Oh, the beauty of batiks!

At the beginning of this year, I only owned about a half-dozen batik fat quarters. Five of those fat quarters were put to use in a "still-to-be-finished" autumn table runner for my friend, Connie. It's almost finished. :-)  I am crazy about so many other fabrics that I never really got into buying lots of batiks. But then last fall, I was playing around with that candlemat pattern I designed and I thought........hmm ........what if I changed this and that and made a tablerunner..........and so I had to buy some batiks!! I bought about a dozen fat quarters sometime in January and February. To be honest, they were colorful in an otherwise very white and long winter!!! I finished the table runner made with those fat quarters and here's a sneak peek at a corner of it.

This is the one that will be available at Firefly Quilt Shop during the upcoming "Sew Close to Home" Shop Hop. You can check out the details here and the full photo will be posted this Friday here on my blog. :-)

I enjoyed making this project so much that I got hooked on batiks. They are so beautiful when you begin looking at all the colors and designs on each of the bolts of fabric. I figured I needed more of them because making the table runner was fun but I can see a couple new designs that would be lovely done in batiks. So, last Friday, I met my friend, Pandora, at Firefly Quilt Shop for the monthly "Fat Quarter Friday" when all fat quarters are just $1.50.....even the batiks!  We had so much fun choosing first one, then another, and then even more. LOL!

We decided to take our pile of fat quarters to a table in the classroom. Here's Pandora with her initial bundle...........

Look at that gorgeous quilt behind Pandora!

The fabrics that I was gathering are those in the bottom half of the photo above.

And in this final photo, Pandora chose all these fat quarters and bought yardage of the gorgeous fabric on the bolt that will be her border. Now what do you think we are planning to make with all these batik beauties. You shall see, because you know I'll share as we go along. :-)
After a couple of very busy weeks with family things, I am slowly getting back to some quilty things. I enjoyed a nice Mother's Day weekend and hope you all did, too.  I started this week with my yearly physical today.  Always nice to get that done and feel that all is well (for the most part as age is making good health a challenge some days and I don't even consider myself all that old).  Since I had to fast for blood tests, I was pretty hungry by the time I left the clinic about 12:30 p.m.  I treated myself to lunch and enjoyed time to relax with a good book (A Light in the Window by Jan Karon). There was another lady nearby who was also eating lunch and reading a book. I thought how lucky we were to be able to do that. I am mindful of the fact that not everyone is so fortunate. I decided, I would match what I spent for lunch and make it as a donation to the Food Shelf. I'm thinking maybe I should double it since I've reached the point in my life where the Senior Citizen price has kicked in. LOL!  $6.39 doubled is $12.78. Done!
More quilty stuff tomorrow..........
Sandi

What's on the line? ......... and a graduation!

Spring and mild temperatures have finally arrived in Minnesota and that means that spring winds have also arrived. Yesterday afternoon, I headed out to my clothesline to take a picture of this quilt for today's feature...........

and here's what happened as I hung that little baby quilt on the line.......it kept blowing up and down and up and down and then finally........

it came down just enough to snap this picture and then it was off into the wind again. It was at that point that I brought the quilt inside and took a picture of it laying on the floor!  So, what's so special about this quilt? Well, it's a baby quilt that I made right about this time of the year in 1976 for our son Devlin. I love nine-patch blocks and made several from my calico scraps, then cut those cute little animals from a fabric panel and blanket-stitched them to the center. This was the quilt I wrapped him in when we brought him home from the hospital. This is sort of a mom/parent thing..........but isn't it amazing how fast kids grow up? I can still remember how little he was and then how quickly he went from baby to toddler to preschool. Before I knew it he was off to kindergarten and the grade school years flew by so fast and then high school! I wanted to say "whoa"........but there is no stopping time. And now it's 2011 and here he is..........the graduate..........

Last Tuesday evening, he graduated from Metropolitan State University (Minneapolis) with a degree in Finance.  He did most of his schooling at night as he was working full time during the day, plus he's partners in a recording studio enterprise and he kept up with all of this and still earned a 3.81. And yes, this makes me a proud momma but more than proud, I am just happy for him.  I never graduated from college although I did receive a certificate from an airline business school in Minneapolis. There was a part of me that wanted to attend college but I had this idea of a degree in Fashion Design and the guidance counselor at our high school put the damper on that one with......"perhaps you would be better suited for a secretarial career?"  What was awesome to see at the graduation ceremony that night was the number of students of all ages and from all over that were achieving a dream in spite of the odds. I am in awe of anyone who can "put their nose to the grindstone" and stay focused on their dream. And I am especially in awe of my son and his achievement. :-)  Here's one more picture taken that night with his girlfriend, Stacia.

