Taking a working holiday.....

Yes, you read that right. There has been so much going on for us this autumn. Jos quit his job and yesterday was his last day. He will be starting a new job in November. We are now taking this coming week off to relax at Cranberry Cottage and it will be a working holiday for me as you can see by my packing. I just cannot be without my handwork. I had spent a good deal of yesterday helping a quilting friend with her swap blocks so ended up trying to pack my hobby bag later in the evening. I just could not decide what to take so I am taking everything. I did leave the kitchen sink. *grins* I have my Centennial Sampler and a new version of Christmas Spice which I have to sew as a sample for the next quilt evening. I have my Ohio sampler and Beatrix Potter Quaker sampler along also. When I get back at the end of the week, I should have some progress photos to share.


I have received a couple of awards that I have seemed to kept hidden away for a while. I think it is time to bring them back out and pass them along to a blogging friend or two...


This award was given to me by Meari. Thank you so much and I would like to pass this one along to Lucy who I think is a kindred spirit who knows that beauty is in the image of an old quilt.


This award was given to me by Linda and she is someone I have discovered through my mother. They have visited each other for some time now and she is such a nice person. Thanks Linda! I am passing this award on to again one blogger and that person is Carolien. This was easy as it was because of Carolien commenting on my blog that I 'met' her. She decided to start her own blog after that and eventually we actually did meet since she lives in the same city as I do. Commenting on blogs can lead to things and I will be meeting another blogger, Annemarie, next weekend. If we hit it off half as much as with Carolien, I have a wonderful new friendship again.


And finally, I received this award from Mary Kathryn just this week. Thank you very much! I am passing this award on to another friend of mine who started blogging. Her name is Saskia and she was my very first member to join my quilt group. She has become like family to me along with the other ladies in our group. Stop in and say hello to her...

Ohio ~ new beginnings...

After so many finishes, it is time to share a new beginning...


I mentioned that I planned to start one of my Ohio samplers after I finished Silent Sampler. I decided this weekend would be a great time to devote to beginning the first of a series of samplers that I intend to make for an Ohio wall in my home. I thought this would be fun to do since I am originally from Ohio. I got the initial idea a couple of years ago when I bought the book "Ohio Is My Dwelling Place" by Sue Studebaker. This book is eye candy for any stitcher but a must have for any Ohioian whether you live there or elsewhere. Ohio never leaves your heart!

Edit - January 8, 2009 - I have deleted all entries pertaining to the MB circe 1810 sampler I was working on after receiving an email from the designer, who I do not know, sharing her opinion about my changing a color in the design. This was done not to offend but because the color was not visible on the linen. I am sorry that I am no longer able to share this with my readers.


Have you ever considered doing a series of samplers dedicated to your own area that you are from?

A yo~yo diet this week

In September, we did a quick and easy new project in my quilt group. Our medallion quilts are done and need to be sandwiched and quilted so we had time this year for two small extra projects. Making folded yo~yos was the first of them. I actually don't understand why they are called folded yo~yos and I think they look more like a folded hexagon.


So this week, I wanted to get these put together as a tablerunner. The cat on your lap as you sew is not necessary but very helpful. *grins* Can you spot Dagi?


And 49 yo~yos later.....


I decided on a diamond shape for my tablerunner. What is fun about making these is not only are they simple but can be used in so many shapes.


The back of the tablerunner is almost as pretty as the front. It was strange to use these very springlike colors now that autumn has arrived. This little quilt will now be stored away and brought out again when the spring bulbs come into flower. Now I can move one more item from the UFO list to the finished list.

Have a creative weekend!

Yeah! I did it again!

I had an unexpected telephone call yesterday as my friend Sonja had a day off work and called to see if we could get together for tea and some stitching. Well, of course, I said yes and she came over for the afternoon. I wanted to get my latest UFO finished and finish it I did!

I had my trusty quilt tester helping out. Dagi not only tests the quilts but supervises my work. Sonja ran upstairs for my camera and took a photo of my helper. I mentioned while she was doing this that normally I would have already thought of a name for the quilt but had not so far. Then we thought since Dagi was sitting on the corner of the quilt and this quilt block is called "Puss in the Corner", well just wait and see...




I machine quilted this one. To me it still feels like I am cheating even though I know the machine does not work without me there guiding the quilt along, but still. I am however enjoying the fact that I can reduce my UFOs. I am back to a project by hand this weekend so that will help me feel better perhaps. *grins*


I found this fabric in my stash cupboard that was large enough to use for the backing. Today I am working on the label so here it is...


I am calling the quilt "My Puss in the Corner: Dagi's Flower Garden". Do you think Mr. Dagi approves?

Have a creative weekend and I hope to share another finish when I return from Cranberry Cottage.

A Beatrix Potter weekend...

