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Where are we again!! Christmas is over the New Year is off and racing! It is already Mid February!!

2012-02-13T15:54:00.001-08:00

Our guild Quilt show is now less than a month away and I find myself once again worrying about having my entries ready for the show. I sure am glad that I went light on entries this year as life is complicated, as usual and there is never as much time as we think there will be to get it all done.
My last posting the african woman still looks exactly as it did when I brought it home and it is entered so hopefully very soon I will have pictures of the finished project ready for our 2012 show
I have also entered my asian themed quilt that was made for my son and daughter in law and they are lending it back to put in the show. Although I know that it is not a perfect quilt and probably won't win awards, it is a very different interesting quilt and I love the oppurtunity to enter it for all to see. Wish me luck with getting it all done and ready!

Where are we again!! Christmas is over the New Year is off and racing! It is already Mid February!!

2012-02-13T15:54:00.000-08:00

Qulters of SC Fall Retreat

2011-10-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

Well another White Oak retreat has come and gone with the Quilters of South Carolina. What a wonderful time we had and so productive too. I am so excited to show you all my portrait that was completed in Marilyn Walls class "Fabricating Faces!" We had a wonderful learning experience, and the end product was simply amazing. Here is a picture of my Old Maasai woman portrait that I did in class. I plan on finishing it up with actual beads and paint the orange onto her face as in the photograph.

Fallon's wholecloth Angel Quilt

2011-10-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

This is Fallon's whole cloth Angel Quilt

All About Fallon

2011-10-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

I Love My Mummy
Gift From GOD!

Grampa Bob and Gramma Jeanne

Bowl full of Sweetess!!Fallon Portfolio of cool pics!

Mommy, Daddy and Baby Fallon

Here are the latest 4 generations of the Pedersen Family

Fallon Noelle is finally Here

2011-09-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

Here is our beautiful new grand daughter Fallon Noelle, she came into the world on Sept 22nd 2011 weighing 6 pounds and 15 ounces and 20 inches long!!

Almost Baby Time

2011-09-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

Our little Fallon Noelle is due in less than a week now and you might think we are sooo excited and you would be 100% correct!! I did her lampshade last night and embroidered a baby blanket with her name the night before. Tonight I hope to get the curtains done. If she holds off coming long enough I just might have all her stuff finished before she arrives!! This is grand daughter #8, grand child # 10 and Tanya and Adam's first baby!! I will post some pictures of her things later over the weekend!!

It is Labor Day, and the Oriental Quilt is all quilted

2011-09-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Doesnt it look just too good in my guest room to give away!! Stephanie and Aaron didnt have any problem taking it off the bed and bringing home with them so I had to kiss it goodbye, and send it to it's new home!!

You might say I labored all weekend to finish quilting this huge quilt. I still need to do the hand sewing on the binding, but it is off the quilt frame and as good as done. I love how it turned out and I know that Aaron and Stephanie are going to be very excited to finally get their quilt for their bed. I have 4 pillowcases still to make. The two throw pillows have been done for awhile. Here is a picture it.

Beach Retreat 2011 (8/31 update)

2011-07-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

The quilting is down to the wire now. this has been a very time consuming quilt to quilt. The good thing is I am loving how it is coming out!! Pictures soon!

Now finished with the borders added, looks like I will be quilting for quite awhile as lots of stitch in the ditch on this one!!

Cobblestone Quilt guild had another wonderful Beach Retreat this year at Camp St. Christopher's and I continued working on my oriental quilt that I had started at JK Camp retreat earlier in the summer. Here is a picture of it almost all done. I only have the two outside borders to complete. I am trying to decide how to quilt this monsterous 104x 112 quilt. It will be a gift for my son and daughter in law for their bed.

Mud Mystery in Vermont

2011-03-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the quilt top now just to get it quilted and I will be on to the next one.

Working on my second pieced border now. this is really shaping up to be very pretty! Just one more plain 2 inch border and finishing up a few more blocks for the left side and the quilt top will be done. Going to Mary Jo's Saturday to find a backing fabric and then I will be ready to quilt it next week. This one is for Tanya and Adam.

Relay for Life bag that I made to honor my Sister Ann Stone a 6 year survivor of Breast Cancer this past weekend!!

Here is the quilt top ready for assembly. I really like how it came out. More pictures when done!!

I am so excited to be only 10 days away from my annual trip to Vermont!

Once a year I go to Vermont, usually in April and together with my sister, Ann,

we do a Mud Mystery Quilt at Middlebury Sew and Vac quilt shop.

Last years mystery is the beautiful red and tan quilt on my last post!! I will

post a picture of it finished and on a bed soon. This weekend I was in a panic

to find the perfect fabric for this years mystery, as I have some pre-cutting

and sewing to do before the class. Finding the right fabric was a challenge, as

the best choices we were told would be baticks. I love baticks and thought

it would be a simple task. It did not play out quite that way, but at last it is done.

Here are my fabric choices. I can't wait to get the mystery solved and see how

beautiful the quilt will be. Unfortunately the color is not as vivid as the actual

fabric is where the lightest color is actually a light green and blue not as it appears

to be a neutral color. Standby for pictures after the mystery class and I return

from the cold, cold New England wintery weather. I have been promised NO SNOW!!

We will see if that pr0mise stands up or not.

