Where has the time gone.....

Today is my daughter's 25th birthday. Happy Birthday Katherine! You are a blessing and joy to me and your Dad.

Hallowe'en 2009......

Well, half of the wait is over. I got the pattern yesterday for the new Blackbird quilt pattern, Hallowe'en-1904, and it is fantastic! Thanks to my friend Janice. The second half is the fabric......and I just ordered the fabric kit, made up by Common Threads Quilt Store in Waxahachie, Texas (just happens to be my fave quilt shop) !!! So, I won't have to wait much longer to get started on this quilt....is it possible that I will have it finished before Hallowe'en 2009? Never mind the fact that I bought the Midnight Silhouette kit about a month ago from Common Threads when I was in Waxa for a bridal luncheon. Stay tuned, there is more to follow.......

My favorite fabric.....

I purchased the fabric for the quilt 'Anna's Starry Night' about 5-6 years ago. Can't remember the exact time frame as I had just started quilting and found the pattern and I loved the fabric. Don't remember where I first saw it, but I knew I had to have it. I think the fabric is Blackbird Designs, 'Anna's Starry Night' and I don't know where I got the pattern. Possibly from the Moda website under their 'free patterns' section. This was before I realized fabric had several designs within a group. I just thought this fabric was 'randomly' chosen and put together to make the quilt. I have learned a lot since then. It was one of the first quilts I made and it is still one of my favorites. So, when I finished the quilt, I had some scraps of fabric and didn't want to wastethem, so I started hand piecing a hexagon quilt, using plastic templates called 'Quilt Patis' from Picking Up the Pieces. Once again, I bought these several years ago on the internet, so I don't know if they are even available now. From time to time, when I am between knitting or embroidery projects, I get my basket of hexagons out and sew a few together. One day I will have a throw size quilt that just for ME!

This makes me smile......

I don't know where to start with this post as I have so much to say. First of all, if you haven't seen the movie 'Julie and Julia', I highly recommend it. It is such a romantic, funny, feel-good movie. I can't wait to see it again!

Last weekend, I had friends staying with me, so I am catching up with the last couple of weeks. I finished a couple of quilt tops, as shown above. The red and brown quilt is....you guessed it.....a Blackbird Design, from the book 'Birds of a Feather'. It is hand appliqued and will probably be finished on my sewing machine. Haven't decided yet. I made it smaller from the original design by leaving out some of the blocks. Birds, flowers and vines...what could be better? The other quilt top is a Crabapple Hill pattern, 'Over the river and through the woods...' and it is a combination of embroidery and quilting. I can't wait to get it finished and hung on my wall.

I will see my quilting friends this week as we meet once a month at my house. It is always so much fun to see what they bring to 'show and tell'. Maybe they will allow me to share some of it with you on my blog.

There's more, but that's for another post......happy quilting!

Afternoon Tea.....

My daughter and I had afternoon tea today. It was her idea and she brought some lovely small sweets she bought at Walton's, Sandra Bullock's new eatery, here in Austin. She also brought a pasta salad and some cherry tomatoes stuffed with bacon, basil, and cream cheese. I made some finger sandwiches. We drank tea from the Tea Embassy ......Scottish Breakfast blend and Bavarian Chocolate. They were both really good and you can find them online at www.teaembassy.com . This was a really nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon and something that we both really enjoy but don't get to do very often. Later in the afternoon I went to my brother's house and he grilled steaks with twice baked potatoes and salad. Spent time with my two nieces, their husbands and kids. A perfect Sunday!

Socks soar......

That may be an exaggeration, for my first sock anyway. I have been working on these socks for...well.....over a year now.....off and on.....with the help of my friends at Gauge Knit, http://www.gaugeknit.com/ , several books,Youtube and a DVD. You can see that I have started my second sock and I am anticipating that it will go much quicker. I can't remember what yarn I am using. Just remember that I was inspired by Jane Brocket, http://www.yarnstorm.blogs.com/ . There is no design involved, just straight knitting, as the yarn makes the pattern as you knit. Very nice. I will make a minor adjustment to my second sock, but all in all it has been a lot of fun and I have learned a lot about knitting and circular needles. I also have quite a bit of sock yarn in my stash now, so I have to keep going! Happy knitting!

