Stars and Orange crush

I'm finally getting some more pictures to show of the Ohio star blocks. So far I have these 13 made and no this is not how they are going to be put together

But aren't they fun. I'm thinking of sashing and cornerstones. They need to be divided so each color combination shows. Wouldn't think they were the same pattern.

But this isn't all I've been doing the last few days. My daughter has been having to clean out what was her sewing area as her FIL has moved in and with no place else to put it she's been filling my garage. But she left me with 5 fair size boxes of fabric. Said to use what I wanted. I'm trying to use up stash.

She hasn't been sewing for a few years since she has been teaching full time and working on her Masters degree to get her teaching certificate. So why not give it to Mom.

I got an idea to put it out on two shelves that I had glass on in the basement where my tables are and my Juki for quilting. So after Bonnie showed us how she was folding all her stash up nice I decided to do that with this fabric so I could see what there was. The tables came in mighty handy for folding. Lots even needed to be ironed to get it folded right. So here's the one side

I'm stacking it according to colors.The little pile is yellows, so far not hardly any. The one is rusts. You can tell pretty much how much is in each by how big it is. Hope I can keep it that neat

Here's the other side. Reds. blues greens and lights.

Then I saw where Bonnie is starting another mystery. I didn't do the last one but when I saw this large piece of orange which is here on the table I figured that would be great for the Orange Crush. So I picked out the rest , Maroon. Navy and the top is a green and is suppose to be a bright
but that's the best so far. Then the blues are a variety from my stash.

Here's the close up. Think this green will be bright enough for a zinger?

I have quite a stack of lights cut in 2 in. strips upstairs and the darks in the two sizes. Have no idea if it is enough but can always cut more.

So I am ready for Bonnie's first post on April 1. Oh, do you think she might fool us and not post it. With what has been going on in her life she just might forget.

I'm hoping I can get started on it a little before taking off next Thurs. on a much needed vacation.

My daughter is coming up after school on Thurs. to stay with her Dad for the weekend while I fly out to Kansas City for a retreat with online quilting friends. One I've met but most I have not. Am just taking hand work. Quilting and that angel that I started especially for this time.

It looks like spring is coming. The Maples are reding up and I finally have a few Jonquils blooming. And tomorrow is opening day for Baseball. Tonight Baltimore O's are playing their last practice game with the DC Nationals in their new stadium. WOW What a place. Would love to see it but am happy to watch the game tonight , I hope they televise it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Stars I Progress

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE !!!

hope you are all having a good day. Lots of good weather and Easter baskets full of goodies.

We had our Easter early. my daughter and her youngest Dan came up Friday afternoon and we had our Easter Chicken that evening. Then made soup and still had lots of chicken leftover to make chicken salad on Saturday. They left mid afternoon and we ate the salad for supper. During the day I needed a little project to do while visiting so started to cut out squares. See in the top of this picture. Two different sizes. Larger to make hour glass blocks and the rest to set the Ohio Star together.

A couple weeks ago I found this baggie with these fabrics. About 8x10 in size. Several years ago one of the gals had this swap. We sent in a certain number of each color with some plaids and she put the sets together. I should have taken a picture of them but--

There was red, blue, gold and beige. We were to use 4 colors putting them together.

These are 6 in. blocks and I'm planning on trying to make each different.

Here's a close up so you can see the fabrics. All Thimbleberries of course. I have no idea what I will do with them but they will tell me when the time comes. Why is it that we always have to have something to piece and sew together when we have so many tops completed already. I need an angel to come and quilt all these tops up.

Maybe some day my granddaughters might decide that they would like to quilt.

Kim tells me that this is my 101 post. How time flies when your having fun. Maybe I will wait until my year anniversary and do something special, if I remember.

Thanks for all the comments . I love to know that someone is reading this great information.

OH!. I must give you a recipe that I tried on Friday just for my 13 year old grandson. It was given to us on our Bingo last week and sounded so easy and good. Like I needed cookies but isn't that what Grandmas are suppose to do make cookies?

Chocolate Gooey Cookies

1 - 8 oz. cream cheese
1 stick of butter
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 18oz Moist chocolate cake mix
Confectionary sugar

Preheat oven - 350

In large bowl mix (carefully) butter and cream cheese until smooth.
Beat in egg. then vanilla.
Beat in Cake mix. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.
Roll into walnut size balls and roll in sugar. place on cookie sheet 2 in. apart. Bake 12 min.
Cookies will remain soft and gooey. Sprinkle with remaining confectioners sugar.

Very good. They almost all disappeared during the day. Made about 4 dozen.

Have a good holiday.

Wonky" "T

I finally finished the braids and putting on the outer borders of this quilt. It is queen size now and I hope to Machine quilt it myself. Really bright but it's all from the old stash. No Thimbleberries in this.