Back in the Saddle Again

2011-02-25T07:34:00.000-08:00

I feel as if I have been on a sabbatical from my quilting since Christmas. I really got kind of burned out and am now happy to be quilting again. This quilt is the one that I am getting ready to put on the frame, you can see how big it is as it takes up pretty much the whole machine. It was done as a mystery in Vermont with my sister last April, so the deal is before coming back to Vermont this April we have challenged each other to have last years completed. I am on track so far. I am not sure how I will quilt this one but given the size I will probably not do much custom quilting but use an all over design.

Ice Day off from Work,

2011-01-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

We had freezing rain all day and icy roads so I thought it better not to get out on the roads and get in an accident or stranded somewhere. So I put my time to good use and finished the last 4 of the pillowcases for the grandchildrens quilts.

New Floors in our House

2011-01-06T15:56:00.000-08:00

Every year I like to take on a project of improving the house in some way. Yes, I do like projects, so after last year's garage and quilt studio, I pretty much had to keep to a smaller project this year. I loved my pergo floors up in my studio so much and they are so easy to clean and keep up with that I decided I wanted to do some of the downstairs with the same flooring. I called up my trusty builder to see if he had much of a work load just before Christmas. I was lucky enough to hit him at a slow time. So, here are some pictures of the great work our first pastor, great friend and wonderful carpenter Greg Hill did on our floors. He just finished up today and was headed back to Greenville to take his wife Kathy's to the hospital for double knee surgery tomorrow morning. We are praying for a quick, pain free recovery for Kathy.

Christmas Quilts done for 9 grandkids

2010-12-27T19:14:00.000-08:00

Mystery Quilt done for Christmas

2010-12-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

Our guild did a mystery quilt for Quilters Day out and I chose to use some Christmas fat quarters that I had purchased at a Christmas in July Sale. They made a beautiful throw. I am getting ready to sew the binding on now and should have it done shortly. Oh, the back is a beautiful Christmas Fleece. Will have to take a picture of that later. Enjoy!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2010-11-27T12:11:00.000-08:00

The border doesn't show up too well in this picture but it is little dalmation dogs in different poses and is separated by squares of doggie foot prints. It does look really cute up close.

The the last of the 9 Christmas quilts for my grandchildren is almost done. Still borders to go and then I will start the quilting line up!!

I hope everyone has had as great of a weekend as I have!! Well, it isn't over yet and I have two more quilt tops finished and only one more to go! Yes, I am very excited. I did two turning twenties tops this weekend and only have one quilt top left to go to complete all 9 tops. Then comes the quilting. Here are pictures of my two turning 20's tops. The blue and yellow fat quarters all came from my stash and only the only fabric that I have purchased, besides for the backing is the pink, green and brown one. It was from Moda and came packaged for a turning 20's quilt so that made it really easy.

Next in Line

2010-11-23T05:35:00.000-08:00

The Aunt Gracie's quilt top is done as of tonight. that makes 4 ready to be quilted. Ugh!! I know what I will be doing over this long 4 day weekend besides eating Turkey.

Another of the BQ settings gives these quilt blocks a new look and really helps to enlarge the quilt quickly without having to make alot more blocks for a bed quilt. This quilt is next in line and is from my Aunt Gracies block swap it is for my granddaughter Lily. Back in the summer of this year we at the Quilts of Valor decided it would be fun to exchange blocks amongst ourselves. These are 12 of the 15 blocks that I recieved. I hope to use the last three for a pillow sham!! Maybe not in time for the Christmas quilts but it certainly is an idea!!! All the blocks are now sewn together and just needing to have some borders added which I will be taking a little excursion to the fabric store to get tonight . Here is a picture of the blocks as I had them on the design board. I have made a few changes to the finished top, but you will have to wait till I get the borders on to see what those changes are going to be. Did I mention I am pretty tired of this venture yet?????

One more Quilt Top Done This one a scrappy Disappearing 9 Patch

2010-11-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

Okay so one more top for Christmas finished. This one is a scrappy disappearing 9 patch with black sashing to break up all the colors. . One year soooo many years ago People Places and Quilts cut charm squares from every bolt of fabric for a whole year. At the end of the year they sold them as a collection. There are a few repeats of the extra squares that I threw , but all together there are 270 charm squares!!

SBS BLOCK SETTING

2010-11-16T06:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, So the top is now done, so now what?? I can't figure out how I want to quilt this one. It really can't be a quick all over design, just wouldn't do it justice. So I guess it will take just a little bit longer than some of the other 9 Christmas quilts. Gee Wiz I need a break already. What was I thinking???!!!! A little more progress, now to sew it all together and add the borders!! SBS makes such a sweet little girls quilt> I just love it.

Here is a picture of my SBS blocks in the BQ setting. It really helps to stretch 12 blocks into a much larger quilt. I have had these blocks for several years waiting to be put together into a quilt for my oldest granddaughter. So now is the time to finish this one up as well. One more Xmas present on its way.

Saturday Mystery Quilters Day Out!!

2010-11-07T16:06:00.002-08:00

Another great Cobblestone Quilters Day out at the beautiful St. Andrews Church. I just love taking classes there because not only is it a lovely room, but the church grounds are just so beautiful. Our class was a mystery which turned out to be the split log cabin. I must confess I figured it out as soon as I did the cutting prework, as it could not be much other than a log cabin of some kind. This pattern is so versatile in the ways that the blocks can be set the options are just about limitless. For my Christmas fabrics though I think the wreaths made the best choice! So here is a picture of the blocks on the design wall. I hope to get them put together by guild meeting this week. Wish me luck!!

