Working On My Barn Quilt

It's no secret that I love quilts! I think that there is something so magical about turning a stack of fabric into a wonderful work of art, that is both beautiful and functional. It takes many hours of work to turn that fabric into a quilt. I love the whole process! I have one quilt that took me 120 hours to make. It is a paper pieced quilt. Paper piecing is magical! The process is very easy. Google it if you are curious. Pinterest is full of wonderful paper pieced examples. 

I am coming along with my Quilty Barn Along. I have two more blocks that are almost finished. I had to order more black on black patterned fabric. I just didn't have any in my stash. Can you find the mistake? Look closely. It is the barn on the bottom right. It's the cupolas. I reversed the roof and cupola "siding". But, it's ok. 

I just love the barn blocks. 

I know, I know......not another one. Yep, I found a Featherweight at an estate sale recently. The price was so amazing, that I couldn't pass it up. It's funny, back when I was really looking for one I couldn't find one at all. Now that I am no longer looking, they seem to find me. Not sure if I am keeping this one or selling it. It is in excellent condition with instruction booklet, case and other odds and ends. I don't think that the lady that owned it used it much. Thankfully she was just downsizing. I like those types of estate sales, they are not as sad to me.

It also came with a buttonhole maker for free. They just threw it in at no charge. Said that it didn't make sense to sell the buttonhole maker and machine separately. 

It's very interesting. I am not sure how it works but it came in a little box with instructions.

I love these old labels.

I have recently stumbled upon this site lostquilt.com. I was shocked and saddened to find that people steal quilts. I guess that I never really thought about quilt theft. Some of these thefts happened at quilt shows. So sad. The site is a great addition to the quilting community. Some of the quilts have actually been recovered. Recently a quilter lost 16 quilts to thieves. They broke into her studio and only stole the quilts. You can read about it here: Quiltville Friends on facebook. You may have to scroll down a little to find the article. I also found out that you can microchip your quilt. If I ever enter a quilt in a show or mail one, I know now to put my name and address on the quilt. It is even suggested that you sew it inside the quilt sandwiched between the batting and backing before adding the binding. Great tips. 

It's been hot here but starting to cool off a little. 

Sometimes all you need is a little pool, a water gun and a wet t shirt to rule the world!

Have a happy day and if you don't quilt I urge you to start! If you have any quilty questions just leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer it.

Holly

Fun Flower Tour

Wow! I can't believe that it is July already!! Sorry for the mini vacation. I have been busy: gardening, redecorating, sewing, summer homeschooling D#2, canning, needle felting, painting and just plain old relaxing. Here's a couple of pictures of the yard. 

Cherry tomatoes always go crazy in the whiskey barrels. 

Pretty gladiolas after a rain. They remind me of my Mama and Papa. He always grew them for Mama and would bring them in from the garden for her.

I loooovvvvee my gardenias. I have two bushes that are about 9 years old. They bloom throughout the summer. 

Garden. See the corn that the squirrels planted. I have planted corn for years and can't get it to grow above 2 feet and look at how big the squirrels' corn grew-at least 4-5 ft. I believe that it has 2 ears on it.

Gladiolas, cucumbers, & sunflowers.

Pretty day lilies.

My beautiful butterfly garden. The black eyed Susans outdo themselves every year. It is a huge plot of them, about 6 foot x 14 ft and just full of the black eyed Susans. The butterflies, bees, goldfinches and other insects just love them.

Pot of flowers covering a pump we had to install to keep the area some what dry.

 I planted some zinnias, marigolds, morning glories and a few mystery seeds in those bare spots. Hopefully the b-e-Susans will make a comeback next year. Can you see the clump of weeds in the bottom left corner. The b-e-susans had choked all the weeds out but since there are some bare spots this year the weeds went crazy. They have all been removed now.

Another pot covering up a pump.

Little gnome all spruced up.

I believe this day lily is called a "tiger lily".

Canna after a rain.

   

Dr. Seuss quilt. This year I did the quilt a little different. We had 22 kids and I really didn't want to make 22 blocks. That would have been one huge quilt. I used a jelly roll (assorted Dr. Seuss strips of fabric) to make it. The children were so sweet and I just love their hand prints! I machine embroidered each name under the hand print. You do have to be organized while doing this. I used masking tape to label each child's hand print until I was able to embroider his/her name.

Each child signed their name to the label.

Back of quilt. I pieced the back using all the leftover solid scraps. I love to use up all the fabric and not have any left over. 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Keep those fingers busy,

Holly