Tuesday Archives #30: Granny Squares & Grandmother's Garden

Welcome to the linky party that let's you rejuvenate your old quilting/sewing posts! 

(Check over in my right margin for the list of  our October themes)

This week is all about skimming through those archives and finding quilts 

that showcase your Granny Squares & your Grandmother's Gardens...whether they are one or many....link them up here today! I found two wonderful archives to highlight today...grab yourselves a highlighted button  Molly and Nita:

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GRANNY SQUARES: 

Oh I fell in love with Molly's Modern Granny Squares. She blogs at Bailey Girl Five! I love her brown background, bright colors and perle cotton stitching!!!

I have not made a Granny Square yet, (I do however, think my mom has a crochet version in a dresser drawer at home).

GRANDMOTHER's GARDEN:

I sooo admire the work of all of you who have crated the pathe to your Grandmother's Garden like my blog buddy Nita here who blogs at NitaDances. You'll see when I link mine up....no pathe! LOL! 

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Happy Mail Being Sent!

As much as I love receiving Happy Mail, I think I love sending it even more!

I have fun stuff to send out today. Sitting on the front seat of our jeep, awaiting delivery after school is: 1. Blog give-away winnings. 2. A surprise birthday delivery to our grandson  3. A commission flimsy I quilted over the weekend and tucked in-between, 

a little  "just because" card for my mom. (Hi mom!)

What kind of mail makes you happy?

With smiles!

Val:)

Little Letters QAL: E,F & G

E is for Elephants, F is for Farm and G is for Garden:

When I starting quilting a few years ago, 30's prints were the very first fabric I started collecting. I  have an entire tub of precut 2 1/4" strips that I use for my hexagons.
I plan to continue my stash busting of these...

...and also use them to "frame" my little letters:

I'm not sure if I'm going to sash my blocks together with a cream or just sew them together scrappy style?? I think once I get A, B, C and D, framed up this week and on the design wall, they'll start to "talk" to me. (I hope!) Anyhoo, I'll be spending my Sunday afternoon right here quilting these two tops:

I hope your day finds ya getting in a little sewing as well.
Sharing at:

With Smiles,

Val:)

RSC: Final Reds & Oranges

Fall has finally arrived here where I live and I spent our rainy morning in a cozy sweatshirt and jeans as I sewed these fun houses and girls together to get caught up on the RSC. Here's my August Reds embellished with an extra wide red ric-rak:

My Sept.Oranges are sewn and awaiting for their little pompom's to be sewn on by hand: 

And here's the whole Rainbow Neighborhood:

I did find myself getting tired of making the girls today and  anxious to start the next step of this quilt which is to: applique doors and windows onto the houses, add trees and critters, along with embellishing the girls with buttons and bows! I like that all the primary colors are represented and their boldness of the color. What do ya think?? Wishing ya a happy Saturday as I'm now off to link up with everyone else at:

With Smiles!

Val:)

Tuesday Archives #29: Ghastlies and Ghosts!

It's Tuesday already!?!? Wow!...well welcome back guys! But before we begin, I have two quick matters of  linky "business". 1. Let me first say congrats to Zenia Rene who blogs at A Quilted Passion. You won my Free Choice Linky Give-Away! Watch for my email so I can send ya a little happy mail!! 2. Everyone: I'd love to highlight your archives here, but not many of us have installed the "search this blog" gadget (I just installed mine) but if you guys can add that gadget to your blog it will help me TONS to search for weekly highlights for our themes....THANKS and SMILES!!!! Okay...now let's get on to the party. It comes around right in time with a little Halloween inspiration for all of us, as this week's themes are Ghastlies and Ghosts! (And this week's highlights are sooo very awesome!!)

GHASTLIES: 

So do any of you remember that period of time before you became part of the blogging community and you use to just read and admired blogs. Well today's highlight is from Thimbleanna, one of the very first blogs I read and found tons of inspiration! Look what I found in her January 2011 Archives:

GHOSTS: 

So as I sat and watched Dancing With the Stars, I was searching Google and this was the first image to come up! Is it NOT amazing!!! WOW! It was created in 2011 by a fellow quilter who blogs at In Season.

Little Letters QAL: D,E

Keeping up with my little letters QAL today:

I'm also following the input of some fellow bloggers and adding a 5" border and
some rik-rak to this baby quilt WIP: 

Happily sewing and puttering around the house today, with a 3 mile walk on the horizon. Nope! drove into the city to pick up a table for our studio remodel instead of walking!! 

With Smiles,

V

Sept. Sat. Sampler

Last week my friend texted asking if I wanted to start a Saturday Sampler at one of our favorite Quilt Stores that's in the next town. (It's only a 20 minute drive away) and I replied: "You bet!" We picked out one charm pack and a yard of background fabric when we arrived and the plan is to make a 6"block each month.

