Christmas Thru the Year

Here's my project for April's Christmas thru the Year! Wonder who will get this little gem????

It's a Disappearing Nine-Patch made with a charm pack plus 3 charms of my own that went with to give me the 45 charms I needed.  All quilted, bound and labelled! 

Still dragging my feet a little from being sick last week.  Fresh air would be nice but it's cold and wind blowing hard, which I don't mind, except it stirs up all the dirt and dust which would put my allergies into an awful mess!  

When I started Graceful Stitches in March, I never dreamed it would take off like it has! Quilts quilt and quilts lol!  I love it and am so inspired by all the beautiful tops. Just enough to keep me out of trouble but not overwhelmed:)  Some show and tell of them later this week!

Happy Stitching and God Bless!

BOM Catch-up

I did spend some quality cutting and sewing time on Sunday:)  My heart was happy and my sewing machine was singing.  Good thing, cause you really don't want to hear my singing caterwauling lol!

I am so happy to have  caught up on my Mystery BOM.  I love these two blocks, Block 8 and Block 9...

 That just leaves 3 more blocks and the settings!  I may actually have this quilt done for ME for Christmas! Afterall, it's still only April lol!

I love collecting vintage things. I think alot of quilters do, some of us to more extent than others.  A really special student of mine heard about my vintage addiction during one of my classes and the next class she brought this lovely old grater! I just love it and it hangs on the side of the cupboard in my kitchen.  And, yes, snowmen hang out at my house all year long :)  You can just get a peek at the vintage tins down in the left corner.  I have two of these, pre-Tupperware era, and use them to store coffee and other dry goods.

Was sick sick sick yesterday with an all day migraine which didn't really let up until about 8 pm.  I don't get them often but when I have one the only thing that works is a totally dark room, coke(as in Cola) lol, aspirin, sleep and soda crackers.

Happy Stitching and God Bless!

Let's Make a Deal!

 Remember the show "Let's Make a Deal"? I don't know if it's still on or not, I just remember it being very stupid seeing people in all those weird get-ups....Well, I made a deal a couple weekends ago!  The deal was I gave the shop lady $30 and she gave me 20 Moda FQ's lol!  That made them $1.50 each and I was saying "oh, yeah, babies, come to momma!" :) Not going to talk about the little elbow nudging that was going on around the FQ bin, nope, know nothing, seen nothing...not me! LOL!

"Oh, yes, come to me my precious"...ooops, wrong show!  Anyway, are they not just so yummy!

 I have this quilt finished, a UFO marked off my list!  It's a Disappearing Nine-Patch made with a charm pack.  I had to add 3 extra of my squares to go with the 42 charms in order to make it work but you'd never know.  I love making this quilt scrappy style because it's just a surprise each time what it's going to look like. 

 

Speaking of making a deal, I know of a wonderful giveaway going on over at The Threaded Moose. Janet has designed a new paper piecing pattern and is offering two chances to win a copy! She's new to blogging so make sure you follow her cause she's a hoot!  Her life would make the best book and would be probably be called "Raising a Kid Redneck Style!" or something along that line.  When we get together to sew, we all get a good laugh at the antics of her son :) 

I had time today to visit all my bloggy buddies and wow, there are some really nice projects going on!

Happy Stitching and God Bless!

New Stuff!

I really out to be taken out and horsewhipped with a wet noodle (I'm such a whimp :) for not blogging for so long. I am tired of missing out on all the fun stuff and tired of being too tired to blog!  But, I'm not giving up!  More discipline, yep, that's what I need....or maybe a secretary/personal assistant, how about a housekeeper, and yeah, a massage therapist that makes house calls! LoL!

I really should not complain because Mr. RQ is a such a big help!  I couldn't do this machine quilting business without him! I knew it was going to be a great adventure and I'm loving every minute of it.  Just need to schedule in "ME" time when I still have the energy for "ME" :)

Now, some fun stuff!  Easter we spent with our sons, ate lots of homemade lasagna and salad and pie!  Easter Bunny brought Star Wars lunch boxes for each.  I've been told "You're NEVER too old for Star Wars" memorabilia! Seeing as they've been watching it since like they were 3 years old....lol!

 Love this funky child's quilt I quilted a week ago.  I did a free motion Peaks and Valley's design on it which I think really worked with the Zig Zag of the piecing.

I attended a huge Gathering of the Quilt Guilds last weekend! Seen a ton of new ideas.....love this place mat and bowl made by wrapping fabric strips around cotton clothesline, then sewn together using the Zig Zag stitch on your sewing machine...have to make some of these!

