Sunday Quilty Fun Cuteness

 Just Had To Share My Sunday Baskets! 

This block could so easily be repeated for valances in my kitchen! 

I love my little fussy cut egg shaped chicken print basket!

Patting myself on the back here a bit...sure hope I don't dislocate my shoulder!

Here's the group as it's coming together, minus the 4 patch blocks I posted yesterday.

I'm going to love the mugs too...

once I replace the handles with something that shows up against the background print a bit better!

 

Happy Sunday Stitchin'!!!

~Nancie Anne

 

 



Quilty Fun SewAlong Week 10, Homecoming (and a wee bit of excitement)

I'm still behind on the Quilty Fun SewAlong,but the center of Homecoming (for my husband) is set together, sort of.  I'm probably going to be ordering online or traveling a couple of hours to get the fabrics to complete the borders, or both.
 

I spent yesterday afternoon cutting out blocks for Quilty Fun that I haven't completed yet...I'm behind, but there's time to catch up...sometimes we have to choose our priorities, dontcha know!

But here's this weeks block!  TaDa!!! In just under the wire!

These little four patch strips will be part of the framework around the Bee.

And hey...I'm thinning the stash down...one little block at a time!

It's never too late to join, especially considering I'm doing a block here and a block there, not in order...this Quilt Along doesn't wrap up 'til the end of March and it's broken down into really manageable bits...provided one doesn't suffer from intermittent ADD!

 I'm completely guilty of looking & drooling over numerous other Quilt Alongs and BOM's and Mystery Quilts that are floating around out there in the Blogosphere and coming to me in well intentioned quilt shop emails!

 As I mentioned above, I partially succeeded in my goal of presenting my husband with a completed quilt top for our anniversary!  I had the completed portion of the quilt hanging on the wall with a pitiful little handmade Happy Anniversary sign pinned to it when he arrived home the other night. I have a little wonky thing to fix before I go further on it that will drive me to distraction if I don't fix it!  Now, don't look too closely!

There's also that wee bit of excitement thing I spoke of earlier???

(Not to be confused with the huge excitement regarding Lynn's extraordinarily wonderful news about being asked to teach Patchwork Math in a 2015 episode of The Quilt Show)

 

Did you see Fat Quarter Shops post last week about the Jaybird Designs wonderful quilt Night Sky?

And they were having a giveaway?

And 1329 people left comments?

 

Well guess who's doin' the Happy Dance?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

ME!!!  I be so HaPpY!!!

Thank You Sew Much Fat Quarter Shop!!!

I couldn't get Maecee to put on her dancing feet for this picture, so this'll have to do!

I should be getting the Pattern, Fat Quarter Stack and ruler to make this stunning quilt sometime late next week!  I'll be hovering in close proximity to my mailbox for sure!!!

 

I declare today "Happy Stitchin' For Everybody Day" with Chocolate On Top!!!!!

 

~Nancie Anne

 

 

The Secret Is Out!

Congratulations Lynn! 

It's your turn to be in the spotlight!

 

I'm so glad you finally shared your news cuz I was about to burst!

Our wonderfully talented Lynn Wilder over there at Sew'n Wild Oaks has been asked to share her Patchwork Math Component information on Alex Anderson's Quilt Show!

Lynn has been so excited and nervous over the past week that it was felt clear up here in Idaho!

I was sitting at my desk at work when I got the news!  Work immediately went right out the window and I was emailing her back!  By my 9:00 break I was so excited for her that I was on the phone sharing the news with my husband!

My words to Lynn were " Is there anything I can do to help you, other than cheer you on and be excited with you & trying to help calm the butterflies in your stomach the night before Alex is sitting in your class!  Teach those butterflies to fly in formation darlin'!  You can do it!"

 

I am so thrilled for her!  She has invaluable information to share, which, as I have told her, has been somewhat skipped over in today's quilting world.

