Happenings at my house

Do you do hand work?  I try to stitch each night for an hour or so, whether it's hand quilting, or working on one of my many wool applique projects. I always say that it's amazing how much you can get done, when you actually WORK on it!  On the little table by my stitching chair I keep a couple of our ruler boxes.  I like this tiny one with the lid for my thimble and wax (and a couple of needles stuck in my wax!).  It's nice because then they don't roll away, get lost in the drawer, or get stolen by a cat!  I also love my pretty Dovo scissors, and my scissor fob - but I keep them safely in the drawer.

After all of that stitching I accomplished on the bus to and from Paducah, I only had some details left on a couple of the blocks on my Home for the Holidays quilt (designed by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings).  It didn't take too much time in my stitching chair to get them finished up...

I'm so excited to have this all put together and really owe it to the Instagram sew-along group.  I never would have gotten this started, let alone finished, without that little push. We are talking about starting Primitive Gardens next, so if you are interested, be sure to keep an eye out for that.  I want to wait until I finish Sunflower Gatherings - the block of the week from 2014 - also from Primitive Gatherings.  I've been working hard to get it closer to the finish line.  I had the blocks all stitched and even a couple of rows sewn together, so it seemed crazy not to get back to work on it.

Super excited to have the center together, but there is still a lot of work before it will be done.  There are a couple of pieced borders and more wool applique.  Hopefully the girls will wait awhile before starting the Garden quilt, because I don't think I can handle working on both of them.  I just don't have the time to devote to it, I still have tons and tons of jewelry to make to get caught up. Here are a few pieces we recently finished - they are all 1 1/2".

 These are 1 1/4"...

 Nancy's Notions ordered these, then switched to a different hexagon, so that's why I have 6 alike...

After I cut strips from all of the Songbird Gatherings fabric, Ozzie decided to lay on top of them.  Makes it difficult to get work done!  

I hated to disrupt him (seriously...can you tell who runs this place?!) so I took pictures of his cuteness!

Yesterday I was ironing some fabric (never clothes!!) and I could hear Ozzie snoring, but couldn't figure out where he was.  A little later I saw him under my ironing station!  No wonder I could hear those little snores.  

Now it's back to work - hope you have a great Sunday!

Since I've been home...

I had a little bit of stitching left to finish this block from Buttermilk Basin

 The weather is much nicer - Bailey and Boomer are enjoying a nice day...

 Since we got this antique buffet, I've put some of my shipping items in it - Callie is obviously feeling helpful!

 This is part of an order for the new Iowa Quilt Museum, in Winterset...

 I finally cut some of my new Songbird Gatherings fabrics (from Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings), and made a few pieces of jewelry - here they are unfinished...

 More for the Museum...

 Not sure what has gotten in to Ozzie - he never used to lay up here, but he's looking pretty cute!

 Not sure how well you can see this, but here is Tiger, one of our outside kitties...sitting on top of the squirrel feeder.  Inside of the squirrel feeder is a bird!  I didn't think the outcome would be good (for the bird), but Bailey came and barked at the cat, who ran up the tree, and the bird flew away!

That's all for now!

Paducah...the treasures!

Now it's time to show you all of the good stuff that came home with me from Paducah!  

Aunt Nancy made Nancy (so many Nancys in my life!) and I each one of these cute bags - they were kits that she bought from Merry's Stitchins the last time she was there.  They were perfect to hold all of my Valdani that we took on the trip.  Thanks Aunt Nancy!!

 We found these lights at Merry's before we left for Paducah, but we also saw them in several booths at the show.  They are really bright, and run on batteries or you can plug them into your computer, etc.

 You can move it around in all directions - super handy and they will be really nice to travel with - compact and very helpful in a hotel!

Nancy and I decided that each time she comes to visit me in Iowa we will buy a cute little sheep.  This all started on her first visit when we found the cutest little sheep (similar to the one below) at The Woolen Needle in Williamsburg, IA.  The one below came from the Meetinghouse Hill Designs booth.  Are you familiar with them?  Wow - they do really fantastic work - lots of 3D stuff - very cool.  Make sure you check out their website

Nancy and I both bought this kit from them - you can see a better picture on their website.  And while you are there, be sure to check out the eagle pattern - it is truly amazing. 

We had a nice visit with Emily from The Little Red Hen.  Have you heard of them?  I'm lucky that their shop is only about 1 1/2 hours from my house (so I had to go all the way to Paducah to buy this kit!), and it is awesome!  They have tons of original patterns, loads of beautiful wool, and soon they will have their very first fabric line - I can't wait!  Be sure to check out their website too - take the tour of the shop - it's really nice.  They were also featured in Quilt Sampler and have a cute project available from that.  Fun!  So anyway...here is the kit I bought from them.  I keep thinking I will make a fun bee project and thought this was really cute.

 Another shop that I love is Yellow Creek Quilt Designs.  Vicki and Jill have been good customers of mine over the years - I met Vicki at the very first show that I ever vended (is that a word?) at.  We had a nice visit with them, and I felt the need to bring this little treasure home with me!  They have designed a couple of fabric lines and I got to play with the first one and make a bunch of pendants out of it to surprise Jill with - fun!

I think I mentioned before that Betsy Chutchian had sent me some scraps of her beautiful line Lizzie's Legacies that is just getting to quilt shops now.  I was happy to find some of it at Hancocks.  The yellows and pinks are just perfect.  Love them!  They yellow is nice and soft - not washed out like it looks here.

