I'm Seeing Stars....

I've been VERY...VERY tempted to just stay up ALL night and sew these cute little maverick stars till I'm cross-eyed. I LOVE making these......one of my favorite things to play with........BUT....I guess it's late enough and I should call it quits for the day.....so...when most of you read this....it's early morning today.......but it's really late night yesterday........make any sense??

County Fair Quilt

Hubby and I took off to the local county fair yesterday......specifically to see the quilts that had been entered. Above was our absolute favorite !!!! This quilt was phenomenal!! They were all displayed behind glass with a safety railing in front of each case...so I was having to do a balancing act to get this picture without much glare. The quilt was folded...so this is all we could see of it. Everything you see is hand appliqued......i counted 14 different fabrics on the one chicken...and then she hand embroidered the name of the chicken ( click to close up ). It won a blue ribbon....but should have been best in show. There was not another quilt there that compared, and as we stood there admiring it.....we heard lots of others who felt the same way we did. The best in show was a 4 block wall hanging in rusts and greens...each block had a blackeyed-susan type flower hand appliqued in it. The glare was so bad on that one or I would have shown it too so you could see for yourself. My husband counted only 76 quilts entered. They told us that fair entries just keep getting smaller and smaller every year. That's a shame. I managed to squint my eyes and make out the ladies name. She lives about 25 miles from me.....I tried calling her this morning. I really want to chat with her about THIS quilt.....and I REALLY would like to see the whole quilt!!

And here is ONE MORE mess I have made....this is just one of many I am looking at right now. This is part of my Christmas stash I was digging through. You know...sometimes you just have to dig and dig and dig to find what you are looking for....right?? Well.....I must say it's ALL Nanette's fault!!! SHE made me do it! You know......all that talk of hers about a Christmas swap and all!! (( You know.....I think she is one of those people who walks fast too......you know....the kind you can't keep up with.......you have to do this little skipping run just to keep up with her! )) You know I luv ya Nanette!!!

But....as you can see....I think the mess was worth it. Here is another little cottage I just HAD to make. I wish the picture would capture the sparkle of the white rick rack. It has that iridescent thread thru it and it looks like real snow sparkling. Nanette came up with just the cutest cottage design for the swap. I must say...I am not "legally" participating. I'm just going to participate from the "shadows".....so beware ladies.....I'll be watching you!!
Here is just a suggestion.......Tonya over at Lazy Gal Quilting has done a post about I.D. theft and blogging. I think it's a worthwhile read . She has another good post about you and I posting pictures and content without others permission.....Duh...me.....I had never even thought about it.
Oh....and Fran has a hilarious post about her unkept house!

Strips and Strings

My round " thang ".......is now a square " thang "!!!!

( alot of people think this is quilted...the pink is fabric strips.....this is just possible the center of a quilt I'm thinkin about ...click for a closer look )

YEY......I'm Liberated

OH..............I guess that means for quilts..........not dishes???

Fall and Holiday Sneek Peek

Here is the beginnings of my fall quilt project. The design is an ole stand-by from the 30's.
I saw this design on a program on tv last week and wrote down the dimensions and cut it out.

The above pieces get these cream triangles added. I have had a few of these fabrics for awhile and have been anxious to use them. I added a few of my new ones as well.
So far this has been a really fast and easy style to do....many options with just this one block.

There will be some of this pumpkin color added with an applique I'm thinking about putting in.
I was thinking small pumpkin s or maybe some fall leaves mixed ....or maybe a combo of both.
I could even embroider words of some other fall designs too.....probable just applique though.

After laying out what I had sewn up I discovered it is going to be bigger than I planned. I really just wanted a lap/throw size for the couch.....but dear hubby suggested using half....and then turn the blocks another way with the other half...thus creating a totally different quilt. I must admit I was impressed with his immediate response with a solution. He is such a quick study!! Or... ALL my quilt talking is rubbing off on him!! The pumpkin colored fabric will go in the middle of the cream squares as an applique.
I have discovered I like to applique.....I've tried different ways and used different supplies.
The main thing with me is...I just need to do it over and over to get better at it.
My first time to applique...I had my turn under allowance way to tiny ..harder to manage.
I think I figured out I was holding it wrong and appliqueing upside down.

Nanette ...over at Fredas Hive... is organizing a swap featuring this cute lil cottage. I just fell in love with hers and thought I would try my hand at one. These little cottages are fast and easy. The sky is the limit as to how you could decorate and use these. Her tutorial is top notch!
I think there have been alot of people sign up for this swap...no wonder....it's cute!
Maybe I'll just watch from the sidelines........participate from the shadows so to speak.
These little cottages would make a fabulous table runner .....placemats......pillow.
I realized I need more Christmas fabrics added to my stash...................does this mean I have
to go BACK to the fabric store??????

Oh..and hubby wanted to know..." how many times do you have to measure it before you cut it"?

I MUST give a BIG THANK YOU to Clare for her techno help to me this weekend...her tutorials are top notch too. She invited me to join the liberated quilters ring and I was honored to accept. I'm probable "the rookie" in the group..but I LOVE Gwen Marstons work as well as the wonderful work the ladies in this group create. Thank you again Clare!

Adding To My Stash.....and.....New project

I have added to my stash...AGAIN. I'm adding more than I seem to be using! Some more lighter colors........a polka dot I don't have.....some aunt gracie......a great navy and rust plaid!!!

These are the fabrics I have selected for my new project. My plan is to start cutting it out today ( fingers crossed ). Maybe I'll have a sneek peek tomorrow.

These new fabrics are my absolute favorite right now! You can click on any of these pictures and see how really wonderful they are up close.

