Super Saturday and Heading Home

Well our bags are full and we have had a great time.   Heading down for breakfast and taking our luggage to be loaded.  Today we will be visiting the quilt museum and power shopping for the last minute items we can't go home without.

 A selfie with the girls from Wisconsin and Fulton, IL.

The beautiful spring flowers.

The vendors are awesome.

My new BFFs, Diane and Bruce at Sew Batiks.  Stop by the Rotary Building and tell them Terry sent you!  They are making the world a better place.

 

Thanks Paducah for showing us a great time.

Praying for safe travel for all.

Yours in quilting, 

Terry

Friday Finishes

I have been working on this 16" large block for my 2014 Country Threads Scrappy BOM.  I love making this block using my Easy Angle Ruler.

Also, finished this very large house block.  Since this is a scrappy quilt I used creative license or the make-do attitude to finish it. 

I am in Paducah finishing up my trip and headed home tomorrow.

Today I am linking up with.....Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday, Freedom Fridays, and Crazy Mom Quilts.  

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Vintage Thingie Thursday

Last fall I received this quilt from a couple who purchased it at an auction.

They asked me to put a back on it and a binding.  The lady passed away before I could get the repair done.  I finished the work on Friday and handed the quilt to her mate at the memorial service Saturday morning.  He was so excited, he spread the quilt out on the trunk of his car to view it.  His joy at viewing the quilt was worth all the hours I put into it.

 

Before I did anything to the quilt, I took it to an appraiser.  I didn't want to ruin the value of the quilt by doing work on it. 

The appraiser didn't recommend appraising it and to go ahead with the request for backing and binding. 

The quilt is 123 years old. 

The quilt measure about 83" x 84".  It contains many different types of fabrics, velvet, suitings, silk which is fractured, wool, cotton.

The back was very interesting civil war type fabrics, it is foundation pieced.

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the back. 

I laid it out on a sheet on my deck to try and get a picture of it.

I tied the backing on with embroidery floss using buttons as support.  It was a fabulous quilt with all the hand embroidery and variety of fabrics.

 

Today I am linking up with My Quilt Infatuation's Needle & Thread Thursday.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

 

On the Road

We are on our way to Paducah.  Took a rest stop at the Artisan Shop at Rend Lake.

Enjoyed seeing other artist's work and stretch our legs.

Enjoying the quilts at the Artisan Shop. 

Worked on English Paper Piecing name tag.

Yours in quilting, 

Terry

Bon Voyage! Paducah or Bust!

While you are reading this, my husband has dropped me off at the bus and I am on my way to Paducah.  My partners on this trip, as well as many others, are Maribel and Kathy.

I will try to behave... 

But may need a massage with  Real Time.

On my shopping list is another Pin Keeper 

Love these Famore scissors and will be picking up another pair.

 

My vehicle will get a rest on this trip. 

I hope there is no excitement in our neighborhood while I am gone. 

 

Our travel project is working on English Paper Piecing, Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses. 

 

We have pre-ordered more of this fabric for our project. 

 

I am sure the dog will be sleeping in my spot while I am gone. 

 

It is hard leaving the hubby and dogs. 

 

I have my new shoes broke in and ready to cover a lot of ground. 

 

Please pray for our safe travel and health on this trip.

 

Today I am linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced, Let's Be Social @ Sew Fresh, and Fresh Sewing Day @Lily Quilts.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Tuesday Tip

In January I was helping a girlfriend do some work around her house.  She had a death in the family and all the quilty friends went out to clean and cook for her.  While throwing in a load of laundry, I found a spray bottle of Grandma's Secret Spot Remover.   When I found this spray bottle, I did the happy dance.  You may have found this product at your local quilt shop in a little squeeze bottle that is hard on that hands. 

 

Having a spray bottle will make spot treating laundry so much easier.  I discovered this product about a year and a half ago.  While working at Bath & Body Works store, we had to wear white shirts.  It was a common problem to have underarm stains.  Grandma's Secret Spot Remover is great for taking out those yellow underarm stains as well as other stains, i.e. blood, grease, food, etc. (This is not a paid endorsement.)  I found this spray bottle at JoAnn's.

 

Today I will be finish up packing and checking my shopping list. I wrote a blog on how to prepare HERE. Tomorrow I will be headed to Paducah with a bus load of quilters.  Yeah!!! 

 

If anyone wants to meet up in Paducah, personal message me on Facebook or email at quiltcrazie@msn.com.

 

Today I am linking up with Connie at Freemotion by the River.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

Monday Design Wall

Lots of show and tell today.  Grab a cup of joe, tea, or whatever you drink while relaxing.  This maybe a long post due to being offline for a week. 