 Love this pineapple quilt!! The lady who teaches the class turns out to be someone I know, so you can be sure I'll be calling her :)

 The Jelly Roll Race quilt......Now, I want to know why no one out there has every told me about this quilt!!! Seriously fun quilt to make!  I made one yesterday, just have to get borders on it :)  I'm not going to tell you how relaxing it was to just sit and sew on this quilt...I didn't race so it took me 3 hours of quiet sewing :)

 Loved this wool appliqued table topper.  It would measure about 18-20" in diameter.  Anyone ever seen a pattern for this one?

 And last, but not least, Misha....relaxing with family during a double birthday party last weekend.  That's exactly how I felt by Sunday night lol!

Happy Stitching and God Bless!

Hexie Flower Stitchery

I have the most wonderful small group of quilting friends that I get together with every two weeks to stitch and quilt with.  We always treat each other really special on each person's birthday and when I saw this free project by Cheryl Goss from Willowberry Designs, I knew exactly who I was making it for.  It took me a little longer than expected but I finally finished it and gave it to her...sorry Amanda that is was so late :) 

Amanda has lovely country decor in her home and I went with a tea-dyed heavy muslin for the background and country colors for the flower.  I used perle cotton from DMC to do the Blanket Stitching around the outer edge.  One layer of batting inside.

On the back, I used a warm golden homespun that came in a huge lovely box of scraps I won from Kim a few months ago.  It's a good thing it was in the box because I don't have homespuns and this was the perfect backing for Amanda's style!

You know spring is almost here in the Maritimes when while driving on a 10 mile trip you travel through a rain storm, a hail storm, a snow storm and then sunshine!  Around here, we always say the weather forecast is whatever you see when you look out the window lol!  I am anxious for some green grass!  My sister's 40th birthday was yesterday and two years ago on her birthday it was hot enough that we celebrated on her porch with a large BBQ wearing our shorts and sunglasses. Not so lucky yesterday.

Happy Stitching and God Bless!

Hello Lemon Pie!

Every person has at least one thing that they excel at. Some are lucky enough to excel at several things.  That's my hubby! Yep, he's a keeper :)  

On Sunday, I just mentioned how good a lemon meringue pie would taste and a couple of hours later he's pulling a homemade, from scratch....yeah, grating and squeezing the lemons and everything... lemon meringue pie out of the oven.

Lemon Meringue pie is my special treat.  It's right up there with Cherry pie.  I get one Cherry pie a year.  My mom makes one at Christmas and maybe two Lemon Meringue pies a year, made by my wonderful Mr. RQ.

That's part of what makes them so special and a treat!

MY pie smelled and looked so delicious!  Wanna see?  See!I told you it looked yummy! 

 How did it taste? Absolutely divine lol! The perfect blend of tart and sweet.  There's one piece left that I've offered to ...ahem, "trade" with Thelma for fabric lol!  Don't know if it's going to last that long.  It would be okay to eat pie for breakfast just once, wouldn't it?

I think a Lemon Meringue Pie quilt would be cool too.  Shades of lemon yellow and tones of white and tan.  Hmmm, may have to spend some time with EQ today.

On Saturday, I gave a class on making this tool rollup. It's quite a good size at 15 x 13 and can be used for more than just sewing stuff.  Some of the girls were going to fill theirs with toiletries, some with paint brushes, some with crayons and markers.

I've had to put word verification back on, unfortunately.  Too many spams.  I will not let this new word verification style from Blogger discourage me from leaving comments on my friends blogs and I hope you won't either.  I am woman and I MUST BLOG!! :) 

Happy Stitching and God Bless!

Christmas in March

I did it!  I finished a project for March's Christmas thru the Year!  I made a little pillow that I embroidered and tea stained.  The hardest part was getting that rick rack on properly.  I really thought it would be a whole lot easier lol!  Mary beat me though!  She did a whole bevy of little cushions LOL!  And honestly, we didn't collaborate on what we were making :)

  

I just love the modern fresh colors of this quilt I did last week for a customer.  She used Snuggle's for the backing and it was so soft and luscious :)

 

 Last weekend, I took classes on locker hooking and rug hooking.  All week, in the evenings I worked on my locker hooking project...a table hot pad and finished it last night.  Locker hooking is not hard but I don't think I will be giving up my quilting for it. 

Learning lots on my new Grace and you know what! Pantos have a definite learning curve!!! There are rules you have to follow and posture positions to practice and a whole bunch of other stuff lol!  Just pray I can get it under my belt!

Happy Stitching and God Bless!