used to have some of them stacked on top of my credenza, and some of them in a hall closet. Well, the closet here doesn't look 'safe' enough (I'm afraid the quilts would get wood or rust stains). And the credenza has my little stereo on top of it. I'm definitely going to have to take some time to do this right. Praise God for the fact that the dresser that houses the fabrics has been sitting empty just waiting for their arrival back 'home' ! I never gave into the temptation to put other things into those drawers !

In the meantime, I'm taking the vehicle I drive to have some standard maintenance type 'stuff' done tomorrow........the guy works out of the old service station that I spent all of my days in as a kid. My dad ran it then, all of the years I was in school, and since we lived in the country, we spent the whole day there, from early morning, arriving to deliver the town's newspapers, and going home when the place closed, not leaving town until well around midnight, by the time you restocked for the next day. Sentimentality led me to go to this guy for my car care, but he IS rather expensive ! I feel committed to go through with it at this point, but have been warned that he likes to 'fix' a few extra things that you didn't ask for and charge you when you come to get the vehicle. I'm going to warn him against such behaviour, but if he does it anyway, we're going to go 'round and 'round ! My LORD is not going to let anyone take unfair advantage of me or my husband.

Anyway, I'll be busy tomorrow for sure, but I want to try to get one more baby quilt pieced and basted, ready for quilting, before the kids arrive, so that I have something to work on in idle times..........will there really be any idle time in the next 2 months? We'll see.........but let's be ready , just in case !

I love you guys.......ya know that? God Bless you all !

This is it......THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT !

Are you ready...........wait..........I should ask "AM I READY?" No, but I will be !

My daughter, Kelley, who just gave birth to that big ol' 10 and a half pound baby boy three weeks ago, is going to leave him with his daddy in Germany (they're an Army family, you know), for a week, just to fly here and bring me my two older grandbabies for the SUMMER !
UNBELIEVABLE SACRIFICE she and her hubby are making FOR HER DADDY AND ME !

Yep, I get to be the Nana again, for two whole months ! And the Mama, for a week ! I've missed my daughter so much, especially while going through all of this change in her daddy's health and the move and all ! She's so dear to me ! And those babies have grown up so much ! It's been almost 3 years since she moved out of our house, and I've seen her only for two short visits, and the last one of those was in December of 2007 when her daddy had his first stroke. Hubby can't wait to get those babies under his roof again,.......daughter AND grandbabies.

It's going to be an amazing time for her too.........finally getting to meet all of the family she's heard about all of her life, but never met ! She's beside herself with excitement, and says she's gonna go 'knockin' on doors ' ! Ha ! They're all so tickled to be meeting her again, too.......having seen her only as a 3 week old baby, if at all.

Anyway, there it is..............I've got a bit to do to get this place ready, and I will post until then, but I may just get too busy after they arrive. But when you miss me then, you'll stop and think, "oh yeah, she's got her hands (and arms) full (of love again) !

Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.
I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
Psalm 66:16-20

I'm just not quick enough !

See.......do I know my life or what? Told ya I'd get stains ! Christopher decided that for some reason, he had to pour lemonade from my glass into his while I was out of the room. Of course, my glass was held right above this chair and just drip, drip, dripped from the bottom while being poured ever so carefully ! I forgot about the vinyl for a few days !

Okay, okay........I'm on it. I'll go look right now and see how much I have !

Gardening progress.......and FAITH

It's been a little over a week since I photographed my tomato plant, and it has a nice little tomato on it....actually more than one. And the flowers at the end of the trailer seem to have finally caught root. Even the ones around the mailbox are rallying. FAITH --- see my ring in the tomato plant photo.......apparently, I should look at it more often myself !

Speaking of FAITH, today was the beginning of Vacation Bible School at the Church that I attend....probably where you live too, huh?

I'm a snack server, which basically means that I have to tell the kids to put back that second snack that they grabbed, as they only get 1 snack and 1 drink ! It just made me feel like a big ol' meanie !

