It Feels Like Home To Me

Pieced, Appliqued, Embroidered, Quilted, Blocked, Trimmed, Bound, Labeled, Loved.

Blocked & Drying

I just have to say Thank You to that "well known by quilters" company that makes the nice scented starch for supplying good quality spray nozzles on their bottles!  We've purchased numerous empty spray bottles for a variety of uses over the past few years and sooner rather than later, we are completely frustrated because they never seem to spray correctly.  Therefore, I have a closely guarded collection of 4 or 5 of "their" spray bottles that I use for water or other concoctions. 
Upon recommendation by a LQS,  I also divide the contents of a full bottle into 2 bottles and dilute it.  It works just as well and goes twice as far!
I've also been known to toss my empties in the car, just in case I happen to drop by a quilt shop, so I can get a refill while I just happen to be there...totally an unplanned stop...really! 
So if you park by a little blue car with empty starch bottles rolling around on the floor boards...that could be me!

On the last Shop Hop that took me 2 1/2 hours into Oregon, I stopped in at the shop where I had previously purchased the olive green plaid homespun, twice, & purchased what was left on the bolt.  Odd as that may sound, it has, over time, become one of my favorite fabrics.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, I just knew that sooner or later I'd be kicking myself if I didn't get more while I still could. 
That intuition paid off.  I had set aside a brown homespun for a potential binding while the quilt was away at the quilters.  When I put the two together I had an immediate Ick! Pooey!! Yuk!!! moment and went just as quickly to the homespun stash and grabbed my favorite green.
I worried for about 2 minutes, about strips of the same green landing so closely together, but once it was there, I was soon over it!  I love it and I'm so glad I made that purchase or I wouldn't have had enough to get all the way around.

Careful cutting, careful pressing with tons of Heavy Spray Starch (not the sweet smelling stuff) helped it go on beautifully.  The little disposable orange Steris bag clips that one of our nurses collected in a drawer & gifted to me have come in so handy for keeping my bindings straight as I do the handwork part of stitching them down!  Funny little things that squeeze open and closed & look like a Preying Mantis' front legs!  Sadly, we no longer use the Steris Machines, so no more cool clippys for me!  I have to keep good track of those I have. Fortunately one of our OR Techs also gifted me a great little plastic container that once held sterile implants used in an orthopaedic surgery, to keep them in. 
Repurposing at its best!  That is what we quilters do, right?

 

 So yeah, don't die of shock here...but I've officially finished three quilts in the last two weeks. 

I'm so proud of me!!!

 

So here we go...drumroll!

Country Homecoming,

now

"It Feels Like Home To Me"

 

Here is part of what I put on the label. 

There are Places you feel Safe,

Arms that Envelope you with Love,

Sights and Sounds that Calm Your Senses & Fill Your Heart,

Smells that Entice you to Breathe Deeper, Fill your Lungs, and Exhale a Sigh…

This Quilt, for Me, is That. 

Simply Put,

It Feels Like Home To Me…

It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from
It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong…

Completed July 10, 2015

~Nancie Anne

A Very Belated Finish.

On July 4th, 2012, I shared this photo with you all of my freshly pieced Liberty Road quilt, made with Charlevoix prints, all by Minick & Simpson, & my Executive Sewing Studio Assistant, Maecee.  Shortly after this photo was taken I decided on borders and added my own little bits of applique to what otherwise looked like a vast wasteland & then off to be quilted.  She was soon back and has hung on the wall all summer the last two summers...with her batting showing around the edges like a pair of bloomers that were run up a flagpole!

I decided to avoid furthering her embarrassment, it was time she was bound and labeled before going up this year.  I had every intention of getting the job done by the Fourth, but you know how life gets in the way of good intentions sometimes!

So, Ta-Da!  I finished the binding & label yesterday, having decided to just trim up and join select scraps from the excess backing.  The plan is to get her on the wall, waving proudly, if not more demurely, in the next couple of days!



Happy Really Belated Fourth Ya'll!

~Nancie Anne...and Maecee

Flutter By, Butterfly!

Finally finished!  I'm scratching this UFO off my list and it went into the hands of the birthday girl yesterday!  I started this for her several years ago, and she's no longer that little teenager, but she loves it still!  I'm trying really hard to follow your advice Lynn, and be a good Finisher!

