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

A Slice Of Country Charmer

Well here we are!  One whole month of 2013 is already in the history books!
January has been nothing short of frigid in my little corner of the planet.  It's been a perfect time to hide myself away and plan, and cut and sew.  And sew I have.  I took my time making my fabric selection.  I mentioned during my quandry about what color arrangement to go with for Country Charmer, that I might pull some Autumn fabric from the Underground Stash Storage Facility.  I did...I hauled it up and I hauled it back down...and two days later...I hauled it up again.  I love Autumn and Harvest and Pumpkins and Changing Colors. I loved the distraction those warm colors gave me when it was so cold that I had become convinced that my face would have frozen off had the 3 minute walk from the back door at work out to my car parked in the Frozen North Forty been 2 steps further.  It also seemed appropriate that I honor my first face to face meeting with Lynn Wilder last September by selecting an Autumn theme for this Sew'n Wild Oaks design of hers.
So, I filled my fancy schmancy pizza box with bits and pieces...1272 of them to be exact...carefully stacked and double checked to be sure that they filled the lines of Lynns perfect piecing layout template exactly.  I spent hours upon hours picking, auditioning and laying out fabric selections to be as close as possible to true love as one can be with 24 scrappy autumnal, but not too matchy-matchy blocks.  There are some constants...in the center block...and yet, time will reveal that there will be some changes here as well.  My background is also the same cream crackle print throughout.

 

Photography became a little bit of a challenge as my autumn oranges wanted to glare like a clown streaking across a circus tent with his frizzy wig on fire!  Trust me...that orange is not as flaming as it looks! 

Then I began to sew. I wanted to make a test block, just to be certain I was on the right track.  The first block went together like a dream.  I was soooo proud of myself that I nearly dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back!  Like a bag of potato chips...I just had to make one more to see how cute it was gonna be!  Karma!  Block 2 became an exercise in seam ripping.  I spent 3 hours trying to whip that little 9-patch into perfection.  I finished it...for now...still gonna rip it out and try and get closer to 8.5 inches square, rather than the 8.25 inches that it seems determined to want to be...no matter how many times I squash it!  I swear, that block is as obstinant as that little patch of my bangs that, even with my best blowdrying techniques, wants to stick straight out in front, shading my left eye for the remainder of the day!

Anyhow,  I've decided not to attack block 2 again...yet...I'm going into serious mental and physical training before going there again.   For now, I'm distracting myself with a little chain piecing therapy.

I also gave up on pretty new cameras ability to take a non-glare photo.  I went back to old black reliable with the sticky retractable lens cover, until I've had more opportunity to become familiar with the settings on the cute new fashionably burgundy one.

 

Just one more note of importance.  I am blessed with a husband who doesn't mind accompanying me to quilt shops and shows, he appreciates and admires our Works of Heart.

He laughed as hard as I did, maybe harder, through one of Mary Ellen Hopkins lectures in Sisters many, many years ago.

He puts up with my quilting obsession floating in and around nearly every room in our home and patiently listens to me chatter about new quilts and techniques.  He doesn't mind it when I shove my tablet under his nose to share pictures of the many wonderful quilts that inspire me out there in blogland

When we are traveling, it is often he who has my 7 lb. long coat miniature Doxie, Maecee, draped contentedly in his arms, while I'm perusing bolts, books, fat quarters and patterns or juggling my camera...and it is he who scrambles to hang onto her when she has decided that Mom has gotten too far away for comfort.

Often I turn around to find him surrounded by quilty women

in all shapes sizes and ages, cooing over my little red headed baby girl...

maybe that's what's in it for him...

hmmm...I'll have to consider that a bit more carefully in the future

Oh Never Mind, Blessed I Am...

Happy Birthday Dear Husband...

 

Happy February All!

 

Nancie Anne



 



How Old Is Your Oldest UFO???

I woke this morning with an inspiration, nearly 25 years in the making, for putting finishing touches on a super sweet, girly girl, hand pieced wall hanging from the 80's.  For all the time I've spent rolling it around, taking it out, putting it away, mulling...ruminating even, the thing should be a priceless pearl by now!

I started this quilt as a project in a quiltmaking class in the tiny upstairs classroom in the original Quilt Crossing Store in Boise...the store has relocated 3 times since then.

There are some solid color (peach) blocks in it that have been like the elephant in the room all these years. I've never found anything that I felt would replace them well without becoming too busy and I have declined to put another stitch into it without having a solution that I was comfortable with...I have constantly had to repeat Less is More, Less Is More under my breath.

I have rejected applique, trapunto and the Jean Wells-ish idea of layering up lacey hearts with yo-yos, buttons and couched ribbons.

I believe I've finally come up with the simply simple, why didn't I think of that before, solution. Hexi flowers. Cute and will fill the void, without as much risk of overwhelming the pieced & embroidered blocks.

Sometimes the solution is right in your face!  You just need to wake up at the right time!

The amazing thing is, with all the years gone by, that the prints don't feel so dated and I still love it.

Maybe it will come out of it's little basket with all the extra scraps sooner rather than later!  It would be fun to have it finished for Easter.

For Me Mama???

 

 

Back to Cutting Country Charmer Blocks before Lynn catches me!

 

Nancie Anne & Maecee

 

 

Country Charmer & Pizza...Is This A Good Mix? You Decide.

