November 28, 2009

Dare To Be Ugly!

22 ladies signed on for a challenge I hosted on the HGTV Quilting and Needlework Forum. It was the 1st Annual Dare To Be Ugly Challenge! I purchased one of the ugliest fabrics I could find and the contestants each received 1/2 yard to make any project they chose with it. They had to use 90% of the fabric and had the freedom to incorporate any other fabrics they chose to in the making of their project.

These ladies have really come up with some very interesting creations! Enjoy the picture show!

This was the fabric!


These are the projects completed with the fabric!













































November 27, 2009

Friday Finish

Well, almost...It still needs quilting but I am happy to have it pieced and ready for the frame!

This quilt will make its way to the post office soon. Some unsuspecting soul will be the new owner of my quilt as a surprise Christmas present. hmmm...Now who could that be?



November 24, 2009

Fall Inspired Mini Quilt

I joined a Fall Mini Quilt Swap over at the Quilting Gallery and received this wonderful quilt from Marijke op den camp from the Netherlands in the mail yesterday! It is an awesome show of workmanship! It will have its own special place on one of my walls so that when I have company they can enjoy it as well! I count myself very lucky to have received such a work of art!




I also received 2 extra giftees in with my quilt. This lady did her homework because she had to know I love pigs.

November 16, 2009

The Love Of Friends!

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."

My mother passed away in September and my friends from the HGTV Quilting and Needlework Forum made me a comfort quilt. My friends Nicki and Elaine, both from Massachusetts, got in touch with the ladies in secret and had them send in a block to go in the quilt. After they put the quilt top together they sent it to my friend Carol, from Texas, and she quilted it. My good friend Carolyn, from California, hand painted a label and sent it to Carol to go on the back. After the quilt was completed it was mailed to my friend Karen, from Virginia, who brought it to me this past weekend.

Karen and I had been planning a visit for some time but I did not know she would be bringing me such a gift of friendship! Of course I cried but they were happy tears. These ladies are such awesome friends! I am so blessed to have each and every one of them in my life!






Southern Hospitality and Blog Friends

My friend Karen and I had the distinct pleasure of showing Lettie some good old southern hospitality Saturday. Lettie is from Hawaii and had come to North Carolina with her husband so he could have surgery at a nearby hospital. I found her blog while browsing blogland earlier in the week and found that she was spending her time between the hospital and her hotel. I replied and offered to come and take her for lunch and go quilt shopping and she took me up on it. My friend Karen was coming to visit me from Virginia so I asked her if she would like to do this and she readily agreed.

I told Lettie about my friend Karen and that we were both members of the HGTV Quilting and Needlework Forum. She told me that she was a member there too but did not really take part in the conversation. I told her what my and Karen's boardnames were and she recognized them right off. It really is a small world sometimes.

Lettis told us they did not have Olive Gardens in Hawaii so we took her there for lunch. We had a fabulous 2 hour luncheon! Talk came as easily as if we had been friends for years. We finished our lunch off with a fabulous Lemon Creme Cake! We all 3 split a piece but I believe if we had not been so full we all could have eaten a whole piece by ourselves.

After lunch we took off to a quilt shop on the far side of town. Wish Upon A Quilt had some fabulous fabrics and we all 3 found plenty to bring home. We headed over to our local JoAnn's from there because Lettie said they did not have a JoAnn's either. They have the Ben Franklin Stores and most likely are similar. JoAnn's has done a complete facelift of their store and it was really busy. Lettie found several fabrics to take back with her and got a number to stand in line. Her number was 82 and they were only at 54 at that time! I had never seen it so busy! But we waited it out and Lettie was happy with her purchases as we got in the truck to take her back to the hotel.

It was 6 p.m. by now and we all were really tired. I thought I knew a shorter way to get back to her hotel and we wound up getting lost. LOL We were back on the other side of town when all was said and done and I found myself in a little bit of distress as to which lane I needed to be in to exit onto the interstate. We were trying to get someone's attention in the car next to us and they were holding their hands up like, I can't hear you. I thought, duh, you can't hear me because your window is up. They finally rolled their window down and after I asked them which lane was the inner belt line they said their lane. So they allowed us in front of them but when I got closer to the exit ramp I saw what the signs said. There is an inner and outer beltline and I was afraid I was really in the wrong lane. I was sitting at a red light so I called my husband and he confirmed I was so I had to get back over where I originally was. The traffic was horrific but thank goodness there was a car lagging back so we were able to get over easily. We were all 3 laughing by now but we were just glad when we finally found the hotel again. We said our goodbyes and Karen and I proceeded to go home.