Here are some of the pretty wools that I bought.  This little bundle also came from The Red Hen.  I have a ton of wool, but most of it is dark and kind of blah.  I WILL make the Primitive Gardens quilt (remember it from my post about the quilts in Paducah?) some day and will need some pretty and colorful wool  - at least that is my excuse for buying these!  I'm hoping some of the girls on Instagram will make this quilt with me.  I want to wait a few months, because I'm back to working on my Sunflower Gatherings quilt and would really like to finish it first.

And then I had a very weak moment and bought this!!!

I really don't know what I was thinking, because the last thing that I need is another time consuming project (I need to get back to designing some quilts of my own!!).  And another funny?  We bought these (yes, Nancy got one too) from The Woolen Needle - another shop that is about 1 1/2 hours from me, but I go to Paducah to buy from.  Guess this shows that I have some good shops in my neck of the woods!

So that is all for now - looks like I should be busy for the next 200 years!  Can you tell that we had a great time on our trip to Paducah!?

Have a great week!

Paducah...the Vendors

I didn't take very many pictures of the vendors, because it was just too busy - too many people!  But let me tell you...they were all awesome!

 Ok, so I guess the only pictures I took of the vendors was at Red Button!  I swear I had more, but I'm not finding them. If you are on Instagram - take a look at @nancylovesquilts  I know she posted some pics of vendors there.

On Friday afternoon we had the option of meeting at our bus and going to Hancock's (of course, we had to check that out!).  It's crazy big - just like a big warehouse with tons and tons of fabric...

 Fabric as far as you can see...

In the first half of the store, we really didn't find anything that we had to have.  There were tons and tons of pretty batiks, but I don't normally use them.  But in the second half we found lots of good stuff.  I had been looking for some of Betsy Chutchian's new line called Lizzie's Legacy.  Betsy sent me some of her leftovers so I could make some jewelry and I really fell in love with the pinks and soft yellows.  Well, I found them at Hancock's and they now reside in my stash!  I made some pretty pieces of jewelry with them yesterday.

We also went to the Quilt Museum, which was really fantastic.  They currently have a miniature exhibit that was truly amazing.  Another let down for you who are reading this - they didn't allow pictures!  If you ever have the chance to go there, make sure to do it.  There were so many amazing quilts.  The most interesting/different?  One made from duct tape and one from beer cans!  It's crazy how many different designs and colors of duct tape are out there.  The quilt really was kind of cool. As we were standing there commenting on it, and checking it out...wondering how in the world she quilted through it, a man came up and said he was her husband!  She was also in the building, but was at a book signing.  He said that she had to actually make each hole with an awl.  Thousands and thousands of holes!  YIKES!  The creativity of some people is just amazing to me!

What they did allow us to take pictures of in the museum were some beautiful stained glass windows.  My mom owns a stained glass studio/shop, so I'm always interested in pretty stained glass pieces.  I think she should whip up some of these!

Aren't they beautiful?  Love them!  I bought a few T-shirts at the shop, but that was it.  I was really tempted to buy the book that showed most of the quilts on display, but I just didn't want to lug it around.  Now I kind of wish that I would have gotten it, but it can probably be ordered online, so maybe I'll do that.

We walked to the Finkel Building because there were more vendors there - including Primitive Gatherings.  I wanted to talk to Lisa, so we went there, but then ran out of time (we had to catch the bus to Hancock's) so I really didn't see the rest of the vendors there.  When we went outside there was a taxi (of sorts)...

So we took a ride in this to get us to our bus a bit quicker!

And on a totally different topic than Paducah...I haven't shown you any kitty pictures for awhile, so in case you are wondering...Ozzie and Callie are just fine, and are still as adorable as ever!

 I love this picture of him - I'm hand quilting and he wants me to stop so he can sit in my lap. Seriously...I can not resist this face!

We have been totally swamped with jewelry ever since we got home from Dallas - and just to show you that I really have been working, and not just playing...

Sorry about the super-grubby ironing board that these are on!  Ignore that and just look at the earrings and scissor fobs!

That's all for now, this got way longer than I had intended.  Back to work for me!  If you want to see any more of my jewelry, just go to my website.

Have a great day!

Paducah...The Quilts

Here are some of the quilts that I took pictures of.  I profusely apologize for not having the maker and the pattern info - there were just too many people to be able to do that, and I felt lucky that I was able to get any photos at all.  If you know who the maker and designers of these are, please message me and I will add it.

I think I love this one mostly because of all the tiny points and pieces, and I also like the fabrics she chose.

 The one and only quilt I got a photo of the info...

 This is Primitive Gardens pattern by Lisa Bongean.  I WILL make this one day! Nancy gave me the pattern for my birthday, and we all know that I have plenty of fabric and wool...now if only we could find more hours in each day!  The maker of this one added her own touch to the design - the right side of the original has a garden hose and some flowers.  This one has a cool flag and some other things - love it!

 So many tiny blocks - love it!!  And such a great use of color and fabric...look at that outside border!

 WOW!!

 Another Primitive Gatherings design - beautiful!

 Everything about this quilt is awesome...

 I took this picture for my mom - she loves these colors...

I took this one for my niece...she just bought 6 baby chicks...  

I was told in the comments that this quilt was designed and made by Lynne Tyler of New Hampshire.

That's all for now...will show you some of the booths and shopping soon!