Satur

2010-11-07T16:06:00.001-08:00

The Scrappy Bug has bitten me!!

2010-10-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

Last night after messing with those end borders at 11;30 I finally finished this quilt top. the borders really took alot of time and patience to get them to lay flat and line up. I am very pleased with the end result, however, even though it took much longer than I had anticipated. Now the next step will be the quilting. I may just hold off on that until I get a few more tops completed and then quilt them all at once. Here is a picture of finished top.

Here is an update with a little more progress, still in the designing stage, but you can get the idea of what I am headed for. Hopefully before the weekend it will be finished and quilted.

October Cobblestone Quilt Guild meeting hosted Bonnie Hunter from Winston-Salem North Carolina. Bonnie is the author of two books on scrap quilting and hosts a wonderful website at http://quiltville.com/. Here she has many free scrap quilt patterns and great ideas for managing those scraps. I took her class on Saturday and have been busy making scrappy stars since. So far I have made 280 units and decided to put a few on a design wall to see how they look. Here is a picture of some of them to give you an idea of how the quilt will lookwhen finished . I am trying to make a quilt for each of my nine grandchildren in time for Christmas this year. Not just lap quilts either but rather bed quilts as most already have baby quilts. The little gold bowties or butterfly fabrics are left from my oldest grandson's baby quilt ten years ago , so this will be for him. I have used all fall fabrics in the dark stars and assorted lights, one of which I used in his Great Grandpa Viggo's Thimbleberries quilt also from about ten years ago. Grampa Viggo was very special to us all and especially to Brody. He is no longer with us so I think Brody will like that his fabrid joins his baby quilt and his great greandfathers together in a patchwork of Love!!

A great weekend a wedding and a birthday party

2010-10-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

We just had the most wonderful weekend, so much fun and so much loving family. Our daughter and son in law decided to celebrate their wedding here in Charleston as they eloped in July and this weekend we all got to share the joy!! We had a mock wedding ceremony with family and friends at the beach and then a great meal afterward at home. Here are some pictures of the weekend wedding and then on Sunday Peyton and Weber's birthday party. What a wild weekend. If ever I were more blessed I just don't think I could stand it. Makes you want to pinch yourself and see if it is a dream, God please don't wake me up.

A Day at the zoo

2010-09-18T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hi All

Just wanted to post a few pictures of our day at the zoo with the Grandkids. It was alot of fun and the kids seemed to have a great time. Really, still pretty hot in SC even in late September we were thankful for the shade and fans!!

Finished Three Quilts this past weekend

2010-09-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess you could say that I am on a roll. I quilted three quilts this weekend and have a fourth all loaded to quilt tonight. Here are the two quilts of valor quilts that I quilted and my Quest for the cure Rose Quilt that I made and quilted with the spirals. Love those spirals for sure.

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

It sure was a busy weekend at the Pedersen household this holiday weekend. This was the first time we have had all the grandkids together at our house. We had a birthday party for our Lily on Saturday. She is wearing the brown dress with pink polka dots. Now that is a house full of FUN!!

2010 Beach Retreat

2010-08-18T17:27:00.000-07:00

Well our guild annual Beach Retreat at St. Christophers on Seabrook has come and gone once again and as guaranteed it was a wonderful Quilting time to share our love of quilting. This year I was able to stay an extra day which included Friday afternoon until Monday afternoon. That gave me so much time to work on projects that I actually finished the bindings on two quilts, finished two quilt tops and almost a third and made a few extra blocks. All the quilts were ufo's from the past few years in various stages of completion. It felt really good to get so much accomplished. Here are a few of the pictures of what I came home with.

Making pillow cases with my new grand daughters

2010-07-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here are my new grand daughters with their pillowcases that I helped them to make using a new technique that they call the Hot Dog method. You roll the long part of the pillowcase up like a hotdog and the top section becomes the bun. Really smart, method and the website I used is great.http://www.conkerrcancer.org/pdf/hotdogmethod.pdf

My Finished Quilt Studio

2010-05-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of my finished quilt studio. I am really enjoying all the comfort and spaciousness of it. Love, Love, Love it!!

The outside is beautiful as well. A pictures of that now that it is all finsihed and landscaping is done as well.

Under Construction Once Again

2010-03-08T18:36:00.000-08:00

Well after the last addition in 2003 I never thought that I would be doing this again, but I guess after 7 years I got the bug again to have a new project done. The house needed a new roof anyway and I thought while we are at it we might as well have that garage that we have always needed built. That just naturally got me to thinking, why not extend my quilt studio that is over the existing converted garage to be over the new garage as well. So here we have the framing of my new quilt studio over top of our new garage. It is so exciting to have it built and customized to suit my quilting wants and needs. Here is a picture as of todays end of the day work. We hope to have the rest of the framing and plywood exterior and roof on by tomorrow. Wave hello to Greg, looks like he is getting ready to jump doesnt it?

What is Next

2010-02-07T05:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I don't have the option of letting the machine cool off as I am on a mission to finish one more quilt in time for our Feb 28th turn in for our show. So yesterday I finished the applique part of my " Twenty leagues under the sea Quilt" and got it loaded onto the frame. It is only 60 x 60 so I hope it will be done in plenty of time as I still have sleeves and labels to make for all 6 quilts that I am entering. Anyway, here is a picture of it from yesterdays work.

