Biltmore Girls

Yesterday I met a new friend. One of the gals on my on-line quilt group came to the US from London England to Ashville, NC.  Since I am only fifty miles from there at my daughters I drove in and met her at the Biltmore House.

Tricia is a delightful American/British gal with a cheery personality, dry wit and very knowledgeable in so many areas.  Since she is an Architect I learned a lot during our tour of this lovely and very big home. My bones are still aching from all the stairs and walking we did.

Of course the views were amazing of the countryside, and Tricia missed the golf course and tennis courts that should have been there to make her happy.

But I digress, we started our visit off in the Wine Tasting area since we wanted that before lunch. Tricia is a wine master and now I can swish the wine with ease like a pro. But I swallowed she spit.  Except for the one wine she really liked and we ended up buying that one and having some more at lunch.  It was the Biltmore Sangiovese.  We had a wonderful lunch at the Bistro and learned about each other.

So a very nice day with a new friend and we plan to meet again before she goes back to England.  Or baby arrives.

Oh yeah, this is for my grandson, Timmy the turtle. He likes to spit too.

Birthday Girl

My darling Elaine is eleven today. Such a sweet, sweet girl. Happy Birthday girl.

Summer is for Beaches

This summer I worked on a beach quilt for my daughter Grace and her three girls for her living room.  She has a light and airy room and has glass filled container of sea shells that they have collected over the years.  Grace has a jar from Saudi Arabia from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea from her childhood. Now her girls are building their own memories from trips to Myrtle Beach, SC.

I purchased a nice sea foam green and light beige for the background blocks and designed the applique for them. Alternate blocks have star fish and sand dollars on them. The four corners have flip-flops. The back of the quilt has this sayings on it, like Peace, Blessings, Family, etc.

A nice quilt to snuggle up on the couch with.

Doll Siggy Swap

On my friendship and Dear Jane groups they are exchanging tiny signature squares to make doll quilts for our dolls.  So I signed up for each of the five grand daughters and had to make one for each doll and everyone who signed up. The final total was one hundred and seventy siggies.

This is a picture of all of them.

Here are a sample of the individual girls and dolls.  Sorry some of the pictures are blurry. I really need a new camera for the anticipated new grand daughters' arrival.

This shows you how tiny they are.

Timothy's T-Shirt Quilt

Finally, getting to post my grandson's birthday quilt that I finished last month. Tim don't look, you won't get it until next week when I get to your house.  I have been collecting some of his t-shirts for the last thirteen years. So a new tradition has been born, I make the t-shirt quilt for the 'grands' thirteenth birthdays. Two down and five to go. 

I sashed Tim's in red and my friend, Debbie, embroidered the dates, names and sayings on them. They really make it pot as they are in a bright yellow, one of Tim's favorite colors.  He had so many tee shirts that it made a full size plus quilt so will be ample for his bed.  Below are some of the close-ups of the tees.

And we all should be smiling.

Happy Fourth of July

This says it all. Thanks for my family who serve.

Picture from

http://www.united-states-flag.com/american-flag-pictures.html

Piecemaker Quilt

The Piecemaker Quilt Times and Seasons, of the churches in America has been posted to the quilt gallary on their web site. I won two ribbons for this quilt and substituted the pattern people with pictures of my family.

http://www.piecemakers.com/gallery.html

Beautiful Birthday

My youngest grand daughter [as of now] Hannah is having her birthday. Wow, eight already.  Happy birthday girl, have a fun 'Aloha' party in the pool. Don't eat too much pig.

It Just Takes Two Progress

Yesterday I finally got to work on my red and white blocks for the Just Takes Two on line quilt mystery.  I was a little behind and now am caught up until next month. I am loving this quilt and the challenges of the blocks. Certainly makes my mind and abilities grow.

Christmas Trees and Ruffles

When visiting my friend Pat this last weekend we didn't get much sewing done this time but chose other endeavors to occupy our time.

First we bought a quilt puzzle and that kept us up at nights with the world's smallest pieces you could imagine, smaller then a dime.  Very addicting.

Then Pat showed me how to make these Christmas tree ornaments that a friend gave her the pattern. So I have made four now.  Think I will have the grand kids decorate them with some buttons and things.

Then we spent a day looking for yarn and beads for some other projects we are doing. I just love how easy this ruffled scarf is to make and plan to make some for gifts at Christmas time.

My AOTH Progress

I finally finished the center of my AOTH [Affairs of the Heart] quilt.  When my niece, Susan, was here for Memorial Day she helped me with some of the color arrangement.  I took design liberty [don't tell the quilt police] and moved some of the blocks around different than the pattern called for.  That was because I didn't like some of the colors I chose next to each other.  What do you think?

And to Susan, I moved the two red hearts away from each other so it isn't so in your face.  Now on to the borders. She helped me pick a different fabric from stash that will look better on the reverse applique border.

Diaper Bags

This is the diaper bag I made for the new one.  It has pink and green owls on the fabric. I didn't like the way the flap went down but suppose it will work anyway. My daughter wanted this Bible verse on the bag so I had my dear friend Debbie embroider it on the flap. She owns an embroidery and uniform store so I have a lot of things done there.
It is bright pink batik on the inside with lots of pockets.

Bible verse is I Corinthians 15:51b - We will not all sleep, but we all will be changed.

Love it.

Debbie then thought I should have a bag too as I will be staying there this fall to help with the baby.  She made me this bag.

So now my daughter will have to hire me to be the nanny, won't she?

Sewing for Baby

Over the weekend I finished a few more things for the new baby girl.   The pattern for the diapers wasn't easy to figure out, maybe I should have taken a few engineering classes when I was in school all those years ago.  Anyway, after a few frustrating starts I managed to do my version of the cloth diapers. We don't like the disposable diapers [did you know it takes 150 years for them to degrade in the land fills?].  My daughter and I have always used the cloth diapers and now days it is hard to find the plastic pants to go over them.   Thankfully, now someone developed the PUL waterproof fabric and we are good to go for the new little blessing.

These were my first ones.  Now on to some bigger sizes.

Insides are flannel with some cute patterns.

Quilt Blogging

I belong to a quilting blogger group for the web. They are having a contest to bring more quilt bloggers to the group list. So if you have a quilt blog join in. It is an easy way to see all the great ideas out there in the quilting world.  Click on the link on the side to bring up the page to join your blog to the links. 

Secret Pal Gifts for May

Wow, I received some wonderful gifts from my Dear Jane Secret Pal this month. Am so touched that she remembered my daughter and her new baby girl coming in August.

 Cute little monkey bib.

 One of the sayings on the one-zys.  Mommy sure does love her already.

And the pink fabric she sent to make a baby quilt. Then she made 30 yo-yo's to decorate the quilt with.  Will be looking through the pattern book she gave me a few months ago to find the perfect project for all this.

All the bibs and outfits look so adorable. So thank you, thank you, my secret sister.

Baby Things

This week I have been working on baby things for my new granddaughter coming in August. Finished the baby quilt and posted that last Friday.  So I was making up some soft flannel receiving blankets to wrap her up in. 

I founds some fleece in the clearance bin and thought it would make a cute bunting to put her in on cold nights or after a bath.  Just love the chocolate butterflies on this. And it is so soft.

Then made up two nursing cover-ups so can have one at work and one at home.  It has boning in the top so she can watch the baby and no one can see her.  Owls are in this year so found this nice black with hot pink and hot green owls. So adorable.

Then with some green flannel I made up a bobby pillow for her to use with the baby. 

I made good progress on the diaper bag but want my friend to embroidery on that so will post that one after it is done.  A very productive day I think.