Country Charmer & Sooooo Much More!

Omagoodnessgracioussakesalive!!!!!

It's been a busy little month Yessiree Bob!

 

I've physically worked on no less than 4 quilts this month and many more have been chomping up brain cells!  Little Pac Man quilts in my imagination, running rampant!

 

Although I'm not churning out lots of completed little Country Charmer blocks to show you, I am following the agenda originally set forth by Lesley in her blog, The Cuddle Quilter.

I'm being a really good girl and following Lynns directions, (which is really saying something!)  You know...Lynn Wilder,  our very own Pied Piper, Quilty Guru, Amazing Designer-type person, over yonder at Sew'n Wild Oaks who designed and wrote the pattern for Country Charmer...(and more coming all the time!)
 I have all my star point sections set together and have a bit of a start on the corner blocks.

 I sat down and spent numerous hours chain piecing, pressing & trimming on Section A Part 1 as prescribed...and then I did treat myself to assembling two more blocks so that I could see something all cute and set together. Sew...the top blocks with the orange chains are from last month...so yes, you've seen 'em before...buuuut...the lower 2 with the green chains are the most recent additions.

They make me smile.



The Wild & Crazy Jungle Baby Quilt was delivered by FedEx and was waiting on my front step when I arrived home yesterday...perfect timing!  Today I will get rolling on binding it!  It really does have life now that it's quilted with little lions, giraffes & elephants all over it and the Minkee background is like the softest massage ever.  Now I want a Minkee backed quilt on MY Beddy-Bye!

 

I am ready for some quilt and cuddle therapy this weekend.  It's been quite a week at work!  We had a retirement celebration & potluck this week, a new baby announcement, followed by another tearful retirement announcement from our long suffering boss at report yesterday morning. 

 Simply put, Corporate Medicine are two words that should never, ever, be in the same sentence together.  There's no heart in it.

 

I must keep reminding myself, "Change is good, Change is good, Change is good"

 

So...we have another baby quilt to get started on...and I'm going to be looking for the perfect Lamb/Sheep quilt pattern for our boss...she, like me, was a 4-H/FFA Mom for many years and her girls showed sheep, while my brood were showing Llamas, Rabbits and Dairy Goats.

So if any of ya'll have a suggestion for an appropriate Sheep design to take into consideration, please do let me know...

we've got to make a decision quick...

as soon as my partner in quilty crime gets back in town & we can put our evil little minds together!

 

Speaking of Kids, Llamas, Goats, Dogs, Cats & Chickens, I'm also working on a special memory quilt for my daughter thats been in progress for two years.  I'll share it before long. 

 It was originally meant to be a Vet School graduation gift, but life & taking care of another kiddo in need at that time took the place of quilting.  I don't have enough time to have it complete for her St. Pattys Day birthday, and it's not exactly an appropriate Wedding gift...sinces it's all about her...

Dr. Sweet & Wonderful wasn't in the picture when I started it. 

It will probably just be a quiet, personal, we love you and are so proud of you gift when we do go to California in June for the wedding of our two favorite Veterinarians.

 

Then there's the Homecoming quilt for Hubby, which hasn't had any attention since Valentines Day...the quilt that is...Hubby has had a little itty bitty bit of attention...just a little.

 

I got a call from one of the sweet little ladies in charge of the challenge blocks for my local quilt show yesterday, inquiring about my progress on the blocks I "won" last year.  I was truthful.  Haven't sewn a stitch on them yet...but I do have a plan...if I can remember exactly what that plan was...last August was a loooooong time ago.

 

I also went through my pictures from Quilting In The Garden 2012 at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore where Lynn lives and works at In Between Stitches and made them a manageable size for email.  I then, promptly emailed a hundred or so pictures to myself at work and in quiet stolen moments have been adding them, progressively, to my screen saver file.  Everyone at work always knows theres going to be something interesting floating across my screen when I have a little downtime.

Speaking of Quilting In The Garden...it's not easy to find this early...but if you can find your way onto Alex Andersons website and click on her calendar page, the dates for 2013 are there.

We scheduled some vacation time...just in case we can scoot back to California that soon after the big wedding. 