On the other hand...what kind of ditzy person gifts someone a quilt on a 106 degree day?????

"Nobody can see, until I'm done reading the label"

If nothing else, this girl of mine understands the importance of documenting.  I'm not sure that she would accept a quilt 'til the "paperwork" was done!

The label itself was pretty much one entire day...I resized the design I've started putting on all my labels...then I had to pick just the right words to say, then do the freezer paper on fabric thing and run it through the printer, and heat set it...and trim it...and heat set it again... put a border on it...and heat set it again...then carefully pin it on smooth any wrinkles and stitch it down.

Parenting 101...

"Be Detailed Oriented, I Said,

Be Employable, I Said...

People Will Appreciate That, I Said!"

"Oh the back is so colorful"

 

The panel in the center of the back was from a shop hop goody bag.

 

 

Love that smile!

"I'm going to hug it and squeeze it and take it home!"

The quilter now has free motion swirls down pat!  Just what the owner asked for!

Buggy Barn's Butterfly Quilt with sashing inspired by Atkinson's Designs Slideshow.

 

I fussed over the narrow scrappy border...would it be too much?  Would it be so narrow that any little wobble would show?

Wish you could see the white fabric in person!  The design on it mimics the butterflies antennae!

 

What do you do when you realize you got carried away and made 4 extras blocks?

Make shams...King Sized Shams!  They're SOOOO Squishy!

 

And yeah...those shams are king sized and yeah that quilt weighs a ton!

I should've named it Butter-Zilla!

 

Oh well!  Go Big or Go Home!  Right?

 

~Stay Cool!

Nancie Anne

 

Why Is The Sky Blue?

I read a Facebook post this morning written by a woman whose 90 year old Mother was having difficulty with the idea of transitioning to a nursing home rather returning to her home, until she was wheeled into her room and saw waiting for her the two familiar quilts her daughter brought ahead of her, arranged on the bed and chair, and had waiting to welcome her arrival. 
No greater comfort could this woman have thoughtfully provided her Mother.  It touched my heart, and as a result, this is what poured forth...

You ask why we quilt...you may as well ask why the sky is blue...I can't answer that, but I've often searched for the perfect sky blue fabric.  You may as well ask why we breathe in and out...for some, maybe many, quilting could well be the answer.
We quilt for our sanity...we quilt to fulfill that urge to create...we quilt to fill emptiness..we quilt so that there will be something tangible left when we are no longer here...we quilt to tell our story...we quilt because it feels like "home"...we quilt for joy...for celebration and heartache...for life...for death...for comfort...we quilt to touch someone else's heart and to fill our own.

So here's what's been happening since I've been neglecting my blog...the neverending URI is pretty much gone, and I finally returned to work.  The annoying spring allergies remain.  Youngest daughter is in a new relationship and all sweet and twitterpated!  Youngest son is wedding planning.  Garden is finally getting started...lettuce, spinach, green onions and peas are now in.  Beans are next.  I'm another year older...they've killed off McDreamy...a beautiful new Princess was born...one of our BSU football standouts was drafted by the Dolphins and 52 year old Gary Stevens almost won another Kentucky Derby, post knee replacement surgery.  
I will not address the idiocy and violence that is occurring in this nation where we should be getting along peacefully and counting our freaking blessings!

These snowman stitcheries have been my "laying around getting well" project on days when I had some energy.  My apologies...you're getting mostly cell phone quality photos today...

 

Youngest daughters Butterfly quilt and shams are in the mail making their way to the quilter.

Again...sorry about the picture quality...I promise something better when it flies back home!

 

 

This is the wild pieced backing of leftovers and brights that I wanted to use up. You don't want to know how long I spent trimming, measuring and setting all this together, but it will be fun to crawl under and get peeks of when all is said and done.  The center flower basket panel was in a shop hop gift bag that I received a couple of years ago.  Yessiree, Use it up, Make due!

 

That now being off my plate...I have to get those challenge blocks from last summers quilt show put together in some fashion so that they all look like they are capable of coexisting! 

The Paisley is the common denominator aka challenge fabric. 