It's raining......

Just a little rain, but we're not complaining. With that out of the way.....I've been working on some hand applique' this past week. The blocks pictured above are from the book "Carrie Hall's Sampler" by Barbara Brackman. I'm doing this quilt through a block of the month from http://www.commonthreadsquilting.com. I love the colors that have been chosen for this quilt and can't wait to finish it even though we are only halfway through. And yes.....that's a Blackbird Designs block in the upper right corner from their book 'Birds of a Feather'. Have been working on this quilt for some time and am trying to finish it as well. These are great to stitch when I'm 'watching' TV at night. Like last night when I watched 'Gone with the Wind'. Forgot how long that movie is.

It's a treat.......

'Trick or Treat' quilt is finished and hanging in my hallway. I used a machine applique technique and started it, I think, in February. It has a total of 158 basket blocks plus the appliqued setting triangles. I made mine smaller than the original pattern in 'When the Cold Wind Blows', by Blackbird Designs, so that it would fit on my wall. It also makes a nice 'topper' for the queen size bed in my guest room. This quilt has moved to the top of my all time favorites! I hope you enjoy it.

Another treat.....Last night I saw Glen Hansard, from the movie 'Once" and Sam Beam, of Iron and Wine, at the Paramount Theater here in Austin. It was a benefit for the Midwives Alliance of North America and it was a great evening of beautiful accoustic music. If you haven't seen the movie, Once, or heard any of the music by Iron and Wine, you should check it out. They are very talented song writers and musicians. It was a wonderful treat!

I bought some great accent pillow covers to put on my sofa yesterday at Pottery Barn, but the inserts have goose down feathers (not so much of a treat) and I'm allergic to them, so I am out and about today searching for 'fake' goose down inserts for my cushions. Hope you have a great day...........

Finishing projects......

While I'm finishing my quilt over the weekend, I thought I would show you a quilt that I finished last year. This was my first hand applique quilt that I worked on for over a year while taking classes from my friend Janice. We worked on our own Baltimore Album quilts and it was a lot of fun to see everyone's finished quilts. Each one was very different color wise and some were more detailed than others, but they were all beautiful. Janice generously shared her knowledge about applique and helped to build our confidence for future projects. Her work is beautiful and precise. She also hand quilts most of her quilts. We all love to see her finished projects.

The blocks in my Baltimore album have some kind of family reference for each of them. The Texas wildflower basket in the center is a symbol of my Texas roots. The other blocks are a reminder of various family members or places I have lived. I hope you enjoy it.

It's been raining.........

The rain has been really nice since we have had very little rain the past couple of years! Worst drought in 25 years. So, we are very excited to see the rain.

I finished piecing the 'Trick or Treat' quilt this morning and will prepare it for quilting over the next few days. Will post the finished quilt soon. The watermelon quilt, pictured above, is a small quilt that I recently finished. I 've had the pattern for a few years, and I was in a 'watermelon' mood this summer, so hence the quilt. The pattern is by Cabbage Rose, Barbara Brandeburg and the book is titled Company's Coming.

It's been a lot of fun reading your comments on my blog. Several different countries are represented and I love reading your blogs about what you are working on. A couple of blogs that I visited over the past few days are http://www.dorryvanbeers.blogspot.com/ from the Netherlands and http://www.linenandraspberry.blogspot.com/ from Australia. Take a look, they are really nice.

I also saw my first Harry Potter movie at the theater this week. I have seen #s 3,4,&5 on DVD, but I really enjoyed seeing the most recent one with my friend, Rhonda and my daughter. They are both Harry Potter fans and Rhonda and I share a mutual admiration for Alan Rickman so that was reason enough to go see the new one. I also recently saw the 'Dateline' program on J.K. Rowling where a reporter followed her for a year while she was writing the final Harry Potter book. Very insightful as she revisited many of the places where she had written some of the books.

I'm off to walk F.H. around the block. He's my bassett hound for those of you that haven't met him yet. Take some time to do something creative today........