It was a great evening and now.......who knows what the future holds for him?  One thing I do know.........and it's something fun for me.... he's going to let me record a song or two at his studio so for those of you that have wanted to hear me sing.......well, somehow, I'll get a clip and share a tune or two. :-)
The past couple of weeks have been so busy that I haven't really blogged regularly. I have so many photos ready to go and that GO! Baby project is just waiting to be posted, and so much more!!  I'll see ya all tomorrow with something fun and quilty!
Have a great Monday!!
Sandi

Happy Mother's Day!

Last summer my mother gave me some cards and papers she had saved from when I was a young girl. This is a Mother's Day card that I made for her, probably when I was about 8 or 9. It's made of construction paper, the staple of every kid's art projects. :-)

I love their little cotton tails.

And inside the card, I wrote...........

Sometimes I still make cards to send to my mom but this year I bought one. Actually, I bought two......one with butterflies that I found first and mailed. Then I found one with little bears and so I bought it and mailed it, too.  I'm going home in a couple weeks so will take her out to lunch then. In the meantime, I ordered a subscribtion to Good Old Days magazine for her. She got her first issue this past Thursday. By today, she had read the whole thing and said she enjoyed every article. I subscribed to it, too, as I love reading about what must have been......the "Good Old Days".  :-)

Happy Mother's Day to all of you......mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, cousins, friends who are mothers to you and more!

What's on the line?

Happy May Day!!

Today is May 1st and so I must wish you all a very Happy May Day!!  I was hoping to design a new May Basket for you but things are very busy here at our house and I just didn't have time to do that. Sooooooo.....I went back to last May when I shared this May Basket..........

and if you gather up some supplies, you can quickly make one of these and go hang it on a neighbor's door before the sun sets today!! Don't forget to fill it with candy treats or a little bouquet of flowers!
Just go here to see all the different ways you can decorate this little treat and for instructions to make it, just go here for PartOne and here for PartTwo.
Oh, how I loved making May Baskets and delivering them to my friend's houses.  I wish I could be a kid again for just one day and enjoy that sweet time!
Have a great day everyone!
Sandi

What's on the line? ......... and a little bit of a giveaway........

Edit......... The winner has been notified. As soon as I get her e-mail reply, I'll post her name!
And the winner's name is Sarah who wrote........
Oh Sandi! you're so sweet to us lol. Well I counted fifteen mug rugs out on the line. I think I'll follow the link for the teapot and teacup ones as I know a few people those would suit to a T ;o) Thanks and have a good one. Sarah


That's right. There's an opportunity for a giveaway if you read all the way to the end of this post. First, though, check out what's on the line today..........

It's many mug rugs!  I just thought it would be fun to show you my current collection of mug rugs. I didn't make all of them. Some are from swaps. Here's a couple of close-ups.........

That coffee-themed one on the left was my second mug rug. The first one I made like that was a gift for my son's girlfriend. The next mug rug is scraps left from a tablemat and mug rugs that I made for my daughter. You can check out those items here ......  ChristmasGiftMugRugs
That third mug rug hanging up there on the line is all I could come up with for our Kindred Kwilter's Challenge project. And I didn't use enough of it, so I didn't actually "meet the challenge". It did get me interested in working with batiks, though, and a trip to Firefly Quilt Shop and the purchase of a few batik fat quarters led to the batik flower mug rugs. You can find detailed info on them at this post.........BatikMugRug
And much of this mug rug collection can be blamed on Michele over at Quilting Gallery and the Mug Rug Swap she hosted. Just go here .... TeacupAndTeapotMugRug  ... to see where the teapot and teacup mug rugs came from.........a long way around the world for sure!
I had some Valentine scraps so I had to make the two Valentine mug rugs. The topic of mug rugs was a hot conversation in the Season's BOM group so I organized a swap. I not only got a mug rug from my partner but also from three other members of the group........."just because". I love "just because" gifts. :-) Renita made that cute cat mug rug and you can see it in this post......... Renita'sMugRug

Here's the kitty mug rug that I made for my partner Regina and since one wasn't enough.........