But you know, I was reminded today just how important it is when you volunteer at this kind of thing.....lives ARE being changed. One of the other helpers was mentioning that she accepted Christ on the last day of Vacation Bible School when she was a young girl, 14 actually, and I remembered that I DID TOO ! My best girlfriend and I both did........WE were 14 at the time, and she was a lot more savvy about Church stuff. Having not gone to Church much as a child, I didn't really know what it all meant, I have to admit. She said she wanted to be saved, and I didn't want her to do something that I couldn't do, so I said, "yeh, me too!" But it wasn't long before I understood, and Jesus made such a difference in my young life. Upon reaching adulthood, I wandered away from God, even ran, for much of my life, but God cared enough about me to call me back. That is so amazing.........WHO AM I, that God would care to take that much time to speak to me persistently, chastising me, nudging me, loving me, calling me back?

He loves you that much too, you know? I think it's so sad that so many times it takes going through these rough trials for us to remember that we have a helper that can get us through those sleepless nights, and troubled days, and give us not only rest, but peace........I mean right in the middle of those hard times ! Praise be to God Almighty !

There I go, preaching again !!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I just hope that I can be a blessing to some child there this week.

Big announcement coming very soon.

Played outside today........

.....then came home and played on the 'puter................

Something like this is rattling around in my head, waiting to pop out of my hands as my next baby quilt. This might be a little too orderly for me.........I think I'd like to 'random it up' just a little bit, rather than go with the diagonal rows................what is it with me and diagonals? My inspiration was this quilt on flickr.

Reupholstered chairs

Well, I finished all four chairs, and I have the blister in the palm of my hand to prove it ! Driving screws into that wood is more difficult than you'd think (for a softy, pampered, handi-crafter, anyway) !
(Hey, I just noticed that the kitty napkin holder on the table matches my blog background.......no wonder I was drawn to it !)

Here's a look at the four chairs..........they match now ! Hooray !

Unfortunately, I don't have room enough in this little trailer kitchen to have them all placed around the opened up table, full time, but I think the landlords were very smart to put a gate-leg table in here, so that it can stay closed most of the time, especially when it's just the two of us. We usually eat while sitting on the couch in front of the t.v. anyway. Plus, my electric bike is parked in the kitchen, too, for lack of a better place for it right now.

I'm thinking that tomorrow I'll check to see if I have enough clear vinyl to make removable vinyl covers too.........the other chairs came up with stains so quickly.........how does that happen?

The idea of the covers reminds me of Raymond's mom's couch on "Everybody Loves Raymond". Ha, ha........that's me !

Somedays you just really feel the grace of God...

It is written........

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

Psalm 84:10-12

This morning started one of those days where everywhere I went, things just worked out right. You know what I mean? I needed to find a scrap of lumber at the lumber yard, so that I wouldn't have to buy a $13.00 sheet of plywood for that chair bottom.........they had a 3/8" thick piece that they usually don't even sell, it just comes as a protective covering over some more expensive material..........custom cut just for me -- $2.00 !

Then, rather than go straight to the fabric store,where I thought I could find a pretty piece of upholstery fabric on the $1.00 or $2.00 per yard tables, I thought I'd just stop in at a little junk/treasure type store on the way back into town. They had a sign saying, "June 4th, all clothes on tables -- 50cent each". Well, Zoe needs dresses for Church, so I found 4 pieces, and started to the front of the store. A piece of upholstery fabric caught my eye, and although it isn't 'pretty', it's really the type exactly that was originally on these chairs I bought, so I asked, "how much?" She said, "Awww.....$1.00" Yippee ! It was atleast 2 yards, plenty for the chair bottoms, and I would have to pay atleast $1.25, maybe even $2.50 at the fabric store, to get the minimum 1 1/4 yds I needed to be sure I had just enough. I decided to take a chance and then if the fabric store had something I liked better, I was only out $1.00, right? Great !