Here's my progress.  Right after this, I'm taking two of the contributed blocks apart and reassembling them so that I have pointy bits in the corners rather than cut off dog ears. 

I think there will be some embroidery and perhaps even some applique cover-ups added to some of the other blocks.

The owl and the churn dash blocks are mine. 

The "interesting" dusky tealish-aquaish paired with orange is not.
There's a lot of orange goin' on here, and some prints that are reading salmon orange in this fuzzy photo picture (first churndash) are actually raspberry pink in person. 

A more focused look at my little hooter, Owliver!

(His middle name is  Owloyicios)

The kitties will be joining Owly (for short) in a later row. 

Do you see both kitties?

 

Better get back at it to see what I can accomplish before I have to go back out into the work world tomorrow.

 

~Nancie Anne

 

 

Lucky Me!!!

This is what landed in my mailbox yesterday! 

The pattern to make Halloween Journey!

All the way from Anna,

aka Woolie Mammoth,

and one of my favorite places in the whole world, Sisters, Oregon!

I really enjoy reading Anna's blog!  There's always so much eye candy (often woolie!), sometimes wild and four-legged, and very often she includes wonderful musical Smilebox videos of shops and shows and retreats!

Anna did what many of us have done...loved a pattern so much that she bought it twice! 

Being of generous heart, she decided to have a drawing on her blog and share the duplicate! 

As it turned out, this is one of the few Crabapple Hill Halloween patterns that wasn't already in my collection!  A match made in heaven! 

Lucky Lil' Old Me, I Won!

 

Thank You Anna for sharing and making my week brighter!

 

~Nancie Anne



Country Homecoming's Homecoming!

This just in!  About half past the hour, there was a strong knocking on my back door that sent the dogs into a tizzy!  We have our UPS person trained to leave packages on the back deck...but we don't have the dogs trained to not bark wildly when a package arrives!

Little did my quilter in Oregon know when she handed my quilt off to UPS yesterday, that it's arrival today would be my birthday pick me up!  Boy, did I need a pick me up!  I am now on Day 11 of what I have dubbed "Adventures In Mucous"!  We seem to have a long lasting virus in the valley that still has not given up on me.  Worse than being unwell on my birthday, is having missed our Granddaughters first Easter and our Grandson's first T-ball game!  Birthdays come and go, but memories of the babies "firsts" can't be replaced.

So here it is in it's just unboxed, untrimmed Primitive Glory!

 

There are Four! Count 'em FOUR Cat Houses in my little neighborhood!

Who knew?!?!?!  Look at that little hussy peeking out her window!

(I must be getting better...my sense of humor is starting to return!)

 

  Two cozy cottages have clamshell shingles!  Love those!

 

Love the border!  Echo quilting inside the stem and teardrop or half feathers on the underside!

Ain't it great not to hear me complaining about the border?!?!?!

 

Here's my surprise backing!  I found this wonderful antique feeling floral on clearance and it spoke to me.  I decided that the back of this homespun and wool goodness would love to have an unexpected surprise on the back.  Part of the surprise is, that this is the first time I have sent a quilt off to the quilter that only had one seam in it!  My backs have almost always been pieced together from leftovers, old prints and novelty prints that have been languishing far too long in Stashzilla! 

In fact, I can pretty well guarantee she's going to hate me when she opens the box and sees the next back!

 
Anyhow!  Couldn't contain my excitement and had to share...my pictures....not my germs!

Hugs!

~Nancie Anne!!!!!!!

 

 

Flutter By ~ Butterfly!

Progressing on my daughters Butterfly quilt, with a little delay waiting for more of the white sashing fabric to arrive.  I decided that the quilt will be best served by having a simple white border and that meant more yardage of the cute white swirly tone on tone print would be required.  While I waited for its arrival I used the 4 leftover blocks & small bits of the white that remained to work on her shams.  So, what looks like a wall hanging in the photo will actually be cut apart again after quilting to become a pair of big cushy king sized shams!  In spite of years and growth and maturity and even college graduation occurring since I began this quilt for her, she loves it and still wants it...so with any luck, it will be done for her birthday this summer.

 

Butterfly Quilt from the Buggy Barn book Celebrated Craziness.

Sashing inspired by the Atkinson Designs pattern Slideshow. 

 

~ Nancie Anne