This would be the lovely layout page that Lynn so generously provided to help us stay organized whilst working on Country Charmer.  I used the iron and flattened out the creases.

 

This would be same layout page with a layer of freezer paper over it.  Lightly...and I do mean lightly, fuse the freezer paper, shiny side down, to the original.

 

Using a permanant marker and a light touch...and a window or light box if needed...trace the shapes onto the freezer paper as accurately as you can.  Make sure to transfer the letters for those shapes too. Once your tracing is done gently peel the freezer paper copy from the original...your original will be a little worse for wear but as long as you used a light touch with your iron earlier, you should be fine. 

Just go slowly.

 

Okay...you've worked hard...PIZZA BREAK!!!

And then, after you've eaten your pizza...

yep...the entire thing in one sitting...

 

No, not really, just checking to make sure you're still with me...
 

Let's do a little flashback!

Actually, while you're on the phone ordering your pizza...you know that point when they ask you if there's anything else you'd like to order?...like a keg of soda?...
That's your opportunity to ask sweetly if you could purchase a couple of their largest size pizza boxes.

The teenager/college student on the other end of the line will almost certainly go silent for a brief moment...clear his throat then stammer...

"Well...I-I think we could just Give you a couple...as long as you're ordering pizza...'

"yeah...yeah...as long as you order a pizza I'm pretty sure we could just give you a couple" he repeats.

 

which of course, you've already done...it was your plan the entire time.

Surely you've figured out the method to my madness
(Bwa-ha-ha)
by now.
 

So put down that greasy hunk of pizza and trim your freezer paper template down so that it fits in the box.  (The pretty clean ungreasy one)

 Then adhere it in there using your trusty iron. 

Freezer paper is amazing stuff...iron it on, peel it off, iron it on again! 

Yes, I'm easily entertained...

my cat has caught me swatting at his string on more than one occasion.

And TADA!  You have a nice little box to keep template and all those pieces all cozy and together.

 

Now remember...I asked for a couple of those nice pristine, greaseless boxes????

Number two will contain the blocks as they're completed, keeping them nice and flat and organized...unlost.

Sew sad...sew lonely...sew empty...

 

 

Sew until then...I'll keep a stash of the good stuff in it. 

You know...For emergencies???

 

My name is Nancie Anne and I am a Choco-holic!

Country Charmer...Deux...Choices Schmoices!

My copy of the Country Charmer pattern arrived in the mail Wednesday.  Just in time for me to spend some time getting acquainted with the directions and getting more serious about fabric selection for this Quilt Along which is hosted by Lynn from Sew'n Wild Oaks and Lesley The Cuddle Quilter.
Right on "Q"...along came Lynn with the first tutorial.  Just when I was trying to figure out the process of working on this project so I could be prompt in posting, but also be in the right place at the right time.  Everything seems to be falling into place...including the dates for our posts.  The majority fall at the end of the month right when I have time away from work to be able to make sure I'm uploading my progress in a timely manner.
I have yet to cut or sewn a stitch...but I've been sorting, washing, pressing and folding up a storm!
I've also been organizing...

This is my sparkly silver notebook...wish the sparkles showed up for you better, it's purtyful!  However, as Mama always says, "It's What's On The Inside That Counts, Darlin'" 
And Here's the "Whats Inside"...
                                          Treasure for sure!

 

 

I pulled the pattern from it's envelope and inserted each page in a plastic sleeve creating a book that I can flip through in a organized fashion and protect my pattern from rips, spills or getting lost and from constanting flipping pages around trying to find where it was that I read that. 

The original pattern zipper bag is inserted in the sleeve that also holds the pattern layout page that is a stroke of genious on Lynns part.  That way, when I'm done, it will have survived my nomadic sewing habits and all go back into it's orginal envelope to be filed amongst the other

"Patterns I Actually Got Done"

Also included is Lesley The Cuddle Quilter's Agenda that I copied and pasted from her blog to help me stay on track...and then, hopefully Lynn won't mind this, I've printed her first tutorial and added it to the book for quick reference.  I don't know about ya'll, but this girl still digests written information better when it's on the printed page and handy and I can sink into a big comfy chair to read it. 

I'm working on that...I bought an e-reader just over a year ago, read a book or two on it...use it more for surfing the net and checking email these days...and for entertaining Oh So Precious Grandson with puzzles.  Love that little gadget...definately have gotten my moneys worth out of it!

Any hoozles, I digress...that seems to happen frequently...good topic for another day.

So, There I was, Leanin' Against The Sewing Machine Wheel, being careful not to make it Tilt...

and still debating the fabric selection...

 

Do We Go Elegant & Feminine?

 

Fun and Christmas-y?

 

Or Toss It All Up In The Air Like Fireworks On The Fourth Of July?

(Great excuse to go buy that cute little patriotic sheep print I saw last week!)

 

I think I have one more necessary trip back to the cave...aka Stash Storage Facility.  

 I'm very partial to the colors of Autumn and I'm sure there is at least one bushel basketful of prints the colors of fallen leaves down there. 

Hmmm...Autumn would be appropriate, in honor of the memorable September day I first got to meet and hug my friend Lynn, and her awesome sister Gail at the Needle Nellies Quilt Show in Georgetown, CA.

 

It is at least comforting to know that I'm not the only Country Charmer participant who is sharing the quandry of which way to jump...

 

My name is Nancie Anne & I suffer from Quiltus Addictus...