Here we go again!

Wow! I never remember this much snow in my home town. Compared to this, which I thought was a lot, the snow we had over Christmas was unbelievable. In fact, every time I looked outside, I said "Unbelievable". But it makes me think of God, and His vast, unbelievable love for us. I am in awe of the power and magnitude of this storm, but it is nothing when compared to the power and magnitude of God.

If you look closely, you can see a chair down in the snow. There is a fire pit beyond it and another chair and settee. I don't think there was much drifting down there, so we feel pretty confident that we got around 2 foot of snow. Some places in town the drifts reach almost to the eves. At my folks, on Christmas night, we watched one drift reach almost to our waists. My son and his now fiance (YEAH!!!!!!) made it in on Christmas morning. They got to take pictures yesterday by the covered bridge and that is where he popped the question and whipped out the diamond! That, along with our grandson being here, made this a most wonderful Christmas.

Snow Day Fun!!

The snow fell, and fell, leaving a beautiful world! And I don't know why, but I have always felt as if snow days were a gift, dropped into my lap. And it was a gift to be able to stay home so close to Christmas and get so much done! Sweetness!

There was actually 12+ inches of snow at our place. I think the top over our deck kept a lot of the white stuff out. Did I mention that it is beautiful?

Now...I am soooo excited! My sister said I could share about the quilt she made over a couple of these snow days! Since I have to go back to school tomorrow, I thought I would do one more 'fun thing' before the end of the gift and post it on my blog.

She had ordered Plain Jane FQs for her daughter who is having a baby in January and called for help. Actually, it was more like moral support. It was a challenge to figure out how to put them together, since they are from 3 different color groups, but here is the design she decided upon.

I love the white inner borders. It really sets off the colors of the Plain Jane fabric and ties it all together.

Another view.

And still one more.

Here she is doing some magic on the Bernina she got from our Grandmother more years ago than she wants to believe. :) She is piecing some leftovers to make a panel down on the backing fabric.

And here is that panel inserted in the backing. So much fun! :) Long arm quilter, here it comes!

Joy to you!

Vickie

Snow Day

You know the old saying, "Make hay while the sun shines". Well, I need to "make hay" while the snow falls. We have a snow day and looks like we will have another one tomorrow! So...as a start, I got the photos off of my old phone and found this! I will blog about it later, but it is at the quilter's along with this quilt. Can't wait to see them!!

So, as you may have noticed, I got a new phone. In fact, several of us got new phones this weekend. Two of my sons had iPhones with AT&T, but were unable to receive calls where they lived. Well...that isn't exactly true. They could get calls if their phone was at the correct angle, sitting in the correct spot in the correct corner of the room. And they couldn't pick it up, or they would loose the connection. It was nice for screening calls from mom, but that is another story. :)

So, with the switch for Alltel to Verizon, they had some sweet deals on phones. Plus, we all got on the same plan and put it in my name, since they have a discount for teachers. Who knew? And now, I can reach out and touch them no matter where they are! I am going to have to be careful not to abuse that privilege!

But I am excited about all the possibilities this new phone brings to my life. Of course, it has all the jazzy stuff that people don't really need, but then there are so many things that are really going to help me. I got an email at school reminding me about a meeting and I just put it in my calendar and this morning it is on the opening screen of my phone (since the meeting is tomorrow). However, it may be quite fun to delete it (you know...snow day)!

Creating music energizes me and it doesn't 'feel' like work. I often say, "don't tell people they pay me to do this". But the organizational details wear me out. Put that on top of being in two buildings and always wanting something, organizational wise, from the other building, this little phone could really be a great tool!!

Another big plus!! I can put my memory verses on them as well, instead of carrying notecards. :) That is going to be GREAT for me, because putting God's word into my mind is what saves my mind! Right now I am working on Psalm 16.

Joy to you!

Vickie

Finally!

I laid this out to begin piecing it over Thanksgiving and my sweetie loved it. It was going to go to a new home for Christmas, but I quickly realized that would not be happening. I am too much of a newbie and time is too short to do it justice. Plus, he loved the watercolor effect of the Lantern Bloom and asked me to keep this at our house. :) I gladly agree!

Also finished piecing the new little man's quilt. Mom and Dad requested a quilt larger than a baby quilt. I sewed it on my mom-in-law's old Viking and I think my sea allowance was smaller than 1/4", because this quilt turned out larger than the others I have made with this pattern. :) I asked my quilter to make the pattern for the quilting denser. I can't wait to get it back! I love Amy Schimler's Animal Party!

Hello!

I am back. School is extremely 'well under way' and the musical is now over! Beauty and the Beast was so much fun! And I have had fun getting back into reading blogs, dreaming about new quilts to make, and even getting in some time at the sewing machine! :) Now, to get my camera back and take some pictures! My dear friend says pictures are not necessary in order to blog. She obviously doesn't read the paper the same way I do!

What a wonderful day!

I got to meet my first grandchild yesterday! He is a beautiful little man named Deacon. What fun we are going to have! And what an anniversary gift! Yup, my BFF and I have been married for a reallllllly long time (we were so young). How many of you were around the year of our country's centennial? Anyway, he came the evening before the big day and we got to travel to see him. That 3 hour drive didn't used to feel as long as it did yesterday! :)

Hey! But one thing really helped! I got my very own copy of Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey. Get it and read it! It is as much fun to read as all your beautiful blogs! How fun that many of the blogs I have been reading since I discovered this 'fun place' are in her book!

