Plaid quilt along...would you like to play with me??

HI Everyone! I had a fun weekend...dear son and dear DIL were here to celebrate my husband's birthday, and a belated Father's day! We had such fun, did lots of fun stuff and ate lots of good things...just a yummy weekend all the way around. How is it that my dear husband looks one year younger each birthday, and I age with each birthday? Just not fair, is it!!!? Happy birthday, darling! Then....I worked all week...so there!

Above are my Wool blocks from Primitive Gatherings...as you can see, I still have lots of work to do on these, LOL!! They are so much fun, though...no needle turning edges...just fuse down and hand blanket stitch around the woolie shapes...I love doing this! The time consuming thing is the prep for me...
See my header quilt? Notice that it is quilted now...yippee!! The plaid string one...many of you have asked me about this quilt and where to get the pattern. The pattern is one by Evelyn Sloppy, in her strings book...this book is absolutely wonderful, if you get the chance to purchase it, do it! Evelyn has a website at www.littlemisssloppy.com., where her book is listed, and a lot of other fun books and patterns!
The pattern and copyright are hers...and I thank her for sharing her amazing pattern with the world, I love it!! I cannot give yardages, or specific directions for this quilt...that is in the pattern book if you would like to get it. I am just kind of thinking we could all do our own thing and have fun with our plaids and have a quilt along! I gifted this quilt to my son and his wife, along with one of my nine patch quilts...so I am making another plaid string quilt, with string piecing. It may turn out like the one above, or not...whimsy will dictate the direction of this quilt! Would you like to play along??? You know...many of you have a little collection of plaids you have sorted out from your stash and did not know what to do with these fabrics...this is a great plaid stash buster. Now, I have never done a quilt along...but maybe we could just all have fun together and have a warm plaid quilt for this fall time and winter!!


I first decided what size to make the blocks...you can make your blocks and quilt whatever size you decide!! I am making 6 inch finished blocks, so I cut 7 inch muslin foundations. You can make bigger blocks, like 8, 10, or 12 inch finished blocks too. Now, lots of people love to use tissue, or phone book pages as a foundation...please do whatever floats your boat! I use light weight muslin, because I like the addition warmth it gives my quilt. Plus I hate to take out all that paper, but some people like to do that in front of the TV at night. Again, you do it your way and have fun!
Now, here is where it gets fun! I have to confess...I had some strings left over from my first quilt...and have been hoarding them! Hee!! Now, it is time to use them up! I have lots of browns and drab plaids...but I think it is great fun to mix it up! Get some bright colored plaid shirts from the good will or thrift store ( make sure they are 100% cotton, it just works better). Look for plaids in the quilt shop...at Joann's...in the discount bins! Old pajama pants work great too. I cut them all up, not measuring the width of strip at all...but some of you may want to cut your strings all 1.5 or 2 inches...that gives a little more organized look to your blocks. Again, whatever you love...do it!! I also cut some of the strings 1.5 inches, carefully, to make nine patch corner stone blocks, if I decide to do that in the end...


Ready? Set?? Next day off...I will make some plaid blocks!!!


Have a great day!!!


Julie

Betsy's great celebration nine patch exchange hired man's quilt!!

HI Y'all...


Pretty big title there, huh?? I had every intention of making this quilt a little smaller, but as I put patches together...bigger was better. These are 6 inch nine patches, exchanged last year to celebrate getting my CCRN certification, as you may recall. Betsy Chutchian made the original quilt, inspired by her great great grandmother's quilts....her quilt had no borders, and so mine won't either. This one will be quilted with baptist fans quilted in pearl cotton, as soon as I can figure out how to mark them...is there such a thing as white wash-out marker? I was thinking of using slivers of soap...pretty old fashioned, huh?

I want you to know...these nine patches mean so very much to me. Thank you to everyone who exchanged with me...these are very special.



Have a super day! I am cleaning house today, the kids are coming home to visit...yahoo!!!


Julie

Betsy's nine patch

HI everyone!! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!! Remember the nine patch exchange? Well, I am really trying to finish all those nine patches into finished quilts. Betsy Chutchian recently wrote a quilting book, "Gone to Texas", featuring her quilts inspired by her Great, great grandmother's quilts. Betsy happens to work at our local quilt shop, and I have seen her original quilt...and it is gorgeous! Her fantastic quilt is a nine patch, with 6 inch blocks! Well....I just happen to have some of those, LOL!! So, I am making a very scrappy looking quilt. All the pieces are cut...just need the sewing time!!!