Geisha by Moonlight

2010-02-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

Hot off the frame it still needs to be trimmed, blocked, bound and have a sleeve and label in time for the Feb 28th turn in for the Cobblestone Quilt Guild Show the first weekend in March. The clock is ticking down and I still have one more quilt to quilt, so it is on with the show!! Thanks for looking.

Happy New Year

2010-01-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

We finally got all our grandchildren here at the same time, even if it was only for one hour, We were able to get them to pose for a picture together. I try to get a Christmas picture every year but this year it didn't work out in time for Christmas cards. Better late than never I always say. See how much they have all grown. From left to right they are Caroline (7) Ashlyn (2) Weber (3) Lily (4) Peyton (4) and Brody (9)

Puppy Spa Day

2009-12-23T16:06:00.001-08:00

Today, Bella and Chase spent most of their day at the Spa getting their Christmas present, Hair, nails and the whole primping treatment. They look so cute but sure were glad to see their Mommy come to pick them up. A few pictures before they get all dirty in the yard again.

HOUSES AND STARS

2009-12-17T06:33:00.001-08:00

House and Stars quilt finally finished!

House and Stars quilt is next on my list of quilts now that I have the Fall Block Swap quilt done. I say done is quilted close enough to being done to move on to the next? For me it is, binding can come anytime, Right? This is a Christmas present for my father and he has been quite ill, so I really want to get it to him before something happens to him and he isn't even aware that I made it for him. I purchased the precut block of the month at a discounted price. While I was making them I saved all the half square triangles that were cut off and formed a border with them. The pictures shows them set two different ways, I havent decided which way I like them more yet. I also will be using blue and white triangles for the bottom instead of the fabric which is on the bottom. The pictures are just for auditioning purposes right now. Not much time left though decisions need to be made quickly if I want to get this in the mail before Christmas.

Fall Block Swap and Block of the Month

2009-11-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

The quilting is now done.

My Final setting now is ready for quilting.

I am a member of the APQS online forum and this past summer we did a block swap of Fall Blocks. I recieved 12 blocks from all over the United States and even two from Australia! Last month at our guild meeting I was lucky enough to win some Blocks from the Block of the Month. I recieved 24 8 inch blocks and realized these would go great with my Fall Blocks. So here are some of the settings that I have come up with so far for the blocks. I am having just too much fun with these. Enjoy!!

I just added the top picture of a third option for these blocks. i think this is the one that I will be working with. Decisions, Decisions!!

Circle Lord Sampler

2009-10-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the Circle Lord Sampler quilt that I worked on this weekend.
The Circle Lord is a circle maker attachment that is so much fun and has so many possibilites that I don't think I will ever get tired of playing with it. Here is the website if you want to learn more about it. http://www.loriclesquilting.com

Stay tuned for more from Circle Lord, I plan on trying some on black fabric so you can really see how fabulous they are!!

Quilters of SC Fall Retreat 2009

2009-10-12T16:46:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I just spent a wonderful weekend at the beautiful White Oak Conference Center in Winnsboro, SC. Each fall our state retreat for the Quilters of SC is held here and this year we had 278 quilters attending. We have seven different districts from all over the state attending. There are numerous classes being given by wonderful SC teachers. This year my sister Ann Stone from Bridport, Vermont and I took a class from Joyce Walton titled Watercolor Florals. You may wonder why my sister from Vermont attends the SC State retreat. Well, in order to attend you have to belong to a SC guild. Each year Ann joins The Cobblestone Quilt Guild here in Charleston and also joins the SC State Guild. She comes once a year to SC to go to the Fall Retreat with me. In the spring I go to Vermont and attend some quilting event with her. So we are able to be together to enjoy or quilting hobby twice a year.

This years class was making a wall hanging using water soluable crayons. We colored the flower designs with the crayons and then painted them with water to bring the colors alive and blend them together for the watercolor effect. Here is a picture of our almost finished quilts.

Finally off the Frame

2009-09-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE

My Four Patch swirl quilt finally finished, well except the binding, don't look at the date, camera messed up, :( This quilt took 6 weeks on the frame, of course I wasnt always able to quilt each day but pretty steady work a little at at time, I would estimate about 40 to 50 hours from start to finish, It was very time consuming, but I feel the end result was worth the time invested. I learned three new techniques on this quilt. Two new rulers the Terry Twists in the blocks and sashings and the Judilators for the curved crosshatching in the setting triangles and over the arches in the borders. The arches were made with an oval board using a stylus from the front of the machine on my Topper.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

2009-09-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

Well another holiday come and gone and I have always thought of Labor Day as the end of Summer and beginning of Fall. We had a great weekend with the kids and grandkids. All tired out from too much play and not enough sleep, but oh well it sure was nice to have the little ones around for the weekend.

Is it really August already?

2009-08-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

A few more in progress pictures, almost done!!

Where has the summer gone, I can't believe the schools are already going back into session this week and next week and the summer has ended. Well, not according to the weather man for sure we are still in the high 90's here in SC, but that is normal for here. It has been just a month since I last posted, so I decided seeing as though I am not yet finished any quilts I would post my in progress quilt until it is done. I am stretching myself into doing more custom work and it is very time consuming. Here some in progress pictures of what I am quilting on this 4 patch swirl that you have seen in my earlier posts.