One other thing that helped that ride go a bit quicker was that Deacon's baby quilt fabric came. I will post pics soon!! (Gotta love me some little boy first!)

Progress

I just love these fabrics! The colors are so wonderful and the patterns look like paintings. I can tell I am going to want to work with this fabric again, using larger pieces! The chocolate brown polka dots will be my binding and the orange with the turquoise vases will be my backing fabric. I originally had the brown as my starting and ending fabric for the zig zag, but changed my mind.

As I am sewing the blocks together (which, btw, is taking some time because I don't have much to give) I am really wondering how they will look in the zig zag. I am a little over half done with that portion. I can hardly wait!! :)

Joy to you!

Vickie

Purse Pattern Give-Away!

Go check out Parkcitygirl and this fabulous purse pattern giveaway! Too fun! Amy, who created this pattern, is also leading the zig zag quilt along that I am participating in over at flickr.

Zig Zag Quilt Along

I just love these fabrics! I chose them to be used on the Zig Zag Quilt Along over at Flickr atOld Red Barn Co. Quilt Along.

This is a fun and simple way to go through a tutorial, and the people participating and leading it are totally fun and supportive! Check 'em out! It is fun just to see what everyone is doing even if you don't "quilt along"! :)

Joy to you!

Vickie

Visiting the Machine Quilter

I am so excited! I have just delivered two quilts to Wanda who does my machine quilting. I can hardly wait for her to have them done.

Here is the binding, stripping and backing fabric of the first quilt! I love Amy Butler. These are from her Midwest Modern line.

These are the 8.5" squares prepared for piecing.

These are from the Nigela group, the binding, stripping and backing of the second quilt.

Here is the layout before I put it together.

I guess I didn't get a picture of the completed tops! 'sad' But I will post the completed quilts!! 'happy dance'

These are the exact quilt pattern that I used for my first quilt ever! My sewing room is up at an old building in town that my dad owns. It used to be a Baptist Church and I love the room, but the carpeting does not make a good background for the photos. Something to do better next time. :)

My First Quilt Ever

Here it is! My first quilt ever! It was made in the summer of 2007 with 12 fat quarters and fabric for the border, backing and binding. I absolutely loved working with this fabric!!

Wow! I really need to get a new camera! The following pictures were taken with a different camera outside, and the colors are truer. I had it machine quilted and it is darling! Perfect for a throw.

Java Jungle

I decided to post these pictures first, because this great baby quilt is now gone! :) It was a baby gift for our nephew in Oregon and it went home with his grandparents after their recent visit over the 4th.



A creative young woman at the quilt shop I was at while visiting my son and daughter-in-law recently, helped me design this simple quilt. I fell in love with the Java Jungle Jam panel and the Java Jungle Jumble that went with it. I placed them on the table and asked for help. The green, red and blue fabrics match the colors in the Java Jungle pieces I chose. The green looks like watercolor and the red has pronounced circles that reflect the circular chocolate brown background in the main panel. The blue has a watercolor circular look to pull it all together. I learned so much about playing off the qualities in your main peice from watching them pull these fabrics out. I then played around with the positioning of the stripes, but this is the one I liked best.

Here you can see the lime green minky fabric that we put on the back. The batting was simply a flannel style batting. I layered them, pinned them and then quilted them in the ditch. (There's my sister's Bernina 830--a great machine!)

After the quilting was completed, I attached the binding that I cut from the center part of the panel.

And here it is!! My husband says I need a new camera. He is right. He got this one for me several years ago to put in my purse, but it doesn't do the colors justice. I am going to learn how to use our big Canon Rebel that we got as a hand-me-down from our son when he upgraded. He is a graphic design major at Kansas University and you can find him at Angell Studios. He has been a student of art and photography since early in high school. It will be fun to learn to use a great camera!

What's totally fun, is that I have the other side of the original Java Jungle panel left to make another quilt. Now, how can I make it look competely different....? I love color!!

Joy to you!

Vickie

Loving Color

Don't ya just love new beginnings?? I do. Well, here's to the new beginnings of working with fabric. And a new blog, just for fun.

I used to be a weaver. You know, with threads and a loom. But I traded my large loom in for a pool table when my three sons were at about the age where that would be fun to do with your buds. BP (Before Pool table) they ran their matchbook cars all over that loom. We sold it a few years ago and once in awhile I feel nostalgic about it. But truly, I don't miss it. Especially since I have discovered the amazing new fabrics out there.

So...how did I get to fabrics? A couple of Easters ago, my Aunt Erma was making graduation quilts for two of her granddaughters using this fabulous fabric by an artist named Amy Butler. I was captivated by the colors and patterns. This wasn't like any quilt making fabric I had ever seen before!

Thus began a fun journey with my two sisters, each of us making two lap quilts in an office in our dad's building. I used Amy's fabrics and gave them as gifts to my two daughters-in-law. (I will post pics when I get home).

Now, 2 summers later, I have now made several other items. It's the fabric I love. No. More specifically, it is the colors and patterns. As I look at the fabrics and handle them, I almost have a physical reaction to the colors and patterns. They are satisfying! Somewhere deep inside they help me fill that part of me that loves to create. What a joy to put them together. Just wait. I will show you soon. :)

Joy to you,

Vickie