I had a weekend filled with Beatrix Potter. We spent the weekend up at Cranberry Cottage as usual. I decided to leave my quilting at home and just take along my stitching. I worked on some more of my Beatrix Potter Quaker sampler. I have almost finished another whole motif from when I took this photo yesterday. I want to have this sampler completed by the end of the year if not way before that time.


While stitching, I watched "Miss Potter" yet again on my laptop. I have seen this DVD so many times now that I start to notice many minute details of the houses and surroundings now as I watch. For example, I was examining the shelves in her upstairs room and all the wonderful items they contained.

The latest Beatrix Potter mystery is out and I want to finally catch up with my reading so I took a Susan Wiggit Albert book along to read. I bought these books each as they came out but have such a backlog of books to be read. I decided to move these to the head of the list.


I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was raining here which to me is the perfect weekend weather for sitting indoors and stitching or quilting!

I have added another of my UFOs to my list as I will be working on it this week ~ my folded yo~yo tablerunner. I also am half finished with another UFO and should have it ready to show you later this week. It is just wonderful to watch my projects list getting a little less each time.

Weekend project idea

We just had an Autumn Days swap on my online stitching group. The rules were to make a handmade object and purchase an autumn themed gift for a secret swap partner. I had Christine in Canada's name. I wanted to make her something very unusual. My own fall decorations gave me a cute idea.


I made her 'plumpkins' which are little fabric pumpkins. Along with that, I sent a vine, toadstools, a little mouse and autumn napkins.


Here they are set up together on her table. She says it is her own private pumpkin patch. I am so glad you liked them Christine as I had alot of fun making them for you!


I made them for her as these remain some of my own favorite autumn decorations. I used this as a project for my quilt group many years ago. They are very quick and easy to make and the perfect weekend project. I made two sets, one for home and one for Cranberry Cottage, since they are so adorable. I thought it would be fun on this autumn Friday to share the link to this project which is still available so you can maybe make some this weekend. It is a Debbie Mumm free project and you can find the link here.

Have a color~filled autumn weekend all!

Another UFO flies away to a finish!

A couple of years ago, I invited a quilting friend to spend a long weekend with me at Cranberry Cottage. We spent our time with our needles making a little miniature quilt. Every once in a while, we needed a distraction and one day that meant driving to a quilt shop I shared with you here. They had just received some new fabrics that I simply fell in love with right there on the spot. I had no idea what I would do with them and only bought a small amount of each as they were rather costly.


I got home from the cottage and immediately that day started working on a quilt top. I knew I wanted to make a quilt that would be all warm and snuggley which I would use regularly. I decided on the Turning Twenty patchwork so it could really show off how pretty the fabrics are. Cutting these up in too small of pieces would have been a shame.


They are a combination of various florals in baby rib cord, silks, pleated silks and beaded rib cord.


I had left this quilt top sit for a couple of years and did not want another winter to come and go without being able to snuggle up under it. I planned on tieing the quilt but on Friday after doing my blog entry, I thought I wanted to try machine quilting this since it will be very used and it quite heavy due to the fabrics. It needs to be durable. A couple of hours later...a finished quilt! Why did I wait all that time to quilt it?


For the backing fabric, I wanted to stay with a warm and soft aspect and decided on a mustard color floral flannel by Moda.


The name "Snuggles" for this quilt seemed the only possibility. If you need me this winter, you will find me snuggled up under this quilt on my chair with a stitching or quilting project. *grins*

UFOs: True confessions

I have VERY many UFOs. I used to teach patchwork and quilting as well as hosting a monthly quilt group. For both things, I needed to prepare samples of my ideas. You have to always stay a step ahead of everyone and this meant often letting those samples sit unfinished while I moved on to the next idea. As a result, I have hangers full of neglected quilt tops in various stages. I also let quilts I wanted to make for myself sit as I was too busy with other quilts.

When I was talking to Heidi over at BetweenStitches a while ago, we discussed UFOs. We had decided we should confess what we have with the hopes of concentrating on really finishing them. 2008 has been a year of concentrating on finishing many stitching and quilting projects I have sitting around. So far, I am really happy with my progress. I put myself on a stash diet for this year and also a start diet. I did do a fun thing in between with my Quaker Boo hornbook but have been really good about not adding to the list with lots of new starts. I will show you a new start I am doing for stitching next week. That is my reward to myself for finishing Silent Sampler, but I am still putting off a new quilt idea I have until I finish at least one more UFO.

I listed the WIPs and UFOs on the side bar of my blog. Now I do confess that it is not a totally complete list. Why? The list is simply too big to list them all. And if you take a look, you will see that there are more than enough on this list as is. *grins* I am going to spend the last few months of 2008 concentrating on a select few of the UFOs. Here they are.....