BEACH RETREAT 2009

2009-07-12T16:59:00.001-07:00

Another Cobblestone Beach Retreat has come and gone and as usual we all had a wonderful time. So many busy quilters doing what we all love and accomplishing so much. My objective was to make my internet blocks for a swap and to bind the quilt on my previous post and work on a UFO from last years SC State Guild retreat. All was accomplished and I am so thrilled. Here is some pictures from this weekend.

Here are the blocks for my APQS internet Autumn exchange.

The Path Less Traveled

2009-07-09T07:39:00.001-07:00

This quilt was made at a guild class with Betty Kiser, who visited us about 4 or 5 years ago. It is a variation of the Drunkards path called The Path Less traveled. She sold templates which made it a very fun and easy quilt to make. I used tone on tone fabrics for the background and fat quarters from a moda collection that were all purchased at PPQ in a paint can, enough for a quilt. I think they were challenge fabrics. Once my drunkards path made to my quilt studio and fell asleep it had a very, very long hang-over, until I found this wonderful brown border fabric to wake it back up! I have been practicing on my long arm to do custom type quilting. It was a lot of fun but took me about a month to finish quilting it. I love how it looks on the back almost as much as the front as you can see the quilting designs better. July 9, 2009

Saturday Quilters Day Out

2009-06-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a great Quilters day out with the Guild. We made disappearing 9 patches from charm squares. I have had a collection of charm squares that was one of every fabric purchased by People Places and Quilts for one whole year. This was many years ago and I never knew what to do with them. Well I believe if you keep fabric long enough it has a way of resurfacing at just the right time for the right project. So today I brought this whole bag of probably 900 charm squares and here are the blocks that I finished today. I will have to add some more blocks to have enough for a quilt, but it was alot of fun and went really quickly.

UFO'S TO BE FINISHED WITHIN 1 YEAR

2009-06-05T06:37:00.000-07:00

Nine UFO's for the next 12 months

Aquarium Quilt and The 4 patch Swirl. and Drunkards Path

Caroline's Sunbonet Sue , My Lone Star and Palm Tree wall hanging
OK, So I have set up a goal to have these nine quilts finished within the next year. There are only 9 so that is more than a month each to complete and most of the tops are either finished or just lacking sashings and or borders. Doesn't seem like too high of a goal to attain right now. We'll see how that goes half way thru the year. I guess you know where I fall short is on the quilting and border treatment area. Most of these have been in their current state for some time now. With our Cobblestone Quilt show coming up in March or 2010, I have promised myself I will not enter any quilt which is not already 100% complete. Entries for the show are usually in January so I have only about six months to get the ones for the show finished.

Time to Garden

2009-05-29T22:45:00.000-07:00

This time of year, before the horrendous heat sets in, I love to work in my flower beds. This year my front flower bed had become overgrown with the bushes I planted 3 or 4 years ago and I decided that they just had to go. So after 3 or 4 weekends in a row of rain, I finally was able to get my new plants set in. Here are a few pictures of the front. The two little flowers in front of my White Azaela bush are Peyton and Weber. They are two of our seven grandchildren who are planted most every weekend.

Trip to MQX

2009-04-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

This past week I traveled to Manchester, NH and met my sister Ann at the MQX show. It is the Machine Quilters Expo held each year in April. We had a wonderful time taking classes, meeting other quilters from all over the US and viewing all the breath taking quilts. Just to be at a show with National teachers like Karen Mc Tavish, last years MQX Teacher of the year and she presented the 2008 Teacher of the year award to Dawn Cavanaugh at the Friday night banquet. Ann and I took classes from Pam Clark ( what a doll), Linda Taylor (so sweet and personable), Sue Patten (one of the wild women of quilting) and Sally Terry ( so talented and a great teacher). We learned so much from each one, their styles although all different, seemed to compliment each other as we moved from class to class and tryed to absorb all the information they had for us. I think for me the most exciting class was the one from Linda Taylor. She was demonstrating how she made this beautiful bird. She made it look so easy and was having so much fun doing it. I can't wait to give it a try myself. I am going to try to post a picture here of the bird she was working on and the one she already had finished.

The Friday night banquet's guest speaker was Mark Lipinski, he entertained us for well over two hours with his hilarious stories, antics and wonderful quilts. There were so many wonderful vendors that it was hard to decide what to buy and try to fit into my luggage to fly home. I took a large suitcase with me and it weighed in at 36 pounds when I left Charleston. On the return trip it weighed about 53 lbs., which is over the limit, so I had to take some items out and put them in a carry on bag. That is right over 17 lbs of merchandise. The thread at the Superior booth was to die for and all tax free!! Those spools can really get heavy!! Books, video's, 108 inch zippers for the long arm, pattern grid, rulers, prewound bobbins, patterns ..... It was kind of like trick or treating as a kid. We had to keep going and unloading our bags and going back for more!!! They give you a big zippered canvas tote, but it fills up so fast and gets really heavy!!

I guess you can tell I had a wonderful time and learned so much. Now I need to get busy practicing before I lose my momentum and excitement.

Spring Time

2009-04-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

Spring brings the wonderful aroma of flowers, the beautiful color of the Azalea's as their blooming reaches a peak here in Summerville, SC., always perfectly timed to our Flowertown Festival. This year was no exception, although the rain had totally drenched the grounds, it did not keep our tourist away. As I thought of Spring and its many colors, I was inspired to make a purse pattern I had recently picked up in bright springy colors. I hope to make a few more in the coming weeks.

