The Charity Quilt and CAKE!

Here's the charity quilt I've been working on (with the pile of ugly fabrics). Just goes to show you, even ugly fabrics have a place in the world. Somehow these fabrics play well together and will provide someone with a warm cover. One more block to make before I sew them together. I'm thinking I may tie this instead of quilting it. We'll see….

And now for that cake recipe I promised. This is a Blueberry Banana Pound Cake and it is absolutely DELICIOUS! You'll find the recipe here:  http://randlefarms.net/recipes/#banana

By the way, it calls for oat flour. One of my friends suggested grinding oatmeal in the blender to substitute for the oat flour. I did this and it worked like a charm - much more economical that buy that specialty flour.

Okay - go make it NOW! You won't regret it!

This afternoon I hope to do the perle cotton stitching on half of the kitty cat quilt. And some hexie appliqué. And maybe I'll clean off the dining room table. And maybe, maybe a load of laundry. And maybe, maybe, maybe I'll work on the class notebook I'm developing to organize all the classes I teach. And maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe….

Auburn Fun

I've had a Birmingham friend visiting this weekend. Oh, what fun we've had, including some fabric therapy! We HAD to go by the famous Toomer's Drugs - yes, the name is spelled out on the floor in hexie tiles!

You can't visit Auburn without some of the famous Toomer's Lemonade. Oh so good!!!

Daughter 2 is coming home from Minnesota today! Yay! I've already moved her cat back to the condo where he is ready and waiting. And Daughter 1 and SIL have had a big weekend, too! Lots going on around here, for sure.

Tomorrow: I will sew!

Ugly Fabric and Leo

Pile of UGLY fabric. One thing I love about quilting is that I can take ugly fabric and turn it into a beautiful quilt. I picked up a kit at our quilt guild meeting last week - a bag of precut fabric and a pattern, ready to make a charity quilt. How convenient! And no deadline! I started working on blocks this week and I'm loving it! I'll share my progress soon.

And here's one more Painterly Little Art Quilt I'm working on for a class sample. Here is Leo. It doesn't look like much now, but once I add the perle cotton stitching, it will come to life. I'm actually planning on quilting and doing the perle cotton embroider to half of it for now to show what a different those final touches make.

As I shared, Leo has been living with us in an upstairs bedroom (away from dogs!) this summer while Daughter 2 has been doing a summer Pharmacy internship at Mayo in Rochester, Minnesota. He has been so easy and a joy to host. BUT, Daughter 2 is finishing up her work and coming home this weekend - YAY! So Leo will be moving back to the condo to live with her again - I know they'll be happy to be back together again! Can't wait to have her back in town!

And Daughter 1 and SIL are busy as bees - officially house hunting here in Auburn. YAY! So excited for them! And so happy they'll be settling down not far from us!

So what else is new? Let's see…

Cooper has been bad again. :( I'm now taking him on three little walks per day to try to tire him out so he won't be as inclined to destroy my belongings.

I ate THE MOST DELICIOUS cake this week. I'll be making it this weekend - I'll share the recipe, I promise!

The hummingbirds are going crazy this summer - I have to fill the feeder with nectar at least weekly.

We are counting down to football season! I'm going to buy a couple of those cooling towels to use during the first few HOT games. Can't wait!

Painterly Little Art Quilts! Tah-Done!

My goal this week is to make some class samples for my Painterly Art Quilts class at the AQS show in Chattanooga in September. Yesterday I finished TWO! I worked on them for 3 days, off and on.

Above, of course, is Cooper - master of sneaking around the house and chewing on anything and everything. At this moment he is looking out the window watching two hummingbirds at the feeder.

And this is Samford Hall, an iconic building here at Auburn University.

I start with a photograph, make a pattern, use snippets and chunks of fabric, quilt it like crazy, and then add some perle cotton embroidery to add detail and highlights. Want to learn how? Come to Chattanooga!!!

Maybe I'll start another one today?

A Little Work and a Little Play

Today I designed 3 little quilts - these will be class samples for my Chattanooga classes. I hope to finish all three this week - we'll just see if I can do it! I was holding a picture up to the dining room window to trace it (yup, too lazy to go upstairs to get my light box.) Look who came to visit on the outside of the window! What a cutie with a bright blue chest!

And a little bit of play - I'm working on this cute pillow kit I bought in Chicago. I've appliqued all the leaves in place - now I'm ready to work on the flowers.

Hubby brought home a dozen farm fresh eggs a few days ago - yum, YUM! Aren't they gorgeous!

I had a wonderful birthday Friday. We watch Tim's Vermeer that night - a movie I've been wanting to see. It's a documentary produced by Penn and Teller about Tim Jenison's multi year journey to recreate a Vermeer oil painting. Very interesting! Tim's wife is Leslie Jenison, an art quilter. I highly recommend seeing it. We checked it out through iTunes.

By the way, an anonymous reader asked about my Chattanooga classes and if they are open to the public. YES! All the information is HERE!

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My Little Smocked Pincushion

Another little project - Tah-Done! I took a Make It University class in Chicago from my friend, Cheryl Sleboda. She has a new Quilting Arts video on heirloom smocking techniques for quilters. What fun! This is a fast little project and lots of fun to make. Great gift idea, too!

We did a lot of this during the holiday weekend - feet up, dogs in lap, back porch time, relaxing. Nice weekend!

We saw two fireworks shows, one in Opelika on the 3rd and one in Auburn on the 4th. Both were spectacular and tons of fun.

My focus this week is on finishing my Hexie Mania quilt (see here), working on some TINY hexies, and lots of paperwork. I don't care for paperwork. I like fabric work much better...

Tah-Done! A New Hand Sewing Caddy!

Here's that little project I've been working on this week. It's a Yazzii that I bought at the Chicago Quilt Festival. I covered it with some orange wool appliquéd with a cute flower.

On the "spine" of the caddy, I appliqued my initials on a small piece of Kantha quilt.

Love all the zippered compartments! I have small scissors, thimbles, thread, and needles inside. I adore it, especially since I've added my own special touch to it.

Have you seen this new product by Karen Kay Buckley? I was already a fan of her Perfect Little Scissors. I needed a new pair since someone (ahem, Cooper!) chewed the handles off my old pair. I found them in Chicago along with Karen's new little scissor accessory - a cute little chain that attaches to the plastic cover - no more lost plastic cover! These are the scissors I keep in my new sewing caddy.

There's still room left for precut circles to make hexies on the go!

We're planning a very relaxing July 4th weekend here. Hubby and I will grill out some burgers, just the two of us. We're going to attend a local music and fireworks event either tonight or tomorrow night (or maybe both!) And we'll probably drive to the lake sometime over the weekend to watch Cooper swim.

A Little Project

I started this fun little project a few days ago - I'm hoping to finish it by the end of the week and I'll share it then. I'll give you a hint: it will be very functional!

And YIPPEE! I got this in the mail today. There's an article and pattern by ME inside!

Don't forget to check out the July 2014 Hexie BOM over here!