Puss In The Corner quilt. This needs sandwiched and quilted. I am considering giving machine quilting a try again on this one but not sure yet.


Roses quilt (Turning Twenty) in baby rib, satin and silks. This quilt has too many thick and unusual fabrics so I have decided it is best to tie this one. This is going to be my first project to turn to now. I will be sandwiching it today so I can get started. It is already laying on my ironing board ready for some love and attention...


Zoe's quilt is in the process of being hand quilted. For some reason, I keep getting bored with the quilting process and stopping. Only two more blocks to go and I can start the borders.


Bethlehem Star quilt which I would really love to have finished in time for the upcoming holidays. I even pieced the backing on this quilt. I think I am going to use gold metallic quilting thread for this one. One advantage to this is to see the thread well, you have to use large quilting stitches making it go a bit faster.

I sincerely hope that by the end of December I will be happily telling you that I have finished all four of these quilts. Perhaps you can prod me along every now and then?

A finish, a win and a gift...

I am very happy to say that I can cross another UFO off my list! This tablerunner has been hand quilted. I kept the quilting simple as the patchwork is also simple.


I love toadstools as anyone who follows my home and garden blog CelebrateTheSeasons knows. I have a basket of them sitting on the new tablerunner along with adorable acorn salt and pepper shakers. I received these as a Christmas gift from my friend Diane last year. I keep them on display in my hutch but am thrilled it is now the season to bring them out. Thanks Diane!


Since a quilt is finished for me only once the label is attached, I did that first thing this morning. I was unsure until last night what I would call this quilt. It is the colors of autumn but flowers of summer thus "Summer's End". I drew a flower based on the flowers on the rust colored fabric for my label. Handmade labels are so much fun to make!


Thank you for your comments on my last entry. I drew a name from them all out of one of my quilt studio's mugs. And the winner is...


Nancy! If you have never visited her before, Nancy is my mother and she is the gene pool where my needlework comes from. This is now evident in her stitching and yes I am bias since she is my mother. *grins* She swore she would never start cross stitching but she has. And how! She puts those of us who have been stitching for years to shame. You can see her blog here. I will send your cards to you soon mother.


I also received a gift in the mail yesterday from my mother. She has a fancy embroidery machine and she made me two more ornaments for my Halloween tree and a hand towel.


She also knitted me two dishclothes for Halloween and autumn. See the Jack o' lantern?


And here is a squirrel. Thanks for my autumn "just because" package!

Ties that bind.....

While reading Lucy's blog, a Dutch quilter, I found out there was a quilt show up in Friesland. I was happy to find out that I was just in time to still be able to visit it. This quilt show was small but very special for two reasons ~ it is about a very couragous and special woman who worked during WWII to refugees and it gave me ties that bind me back to my home in Ohio.


The quilt show was in a tiny church in the village of Witmarsum. It is the birthplace of Menno Simons who is the founding father of the Mennonite faith. These were the ties that bind back to Ohio where there is a large Mennonite community. It is seeing quilts in Amish country as a girl that got me started as a quilter.


This is the story of An and Lynn. It is story of Lynn discovering some old American quilts in the Dutch countryside and then discovering an amazing story behind those quilts. You can find the English version of this book here. I can recommend it for anyone interested in quilting or in stories connected to WWII.


The quilts were sent to An during the war to help keep refugees warm through the Mennonites back in the US.


The show was nicely presented with historic information hanging throughout the quilt racks.


It spoke of the sewing circles working to make these quilts and this photo is of a group of girls working on quilts in Lima, Ohio. Don't forget, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.


It is a very precious thing that these quilts have survived the years for us to see and connect to the stories of people searching for freedom from the violence of war.


If you visit Ohio Amish country, you can hear the story of how the Amish and Mennonites came to America. There you can view a painting of the very ship shown on this photo - HMS Volendam.


Holland became a refuge for those fleeing the oppression of communism in many Eastern European countries especially the Ukraine. Here you see the special pass they received.


I must admit that I had two favorites among the quilt shown. The first was the indigo blue nine-patch quilt shown above. The second was this log cabin quilt.


Look at all the beautiful vintage fabrics! This quilt was believed to have been made up of two quilts being sewn together as the barn raising pattern is not quite right when it is seen in its totality.


I fell in love with this photo of the little boy. He has the sweetest smile! If you look closely, you can see his very broken wooden shoe.




We went to visit the Menno Simons monument after the quilt show. I photographed the guide for you to read. This steel construction stands like a shadow of the old brick church. As you can see, it was a beautiful autumn day!



Some of the original bricks from the church were used for this part of the monument.


This day left a lasting impression on me which I would love to share with you. I purchased a set of these gift cards to give away to one of you. Just leave a comment on this entry and I will draw a name by the end of this week. Please leave your email address if you do not have a blog so I can contact you.