Okay...I won't make you go hunting,  I'll just tell ya' here. 

The dates are the weekend of Sept. 28th & 29th.

If you can't make it this year, put it on your bucket list of places to visit some year.  It is such a wonderful setting and the quilts couldn't be more amazing.  The Bay Area is blessed with so many talented quilters. 

And Maecee highly recommends it too!  She met some new friends in the Garden last year!

 

 Refreshingly Yours!

 

Nancie Anne

 

 

 

 

 

Wild & Crazy...Baby!

My quilty buddy and I made one of our Thelma & Louise trips to Baker City last Friday and between us dropped off 5 quilt tops for the quilters.  One of those quilt tops is already in the mail and on it's way back to me since the quilter was instructed by our Shop Owner friend to put a "Hot Rush" on it!  Yay!  I'll be binding it this weekend  with a cute jungle theme stripe and can't wait to see the cute jungle animal quilting that we chose for it!

The design is The Charming Path from the Simply Charming Collection book by Moose On The Porch Quilts.  I made just a quick 6 of the 18" blocks for the perfect crib quilt size.  Fastest little quilt in the Jungle!

This "way out there, busier than busy" crib quilt is for the first Grandson for one of our co-workers who is a very excited Gramma-to-Be.  The little man has not yet made an appearance...although keeping him cooking has been a challenge.  It's doubtful that he will wait til his April due date and the fact that their Baby Shower is just a little more than a week away now, is probably a good thing!

The nursery theme is Monkeys and Jungle and these jungle prints have been sitting in my stash for maybe 3 years now?  One of those impulse purchases just cuz those pudgy little zebras are so darn cute...not to mention the lion cub sucking on his pacifier.  I decided that the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) Theory was best for this quilt since it is sooo extremely busy, so I decided that rather than attempting to "Dumb it Down" with a border, that just binding it would work best.  I didn't want to attempt to select a border for it & wind up making it look like I tried too hard and failed. 

We selected a snuggly Giraffe print Minkie for the backing that was hard to keep from petting while it was sitting on my counter waiting for our work week to be over so we could get on to bigger and better things!

In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle, The Lion Cub Naps Tonight!

Nancie Anne

What's In My Pizza Box Now?!?!?!?!

Hello!  Yes I'm still amongst the living!  I've been a busy girl.  Recovering from an Upper Respiratory Infection and sewing as much as my eyes can handle.  (Note to self: Make eye appointment...those headaches may not just be your sinuses!)
Country Charmer has stepped aside, no...not abandoned, but just to make room for a project for my husband.  Shhh...he doesn't know!  On our way to visit our daughter in California in the fall of 2011, where she had landed an internship after graduation from Vet School we took the scenic route to Gardnerville, NV to visit The Quilt House.  My husband was drawn to the sampler quilt Housewarming, suspended from the ceiling over their cutting table.  It was their published design when they were selected to appear in Quilt Sampler magazine in 2004.  I didn't realize I already had the pattern in my magazine and bought it.  Oh well...that turned out to be good because some helpful little hands at my house made a few issues of my Quilt Sampler magazines disappear...so there you have it!  That duplicate buying thing that we all seem to do is sometimes a good thing!  I can attest to that!  I guiltily decided that I had probably get on it...so I've challenged myself to see how much I can get done before Valentines Day to surprise him.  I've made much more progress than shown in pictures.  All 8 Log Cabins are complete as is the center star section.  The paper pieced roof and chimney sections are pieced and partially set together.  I'd really hoped to have at least one tulip block together by Thursday because he remarked at how much he liked those blocks.  Oh well...once again, that job of mine is interfering with my quilting time!
So here's how the pizza box looked on February 1st...

On the other hand...it's been a heartwrenchingly difficult week.  The news delivered quite a blow this week in regard to a friends former daughter in law.  A beautiful young woman whose choices & addictions have likely removed her from her childrens lives forever. 

Hug your kids...your grandkids...listen to them...dicipline them...and wrap your arms around them again...get in their faces and tell them that your love them...no matter what...it might...just maybe, be enough to keep them safe.

Nancie Anne