Have a super day!!



Julie

Lots of stuff!

Hi everyone! As you may have guessed, I have been at work...a lot! Many times, the hospital calls and needs nurses...and that overtime pay is a good thing! Now I am enjoying a little time off...yahoo! Above is the current Primitive Gatherings block of the week. Working with these wools is just heavenly...I love the blocks so far! This is the second one....and still needs lots of stitching and pieces and parts added; that is the fun part!!
I have been sorting through my gifted scraps, and I made this block. I have a bunch more cut out, as you can see. I was going to make a big quilt, but now have reconsidered. I am going to make a 12 block quilt and gift it to one of our sick patients...somehow, these patients tug at my heartstrings, and I feel I must help them more than I do. Every bit of love can't hurt, can it, when a person is critically ill?
Lookie, lookie!! Lyn sent me the most gorgeous fabrics...I have been admiring them...they are so pretty, I just want to keep them just like they are!! Thank you so much, Lyn...these are going into my Dear Jane quilt!!
Another thank you...plaids!!! Thank you so very much for these...one of our lovely pink fabric quilters sent me some plaids too!! I love them...I really love them a lot!!
And blues too!! I thought I was almost finished using up all my blues...and look, here are more!! I love them, and will definitely enjoy them so much...thank you so much, and you know who you are!!
OK....so what else has been going on? I have been cutting...wait for it...batiks!! I am going to make a batik quilt!! I know, I know, this is far from what I usually use, but I could not resist the pretty pattern, and the prettier fabrics!! Stay tuned...I will show you what I am making next post.



**********A thought for the day*************************

Out neighboring nursing unit always posts a thought for the day...I loved this one!

"Fear less, hope more.
Eat less, chew more.
Whine less, sing more.
Hate less, Love more,

and all good things will be yours. "

Attributed to a Swedish Proverb.

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A Nurse's Note


This is a theoretical story...may or may not have actually happened, but just see if you can catch the flavor of this nursing story.


There was a Marine...from long ago, married 50+ years to his beautiful bride. Bouncing around the whole world, they made a life of love and happiness and service. This man was the nurse's patient. He had had some chest pain....wrote it off as being "heartburn". Finally, he went to his doctor's office...the office nurse placed him on the EKG machine...and promptly called an ambulance. The EKG showed an acute MI...heart attack! 5 stents later, he was doing fine...until..."Code Blue" was heard, a couple days later! He was in V-tach, a fatal dysrhythmia, if not treated stat. With in 60 seconds, the patient was shocked back into a normal rhythm, and regained consciousness...and said "What happened?" Three times this happened within a few minutes...and off to the cath lab the patient went again. NO blockage was found...so this dysrhythmia was caused from the scarring on the heat from the first heart attack. Meanwhile...a crying wife clung to the nurse...terrified. The patient got a defibillator too...and all was well with the Marine and his bride.

Meanwhile, as all this was going on, another patient's family came out and put loving arms around the wife and comforted her. Got her a drink, stayed with her, loved her...as the staff was all crazy busy saving her husband. (This is representational of 99% plus of all families)

All this is very loud, and causes a tremendous loud commotion is the nursing unit!

Contrast this to another family...whose spouse stood at the door, watching the nurses and doctors run in and out, trying desperately to save the patient...and yelled" My husband needs his lunch tray...now!!!" She very well knew what was at stake, and what was going on....(less than 1% have this kind of behaviors...)



So the point is...what makes people so different? What is the magical thing that makes one family loving...and another cold and snooty? Just askin'......


Remember this is all just a story, something to ponder, all in a day's work for a nurse...just something to think about.



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Have a great day!!


Julie

Think Pink project! And a woolie block...and a finished top!

OK...so this is what the quilt top was asking for yesterday! I have never made a border like this...in fact, I planned something totally different. but, in between laundry and dusting, I got this border done. I like to have a pieced border on the outside of the quilt...it gives the edge some weight, both visually and physically. I guess these are square in a square blocks...I just added connector corners in white to the 3.5 inch scrappy squares. I of course save the trimmings, to make little half square triangles. Sick, isn't it, to save every little bit, LOL!!
A little closer view....

