Doll Quilt

I made this little doll quilt for a little friend of mine who recently got an American Girl Doll. (This is the back) The label:

The front:

Older quilts

I made this little quilt a few years ago. It's colored with crayons and I used reproduction fabrics plus a few feedsacks from my limited collection. The quilt behind it was a find in an Arkansas junk store. I think I paid $17 for the top. My friend Donna T. quilted it. I found the old ladder in a store in Broken Arrow.

The following pillow and quilt are also ones that I made a few years ago.

The quilt pattern was featured on the cover of the Keepsake Quilting catalog and I just had to have it. I machine appliqued the tulips, but for some reason I decided to hand quilt the quilt. Last year when we went to Vermont we sneaked across the New Hampshire border just so I could go to Keepsake Qulting. It was worth the trip.

Fall colors

Does anyone remember in the past that crepe myrtles turned this lovely color of orange in the fall? Maybe I'm brain dead, but I don't ever remember it before. They are so lovely.

I just love the contrast of this lime green next to the begonias and the orange crepe myrtle.

I picked these from my garden. Unfortunately, ever since then we've had a lot of gnats in the house. How do I get rid of them?

More needlework

My Grandma Few stitched this picture sometime before 1954. That year she had a stroke and was completely paralyzed on her right side and was bedridden until her passing in 1972. I reframed it in the 80's. She was a quilter, too. So the need to do something with a needle must be hereditary.

Mom did this one sometime in the 60's. It was a gift for her mom, my Grandma Few. After Grandma died, Mom got it back and she gave it to me. The embroidery work is absolutely beautiful.

Giveaway

Here's a giveaway for you to check out: www.eclecticquilter.blogspot.com

Carol Maples

Yesterday was my mother-in-law's birthday. She would have been 29....again. She always claimed to be 29, which made it difficult to explain when her kids got to be older than she. Then she claimed she adopted them when she was just a child herself. She was funny.

She and I had a lot of fun together and she was one of my best friends. We loved playing piano duets together and I'm so thankful we have a couple of them on video. It's a little long, so if you don't want to watch the whole thing, just go to the end because we ALWAYS had a good laugh at the end. It made it really hard to ever play in public because we couldn't help cracking up at the end. Yesterday was a hard day. But today I'm trying to remember the laughs. I miss her alot.

Civil War Birthday Blocks

These are the last two of the Civil War Birthday Blocks I've made. In my group at the Cotton Patch, each month we make a block to give to the birthday girl. I've been trying to make one to give and one to keep. These two are mine to keep so I have a total of nine. This Thursday......It's MY TURN!!!! I can hardly wait. My birthday is next Saturday, October 24. The group meets on Thursday and I'll get all my birthday blocks.

Also, for my birthday, I'm doing "Laps for Little Ones". It's a major fund raiser for The Little Lighthouse(www.littlelighthouse.org) school for children with disabilities. They are a completely faith based organization and take no federal funding. I'll be walking an hour. Tim's company "Williams Energy" sponsored me for $1500! Thank you Williams!!! What a great way to spend my birthday. Our little Timothy (grandson) was on the waiting list to go to school at Little Lighthouse when his sight miracuously improved and the doctors told my daughter not to send him there. That opened up a spot for another child and we've been supporting the school ever since.

Pow Wow

Since I'm on the subject of Quilter's Pow Wow....Here's the quilt I finished while I was there.

Remember what it looked like last year? This is what I got done in the class. I'm so glad I got it quilted while I was there. I put the binding on it last week and now it's on my kitchen table.

Here are the ladies I shared a cabin with. Except for the lady on the left in the back. I don't know her. I think she just wanted in the picture! ha ha
And these are ladies from my stitch group:

Katie (who went to Hawaii with us and is also Emma's neice), Emma, Leslie, June, me and Colleen.


This little group has become quite famous at Pow Wow. We've written 3 quilt related songs and have sung for 3 years in a row, adding a song each year.

Carolyn, Ann, me, Leslie and Peggy. Unfortunately you can't see the glue who holds us all together: Karen at the guitar. She's the best!

I'm Dyeing!

While Leslie and I were at Quilter's Pow Wow at Western Hills Resort near Wagner, Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago we took a class in fabric dying called "Low Imersion Dyeing". It was SO much fun. We did the dyeing in quart jars. The teacher(Sherry Worley of Princeton, TX) had the dye all mixed for us so we just basically played all day. She was kind enough to allow us to come back after the class had ended and play some more.