Went to the fabric store next, and guess what.........no upholstery fabric on the $1. table, and nothing pretty on the $2. table. Perfect, thank you LORD, we've already got it covered. But I also need to pick up a quarter-yard of solid red for the hem on Chris's pillowcase. Oh, dear, no solids here on either table, but what's this...........a red background fabric with racing emblems on it. Why that will be just perfect to go with the motorcycle fabric of the pillowcase ! And at $2. per yard, I'll only be out 50 cents plus tax. I tell the lady up front what I want, and in a moment she apologizes because she didn't see how the end tapered, so the cut is a little smaller (1/2 inch) than the quarter yard I ordered. I tell her that won't hurt a bit on a pillowcase hem, and she says, "well, I still won't charge you for a full quarter-yard. Your total is 49 cents !!! Thanks again, sweet Jesus !

I come home and get the chair bottoms taken apart, and the foam inserts washed and rinsed (see them hanging on my makeshift sewing room clothesline?......it's been raining again!) I start sewing, and the library calls while I'm making the pillowcase, and says that the book I've requested from a neighboring library is in. Fantastic !

I even wound up going and getting 2 free wooden chairs that a lady offered on the noontime radio trade show. They're a bit rickety, but work fine for the computer and sewing rooms! (You can see one at the sewing machine in the photo of the chair paddings drying.......isn't that a great freebie? )

I tell you, when the Bible says that the LORD wants to show you favor, you'd better believe it. A blameless heart is not of your doing, it's washed clean by the precious blood of our LORD Jesus Christ, and if you accept that and live for him, nothing is going to come between the two of you. Don't get me wrong, I still have challenges........big-time even, and I still have days of doubt (in my own strength to endure, not his) and I sometimes fight anxiety........you will, too..............but trusting in Jesus means that someone is going to remind you that you have a DADDY, your HEAVENLY FATHER, who stands between you and anything that can come against you, and he ain't been beat yet.........and it ain't gonna happen ! So, hang in there, and believe, because one day very soon, you're going to have a day like I had today, and it's going to hit you........wow, I AM walking in FAVOR ! Thank you, my sweet Heavenly Father !

Wednesday's project

This is going to be keeping me busy for atleast a couple of days. This trailer came furnished with most everything I needed, furniture-wise, but the kitchen chairs, although pretty to look at, are a disaster waiting to happen........I mean, they are literally coming apart ! So I checked a junk/antique store today and found these four chairs for only $15.00.......he asked $20., but you know me ~!~ Anyway, I knew they would take quite a bit of time and work to get in shape, so I've started taking the seats off to replace the fabric. I think I'll probably have to replace the stuffing, too, and even the wood seat bottom itself on one of them, because someone has put their knee through it. (I recognize the damage, as I did that myself to a new Big Lots kitchen chair I had bought in a set.) The bottoms are made of pressed wood and I like to replace them with 1/4 inch plywood. Thing is, I'd like to replace them all at the same time, since I'm going to the trouble of recovering them, but money is tight (for everyone, right?) and hubby wants me to go with what I've got that works. MEN !

But, he's right in a way, because June's surprise is going to cost us a little bit of extra money !

Oh, yeah .......now I remember why I don't piece my backs !

I'm a hand-quilter ! Duh !
I love the looks of the randomly pieced backs I've seen some of the young quilters making lately, and I even took a stab at adding a pieced stripe to the back of this Walking Pinwheels baby quilt I'm making. But today when I was quilting, I remembered why I don't piece my backs. I was hand-quilting in the ditch when I came upon a long stretch where there was a seam on the back side and my stitches became an eighth of an inch apart, if not farther ! I'm not worried about the look of it, as these are meant to be used, but it was actually very difficult to do the stitching itself, and I won't be subjecting myself to that again. I'll save the pieced backs for quilts that I know I'm going to machine-quilt. And that'll have to wait until I re-find an inexpensive source for cotton batting. (Now you know I prefer the dimply look of hand quilting over machine-quilting anyway, so it's not like I'm missing something that I'm dying to do !
But on the positive side of things, I quilted on the deck until the heat and rain sent me inside, and then I quilted under the air conditioner most of the afternoon,.......even while my little family was visiting (Chris and Mandy). So, I've already quilted a full third of the quilt, not counting the outside border. It's lookin' good ! Here's a sneak peek............