TADA!!!!

Thank you

Wilma L.
M. Gerjets
Annmarie R.
Robert and Marie B.
Jan M.

(the latest donors)


See what you all did? All of you, with your generosity, have sent a ton of pink fabrics, for our friend, who despite having had cancer herself, makes pink quilts to benefit the Cancer society!! Guess who? A friend of yours!! Sharon, of Grass roots quilting!! So, Sharon...myself and dozens of our blog friends are helping you with some pinks for your pink quilts...enjoy! Aren't you all the most wonderful, generous people! This project is also dedicated to all ladies (and some gents) who have have breast cancer...Linda who just finished her treatments...Amelia, who finished a log time ago, but still has to be so vigilant...and every one of you out there who have been touched by breast cancer...I would love to hear from you!! Sharon, these fabrics will be heading to you as soon as I can locate some packaging, LOL!


Thank you to every one who participated in this...you all did a great thing...THANK YOU!!

Last, but not least...Primitive Gatherings is having a Block of the week again this summer. The blocks are wool on primitive muslin...and I have signed up. Here is my first block, minus some little flowers...I just have a hard time concentrating on doing the prep work, you know what I mean? I love the block!!




Everyone, have a great week!!!


Julie K

Scraps rule...don't 'ya think??

OK, I got the latest scrappy quilt all in one piece...I can always see that I should have placed this block here, or that block there, but all in all, I like to just let the blocks fall where they may and surprise someone, someday! So, here is the state of the union...I am working on a pieced border, and the border is quite opinionated about what it wants to become! I am merely a worker here...it is really out of my hands, when the quilt decides to speak up and say what it wants!!





I had some thoughts...you know, when I first started out quilting, I wanted to make every tough, tough pattern there was. Intricate applique, Mariner's compass quilts (no paper piecing either!)...I was doing it. I kind of fell into scrap quilting, as a results of pieces left over from trying to make masterpieces. I exhibited in several shows, and won some ribbons, and that was fun, but my heart and soul was in the simple quilts that my mother and grandmother had made and our family had used. I feel that it would be hard to be a scrap quilter when I was first starting out...a person just doesn't have as many scraps! Anyway, I am so happy to be where I am now, scrapping away and really enjoying it.


More tomorrow! Two days off in a row...woohoo!!!



********************The Hyperthyroid patient*************************

I have slept all night, two nights in a row. My thyroid TSH is high normal...I think I am swinging to hypothyroid now. I am gulping up sleep in great gulps, drinking in the rest at last...thanks be to God that I am sleeping!! I sure hope it continues!!

The down side? NO more insomnia quilting!! Hee!!!

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Have a great day, everyone!


Julie

Progressions...

Hi Y'all! We went on a little adventure to the Four Corners area of our beautiful USA, to visit family over Memorial Day. We took some time and remembered all our wonderful service members from present and past who sacrificed so much for our freedom...we salute you all!

Above is my scrappy quilt...not sure of a name for this one, but it sure is fun to play with! All the pieces came from my scrap bins, 3.5 and 2 inch squares. Connector corners were sewn to make the shapes...you see, right? I am loving this scrappy happy quilt! Whoops, as I look at this, I need to move some of the pink blocks from the center...hmmm....
I made one of these blocks...too big. I don't know why the computer made the block bigger than it should, but ding dong here (that's me), went ahead and stitched it up...and it became a one block wonder! I love this little quilt...it will be a gift at Christmas time for someone! Iwould really like to stitch this whole quilt, and do it right this time, LOL!!
Finished another plaid kitty block...I like these babies!!
And I finished this block from Lyn's Retro Ninepatch BOM. She published the finishing instructions today! I am so excited! Except....I cut this block 8.5 inches instead of 9.5 inches!!! I will have to improvise, big time, in the finishing phase.

A blurry picture of my beloved mountains, still covered with crisp white snow....these mountains in southern Colorado embrace my heart like a mother's hug when I get close to them. I miss home!! Someday...maybe I can live there again!!



Someone had a question about the blue quilt in previous posts...it is made of five inch squares, and 2.5 x 5 inch sashing, with connector corner stars... hope this helps!!!

THANK YOU!!

Lyn V.
Annmarie R.


for sending gorgeous pink fabrics for our breast cancer survivor quilter!!!




Have a great day, everyone!!



JulieK