This is the foundation of quilting.  A couple of hundred years ago when I took my first quilting classes we began with math and graph paper, drafting our own templates, adding quarter inch seam allowances and hand piecing every step of the way.  There were a few books, a few patterns, but it was not the industry it is today, with much of the planning taken out of it for those of us who aren't math wizards!  We dreamed up and made our own.  For better or worse.  We had successes and plenty of fails!  Certainly nobody at that time was making 12 quilts a year, applique made most quake in fear.  As for piecing a quilt on a sewing machine?  Sacrilege!  And nobody had heard of a longarm quilting machine!  We were all looking around for groups of little church ladies who might foolishly agree to handquilt for us!

 

We've come a long way baby... but to maintain an appreciation for the effort that went into the creation of quilts that are now part of museum collections, we need to share this foundation of knowledge with future generations.

 I believe it's essential to revisit our roots in order to move forward as continuous learners.

 

I'll be pulling out my copy of Patchwork Math very soon for a self guided class, because I'm certain that Herself, Madame Instructor, will be sending out a test very soon!

 

~Nancie Anne

Shh! I Have A Secret!!!

Well, actually more than just one secret...one that I can share...and one I can't!  But the one I can't share will be shared before long...but not here...nope not by me!  I'm not gonna tell and you can't make me...but soon you'll see!  Someplace else...designer-y!

not being shared by me! Nosirree!
 

The secret I can tell (because hubby Never-Ever touches the computer) is what's been on my design wall hiding behind my Christmas Country Sampler so someone special doesn't see! 

He knows I started it...several months ago...but he doesn't know it's been taken back out and being worked on currently! 

 I'm trying to get it to completed flimsy stage before Monday...our 35th Wedding Anniversary!

 

My hubby saw and fell in love with the original Homecoming Quilt when we first visited The Quilt House in Gardnerville, NV in 2011.  Every visit since he has walked up to it and said, "I really like that quilt!"  I'm thinking that he is concerned it might never happen if he doesn't remind me!

They were so nice and actually tracked down a copy of the pattern somewhere in the back of the shop for us to purchase because the spot they were supposed to be hanging was empty.  We didn't realize at the time, that this had been the quilt pattern they submitted for publication when the shop was featured in Quilt Samplers special edition of revisited shops in 2007.  I also referred to the magazine version of the pattern, as it has beautiful graphics that make it easier to assemble. 

I have the cute tulip corner blocks that drew him to the quilt to make next.

 

I'm keeping my New Years goals on track this year using the KISS method...

"Keep It Simple, Stupid!" 

I'm going to try to finish at least one UFO during odd numbered months and give myself permission to start something new in even numbered months!  No pressure. 
 

Oh, and just by the way...my youngest daughter called last week and asked to have a girls day...something we used to do all the time, but rarely anymore...she was my velcro baby growing up.

On the designated day, we decided on a layout for her butterfly quilt...I hemmed 4 pair of work pants for her that she'd already worn holes in the hems of walking on them!  Baaaad Girl. 

But first, we started the day with a fun breakfast out and then hurried across the parking lot to the theater and watched "Frozen". 

This is not a paid advertisement for Disney...

but there is a reason this movie has been topping the charts since it's release!

I'm here today to freely admit that I have never been a huge animation fan...but this movie is such a beautiful breathtaking work of art that I had a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye before the opening credits were done...the snowflakes just took my breath away...the story made me think about the struggles my daughters have endured and persevered through individually & collectively with such determination, always supporting one another, and again, I was mopping up tears.

The words, "Do you want to build a snowman?" carry a special deeply felt meaning now,

 between my youngest daughter and I, as we've faced our own, so,metimes scary, trials together.

When it's released on DVD, I'm planning to send it to all three of my girls...with a love note attached.

Mamas & Daughters, Grammies & Granddaughters, Aunties and Nieces,

go see it, I think you'll hug each other a bit tighter after you do. 

I've been getting texts containing these from my 22 year old baby since that day...

 

 

Your Stichin' Sister!

 

~Nancie Anne

 



I've Been Mugged!

Quilty Fun Sew Along~I'm Back At It...traveling in reverse!

 

This is the Cocoa Cups block for Week 7.  I decided to make the most current block and will sew backward to get blocks 4 (Sewing Baskets), 5 (Flying Geese) & 6 (Chubby Chevrons) done as we progress.  Below are the other blocks that I have completed so far.

 

Before long it will all be coming together into this fun quilt!

 

 

 

 

 

This is a fun project!