Drunkards Path

2009-03-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

I have had this quilt top since a class I took several years ago at guild. For some reason it has not ever made it to the quilting stage. I took it out recently and decided it just needed an outside border to look complete. So I found this nice brown floral with most of the other colors that are in the quilt. You can see the fabric along the left side of the quilt. I was planning on getting the borders on and starting to quilt today.

Brody's 9th Birthday. He
wanted chocolate cake
and chocolate frosting
for birthday so that is
what he got. He is our
oldest of 7 grandchildren.
It doesn't seem possible
that he could already be
nine.

It was so nice outside that once I got home from church I decided to cut the weeds in the back yard. The weeds are all that is growing at this point and my grandchildren keep telling me that the Buzzy Bees are out there and going to get them. When the weeds start flowering and attracting those Buzzy Bees it was definitely time to get rid of them. So after cutting the grass and then also clipping the second of my two dogs out on the patio table I was too tired to think about starting on the quilt. My dog definitely looked and felt better and I think the birds were thankful too as they like to pick up the stray pieces of hair that the wind takes and use them as a soft blanket in their nests.

SPINNING PINWHEELS FOR QOV

2009-03-07T19:42:00.000-08:00

I just finished quilting this Plaid Pinwheel quilt for Quilts of Valor. I decided to give the pinwheels a little movement with the spiral design to make them spin a little. I like the way it looks on this quilt. Fresh off the frame I didn't even trim off the extra fabric yet. It was such a beautiful day today I really hated to spend it inside, but I have been putting off getting this quilt finished for too long and there is a shipment going out next week, so Here it is. Enjoy!!

FLAMINGO SISTERS

2009-01-29T19:58:00.000-08:00

NEW PICTURES OF FINISHED QUILT

This quilt is called Three Sisters It is a joint effort by my older sister Ann and myself for our younger sister Kathy, who lives in Florida. Kathy is the middle Flamingo, Ann is on the left and I am on the right. Ann made the pieced flamingo blocks and sent them to me and I made the center applique and quilted it. In the next few weeks I will be taking a trip to Florida and bring the quilt to Kathy. It was supposed to be for her 5oth birthday in 2007. Well it is a little late, but I am sure she will be glad to get it anytime it is finished. I am posting a picture even though the last bit of embellishment is not yet finished and the binding is not on it yet. So here it is in it's almost finished state.

Star of Bethleham

2009-01-05T18:35:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I was working on a quilt for our bedroom. It was started several years ago at a Quilters Day out and I have worked on it at different retreats. This weekend I had the oppurtunity to finish almost all of it. I am working on the corners now and I will need to add at least one border to make it big enough for my bed. Hope you like it so far.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

2008-12-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. I think we always look to the coming year with hopes that it will be better than the last year, but with a new democratic president coming in and a democratic controlled senate I think it certainly is wishful thinking!! Be that as it may, I am glad that the Lord God is on the throne and in control and we don't have to be at the mercy of any government.

We spent Christmas eve and Christmas day in North Carolina with our son Ryan and his family. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed our three beautiful grand daughters and a wonderful Christmas meal with them. Thank you so much Ryand and Tiffany. Here is a picture of Grampa a me with our 3 precious little grand daughters

Christmas Crew

2008-12-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

The Lord has truly blessed us with Seven wonderful Grandchildren. We have from oldest to youngest Brody, Griffin, Caroline, Lily, Peyton, Weber and Ashlyn. We had them all at our house for Caroline's 6th birthday last night and I had asked the Mom's to dress them in their Christmas dresses and red shirts for the the boys. Last year our Christmas card was the 7 of them in the same setting but it was a summer picture. I thought I would try for a Xmas one this year. After about 10 shots this was as close as we could get to seeing everyone's face looking in one general direction. So this is our Christmas Card for 2008!!

NO TURKEY FOR TURKEY DAY

2008-11-27T19:55:00.000-08:00

Usually the best thing about Thanksgiving is the wonderful aroma of Thanksgiving dinner cooking in the kitchen. Last night Bob came down with the stomach bug and was up most of the night and today taking trips to the bathroom, running a fever and just feeling miserable. I couldn't see making a big dinner when he couldn't enjoy it. So the turkey is safe in the refridgerator for another day or two until he feels better. So what do you do on a holiday with no cooking to do. I figured I might as well enjoy my time off and do some sewing. I believe this feathered star block was made five years ago at Quilters of SC fall Retreat. It was such a difficult block that after finishing one I never had the desire to make another. Unfortunately, we had cut most of the tiny little templates to make about 5 stars. I also had already embroidered the Santa blocks and had the larger gold blocks cut as well. I decided today that I could use what was already done and turn it into a wallhanging instead of a larger quilt. So I took the four embroidered blocks and put corners on them to make the snowball blocks and used them in the corners of the quilt. Then I added little red strips between the gold blocks for sashing and finished it off with a 2 inch border. This quilt will be sold at a benefit dinner auction for a friend who is very ill and the family is trying to raise money for his expenses. I still need to quilt it by Monday in order to get it up to Delaware for the auction. It will feel good to get one more UFO done for the year and at the same time help out someone who needs it. I am very thankful to be able to help and have the day to sew and quilt even if we didn't get our Turkey today.

I just hope I don't get the stomach bug as it seems to be going around lately. I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. Blessings to All!!