A week ago I attended our church quilt retreat.  It was so good to be with my quilting sisters again. There was a lot of catching up going on as it was a long winter and we had not seen each other in sometime.  Thanks to Corry for all her planning and communicating through email to get all the arrangements made.  I will tell you there's not a bad cook in the bunch.  We have done meals in two ways.  The first method is everyone signs up to participate in preparing a meal and the group for each meal communicates, purchases and cooks the meal.  The second method is the planning committee chooses the meals, sets a fee for each meal, along with buying the food, then a group of quilters cooks the pre-purchased food.  Our retreats are free except for the participation in the meal costs incurred by either method.

We have also done the retreats with classes and without.  This retreat was without classes.  We are quilters with many UFO's.  The great part about the retreat is we have many talented quilters and we help each other with difficulties.  So here we go with the picture show.

First is Joy's quilt.

Below are Nyla's projects on her embroidery machine.

 

This is Elisha's fractured quilt.

 

This is Kay with her pink beauty.

Kay was also working on these bright quilt blocks putting her own spin on the pattern.

 

Sue-Sue was working on a scrappy quilt using her Christmas fabrics.

 

Barb joined us with her crochet project for her son.

She also spent a lot of time in the kitchen making yummy food.

 

Karen spent time using up her mom's stash making dresses for African girls.

 

Corry, our retreat planner, was very busy filling the walls with her super quilts.  This is her never-ending UFO of an old Thimbleberries quilt.  She hand-painted the pictures in the center of each block.  She is working on piecing the rest of the blocks.  Notice in the lower right hand corner the snack table.  We will never starve at one of our retreats even if we get snowed in!  Haha!

 

Corry started and finished this top at the retreat.

 

This was my little corner.  I was working on piecing my 2014 Country Threads BOM.  I didn't have much energy and didn't accomplish much. I have been fighting off an upper respiratory virus for three weeks.  My energy level was low and I was chatting with everyone, playing catch-up. 

 

This is Sally's quilt.   

 

Below are Kathy's Quilter's Garden 2015 BOM. 

My apologies to those quilters who I didn't get a picture of your project.  I know I am missing several.

Did you notice that every wall is a design wall in the room?  It is my favorite place to have a retreat .  We start the weekend with an empty room and by Sunday the walls are full.  After church, the congregation comes for a visit to admire all our hard work. 

Today I am linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times, Nurdan at Hug-a-bit Quilts, and Beth at Main Crush Monday@Cooking Up Quilts. 

Yours in quilting,
Terry

 

 

Friday Finishes

Quilters are wonderful people!  I have been offline trying to finish a quilt for a customer along with being sick with the respiratory virus that is going around.  Today I finally check email and find one of my blog followers asking if I am ok and survived the storms that went through Illinois last night.  I am so touched that you worried about us.  Yes, my family and friends are ok.  We are about an hour southwest of Rochelle, IL that was hit by the storms.  I do look at the stories on TV very differently since working in the tornado area in Washington in November 2013.  It is very hard to grasp the devastation of a tornado until you have walked through the damaged area.

The good news is I have finished all the quilts that had time deadlines.  The last quilt went home last night.

 

 

I finished the last two rows on this red, black and white beauty before the storms rolled in.

I quilted it with bright red Omni thread and the pattern was Frisky Feathers by Intelligent Quilter. 

This quilt will be going to California next week to its new home.

 

Today I loaded up the car and headed out to my church where we hold a quilt retreat twice a year.

It so good to see everyone after our long winter.  Lots of catching up to do and talk of the trip to Paducah coming up soon.  The other thing I like about retreats is the food.  There's not a bad cook in the bunch.

 

Our church's Family Life Center has carpeted walls, so every wall is a design wall.  By the end of the weekend we will fill the walls with our projects.  Tune in here Monday and I will post the pictures.

 

Have a great weekend and thanks again for worrying about us in Illinois.  We are ok but please pray for the folks around the Rochelle area that were effected by the storms.

 

Today I am linking up with.....Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday, Freedom Fridays, and Crazy Mom Quilts.  

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

Tuesday Tips

I was playing around with what to write about and I came upon the first article on Bonnie Hunter's Facebook page, Quiltville Open Studio.  I think the article shares some really good information about the expenses involved in making quilts.

http://www.mooreapproved.com/2015/02/quiltonomics-the-real-cost-of-quilts/

I have trouble charging people for quilting, quiltmaking, teaching, and other costs.  We need to continue to educate the public on the costs of our trade.