 

Won't you join us?

 

 

 

~Nancie Anne

 

Christmas Is Still In Motion Here!

Hi!  I hope everyone had a great Christmas!  Ours is on intermission at the moment.  Christmas with the 3 youngest kids is a done deal and was very nice.  Our oldest daughter celebrated her first Christmas as an old married woman in California with her in-laws. 
Our eldest, is on the road currently and should be in early next week to celebrate Christmas Part Deux with us, his little guy, his wife and stepdaughter.  He called our Grandson Christmas Eve and was met with a little boys concerns, "Daddy?  How will Santa bring you Christmas presents in your truck?  You don't have a fireplace!"  He did his best to reassure a 4 year olds concerns and remind him that Santa is about Magic and Believing.  Hopefully Daddy will be off the road one day soon and able to spend more time with his boy, in the meantime, Papa, Gramma & Auntie do their best to keep him in touch with this side of his family.
Papa thought it would be okay to hang breakable ornaments lower on the tree this year, especially since this shortest tree ever would be elevated...surely no small hands would disturb them...

 

Maecee has loved bouncing around in the snow...

while Shooter has preferred cuddling on the electric throw...

typically dachshund...he usually is burrowed under the blanket

 

Apparently Santa decided that we've been very naughty this year...

he (very unexpectedly) paid us an early visit Sunday night and left us two little lumps of coal...

We refer to them collectively as Tn'T

or as "The Little Black Otters!"

Tank & Tess

Almost 4 month old littermates who needed a quick re-homing.

(Doxie puppies aren't a sturdy choice for 4 busy little boys ages 2 to 8)

This is them pretending to be sweet and innocent...Shooter and Maecee will inform you otherwise!

 

I've had my hands and arms and slightly busy betwixt caring for a 4 year old some days and two 4 month olds each day immediately leading up to Christmas, but my heart is full too. 

And Yes it's December 26th and No, I still haven't wrapped all the gifts!

I did spend Christmas Eve sitting at the table helping my daughter wrap gifts for her friends boys though.  Her friend is a single Mom, with 3 year old twins, so she needed a helping hand and it was fun digging out the Santa paper and labels & metallic pens to make sure that the gifts from Santa were dressed appropriately!  My daughter now has a new appreciation for the lengths I went to make Christmas packages special for the five of them.  Not everything that appeared under our tree from Santa was always wrapped or labeled though.  Certain magical things like stuffed Reindeer, Moose, Holstein Cows & a variety of cuddly Pigs, or glittery snowglobes were thoughtfully arranged atop wrapped gifts or in the limbs of the tree and always found their way into the arms of the child Santa intended them for.

 



 Well, I'd probably better get back after this belated Santa thing I've got going on and see if I can keep the folks at the Post Office from being too bored in their after Christmas slump! 

On Dasher! On Dancer! On Maecee & Shooter! 
                                 On shiny black-as-coal puppies who couldn't be cuter!

~Nancie Anne

 

Just dinkin' around a little with some bloggy Christmas Decorating and doing the happy dance because today was my Friday at work...going to try to do some stitchin' cuz that hasn't happened in my world at all in almost two weeks!
My kitchen however, has a fresh coat of paint and a new handles applied to a couple of cupboard doors.  Washer repairman comes tomorrow and then maybe we'll have my 4 year old assistant for an overnighter and some Christmas-y fun.  Special event and quilt giveaway at one of the LQS's Saturday afternoon that I plan to attend...can't win if I'm not there!  Christmas Party at the home of one of my husbands co-workers Sunday night...missed it last year due to illness and having to be at work early the next morning...don't want to miss it this year even though I do work Monday.  Nice people and I'm completely in-love with the home this couple designed and built...I'm always tempted to scratch under the chin of the full body Cougar mount they have in their family room to see if she purrs and I've been known to stand and grin up at the moose head way up near the ceiling.  I know...girls aren't supposed to like dead animals hanging on the wall...but it's really hard not to love a moose wearing a Santa Hat!
AND then there's the little matter of the wrap up of the Christmas Quilt Along and Challenge is THIS WEEKEND!  I need more time!!!!!

 

~Nancie Anne!