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil....................She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. Proverbs 31: 10-11, 13

If all goes well, my quiet 'craft til you drop' life will be happily, busily, and oh so temporarily disrupted as of June 21st, and since my challenge quilt (this one) must be done by the 20th, I am working like a maniac ! Some of you know what I'm hinting at, but I don't want to fully spill the beans quite yet ! !)

Sewing Machine questionnaire

I ran across this questionnaire today on another blog and thought it would be fun to share my sewing machine with all of you. You can check out other people's responses at this website.............. http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=812

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What brand and model do you have?
Singer -- Model 15
How long have you had it?
31 years
How much does that machine cost (approximately)?
These days, you take your chances, hoping to find one at an estate sale.......maybe $25.00, maybe $200.
What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?
I make quilts and bags, curtains and toaster covers, clothing for the granddaugher, when she's available, and I even hem the occasional pair of jeans or slacks.
How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?
I sew atleast 3 times a week, usually making a baby-sized quilt top all at one go.
Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?
I absolutely LOVE my machine.........this one ! I have 3 others, but she is the dominant female in the family ! You know, I have never named her, but have often talked to her.
What features does your machine have that work well for you?
She's a straight-stitch only machine, perfect for quilt-top piecing, and my favorite three features are
(1) the skinny presser foot ,
(2) the knee control lever, and
(3) the single hole in the throat plate, rather than the wide hole for zig-zag machines.
Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?
Not personally, as we are in sync, but the fact that she coasts to a stop, (rather than stopping immediately upon removing your knee from the control,) drove my dear friend JoAnn CRAZY !
Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it!
Oh, sure. I moved away from home, taking only what I could carry in a suitcase and a trunk, just the hubby, me and a 3 week old baby on a Trailways bus. Well, after falling in love with sewing upon taking my first lesson in first-year home-ec class, being without a sewing machine was as hard on me as leaving the family ! But that was one thing that I could change quickly, so when we spied an ad in the newspaper for a $25.00 sewing machine, we couldn't get there fast enough ! Sad to say, the ad was one of those old bait and switch deals where they only had ONE of the $25. machines, and it was gone, but looky what we have for $100. Well, the $100 machine was gear driven, and since the hubby wanted to use it for leather work too, it turned out to be a dream come true for the two of us. She came in a plastic carrying case, and we took her home and I started making clothes for the baby, and refurbishing our little travel trailer. As the years went by, we found a cabinet to fit her, and once, when my daughter was a young girl, we even ran across another machine just like the original, and we bought it for my daughter. It came in a cabinet and my husband set about immediately refinishing it. He did a beautiful job,

but when he wanted to do my cabinet next, I told him that mine was a work-horse, and didn't need any 'ribbons'.

To this day, the old girl is the one I go to for making my quilt tops unless I'm at a quilt camp or class, whereupon I use my Singer Featherweight.

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?
In a heartbeat ! She's a ROCK ! We found a third one at a flea market and sold it to my best friend, another avid quiltmaker !

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?
You want a machine that is easy to maintain by yourself, without a lot of complicated electronics.

Do you have a dream machine?

What have I just been talking about ! ? !

Crochet for Today

It's too hot to quilt !

I'm a cheapskate and I run the air conditioning as little as possible, so until it gets so hot that the hubby insists on cool air, I'll just sit with some crochet in my lap. I'm probably wasting my time right now, but I'm learning a pattern, so it's all good. I'd love to make this long enough for a stole, but I don't think there's enough yarn here in this hank, and it's a lone one from my stash.

I think the pattern is from a book of baby blankies.......not sure since I just copied alot of the stitch patterns by themselves and stuck them into my pattern file. But can't you just imagine the fingers and toes getting caught up in this holey creation ? ! ? Not a good idea. But it would make a pretty dresser scarf or table topper......or if someone had the patience, a beautiful bedspread .......... for someone without small children in the house ! Or hubbies, for that matter.........or dogs......or cats ! You know what, forget the bedspread, I'd rather have the ones dismissed above !

I did draw a bit of a design onto the next baby quilt, and will probably work on it tomorrow morning on the front deck, before it gets too hot...............this morning I had to spend that time cleaning out the fridge !

Lots of Hugs and a Couple of Kisses

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it ! -- Psalm 118:24

What a perfect day........PRAISE THE LORD !
What a way to end this month, huh?

First thing this morning, I was greeted at my back stoop by one of God's masterpieces, (STUDY THE PHOTO CLOSELY TO SEE THE SPIDER WEB !), and the funny thing is that it isn't pointy like webs usually are........it's perfectly round, like my quilted circles I just finished ! Thank you, Sweet Jesus !

Then, I started out working on my little quilt's binding, sitting on the front deck; after lunch, I took the niece and great nephew, and my hubby, of course, out to my brother's riverside camp, where we indulged in some sun and fun. Rugrat shared a fishing pole with me as we pulled little sunfish out of the water......bless their little hearts, I hate that they received so much hook damage just so that we could entertain ourselves.

Dropped the kinfolk off and came home and grabbed a quick shower, always ready to get back to quilting. I finished the binding and snapped a few photos. Hubby gave me a thumbs up on the little polka dot beauty......a big commendation coming from him !

I'm pretty happy with it myself. I didn't think I still liked quilts made with polyester batting, but this one turned out better than I thought it would ! Maybe it's time to stop being a batting snob.

I call the quilt, "Lots of hugs and a couple of kisses", because I quilted it with circles, representing hugs, and threw in two quick x's in the two middle brown setting squares, for a couple of smacks !

A Lazy Friday

I've been thinking about the beautiful flowers from my old yard in Oklahoma........I did have an easy time growing things there ! I'm so glad that I took a few photos, as you tend to take these things for granted !

I planted Vinca (I call them Periwinkles) around my current mailbox here in Tennessee and they are about the same size as when I put them out in April.....the ones that lived, that is !

And I planted 3 tomato plants.........the only one doing really well is the one in a pot on the front porch. I've forgotten how to grow things in Tennessee soil. The one doing well is in potting soil !

It rained again last night.........it's rained nearly every day lately, but that beats the droughts that we went through so often in Oklahoma. Everything is lush here..........except for the flowers I plant ! Ha !

Just hand-quilting........and playing like a kid !

Dots and circles and circles and dots......round and round we go.

Today was in the 80's and turned out sunny, so I took my nephew to the park that was my playground, growing up.........alot had changed since I saw it over 32 years ago, but alot was the same too. One thing that HAD changed was my ability to climb those monkey bars, but don't think I didn't give it a fairly good try. Unfortunately, I was wearing the wrong shoes.........don't try to race a 6 year old little boy if you're wearing slip-on shoes !Back at the trailer, I must say that China is adapting nicely to our move. After being mostly a house kitty in Oklahoma, she now roams pretty freely around our Tennessee home. One night she took refuge from who-knows-what, up about 25 feet in an Oak tree, in a thunderstorm. She was gone the next morning when I looked for her (after slipping out of an open unscreened window about midnight HER, NOT ME ).......I had to borrow a ladder from a kind neighbor to rescue her.........I could hear her crying when I stood on my front deck and called............she was down the road a ways and up in the trees. I don't know who was more afraid, her or me........I've always been afraid of coming down ladders, but the neighbor was going to go up, and I felt more able than he looked ! All ended well, and China has stayed pretty close to home since that experience. Me too, for that matter ! Hee !