I made her a tulip one, too, and then liked it so much that I made one for me!

Then I made one for my friend, Dorothy, and then one for my sister........... click here to see them... MugRugs
Obviously, I am not the only one addicted to making these things because here's one from Denny in PA and it's perfect in my bathroom. Yes, I now have a mug rug in every room I occupy in the house. :-) Don't you love that sheep fabric? I'm seeing a mug rug in it.........

And another mug rug from PA came from Katie and she is also a crazy quilter so she sent those gorgeous trims that will end up in my crazy quilt blocks!

And my actual swap was Kathy in Georgia and just look at all those goodies she sent me! She teaches at a local shop and has a pattern she designed for a mug rug! She embroidered the little heart with needle and thread running through it. So sweet!

Am I lucky or what? All these mug rugs and I was so inspired that I just had to make all those mug rugs for my guests at my DayTreat event.............

Each one is different but all are made from Jacquelynne's SewingRoomSocial fabrics. And so finally...........if you've read this far............you can earn a chance to win the goodies in this photo below...........

These are just a few of the items that were extras at my DayTreat.........a pretty green candy dish, some "Sewing Room Social" Charm Squares, butterfly bath salts, a little bowl of candies, some notecards, a fat quarter of one of the 30's fabrics that I am using in my CandyDish quilt blocks, a pattern from Jean Devereux with her sweet ceramic buttons and .......ta da..........a mug rug, of course! Just leave a comment on this post with your name and make sure you have an e-mail link. Just one requirement for this giveaway........tell me how many mug rugs are hanging on the line in the first picture. :-) Winner will be announce on Friday at 6:00 p.m.

Have a great Monday! See you next post with info on how I used my GO!Baby to make those mug rugs!

Sandi

A visit to the Deep Valley Quilt Guild show.........

Last Saturday, I went to Mankato, MN for the Deep Valley Quilter's Show. It was a great way to spend a very cold and windy afternoon. Actually, even if it had been sunny and lovely, I'd have been there anyway. But since it was cold and gloomy outside, the wonderfully colorful quilts were just like sunshine!  As I entered the exhibit, I checked with show staff to make sure it was okay to take photos and also to post them here. They said that should be just fine. If, though, you are a maker of any of these quilts and don't want your photo posted here, please let me know.
These are just a few of the quilts that I photographed as there were so many that I can't post them all here.

I thought I'd start with this frog themed quilt made by Courtney Schaefer who is one of the co-chairs for the show. The fabrics were those she got in her Cocoon kit bought at Firefly Quilt Shop. They sponsor a challenge where you purchase a bag that has four one yard cuts of fabric in it and you must make a quilt with almost all of the fabrics. Sometimes it's a challenge but Courtney did a great job with the fabrics she got in her bag. I'm not sure you can see it but swatches of the four fabrics pinned to the lower right corner of the quilt.

This next quilt was the first one that really caught my eye. I am always drawn to applique quilts more than pieced quilts but ...........I love them all!

And this is Courtney's husband and their daughter. She is studying that quilt as if she is thinking........hmmm.........one day, I'll quilt, too...........

And the maker of this wine-themed quilt is the other co-chair of the show, Lynn Vogel Turbes.

And here she is pointing out her little entry in the "quilt on a stick" challenge. If you have ever been to the Minnesota State Fair, you know that many foods come on a stick..........so why not have a "quilt on a stick"?  These were all really cute and very clever!

I thought I'd be able to rad the names on the quilt tags but not so. From here on out, I don't know the names of the makers of most of these quilts. I apologize for this and also because I don't have the pattern names either. I just like all these quilts.........

This quilt was unique......Bible scenes embroidered in a gold thread...........

Black and white ........and a little bit of red all over!

I do know the maker of this quilt ........ Sandi Kleinschmidt ......... as I remember when she was buying fabrics for this quilt!

And the quilt that just really intriqued me and that I went back to see it again and again, and got my vote for "Viewer's Choice", was this one by Toni Horning. The beautiful applique and the detailed machine quilting just made this quilt a "stand-out" for me.

I like it so much that I took note of her name and here it was again on this amazing little black and white quilt.......

As noted, these are just a few of the quilts that were on display. It was a great show and I am just glad that I could go!
I will be back on Monday. We are enjoying a visit from our grandson, Jacob. There could be some eggs-tra special fun times around here this weekend. Happy Easter everyone!
Sandi