 I couldn't resist picking out Bloomin' Fresh by Deb Strain:

Here's my first 6" block finished:

And well, since I haven't been in a quilt store in what seems like forever and the ladies were so organized with their presentation, I fell in love with one of their finishing kits and bought the whole Deb Strain Bloomin' Fresh Kit to finish my blocks later:

 The panel came in three color ways of the blue, green or red. I choose the green with my oldest daughter in mind. The only thing missing is a few yards of extra large ric-rak which I'll pick up next month! SO happy!

So there ya go...I'll post my block and the pattern the third Saturday of each month.

Happy Saturday!

With Smiles,

Val:)

ALYofF Sept. Baby Quilt Finish

I love meeting my ALYofF goals especially today as I celebrate my 30's retro, charm pack slice-n-dice baby quilt finish. It ended up being 38"x 38" square. Perfect size to cuddle baby in or lay down for nap time don't ya think.

I quilted it using a Butterflies Loops & Swirls pantograph in cream thread.

I like the contrast of the green backing and green polka-dot binding.

And do ya like this little gal with her swishing ribbon tail??

She was as easy as 1,2,3 to make!

First, I just took a piece of the elephant fabric and blew it up on a copy machine. Then, I traced her onto the shiny side of  a piece of freezer paper and ironed her to the cream fabric. Finally, I then cut her out a 1/4" larger than the template and appliqued her onto the quilt. I embellished her with an orange running stitch using a perle cotton thread.

 This was so fun to make! It will be a baby gift to my teaching partner. They are expecting their baby girl in December! I hope they use it a ton. Thanks for stopping by! I'm linking up with everyone else at ALYofF to share our September finish & others on my linky page.

With smiles!
Val:)

Many WIP's This Week!

WIP #1: Studio Remodel

Our basement studio is cleared out while cleaning carpets and prepping the walls for a new paint color are on the "To Do" list this week (With a ton of Hubby's help...okay, okay with a ton of my helping hubby!!! LOL!!):

Which means I'm sewing in the dining room:

(I think Jackson is confused!!)

WIP #2:

I'm starting to get caught up on my reds and oranges for the RSC:

WIP #3:

Man, oh man, with two baby showers and our grandbaby's first birthday next month, I have lots of baby sewing going on! This charm pack baby quilt got sewn together last night and will get borders added tonight then be quilted this weekend. Input wanted....what do you think of a 3"yellow polka dot border (It needs to be a little bit bigger) with a large white rik rak between the quilt and border??

WIP #4: 

And finally, I'm slow stitching the binding on my slice-n-diced baby quilt for a Friday Finish as I enjoy the season opener of Dancing With the Stars and anxiously await for Alfonso Ribeiro to do the Carlton Dance!! (He has to do it atleast once!!) Anyone else a fan??

I'm having fun and it's kinda nice to be working on "baby size" sewing. Projects are quick and rewarding. I sure hope your week finds ya doing a happy dance and is productive too!
With Smiles!
Val:)

Tuesday Archives #28: FREE Choice Week!

Hey Guys! This week the letter "F" is for FREE CHOICE! 

(Check over in my right margin for the list of  upcoming September themes)

So grab yourself a cup of coffee (or favorite wake ya up morning beverage) and enjoy the freedom of skimming through those archives to link up whatever you want this week! 

Andddd...just to show my appreciation of your continuous support of our Tuesday Archives linky....I plan to send some  to one randomly chosen linky upper! Ya know...just for the fun of it! I'll announce the winner next Tuesday!

Little Letters QAL: A,B,C

I'm joining Tanya who blogs at Tanya Quilts in CO  for this ABC Little Letters Quilt Along over at Temecula Quilt Co.'s blog.  A little letter will be posted each Sunday and Wednesday and the pattern's are totally free!! The finished quilt will measure 34x39 inches with 4 inch finished blocks. Perfect Baby Crib Quilt size don't ya think!

I'll be making mine from my stash of 30's repro prints:

Let me know if ya join us...it will be fun to "sew" our ABC's together.
I'm also going to link up here each week for fun and motivation:

With smiles,
Val:)

Garden Center Quilt Show

Our local garden nursery is having it's 3rd Annual Fall Quilt Show:

As soon as you walk in the door you are greeted by these beauties:

I love visiting our garden nursery and it was even more enjoyable today to walk around and enjoy the variety of quilts on display from other local quilters.

The quilt in the background to the right, was made from pieces of polyester clothing! So groovy Marcia! ((Sorry I grew up in the 80's and loved the Brady Bunch!)

This one really caught our eye, having been made in the early 1900's,

hand quilted, and arriving to Idaho in a covered wagon!

There was applique inspiration:

Creative inspiration (This was made from her husband old ties!)

And fun inspiration (I esp. love the frog and bees fluttering about.)

There were a few you may recognize. My Sun & Moon Batik Quilt: 

And my Beach Houses Quilt...right next to a beautiful quilt made from Crown Royal bags!!

Serious! Is this not fantastic! (I've never even tasted the stuff...

but thought it was inventive and so very well made!)

I love the coming of Fall and the array of quilt shows that seem to pop up. 

I'm glad ya "stopped" by today and hope ya found a little inspiration too.

With smiles,

Val:)