The farmers in our area who planted pumpkins are busily harvesting. I imagine with the recent rain we had it has made it harder for them get in the fields.....I bet there are some major mud holes being made. It's neat to see these trailers lining the roads everywhere.
I received this award here awhile back from Melanie. I don't know how much truth is in giving it to me, but thank you Melanie.....that is sweet of you! Since I am BLOGGING WITHOUT OBLIGATION...and I'm not following any rules here....I am just going to re-list the others who also recieved this. Some of them were new to me...maybe some will be to you too. Go check out the following:
Cindy at http://rosehavencottage.blogspot.com/
Suzie at http://littlebusybee.blogspot.com/

Ulla at http://kotkarankki.blogspot.com/
Sarah at http://www.themikkelsens.net/sarah/journal
Annie at http://annie-flowergarden.blogspot.com/
I am so excited I finally figured out to post more than 4 pictures at a time.....Yeah Me!! Melanie has also been a big help to me on some computer know hows. Thanks Melanie!

3 Quilts In One....

Have you ever started a project that seemed to just be EVER CHANGING??!! I actually sewed, ripped, cut, re-arranged and pulled some hair out with this one. I don't know why......I just couldn't get it to my liking. Above is one of the 3 versions I created. Sorry Melanie....you had some great ideas. This version seemed to be turning out more green than I wanted.

Here is the final....AND I DO MEAN FINAL...version. It will have to be...the baby is already here. The picture is kind of weird looking, it really looks softer than that....but yes...it IS pink. I didn't want the quilt to be so "baby" looking.....just more "girly". I thought girly would enable more use for longer years.

I spent several MORE days mulling over the border. Nothing I put with it seemed to work........but wait.....what about all that fabric I cut up and ripped out? I decided to use up some of the mess I created by using all the strips..sewing them together random....regardless how wide they were. I think this will work ok.

This is a scrappy heart I plan on using on the back of the quilt somewhere. I love this "lil" heart.

Surveying The Damage

My fishing boat......full of water. If you look close at the picket fence...right below the middle brace...you can barely make out the water mark left by the high water from the 14 inches we had here at our lake place. This picture is 3 foot down from where it was!

Here is what is left of our damaged dock walkway.....which was completely under water......wah..wah...that is where I go out and feed the fish day old bread and dry dog food..........but I can't now!! ( the fish looovee puppy chow )

BUT..........this is what I see when I walk into my lake house!!!!! Aauuu!!!!

And this is what I see when I look out in the mornings having my coffee or when I am sitting here sewing up a storm! Can anyone see Mr. Red Cardinal anywhere?? He's here....in this picture somewhere??!!

Our lake house is about an hour from where we live. It is a small.. private, members only club. 65 members max. No loud fast motor boats.....just calm nice and relaxing fishing........after the 14 inches of rain in just 2 days we needed to come check things out. Our house is high up and fairly safe from ever being flooded......but not the case for some others down here. My neighbor to the right of me ( the first picture I posted ) her house flooded completely.....up about 18 inches!!! I feel terrible for her! At home we had 7 inches of rain in one day.....and all this rain was not from Ike.......it was the left overs of that hurricane that came across Baja Calif...............I'm just so thankful we do not have the problems of those poor people down by Houston. Our "little" damage here doesn't compare!!!

This is the time of year when dear hubby has shut off his irrigations wells.......and he is just worting....uh...I mean waiting with me for harvest time. Yes....I AM WAITING for harvest. This is the time of year when my days are not my own . There is this person....uh ...I mean dear hubby is EVERYWHERE I am........... I don't think I am going to like HIS.....uh...I mean OUR retirement!!

What I'm Up To....

I've been doing some of this............

Thinking about finishing this....

More of this..........

And........some of this!!

Plugging Along......slowly

This little baby quilt project of mine is dragging me down. I am stumped as to how I am going to finish it. I knew I wanted to do the wonky name...ok, so I did that. Now what???? It's making me CRAZY!! It's alot harder and more time consuming when you don't have a pattern. I'm leaning to making all the other blocks like these 3...with some wonky hearts.....but, I originally thought I would do a mix up of blocks................?????

Here is some of my puttering around and playing with some of my strips and strings. This round "thang" was fun but took up alot of time to do it. Figuring out how to keep it as round as possible was taxing on my lil brain, it's about the right size for a potholder.

I just love these maverick stars. I have been wanting to do some for a while. I learned you have to keep your fabric contrasts in check or your little star doesn't show up as well. The larger one at the top on the right is the first one I did....contrast not so good, but HEY.....no big deal......I'll just make a potholder out of it. I know, you're thinking.....enough with the potholder thing already!!!

This is one of the reasons I haven't been getting alot of quilting done. Yummy pear preserves...yes that is lemon slices you see in there! I started to do up a jar really showy and enter it in the fair, but after I got through with these I didn't CARE! I'll trade a pear for some of your peaches Nanette!


And this is in response to an email someone sent me.......I was told that no one wants to see all our garden....flowers in the yard.....and pet stuff!! That these blogs are supposed to be about quilting. They went on to ask why I didn't blog everyday as well.....people lose interest you know! Well, my response is........this is my blog.......I'll post whatever I want.....whenever I want.....and if you don't like it, you don't have to come here. I have lots of "farmy-wife" things I have to do besides blogging. My life is simple and not alot goes on here besides hard work. When you criticize my blog you are criticizing my life. What I post here IS my life and I'm sorry if some find it boring. DH and I work hard and are very proud to post about the fruits of our labor....be it garden-crop topics or quilting.


A big THANK YOU to all the rest of you though! Those of you that have come by for a visit, left kind and encouraging words. I have had SO much fun so far!!