Happy Memorial Day

I know that today is set aside as a day of remembrance, and first and foremost, I did say a prayer of remembrance and thanks for all those brave soldiers who risked and still risk their lives to defend the freedom that we enjoy here in the United States. I was put in mind of my father, and how, growing up, I never thought about the fact that he was only in his early, early 20's when he was on Midway Island in the middle of World War II. As a child, you picture your parents as always being 'old', but it hit me last night how very young he and most soldiers are when they go there, and how
they are never the same again. I am so thankful for that service.




But, in more recent years, say 20 years ago, Memorial Day weekend meant that my best girlfriends and I would all come together at JoAnn's house for an all-day quiltathon. You brought your sewing machine, and a project, and your young child, if you couldn't make other arrangements, and you sewed all day, laughing and loving your friends. Her husband would cook our dinner over the grill on the back patio, never minding the mess we were making........cuz when Jodie was happy, everybody was happy ! AND WE WERE HAPPY !

Thanks for the memories JoAnn. and girls........I spent this day basting quilts and thinking of our wonderful friendships ! Love you girls !

Here's today's quilt....and verse..

Whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not unto men.........Colossians 3:23

LOTS AND LOTS OF POLKA DOTS ! Thanks to my good gal friend, JoAnn !

I just love all stages of this kind of work........look at this shot of the blocks all laid out on the floor, ready to be sewn into a top ! Fun, fun, fun !

And this is my deck that the landlord enclosed in lattice this week.......now Piper isn't tempted to jump through the rails when she sees those grey squirrels running around over beyond our drive ! Talk about the Lord answering prayers that you don't even know you have ! Hubby had just walked out onto the deck and told me "I want to go down to the building supply and find some fencing to enclose this deck and maybe make a gate, too". Well, I said, "I signed a rental contract that says that we won't do anything like that without checking with the landlord, so let me call them." Of course, I couldn't reach them and don't have their cell number, so there we were ! Not 5 minutes later the landlady drove up with her sister to put me up some screens, and when we told her what we had in mind, she went home and came back with the lattice, put it up, and then went home and built a little gate!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you, Jesus, that no need is too small if it is important to us !

And the mailbox is a design that my brother (and some guys he crafts with) make to sell around here. They gather muskidine vines and grapevines from the trees in the surrounding area and make wreathes and other things.

Looking back......

Enjoying the blessed photos of the new grandbaby this week made me really appreciate this photo that my sister-in-law handed me today. I can't even imagine how she came up with it, but how very timely it is. The photo is me and Kelley, taken when she was 4 days old..Easter, 1978....my one and only child. And that dress I'm wearing is one that I made and wore to my highschool Junior year's dinner/prom.

First top finished for challenge

Now, keep in mind that coordinated quilts are not my forte´,.......I'm more the 'scrap quilt' type of gal. But I'm always up for a challenge, so this is my first attempt !

I designed it using my EQ5 program, first, imitating these fabrics as closely as possible, and then I translated it into the fabric I had to use.

I don't know how to 'start' something ! I've always had the luxury of time to complete a project in one sitting if it's small enough, so I just followed my usual pattern, ignoring hubby, and stayed with it until it was pieced.

Baby Quilt Challenge -- begun !

I don't want to stop for long, because I'm actually WORKING, rather than thinking about working. But I wanted to post this quickly.........

My dearest friend in Oklahoma, and the world for that matter, sent me a challenge this week. You all know that I have a few baby quilts to make, so she cleaned out her shelves and sent me some fabrics to put together into a quilt or two. I have to use her fabrics as the MAIN ingredients, and I have 30 days to do it (starting May 20, when I received the package.) Here are the fabrics...........


and here is my start......that's all you get for now !






Okay, back to work..........WHAT A HOOT !