This is a follow-up article to Quiltonomics and shares additional information worth the read.

http://www.mooreapproved.com/2015/02/why-i-wrote-quiltonomics/

I have been sick with a virus for about a week and a half.  This morning I had to vote for our local election for Mayor, City Council and educational committee boards.  Then I headed over to the horse barn to meet the farrier.  Hoot, my husband's horse, was a good boy while getting his feet trimmed and the shoes reset.  While holding Hoot for the farrier, I scratched his neck and head.  No doubt that Spring is here as he is shedding by the hand-fulls of hair.  I am thankful that our son could help with chores while I was sick.  This is the most have been out except to get our taxes done yesterday.

Here's a view from the couch, my two nurses-Indy and Harry, standing guard.  Funny, how the dogs know when you are not feeling well.

 

Today I am linking up with Connie at Freemotion by the River and Fabric Tuesday by A Quilt Story.

 

Have a terrific Tuesday.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Design Wall Monday

On Saturday I listed several free patterns that my friends like to follow. Some friends are slightly computer challenged, so I post the links to help everyone out and make it easy to find.  I was confused on the Bitty Blocks being posted by Quiltmaker.  Late today I went to their blog to find out that they post the first Monday of each month, not the first of each month.  That explains why I could not find their April pinwheels block on the first but it was just made available today. 

http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/2015/04/qm-bitty-blocks-flying-geese-pinwheels/

I spent half of Sunday and several hours this morning working on our income tax preparation.  I had an 11:00am appointment with the tax man and I'm thrilled things went smoothly.  I came home to look-up some additional information and drove back uptown to drop off the paperwork requested.  Now we wait for the final answer and paperwork.

Just running up to the tax appointment and doing a few things around the house, wore me out.  I hate being sick and having no energy.  I did catch up in printing off the free patterns for April. 

I decided to reward myself for working on the taxes and cut out a simple block for the 2014 BOM by Country Threads and Farm Chick Quilts.

This block is not sewn together it is just laying on my ironing board. 

 

Today I am linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Saturday Stuff - Monthly Free Pattern Links

Snuggling under this quilt this weekend while fighting off this virus or bug that I have caught.  Below are some of the free patterns I try to post each month.

 

Free pattern from Superior Threads website
http://www.superiorthreads.com/downloadableproduct/23486/

2015 Quilt Doodle Block of the Month - April's Block
http://www.quiltdoodledesigns.com/Aprils_Block_2015.pdf

McCall's Freebie Friday

 

http://www.mccallsquilting.com/content_downloads/Spring_Splash.pdf

Quiltmaker Bitty Blocks

I can't find April's Block yet.  I will post it later when it becomes available.

Row Quilt Options

http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/2015/03/qm-bitty-blocks-the-row-quilts/

 

Farm Chick Quilts ( used to be the Country Threads block of the month)

 

http://farmchickquilts.com/uncategorized/april-online-block-of-the-month-and-ufo/

http://farmchickquilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/February-Block-PDF.pdf

http://farmchickquilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/March-Block.pdf

 

Have a blessed Easter weekend.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Friday Finishes

Its been a quiet week around home compared to the last two weeks of quilts shows and preparations.  This week's goal was to complete the quilting on two quilts that have deadlines.  The first is a blue beauty.  This is a Hunter's Star quilt.  It will be a gift at a bridal shower during the Easter weekend.

 

The quilting pattern is drop of paisley and the thread is Omini Slate Blue. 

 

 

I love wide back fabrics.  Look how pretty the pattern shows on the backing. 

 

Next was the modern pink and black quilt. 

 

This quilt will be traveling to California soon. 

 

The quilting design is Frisky Feathers on Intelligent Quilter.  The thread is hot pink by YLI. 

The next quilt will be a sister quilt to this one.  The next one is red and black.

 

I burnt the candle at both ends and got run down.  So all week I have had a sore throat, achy body, and congestion.  Been living on Advil Cold & Sinus but I was running out of cough/throat drops.  Made a run to the grocery store for more green chai tea, cough drops and of course a quilting magazine. 

 

My husband has been working extremely long hours, as well as an hour commute to and from work.  It cheered both of us up to see the picture of him on Facebook.  While he was a route driver he made wonderful friends and he misses serving the public.  One of his customers posted this picture of him the last day he delivered to her.  He now is a warehouseman instead of route driver.  I am so blessed to live with the happy guy.  

 

May you all have a blessed Easter.

 

Today I am linking up with.....Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday, Freedom Fridays, and Crazy Mom Quilts.  

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry