Silver Thimble Saturday Sewing

Today was our monthly Silver Thimble Quilt Company sewing day in Grayson, GA. What a fun day with lots of laughter, talking, show and tell, birthday celebration and sewing! A group of us (me, Kristie, Cindi, Karin and Gretchen) participated in a fabric swap using Civil War reproduction fabrics. We cut strips to make our version of Patches and Pinwheels from Bonnie Hunter's website. Here we are after or exchange of fabric except for Brenda who sewed with the Friday evening group. The fabrics from this exchange are sensational. This will be another stunning quilt.

We had lots of completed tops for Show-N-Tell. Enjoy this parade of awesome quilts!

Karin's stunning version of Carolina Crossing, a Bonnie Hunter mystery.

Gretchen's festive Mardi Gras version of Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush mystery quilt.
Gretchen's quilt for her first neice/nephew. This is the first of many from Auntie Gretchen.
I'm not a cat person, but Pat's batik cat quilt from Quiltmaker's Favorites was magnificent.
Kristie's quilt using the Hunter Star Ruler and the Rouenneries fabric line by French General was the quilt I wanted to hide in my bags and take home. This is one gorgeous quilt.
Carla used the Hunter Star Ruler for this festive tablerunner.
Sue's Strawberry Pie for her husband incorporated great fabric even some purchased on a trip to Alaska last Summer.
Sandy's black and tan version of Scrappy Nines was another quilt I wanted to stow-away in my luggage.

Mary Agnes' blue and red version of Scrappy Nines was also a great showing. MA changed the borders from the pattern. How nicely this feature enhanced her quilt.

Thanks Pat and Sir Quilt Dude for a wonderful, fun-filled day! How blessed we are to have you working to build our quilting community!

Cutting Fabric for a Swap

(Photo of quilt from Quiltville.com)

One of my favorite things about sewing is cutting fabric. The past two days, I was able to indulge this weakness. My "mini" sewing group trades fabric strips for a chosen project. Last year, we traded "bricks" to make the Bricks & Stepping Stones quilt from Bonnie Hunter's website, Quiltville.com. I'm still working on that top. In fact, I pinned some of the rows together this afternoon to sew the rows together during the week or next weekend at our Silver Thimble sewing day. Our next swap or trade is for a quilt that I've been collecting fabric and wanting to make for over a year, Patches & Pinwheels from the Quiltville site. I first saw a similar quilt in an old quilt book and knew that I had to make this quilt.

Our swap master is Kristie from M.S. Doolitte Quilter. Kristie has a brillant, mathematical mind (among many other talents) She organizes all aspects of our swap and we just have to follow her printed directions. We chose to make this quilt in Civil War reproduction fabrics. Now all of us have fabric in our stash, but we had to immediately purchase additional fabric from Sweet Home, where we were sewing when we plotted this swap.

I used my June Taylor Short Cut ruler to do the cutting for this swap. The directions we used were for Fat Quarters so the ruler was a good size. I cut my 2 inch dark and light fabric strips yesterday. Today, I cut the 4 inch strips then subcut the strips using the Short Cut ruler into 4 inch squares. I have the fabric packaged and ready for our trade next weekend. I'm excited to see what fabric the others have chosen for this new quilting project. I can barely wait to begin this new quilt, my first new project for 2010.

Lucky in Blog Give-aways

Luck. Occasionally, I get lucky. I love blog give-aways, door prizes and just plain sharing with friends. In the last couple of months, I was the fortunate winner of some awesome blog giveaways. Cheryl Brown, author of the book Fresh and Fabulous Quilts, was one of the designers with a block in the , Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. On her website/blog, she asked for quilting tips. My suggestion to keep a project pinned and ready to sew was one Cheryl liked and I was a lucky winner of a copy of the 100 Blocks Quiltmaker magazine. This is definitely a keeper with lots of potential projects.

Prior to the Christmas holidays, several designers participated in the the Cross Country Christmas quilt designer blog hop. It was a wonderful blog hop with lots of interesting posts, sharing of holiday stories and traditions plus many free projects. I won a fabulous packet of items from Linda Lum deBono who blogs at dzyning things. It was almost like it was created just for me. I had looked at my LQS and local bookstore for the American Patchwork and Quilting 2010 calendar, but could not find one. While blog surfing, I discovered the quilt on the cover of the calendar. The designer said that yes her quilt was on the cover. It's a scrap quilt and I seem to collect scrap quilt patterns :) I am thrilled to have this calendar hanging in my office at school. I want to make table runners this year so the book Skinny Quilts and Table Runners II is another perfect match. The magazine (love, love, love magazines) Bags, Pillows & Pincushions is another perfect match. Linda also included several fat quarters from her own fabric line. I'm thrilled with my goodies. Thank you, Linda!

Melinda who blogs at Creations by Melinda has been featured several times on the Selvage blog. She graciously made pincushions and gave them away to everyone who posted on her blog about her give-away. I love pincushions and this one is great. Thank you, Melinda! It is already in use in my sewing room.

I feel very fortunate to won the wonderful sewing/quilting items. Yahoo! Blog give-aways are fun!

Snow Days in Atlanta

Our snowfall in the metro Atlanta area would be considered "minimal" by other parts of the country, but for us it's a big deal. This past week the temperatures have been 20 or 30 degrees below normal for January in Atlanta. Thursday evening we received a smattering of snow - about 1/2 an inch. Friday morning was declared a "Snow Day" and our school system closed for the day. Because we get snow so infrequently, we don't have the infra-structure to support snow and ice on the roads. We don't have snow blowers, snow shovels or an adequate number of trucks to de-ice the streets. Our temperatures the past two days have been in the teens. Today, the high was 31 degrees.

I've been on the sofa covered with quilts and a warm "puppy, my Rusty." Our fireplace has been keeping us toasty warm. Sweatsuits, flannel P.J.'s and warm soups have been much appreciated.

These footprints on our deck and backyard are Rusty's ventures into the white unknown. Normally, I walk him in the street in front of our house. Since the snowfall, he's on his own in the backyard.

"Cajuns" and snow are not a good combination, but any cold weather brings out the Gumbo pots in all Cajun households. DH roasted a turkey last weekend. Turkey gumbo is on the menu for tonight. It's been cooking all day. This should do the job in keeping us warm.

Design Wall Monday - Christmas Lights

It's been some time since I've had a project on my design wall. This is my version of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt from Quiltmaker magazine. I'm in the process of sewing the rows together for my Christmas Lights top. I purchased the border fabric without having the quilt top with me. Crossing my fingers that the border fabric looks good with the quilt :)

Ring In - 2010

Happy New Year's, dear friends! How exciting to begin a new year, a new decade. Please forgive me for fading out in December. It was one happy, hectic month. I'm hoping to share some of those memories with you, but for now I just want to get back to blogging. Like many of you, I've been thoughtfully thinking of the year ahead. Resolutions seem to drop by the wayside, so I'm thinking more of goals for 2010. The idea of having a word or phrase for the year appeals to me. Lots of wonderful words like graditude, generosity, kindness, joy, live --- have been considered. The phrase that motivates me the most is "Just do it". I want to make this the year of doing, acting on my goals and dreams. I pulled out a blank journal this morning and even made a fabric journal cover for it. I plan to reflect some this evening and begin writing my goals and dreams in this journal for 2010. We watch lots of football at my house - that's one of DH's loves. Lately, in some of the games I've heard the phrase "just finish it." Just do it, follow through to the end and Finish it seem to be my goal for this year. Do you have a phrase or word for 2010? Let's just "Do it - in 2010" whatever our goals, dreams, or plans may be.