Just an added note. I finished quilting just in time. It is Sunday night and 11:10 pm. Holiday is over and it is back to work tomorrow. The quilt will be on it's way to Delaware tomorrow for the silent auction on Friday. I hope someone buys it and loves it.

SAFARI QUILT

2008-11-25T16:06:00.000-08:00

This is the safari quilt that I made a year or so ago and just finally finished quilting it on my LA. I did alot practice free motion quilting in and around the quilt blocks. Here are a few pictures to show some of the detail. I am just starting to learn this free motion quilting so the lines are not as straight as I would like yet, but it was a good project to get alot of practice on.

QUILTERS OF SC 2008 RETREAT

2008-10-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I attended the Quilters of SC Retreat at beautiful Whilte Oak Conference center. I took a class from Priscilla Hair called Going around in circles. It was a great weekend and Priscilla being the Queen of The Ugly Fabric Contest was available in all her Royal Costume along with her ladies in waiting at the Saturday Evening Show.

For my class project I brought several oriental fabrics and panels and used them to create this wall hanging. It is not finished yet, I still have to sew in some of the circles, add a border and quilt it but this is what I had done in class by the end of the weekend.

CUTIE COWBOYS

2008-10-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

Last night I did a quick little cowboy quilt for a church silent auction for a friend of mine. I used a spiral board from R&S Designs and it came out so cute. I am still in the practice mode and like trying different techniques to build up my confidence for more advanced quilting down the line.

FINISHED WILLEY FARMS

2008-09-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

Well, not too much time to spare Irene comes on Weds. and I finished quilting this today, Sunday. Now I will have to get the binding done and it will be ready for her to take back to Florida with her. One more UFO's finished and the beat goes on!!!

Today was an especially great day for me as I spent time with my oldest grandson Brody and taught him how to sew today. He is 8 and 1/2 and was so excited that when he asked me when I was going to teach him to sew I said when you are 8 1/2. But Gramma, he said I am already 8 1/2!! Well, I said then I guess we better get started. I had him arrange some 1 1/2 inch squares on the cutting board and then showed him how to put them under the pressure foot and chain stitch them together. He learned very quickly and had a quilt about 6 x 8 inches in no time. He then picked out 4 different strips for borders and sewed them on. He found a piece of racecar fabric for a backing and using the walking foot he quilted what he called a tic tack toe design on it. I folded over the backing to make a little binding and sewed it down as we were running out of time. I am sorry to say in the rush to finish before the little ones woke up from a nap, I forgot to take pictures. Hopefully, He won't lose it before I see him again in 2 weeks and maybe he will bring it back for a picture. He was really just too cute about the whole project.

SKILL BUILDER'S

2008-09-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

I have been practicing with my Lenni on some skill builder panels just to have more quilting time in between quilts. My feathers are getting a little more rounded every time.

FALL HARVEST

2008-09-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend I have been working on my Willey Farms quilt to get it ready to put on the "Little Miss Lenni" for quilting. I had to finish putting the top together and design and construct the back with pictures taken from the Willey Farms website. I did this Friday evening and Saturday while being glued to the coverage of Hurricane Ike. I am so thankful that we were not in the line of destruction this time. It makes you sympathetic for all those having to leave there homes and lives and not knowing what and when they will be able to return. To all those who were affected I am so sorry for your loss and you were lifted up in prayer continually before, during and after the hurricane. I feel as if the Lord really heard our prayers as the devastation, although bad, was not the worse case senario that was anticipated. Thank you Lord!!

So here are some pictures of the quilt I kept my mind occupied with during the storm. It is ready to be quilted, but I have a pumpkin design that I ordered and am waiting to arrive before I start. Hopefully it will be finished this time next week.

THE LATEST QOV I QUILTED

2008-09-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

I finished quilting this Quilts of Valor, pieced by Susan Garrison this weekend on my Lenni.

This is my

featherweight that I dug out of the closet to

use as a bobbin winder, Little Miss Lenni came

with a small winder that really doesn't work too well

and none of my other machines had the right size

shaft to fit the bobbins. So I took out the tried and true Singer and blew the dust off oiled it up and away it went. Even looked up her birthday and found out that I had missed it was. Feb 2oth 1952. She is older than me and still looks and works great!!

Webers Dino Room!!

2008-09-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

My son Aaron is out of work now so he decided to use his time to decorate Weber's Room with Dinasaurs which i the theme for
his bedspread and sheets. He
loves it!!

And Peyton loves it to. Now she wants a princess for her room.

MY LITTLE ANGEL HAS WINGS

2008-09-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

Our three grand daughters from NC visited for the weekend. It was Lily's birthday, she was 3 years old and she likes dress up so we got her a Tinkerbell dress complete with wings. She loved it and the makeup kit to go with it. I also just finished my 2nd baby quilt on Little Miss Lenni. Still practicing with the Stitch in the Ditch ruler and the clamshell ruler. Slowly but surely it is coming along.

Little Miss Lenni

2008-08-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

I am so excited this week I have been on vacation from work and have been having an amazingly wonderful time quilting. I have adopted a new baby, her name is Little Miss Lenni!! Here is her picture, She arrived on Friday August 22nd at 9:30 am. I was able to get her all set up by Saturday morning and have been having a wonderful time getting acquanted this week. It just wouldn't have been right to leave my new baby HOME ALONE!!