We only got a short distance from the hotel and my truck made a really high pitched shrieking noise. I pulled over to the curb and we both got out and I called 911. They sent the law who didn't really help so we got back in and headed home. It never made the sound again but Miss Silverado is headed to town today to the truck-spital.

We had to stop at Michaels for my hubby and then stop and get some supper to take home so it was 9 p.m. when we pulled in to my driveway. It was a long day but a very good day! Any day you can meet up with such wonderful people and share a day of fellowship is always a pleasure! I hope to be able to see Lettie again in the future. I don't want the same reason to bring her to NC but I do hope she gets to come back!

Lettie


Karen and Lettie

November 12, 2009

The Start Of It All!

The Farmer Boy continues to be one of my favorite old patterns to work with. I like him far better than Sunbonnet Sue. Why, I don't know, unless it is that little red hanky in his back pocket. lol

When I was 19 I began quilting for the public. It wasn't long after I started my business that I made a Farmer Boy quilt. There was a new gift shop in town that accepted consignments so I took it in and showed it to the shop owner. She accepted it and put it on display for sale. I walked out feeling quiet proud of myself that something I made was actually for sale in a gift shop. I received a phone call from the shop owner the very next day telling me that it had already sold and the lady who bought it ordered a second one in a different colorway. I was ever excited!! This was the boost I really needed to help keep me going forward.

I failed to take photos of those 2 quilts back then...heck I wasn't very good at making photos of anything I made in the beginning and how I wish I had!

The following Farmer Boy quilt was made for my husbands niece for her new baby boy. I really liked the setting of this particular quilt and was glad that I made the blocks long and skinny instead of the usual 12 1/2 inch square.

Don't Throw Out Those T-Shirts!

Do you have bins full of t-shirts from days gone by? Do your children have t-shirts from their school days that you just cannot throw away? Well, make a lasting memory quilt with those shirts and surprise them with a gift they would never expect!

I made the following quilt for a friend of mine to give to her daughter. The daughter had gone to Law School. The shirts reflect various clubs she was in during her college years as well as trips she went on. When the quilt was picked up, the mother was very well pleased with the finished product! Her daughter was delighted as well!

If you are interested in a memory quilt, please visit my website through the link on my sidebar. My contact information can be found there.

Tricia Cribbs

Tricia Cribbs owns FriendFolks.com, designs patterns, writes books, and is a fabric designer. She is the designer of the Turning Twenty patterns that have been a huge success in the quilting world!

I started my longarm quilting business in early 2006 and after practicing for a while, Tricia sent me this quilt to quilt for one of her new books that she was writing. I wish I had it back "to do over" because I would quilt it a lot differently. I have advanced in my quilting quiet a bit since this quilt. I wasn't ever going to show it but this morning while going through some of my CD's I decided why not. At least I would be giving Tricia some advertisement.

This quilt pattern can be found in her book E-Z Beez-y Quilts Book.

If you have never been to Friendfolks.com you need to head on over there. Tricia has lots of great patterns, books and fabrics for you to check out!

November 10, 2009

School Memories

Miss Mazelle Hardin was my literature teacher as well as my mom's and my dad's. She retired the year before my oldest would have been in her class. She was such a wonderful teacher! I loved her so much as so many other fellow classmates did too.

She was a petite lady, always carrying her black patent purse on the bend of her elbow. The boys in my class were always getting into trouble just to get a paddling from her. She was so petite she had to hold the paddle with both hands just to give it a good swing. The boys would always tell her they loved her when she called them out in the hall for the paddling. They were constantly putting rubber spiders in her desk drawer just to hear her squeal.

She was fluent back then in a couple of languages other than English and would try to teach us to say a few things. The phrase that stands out in my mind was one in French. How do you plant cabbage.... I can still hear her saying "Comment plantez-vous le chou ?"

She never married but elected to live with and take care of her parents. Her father passed a few years ago but she was blessed to have her mother up until last year. Her mother passed in 2008 at the sweet age of 99. Miss Hardin would not want me telling her age but she is still feeling very well and I hope to be able to visit her during the Christmas holidays this year.

This is a poem she had us memorize in 10th grade. We had to stand up in front of the class and recite it from memory. I was always so nervous when we had to do things like this. But I passed with flying colors...as always.

Here's to you Miss Hardin!


Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost
New Hampshire
1923