We dyed so much that we both ended up with somewhere around 20 fat quarters each. These three fat quarters came out of one jar. They were just added at different times.

This is Leslie with our two examples of true red. Leslie carefully measured her colors with an eye dropper and kept count of the number of drops (hers is on the right). I just dumped my colors together and came up the the color on the left.

Here are the large squares we did. We rolled them up like a jelly roll. I folded my fabric in quarters first. Leslie rolled hers up a little off center (on purpose). We were both very happy with the results.

At the end of the class we dumped a lot of colors together and this is what we got. Love it!!!

We're looking forward to using up the rest of our dye and creating some more fun.

More of Mom's embroidery blocks

Here are the rest of the blocks from Mom's State Flower Quilt representing the rest of the state I've lived in.

The actual order of the states I've lived in is: Missouri, Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, Nevada, Missouri, Nevada, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma.
I've been everywhere, man. I lived in Missouri until I married Tim in 1975. Then we moved, and moved and moved.... It's been fun.

Mom made this quilt probaby sometime in the 80's. I don't think it had ever been washed, because it's in really good shape. She hand embroidered all 50 state flowers and then hand quilted it. I chose to show these states because I've lived in all of them. (Plus 2 more)

I sure do miss her...

Chatalain

I found these lovely hand embroidered and crotcheted pillowcases in a thrift shop in Missouiri. I got them for $8. I finished this chatalain (one of those thing-ies you hang around your neck to hold your scissors)

a few months ago. I took a class from Nancy Mullman (Cotton Patch--Tulsa, OK) in silk embroidery. She's really good at it.
The red flowers in the watering can conceal a pocket for my thimble.

The birdhouse is a handmade clay button.

Another sideways picture (you should be used to it by now)

I love it!

Tulsa State Fair

This afternoon, I got a "Tim sitter" and Leslie and I sneaked off to the Tulsa State Fair. Tim is feeling "okay". He'll be glad to be off the pain meds. It's hard for him to get comfortable. But he had good company and people to make sure he didn't do anything to injure himself. This is Leslie and me in front of the sand sculpture in the Children's building.

Here's Leslie in front of my x-block quilt (orange). It won a 3rd place ribbon.

My iris wallhanging got a blue ribbon. Mom would have been proud. She loved irises. I had intended this quilt for her.

Tim's little circle wallhanging got a 3rd place ribbon, too. Brittany's quilt didn't get a ribbon. (Boo!) Calista entered some of her knitted items and won a couple of ribbons, too.

Giveaway

Drum Roll Please......

As Tim hobbled back from the bathroom just a few minutes ago, I asked him to stop and pick the winning number. And it is.......#10 who happens to be Carrie P. She said I didn't have to include her since this was her first time reading her blog, but I'm sure some of the others had never read either. Congratulations, Carrie!

To answer a few questions: Yes, the quilt shown is an x-block; the napkins are doubled, turned right side out and I stitched a square and inch or so inside the outside.

The quilt won a third place ribbon in it's category at the fair so I'll throw in an extra fat quarter (I had promised 2 if it won a blue). My iris wallhanging won a blue ribbon! Whoo hooo! and the wall hanging I made for Tim's office won a white (third). Brittany's quilt didn't place. I haven't seen them yet, but my daughters went to the fair and reported back to me.

Tim is doing okay, but is uncomfortable. The visiting nurses will be here this morning to help him with his therapy.

Giveaway and update

This is the last day to comment for the giveaway. I'll have Tim draw the winning number tomorrow.

We just got home from the hospital. Tim is doing well, but is exhausted. He's in bed now and I'm hoping he'll sleep all afternoon. He's in good spirits and getting around slowly but surely with his walker. He'll be recuperating here at home for the next 2-3 weeks. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

Update

Tim's hip surgery went well yesterday. He had a rough day being "under the influence", but as the drugs are wearing off, he is doing much better. He is sitting up in a chair today and will be working with a physical therapist twice today. I spent the night with him in the hospital. We are being treated very well by the staff. Thanks to everyone for the prayers and thoughts.

The fair starts tonight, but I'm having second thoughts about leaving him to go check on the quilts. We'll see how he is this evening. Tim's dad and step-mom are here to help keep him company.