So, I took all this week off from work to be able to help her adjust to her new home. We have been getting along famously,and here is our first accomplishment together. I had to do some rearranging of my studio to fit her in but we were able to move things around and give her some elbow room to play. I practiced on 3 or 4 quilt sandwiches and then decided to jump in and tackle a real quilt. Many thanks go to my friend Lynne Turner Liro who came over and taught me how to use the long arm rulers and got me started on this quilt. She is a very good teacher!! Need a quilt custom quilted visit her webpage at: http://www.ltlquilts.com/

Still 4 more days left on my vacation so I will be busy, busy, busy do my Practice, Practice, Practice, until I have to go back to work again. Have a blessed day. Jeanne

Willey Farms, 3 Sisters, and Aquarium Works in Progress

2008-07-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

To the left is my "Willey Farms" quilt that I have been working on for my Daughter -in -law, Rachel's mother Irene. Okay it was supposed to be her Christmas present from Rachel who bought all the fabric and I got to work on it right away made all the outside blocks and then started the center embroidery. It is about ready

to add an inside border and the top will be done. On the top right is another quilt that my sister Ann in Vermont and I am making for our younger sister Kathy in Florida. It is called "Three Sisters" The outside is a variation of a spinning star block and they were made from various flamingo fabrics by Ann. The center is a blown up version of an applique design. I hope to finish both of these this summer as they were promised for July birthdays. Oops a little off schedule, but it is the thought that counts and all part of the quilting process. Waiting......

My third work in progress is this quilt that I call my Aquarium quilt. It is a combination of three different classes taken with Priscilla Hair at QSC Retreat. The New York Beauty, 9 patch and fair play blocks have all been combined to make this quilt. I have fish, turtles and other sea life incorporated into the blocks. I plan on adding some applique on top at various places and embellishing it with beads, shells and whatever else suits me at the time. These are just three of my current works in progress that I am trying to get finished so that I can move on to some of my other 15 or so Works in Progress. These three show the most promise of being finished soon and that is why I have added them. It is my motivation to get busy and finish them.

Another trick to getting quilts done sooner is having accountability to someone whom I have promised it to for a special occasion. This can sometimes be a good incentive to finishing. In the case of this quilt to the left it is my own design and my only goal is to have it done for our next Cobblestone Quilt Show which isn't until March of 2010. Believe it or not, that will likely be hard enough to accomplish as other projects always get put in front of my own. It is a never ending line up, but what can I say. I LOVE IT!! (Click on pictures to see full size)

QUILTS OF VALOR

2008-07-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

Today I am working to quilt my first quilt for "Quilts of Valor." These quilts are presented to injured service men and women. I currently have a son in the Armed forces who has already recieved a Quilt of Valor.

This quilt was made my Nancy Miller and presented to my son Ryan by Susan Thomas when he came home on leave. He was injured in battle but thankfully his injury was not serious enough to send him home early, however it was serious enough that he was awarded a Purple Heart. He will once again be going into battle so I would like to ask everyone to keep him and all our brave service men and women lifted up in prayer daily. We all want peace in the world, but remember that it does not come free or cheap, we owe a debt of gratitude to these brave men and women who fight for our safety. God Bless them All.
TO see the SC Quilts of Valor website go to Http://www.scqov.org

HOW I KNOW RAMEY REEVES

2008-07-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Many local Charleston people may have read in last weeks paper about the girl that died of a brain tumor after her second surgery, and the amazing story of her faith in the Lord. I have included a link to the website that was set up only a little over a month ago on her behalf. The reason for the website was to keep all of her many friends and family updated on what was happening with Ramey. In less than 6 weeks this page has had overy 100,000 hits on it and has collected more than $15,000.oo toward expenses related to her illness.

I have had the priviledge of knowing Ramey since the year 2000 when we attended the same church. When I first heard of Ramey's brain tumor I started to think about what I could do to help my friend. The Lord put it on my heart to make Ramey a quilt that she could take with her and have at the hospital during her surgery and recovery. I thought about what Ramey loved the most and of course that was to sing praises to her Lord. So I decided to make her a quilt that would keep Jesus close to her at all times. I embroidered Jesus's face at the top of the cross and then a song which she always sang " Jesus Be the Center" , then angels to the right and baby Jesus to the left, next down the center is John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whomsoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Below that verse on the bottom of the cross is the veiled cross.

This past saturday was Ramey's memorial service at James Island Christian Church, it was the most awesome service I have ever attended. Ramey has passed from this earthly journey into her everlasting life with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and has recieved her treasures in Heaven. Thank You all for reading and May God richly bless each and everyone who reads about Ramey's Life for Jesus!!

Beach Retreat 2008

2008-07-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

POSTCARD CHALLENGE
CONTEST

The Green Machines
Can you believe we all got into
this picture!!

The dog was done by Peggy Sudol.

It's a replica of her dog "Gus".

Peggy and her husband train

dogs for the blind

and handicapped

Corky's Daffadils
My 4 patch swirl
Karen's Scarecrow

Recently finished Quilt

2008-07-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

This quilt was started as a mystery class that I took

in Vermont and attended with my sister Ann and sister in law Teresa both from Vermont in April 08. The quilt is now finished July 15th just in time for my daughter in law (Rachel's) 30th birtday. I still need to take a picture of her with the quilt. I usually quilt all my own quilts, but this quilt was so big that I didn't feel I could quilt it on my short arm. I had Donnita Cook quilt it for me, she did a wonderful job using a Jodi Beamish pantograph called almost paisley. We decided on verigated pink thread. It came out lovely and Rachel loves it.