I took this in the basement over my two tables and down. Thought I would get the best picture. Lots of memories in here. Don't know when I'll get to work on this one but it's rolled up in the basket with the rest of them

Today was my day in town, rather morning. Get my hair done and a little shopping but while in Lowe's looking for some mulch to use to get termites out of the wood chips that are decaying and making nice mulch. It started to pour and of course my umbrella was in the car. Thank goodness this wasn't a day that most people were out shopping so had parked as close as I could.

So home to a dark and dreary day. The wind is really blowing now but at least we haven't had the weather that a lot of the country has had. No flooding or tornado's.

Hope your day was good and thanks for stopping by.

Missing!

Since I started working on mini's using up scraps I got to thinking about one I made over a month ago and put back to take with me to work on at a retreat I'm going to at Kansas City where a group of fellow Quilter's Hollow are getting together to talk meet and sew and maybe a little shop hop the first of April.

I did this along with starting that kit with the angel that I showed you which is an applique.

Well I started to look all over here on the porch and couldn't find it. Looked in the bedroom, downstairs and this is the problem of getting old and losing it. UGH

Well, after talking about it with Kim she said maybe I put it with the other things I'd gotten ready to take. Well, sure so I turned the baggie over that I had put the angel things in

well there it was when I turned the baggie over
See that's the back of it
Then---

Here is the missing quilt,

All basted ready to quilt. See you can see the border I have marked on it.
That's even the binding in case I get it finished.

Then here is the Pinwheel quilt I finished up yesterday. Made some more geese and put them on the sides.

Made it square.

Now I'm getting the last outside borders on the crazy T quilt. Hope I can get a picture of it latter. It's gotten to be a queen size I think by adding the braids on all sides.

Green Eyed Monster and others

Did I catch your eye with that title?

I've been playing with scraps. Those leftover things you have that you can't throw out. At least I can't. If I have pieces that need cutting off. I'll sew them first and then end up with a whole lot of HST different sizes of course. Some I have trimmed to size that can be used.

These were QST leftovers and played around to see what I could come up with.

Then of course always have lots of different colored HST for the borders.

Can you see the Green Eyed Monster?


Then I was fascinated with Kim's Tulips and decided to make a new Spring runner to put over my washer dryer which happens to be in my kitchen

Mine is a garden of tulips. Just wish I had some in the garden blooming. The daffodils aren't even blooming yet.

This is finished, except for the quilting which I shall do on the machine.

I have another mini I'm working on made out of pinwheels but will have to wait till I decide how to go forward on that one. At least with these I can use up some of those scraps of batting I have been hording.

This next one went together real quick last night. All from scraps and the strips I have cut out of smaller pieces. You know like Bonnie says.

This is a typical way of using flying geese. These have been made from sewing two HST together. All Thimbleberries.

Fun, Fun, Fun.

Yesterday was so nice to get outside. Racked some more leaves off the bank. I use a big tarp and pull it down to the large leaf pile I have at the corner of the property. My neighbor, who likes everything so neat says she will shred them but I think they will be composted pretty much by the time she does it.

Now it's raining out today so guess I'll finish up this pinwheel mini and try to get downstairs and do some machine quilting.

Thanks for stopping by.

My Latest Projects

Thought I'd show you my latest projects. Kim's tulips fascinated me and so I decided to make my own tulip garden to go over the washer and dryer. I have one I made a couple years ago that is a Thimbleberry design but thought this would be brighter.

Then yesterday I decided to make another one of these candle mats that I made before Christmas. This is the new floral from the Lakeside collection.

Here's the tulips only stuck up on the board. Not sewn together. Have those little triangles to put in at the top of the stem and in sewing some today I've found they aren't as easy as it sounds, to get them even.
I have about half of them sewn together now since I took this picture last night and with the seams they should be just about the right size for my space. Am just going to put that strip of green for grass on the bottom. The rest will be bound.

Here's the closeup of this cut easy candle mat. I think it took me about 2 hours to make it. Not counting cutting out the strips and back and batting. It is done like a pillow case and now will machine quilt probably 1/4 in. around the basic pattern.
This will be mine. I love this large floral. Bought 3 yards of it so hopefully will use it for the border of a quilt sometime.

I do think that Spring is popping out. The trees are budding and with the temperature going up in the next couple days those daffodil ls out front should be showing their buds.

Thanks for stopping by. Oh, if you haven't stopped by Kim's Adventures in the last couple days you better. She's celebrating her one year anniversary of blogging and has a neat giveaway. Need to leave a comment. She's the best.

A Rare Evening Out

Last night I had an evening out. Cost me $20 but that goes to the new library. One of our old citizens died a few weeks ago. His family have been in the town for years and years. His grandfather built a furniture store and with that usually came a funeral parlor. John Bast Jr. was the one who built the beautiful funeral home and filled it with his antique furniture and clocks. He loved clocks and collected many.
He left one of his Grandfather clocks to the new library so the family decided to have a special viewing of the Estate before the sale started today.

This is an overview of the room. Only the very best of things were here for sale today.
I should have gotten a picture of the food table which they had set up in the middle of the room for a help yourself. Of course the wine table also. Thought I would show you a few of the things on display

Just a few of the mantle clocks and on the table a couple different boxes and the Rose Medallion punch bow

Four of the Grandfather's clocks. All signed by the maker, ,most dated around 1751 -75. Many made right here in Hagerstown.
He had lots of cut glass, China etc, but this set really took my eye. I was so glad when I saw in the catalog that they were listed as Meissen-typ Monkey band. I do think they had the Meissen insignia on the bottom.

I have no idea who benefits from this sale. He does have 2 cousins that run the furniture store. But nothing has come out about the will.

Fun evening. talking with a few friends and former students of my DH. Wasn't really gone too long. Was home in time to watch Survivor and the Apprentice with my hubby.

Now some one commented about the tiny pieces in the Amish Mini I showed a couple days ago. That reminded me of another one. Really the very first mini I made.

Here is where it has found it's home. As the quilt covering DD's Chatty Cathy. This doll bed was given to us for our children by a cousin and it belonged to my husbands grandmother. I covered the mattress and DD has kept it very well. Right now she lives under the tables in the basement where I quilt.

Here is a closeup. It is called Seven sisters and was in one of the early quilting magi zines that my DD got. I decided I was going to make it and DD said I couldn't. That along egged me on. Just like the kids when you say they can't do something, they will show you.

The 4 patches are an inch finished. So are all the rest of the squares. HST. I do believe that it is pieced entirely by hand and hand quilted of course. I remember looking for prints and colors as close to the ones in the book as possible.
I see that I had embroidered my initial on one corner and 89 on the opposite corner. So that was before I got involved in the guilds.

At that time I worked on one thing till it was finished and then started something else. Where did I go wrong. Starting so many quilts. Getting the tops made and then starting another. So the basket is full of quilts needing to be quilted. I'm trying.

Thanks for stopping by Hope you enjoyed seeing some of those true antiques. I'd have loved to be out there at the auction just to see how much some of those things go for.
I doubt it the recession will show up at this auction.

Music in the Mountains

Music on the Mountain is Finished!!!

You might see a bit of binding hanging when I took this picture but I finished it up last night.

Now all that has to happen is Sara my granddaughter in Colorado to graduate probably in May as their school always seems to get out sooner than the ones back here.

She's going to be a very busy girl. As soon as school is out she will be coming back to NYC on her class trip. Then in June she and her brother Chris will come back to Virginia and spend time with the other grandmother and us. I shall wait and give this to her then

This is a closeup so you can see the musical fabric and also the way that I quilted it. Thanks to Joan and Kim for the help on doing the stitching in the middle. Just straight up and down. I did a simple free motion on the border.

Now need to get another small quilt pinned and quilted. Also back to making more braids for the T squares. Just need for the top and bottom.

We've had a few very nice days, warm but had an inch and three quarters of rain over night. I'm sure there will be some high water along the Potomac and other creeks. At least we are up high enough not to have to worry.

Have you ever done such a stupid thing that you can't believe you did that?

I have a Tracfone because I don't use it much, just a way for me to keep in touch with my Hubby while away. I get a year's card and last year got a new phone for free with the card online. So it was time to renew and get a new card and yesterday went in to the site and looked for my phone to have it with me. No phone in the little pocket on my big bag I made a few months ago. I looked in the car. Called the grocery store to see if it had been turned in. No phone. I hadn't been that many places as I knew i had it when we were at the doctor's office on Friday.

So I looked to see what kind of deals they had this year, Yep, there was a free phone, different than what I had. This was a flip-top I'd seen them in Wall-Mart. So I ordered my years card and the phone. It was sent today.

So I went to Curves this morning and I carry special shoes just to be worn there, in a Curves bag, got my shoes out and guess what? There is my phone. How it got there I don't know. So I called my hubby to let him know I did have my phone on just in case, as I was going to be gone longer due to getting a permanent. So I shall take my pick of phones. The only thing is changing to the new phone I will probably have to get a new number. At least that's what happened the last time.

All is well in Maryland tonight.

Is Spring Really Here?

I bet Kim really wondered why I put this picture in.

If you look close in the middle is a rhododendron. Surrounded by a whole lot of leaves.
This is the corner of the drive and the leaves settle there and then the snow when it is shoveled off the drive.

Under these leaves is vinca growing and I have to get the leaves off soon.
But it is a job. Fill up a large tarp and drag it down to the back of the property to dump in the leaf pile

When I was out yesterday picking up the dead limbs that came down over the winter I saw our very first spring flower

See the yellow flower. I had to get the leaves off the area so they could show their faces

Here's another one. I've been into wildflowers for years and had not seen this one until the first spring we were in this house. I've looked and looked for it in the books. It looks like a buttercup. The flower comes first and then the leaves
Any ideas out there. ?

We are expecting rains this afternoon. It does look like it. Dreary, not like yesterday which was beautiful.

Here is the next row of my Your Truly Round Robin. We were to have some points in this row. I've used two sets of hand dyes in this The picture doesn't show the difference in the greens. The next round now will have to be something all over I'm thinking. Using the brown and other green I have with maybe some more of the deep pink. Fun to see this grow. The Paper Piecing is so much different than our regular piecing.

Thanks for stopping by.

Small Quilts on my Walls

In reading JulieQ's blog the other day she showed an Amish quilt she had just made after falling in love with the real thing in Lancaster.

That made me think about the one that I made probably 10 years ago. Seems it was taken from Miniature Quilts magazine. The blocks were probably 1 1/2 unfinished and they were all done by hand. I remember taking this with me on one of my trips to visit my sister in California. She found one of the pieces I left on her kitchen table.

It is hand quilted with black thread , diagonally and in the blue inner border I have quilted little hearts. I think I used the same template on the outer black border but it is so dark I really can't tell now. Bad eyes don't help.

This is the only quilt I have hanging in my hubby's bedroom. Seemed to just go there. It's 19 x 21


Funny when I sent these two pictures to Kim she said she'd never seen these. I have lots of quilts she hasn't seen pictures of. Lots are pictured in my Picturetrail albums.

When I belonged to the Southern Comforter's Guild in Bowie Maryland, they always had a challenge each year before the Quilt Show.

In 1999 the challenge was to make something representing your state. Lots of them did things pertaining to the Chesapeake Bay since they mostly lived close to it. But I'm in the western mountains so figured
I'd do something that was close to me. It's at the top of the mountain and our old property bordered on the park.

This is my rendition of the First monument built in memory of George Washington.

On July 4 , 1827 the citizens of Boonsboro built the first monument out of the stone found on this side of the mountain. It has been rebuilt a couple times. The first one was not put in concrete. It stands about 20 feet tall and has a circular stair case to walk up to the top. Then you can see the 4 states on a clear day. Va. W.Va. Md. and Pa. to the north. It's on the west side of the mountain and in a State Park. The Appalachian Trail runs right in front of it.

I even made the flags and the Maryland flag is terrible to try to make. I painted them on cloth so they would fly. It is all hand appliqued and quilted. Is 18 x23 in,

It's been a beautiful day here in Maryland today. Got clear up to 48 degrees. Suppose to go higher tomorrow. I will have to get outside a bit then. Today I've been busy finishing up quilting and getting the binding on my Granddaughter Sara's quilt. Just need to whip it down. Then will get a picture up. Thanks to Joan for her suggestion on some of the quilting. I'm learning. Who said you couldn't teach old dogs new tricks.

Fabric Storage units

First you have to remember that this is a narrow 6 Foot wide porch converted into my sewing room. It's long. So I had to condense things as much as I could.

These shelves, 2 of them, my husband made for me in our old house to keep my cones of yarn on while I was knitting.

So now they have become my fabric shelves. The curtain over them as seen in the first picture was because of the sun coming in the 5 windows I have on the opposite wall. My DD said I better cover the fabric or I'd have strips of fading. Yet that happened pretty quick. This was a black floral fabric I had lots of so made these curtains for both shelves.

As you can see in this picture they are quite faded. The two lower shelves hold my quilt library. The blue things hanging on the side are my templates hanging on a nail.

Here you can see how neat the shelves look. I have them sorted to color. The very top shelf which you can't see has some backing fabrics I got a good buy on.

Now the one middle shelf is still a mess. It's FQs which have been cut and stored. Don't know what else to do with them. All the good FQs got refolded and put in one of the little top drawers of the lower units that have my OTHER fabrics in

This is the other shelf. This is the way the TB shelves looked before. But this is more of the OTHER fabrics. Not going to do anything with them. They are hidden

The weather outside today is Sunny, cloudy and windy and cold. Hubby said he saw some flurries a bit ago but I don't think we are in for anything.

I spent an hour and half in the basement this morning quilting on my DGD's Musical Mountains quilt. Have just one more row to go and then something down the middle of each and of course the border. Will mark something it free motion for that. Hopefully within the next week I can get it finished and picture up.

Thanks for stopping by.