Back to work on Magnolia Quilt

  Forgive my tardiness but my life has been rather hectic the past few months.  Keep praying for Mr. Whoozy, as he needs your prayers.

I adjusted the size of the quilt at the top of my blog.  It is really the wildest quilt I have ever made.  It was a mystery quilt that I did for a newspaper a couple of years ago.  I decided that this would be the quilt that I would take with me to the "retirement home" as it will give them a good idea that I am a non-conformist in a big way!  ha.
I do love the colors, though.

I shall be adding directions for placement of Magnolia blossoms on the Magnolia Quilt pictured below, ASAP.  I shall be taking pictures of this to put on the blog; so stay tuned as they say on the radio (whatever in the world that is) ha.  I am showing my age using such expressions!

Happy Days are here again.  Quilting is my therapy!  Let it be yours as well!

FORGIVE ME!  I have had a few distractions the past couple of months.  I am back on track, now, so get ready to get some good new ideas from me.  I shall still be posting pictures of some of my quilts that I have made in the past 20 years.  Sometimes it surprises me how many I have made, as I really do have a life!
   I have a new computer that I am trying to get to be friends with, but, almost to no avail.  I keep thinking that I just need to use it more and forget that the old laptop that I love, is still sitting quietly by my side, waiting for me to throw this one in the trash!
   I've heard more people complaining about the new computers due to the programs that are on it. I am right there with them.  Whoever thought them up should be ashamed of themselves! MERCY!
  Keep checking this blog, because, as soon as I find out how to get pictures on this new computer, I'll be putting them on my blog!

Magnolia Mystery Quilt top picture

Magnolia Mystery Quilt top

Here's my Mystery Quilt Top ready to layer and machine quilt.  The fun part of this is that this is a wedding present for one of our grandson's and his "to be" who are getting married next March, 2014.  They are marrying at a Magnolia Plantation, so this is a must to have finished for them.
      I am keeping the background of the top very pale, so that the beautiful Magnolia blossoms will show up nicely on the top with their dark green leaves and white blossoms.  They will be appliqued on top of this quilt top, AFTER I have quilted it!
     This is a new techinique that works well for some quilts.
    The binding (gold fabric) is just laid on top of the raw edges right now.  More to come later....................
    Patterns for the top are forth coming..............:)Happy Days

Lacy Pastiche with designer B. Talley

Wow, thought you'd enjoy seeing a "crazy quilt" wall hanging this month, that I had made a couple of years ago for an exhibit at our Cultural Center In Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.  It is made out of hand made handkerchiefs, buttons, lace etc. that were some of my mom's treasures.  She had saved so many of these things that I thought that I had to save them, further.  It is not quilted, as I just didn't have time to do so.  It is all hand stitched.   I loved doing the silk ribbon embroidery, etc. that is on it.  I would love to do another one, as I still have so many things that were in her "treasure box" in her sewing room. Many of the buttons were given to me by a dear friend in NC named Helen M.  She had kept many of them for years, as well.  Another dear friend, Mary G. bought a box of antique buttons for me at a Hendersonville Antique Day in NC as well.  What a treasure it is to have things from relatives and friends, all preserved in one "crazy piece!"  Enjoy looking at all the little details in this, this month.  

Magnolia Mystery Quilt Block Pattern #2 Ladder block

Hope you are having fun piecing the blocks for the Magnolia Mystery Quilt.  I have all my blocks pieced and sewn together.  It makes a pretty background for an applique project.
The applique project will be to applique beautiful Magnolia blossoms and bud onto the background.  First, you have to finish piecing the blocks.  Make 8 identical blocks if making a square quilt.  To make a twin bed size quilt or larger, make 4 more identical blocks of #2 block.

The pattern is here for Pattern Block #2.

MAGNOLIA MYSTERY QUILT Block #1

Here we go with another Mystery Quilt.  Seems like folks like these fun projects.  There are only two block patterns that are pieced blocks.  I am using hand-dyed fabric that starts at a pale blue and ends with a pale green with lime green accents here and there.  The main thing is to use very pale fabrics.  You may choose any colors you wish, but just be sure that one of the colors is much much lighter than the other two so that the design will show up nicely.
You should make 8 blocks using this Block #1 pattern.
The only requirement is that all of the blocks for Block #1 must be made exactly alike.   The size of your quilt will be determined by the size of your blocks.  I am making a small wall-hanging so I am making 6" finished blocks.  For a twin bed size, you would want to make 12" finished blocks.
Remember that you must use very very light colored fabrics that will help your applique of beautiful magnolia blossoms show up well.  They will be appliqued to your pieced background.  For 6" block cut squares 2 1/2" and for half-square triangles, cut squares 2 7/8" and cut apart diagonally.

 

HAPPY ST.PATRICK'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU!

We Irish love the month of March.  It makes me feel good  to see the shamrocks here and there on signs, etc.

Here's the pattern for your shamrock to use on placemats, etc.  The placemats are easy to make.....I use a "Pizza" cardboard circle for the circle pattern...Fuse a green felt shamrock to one of the circles.Stitch around the shamrock 1/8" from the outside edge......make a 'sandwich' of one lining circle of fabric right side up,  a top fabric wrong side up, and a layer of batting.  Pin together.
Stitch together all the way around leaving a 6" opening to flip and turn. Sew up the side.  Stitch in the ditch around the shamrock to hold the 3 layers together nicely.  That's all folks!
Napkins are 16" squares hemmed with a 1/4" hem.

QUILT OF VALOR MYSTERY QUILT

This is the quilt I designed for a Quilt of Valor quilt as a Mystery Quilt Block of the Month for several newspapers.  It was auctioned off to raise money for the purchase of more fabrics to make more QOV's.  The pattern is my original design and must not be used unless given permission from me.  If this quilt pattern is used for any other purpose, you must get my written permission.  You may email me at Thimblena14@gmail.com
Thank you for your doing this for me.  Quilt Lady!

Mosaic of Tiffany

  A couple of summers ago I decided to make a mosaic quilt of one of my granddaughters, "Tiffany."  I had taken a picture of her up in NC the past summer and loved the colors of her very red hair and the turquoise blue dress and scarf around her neck.  She is a very beautiful young girl (spoken like a true grandmother, but actually, she is gorgeous and just as sweet as she looks) And, of course, you know that I have another blond granddaughter who is a knockout!  And, grandson? oh, my he's soooooo handsome.......(This grandmother just tells it like it is! TRULY)  (live with it!) :)
   I put the picture on my computer and "tiled" it to get the half inch grid just from her neck up.  Wow, there were over 2 thousand little squares.  It was such fun working on this project.  I started at the top of the head, and worked down, very slowly.  I had to really search to find the 75 different pink fabrics that I used in her face.
   Most of you know that you have to stand perhaps 2 room away from the picture to see her as she really is or was at that time.  The hardest part of this quilt was to decide to machine quilt over the face.......oh, my.  I still haven't done much quilting, even though I know I should.  I just hate to distort all of those little squares, as I worked so hard to have all the intersections perfectly matched!
   This was such a great fun project, I want to do another one, most likely the blond!  Wonder how much beige and tan fabric I will need for that one?  Oh, my!

MY FIRST WALL HANGING 1990

WOW, SEEMS LIKE ONLY YESTERDAY THAT I MADE THIS LITTLE QUILT.  After going to the Quilt Expo Europo II,  with the quilters from the U.S. in 1989, I was so thrilled with quilting. I had only made one quilt block, the Ohio Star, and had used that to make a throw pillow.  When anyone on the bus asked me what kind of quilting I did, I would reply, I make quilted pillows.  I'm sure they were impressed.
The trip started in Bergen Norway, then a railroad train ride across Norway to Oslo.  We took an over night ferry to Copenhagen, Denmark.
From Copenhagen, on to Odense, Denmark, where the quilt expo was held.  Odense was also the home of Hans Christian Andersen and I fell in love with that part of the world.  After seeing "The Little Mermaid" sitting on a rock in the harbor at Copenhagen;  watching the "Ugly Ducklings" in a little stream behind his house in Odense, it was truly a dream come true.  I have loved his stories since I was a little girl, and seeing where he lived and worked and dreamed up all those wonderful stories, I felt like I was kin to him in some way.
     While we were visiting Odense, the whole city had silhouettes of him at every stop light.  He had such a wonderful profile, that I thought I had to put him on a quilt. 
    One afternoon while sitting in a park just enjoying the scenery, I met Ellie Sienkiewicz, the Baltimore Album guru.  What you must understand is that at this time in my life, I had no clue who any of these guru quilters were.  I had just started quilting, and had brought about 50 3 1/2" squares of a weird shade of yellow fabric along with me, to get everyone on the tour to sign one.  I thought it would be fun having that to make a little wall hanging when I got home.  When Elly signed my little square, she did it beautifully in script, and all decorated so pretty.  I was most impressed with this lady; never dreaming who it was until much later in my quilting career.
     Another hilarious thing that happened in Odense was that I was sitting in the lobby one evening waiting to go to dinner. The lady that I sat down by was named Bonnie, too.  We chatted for a long time and I finally asked her if she would sign one of my squares.  You know of course, it was Bonnie Lehman, the Quilters Newsletter magazine founder.  I had no clue who she was nor why everyone was so chatty with her...........duhhhhhhhhhh
      Anita Murphy was on the trip as well.....Marti Mitchell was on the trip.  They are all on this little wall hanging if you look closely.  Elna Dick was my roommate, and she would be so excited every evening to see who I had gotten to sign my little squares.  She knew a lot about quilting!
     I bought all of the fabric in Odense, and really didn't know a thing about choosing colors for a quilt. 
     I finished this little wall hanging, which happens to be my 1st one, and sent it to the Houston International Quilt Show.  They hung it in the show!!!!! I look at it now, and see the binding doesn't hang quite straight, and there are several other goofs in it, but I just love it.  In this case, ignorance was bliss, as I had no idea why everyone was so excited over my little quilt.